This past Sunday night I caved to the pressures of the calendar and preached a Valentine’s-Day-inspired sermon on love.  The quintessential biblical passage on love is, of course, I Cor. 13.  So that’s where we parked things for the evening.

I covered the entire chapter by dividing it into three sections, each relating to the theme of ‘What Love Makes.”

Here’s the sermon audio:

• (Go here for download link)

• Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

And here’s a rough sketch of my outline:

Love is What Makes the Difference (I Cor. 13:1-3)

• In what we say
• In what we know and believe
• In what we give and are willing to sacrifice

Love is What Makes for Unity (I Cor. 13:4-7)

• Consider the 14 or so different ways that Paul describes what love is and what it is not, what it does and doesn’t do.
• I referred to this section as the perfect ingredients for the perfect recipe that makes for unity among the people of God.

Love is What Makes it to the End (I Cor. 13:8-13)

• Here Paul delineates between two phases of Christian existence: the here and the hereafter.
• Prophecies, tongues and knowledge—they will fade away and no longer be necessary.
• But not love—it will be around forever.