An Action without Love is Nothing – 1 Corinthians 13

Brandon Werner - March 9, 2025

An Action without Love is Nothing

Sermon Manuscript | Together Church | Pastor Brandon Werner

March 9, 2025 | Series: Love Never Fails

Today we begin a four-week mini-series called “Love Never Fails”. Our text for this series is 1 Corinthians 13. If you have your Bible, and I hope you do, open with me to 1 Corinthians 13.

This is one of the most powerful expositions of love in the entire Bible. Each week, we will read the entire chapter before focusing on a few verses. Additionally, I want to challenge our entire church to memorize these 13 verses in the month of March (the NKJV is a good translation with great rhythm for memorization, so we will use that translation).

I’ll read it to you the first week, but each week after this we will recite it together to encourage our memorization.

1 Corinthians 13

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

What a powerful passage about the greatness of love.

INTRODUCTION

We’re coming off a series on 1 Thessalonians; Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica. In that study, we learned that Paul’s letter to that church reads something like a love letter to them. Throughout the entire letter, Paul expresses love to them and celebrates their love for God and for each other. That is clear from the letter’s opening…

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

In that opening, Paul celebrates these three things: faith, hope, and love.

In today’s text, Paul states these three again:

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

But the greatest of these is LOVE.

1 Corinthians 13 is affectionately known by many as “the love chapter” of the Bible. As we read this chapter, we need to remember it is chapter 13 of a 15 chapter letter written by Paul to the church at Corinth.

Now, if we just plucked this letter out of its context, we might conclude that this letter has a very similar tone to the letter Paul wrote to the Thessalonian church. With all this talk of love, we might think that Paul is lavishing them with praise and affection based on their love for one another – just like he did for Thessalonica.

But if we zoom out and look at the whole letter, we realize that this love chapter is delivered as part of a letter with a very different tone.

ILLUSTRATION:

I saw a reel recently that sums this up well… (“Ah, Paul!” vs. “Throat punch, throat punch, throat punch).

I’m not sure that imagery is exactly right, because Paul certainly wrote his letter to the Corinthian church in love and with a desire to see them grow in love. But there’s no question the tone of these two letters is very different!

To the Thessalonians, Paul was celebrating their love and encouraging them to “keep it up”!

To the Corinthians, Paul was identifying their lack of love and encouraging them to “grow up” in love.

And the Corinthian church had a lot of growing up to do! Before the love chapter arrives in chapter 13, Paul addressed several evidences that the church lacked genuine love…

Divisions and quarrels (1:10-17, 3:1-23) – Factions in the church and prideful allegiances to different leaders.
Worldly wisdom and boasting (1:18-31, 4:6-7) – Seeking status and human wisdom over God’s wisdom.
Sexual immorality (5:1-13, 6:12-20) – Allowing incest and other forms of immorality without rebuke.
Suing one another (6:1-8) – Taking fellow believers to secular courts instead of resolving conflicts in the church.
Abusing Christian freedom (6:12-20, 8:1-13, 10:23-33) – Using liberty selfishly without regard for others.
Marital disorder (7:1-40) – Confusion about marriage, singleness, and sexual relations.
Idolatry and false worship (8:1-13, 10:1-22) – Participating in pagan feasts and leading weaker believers into sin.
Disorder in church structure (11:2-16) – Disorder in worship regarding men and women.
Abuse of the Lord’s Supper (11:17-34) – Despising the poor and selfishness during communion.

What do all these things share in common? They all lack love! They are all rooted in self-centeredness instead of being God and others centered.

Paul put it to them this way…

1 Corinthians 3:1-3a

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh.

Paul identifies the problem. This church was not operating in who they were in Christ, they were still operating in the flesh and yielding themselves to their fleshly desires.

When Paul wrote the love chapter, he was writing to help them know how to turn the ship. They were not living in love, and Paul wanted love to become the defining characteristic of this church!

Why love?

Paul said it: the greatest of these is LOVE.

Throughout the Bible, God’s Word emphasizes love as the defining characteristic of His nature, the foundation of His commandments, and the highest calling for His people. Love is the motive behind creation, the essence of God’s relationship with humanity, and the ultimate fulfillment of His law. Love is God’s greatest expression through His Son incarnate, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the very image of God revealed to us, and He is love incarnate. For God, anything that matters, anything that lasts, will be rooted in love. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things… love never fails!

God elevates love to the top all throughout scripture…

In Matthew 22, Jesus confirms the importance of the Shema, and affirms that the greatest commandments in God’s law is to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.
In John 13, Jesus’ new commandment of love exceeds the first, as He instructs His disciples not to love others as they love themselves, but to love one another as He loves them! And then Jesus went to the cross to die for them to show them His love.
In John 13, love is the defining characteristic of a disciple of Jesus, and love is the catalyst by which the whole world will know that we are His disciples.
In Galatians 5, love is the first fruit of the Spirit.
In Romans 13, Paul lifts up love as the means by which every command of God is fulfilled.
And in 1 John 4, love is not just something God does, but the scripture says God IS LOVE!

God elevates love to the highest place all across the scriptures…

and Paul says it again here: the greatest of these is LOVE.

When Paul wrote this love chapter to the Corinthian church, he understood that every issue in the church, every selfish/sinful act, every compromise of the mission to spread the gospel, every faction in the church, and every setback that harmed their witness had this one thing in common: a lack of love.

And so, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul delivered to them what is perhaps the greatest exposition of love in the entire Bible, and our source text for this sermon and the three that follow – 1 Corinthians 13… the Love Chapter.

The solution to their fleshly living was love. Paul knew behavior modification would never be enough to help this church realize God’s full potential for them. If they were to become the witnesses God wanted them to be, they would have to return to genuine love.

At times, we are all like this church! There are times when our flesh and sin in the flesh can get the best of us. We slip into self-centeredness. We can allow our emotions and feelings to get the best of us and control us. Like them, our lack of love always impacts our unity, affects our ability to fulfill God’s vision, and impacts our witness for Christ. Like them, when this happens, we need to return to love!

Love clearly matters to God. Paul knew that a return to genuine love would transform this church! Genuine love would become the catalyst by which His vision would be carried out in the church! Love would be the means by which this church would IMPACT this world and point others to Christ!

We should be desperate for God’s love!

Vision Night! God’s vision for us hinges on love.
IMAPCT Month! Apart from love, our witness is meaningless.

God, we want your love to characterize us! This morning, let’s examine the first three verses of the love chapter and see what God has for us.

The LOVE CHAPTER begins like this…

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

From these verses, here’s God’s message for us today:

“Love is nothing if it’s not an action, but a loveless action is nothing.”

BODY

Let’s take a moment to look at both parts of this message and how it relates to the first three verses of the love chapter…

Love is nothing if it is not an action.

The greatest definition of love in the entire Bible is only a one-word definition. In 1 John 4:8, the Bible tells us GOD is love…

1 John 4:8

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

What is love according to the Bible? GOD is LOVE. No wonder love matters so much to God! He calls Himself LOVE. He says that knowing Him is knowing love, and knowing love is knowing Him.

In 1 John 3, the Bible tells us what God’s love looks like…

1 John 3:16

16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.

We know love because God is Love and Love took action. Love did not sit idol in heaven when we were lost and dead in our trespasses and sins. Jesus Christ entered our world, became a man, died on the cross, and rose again.

We know love because Jesus is God and what Jesus did made God’s love known to us…

Romans 5:8

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Because God is Love, and because God’s love is always known by His actions, we know that love is nothing if it is not an action! In love…

God formed the heavens and the earth.
God made us for a loving relationship with Him.
God reveals Himself and His goodness to us.
God sent Jesus (love incarnate) so we might know Him.
God rescues us from sin.
God redeems us and makes us new creations in Christ.
God gives us purpose.
God empowers us by His Spirit.
God makes and keeps His promises.
God redeems His creation and makes all things new.
God will dwell with us forever.

When we understand that God is love, who He is shapes our view of love. When we see God’s love, we see love is not passive or apathetic… God’s love is characterized by action.

So, because of who God is, we understand that love is nothing if it is not an action, BUT!…

A loveless action is nothing.

To start the LOVE CHAPTER, Paul gives three illustrations that make this one point… (TALK IT THROUGH, KEEP IT MOVING)

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

In the city of Corinth, works mattered. Corinth was known as a place filled with wealth and opportunity. When people went to Corinth, they went to find opportunity and to get rich.

In a place like that, how is worth measured? It is measured by merit! It’s a dog eat dog world. Only the elite survive. Your worth is found in what you can do.

When we evaluate worth, we tend to evaluate based on merit. We ascribe worth to a person based on the greatness of their feats.

Merit based. That tends to be our measuring stick for what matters.

But Paul understood that God’s measuring stick is different than ours. God understands that every ability we posse ultimately comes from Him: He gives us gifts! He gives us skills! He gives us energy and strength! He gives us capacity and capabilities! If anyone does anything worth doing it is only because of what God gives them!

Because of that, our works alone do not impress God. He knows we couldn’t do them apart from Him! If He removed His hand from our lives, we would instantly die.

So, while we tend to evaluate worth based on merit, God does not. Instead, Paul understood that God looks past our works and at our hearts… a worthwhile act to God is an act that is done in love!

And on the other side of that coin, even the greatest acts are meaningless apart from love.

If love is God’s measuring stick for what matters, that means we all have the capacity to please God in what we do! Our actions please God when our actions are done in LOVE.

And what is Paul’s conclusion about actions performed, regardless of how impressive they are, when they are done without love?

Without love, you’re just annoying and noisy.
Without love, you’re nothing.
Without love, it profits you nothing.

Love is nothing if it is not an action, but a loveless action is nothing. Love is what matters to God, and the greatest of these is love.

CONCLUSION

This is great news! You don’t have to be highly skilled, highly educated, highly trained, or highly capable for your actions to matter to God! God isn’t impressed by your performance, He is moved by our LOVE!

Love is always an action, but a loveless action is nothing.

This puts us all on equal standing.

And what happens when we do good actions but lack love?

“Though I go to work 40, no 60, no 80 hours a week to provide for my family, but I have not love, I am nothing.”
“Though I give my whole life to raise my children – to care for them, feed them, change them, nurture them, and help them grow – but I have not love, it profits me nothing.”
“Though I share the gospel 10, no 100 times a week, but have not love, I am nothing but a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”
“Though I volunteer in all ministries, and give all I have to the church, and always work to make disciples, but I have not love, I am nothing.”

Love never fails!

ILLUSTRATION:

Story of kids coming to live with us.

What that small group did was meaningful. Why? Because it really met every single need we had? No! The action itself was only a drop in the bucket compared to the needs our family was experiencing due to this change.

But that action was powerful. Why? Because of LOVE.

If it matters, it matters because of LOVE. If it happens apart from love, it doesn’t matter. Love never fails.

INVITATION

For those who do not know God – He loves you. SHARE GOSPEL
For those trying to perform well enough to please God – what pleases Him is your love.
For those who feel like their performance doesn’t measure up – you are capable of the greatest feats in this world when you operate in the power of God’s love.

“Right now, I want you to think: Is there a place in my life where I’ve been all action and no love? Maybe in my home, my job, my ministry, my relationships? What would it look like to return to love today?”

Time of prayer and response.

SONG: Goodness of God

SERVICE CONCLUSION

Today is just the beginning. We’ve salted the oats.

What is love?
How do I know if an action comes from love?
Why is love so hard to grasp?
What does it take to return to love?

Let’s continue in the series next week!

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