October 28, 2025 • 28 mins
What if the biggest threat to your relationships isn’t what you lack, but what you quietly protect—envy, self-promotion, and a puffed-up certainty that can’t be taught? We open 1 Corinthians 13 and treat love as verbs—habits that confront our reflex to compete, parade, and look down from a tower of pride. The result is a bracing, practical journey through three refusals that free us to love well: no envy, no bragging, no arrogance.
We start where Paul starts: love without competing. Envy boils when someone else is honored; agape rejoices without comparing. Then we face bragging—the gentle spotlight we keep turning toward ourselves, even in spiritual settings. Paul’s piercing question reframes everything: What do you have that you did not receive? That simple truth dismantles the need to parade our gifts and replaces it with gratitude and quiet faithfulness. Finally, we examine arrogance—how inflated self-importance masquerades as tolerance. Real love does not enable what destroys; it tells the truth with tears, invites repentance, and seeks restoration. We explore where Corinth stumbled, how churches repeat those mistakes, and why humble conviction is the most compassionate path.
Across the conversation, you’ll hear memorable stories, Scripture’s sharp clarity, and practical ways to shift your posture: celebrate others’ wins, choose anonymity over applause, and welcome correction that realigns you with Jesus. This is a call to step down from the tower and onto the solid ground of service, where love is sturdy, honest, and full of grace. If you’re ready to trade performance for peace and pride for a better way, press play—and share this with someone who needs courage to choose truth in love. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us which habit is hardest for you to surrender.
Stephen's latest book, The Disciples Prayer, is available now. https://www.wisdomonline.org/store/view/the-disciples-prayer-hardback
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:06):
Paul told the church in Corinth, related to this
verb, you can have fellowshipwith that incestuous man, or you
can have fellowship with God.
You cannot have both.
You can have, my friend, thathidden affair with a woman you
work with.
Or you can have God.
(00:28):
You cannot have both.
You can swindle and you cancheat and you can lie.
Or you can have God.
You cannot have both.
SPEAKER_00 (00:52):
Sometimes people think that they can hold on to
their sin and selfishness.
And hold on to God at the sametime.
That's not the case.
Welcome to this broadcast ofWisdom for the Heart with
Stephen Davy.
In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul wroteto the church in Corinth and
described for them and for uswhat true love is like.
(01:17):
Stephen's working his waythrough that passage in this
current series.
Today, we're going to see somethings that true love does not
do.
If you're able to have yourBible open, turn to 1
Corinthians 13 for this messagecalled Refusing to Be Pigheaded.
SPEAKER_01 (01:39):
Paul is going to tell us how love doesn't act,
and he describes a veryunattractive behavior.
He's nearly crashed in hisdescriptive verbs.
One thing's for sure, he tellsit like it is.
(02:00):
And as I studied them, I thedescription that came to my mind
was pig headed and stubborn.
When's the last time you'velooked in the mirror and said,
you are so pig headed?
It's a pretty good exercise todo every once in a while.
(02:20):
What does that mean?
Well, I, as I thought of thatphrase, I went to my library and
pulled a few volumes down andsure enough, found the history
of that phrase.
This expression, pig headed,dates back to the Middle Ages
and the Southeast Asian countrynow known as Indonesia.
This is a legend of a king whohad incredible powers over the
(02:44):
forces of nature and life anddeath.
He could, according to legend,enter a meditative state, and
while in that state, actuallyhave his servant take off his
head with a sharp sword, andthen after a while put it back
on his shoulders, and it wouldmysteriously rejoin without ever
disturbing the king.
So whenever the king wanted toshow off his powers with
dignitaries who were coming, youknow, from afar, awed by this
(03:06):
rather obvious and unique power,he would have his servant lop
off his head with a very sharpsword, and they would all watch
as his head, when replaced ontop of his shoulders,
mysteriously reattached.
The only problem was oneparticular day, with all these
guests around and everybodywatching this display, his
servant uh cut off his head witha little too much enjoyment, a
(03:31):
little too much force, and theking's head rolled into a nearby
river and was washed away.
The servant was frantic.
He didn't know what to do.
He saw a nearby pig and thought,well, that'll work.
So he used the pig's headinstead.
The king came to and was upset,understandably.
He had his servant killed andthen moved his royal residence
(03:54):
up into a high tower where helived out the rest of his life.
He declared an edict that whenanyone was around the tower,
they were never ever allowed tolook up.
They had to keep their eyes onthe ground, lest they look
upward and see the pig-headedking.
(04:19):
Paul is about to reveal theunattractive and ugly side of
people.
A pig-headed people.
People convinced of their ownsuperiority.
And when you're around them,it's best that you look down,
stay quiet, and nobody will gethurt.
(04:42):
And he uses language that we canall immediately understand.
There are no loopholes here,there are no question marks.
Nobody in Corinth or in Kerrycan read this text and say, huh?
What does he mean by that?
In fact, I've chosen to titleour study tonight as practically
(05:03):
as I can.
I'm just going to call itrefusing to be pigheaded people.
Even without knowing the historyof the phrase, you just know
that's not something you want tobe.
How to refuse to be a pig headedperson might just be the
down-to-earth wording that wewon't soon forget.
(05:25):
Now, in our last session, weopened with the two action verbs
in this list of 15.
Remember, these are notadjectives, even though it looks
like they are in yourtranslation.
They are verbs.
So we translated them beginningwith verse 4.
Love exercises patience.
Love demonstrates kindness.
(05:48):
Those are the attractivequalities.
Now he begins to rattle offeight negative statements about
agape, and they are down toearth.
In fact, they are they're inyour face.
There's nowhere to hide.
(06:11):
You could translate it so thatyou could get the flavor of a
verb.
Love does not burn with envy.
One author that I was readingsaid that there are two classes.
This is William Barclay.
He said there are two classes ofpeople in the world, those who
are millionaires and those whowant to be.
Those who have and those thatwant to have.
(06:35):
Well, jealousy, or envy as yourtext might be translated, comes
from the Greek word that meansto boil, to be fervent, to be
passionate.
That's why I translate it.
The problem is this particularperson Paul has in mind is
(06:56):
boiling over with what somebodyelse has and what they have a
fervent desire to have as well.
In fact, it's more than that.
What makes this particular verball that more seriously deviant
is that it refers to not onlywanting something that somebody
else has, but wanting to have itand them not to have it.
(07:20):
Wanting to have what they haveso that they can no longer have
it.
This is jealousy at the deepest,most corrupt, destructive level.
Well, Paul says agape is livingwithout competing.
(07:44):
This love is demonstrated whensomeone is glad that another
person has something that theydon't have but would like it to.
Which means true love iscontentment with what God has
given you.
You're happy with it.
(08:04):
Someone sent me some time agothis rather humorous
tongue-in-cheek poem thatdemonstrates the fickleness of
rather jealous love.
It goes like this Sam's girl isrich and haughty.
My girl is poor as clay.
Sam's girl is young and pretty.
Mine looks like a bale of hay.
(08:24):
Sam's girl is smart and clever.
My girl is dumb but good.
Now, would I trade my girl forSam's girl?
You bet your life I would.
Would you long to trade withsomeone you envy?
You might envy the health ofanother Christian, or their job,
(08:48):
or their physical appearance, ortheir spiritual gifts and
talents.
You might envy their spouse,their children, their position,
their personality.
Ultimately, the jealous persondestroys themselves, they
fracture their own peace of mindand sense of purpose.
(09:12):
Why?
Because their eyes are not onChrist, who is the author and
finisher of our faith, theireyes are on one another.
You know, it's interesting to meto recall that it was to the
Corinthians, the same body ofbelievers, that Paul wrote, When
you compare yourselves withanother, you are not wise.
(09:33):
2 Corinthians 10, verse 12.
And remember here, by the way,as well, ladies and gentlemen,
Paul is not telling theunbeliever in 1 Corinthians 13
to love without envying.
He's telling the believer, whichobviously means it implies then
that we as believers can livejealous, petty, envious, bitter,
(09:55):
clamorous lives.
I told you he would be in ourface.
He would tell it like it is.
This is not agape.
James did the same when hewarned the believer if you have
bitter jealousy and selfishstrife in your heart, do not be
arrogant and so lie against thetruth.
(10:16):
In other words, admit it.
Don't try to get around it.
And then he adds, for wherejealousy exists, there is
disorder and every evil thing.
Jealousy is ultimatelydestructive.
And ultimately we destroyourselves.
(10:37):
Nathaniel Vincent writes, Howmuch of the pit, that is, how
much of hell, is there in thespirit of an envious man?
The happiness of another is hismisery.
The good of another is hisaffliction.
He looks upon the virtue ofanother with an evil eye.
(10:57):
He is as sorry at the praise ofanother as if that praise had
been taken from himself.
Envy makes him a hater of hisneighbor, but his own tormentor.
Now, can you see the wisdom andthe rescuing of his own spirit
(11:22):
from this kind of torment whenJohn the Baptist's disciples
came to him and they said to himin John chapter three, Master,
our followers, they are leavingus and they are going over to
this Christ.
(11:42):
And John the Baptist said, Youremember?
Effectively, we could only hopeas much for he must increase.
And I must what?
Decrease.
True love does not burn withjealousy over something someone
(12:02):
has or is.
True love is love withoutcompeting.
He goes further in verse fourwith the phrase, love does not
brag.
You could understand Paul to besaying love does not go around
shining a spotlight on oneself.
True love does not live to brag.
(12:23):
The one who loves with agape isnot the subject of his own
conversation.
The one who is is merely provinghe is in love with whom?
Himself.
By the way, this word is usednowhere else in the New
Testament in this form thanhere.
It refers to one who literally,simply, talks a lot about
(12:48):
himself.
You'd think that Paul, you know,he's describing, he's speaking
of this grand agape that hewouldn't talk about something
like that.
That just seems so commonplace,so ordinary, so obvious.
But yet he's putting it rightdown here where we can grab it.
(13:08):
A person who is full of himselfis not full of agape, is what
he's saying.
One author added this insight: jealousy is wanting what someone (13:17):
undefined
else has.
Bragging is trying to makeothers jealous of what we have.
Jealousy puts others down.
Bragging builds us up.
This was the trumpet blowing ofthe Pharisees.
They wouldn't do anything.
(13:39):
They wouldn't do anything unlessit was going to be published,
along with their photo in theJerusalem Gazette.
And they never ran out ofmaterial because they were full
of themselves.
They were in love with their ownimage.
They were show-offs, they wereboasters, they arranged so that
the morning and afternoon andevening prayers would find them
at some public intersectionwhere everyone would stop and
(14:00):
pray, but they would be able tobe seen from all four
directions.
Just timed it that way.
When they fasted, they put ashon their face and they moped
around to prove that they wereindeed godly.
They were full of themselves.
They could not be full of agape.
There isn't room in your heartfor both.
(14:23):
The truth is, the braggartdoesn't recognize or realize
that he's actually advertisinghis own emptiness, the
shallowness of his spirit, andultimately his own pride.
Isn't it interesting that we canspot it in somebody else just
like that?
(14:43):
But we don't see it inourselves.
When Paul wrote this text to theCorinthians, they were involved
in spiritual show-off contests.
They were attempting to besteach other with the most
sensational public gifts.
They were after the prestigiousoffices, and they all wanted to
have the microphone wheneverthey met for worship.
(15:04):
They were trying to sort ofoutdo one another and one up
each other in the assembly, andthe result was carnality, the
result was utter chaos.
Earlier in chapter 4, thisletter to the Corinthians, Paul
rebuked their bragging when hewrote, Listen, what do you have?
Listen to Paul's wonderful logicas he tries to help them.
(15:24):
What do you have that you didnot receive?
And if you did receive it, whydo you boast as if you had not
received it?
Same word here.
In other words, if whatever wehave and are are the gifts of
God's grace, shouldn't we allgather around this campus every
(15:46):
time we're around each other andbrag about the grace of God?
Since we have nothing but whatwe've received from the Lord.
No wonder the Apostle Paul said,God forbid that I should glory
except in the cross of our LordJesus Christ, Galatians 6, 14.
(16:12):
It's the only sensible responseto the awareness of whatever you
are, God made you, whatever youhave, God gave you.
I love the way Moffat translatedthis phrase here in your text.
He said, Love makes no parade ofitself.
It never throws a parade in itshonor.
It's good, isn't it?
Here were the Corinthians,petty, boastful, and proud.
(16:34):
They were all living in theirown self-made towers, demanding
that whenever anybody got nearthem, they were to lower their
eyes out of honor and deferenceand respect.
In reality, they were in theprocess of becoming pig-headed
people.
(16:57):
It was nothing less than sheerpig-headed, devilish pride.
Think about it, C.
S.
Lewis wrote, it was pride thatmade the devil the devil.
Paul is making it very clear, ifyou will love others as Christ
loves you, don't live to havewhat they want.
(17:19):
Don't be what they have, don'tbe jealous.
Secondly, don't become yourfavorite topic of conversation.
Don't be a braggart.
Solomon said in Proverbs, letanother man praise you and not
your own lips.
Now he goes on in verse 4 and headds, and don't act with
(17:40):
arrogance.
You see how these three justdovetail nicely together, and I
knew this was this was all weneeded to do.
You could render it.
Love doesn't strut around withan air of superiority.
Your translation may read, loveisn't puffed up.
It's a good translation.
Warren Wearsby once wrote thatman is the only animal that when
(18:04):
you pat him on the back, hishead swells up.
It's good, isn't it?
It's interesting to me, yet sad,that the Corinthians had such an
obvious problem with arrogance.
Now listen to this.
Six out of the seven times thisverb appears in the New
Testament, it appears in thisletter.
(18:24):
J.B.
Phillips translates it well lovedoes not cherish inflated ideas
of its own importance.
This is the man in Luke 18 whoprayed, Oh God, I thank you.
That I am not like other people.
(18:46):
This is a pig headed man.
I'm up in the tower! Oh God,thank you.
That I'm not down with thepeasant below.
One author summarized thisarrogant spirit well when he
wrote arrogant people thinkthey're better than other
(19:08):
people.
They think they know more thanthey actually do.
They consider themselves holierthan others and imagine
themselves more gifted than theyreally are.
They are blind to their ownglaring sins, weaknesses, and
doctrinal errors.
Arrogance blinds our eyes to thetruth.
(19:32):
This is the same word Paul usedto judge the Corinthian church,
the same body for notdisciplining from its membership
the unrepentant man from theassembly who refused to stop his
sexually immoral relationshipwith his stepmother.
He continued his incest, and thechurch thought they were
exceptionally loving.
We are filled with love toinclude him and ignore his sin.
(19:56):
And Paul wrote in chapter 5, youhave become arrogant.
Same word in 1 Corinthians 13.
You have become full ofyourselves.
That's what you are.
You're not tolerant, you're notloving, you're arrogant, you're
proud of your defiance.
(20:16):
And that message needs to bedelivered today.
The church today that believesits tolerance towards sin and
unrepentant sinners are badgesof openness and love, are
actually self-condemned byChrist for arrogance.
I pulled out the newspaper thisweek.
In fact, I was I was overChick-fil-A having my devotions.
(20:42):
Oh, I wasn't having devotions.
I was reading USA today.
And I pulled out this article,sad article, related to the
continuing battle within theEpiscopalian Church relative to
issues of homosexuality.
The article talked about ameeting that had been called
recently.
There's a couple of pictureswith many of the bishops and
(21:05):
church leaders.
The article said the Archbishopof Canterbury himself actually
flew over here and attended,urging the American liberal
bishops to make concessions forthe sake of unity.
Unity, by the way, they believe,must be kept in spite of the
fact that homosexual men arebeing ordained to church
leadership.
Unity that must be preservedwhile same-sex couples are
(21:29):
having their unions blessed withchurch prayers.
The archbishop, in his attemptto keep the church unified, pled
with the liberal bishops to, andI quote, exercise restraint in
approving another gay bishop.
How about exercising discipline?
(21:51):
How about warning of God'sdivine opinion regarding sodomy?
How about standing up for thewords of God regarding man's
relationships and judging anyimmoral sexual activity, whether
it is heterosexual orhomosexual, as both sinful and
(22:11):
forgivable.
For this Christ died.
There is a call for theEpiscopalians to exercise
restraint.
My friends, you do not exerciserestraint regarding sin.
You do not sin in moderation.
Paul writes to the church inCorinth and the church today,
(22:34):
not just Episcopalians, butBaptists and Methodists and
non-denominationalists, andeffectively says you think
you're loving by tolerating sin,you've actually become thusio,
you've actually become arrogant,infatuated with your own
intellectual gymnastics.
You are actually in love withyour defiance.
(22:56):
You are in love with yourautonomy from the Word of God.
You've done nothing less thanelevate your view above God's
view, and you are saying you areloving, which implies God is not
loving.
Paul told the church in Corinth,related to this verb, you can
have fellowship with thatincestuous man, or you can have
(23:20):
fellowship with God.
You cannot have both.
You cannot have both.
The Bible is clear thatunrepentant adulterers go to
(23:44):
hell when they die.
Hebrews 13, 4.
You can swindle and you cancheat and you can lie, or you
can have God.
You cannot have both.
Listen, young people, you canhave sexual activity outside of
(24:08):
marriage, or you can have God.
You cannot have both.
Revelation 21, verse 8.
But they say, I love God.
No, they don't.
They love themselves.
Paul put it this way (24:20):
true love for God and others would not be
arrogant.
It doesn't proudly walk in a waythat God clearly disapproves.
It doesn't elevate our viewabove God's view.
Those who choose sin, those whochoose fellowship with sinners
over fellowship with Christ donot know what true love is.
(24:42):
True love seeks to rescue thesinner from self-destructing.
That's true love.
True love seeks to bring thatsinner into fellowship with
Jesus Christ with a challenge torepent, not pat him on the back
and say everything's okay, we'regonna love.
(25:12):
Truth.
Well, what has Paul said abouttrue love here?
First, agape is the kind of lovethat doesn't act with envy.
Secondly, agape is the kind oflove that doesn't brag about
itself.
Thirdly, agape is the kind oflove that is not inflated with
(25:33):
its own opinions.
These three, in a variety ofways and in varying degrees, say
the same thing.
True love is love surrendered inhumility to Jesus Christ, his
opinions, his words, his life.
It is refusing to build a towerand put ourselves at the top and
(25:59):
ask that everybody else grovelaround us.
These three descriptions are awarning for those who would
really like to escape the towerthat we naturally construct and
come back down to earth wherepig headed people are converted
(26:24):
into big-hearted servants.
For those who will accept thehumility and the selflessness of
love as Paul has described it.
SPEAKER_00 (27:17):
You can sit down and read it quickly, but it's filled
with practical insight that Godcan use to shape your perception
of love.
Call us today at 866-48 Bible.
Numerically, it's 866-482-4253.
(27:38):
You can also find it foryourself on our website, which
is wisdomonline.org.
I mentioned that Stephen pastorsa church here in North Carolina.
And if your travel plans everbring you this way, please join
us for a Sunday.
Please join us on a Sunday for aworship service.
(27:58):
We'd love to meet you face toface.
Thanks again for listeningtoday.
Join us next time here on Wisdomfor the Heart.
Paul told the church in Corinth, related to this
verb, you can have fellowshipwith that incestuous man, or you
can have fellowship with God.
You cannot have both.
You can have, my friend, thathidden affair with a woman you
work with.
Or you can have God.
(00:28):
You cannot have both.
You can swindle and you cancheat and you can lie.
Or you can have God.
You cannot have both.
SPEAKER_00 (00:52):
Sometimes people think that they can hold on to
their sin and selfishness.
And hold on to God at the sametime.
That's not the case.
Welcome to this broadcast ofWisdom for the Heart with
Stephen Davy.
In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul wroteto the church in Corinth and
described for them and for uswhat true love is like.
(01:17):
Stephen's working his waythrough that passage in this
current series.
Today, we're going to see somethings that true love does not
do.
If you're able to have yourBible open, turn to 1
Corinthians 13 for this messagecalled Refusing to Be Pigheaded.
SPEAKER_01 (01:39):
Paul is going to tell us how love doesn't act,
and he describes a veryunattractive behavior.
He's nearly crashed in hisdescriptive verbs.
One thing's for sure, he tellsit like it is.
(02:00):
And as I studied them, I thedescription that came to my mind
was pig headed and stubborn.
When's the last time you'velooked in the mirror and said,
you are so pig headed?
It's a pretty good exercise todo every once in a while.
(02:20):
What does that mean?
Well, I, as I thought of thatphrase, I went to my library and
pulled a few volumes down andsure enough, found the history
of that phrase.
This expression, pig headed,dates back to the Middle Ages
and the Southeast Asian countrynow known as Indonesia.
This is a legend of a king whohad incredible powers over the
(02:44):
forces of nature and life anddeath.
He could, according to legend,enter a meditative state, and
while in that state, actuallyhave his servant take off his
head with a sharp sword, andthen after a while put it back
on his shoulders, and it wouldmysteriously rejoin without ever
disturbing the king.
So whenever the king wanted toshow off his powers with
dignitaries who were coming, youknow, from afar, awed by this
(03:06):
rather obvious and unique power,he would have his servant lop
off his head with a very sharpsword, and they would all watch
as his head, when replaced ontop of his shoulders,
mysteriously reattached.
The only problem was oneparticular day, with all these
guests around and everybodywatching this display, his
servant uh cut off his head witha little too much enjoyment, a
(03:31):
little too much force, and theking's head rolled into a nearby
river and was washed away.
The servant was frantic.
He didn't know what to do.
He saw a nearby pig and thought,well, that'll work.
So he used the pig's headinstead.
The king came to and was upset,understandably.
He had his servant killed andthen moved his royal residence
(03:54):
up into a high tower where helived out the rest of his life.
He declared an edict that whenanyone was around the tower,
they were never ever allowed tolook up.
They had to keep their eyes onthe ground, lest they look
upward and see the pig-headedking.
(04:19):
Paul is about to reveal theunattractive and ugly side of
people.
A pig-headed people.
People convinced of their ownsuperiority.
And when you're around them,it's best that you look down,
stay quiet, and nobody will gethurt.
(04:42):
And he uses language that we canall immediately understand.
There are no loopholes here,there are no question marks.
Nobody in Corinth or in Kerrycan read this text and say, huh?
What does he mean by that?
In fact, I've chosen to titleour study tonight as practically
(05:03):
as I can.
I'm just going to call itrefusing to be pigheaded people.
Even without knowing the historyof the phrase, you just know
that's not something you want tobe.
How to refuse to be a pig headedperson might just be the
down-to-earth wording that wewon't soon forget.
(05:25):
Now, in our last session, weopened with the two action verbs
in this list of 15.
Remember, these are notadjectives, even though it looks
like they are in yourtranslation.
They are verbs.
So we translated them beginningwith verse 4.
Love exercises patience.
Love demonstrates kindness.
(05:48):
Those are the attractivequalities.
Now he begins to rattle offeight negative statements about
agape, and they are down toearth.
In fact, they are they're inyour face.
There's nowhere to hide.
(06:11):
You could translate it so thatyou could get the flavor of a
verb.
Love does not burn with envy.
One author that I was readingsaid that there are two classes.
This is William Barclay.
He said there are two classes ofpeople in the world, those who
are millionaires and those whowant to be.
Those who have and those thatwant to have.
(06:35):
Well, jealousy, or envy as yourtext might be translated, comes
from the Greek word that meansto boil, to be fervent, to be
passionate.
That's why I translate it.
The problem is this particularperson Paul has in mind is
(06:56):
boiling over with what somebodyelse has and what they have a
fervent desire to have as well.
In fact, it's more than that.
What makes this particular verball that more seriously deviant
is that it refers to not onlywanting something that somebody
else has, but wanting to have itand them not to have it.
(07:20):
Wanting to have what they haveso that they can no longer have
it.
This is jealousy at the deepest,most corrupt, destructive level.
Well, Paul says agape is livingwithout competing.
(07:44):
This love is demonstrated whensomeone is glad that another
person has something that theydon't have but would like it to.
Which means true love iscontentment with what God has
given you.
You're happy with it.
(08:04):
Someone sent me some time agothis rather humorous
tongue-in-cheek poem thatdemonstrates the fickleness of
rather jealous love.
It goes like this Sam's girl isrich and haughty.
My girl is poor as clay.
Sam's girl is young and pretty.
Mine looks like a bale of hay.
(08:24):
Sam's girl is smart and clever.
My girl is dumb but good.
Now, would I trade my girl forSam's girl?
You bet your life I would.
Would you long to trade withsomeone you envy?
You might envy the health ofanother Christian, or their job,
(08:48):
or their physical appearance, ortheir spiritual gifts and
talents.
You might envy their spouse,their children, their position,
their personality.
Ultimately, the jealous persondestroys themselves, they
fracture their own peace of mindand sense of purpose.
(09:12):
Why?
Because their eyes are not onChrist, who is the author and
finisher of our faith, theireyes are on one another.
You know, it's interesting to meto recall that it was to the
Corinthians, the same body ofbelievers, that Paul wrote, When
you compare yourselves withanother, you are not wise.
(09:33):
2 Corinthians 10, verse 12.
And remember here, by the way,as well, ladies and gentlemen,
Paul is not telling theunbeliever in 1 Corinthians 13
to love without envying.
He's telling the believer, whichobviously means it implies then
that we as believers can livejealous, petty, envious, bitter,
(09:55):
clamorous lives.
I told you he would be in ourface.
He would tell it like it is.
This is not agape.
James did the same when hewarned the believer if you have
bitter jealousy and selfishstrife in your heart, do not be
arrogant and so lie against thetruth.
(10:16):
In other words, admit it.
Don't try to get around it.
And then he adds, for wherejealousy exists, there is
disorder and every evil thing.
Jealousy is ultimatelydestructive.
And ultimately we destroyourselves.
(10:37):
Nathaniel Vincent writes, Howmuch of the pit, that is, how
much of hell, is there in thespirit of an envious man?
The happiness of another is hismisery.
The good of another is hisaffliction.
He looks upon the virtue ofanother with an evil eye.
(10:57):
He is as sorry at the praise ofanother as if that praise had
been taken from himself.
Envy makes him a hater of hisneighbor, but his own tormentor.
Now, can you see the wisdom andthe rescuing of his own spirit
(11:22):
from this kind of torment whenJohn the Baptist's disciples
came to him and they said to himin John chapter three, Master,
our followers, they are leavingus and they are going over to
this Christ.
(11:42):
And John the Baptist said, Youremember?
Effectively, we could only hopeas much for he must increase.
And I must what?
Decrease.
True love does not burn withjealousy over something someone
(12:02):
has or is.
True love is love withoutcompeting.
He goes further in verse fourwith the phrase, love does not
brag.
You could understand Paul to besaying love does not go around
shining a spotlight on oneself.
True love does not live to brag.
(12:23):
The one who loves with agape isnot the subject of his own
conversation.
The one who is is merely provinghe is in love with whom?
Himself.
By the way, this word is usednowhere else in the New
Testament in this form thanhere.
It refers to one who literally,simply, talks a lot about
(12:48):
himself.
You'd think that Paul, you know,he's describing, he's speaking
of this grand agape that hewouldn't talk about something
like that.
That just seems so commonplace,so ordinary, so obvious.
But yet he's putting it rightdown here where we can grab it.
(13:08):
A person who is full of himselfis not full of agape, is what
he's saying.
One author added this insight: jealousy is wanting what someone (13:17):
undefined
else has.
Bragging is trying to makeothers jealous of what we have.
Jealousy puts others down.
Bragging builds us up.
This was the trumpet blowing ofthe Pharisees.
They wouldn't do anything.
(13:39):
They wouldn't do anything unlessit was going to be published,
along with their photo in theJerusalem Gazette.
And they never ran out ofmaterial because they were full
of themselves.
They were in love with their ownimage.
They were show-offs, they wereboasters, they arranged so that
the morning and afternoon andevening prayers would find them
at some public intersectionwhere everyone would stop and
(14:00):
pray, but they would be able tobe seen from all four
directions.
Just timed it that way.
When they fasted, they put ashon their face and they moped
around to prove that they wereindeed godly.
They were full of themselves.
They could not be full of agape.
There isn't room in your heartfor both.
(14:23):
The truth is, the braggartdoesn't recognize or realize
that he's actually advertisinghis own emptiness, the
shallowness of his spirit, andultimately his own pride.
Isn't it interesting that we canspot it in somebody else just
like that?
(14:43):
But we don't see it inourselves.
When Paul wrote this text to theCorinthians, they were involved
in spiritual show-off contests.
They were attempting to besteach other with the most
sensational public gifts.
They were after the prestigiousoffices, and they all wanted to
have the microphone wheneverthey met for worship.
(15:04):
They were trying to sort ofoutdo one another and one up
each other in the assembly, andthe result was carnality, the
result was utter chaos.
Earlier in chapter 4, thisletter to the Corinthians, Paul
rebuked their bragging when hewrote, Listen, what do you have?
Listen to Paul's wonderful logicas he tries to help them.
(15:24):
What do you have that you didnot receive?
And if you did receive it, whydo you boast as if you had not
received it?
Same word here.
In other words, if whatever wehave and are are the gifts of
God's grace, shouldn't we allgather around this campus every
(15:46):
time we're around each other andbrag about the grace of God?
Since we have nothing but whatwe've received from the Lord.
No wonder the Apostle Paul said,God forbid that I should glory
except in the cross of our LordJesus Christ, Galatians 6, 14.
(16:12):
It's the only sensible responseto the awareness of whatever you
are, God made you, whatever youhave, God gave you.
I love the way Moffat translatedthis phrase here in your text.
He said, Love makes no parade ofitself.
It never throws a parade in itshonor.
It's good, isn't it?
Here were the Corinthians,petty, boastful, and proud.
(16:34):
They were all living in theirown self-made towers, demanding
that whenever anybody got nearthem, they were to lower their
eyes out of honor and deferenceand respect.
In reality, they were in theprocess of becoming pig-headed
people.
(16:57):
It was nothing less than sheerpig-headed, devilish pride.
Think about it, C.
S.
Lewis wrote, it was pride thatmade the devil the devil.
Paul is making it very clear, ifyou will love others as Christ
loves you, don't live to havewhat they want.
(17:19):
Don't be what they have, don'tbe jealous.
Secondly, don't become yourfavorite topic of conversation.
Don't be a braggart.
Solomon said in Proverbs, letanother man praise you and not
your own lips.
Now he goes on in verse 4 and headds, and don't act with
(17:40):
arrogance.
You see how these three justdovetail nicely together, and I
knew this was this was all weneeded to do.
You could render it.
Love doesn't strut around withan air of superiority.
Your translation may read, loveisn't puffed up.
It's a good translation.
Warren Wearsby once wrote thatman is the only animal that when
(18:04):
you pat him on the back, hishead swells up.
It's good, isn't it?
It's interesting to me, yet sad,that the Corinthians had such an
obvious problem with arrogance.
Now listen to this.
Six out of the seven times thisverb appears in the New
Testament, it appears in thisletter.
(18:24):
J.B.
Phillips translates it well lovedoes not cherish inflated ideas
of its own importance.
This is the man in Luke 18 whoprayed, Oh God, I thank you.
That I am not like other people.
(18:46):
This is a pig headed man.
I'm up in the tower! Oh God,thank you.
That I'm not down with thepeasant below.
One author summarized thisarrogant spirit well when he
wrote arrogant people thinkthey're better than other
(19:08):
people.
They think they know more thanthey actually do.
They consider themselves holierthan others and imagine
themselves more gifted than theyreally are.
They are blind to their ownglaring sins, weaknesses, and
doctrinal errors.
Arrogance blinds our eyes to thetruth.
(19:32):
This is the same word Paul usedto judge the Corinthian church,
the same body for notdisciplining from its membership
the unrepentant man from theassembly who refused to stop his
sexually immoral relationshipwith his stepmother.
He continued his incest, and thechurch thought they were
exceptionally loving.
We are filled with love toinclude him and ignore his sin.
(19:56):
And Paul wrote in chapter 5, youhave become arrogant.
Same word in 1 Corinthians 13.
You have become full ofyourselves.
That's what you are.
You're not tolerant, you're notloving, you're arrogant, you're
proud of your defiance.
(20:16):
And that message needs to bedelivered today.
The church today that believesits tolerance towards sin and
unrepentant sinners are badgesof openness and love, are
actually self-condemned byChrist for arrogance.
I pulled out the newspaper thisweek.
In fact, I was I was overChick-fil-A having my devotions.
(20:42):
Oh, I wasn't having devotions.
I was reading USA today.
And I pulled out this article,sad article, related to the
continuing battle within theEpiscopalian Church relative to
issues of homosexuality.
The article talked about ameeting that had been called
recently.
There's a couple of pictureswith many of the bishops and
(21:05):
church leaders.
The article said the Archbishopof Canterbury himself actually
flew over here and attended,urging the American liberal
bishops to make concessions forthe sake of unity.
Unity, by the way, they believe,must be kept in spite of the
fact that homosexual men arebeing ordained to church
leadership.
Unity that must be preservedwhile same-sex couples are
(21:29):
having their unions blessed withchurch prayers.
The archbishop, in his attemptto keep the church unified, pled
with the liberal bishops to, andI quote, exercise restraint in
approving another gay bishop.
How about exercising discipline?
(21:51):
How about warning of God'sdivine opinion regarding sodomy?
How about standing up for thewords of God regarding man's
relationships and judging anyimmoral sexual activity, whether
it is heterosexual orhomosexual, as both sinful and
(22:11):
forgivable.
For this Christ died.
There is a call for theEpiscopalians to exercise
restraint.
My friends, you do not exerciserestraint regarding sin.
You do not sin in moderation.
Paul writes to the church inCorinth and the church today,
(22:34):
not just Episcopalians, butBaptists and Methodists and
non-denominationalists, andeffectively says you think
you're loving by tolerating sin,you've actually become thusio,
you've actually become arrogant,infatuated with your own
intellectual gymnastics.
You are actually in love withyour defiance.
(22:56):
You are in love with yourautonomy from the Word of God.
You've done nothing less thanelevate your view above God's
view, and you are saying you areloving, which implies God is not
loving.
Paul told the church in Corinth,related to this verb, you can
have fellowship with thatincestuous man, or you can have
(23:20):
fellowship with God.
You cannot have both.
You cannot have both.
The Bible is clear thatunrepentant adulterers go to
(23:44):
hell when they die.
Hebrews 13, 4.
You can swindle and you cancheat and you can lie, or you
can have God.
You cannot have both.
Listen, young people, you canhave sexual activity outside of
(24:08):
marriage, or you can have God.
You cannot have both.
Revelation 21, verse 8.
But they say, I love God.
No, they don't.
They love themselves.
Paul put it this way (24:20):
true love for God and others would not be
arrogant.
It doesn't proudly walk in a waythat God clearly disapproves.
It doesn't elevate our viewabove God's view.
Those who choose sin, those whochoose fellowship with sinners
over fellowship with Christ donot know what true love is.
(24:42):
True love seeks to rescue thesinner from self-destructing.
That's true love.
True love seeks to bring thatsinner into fellowship with
Jesus Christ with a challenge torepent, not pat him on the back
and say everything's okay, we'regonna love.
(25:12):
Truth.
Well, what has Paul said abouttrue love here?
First, agape is the kind of lovethat doesn't act with envy.
Secondly, agape is the kind oflove that doesn't brag about
itself.
Thirdly, agape is the kind oflove that is not inflated with
(25:33):
its own opinions.
These three, in a variety ofways and in varying degrees, say
the same thing.
True love is love surrendered inhumility to Jesus Christ, his
opinions, his words, his life.
It is refusing to build a towerand put ourselves at the top and
(25:59):
ask that everybody else grovelaround us.
These three descriptions are awarning for those who would
really like to escape the towerthat we naturally construct and
come back down to earth wherepig headed people are converted
(26:24):
into big-hearted servants.
For those who will accept thehumility and the selflessness of
love as Paul has described it.
SPEAKER_00 (27:17):
You can sit down and read it quickly, but it's filled
with practical insight that Godcan use to shape your perception
of love.
Call us today at 866-48 Bible.
Numerically, it's 866-482-4253.
(27:38):
You can also find it foryourself on our website, which
is wisdomonline.org.
I mentioned that Stephen pastorsa church here in North Carolina.
And if your travel plans everbring you this way, please join
us for a Sunday.
Please join us on a Sunday for aworship service.
(27:58):
We'd love to meet you face toface.
Thanks again for listeningtoday.
Join us next time here on Wisdomfor the Heart.
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