4WF Week 1: 13:13 - LOVE PT. 2

13:13 - Week 4: Love (Part 2)

February 22nd-28th


Open with Prayer: Invite the Holy Spirit to be present, illuminate the Scriptures, and have Jesus’ will done today in the group.
 
Read Together (5 minutes):

  • Read 1 Corinthians 13 together.


Read this Overview to the Group:
You might be wondering why we are talking about LOVE again for a second straight week. If we think about the topic of love, it is covered across scripture and is heavily emphasized in the Bible. Last week we talked about the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2 and how they had abandoned the love they had for God in the beginning. We discussed specifically our love for God and returning to the things that helped spur on our love for God in the first place. This week we will be looking at the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 and talking about our love for people. Loving people was a huge part of Jesus’ ministry! Just as Jesus loved others so well, we are also called to love others in our own lives. In Mark, we read that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. We then read that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. 1 Corinthians 13 talks all about how to properly show love to one another. I want to talk specifically about verses 4-7. Now I’m not sure how many weddings you all have been to throughout your lives but I’m sure you have heard verses 4-7 at at least one of those weddings. It says,

 

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV).

 

While these four verses may be repetitive for some of us, I think there is some major significance to them. We have talked in weeks past about how faith and hope can be considered verbs. One thing I love about the above verses is that they really emphasize the fact that LOVE is also a verb! In verse 7, we see that love takes action in how it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. I think we can learn from these verses how we can love and show love in our lives. Yet, loving is not always easy. We are called to love the ones who are hard to love as well.

Matthew 5:43-48 says,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 43-48 ESV).

It is important that we love even when it is hard, even when we don’t feel like it. The biblical call to love is a higher standard than what this world calls us to. We must love in such a way that resembles Christ and includes everything that Paul talks about here in 1 Corinthians 13. Remembering that, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”


Talk Together (10+ minutes): In group ask the following questions:

  • When considering verses 1 Cor. 13:4-7, how have you seen love like this be demonstrated in your life? Maybe someone loved you in a way like this or you saw someone love someone else like this. Share about that with the group.

  • Reflecting on Matthew 5:43-48, talk about a time in your life when you had to choose to love someone who was hard to love. You don’t have to be too specific or name names but share with the group about your experience.

  • Who is God calling you to love today and how can you practically love them? This might not be just one person, maybe it is a group of people. Maybe it’s your family, your friend group, your colleagues and co-workers, your nursing cohort, your basketball team, etc. We all have different people in our lives with different circumstances, but we are ultimately called to love each and every one of them.


Dive In (10+ minutes): *If possible, put on some instrumental worship music in the background for this part*

  • Take a few minutes to be quiet before God (if you’re able and willing, open your hands in a receiving posture). Ask the Holy Spirit to make Himself known and to speak to each person in the room.

  • Consider that last question asked. Who is God calling you to love today and how can you practically love them? Take the next 5 minutes to be quiet before the Lord, listen to and ask him who that might be and how might you go about doing it.

    • Write down the person/people God is placing on your heart and pray for them.

  • Once you have finished this, share whatever the Lord spoke to you with the group.


This Week’s Practice:

  • Use this week to love the person that the Holy Spirit placed on your heart. Ask the Lord throughout your week to help guide you in loving that person just like Paul instructs and encourages us to in 1 Corinthians 13.

Close Your Time in Prayer.

A Message from the Life Groups Coordinator:

Thank you all for your time and investment into 4 Week Focus this last month! I pray it was a beneficial and fruitful time for all of you. I am so thankful to already be hearing how it has impacted some of you, and I can’t wait to hear more of those stories going forward! May we never forget this important message in 1 Corinthians 13:13. My prayer is that we may always have faith, hope, and love in our relationship with Christ for the rest of our lives. May God bless you all as you continue to meet in your life group for the rest of this semester and even beyond that.

Yours truly, Matthew Schaefer (Life Groups Coordinator)