2020 VISION: RADICAL LOVE - Love is Kind - sermon outline (a blogpost for a sermon to be preached at Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, on January 26, 2020)

2020 VISION: RADICAL LOVE - Love is Kind - 1 Corinthians 13 - January 26, 2020

Prayer

INTRODUCTION

Love is patient.
Love comes from God.
God is love.

Christianity is not about getting better.  It is about being transformed.

They will know you are my disciples by your love.

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭13:1-13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I.  LOVE IS KIND

A.  Active

Passively it endures; actively it does good. It endures evils; it confers blessings.

1.  Patience is passive.
2.  Kindness is an action verb.

B.  All encompassing.

II.  THE LOST ART OF KINDNESS

““Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-30‬ ‭NIV‬‬

A.  Courteous
William Tyndale "Love is courteous."
B.  Gentle
C.  Polite
D.  Tender
E.  Affectionate

III.  BARRIERS TO KINDNESS

A.  Selfishness
B.  Anger
C.  Unforgiveness
D.  Bitterness

CHALLENGE

Read 1 Corinthians 13 every day.  Continue to work on memorizing 1 Corinthians 13:4.   Who is the most kind person you have ever known.  Do your best impression of that person this week.  I want you to literally ask yourself how that person would demonstrate kindness in "this" real world situation and impersonate them.