The Gospel Project® for Adults
4 Love is patient, love is kind.
Love does not envy, is not boastful,
is not arrogant,
5 is not rude, is not self-seeking,
is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.
6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness
but rejoices in the truth.
7 It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Verses 4-5 (the bold words fill in blanks
Love is active and considers the other person
above ourselves at every opportunity.
Verses 6-7 (the bold words fill in blanks
It is impossible to love perfectly this side of heaven,
but as we look to Jesus’s love and example for us,
we can be empowered to love better.
Pack Item 12: God’s Love Hymn:
Pass out copies of this hymn and sing it together
as a reminder of the wonderful love of God
embodied in Jesus Christ for our salvation.
Because God, out of His great love,
has sacrificed of Himself for us,
we are to love others and sacrifice greatly
on their behalf.
From the Bible passages in this session,
we see that God desires that we be united
and love one another.
Unity and love are central to the life of a healthy church
and to faithful followers of Jesus.
Paul showed us that love is foundational
to every spiritual gift that believers are equipped with.
If we do not have love, then our gifts will not be used
to honor God and build others up.
Love involves action.
In fact, our actions will demonstrate
if we have the spiritual fruit of love in our lives.
When we realize how much God has loved us in Christ,
we will seek to love and forgive others.
God is not calling us to do something that He was unable to do Himself.
God has loved and forgiven us in Christ.
Therefore, we should love and forgive one another.
God has sacrificed greatly on our behalf.
His love was costly; it cost Jesus His life.
So we are to love others with a sacrificial love
modeled after God’s love for us.
Love often entails sacrifice,
and we see that in the cross of Jesus Christ.
There will be times when we have to love others in a costly way,
but we do so because we are following in the steps of our Savior,
in the way that He loves us.
“Love, and do what thou wilt: whether thou hold thy peace,
through love hold thy peace; whether thou cry out,
through love cry out; whether thou correct,
through love correct; whether thou spare,
through love do thou spare:
let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring
but what is good.” 4
– Augustine (354-430)
1. Donald G. Bloesch, “Expiation, Propitiation,” Holman Bible Dictionary, gen. ed. Trent C. Butler, (Nashville: B&H, 2008) [WordSearch/Logos].
2. Ray Van Neste, 1 John, ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 455.
3. Jen Wilkin, In His Image (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 38.
4. Augustine of Hippo, “Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John,” in St. Augustine: Homilies on the Gospel of John, Homilies on the First Epistle of John, Soliloquies, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. H. Browne and Joseph H. Myers, vol. 7, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1888), 504.
5. Colin G. Kruse, The Letters of John, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: Eerdmans; Apollos, 2000), 157.
6. Mark Taylor, 1 Corinthians, ed. E. Ray Clendenen, vol. 28, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group, 2014), 303.