Prepared for Sabbath School on August 15.
Photograph by William Earnhardt
Key Text: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13, NIV).
Read in Class: 1 John 4:8 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-7.
Study: How does Paul describe love? How does Paul describe God? If God is love, then is 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 describing God Himself?
Apply: Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 again, this time using your own name in the place of the word love or charity. How did it sound this time? What areas might we all need to grow in order to reflect this type of love?
Share: Paul mentions that speaking without love is just making a lot of noise. Can you share a time when someone shared a Biblical truth with you without love and how that sounded to you, compared to when someone shared a truth with you with a lot of love?
Read in Class: 1 Corinthians 13:8-13 and Matthew 24:12.
Study: Why is love greater than anything else? How is Paul’s definition of love different from the world’s definition of love? If Matthew 24:12 tells us that sin abounds because love grows cold, how does obedience to the law help us revive that love?
Apply: Paul describes not thinking as a child when he became a man by talking about how we love. How was your love childish and selfish when you first met Jesus, and how has it grown since? Why is it so important to our marriages and our church relationships to have a mature love instead of a childish, selfish love?
Share: Share where you have seen true, genuine love in the last week or so.
Read in Class: John 13:34-35 and 1 John 3:16,
Study: How was Jesus’ commandment new, and how exactly does He want us to love each other? How literally should we take the command to lay down our lives for others? Especially when we have our own dreams, hopes, and ambitions?
Apply: Read Exodus 32:32 and Romans 9:1-3. How far were Moses and Paul willing to go in literally laying down their lives for others? Were they only willing to lay down their lives for those who would also lay down their lives for them? How about you?
Share: Can you share the greatest sacrifice someone has made for you that really made you feel loved?
Read in Class: 1 John 4:7-12, 19-21.
Study: If a church teaches the truth about the Sabbath, the state of the dead, and the health message but does not practice love, is it still theologically correct? Why or why not?
Apply: Wintley Phipps once said, “The love you have for God is no stronger than the love you have for the person on earth whom you love the least.” Do you agree, and if so, how comfortable does that make you right now? What changes might we need to ask God to help us make?
Share: What is your main takeaway from this week’s lesson?
Mission: Can you write a love letter to someone this week, reminding them how much God loves them and how much you love them too?
