Soma Spokane Sermons

Chapter 13 is both a beautiful celebration of love and a visceral gut-punch for the church. Paul writes this chapter as a rebuke to a church that is a mess: While the Corinthians were highly gifted, they lacked the kind of Spirit-wrought character that showed true evidence of conversion to Christ. Gifts, ministry, and service - when divorced from love - are of zero profit and do not evidence a true work of the Spirit. Paul is telling the church they must excel in character in a way that mirrors their strength of gifting or they are risk spiritual bankruptcy.FOR REFLECTION:1. Read 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. What is your first impression of the passage? How have you typically heard or understood it?2. What difference does it make to see the chapter as a challenge or rebuke to the Corinthians ways of relating?3. Read the list of traits of love - what agape really is - ask the Spirit to bring clarity and conviction. What is the Spirit saying about your love?4. What would you say your community and our Soma family is