How Do Faith, Hope, and Love Work Together?

Faith Hope and Love.

Some things in Scripture were never meant to be separated.

Throughout our Stronger Together series, we’ve looked at spiritual truths that become stronger
when they’re woven together. We began with knowledge, discernment, and action. Then we
looked at prayer, fasting, and giving.

This week, Pastor Justin took us to 1 Corinthians 13 for perhaps the greatest threefold cord of
them all:

Faith. Hope. Love.

Paul writes, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

These aren’t simply three nice qualities Christians should try to develop. Together, they reveal
what a life rooted in Jesus should look like.

Why Does Paul Talk About Love Between Two Chapters About Spiritual Gifts?

First Corinthians 13 is often called the “love chapter.”

We hear it at weddings. We see its words on signs and artwork. However, its placement in
Scripture matters.

Chapter 12 discusses spiritual gifts.
Chapter 14 discusses spiritual gifts.

And right between them sits an entire chapter about love.

That’s not an interruption.

It’s the centerpiece.

The Corinthian church had become focused on which spiritual gifts were greatest. Paul
redirected their attention to something more important.

Spiritual gifts matter, but they were never supposed to become the goal.

Without love, even prophecy, faith, generosity, sacrifice, and spiritual gifts miss their intended
purpose.

The goal isn’t to fall in love with the gifts.

It’s to fall in love with the God who gives them.

Faith Believes God

The first strand is faith.

Faith isn’t simply believing that God exists.

Faith believes God.

It trusts that God is who He says He is, even when circumstances suggest otherwise.

There will be moments when feelings tell us one thing while God’s Word tells us another. There
will be prayers that don’t seem answered, situations we don’t understand, and seasons where
God’s plan feels impossible to see.

Faith still says, “I know who my God is.”

That’s why faith is so closely connected to God’s character. The more we know Him, the more
confidently we can trust Him.

What Does Faith Look Like When Life Doesn’t Make Sense?

Faith doesn’t mean pretending difficult circumstances aren’t real.

It means trusting God’s character in the middle of them.

Pastor Justin shared personally about losing a child and the overwhelming grief he and Pastor
Cassie experienced. Yet in one of the darkest moments of their lives, they experienced God’s
presence in a way they would never forget.

Looking back, he could testify that God had never left them.

That is what faith gives us.

When today’s circumstances make us question what God is doing, we can look backward and
remember what He’s already done.

His past faithfulness gives us confidence to trust Him with what we cannot yet see.

Hope Expects God

If faith says, “I believe God,” hope says, “I’m expecting God.”

Biblical hope isn’t wishful thinking.

It’s not crossing our fingers and hoping everything somehow works out.

Hope is confident expectation rooted in the character of God.

We may not know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow.

That distinction matters.

When our hope depends on circumstances, circumstances can take it away.
When our hope depends on money, financial difficulty can take it away.
When our hope depends on people, disappointment can take it away.

But when our hope is built on Jesus, we have an anchor that remains secure even when
everything around us changes.

What Happens When We Lose Hope?

When people lose hope, they often become stuck.

They stop expecting anything to change.
They stop believing their circumstances can be different.

Eventually, they can become spiritually paralyzed.

That’s exactly why the enemy wants to steal our hope.

Jesus, however, offers something different.

He reminds us that our present circumstances don’t get to write the ending of our story.
If the story isn’t good yet, God isn’t finished.

Hope keeps us moving when circumstances tell us to quit.

Why Is Love the Greatest?

Then Paul introduces the third strand.

Love.

And he makes a remarkable statement:

The greatest of these is love.

Why?
Because love isn’t merely something God does.

Love is who God is.

One day, faith will become sight.
One day, hope will become reality.

We’ll stand before Jesus and see the One we’ve trusted and hoped for.

But love will continue.
We will still love God.
We will still love one another.
Love never ends.

That’s why Christian maturity can’t be measured only by what spiritual gifts someone possesses
or how much Scripture someone knows.

The character of Christ should increasingly become visible through the way we love.

Spiritual Gifts Should Flow Through Love

The context of 1 Corinthians 13 gives us an important warning.

It’s possible to become more interested in spiritual experiences than spiritual character.

We can pursue miracles.
We can pursue gifts.
We can pursue power.

But Pastor Justin challenged the church to keep those things in their proper place.

We don’t pursue the gifts instead of God.

We pursue God.

As we grow in faith, hope, and love, the Holy Spirit is free to work through His people according
to His purposes.

Instead of chasing miracles, pursue the God of miracles.

Faith Believes. Hope Expects. Love Serves.

This is where the three strands become practical.

Faith believes.
Hope expects.
Love serves.

Faith without love can become cold and disconnected from people.

Hope without love can become focused entirely on what we want God to do for us.

Love without faith loses its foundation.

But when all three are woven together, they produce something stronger.

We trust God.

We expect Him to remain faithful.

And while we’re waiting, we love and serve the people around us.

Who Are You Intentionally Loving?

It’s easy to say we love people.

The harder question is:

Who are you intentionally loving like Jesus right now?

Who are you encouraging?
Who are you praying for?
Who are you walking through life with?

Who received a text from you this week simply because you wanted them to know they’re seen,
loved, and prayed for?

Love doesn’t simply feel.
Love moves.
Love serves.
Love shows up.

As a church committed to moving forward together, we’re called to do more than share a
building on Sunday morning. We’re called to genuinely walk with one another throughout the
week.

The World Needs All Three

The world is running low on faith.
People don’t know what to believe.
The world is running low on hope.

People are discouraged, anxious, and afraid.

And the world is running low on genuine love.

Much of what passes for love today lasts only as long as the relationship remains convenient or
beneficial.

The Church should look different.

We should be rooted so deeply in Jesus that faith, hope, and love overflow from our lives into
the people around us.

Because we cannot give people something we don’t have.

Closing

So ask yourself three questions.

Faith: What am I trusting God for?

Hope: What am I expecting God to do?

Love: Who am I intentionally loving like Jesus?

Maybe your faith has been shaken.
Maybe you’ve stopped expecting anything to change.

Or maybe you’ve spent so much time focused on your own circumstances that you’ve stopped
seeing the people God has placed around you.

Come back to the foundation.

Believe God.
Expect God.
Love people.

Because when faith, hope, and love are braided together and rooted in Jesus Christ, they
produce the kind of spiritual fruit the world desperately needs.

And of these three, the greatest is still love