If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  1 Corinthians 13

1. Love is patient
2. Love is kind
3. Love does not envy (not jealous)
4. Love does not boast
5. Love is not arrogant (filled with pride)

Tonight

6. Love is not rude

A. Rudeness Manifested:

Improper speech: grace-less & self-exalting

1. Excessive talk centered on oneself, circumstances, service: Proverbs 10:19, Proverbs 27:2

2. Listening to people without hearing people: James 1:19

3. Harsh, rash and cutting language: Prov. 12:18

Improper in our actions: Christ-less and self-serving

1. Disinterested in the interests of others: Philippians 2:19-21

2. Disengaged in meeting the needs of others: Luke 10:29-32

B. Rudeness Prevented:

1. Continual pursuit of a life controlled by the love of Christ: 2 Corinthians 5:14

2. See people through the eyes of Jesus

The Lost: Matthew 9:36

The Saved: John 10:14-15

3. Remember in every encounter with every person we represent Christ: 2 Corinthians 5:20, 1 Peter 2:9

4. Realize the power of kindness to open gospel doors of opportunities: Acts 10:30-33, Matthew 5:14-16

5. Think how we desire to be treated by people: Matthew 7:12