Kids learn quickly. But they see life and love from their own point of view. Asked what the thought about “falling in love” several children gave these answers:
· Tom, age 5 - Once I’m in kindergarten, I’m going to find me a wife.
· Glenn, 7 - If falling love is anything like learning how to spell, I don’t want to do it. It takes too long.
· Kenny, age 7 - It gives me a headache to think about that stuff. I’m just a kid. I don’t need that kind of trouble.
· Regina, age 10 - I’m not rushing into love. I’m finding fourth grade hard enough.
· Angie, 10 - Most men are brainless, so you might have to try more than once to find a live one.
· Dave, age 8 - Love will find you, even if you are trying to hide from it. I’ve been trying to hide from it since I was five, but the girls keep finding me.
· Manuel, age 8 - I think you’re supposed to get shot with an arrow or something, but the rest of it isn’t supposed to be painful.
That’s how children view love.
But when Paul talked about love to the church at Corinth, he wrote: When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I grew up… I put away childish things.
At most weddings - when I Corinthians 13 is quoted– folks tend to leave that verse out. It just doesn’t sound… romantic. In fact, some might wonder why Paul even put that expression in the middle of such a powerful chapter on love.
Most folks don’t realize Paul didn’t write this chapter for wedding ceremonies.
Paul wrote this chapter for a church.
A church that didn’t understand what love was all about.
A church that was speaking like a child/ thinking like a child/ reasoning like a child.
For those of you that haven’t heard the previous sermons in this series, Corinth was a church that wasn’t a very loving place to be. They didn’t treat each other very nicely on occasion. They argued about all kinds of things. They didn’t share with each other. They would even take fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to court over petty issues.
But at the heart of all the conflicts at Corinth was an issue of pride - and that pride could be summed up by the division their God given gifts were causing in church.
In that day, some of the folks there had the “gift of tongues”.
They could speak in languages they’d never learned…which came in handy because Corinth was an “international” city. It was a major seaport (in fact it had ports that served both the Agean and Ionian Seas). People from all over the known world would stop at this city. And many of these travelers spoke in different languages and dialects.
Having the gift of tongues allowed the Christians there to talk with these travelers about Jesus. And that may explain why this first letter to Corinth (I Corinthians) is the ONLY letter Paul ever wrote that mentions tongues.
So some of the Christians in Corinth had the miraculous ability to speak in tongues and it was a powerful useful gift to have.
Other Christians there had the gift of prophecy.
They could foretell the future.
There’s a story in the book of Acts where a prophet named Agabus (Acts 21) came to Paul and declared to him what was going to happening in his life in the next few months.
Now, this wasn’t like going to a “fortune teller” or consulting a horoscope or Ouija Board. God condemns those kinds of activities. People who use those “tools” are seeking to find out something that God doesn’t want us to know about.
Whereas Horoscopes and Ouija Boards are used by those who want to know what THEY want to know - the prophets in the early church only told the God’s people what GOD wanted them to know
Lastly, I Corinthians 13 talks about the gift of “Knowledge”.
The Bible is not real clear on what this gift entailed, but it would seem the Christians who had this gift could proclaim messages that came directly from God. The writers of the New Testament books might have had this “Gift of knowledge”. Scripture tells us that when the Bible writers composed their books in Scripture, they were carried along by God’s Holy Spirit (II Peter 1:21) and that God “breathed” His word through them (II Timothy 3:16). This ensured that the books of your Bible are without error. There are no mistakes in your Scriptures.
You can trust what has been written.
Now these kinds of gifts were intended to help the early church get on its feet. And I Corinthians tells us that one day they were to cease tells us:
“… where there are prophecies, they will cease;
where there are tongues, they will be stilled;
where there is knowledge, it will pass away.” 13:8
For these reasons (and a few others) congregations like ours believe those gifts are no longer used by God in the church of our day.
But that’s not the focus of my sermon today.
The fact is – in the early church – Christians DID have those gifts.
And apparently the Christians at Corinth were arguing over who had the best gift
· Was it the tongues speakers?
· Was it the prophets?
· Was it the folks who had the gift of knowledge?
These were ALL impressive gifts.
This argument was creating such a stir that word had gotten back to Paul about it. And so Paul devoted nearly a fifth of his letter (I Corinthians) to this very conflict.
Paul’s conclusion was straightforward: There ain’t none of you got the best gift.
In fact their bickering reminded him of a little child.
One commentator gave an interesting insight on Paul’s comments: (derived from Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary)
When I was a child I spoke like a child (tongues)
I thought like a child (prophecy)
I reasoned like a child (the gift of knowledge)
Paul was trying to tell the Corinthians – these gifts aren’t anything.
They’re just tools.
God gave you those gifts so you could build up HIS kingdom – not yours! Your gifts don’t impress God… because He gave them to you to begin with.
ILLUS: I love to sing. I’m part of a Gospel quartet and people will sometimes compliment me on my voice. That’s always encouraging and pleasing to hear… but I always try to remind folks – the ability to sing that I have isn’t based on anything I can brag about. It’s not like I took a pill, or took classes or developed my voice through training. It’s a precious gift, but I can’t brag about it because I did nothing to deserve it. I’m just grateful God has given me ways to make use of that gift for Him.
That’s what Paul is reminding the Corinthians about. These are gifts. They didn’t deserve them and they didn’t earn them. God gave them. They were tools and nothing more.
BUT (Paul’s telling them) if you REALLY want to impress God – if you really want to do something that will get God’s attention - what you need to do is compete with each other to lay hold of the greater gifts.
What are those “greater gifts?”
Faith, Hope and Love. I Corinthians 13:13
So let’s look at these three “greater gifts” one at a time.
I. Why is Faith such a great thing?
Hebrews 11:6 tell us “…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
You can’t even get started in pleasing God if you don’t have faith. Faith is WAY more important that any of the “miraculous” gifts the early church had. In fact, when James was writing to the church of his day, he noticed that they tended to fawn over the rich and famous who might attend their worship. But James explains that the poorest man with faith is wealthier the richest man on earth: “Listen, my dear brothers: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?” James 2:5
The problem with many of people - who have great gifts/ great power/ great riches - is that they tend to rely on those items to measure their success.
ILLUS: I’ve seen it with some of the Charismatics (though not all of them) I’ve encountered. As long as they have the ability to speak in tongues, they feel secure. But without the tongues, their faith can quickly crumble. That’s because their faith is in the supposed gift they say they have. That’s where their confidence is - and not so much in God.
But this problem isn’t just limited to some Charismatics.
There are people who’s faith is based on God supplies their needs
· If they have a job
· If they’re successful in life
· If they have no problems in their family
· If all their prayers are answered the way they want them to be.
As long as these tangible rewards are theirs, their faith is strong. But if these things are taken from them, they weaken and crumble.
True faith isn’t based upon spiritual gifts or abilities.
Nor is it based on success or riches or answered prayers.
True faith is based upon the belief that God exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”
If we don’t have that kind of faith then – odds are - we really don’t believe in God. We may have been living our lives in such a way that as long as God gives us the majority of what we want, we’re willing to take a chance on Him. But only as long as He does as WE think He should.
ILLUS: A preacher was new to a town in Florida and had dropped by a dry-cleaning establishment on the far side of the town to pick up a suit. "That will be $5.50," the woman behind the counter said.
"Oh," replied the preacher. "I only have $5. And I really need to take the suit with me now. Would it be alright if I came back later with the rest?"
"Yes," she replied "I’ll trust for the 50 cents." Thankfully, the preacher headed for the door. And then a thought struck him and he returned to the counter.
"I’m curious," he said. "You just said you would trust me for 50 cents. What if I had only the 50 cents... would you have trusted me for the $5?"
"Oh, no," she replied, "I couldn’t have done that!"
"So, what you are really saying is that you didn’t really trust me but you were willing to take a chance for 50 cents?"
True faith is GREATER than even the greatest spiritual gift.
We might lose the tangible blessings from God, but no one can take our faith away from us. And it’s this faith that strengthens us and gets God’s attention and approval.
II. Then Paul told the Corinthians that Hope was greater than the gifts they argued over.
In Ephesians Paul told us that, before we became Christians, we “…were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, WITHOUT HOPE and without God in the world.” Ephesians 2:12
Hope is vital part of every Christian’s life.
ILLUS: A former Air Force Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) Instructor, sent in what has been called the rule of threes:
“You can survive 3 weeks without food;
3 days without water;
3 hours without shelter;
3 minutes without air,
but not three seconds without hope.”
Hope is a powerful emotion.
And God knows we need Hope in our lives… or we’ll perish
ILLUS: Viktor Frankl was a Jew who had lived in Nazi Germany. He was arrested and sent to a Nazi death camp, and there he watched men live in inhuman conditions, saw many stronger than he wither and die, and learned lessons about survival.
One of the key things he observed was the power of hope.
Those who had hope could survive almost anything;
But those who didn’t, died.
As Frankl put it, "The prisoner who had lost faith in the future -- his future -- was doomed. With his loss of belief in the future, he also lost his spiritual hold; he let himself decline and became subject to mental and physical decay."
Hope is powerful emotion.
But it also is an unusual emotion.
Romans 8:24-25 tells us “… hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
Hope is hope ONLY if its in something not seen.
The problem for the Corinthians was that they were all wrapped in what they could see. They were arguing over the importance of gifts that were obvious. Speaking in tongues, prophesying, or explain the mysteries of God - these were showy gifts. And these gifts attracted the attention of the Corinthian Christians mostly because they were something they could see.
But Hope was greater than even the greatest of their spiritual gifts, because – while the Corinthians could live and serve God without those other gifts… they couldn’t do so without Hope.
III. Lastly, Paul says that Love was greater than the special gifts Corinth had.
In fact, he says: “… these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13
Love was not just greater than the spiritual gifts the Corinthians enjoyed – it was greater than even faith and hope. But let’s start with Paul’s assertion that love was greater than their spiritual gifts. Why would that be?
Well, it was because those spectacular spiritual gifts – given by God to the early Christians - only served to make them more focused on themselves and their own pride. And in spite of all their spiritual superiority they’d missed the most important quality God wanted them to have in their lives.
Love one another.
Jesus said: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” John 13:34
In Romans 13:8 Paul wrote: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellow-man has fulfilled the law.”
James wrote: “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right.” James 2:8
And John wrote: “If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” 1John 4:20-21
So love was greater than their spiritual gifts… but
Love is greater than faith?
But I thought it was impossible to please God without faith!
Indeed – it is.
And Paul isn’t intending to say that faith isn’t important. Instead he’s telling us that when weighed in the balance, love had more weight in God’s eyes than even our faith (what we believe).
And that’s easily seen.
Let’s say you go to another community and start attending another church. And let us say that they believe exactly as we do. In fact, their theology may be even purer and more Biblical than ours. But then you find that they don’t like you. In fact, they don’t like much of anyone who isn’t quite like them. They have no love for anyone outside their particular group.
Their faith – what they believe - is pure. But their ability to love others isn’t.
But how can love be greater than hope?
We can’t survive as Christians without our hope.
But Paul isn’t saying that love replaces hope in our lives. He’s simply telling us that when weighed in the balance love has more weight in God’s eyes than even the hope we have. And that’s because hope can only help you see the light in your own life
But love makes it so that you share that light with others.
ILLUS: Let me close with this story that illustrates my point:
Back in 1994 in Oceanside, CA doctors discovered a lymphoma in 5th grader Ian O’Gorman’s small intestine. They operated and removed a malignant tumor and then began an 8 week chemotherapy treatment.
Back in his 5th grade class, 10-year-old Kyle Hanslik realized that Ian would lose all of his hair. "The last thing he would want is to not fit in, to be made fun of” Kyle said, and he began to talk to the other boys in the class. Then (with their parents permission) all 13 boys in the class went down to the barbershop and had their heads shaved so their sick friend wouldn’t feel out of place.
The boys’ teacher, Jim Alter, was so inspired that he, too, shaved his head.
When they visited young Ian in the hospital, he knew they cared for him.
Now my point is this:
Those boys and their teacher had FAITH in the doctors.
They HOPED for their friend’s recovery.
But what made the real difference for little Ian was that they LOVED him so much they were willing to do something to show him how much they cared.
Now these remain: Faith, Hope and Love. But the greatest of these is Love.
