Revering the Word
1 Cor. 13 The “Love” chapter seen in its proper context.
Good morning everyone. This morning we are in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. As I have spoken about in the previous podcast, I think it's really important to listen to this chapter with the teaching from 1 Corinthians 12 and with 14. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and 14, the focus is on spiritual gifts. But in 1 Corinthians 13, right smack in the middle, Paul, really in talking about spiritual gifts, inserts this chapter because it's important. And here's what was going on. Recall that the Corinthians, who lived in a very immoral city, a very sexual immoral city, and struggled with their own issues in the church and with their own immorality, divisions, and things of that nature, they wanted to excel. It appears in spiritual gifts. So they wanted to advance, I would say maybe even perhaps beyond their maturity in spiritual gifts. And after Paul introduces the topic of spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 and he's going to get further deeper into it in the next chapter. In the middle, he gives this chapter and it's really in response to the spiritual gifts discussion that he was having prior. And here's what he's saying because of, I believe, their immaturity and the problems they had in their church. And yet their focus on advancing in spiritual gifts, which wouldn't be a bad thing, but it can be if you're trying to advance beyond your own maturity and some of the own problems, other problems that they had. So here's what he's saying, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I become a noisy gong or a clanging symbol." And here's where Paul, again, is correcting this church and he's saying, "Listen, if you're trying to advance in all these things, which I'm not saying in itself is bad, but if you're not actually exuding Christ-like character in your person, but yet you're trying to run along in spiritual gifts, you're missing the boat. Basically, your advancement in these areas without having the character and love of God, you're being like a noisy gong and a clanging symbol. You'd better off stopping for a moment and growing in your own Christian character and your love of one another and your love of God versus just trying to advance in these things without having your whole being reflect that you're a believer and follower of Jesus. Verse two, "If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." And he's encapsulating the other gifts that he's mentioned in the previous chapter and he's like, "You know what? If you had all of these and you were excelling in all of them, but you did not have love, you'd really be missing of the boat." You know, as Jesus said in the Gospel of John, people will know you because of your love. You'll know your my disciple because you have love for one another. And man, what a wonderful word that is and what a challenging and convicting word. I do want to make a comment about this and you know, this is something frankly it's a it's a work an endeavor needs to be an endeavor in my own life to love more and love better and Lord help me, you know. I mean that, but I want to make sure briefly as we cover this excellent chapter that we are not using the world's definition of love because the world's definition of love is never to say what someone's doing wrong, it's never to have conviction with sin, it's to basically accept everything the way anyone wants it to be accepted and and that and they call that love. So love is never to say that I'm doing something wrong according to the world today and that's not that's not love. You know, if you love your child and your child is running across the road after a ball, you're gonna yell, scream at them to stop. If you have to, you're gonna sweep them aggressively from the road so that they don't get hit by a car. You may significantly warn them and tell them what they did was not good and so that they don't do it again. You may discipline someone you love, a child you love because if not, they'll grow up not having discipline and get in kinds of trouble in their lives and so so correction and rebuke and correction can be loving. Now we need to speak the truth with love but to believe that love is somehow acceptance of whatever someone thinks is right even when it's not of the Lord and not of God and not of His Word, that is not that's not love. That's a false love and that's not what we're to have. However, I think sometimes believers who believe like I do about the Word of God can be good about the truth but lacking in love and you know I don't want that to be me and I don't want it to be us and sometimes I think it has been and I want to have both really strong or I don't want to have the truth strong but I want to have love be there speaking the truth with love. May our words be presented in love even when we're standing in true with Hallelujah and if I give all my possessions to feed the poor and if I surrender my body to be burned but do not have love it profits me nothing. Showing how significant not only the Apostle Paul but God this being inspired by God has writing in the words of Jesus to recorded very eloquently about the fact that we need to love one another by all this men will know you are my disciples if you love one another and then he starts getting into really the fruit of the Spirit which love is a fruit of the Spirit and some of these things are fruit to the Spirit as well we can read about those in Galatians chapter 5 the fruit of the Spirit and that's important too think about that you know the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness and self-control isn't it interesting like you know if you were in a charismatic circle or Pentecostal circle where they're really wanting to advance and spiritual gifts you know the gifts that we should really make sure we're also trying to be advancing as gifts of the Spirit I mean fruit fruit of the Spirit love joy peace patience let's make sure we're excelling in those and that's what he's gonna say here love is patient love is kind listen they they got in a lot of divisions in the church in Corinth and he's saying like your divisions you're trying to advance in these spiritual gifts but yet there's divisions among you and he says here it is not jealous love does not brag and is not arrogant it does not act unbecomingly and he's saying you know what Corinthians you've actually done these things I mean he's not saying this directly right now but I believe he's trying to point out to them that you know your character needs to line up with the ways of God it loved does not seek its own it is is not provoked it does not take into an account a wrong suffered listen to that and I think a lot of these things are are teaching them about the division they had that they're not really being loving towards one another it does not rejoice in unrighteousness that is love it doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness but listen to this and this is so important and this is so often forgotten when we talk about love but it rejoices with the truth it rejoices with the truth there you have it the very thing I was trying to teach just moments ago about the truth and love right here in 1 Corinthians 13 the love chapter it says that love rejoices with the truth not in sinfulness not in going against the ways of God doesn't rejoice in that it rejoices in truth and then it says love the topic here bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things you can love people even you disagree with and that's really important you know as it turns out you know I have a child not following the ways of God it's very saddened to me two of my children are one is doing things not according to the Word of God in fact I woke up at you know 315 this morning to hug him goodbye and tell him that I love him as he heads back home because he was home for the weekend here and love love we love people even we disagree with that's the way the Bible teaches us love never fails but if there are gifts of prophecy they will be done away with and now this is the part of the chapter that cessationists and I mentioned this in the in the write-up of the previous podcast in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 there's some good articles you can read if you go to got questions or even just search on your browser got questions cessationism or continuation church on what our church believes that come to the crossing dot or come to the crossing dot org but you can read about some good summaries of what it means to be a continuationist mean the gifts of the Spirit are still operating today and a cessationist meaning some of the gifts have ceased and the main argument for that is is this passage here love never fails but if there are gifts of prophecy they will be done away with if there are tongues they will cease if there is knowledge it will be done away now isn't that interesting if there is knowledge it'll be done away do the people who think that all prophecy in the broader definition that I've you know used that is the true definition that we talked about in chapter 12 where prophecy is not just predicting the future but it can be foretelling the things of God talking about God's purposes it can be correction and rebuke it could be speaking speaking on behalf of God but not in that way that's going to make a new word again we're not I'm not we don't people today aren't gonna make a new word of God like we're reading the word of God now but people can speak forth the purposes of God and it's not always prophetic in the sense that it's foretelling some kind of future event that is what is meant also by prophecy not just the foretelling a future events but what I mentioned so did that have to go away too does knowledge have to go away when you're looking at it says that tongue ceased here did are these other things cease then - that's I think it's a stretch to say that that means that in our day and age all this is ceased and sometimes then we pick on one thing to be ceased I have not heard someone speak in a foreign language in a sense like they did in the book of Acts and then someone else understand what that foreign language is I have not I've seen people attempt to do that I've seen times where maybe people did but I don't question whether it's real however I do know quite a few people that pray in a tongue we're gonna get into that in first Corinthians chapter 14 the next chapter and we'll talk more about that but I do know people who do that and I do think it's genuine and it doesn't have to be public it doesn't have to be out loud and it doesn't have to be and shouldn't be in front of the church and Paul talks about that in the next chapter and I don't believe we have to believe that that has been done away with or ceased and Paul certainly in his day didn't think it was ceased and we'll see that in the next chapter verse nine for we know in part and we prophesy in part but when the perfect comes now that's interesting because some people will say that it says then the partial will be done away with some people believe that when the word of God was written that was the perfect I don't think there's really strong evidence for that but that's what some people will say when the perfect comes they're saying well that's the word of God and when it came and it was perfect then the partial things went away but again it to make a case for cessationism based on that I don't think it's a very strong case when I was a child I used to speak like a child think like a child in reason like a child now isn't that interesting the Apostle Paul in correcting I believe this church in a lot of error he's like don't be children in these things you know grow up in these things when I became a man I did away with childish things and he's like Corinthians you guys need to put away childish things for now we see in a mirror dimly but then face-to-face now he talks about when the perfect comes I think that's gonna be relate to the return of Jesus Christ versus the word of God because it seems like he's talking about the same topic there for for now we see in a mirror dimly but then face-to-face when we see a face-to-face when Jesus comes back that's why I don't think that previous passage is regarding the word for now we see in a mirror dimly but then face-to-face now I know in part but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known and that interesting we're fully known by God but we know God in part right now but one day we're gonna know him fully and see him face-to-face hallelujah what a great word that is verse 13 but now faith hope love abide or remain these three but the greatest of these is love the greatest of these is love God desires us to love now when it says the greatest that doesn't mean it's the only and that doesn't mean it should be the only and I have seen this be erroneous in people too they say well I'm gonna insert my definition of love and as long as I'm doing love that I'm doing the things of God well that's not true because love rejoices with the truth and we have to have faith in Jesus there's people who seek to be loving and maybe don't even have faith in Jesus and aren't born again and that faith is important too and hoping the future and hope and heaven is important too yes hallelujah the greatest of these is love but it doesn't mean that God wants you to only love or only have your definition of love he wants you to have faith in him as the Lord of his life as well and to rejoice in the truth so we shouldn't use that out of context or incorrectly that the greatest means it's the only but hallelujah let's not forget that the Lord God wants us to love one another and our message of truth will be so much better received when it's held in the vase of love oh God help us to love like you in all the right ways God not in our own way but in your way Lord fill us God through the power of your Holy Spirit with your love and isn't it interesting that in the midst of two chapters 1 Corinthians 12 and 14 on spiritual gifts he's like hey Corinthian church I know you're trying to excel in spiritual gifts but make sure you're being a man or woman of God who has love God bless you all