I'm so glad you have joined us this morning on this, what feels like the first day of
summer in our church and in our church life, and especially a warm welcome to all of you
who have joined us from the Ethiopian Eritrean ministry.
We are so glad that you have joined us this morning.
This past weekend, a week ago now, I had the privilege of going to my 25th college reunion
which means 25 years ago I graduated, which now makes me feel very old, but it was a
sweet time of going back and reconnecting with friends, some of whom I haven't seen for years
and years, and being encouraged by seeing them and talking with them about how they have faithfully
sought to serve the Lord and to continue walking with Him through many seasons of life, many
challenges.
It was really a blessing to be with them.
But I was reminded by my friends there of what I was like when I was a freshman.
When I arrived, I had been a Christian for one year, and I was full of zeal and not a lot
of humility.
I walked into this campus fellowship and instantly saw all the things that they didn't do very
well and thought about all the ways that they could do things better.
They had a freshman Bible study, but I thought that wasn't enough.
So I created, you can only imagine this, I created among my peers, small groups on our
own for more time together of fellowship and prayer and Bible study beyond what they had
done because, well, what they were doing wasn't enough.
I also looked at them and I thought, gosh, I don't think they're doing very good outreach,
so I'm going to come and build my brilliant idea of renting a snow cone machine and putting
it in the college fellowship hall and hoping that people might come by and talk to us while
they had a free snow cone.
It was an abject failure.
And yet I thought, hey, at least I tried.
Look at me and how much I'm doing for the kingdom of God.
Well, as you might imagine, the staff who are still there say, well, yep, we survived Matt's
freshman and sophomore year, and in God's grace, there was some growth.
But at the beginning, there was in my heart such a pride, such a critical spirit, such
a puffing up of myself and what I thought I was going to bring to this group.
Underneath it, I think I had a desire.
I had a desire to make a difference and a desire for God's glory.
And that was a good thing.
But the bad thing was that I thought that I was the answer to that desire.
I thought I was going to bring the things that was actually going to change the campus
in the world.
I thought God was pretty lucky to have me on his side, to be honest.
And it was pretty selfish.
It was pretty self-centered and self-oriented.
And it lacked a lot of love.
I don't know if any of you can identify with that.
A desire to do something, a desire to serve, a desire to help, a desire to make a difference.
And yet, often unintentionally, that self-orientation finds itself right in the center of what we
do.
How often we think it's about us.
Fruit of it in my spirit.
I see it.
Even to this day, I can see it creeping in at times.
A critical spirit.
An impatience with others when they don't do what I think they ought to be doing.
A lack of teachability, where I hold everyone's advice at arm's length and sort of consider
it and think, oh, I wonder if I agree with that or not.
An unwillingness to listen to someone who I don't automatically respect for a particular
reason.
And interestingly, one of the other things that I've noticed that is actually a part of this
is self-pity.
When I fail or when I see my own weaknesses, I excuse myself.
I think of all the good reasons why, well, I know I couldn't do that.
And yet, that self-pity then also justifies my critical spirit in other people.
It wasn't just in my desire in ministry.
It was also, sadly, also true in my dating life for many, many years.
Thankfully, God confronted me on that before I got married and did some good work.
He's still at work in my heart.
These things are not gone.
But by God's grace, there has been some growth.
What about you?
Why do you do what you do?
What is it that drives your investment in serving, in helping, whether it be in church or in the
world?
What drives you as you're doing those things?
There are often, almost always, there's a mixture in that, in the answer to that question.
There are always going to be good things in there.
We're about to look at the passage in 1 Corinthians 13.
But it comes right after 1 Corinthians 12, where Paul has spent, if you've been here for a couple
of weeks, you'll remember this.
Paul has spent this whole time saying, each of you in the church has been gifted by the
Spirit of God.
And each of you is valuable and important because of the various and diverse gifts that God has
given you.
So don't puff yourself up about what you have.
Don't look down on other people because of what they have.
But each of you, bring your gift to the table and contribute it for the good.
So Paul isn't saying that we don't have things to bring and things to offer and ways that God
wants to use us.
But he is saying, as we bring those things, whether it's here in the church or in the
world, he's asking us a deeper question.
And that is, how do you hold those things?
How do you hold the things that God has given you, the gifts that he's given you, the contributions,
the opportunities to serve others?
What do you do with them?
That's what leads us to our passage this morning.
If you want to turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, it's page 940,
50 something, 50.
It's in the bulletin.
Sorry, I forgot to look that up.
954.
So, and 59.
I'm getting hand signals.
This is good.
59.
For those of you who can find it.
We're going to be looking at just verses 1 through 3 this morning.
So, let me give you a chance to read it.
I'm actually going to begin with the last sentence of chapter 12 because I think it is a transitional
statement for us.
Let's read the Word of God together.
And I will show you a still, more excellent way.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
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.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Please pray with me as we continue.
Oh, Spirit of the living God, will you search our hearts this morning?
Lord, we ask that you would search our hearts to see if there is any wicked way in us and
lead us in the way of everlasting.
Lord, will you search our hearts to see whether truly we do have love in our hearts?
God, I pray you would use me in my words this morning.
Lord, I pray that you would prepare all of our hearts for the Word that you have for us.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, this is the beginning of, as you know, is one of the most famous passages in the Bible.
Many of you have heard it because it's read more often than I think any other verses in
the Bible at weddings, and therefore it is one of the most well-known verses.
And you know, using it in weddings is fine, but I want you to recognize that in the context
of what the Apostle Paul is communicating to the Corinthian church, the first application is
how do we live in community as a group of believers who follow Jesus Christ?
What characterizes the way that we relate to one another?
And particularly in this section, how do we, as we gather together like we are this morning,
how do we treat one another in the context of our corporate worship?
How do we do that?
And particularly the question of spiritual gifts has come up.
All of chapter 12 has given us a broad picture of spiritual gifts.
Chapter 14 will jump to the specific question of speaking in tongues and prophecy and what
is profitable and helpful and useful as we gather together in exercising these gifts.
But in chapter 13, Paul goes to the depths of our soul.
He goes to the depths of our heart.
And it's not a mistake.
If you've read 1 Corinthians, sometimes you think, chapter 13 feels out of context.
But I hope that you'll see it's not.
It actually is at the very heart of the matter.
Because what Paul says is love is the primary, the dominant characteristic that God desires
to be seen in his people and to be demonstrated to one another.
It is love that shows us that we are truly gods.
And it is love that displays to the world the kind of God we serve.
As we come together in these corporate worship and as we live our lives in various other ways.
He's saying this is the key to it all.
And that's obviously what we're seeing this morning in our passage.
One more thing just about context before we jump in is that look back with me at the end of chapter 12.
Verse 31.
But earnestly desire the greater gifts, the higher gifts, and I will show you a more excellent way.
Paul isn't saying that our gifting is bad.
Paul is saying our gifting is good.
Flip over to the beginning of chapter 14.
Verse 1.
Pursue love and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts.
Especially that you may prophesy.
Nick and Greg will explain that to you.
Why especially that when we get there.
But for now what I want you to see is that Paul is saying that love is the context.
Love is the underlying character quality with which we are meant to hold the spiritual gifts,
the way that we serve, the way we contribute.
When love is there, these gifts flourish.
When love is there, these gifts have their intended effect on those around us.
They have the intended impact that God gave them for us to have.
Which leads us, of course, to our verses.
Verses 1 through 3.
And you know what, friends?
This is a really simple message to preach.
There's only one point, right?
There's only one thing he's saying.
He says it three times, but there's only one thing he's saying.
Nothing matters.
No service, no gifts, no contributions.
Nothing matters when we don't have love.
That's the simple message that I want to explore this morning.
So we're going to look at it.
How does that message map on to what Paul is addressing in the Corinthian church?
So what happened, what it looked like back then?
Then we're going to look at how it might look today.
This question of how these things play out.
And then we're going to look at how we respond to this challenging passage.
And I will say this.
Greg next week is going to preach on how to actually do it.
What does it look like to actually love one another?
So if you're expecting that sermon today, come back next week.
Or pick it up on the website if you're just visiting.
It will be there.
But we're not going to spend as much time about what love proactively,
what the pattern is this week.
Because that's not what Paul is saying.
Paul is asking us simply the question,
do you have it or not?
What did it look like in the Corinthian context then?
What was the question?
He's raising a hypothetical question.
He starts all of these three verses with if.
Even if might be a better translation.
Even if I could do all of these great things.
Right?
The first thing he talks about is speaking in tongues.
Speaking in tongues of men and of angels.
Even if I have this great gift that you admire and exalt so high.
Then he goes on.
He says, even if I have, verse 2, prophetic powers.
An understanding of all mysteries and all knowledge.
And have all faith.
And if the translators were being consistent, there would also be an all in front of prophetic powers.
So we would see, if I have all of these things.
Right?
And Paul is, again, picking here on some of the things that the Corinthians have valued.
You go back to chapters 1 through 4.
And you see how much the Corinthians love their wisdom and love their knowledge.
And puff themselves up by thinking, what I have is greater than those poor people who don't have it.
He even says, if I have all faith, even to move mountains.
He's talking there about God's miraculous supernatural power to do things that are beyond the expectation of humanity.
Beyond our normal experience.
Beyond anything that we've seen.
Say, even if God is using me in those ways.
And then the third thing is he turns from the more spectacular.
In verse 3, he goes to, if I give away all that I have and give up my body to be burned.
Here he's talking about a kind of, a less spectacular, maybe in some ways.
But a more tangible and more physical reality of, I'm taking the things that I have and I'm giving them away for the sake of the gospel.
There's a little translation thing that I want to note.
If you look at the bottom of your page, there's a footnote.
If I deliver up my body to be burned.
There's a little number there and you go to the bottom.
It gives an alternate translation.
If I deliver up my body so that I may boast.
It's one word, it's one letter in the Greek.
It's 50-50 as to what it means.
I think both of them lead to it.
But the reason why I pointed it out is because if it really does mean, if he really intended to say that I may boast, that's clearer, I think.
That clarifies the intention that even if the other translation is better.
That I give up my body to be burned.
Paul isn't saying this is a commendable thing on its own.
But that this seems to be something done for spectacular effect.
So that people would look at me and think, what a great Christian I am that I would be so sacrificial.
What a great person I am that I would do these grand, make these grand costly acts for the sake of others.
Paul says, these things may be true in you.
God may be at work in you in these ways.
But if I have not love, they are nothing.
If there is no love accompanying, undergirding, shaping, and molding these actions, these gifts, these works,
then there is no spiritual benefit.
Now that raises a question.
What does Paul mean, have not love?
Does he mean, have not warm feelings for my fellow people?
Does it mean that I have the willies because I'm sort of excited about the possibilities of blessing other people?
No.
I hope you know this.
If you don't know this, you should.
Biblical, a biblical understanding of love is not simply nice feelings in our heart towards someone else.
Biblical love has to do with actions.
Actions that are not self-oriented, but are oriented for the good of others.
This is what we see in God himself.
God demonstrated his own love for us in this.
Not that he thought nicely about us.
That's not in the verse.
I'm not quoting that verse.
That's my interpretation, right?
God demonstrated his own love for us in this.
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Love is an action in the Bible primarily.
It is also an attitude that results in action.
And it acts sacrificially for the sake of others.
This is not only the nature of God's love for his people, but it is to be the nature of God's people as they love one another.
1 John 3.
If you see your brother in need and you do not act accordingly, if you do not respond by seeking to serve him and take care of him, you do not love.
And you have no fellowship with God because of it.
Love is not simply caring more about others.
It is also about a forgetting of self.
This is the trickiest thing about love because it's not something that we can do.
Because even acts of love can so easily be infiltrated with our selfishness, can't it?
I love you because it makes our relationship more peaceable, more joyful, more happy.
And then I get along with you and that's nice.
I love you because people look at me and think,
he's a pretty good husband.
He's a pretty good friend.
It's so easy for self to insert itself in the way that we love one another.
And Paul says,
if we have not love,
there is nothing of value that comes of it.
Look at it three times.
First one in verse one.
I'm a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal.
Not quite sure what these instruments were in the first century,
but whatever they meant,
they were making noise, not music.
And they were making loud noise.
And he's particularly talking about speaking gifts,
speaking the tongues of angels.
And what he's saying is,
if you're speaking in tongues in the service without love,
you're worse than that fan.
You're making lots of noise.
And it's not contributing.
It's distracting.
And it's not helping.
It's hurting.
But notice that the real fault is not just that the gifts are ineffective.
Verse two.
He doesn't say,
if I have all these gifts of prophecy and knowledge and wisdom,
and if I have this faith,
but I don't have love,
well, they don't amount to anything.
What does it say?
Look with me again.
It says,
I am nothing.
In verse three,
he says,
I gain nothing.
You see,
in the very core of this,
Paul isn't attacking the gifts.
Because you know what the weird thing is?
God uses people
even when they're not acting in love.
God in his gracious can use someone
who has spiritual gifts.
But what he is condemning here is,
he is saying,
you are nothing.
You,
the thing that you most long for
in your boastful pride,
in your puffing yourself up,
in the exercise of it,
God looks at you and he says,
no,
you are not great.
You are nothing.
Commentator,
Don Carson,
says it this way.
In none of these instances,
does Paul depreciate spiritual gifts.
But he refuses to recognize
any positive assessment
of any of them
unless the gift
is discharged in love.
Principally,
therefore,
any particular gift
is dispensable
so far as spiritual profit
or the attestation
of the Spirit's presence
is concerned.
What he's saying there is,
you don't have to have
any particular gift
or exercise any particular gift.
It's not necessary
for you to have spiritual profit
or that the Spirit is with you.
But love is indispensable.
When you don't have love,
you are nothing.
That's a sobering word for us,
isn't it?
Now,
maybe you're sitting there
and you're thinking,
yeah,
but the Corinthian church
was kind of crazy.
We've been looking at 12 chapters
of their craziness.
And,
you know,
does this really happen today?
Well,
clearly,
I think it does.
Partly because God's word
will speak to us today.
But also because
I've experienced
some of these things.
I don't know
if you've ever had
this experience.
When I worked
in campus ministry,
there were a couple years
when I worked
at Cornell University.
And during that time,
I don't know
how else to explain it,
but God was at work
in a special way.
And it was a really,
really sweet thing
to behold.
It was exciting.
It was exhilarating.
It was challenging.
It was stretching.
It was growing.
Just like in Corinth,
it seemed God
was doing great things
in some ways
among this congregation.
And yet,
the danger is that
in the midst
of all those great things,
they could be warped
and twisted
and actually not end up
having the kingdom
and the gospel shape
that God intended
them to have.
And they did not
produce the prophet,
the spiritual prophet
that they were meant
to have
because of this.
I saw this
among our students.
A certain faction
of them got very
caught up
in the immediate work
of God
in their lives,
in the way
that God was speaking
and giving them
impressions
about what they
ought to do
and not do.
They talked about
praying all night
and worshiping
all day
and there's something
in that
that was really sweet.
But as it went on,
the dark side
of what we see
in Corinth
but have not love
was also evident.
Students started
coming to me
and saying,
what's wrong with me?
Am I just
a spiritual dud?
Because I'm not
like feeling it.
And then later on
students came to me
and said,
I don't want to be
a part of this anymore.
All I feel
is pressure
to go do these things
or to be
this kind of excited
or to be
to, you know,
give up my studies
for the week
so that I can pray
all day
and all night.
I said,
I don't want to be
a part of this
ministry anymore.
Some of them said,
I'm not sure
I want to be
a part of this
faith anymore.
Other students
came and said,
should I be
trying to do that?
Is that what
it really looks like?
Do I have to have
these spectacular
experiences with God?
And so,
you see the fruit
of it.
There was
division.
There was
spiritual destruction
in people's lives.
There was
pride rampant
in certain circles.
A certainty
that God
must be speaking
through individual
people
and how necessary
it was
for everyone else
to get in line
or not.
what about our
church?
We're probably
not as prone
to that.
We're all
sitting there
on our hands
as we worship
and, you know,
we don't get excited
very much
as we maybe
could,
maybe should.
But friends,
I want you to see
that the spiritual
gifts
maybe,
maybe our
palette looks
a little bit
different than
the Corinthian church
but the danger
is still the same.
We've talked
about it before
but let me say
it again.
It seems to me
that the danger
in our church
is that
gifts of eloquence
and gifts
of teaching
are exalted.
to the detriment
of other things.
We want to be
a church
that pursues
a knowledge
of God
but that knowledge
of God
does not require
formal training.
It does not require
polysyllabic
theological definitions.
It does not require
even the ability
to speak
eloquently
about those things.
Hopefully,
you have known
some,
I have known
some saints
with very little
education
and yet
who know
the Lord
partly because
they know
His words
so well
and it is,
it has been
ingested
and digested
and it now
shapes their
thinking
and their lives.
Friends,
let us not
think that
if we teach
with great eloquence
and with great
precision
and with great
theological knowledge
and have not
love
that God
will be pleased
with us
and with our church.
we do not want
to forsake
those things
but we must
have love.
We must be thinking
how is it
that we love
one another
in this?
Friends,
some of you
have serving gifts
and maybe you feel
unappreciated.
maybe you feel
like you're
the second class
citizens
maybe like you're
over at that
large institution
over there
where the professors
get all the perks
and the janitors
clean up all the
dirty work
and you wonder
where's my honor?
Why doesn't anyone
pay attention to me?
Am I not serving
as well?
Friends,
God calls you
to the same thing.
Will you do it
in love?
Not because you
are honored
or respected
but because
to love
is to serve others
with or without
recognition.
And may we
as Nick preached
on last week
recognize that
not only do we
need one another
but we are called
to honor one another
in the diversity
of our gifts
and the diversity
of our things.
my fear is that
we have really
talented and gifted
people who can
fall into
exercising those
gifts without love.
We have hard
working servants
who can fall into
serving without love.
And we have people
in this church
who withhold
their gifts
because they do not
love the church
enough to engage
with it
and to get
involved.
Whether it's
for fear
of not being
valued,
whether it's
for fear
of failing
because you're
not sure
whether you
can do it
well enough,
some of you
are withholding
your gifts
because you
don't love
this church
enough.
how do we
respond to this?
What is it
that God
calls us to
in this?
Well,
I think there
are two things
that we need
to do
in response
to this passage.
First,
we need to
take an inventory
of our heart.
I'm going to
ask you a bunch
of questions
and suggest
a couple of
things for you
to look for
and I want
you to pray
that the Holy
Spirit will
help you see
if some of
these things
are true
in your heart
this morning.
How do we
know when we
are serving
without love?
Well,
think about
these things.
How do we
treat others
who may have
different gifts
from ours?
Maybe the way
they express
their faith
feels different
than ours
or maybe
we think
that they're
the way
that they're
doing their
gifts
or exercising
their gifts
are different
than ours.
Do we
criticize them
for not being
like us?
Do we have
disdain
and dismiss
them?
Do we take
them for granted?
how about
this?
How do you
respond when
a particular
role of
service or
of leadership
has been
denied to
you or
when you've
been replaced?
When someone
is coming
alongside or
coming up
after you
and you
suddenly feel
less valued
than you
did once?
Do you
respond in
jealousy
or anger?
Do you
want to
just take
your ball
and go
home?
Say to
heck with
this.
I'm not
going to
stay around
here.
How do
you respond
when
recognition
you've been
serving faithfully
for a while
and then
you stop
and you
think oh
surely
someone will
recognize me
and praise
me for it
and when
you don't
how do
you respond?
Bitterness?
Resentment?
Do you
seek to
get back
in the
game
and promote
yourself
so that
someone will
finally see
you?
How do
you respond
when you
see others
praised
and exalted?
Do you
stew
thinking that
should be
me?
Why don't
I get
that?
How about
this?
How do
you respond
when you
fail?
When
something you
thought you
did well
is then
critiqued,
shown to
be in
need of
improvements?
Do you
give up?
Withdrawal?
Stop
trying?
Do you
defend
yourself
or excuse
yourself?
Friends,
these questions,
these heart
probing
questions
are things
that we
ought to
ask
ourselves.
More
particular
ways for
us to
see
whether or
not
our service
is
characterized
by love.
Our
contribution
is
characterized
by true
love
for
others.
Paul
says there
is a
more
excellent
way,
a more
excellent
way of
living
in love.
Greg's
going to
give us
the details
of what
that looks
like next
week,
right?
But friends,
if we
see these
things,
may we
repent
of them
and may
we ask
God to
work in
our
hearts
because,
you know,
when we
actually do
get to
serve others
in love,
it's amazingly
joyful.
It's really
freeing.
You stop
thinking about
yourself,
you have so
much more
energy and
so much
more time
to actually
think about
others and
you find
great joy
in seeing
them succeed
and in
seeing good
things happen
regardless
of whether
anyone recognizes
your service
or not,
whether anyone
recognizes your
contribution or
not.
And it's so
wonderful
to be able
to love
like that.
And I pray
that you will
seek that
and long
for it.
and my
guess is
if you're
like me,
you will
try to
do that
and you
will fail
because we
all have
this in
our hearts,
this boastful
pride
lurking there
somewhere.
It may be
more or less
controlling in
our lives,
but it is
there.
Let us
seek to
know it
so that we
can repent
of it.
But secondly
and most
importantly,
let us look
to the one
who can
actually help
us in
that moment.
For friends,
this passage
is a call
to serve
with love.
And where
else do we
go to find
help to do
that than
our loving
Savior?
He who had
all the gifts
and all power
of divinity,
he who deserved
all glory and
honor and
recognition,
he who needed
no justification
for his life
because he was
perfect in
every way.
He who lived
to do the
Father's will
in perfect,
in perfection,
this Jesus
Christ
showed us
the way
of love
by humbling
himself,
by becoming
obedient to
God,
by taking on
the form
of humanity
itself.
And not only
stepping into
the humanity,
but stepping
into its
sufferings.
And ultimately
taking upon
himself the
sin of
this rebellious
humanity that
he entered
into to
identify with.
This Jesus
came
with great
love,
forsaking all
all of his
benefits for
our sake,
ultimately
taking upon
himself our
sin and the
judgment that
it deserves
before a
holy God.
God
judged
Jesus
for your
pride.
He
put to
death
Jesus
for your
boasting
and for
your
loveless
service.
Friends,
what a
Savior we
have.
Because he
did this for
us so that
we might be
set free.
He shows
us by
his example
how to
do it,
but he
also changes
our hearts
so that we
are able
to do it.
Because when
we know
that all
of the
gifts that
we have
come from
him,
that he
has given
us life
and freedom
from having
to justify
ourselves and
our lives
by what we
do,
trying to
make God
as well as
everyone else
accept us
and think
well of us
because of
our performance,
because of
our actions,
because of
the things
we do,
because of
our small
groups and
snow cone
machines.
he set us
free from
thinking that
any of those
things are
needed for
God to
accept us
by purchasing
our salvation
at the cross.
And in doing
so, he sets
our hearts
free.
And so when
we go to
him and
look to
him and
meditate on
his work on
the cross for
us, friends,
this is the
way to walk
in the more
excellent way
of love.
Let's pray.
Lord, search
our hearts.
Show us
the reality
of the depths
of our
motivation,
why we do
what we do.
Lord, we
know that we
are incapable
of this kind
of selfless
love apart
from you.
Lord, we
ask that you
would show us
your great
love for us,
help us to
understand it.
Lord, to
take it in,
to believe it,
to trust in it,
to glory in it,
and to revel
in it.
Lord, because
it is you
who first
loved us.
And by a
knowledge of
your love,
then, we
are able to
know the
way of love
and to love
one another
for your
sake.
Help us,
Lord, we
pray, in
Jesus' name.
Amen.