Rev. David Holwick H We Are Gifted, #8
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
March 8, 2009
1 Corinthians 12:31 - 13:13
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I. This chapter is a favorite of weddings - and funerals.
A. Prime Minister Tony Blair read it at Princess Diane's funeral.
1) I've used it at five myself.
B. It has almost become passe at weddings.
1) People have heard it so much they can almost quote it.
2) Sometimes this means we don't listen to its meaning.
C. Paul is addressing it to Christians, not couples.
1) The chapter has a wider application, but the primary
focus is on how we treat other believers.
2) The church in Corinth wasn't doing a very good job at this.
a) It was a church where people hogged their potluck food.
b) Some got drunk at communion.
c) They filed lawsuits against each other.
d) The only thing they were good at, was stoking their
own egos.
3) It is to this church that Paul writes about love.
a) It's not about the love we have for God, or the love
he has for us.
b) The chapter focuses on the love we should show each
other.
c) So the most appropriate setting for this chapter is not
a Saturday wedding chapel but a Sunday church.
1> A church like ours...
II. The context is important.
A. Chapters 12 and 14 focus on spiritual gifts.
1) Chapter 12 describes them and how they relate to each
other.
2) Chapter 14 goes into some of the problems the Corinthians
have with their gifts.
3) Chapter 13 is sandwiched in between.
a) Paul is saying that if you get love wrong, you get
the gifts wrong.
b) Spirituality, even if it is convincingly supernatural,
is not enough.
c) What we really need is love.
B. Two competing views of what it means to be spiritual.
1) For the Corinthians, it means having spiritual gifts.
a) The more dramatic the gift, the more attention they got.
2) For Paul, having the Holy Spirit means you should act holy.
a) Walking in love is the best way to do this.
b) Instead of puffing up individuals, true holiness pulls
people together as a community.
III. The necessity of love. 13:1-3
A. Tongues without love is only a bunch of noise.
1) Tongues of men and of angels is more than eloquence.
a) Tongues of men would be speaking in unknown, but
human, languages. Such as Acts 2.
b) Tongues of angels would be languages known only to God.
1> Jewish sources taught that angels have their
own language in heaven.
2) Gongs and cymbals were used in pagan worship.
a) The lack of love makes them sound like hell, not heaven.
B. Supernatural knowledge and power can't compare to love.
1) These are good things. We should seek them.
2) But without love they are useless.
C. Radical generosity and self-giving aren't enough.
1) Many scholars think that rather than "burn" it should be
translated as "boast."
2) Paul uses similar language to describe his extreme
commitment to spreading the gospel.
3) He is saying that living an exemplary life, but without
doing it in a loving way, amounts to nothing.
IV. The character of love. 13:4-7
A. Two positives: patience and kindness.
1) These are passive and active responses to others.
2) Patience is translated in the King James as "suffereth long."
a) That's actually not a bad translation.
3) Kindness is our active goodness for others.
a) Both qualities reflect God's treatment of humans.
b) He holds back his wrath from us, and he actively
shows us mercy.
B. Eight negatives.
1) Each of these seems to be tailored to the problems Paul
sees in the Corinthians.
2) No envy - in 3:3-4, Paul ties this in with rivalry.
a) They were picking favorites, and dissed the others.
3) No boasting and pride.
a) The Corinthians specialized in this.
b) Americans, too.
4) Not rude.
a) Acting shamefully toward others.
5) Not self-seeking.
6) Not (easily) angered.
a) You know you are approaching spiritual maturity when
you don't allow others to get under your skin.
b) It is interesting that Paul qualifies this somewhat.
1> Some people have a knack for getting under your
skin!
7) No record keeping.
A group of children were asked to define love.
Jill, aged 8, wrote, "Love is when you are sad and your
dog comes along and licks you."
One little girl, however, came closer to capturing the
true meaning of Christian love:
"When my little brother bites me, I don't bite him back.
And that's what love means to me."
8) No joy in evil.
a) Desire the best for others - even your enemies.
b) Above all, desire the truth.
C. Positive conclusion: always trusts, hopes, perseveres.
1) Love keeps on loving.
2) It has a positive, forward-looking perspective.
V. The Permanence of love. 13:8-13
A. Love never fails. 13:8
1) Agape love is for now and forever.
2) Diamonds say they are forever, but they ain't.
B. Supernatural gifts will cease.
1) It is interesting that prophecy is one of Paul's favorites,
and tongues and supernatural knowledge are the
Corinthians' favorites.
a) They are all good things - for now.
b) But they are not meant for eternity.
2) Perfection = Glorification in heaven (or on earth).
a) Know as an adult.
b) See all things clearly.
c) Know as we are known by God.
1> The Bible refers to this as seeing God face-to-face.
C. Right now, we only know in part.
1) Our fallibility clouds everything.
a) It's one reason we need to emphasize love, which
"covers over a multitude of sins." James 5:20
2) Poor reflection - ancient mirrors were like funhouse kind.
a) They were made of polished metal.
b) Everything looked a little wavy, distorted.
c) Note that Paul uses the contrast of childhood and
adulthood - and implies we are only children now.
1> There is a lot we don't know.
2> So be humble about it.
VI. The exemplar of love: Jesus.
A. Love is made concrete in Jesus.
B. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:
"Agape is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return.
Theologians would say that it is the love of God operating in
the human heart.
When you rise to love on this level, you love all men not
because you like them, not because their ways appeal to you,
but you love them because God loves them."
#5283
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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATION USED IN THIS SERMON:
#5283 "Agape Love," by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
http://www.sciforums.com/Another-Batch-Of-Inspirational~
-Insightful-Quotes-t-8265.html
This and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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Study notes, commentary:
Gordon Fee, "The First Epistle to the Corinthians"
I. Love is not a gift, but the proper context for all the gifts.
A. Context of passage is important.
1) It should not be reduced to a wedding reading.
B. The Corinthians used gifts to puff up themselves as individuals.
1) Love pulls us together as a community.
2) It is "the most excellent way."
II. Love is for other Christians. (not God)
A. Corinthians had a spirituality with religious trappings.
1) They exulted in the supernatural gifts.
2) They spouted "wisdom" and "knowledge".
3) But they had abandoned genuinely Christian ethics with
its supremacy of love.
B. Paul's contrast of religious acts with genuine love.
1) He adapts his description of love to their character
defects.
2) He shows that gifts, while good, are not forever.
Love is.
3) Love is not abstract, or a motivation for behavior, but a
behavior itself.
a) To love is to act; anything short of action is not
love at all.
C. Love is made concrete in Jesus.
1) Love is not better than gifts, but the way they are to
function.
III. The necessity of love. v. 1-3
A. The things contrasts with love are good things.
1) In and of themselves they can benefit others.
a) But without love they do nothing for the person doing
them.
b) What is not good is religious performance.
2) We must have these things AND love.
B. Two opposing views on what it means to be spiritual.
1) Gifts.
2) Self-sacrifice.
a) "Burn" probably should be "boast".
b) Not martyrdom (Christians were not yet burned as
martyrs) but giving oneself for the gospel.
c) "Boast" often has a positive sense with Paul - his
boast is their salvation - but without love it
gains him nothing.
IV. The character of love.
V. Paul's contrast of religious acts with genuine love.
A. He adapts his description of love to their character
defects.
B. He shows that gifts, while good, are not forever.
Love is.
C. Love is not abstract, or a motivation for behavior, but a
behavior itself.
1) To love is to act; anything short of action is not
love at all.
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