The Ways of Love

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:05.400 Well, please remain standing if you're able. And let's turn to first Corinthians 2 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:10.880 Thirteen, which is not what your bulletins say. When I gave Andrew the 3 00:00:10.919 --> 00:00:21.600 information from the bulletins, I jumped ahead just a little bit. First Corinthians 4 00:00:21.640 --> 00:00:26.359 Thirteen. We definitely don't want to forget first corinthians thirteen. Let's hear God's 5 00:00:26.399 --> 00:00:35.880 word, may He bless us in it. If I speak in the tongues 6 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:42.600 of men and of angels, but have not love, I'm a noisy gong 7 00:00:42.759 --> 00:00:48.719 or clanging symbol. And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and 8 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:53.759 all knowledge, and if I have faith so as to remove mountains, but 9 00:00:53.840 --> 00:01:00.280 have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have 10 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:04.760 and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, 11 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:12.599 I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy 12 00:01:12.719 --> 00:01:19.680 or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on 13 00:01:19.719 --> 00:01:25.120 its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice 14 00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:30.239 at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, things, 15 00:01:30.359 --> 00:01:34.480 believes, all things, hopes, all things, endures all things. 16 00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:40.560 Love never ends. As her prophecies, they will pass away. As for 17 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:45.040 tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge, it will pass away, 18 00:01:45.159 --> 00:01:48.959 for we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect 19 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:53.040 comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I 20 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:56.000 spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a 21 00:01:56.120 --> 00:02:00.799 child. When I became a man I gave up childish ways. For now 22 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:07.840 we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I 23 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:14.120 know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been 24 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:20.159 fully known. So now faith, hope and love abide these three, but 25 00:02:20.280 --> 00:02:46.319 the greatest of these is love. Amen. You may be seated. Charles 26 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:54.240 Hodge, Princeton theologian commentator on the letters to Corinthians, wrote a lot of 27 00:02:54.599 --> 00:03:00.639 different things, very important American Presbyterian theologian. He says very simply, this 28 00:03:00.719 --> 00:03:06.080 is a real gem of a passage, and isn't that true? It's so 29 00:03:06.199 --> 00:03:10.680 precious, I'm so beautiful. If poets were to take a look at it 30 00:03:10.680 --> 00:03:19.400 they'd call it lyrical. It it spins and dances, it twirls, it's 31 00:03:19.479 --> 00:03:23.919 lovely. It's a lovely passage. It generates love in us. It helps 32 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:31.560 us to feel love for love. It's one reason that's frequently read weddings on 33 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:38.680 it reminds us of this very, very important on connection that we have with 34 00:03:39.439 --> 00:03:46.960 people's even things sometimes. But here Paul is focused on our relationships within the 35 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:53.960 church. Even as we consider it's very specialness as this chapter, a real 36 00:03:53.120 --> 00:03:59.479 gem and all of scripture, we don't want to forget that. It's not 37 00:03:59.520 --> 00:04:04.080 first Corinthians twelve or fourteen, it's thirteen, and it's thirteen because there's a 38 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:10.599 twelve and there's a fourteen. It's thirteen because it comes in a particular context. 39 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:14.960 Paul hasn't given up saying the things that he's saying. He's not just 40 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:16.160 Oh, by the way, I want to talk to you about love and 41 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:20.639 then we'll get back to business now. What he's saying here is very much 42 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:27.399 tied to what he's been saying and what he's going to say. You remember 43 00:04:27.439 --> 00:04:32.319 that in the previous chapter and Chapter Wellve, he was focusing on spiritual gifts, 44 00:04:32.959 --> 00:04:39.600 the variety of gifts that the spirit gives to each member of the church, 45 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:44.120 gifts that are distributed at all according to his will, so that together 46 00:04:44.279 --> 00:04:53.240 we form the body of Christ, a dynamic, moving, interesting, beautiful 47 00:04:53.279 --> 00:04:59.240 body on that manifests the very spirit of God, makes the spirit of God 48 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:03.319 known in the world and also brings glory to God, Father, son and 49 00:05:03.399 --> 00:05:09.360 Holy Spirit, as his work is displayed in us, as the things that 50 00:05:09.399 --> 00:05:15.639 he is doing in us are made known. In thinking about these gifts, 51 00:05:15.639 --> 00:05:19.439 one of the things that seems to be in the background is a pride over 52 00:05:19.480 --> 00:05:28.279 some gifts and esteeming of some gifts over others. First Corinthians twelve has a 53 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:32.120 kind of equalizing force, even though it doesn't say everybody gets the same thing. 54 00:05:32.160 --> 00:05:36.319 He says all are important, all are essential, all have a rule 55 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:43.439 to play, even in the diversity that is there. He moves his argument 56 00:05:43.480 --> 00:05:48.959 forward a little bit more and another step in chapter thirteen by saying love is 57 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:55.399 the most important of all of these things. Love undergods them and even if 58 00:05:55.439 --> 00:06:00.199 you have great, great gifts, really doesn't matter that much or at all, 59 00:06:00.399 --> 00:06:04.920 if love is not there. Now, of course, love is always 60 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:11.720 there when the Holy Spirit is present. The Holy Spirit pours out his his 61 00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:15.040 gifts on us. He's not going to pour out gifts on us and then 62 00:06:15.079 --> 00:06:18.680 forget to pour out love, forget to knit us together and bind us up 63 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:24.879 in those kinds of things. So Paul is not accusing the Holy Spirit of 64 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:29.680 anything here, but he is w wanting to us to bring to mind this 65 00:06:29.839 --> 00:06:33.720 very important thing, this thing that undergirds all that is going on. He's 66 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:40.360 he's causing us to reset the way we think about these things, which is 67 00:06:40.680 --> 00:06:46.240 frequently wrong. Jesus, in this passage, through his plot, apostle wants 68 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:53.439 us to remember love. He wants us to love love, and when we 69 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:58.439 do that on the spirit is made manifest. We do abide in Christ, 70 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:02.959 we do enjoy his benefits, we are strengthened more and more. So as 71 00:07:03.000 --> 00:07:06.600 we look at this this morning, we'll look at it in three parts. 72 00:07:06.600 --> 00:07:13.360 First, the requirement of love, then the characteristics of love and then thirdly, 73 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:18.319 the permanence of love. So first the requirements of love, and verses 74 00:07:18.399 --> 00:07:27.199 one through three, Paul says if this happens but this isn't true, then 75 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:30.240 it's worthless. And that's the formula he uses. So he's arts. He 76 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:33.040 says, if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have 77 00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:38.959 not love, I'm a noisy gong or clanging symbol. Now the next chapter 78 00:07:39.000 --> 00:07:44.560 will get to tongues and and prophecy. In those kinds of things, and 79 00:07:44.560 --> 00:07:46.560 we'll talk about that more and full, but just for right now, what 80 00:07:46.639 --> 00:07:53.160 he's talking about is this ability, that this extraordinary ability, to speak in 81 00:07:53.279 --> 00:07:59.959 the languages of men, to speak in other human languages, perhaps, and 82 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:03.600 probably spontaneously, like we see happen in the book of acts. You remember 83 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:07.480 in acts, when this Holy Spirit right again, we're thinking very much about 84 00:08:07.519 --> 00:08:13.720 the doctrine of the spirit. When the Holy Spirit descended on the Lord's disciples, 85 00:08:13.959 --> 00:08:18.240 they all started speaking in languages that all these people that had come into 86 00:08:18.319 --> 00:08:22.040 Jerusalem to hear, or to be it for a pentecost, they could hear 87 00:08:22.079 --> 00:08:24.639 the Gospel and their own languages. And there are astounded. They were amazed 88 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:28.839 at this happening and there was how is this happening? Right, the Holy 89 00:08:28.839 --> 00:08:35.679 Spirit gave them this very amazing gift, and that seems to be what's going 90 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:39.120 on in Corinth. There are those who have this ability to speak in the 91 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:43.240 tongues of men and other languages. Paul takes it a step further, though. 92 00:08:43.240 --> 00:08:46.200 He says, if I can speak in the tongues of men, if 93 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:50.279 I could even speak in the tongues of angels, right, the other words, 94 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:54.679 I forget these extraordinary gift. Let's just dial it up a notch. 95 00:08:54.759 --> 00:08:58.120 Right, if I could even do that, right, if I conversed with 96 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:03.519 angels, certainlyst spoke the language of angels, whatever that is, but have 97 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:09.600 not love. I'm a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. Now, a 98 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:16.720 symbol in an orchestra. You know where they put it. It's way in 99 00:09:16.799 --> 00:09:20.919 the back. It's way way in the back. The percussion such could there's 100 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:24.000 those you know three or four people back there and you don't. You typically 101 00:09:24.080 --> 00:09:28.440 use a lot of simple symbol right. There's baby one or two spots. 102 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:31.080 The Guy stands there and he's like this and then, when it comes to 103 00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:35.639 you, looks at this Mes Goes Bang and the softens them. Banging that, 104 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:39.600 he softens them and then he's done. Right, that's it. It's 105 00:09:39.679 --> 00:09:43.320 for a fete. Usually it's for this one powerful thing. If you, 106 00:09:43.320 --> 00:09:46.159 you know, if you woke up and somebody was just in your room going 107 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:50.000 Bang, Pang, Pang, thank you would not enjoy it. You would 108 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:56.799 not want it. To speak in the tongues of men is an understandable thing. 109 00:09:56.879 --> 00:10:01.279 It's a helpful thing. It's not an obnoxious thing. Right to speak 110 00:10:01.279 --> 00:10:05.639 in the tongues of men, even angels. That's how that's a helpful thing. 111 00:10:07.559 --> 00:10:11.080 But if you don't have love attached to that, pulse says, you 112 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:13.840 might as well be a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. This thing that 113 00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:18.240 you esteem, this thing that you're perhaps amazed by, this thing that in 114 00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:24.919 some ways is so helpful, is entirely undone and becomes the equivalent of a 115 00:10:24.039 --> 00:10:31.440 noisy gong or a clanging symbol if you don't have love. That's an amazing 116 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:37.399 thing to say. It gets more strong and verse two he says, if 117 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:43.159 I have prophetic powers, understand all mysteries and all knowledge, if I have 118 00:10:43.279 --> 00:10:48.039 faith that, if I have all faiths so as to remove mountains. But 119 00:10:48.200 --> 00:10:52.519 this is almost like Superhero language. Right, I can do this and I 120 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:54.279 can do this and I can do this and I can do this, he 121 00:10:54.360 --> 00:10:58.360 says. If I can do all these things but have not love, I'm 122 00:10:58.440 --> 00:11:05.799 nothing. I'm nothing. Now Paul puts it in the personal sometimes I if 123 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:09.759 I sort of pretend he's talking to me, I think I kind of hear 124 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:13.320 him saying I could care less. Right, how impressive you think you are, 125 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:16.200 how many gifts you think you have, like if you don't have love. 126 00:11:16.279 --> 00:11:22.480 It just it doesn't impress me. It doesn't matter. He goes on. 127 00:11:22.519 --> 00:11:28.240 If I give away all that I have, even my body, if 128 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:33.639 I deliver my body to be burned right, take even my life, but 129 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:41.960 have not love, I gain nothing. We'll think about this a little more 130 00:11:43.039 --> 00:11:48.240 later on, but so often we replace these and other things and think that 131 00:11:48.279 --> 00:11:52.919 they can serve as replacements for love. Paul takes all of them to the 132 00:11:54.000 --> 00:12:00.440 extreme, their extreme forms, and then makes this really, really clear contrast, 133 00:12:00.519 --> 00:12:05.240 so that none of us can leave confused about the requirement of love. 134 00:12:05.039 --> 00:12:13.559 You cannot replace even amazing miracles, spiritual gifts, the giving of even your 135 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:20.720 body, unto death, with love. There's no replacement for it. It's 136 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:26.399 that important, it's that good. Well, next, in the next section, 137 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:30.159 he talks, after he talks about this requirement for love, he talks 138 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:33.679 about the characteristics of love and, like I mentioned before, this reminds me 139 00:12:33.720 --> 00:12:39.600 of lyric poetry. Right, perhaps you've read things like this or where you 140 00:12:39.639 --> 00:12:43.840 know, an Ode to a flower or to a drinking coffee, you know 141 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:46.960 in the morning, or to sitting on the beach, or you know these 142 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:50.639 kind of things, and then the poet will just kind of describe right all 143 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:54.039 the things about it, wrap you up in those images so that you can 144 00:12:54.080 --> 00:13:00.559 just see so clearly and feel very deeply. Ah, yes, that's what 145 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:05.159 that is. I think he's doing something similar here. Let's go through these 146 00:13:05.240 --> 00:13:09.639 characteristics and meditate on this for a moment, and as we do so, 147 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:13.919 I want you to think about yourselves, the ways that you see this manifest 148 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:18.039 in your own lives, maybe the ways you see it not manifest in your 149 00:13:18.039 --> 00:13:22.559 own lives. Think about the way you see it in your brothers and sisters 150 00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:28.480 especially, think about the way you see these things in our Lord, perfectly 151 00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:35.159 loved us in every way. Paul says love is patient. Patient love is 152 00:13:35.159 --> 00:13:41.480 love that is not always hurrying, a love that's willing to wait, a 153 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:45.840 love that's willing to suffer, as we'll see. He says that love is 154 00:13:45.960 --> 00:13:52.120 kind a word that refers to the desire for the good of something or of 155 00:13:52.200 --> 00:13:58.480 someone. Right kindness often has a connotation of gentleness with it. Right it 156 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:07.320 desires good things for someone else. He says love does not envy or boast. 157 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:11.879 We are not loving when we want what other people have and are often 158 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:18.399 angry or possessive about those things. Love doesn't boast. Love isn't seeking it's 159 00:14:18.679 --> 00:14:24.679 it's. Love isn't seeking the advantages of oneself through through boasting and and the 160 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:33.559 requirements or requiring others praise. That relates to arrogance, which love is not. 161 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:37.440 Love is not arrogant. Love doesn't walk around telling everyone else about how 162 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:43.080 great you are. I love, I'm rejoices and shares in the gifts of 163 00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:50.679 others, recognizes the value in others honors them, which gives to this next 164 00:14:50.720 --> 00:15:01.159 one about rudeness. A lot of times today we value it, you informality, 165 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:11.000 and we value authenticity and we value commonness and equality. None of those 166 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:15.879 things are totally bad and of themselves. There are often very good and there's 167 00:15:15.960 --> 00:15:20.080 certain situations, but they should never be used an excuse to be rude. 168 00:15:22.360 --> 00:15:28.600 Rudeness is that which dishonors and disrespects other people, people who are made in 169 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:33.200 the image of God, people who, even though you disagree with them and 170 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:39.200 don't like them and find them obnoxious, still deserve to be heard, respected 171 00:15:39.279 --> 00:15:46.320 loved. Love is not rude. Love doesn't push past people, love doesn't 172 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:50.679 disrespect people, it honors them, it esteems them, and not just some 173 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:58.080 people, but as Peter tells us, we are to honor everyone. Love 174 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:04.080 is not rude. Love does not insist on its own way right. It's 175 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:11.559 not loving when it when, if we are demanding, inflexible, unable to 176 00:16:11.600 --> 00:16:17.440 move and change as is necessary. Love is flexible. It's it's able to 177 00:16:17.559 --> 00:16:25.919 be agile. It is not irritable or resentful. When we are irritable, 178 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:32.039 we are quick to judge, quick to get angry. We we have trouble, 179 00:16:32.320 --> 00:16:36.600 right, the sparks fly and the sparks light fires. Right has this 180 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:45.519 this quickness to it. That's different than patience or resentful. I'm one of 181 00:16:45.559 --> 00:16:53.919 the things that as often a leading indicator of divorce is resentment or contempt. 182 00:16:55.080 --> 00:17:02.720 When we begin to resent people and have contempt for them, things fall apart 183 00:17:02.759 --> 00:17:07.880 really fast. Love isn't resentful, it's not full of contempt. It doesn't 184 00:17:07.880 --> 00:17:12.160 look at other people and just despise them for who they are or what they 185 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:18.559 have or what they do. It doesn't rejoice at wrongdoing, but instead, 186 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:27.400 Paul says, it rejoices with the truth. Love is honest. Love sometimes 187 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:33.160 does the hard things. Love doesn't look away, love doesn't ignore, love 188 00:17:33.240 --> 00:17:41.920 doesn't um pretend, love rejoices with the truth, desires to see the truth, 189 00:17:41.960 --> 00:17:45.640 it desires the connections that we have with one another to be based on 190 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:52.440 truth, to live in that, to uphold it. Love bears all things, 191 00:17:52.440 --> 00:17:57.519 which has a lot of different possible meanings to it. One is endure. 192 00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:04.759 But if you think that, he's probably not duplicating himself or resaying it, 193 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:08.920 because he does say endure all things in just a moment. If that's 194 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.759 true, then love bears all things probably has to do with covering all things. 195 00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:18.920 So, while it's while the love, while love rejoices with the truth, 196 00:18:19.319 --> 00:18:26.240 that doesn't necessarily mean love always exposes everything in every situation and in every 197 00:18:26.279 --> 00:18:30.119 moment. How do you know the difference? How do you know when to 198 00:18:30.160 --> 00:18:36.240 do what? That takes love and it takes wisdom to the proverbs talk about 199 00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:41.559 this. The the person who hears a secret from a friend and then just 200 00:18:41.680 --> 00:18:45.079 labs it to everybody's not a wise person, it's not a loving person. 201 00:18:45.680 --> 00:18:56.119 Sometimes the loving thing to do is to cover for people's mistakes. They're embarrassments. 202 00:18:56.160 --> 00:19:00.240 Sometimes the loving thing to do is to just be gentle and let it 203 00:19:00.279 --> 00:19:06.799 slide. Sometimes the loving thing to do is to confront and point out it 204 00:19:06.880 --> 00:19:14.839 takes love and wisdom to know which is right. Love also believes all things. 205 00:19:14.880 --> 00:19:18.839 This is not an argument to that. There is no such thing is 206 00:19:18.839 --> 00:19:22.359 truth. That truth doesn't matter. Paul just told us. Love rejoices. 207 00:19:22.400 --> 00:19:27.400 That the truth, but it has that meaning that we all experience and feel 208 00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:33.519 when when someone tries to assume the best about us. Have you ever tried 209 00:19:33.559 --> 00:19:37.960 to talk with someone who wasn't doing that, who just automatically was assuming the 210 00:19:37.960 --> 00:19:41.599 worst about everything you said? It was like they had this whole other narrative 211 00:19:41.640 --> 00:19:45.359 for who you were and what your life was and what your motivations were, 212 00:19:45.400 --> 00:19:49.720 and it's like nothing you could say, no matter how good, no matter 213 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:55.359 how valuable, would come out right. Everything was twisted, everything is as 214 00:19:55.880 --> 00:20:02.480 changed. It's the opposite of that that Paul means here. It means listening 215 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:07.440 to people and believing that they probably mean what they say, listening to people 216 00:20:07.720 --> 00:20:11.240 and doing your best to impute to them the best motives, to hear them 217 00:20:11.240 --> 00:20:15.640 in the best possible light, to let mistakes be mistakes and to see them 218 00:20:15.680 --> 00:20:19.480 and try to understand them for what they really are saying and what they really 219 00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:25.640 are intending. We love it when people do that with us. We ought 220 00:20:25.720 --> 00:20:30.880 to extend that to others as well. It hopes all things. It looks 221 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:34.400 forward in kindness. Right, it has this disposition towards the good, but 222 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:41.079 it also looks forward to good things to come, especially when we consider all 223 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:45.920 this in light of the Lord and his promises. Right, when we love 224 00:20:45.079 --> 00:20:51.240 and we do these things and patience and kindness, sometimes that's hard, Paul 225 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:56.359 says, and the next phrase that it endures all things. Love isn't always 226 00:20:56.400 --> 00:21:02.279 easy. Maintaining these connections with each other and and this disposition of good is 227 00:21:02.359 --> 00:21:10.720 sometimes hard. Sometimes requires suffering and extreme patience. I'm sometimes it means I'm 228 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:15.720 trying and trying and trying again. When we put our hearts and our hope 229 00:21:15.759 --> 00:21:21.119 in the Lord, then we can hope in him for these situations. We 230 00:21:21.160 --> 00:21:23.880 don't have to give up the meal the moment things get rough. We can 231 00:21:23.920 --> 00:21:29.200 stick with each other when things aren't going very well. We can show love 232 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:34.960 even when when things are are difficult. So this on, these descriptions and 233 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:40.240 these characteristics of love their they don't say everything there is to say. There's 234 00:21:40.240 --> 00:21:42.799 a lot more. All kinds of examples we could give, things we could 235 00:21:42.839 --> 00:21:48.920 reflect on, but it certainly it certainly paints a very good picture and it's 236 00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:53.680 a good reminder. I frequently will go back to this and other passages like 237 00:21:53.799 --> 00:22:00.720 this and and ask me what's missing in my life, what things I am 238 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:07.440 I am I not paying attention to? Maybe maybe I don't boast and I'm 239 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:12.119 not arrogant, but I am really impatient, or maybe I'm okay with patients, 240 00:22:12.200 --> 00:22:18.839 but but when it comes to when it comes to enduring in the long, 241 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:25.240 long run, that's hard. Or maybe it's resentfulness or irritableness. All 242 00:22:25.319 --> 00:22:29.480 of us struggle, of course, and in different ways. That's really amazing 243 00:22:29.519 --> 00:22:33.279 to think of. Out Is that our Lord did all of these things perfectly. 244 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:37.160 This is another fun thing for you to do. Maybe this afternoon or 245 00:22:37.200 --> 00:22:40.880 sometime this week, go read some of the stories about our Lord and the 246 00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:45.799 Gospels, see him interacting with people and ask yourself, what is he doing? 247 00:22:45.839 --> 00:22:52.079 How is he exhibiting these things? Is he patient? Is He kind? 248 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:00.799 As we consider these characteristics, Paul then moves us into this last section 249 00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:03.519 about the permanence of love. He says love never ends, and then he 250 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:07.119 gives examples of things as a way to help us to see this, of 251 00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:12.519 things that do end and he talks about the way that they end. So 252 00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:22.160 what are they? He mentioned prophecies, tongues and knowledge prophecies, probably referring 253 00:23:22.200 --> 00:23:26.359 to a prophetic prophecies. Why do these pass away? Well, because they 254 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:32.359 are fulfilled. Right when something is spoken about in advance and then it is 255 00:23:32.400 --> 00:23:36.960 fulfilled, well, then prophecy is not there anymore. It's not it's not 256 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:41.039 necessary anymore. I'm similarly for tongues, Paul says tongues will cease, and 257 00:23:41.160 --> 00:23:45.640 we have seen that happen. And there was a time, in a place 258 00:23:45.640 --> 00:23:52.079 and a usefulness in which God used this extraordinary aspect of this gift in his 259 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:56.519 church, but there would be a time when that purpose would end and tongues 260 00:23:56.279 --> 00:24:03.039 would cease. Knowledge. Same thing now. Of course he doesn't mean all 261 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:07.119 knowledge or the knowing of anything, but he's talking about this this way and 262 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:11.480 we we try to understand, I think in particular the scriptures and the Lord. 263 00:24:11.759 --> 00:24:15.440 We try to understand these things. Why will it pass away? Because 264 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:21.599 we won't need to know anything anymore. No, because we will know more 265 00:24:21.599 --> 00:24:27.839 fully. Here's how he describes it. He says when the perfect comes, 266 00:24:27.880 --> 00:24:33.319 the partial passes away. That's his explanation for these things. They they are 267 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:38.119 partial and then when they are fulfilled, well than the partial is not there 268 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:42.079 anymore. Give us an example, Paul, this is kind of confusing. 269 00:24:42.079 --> 00:24:45.720 All Right, I'll give you an example. He says, when I was 270 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:48.079 a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, 271 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:52.559 I reasoned like a child, but then I grew up, when I became 272 00:24:52.599 --> 00:25:00.319 a man, childishness, being a child that went away. It was there 273 00:25:00.359 --> 00:25:04.400 for a time, it had its place, but whence he is a man, 274 00:25:06.079 --> 00:25:11.160 he gives up his childish ways and he says that for these things that 275 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:15.039 he's listing here, it's similar to that. They're good, they have their 276 00:25:15.079 --> 00:25:19.119 place, but they will pass. He gives us on another example and he 277 00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:25.119 uses the example of a mirror. He says, for now we see in 278 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:30.680 a mirror dimly. Usually most of us have, you, I guess, 279 00:25:30.799 --> 00:25:33.160 Vanity Lights, we call them, interestingly enough, but we have these right 280 00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:37.440 bright lights above our mirrors or sunlight coming down in our bathrooms and we can 281 00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:41.400 usually we look in a mirror and it's it's not dim. But have you 282 00:25:41.400 --> 00:25:45.559 ever tried right where the light isn't working or something like that? You're trying 283 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:48.799 to comb your hair and you just can't quite see. That's the experience he's 284 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:53.079 describing here, looking in a mirror dimly. So there's two problems with that 285 00:25:53.279 --> 00:25:59.480 one, and it's all backwards and right. It's not face to face, 286 00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:06.359 it's not in person. It's sort of seeing things truly, but it's refracted. 287 00:26:06.519 --> 00:26:11.640 It's like it's mediated. Right, problem one with the knowledge and these 288 00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:14.960 other things. Problem too is that it's dim right. It's not just that 289 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:18.720 they are presented through this medium, this mirror, but it's hard to see. 290 00:26:18.920 --> 00:26:22.119 The light doesn't good and there's kind of a struggle there. Right, 291 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:26.279 you see but you don't really see. That kind of experience is how he 292 00:26:26.359 --> 00:26:32.880 describes how we are now. But there's a coming, a time when we 293 00:26:32.920 --> 00:26:37.400 will see face to face, and I think he has in mind the Lord 294 00:26:37.519 --> 00:26:45.920 Jesus in particular. This is a a great hope and a desire of Christians. 295 00:26:45.960 --> 00:26:49.279 We love our Lord, but he's away, right, he is not 296 00:26:49.480 --> 00:26:52.640 here, he is not present. Now, we see him, we know 297 00:26:52.799 --> 00:26:56.640 him, we feel him, we experience him, we hear his voice, 298 00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:03.559 we pray to him, and yet there's a little bit of disconnect there, 299 00:27:03.640 --> 00:27:07.480 isn't there? We want to be with him, and Paul says, that's 300 00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:11.440 a good thing. You don't need to feel bad about that. That's a 301 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:15.599 good thing. That's the way it should be, and one day we will. 302 00:27:17.440 --> 00:27:21.599 Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully. And 303 00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:26.160 then this beautiful line, even as I have been fully known, all that 304 00:27:26.279 --> 00:27:33.200 love and connection, that that that connective connectiveness of love in relationship that he 305 00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:37.480 describes there, which is largely been kind of one way. Right, I 306 00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:41.200 am being patient, I am being kind, you know, as we've been 307 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:44.160 thinking about it. Now all of a sudden he talks about how it has 308 00:27:44.200 --> 00:27:49.079 all come to us. Write this. This knowledge is not just a knowing 309 00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:53.079 about you know, what's his name and favorite ice cream or whatever, but 310 00:27:53.200 --> 00:27:59.920 being fully known. That's an aspect, and a wonderful aspect, of love, 311 00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:03.039 isn't it? The Old Testament, the language of knowledge is even to 312 00:28:03.079 --> 00:28:10.519 express a deep, deep intimacy between husbands and wives. Adam and Eve knew 313 00:28:10.599 --> 00:28:17.960 each other and then baby's appear. This knowledge that we have, that we 314 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:22.680 have can have, is not just a list of facts, but it's a 315 00:28:22.839 --> 00:28:29.799 can be the very deep and personal knowing. The Lord knows you, which 316 00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:33.799 is to say he loves you. Paul says, I know in part. 317 00:28:33.920 --> 00:28:40.559 Then I shall know fully, even as I have already been fully known, 318 00:28:41.960 --> 00:28:45.759 the love that we experience, the love that we give to others. It 319 00:28:45.799 --> 00:28:53.519 comes in this context of already having been loved by Christ, Jesus. When 320 00:28:53.559 --> 00:29:00.319 he loves US, he heals US, he empowers us, he forgives us, 321 00:29:00.319 --> 00:29:06.519 he knows us, he lifts us up, he is kind to us, 322 00:29:06.519 --> 00:29:11.039 he's patient with us. Can you imagine if Jesus was irritable with you? 323 00:29:11.039 --> 00:29:17.119 What that might look like in your life? Every time you messed up, 324 00:29:17.319 --> 00:29:22.920 Jesus got really, really mad and disciplined you in some way. Think 325 00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:27.880 about how you're how different your life, my life, would be if Jesus 326 00:29:27.920 --> 00:29:33.359 came down hard on us every single time we had the wrong thought, every 327 00:29:33.359 --> 00:29:37.359 single time we went to the wrong place, every single time we weren't as 328 00:29:37.359 --> 00:29:41.440 wise as we could have been, didn't think through it all the way, 329 00:29:41.440 --> 00:29:48.519 didn't plan accordingly, weren't flexible enough or kind enough or loving enough. Jesus 330 00:29:48.599 --> 00:29:56.000 isn't irritable with us. He's so patient and kind. Imagine what it would 331 00:29:56.039 --> 00:30:00.440 be like if Jesus were resentful with you. I died on a cross for 332 00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:07.359 this right, for this guy. He doesn't say that, though, does 333 00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:11.759 he never. It never crosses his mind, it never comes into his heart 334 00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:18.119 to dislike I'm about to give up, I'm about to walk away. No, 335 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:23.440 he died for us and he died for US perfectly and forever. He 336 00:30:23.640 --> 00:30:30.799 guarantees by his own blood that nothing, as Paul says, nothing will separate 337 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.519 us from the love of Christ, high, depth, angels, powers, 338 00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:41.079 you name it, nothing will separate us from that love. Jesus isn't resentful 339 00:30:41.160 --> 00:30:47.799 about what he's done. He loves what he's done. He is of it, 340 00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:56.440 he loves US, he calls US beloved. We could go on and 341 00:30:56.559 --> 00:31:02.359 on, as Jesus's arrogant, as Jesus rude with you. Does Jesus Rejoice 342 00:31:02.359 --> 00:31:04.559 in the truth? Does he bear all things? Does he believe all things, 343 00:31:04.599 --> 00:31:10.839 help all things and Doure all these things? Isn't it lovely how Jesus 344 00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:15.480 loves you? Isn't it lovely how Jesus loves us? Isn't it lovely how 345 00:31:15.559 --> 00:31:22.079 Jesus gives to us all of these things? Yes, he's calling us to 346 00:31:22.119 --> 00:31:26.960 them absolutely, and yes, we need to confess our sins for the ways 347 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:30.440 in which we have fallen so far short. But let us not forget, 348 00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:36.480 as we do so, that this comes in a context of already having been 349 00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:41.720 fully known. One day, that one who is fully known us, you 350 00:31:41.880 --> 00:31:48.680 will see him face to face. We see the glory of the Gospel in 351 00:31:48.720 --> 00:31:52.559 the face of Jesus Christ. Right now, in the preaching of the Gospel, 352 00:31:52.599 --> 00:31:56.119 we hear these words about Jesus and encourages us and it strengthens us. 353 00:31:56.200 --> 00:32:01.480 One day you will hear the words of Jesus from him directly, face to 354 00:32:01.599 --> 00:32:06.559 face, and what a what a wonderful and Glorious Day that will be. 355 00:32:09.240 --> 00:32:17.039 Our love is dependent upon his, and these things, prophecies, tongues, 356 00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:25.480 knowledge, these things are going to pass away, but not love. Love 357 00:32:25.640 --> 00:32:31.359 is different. Love doesn't sort of enter into its final form and then sort 358 00:32:31.400 --> 00:32:39.200 of go away. This love will abide and it has grounding and produces and 359 00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:44.640 flows from and is intimately related to these other things, faith, hope and 360 00:32:44.720 --> 00:32:49.119 love, or faith. Yes, faith, faith and hope rather, the 361 00:32:49.160 --> 00:32:53.480 greatest of these, he says, is love. There's very deep things to 362 00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:59.079 think about here and we can't get into all of them, but I hope 363 00:32:59.160 --> 00:33:04.200 that at the very least you see the loveliness of love, particularly the loveliness 364 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:09.440 of love as it comes in Christ Jesus to us. I hope you also 365 00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:16.119 see the the importance of it as we live our lives in the body to 366 00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:22.720 apply this in a way similar to what we Paul says. It's it's sometimes 367 00:33:22.759 --> 00:33:30.920 easy to forget that love is as essential as he says it here, particularly 368 00:33:30.920 --> 00:33:36.640 when we see people with gifts and when we're hungry for people with gifts and 369 00:33:36.759 --> 00:33:42.319 leaders and helpers and servants. It's easy to look at a man who might 370 00:33:42.359 --> 00:33:46.160 be a potential pastor, let's say, or an officer or an elder or 371 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:50.200 Deacon in the church, or maybe a lay leader of some kind, and 372 00:33:50.279 --> 00:34:00.240 say, yeah, he's really arrogant and he's not very patient. It gets 373 00:34:00.279 --> 00:34:06.079 irritable really fast. But man, that guy can preach. It's so good, 374 00:34:06.279 --> 00:34:08.440 isn't it right? We love him, he's awesome. We gotta get 375 00:34:08.519 --> 00:34:12.480 him, we got to bring him into the pulpit, we got to give 376 00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:16.039 him a position of authority. Or maybe it's not preaching. Maybe his administration 377 00:34:16.119 --> 00:34:21.280 skills are just top not he knows how to get things done, he can 378 00:34:21.320 --> 00:34:23.719 manage people, he can move people, he can shift people, he can 379 00:34:23.800 --> 00:34:29.239 help make things work and function really well. and Oh we could really use 380 00:34:29.360 --> 00:34:35.960 that right now. Oh if he weren't just a jerk, right, if 381 00:34:35.960 --> 00:34:39.400 you weren't so impatient, if you weren't so demanding all the time. But 382 00:34:39.559 --> 00:34:43.119 we say these things to our something to say, well, that's all right, 383 00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:46.159 well, let's just get him. He's rough around the edges right. 384 00:34:46.199 --> 00:34:51.440 Both believes all things. It hops all things. Let's ignore it and try 385 00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:57.840 to try to work with what we got now. No one's perfect, right. 386 00:34:57.960 --> 00:35:01.480 I'm not saying that no one has it all together. We all struggle, 387 00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:05.239 we all have our ups and downs in our bad days. But if 388 00:35:05.280 --> 00:35:09.280 the people that we are putting in leadership positions, if the people were seeking 389 00:35:09.320 --> 00:35:13.960 and praying for, don't have love, just to be really simple about it, 390 00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:17.400 if they're they don't love people, it doesn't matter, Paul says, 391 00:35:17.440 --> 00:35:22.719 how awesome their gifts are. It doesn't matter if they could move mountains with 392 00:35:22.760 --> 00:35:29.800 their faith. If you had somebody in in in our church who could, 393 00:35:30.239 --> 00:35:35.840 you know, Keel Limbs, move mountains, a somebody who is very generous 394 00:35:35.880 --> 00:35:42.159 all buy a church for you, no problem. It doesn't matter. If 395 00:35:42.239 --> 00:35:49.159 love is not there, let it go. Don't be all clamoring over each 396 00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:53.400 other to respect this person or that person, whether that seems like they're spiritual 397 00:35:53.519 --> 00:35:59.840 gifts, financial gifts, if they're willing to give their own body to be 398 00:36:00.039 --> 00:36:05.360 burned for the church or for you or whatever, but have not love. 399 00:36:07.320 --> 00:36:13.840 It's nothing, he says. It's really tempting for us to forget about that 400 00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:19.119 and to push people into places and to ask people to do things, but 401 00:36:19.239 --> 00:36:23.440 they're not ready for it when they don't have this most essential characteristic. And 402 00:36:23.480 --> 00:36:28.119 it's also true of us as well. We in the same way, we 403 00:36:28.159 --> 00:36:31.159 sort of look past these things, and others sometimes we look past them in 404 00:36:31.199 --> 00:36:36.119 our selvingly say well, you know, I just I'm irritable and I mean 405 00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:38.840 and I'm rude, but I sure know how to and you fill in the 406 00:36:38.840 --> 00:36:45.920 blank. Let's learn not to excuse that kind of thing in ourselves, but 407 00:36:45.079 --> 00:36:52.599 to hear Paul saying what he's saying, how lovely love is, how required 408 00:36:52.800 --> 00:36:57.559 love is, how important it, love is, and when we see the 409 00:36:57.679 --> 00:37:01.840 need for that, let's look to the one who loves us, who knows 410 00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:07.519 US and who is pulling us together in his love and by his strength. 411 00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:16.280 We do that, beloved, because his love is infinite. There's no end 412 00:37:16.320 --> 00:37:22.079 to it. It's a it's a limitless supply and we can go to her, 413 00:37:22.159 --> 00:37:25.760 him for all of our needs, which are many. When we sense 414 00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:30.199 what we lack, when we sense the struggles that we have, when we 415 00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:36.280 sense our impatience, and and and all the rest, let's go to Christ 416 00:37:36.559 --> 00:37:39.679 ask him to forgive us, ask him to grow us, ask him to 417 00:37:39.679 --> 00:37:45.400 give us his spirit. And you know what, that's exactly what he desires 418 00:37:45.440 --> 00:37:51.320 to do. It's what he died to do. His love never fails, 419 00:37:51.360 --> 00:37:55.559 his love never ends, his love never gives out and gives up. We 420 00:37:55.599 --> 00:38:00.960 can go to him and trust him for all these things. So let's do 421 00:38:00.039 --> 00:38:04.920 so now in prayer and ask for the Lord to be at work in each 422 00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:07.039 of us, in our hearts and in us as well as a body, 423 00:38:07.079 --> 00:38:08.119 his body. Let's pray