Love Supreme

Let's pray together.

God, we want to be addressed by you from your word this morning.

We want to get to know the God who is love better, and through that become more loving people,

people who are more closely conformed to the image of your Son, who loved us with the perfect love.

So help us, speak to us, lead us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

A few years ago, Mohamed El-Aryan made the news when he resigned from his job as the CEO of PIMCO,

which was one of the largest American investment management firms.

He was obviously doing quite well for himself career-wise, but he had a wake-up call

when his 10-year-old daughter handed him a note that listed 22 milestones in her life that he had missed.

The list included her first day at school, her first soccer match of the season,

a parent-teacher conference, and a Halloween parade, among other things.

He got defensive because he had a good excuse for every single missed event.

He said to travel, important meetings, an urgent phone call, etc.

But he says, quote,

He realized that his life was disordered, that his priorities were off.

And the work that was supposed to be a means of providing for his daughter

ended up preventing him from caring for her as he should.

In this passage, Apostle Paul warns the Corinthian believers of a similar mistake.

They were growing in and boasting in their spiritual gifts,

and they thought that they had already arrived spiritually

because, as Paul acknowledged in the opening of his letter in chapter 1-7,

they were not lacking in any gift.

They had a lot of spiritual gifts.

But they were so enamored with these gifts

that they were losing sight of the most important Christian virtue, love.

And in the context of corporate worship,

they flaunted their gifts, and they used them in disruptive ways.

And as a result, they were not loving one another as they should.

The gifts were given as expressions,

intended to be used as expressions of love,

but instead they became obstacles to love within the Corinthian church.

So in this passage, Paul teaches us that we should pursue love above all things

because while the spiritual gifts are temporary, love is eternal.

That's the main point of this sermon,

and I'm going to outline that in the following ways.

The priority of love in verses 1-3,

the properties of love in verses 4-7,

and the permanence of love in verses 8-13.

Paul concluded the previous chapter by saying,

but earnestly desire the higher gifts,

and I will show you a still more excellent way.

So he will resume what he said about the higher gifts in chapter 14.

The higher gifts are gifts that have the most potential for edifying,

building up the body of Christ.

But then he digresses here in chapter 13

to talk about the still more excellent way,

which is the way of love.

Because love is supposed to be the context

in which all the spiritual gifts are to be exercised.

And in order to demonstrate this priority of love,

before we get into that,

it's actually helpful to think about the portrait of the Corinthians

that we have up to this point.

Because the Corinthians believers, it seems, from their slogans,

were fixated on maximizing their own freedoms,

doing whatever is permissible for them to do.

But they weren't focused on building up others.

So they were talking about what is permissible for them,

but not what is helpful for others.

And so at the heart of the Corinthians misunderstanding

that we've seen up to this point of the letter

is a misguided understanding of spirituality.

They were focused on self-love rather than selfless love.

And they hid their selfishness under the guise of spirituality.

And so this is really a corrective to that.

And Paul contrasts love here

with several of the spiritual gifts

that he had just mentioned in chapter 12.

There he listed tongues, right,

last in his list of spiritual gifts

in order to de-emphasize it

because it's the gift that was causing

the most problems in the church.

But here he mentions it first

in order to emphasize

that even the gift of tongues

should be subjected to the priority of love.

So he says, read with me,

if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels

but have not love,

I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

But Corinthians believed

that they spoke in the tongues of men and of angels.

And the word tongues

is the same word in Greek that means languages.

So here tongues of men refer to human languages

while the tongues of angels

is likely a reference to the spiritual gift of tongues

that Paul's already mentioned in chapter 12.

And the Corinthians boasted

that they can speak all forms of speech, right,

not merely human speech

but also angelic speech.

And because of that, they became prideful.

But Paul issues a stinging rebuke.

He says, it doesn't matter

that you speak in the tongues of men and of angels.

If you don't have love,

you are a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

A noisy gong and clanging cymbal

together represent these harsh,

you know, grating, noises, discordant sounds.

It's a cacophony of noise.

So you think that you're self-important

because you're speaking in tongues.

If you don't have love,

it's all a bunch of meaningless noise.

That's what Paul's trying to tell them.

And add to the metaphor

the fact that clanging cymbal

is the instrument that is used.

It's particularly associated

with the pagan cults at the time.

They used the clanging cymbals in pagan worship.

So he's saying that by using tongues

without any interpretation

as the Corinthians were doing it,

as we see in chapter 14,

they were not only making fool of themselves

by speaking unintelligible words

that nobody understood,

but they were also imitating

the practice of the pagans

who expressed themselves

in disorderly, ecstatic utterances.

And then he continues in verse 2,

and 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.

Here Paul mentions the gift of prophecy,

word of knowledge and faith,

which are all spiritual gifts

that he mentioned earlier in chapter 12.

Prophecy is a gift

that Paul regularly considers

to be one of the most important gifts

for building up the church.

Yet even having the gift of prophecy

would be futile without love.

Likewise, the gift of knowledge,

however deep and vast,

the gift of faith,

even if it's strong enough

to remove mountains,

they are nothing apart from love.

Notice how emphatic Paul is.

He says,

if I understand all mysteries

and all knowledge,

and if I have all faith

so as to remove mountains,

but have not love,

I am nothing.

The math is pretty clear, right?

It doesn't matter how large

the number is.

If you multiply it by zero,

the result is zero, right?

Ten times zero is zero.

A million times zero is zero.

Similarly, it doesn't matter

what degree of theological knowledge

you have

or what level of faith

that can move mountains you have.

If you have no love,

it amounts to zero.

Even if you've had all

of the spiritual gifts

that's listed in chapter 12,

and even if you had each of them

to their fullest measure

without love,

you would amount to nothing

in the sight of God.

In verse 3,

Paul goes even beyond

the spiritual gifts

and to expound

the absolute necessity

and priority of love.

He says,

If I give away

all I have

and if I deliver up

my body to be burned

but have not love,

I gain nothing.

These two phrases

describe what we might consider

the two most total examples

of self-sacrifice.

So first,

giving away all I have

refers to giving away

all of our possessions

to the poor.

Voluntarily impoverishing ourselves

in order to enrich others.

And this is something

that Jesus commends, right?

It's something that he said

in Matthew 19, 21.

He told a rich young man,

If you would be perfect,

go and sell what you possess

and give to the poor

and you will have treasure

in heaven

and come follow me.

So Paul's not saying here

that giving away

one's possessions

to the poor is not good.

In fact,

Paul's not saying

that any of these things

are not good.

He knows that the gifts

are necessary

and he commends them

for our use in chapter 13.

The spiritual gifts are good.

Giving to the poor

is good

and giving away

your life for God

is good

but if we do any of these things

without love,

it is pointless

is what he's trying to say.

So Paul's not saying

that telling us

to pursue love

instead of the spiritual gifts.

He's telling us

to eagerly desire

the spiritual gifts

in the context of love

as we pursue love

above all things.

Similarly,

the second expression

refers to a form

of self-sacrifice.

The ESV translates it

as if I deliver up

my body

to be burned

but if you have

an NIV

that you're using,

if you're using

a different translation,

it might say this way.

It says,

if I give over

my body

to hardship

that I may boast.

This translational

discrepancy

actually is due

to a real textual variant

in the manuscripts

that we have available

upon which

this English translation

is based.

So in the Greek,

the words burned

and the word boast

are spelled

almost identically

and so at some point

there was a scribal error

and so it could mean

if I deliver up my body

that I may boast

or it could mean

if I deliver up my body

that I may be burned.

The translators

of the NIV

took it as boast

and in order to help us

make sense of what that means,

they added the word hardship.

So it reads,

if I give over my body

to hardship

that I may boast.

This is really

one of the few places

in the Bible

where it is not clear

what the original text said

but I think the NIV

gets it right

for two main reasons.

First,

the oldest and best manuscripts

we have available to us

all preserve the word boast.

It doesn't say burned.

Second,

generally,

when deciding between

textual variants like this,

the more difficult reading

is generally to be preferred

meaning

because a scribe

is more likely

to take something

that he thinks

is difficult to understand

and smooth it out

and make it easier

to understand

rather than going

the other way around.

So it's probably,

he probably read something like

if I deliver up my body

that I may boast

and then thought,

whoa,

what in the world

does that mean?

And then he thought,

okay,

the boast must be a typo.

It must mean burned

and he slightly changed,

changed one letter

to make it something,

so that's probably

likely what happened.

And that would have made

a lot of sense

to the scribes as well

because in Paul's day

when Paul was writing,

Christians were not really

burned for their faith.

But later in time,

there was a frequent

punishment people

for Christians.

They were burned

for their faith.

So a scribe

that's looking at

reading that verse later

would have made

a lot more sense

for that person

to think that this

probably means burned.

So sorry for that

digression,

just to explain

so that you don't read

two different versions

and go,

oh no,

the Bible's not reliable.

But don't worry

because the meaning

of the clause

is not substantially changed

even if we opt

for the word boast

because verse 3

then reads this way,

If I give away

all I have

and if I deliver up

my body that I may boast

but have not love,

I gain nothing.

So Paul's concluding

this section

with climactic demonstrations

of self-sacrifice.

So first one

is giving up

all our belongings

and then second

is giving up

even our own body

for the sake of others.

And giving up

our own body

certainly includes

martyrdom

but it's not

limited to that.

So the early

Christian writings

show that Christians

sometimes surrendered

their bodies

themselves as slaves

so that they can use

the profit

that they make

from that

to help the poor

in their midst.

So that would be

an example

of something like that.

Paul uses

this similar construction

in chapter 9, 15.

He says,

I have made no use

of any of these rights

to be compensated

for I would rather die

than have anyone

deprive me

of my ground

for boasting.

Right?

So that's kind of

I think that's what

Paul has in mind here.

He gave up his right

to be compensated

for ministry.

He gave over his body

to manual labor

in order to not

so that he can preach

the gospel free of charge

so that he would not

be a burden to others.

So he gave up his body

in that way

so that he might boast.

That was his ground

for boasting

that he was not

preaching Christ

for money

but that he was

preaching Christ

for his own sake.

And so that's

the kind of thing

that's envisioned here

to give over our body

to deliver love

of my body

that I may boast.

So this

what Paul has in mind

is anything

that follows the pattern

of Christ's self-sacrifice

because Christ said

this is my body

which is delivered

which is for you.

And so then

Paul is saying

even the greatest

possible thing

even the greatest

example of

self-sacrifice

that a Christian

can do for God

and his church

even the delivering

up of one's own body

would be of no account

without love.

Throughout this letter

he mentions many times

how Corinthians

were looking for gain.

They were seeking

to benefit themselves

and here he tells them

the only way

you gain something

is by giving up

everything

for the sake of love

for your people

for your brothers

and sisters in Christ.

So are you seeking

to help yourself

or to help others

with your life?

What are some good things

in your life

that you are tempted

to pursue

without love?

If you start

and run

a Fortune 500 company

and give away

billions to charity

but you don't have love

you would be nothing.

if you become

the next big

social media star

a YouTube celebrity

who covers

Christian songs

and holds concerts

all over the world

or the next celebrity

pastor who speaks

at conferences

and writes bestsellers

but you have not love

you would be nothing.

If you heal

dozens of people

of their diseases

or if you prophesy

with such striking accuracy

so that you are

sought after globally

but you have not love

you would be nothing.

Do you get the point?

This is God's

radical economy.

Spiritual currency

not made up of love

is worthless

in his valuation.

And all that we must

all that we do

must flow from

and be filled with

love.

That's the priority

of love.

Okay, so we get

the priority of love

but what does love

look like?

That brings us

to the second point

the properties

of love.

In verses 4 to 7

Paul tells us

what love is

then what it isn't

and then concludes

by reiterating

what love is.

So he begins

in verse 4

by telling us

two positive

expressions of love.

He says love

is patient

and kind.

These two

properties of love

describe love

in its passive

and active forms.

So the first word

patient is literally

a combination

of two words

that mean anger

and a long time.

So it means

that you don't get

angry for a long time.

It means that you

are long suffering.

This is the passive

expression of love.

How it responds

to the offenses

and provocations

of others.

And the second word

kind refers to

doing good.

In the Old Testament

it is commonly used

to describe God's

goodness.

It says that

he instructs sinners

in the way

because he is good.

Scripture describes

God's rules

as good

and that God

is good

and does good.

That's the same word

here for kind.

So along the same lines

in the New Testament

Jesus commands

in Luke 6.35

love your enemies

and do good to them.

So it's the disposition

to do good

even to our enemies

as God does.

That's what kindness

means.

So if patient

describes the passive

posture of love

kind describes

the active posture

of love.

What we're seeking

to do

to love

is to suffer

long

and to do

good.

Love is patient

and kind.

Are you patient

with others?

Are you long

suffering with others

when they offend you

or hurt you?

Or do you flare up

quickly

to seek vengeance?

Are you kind

to others?

Are you favorably

disposed toward others?

Do you seek

their good?

And after the two

positive descriptions

of love

which really

summarizes love

Paul continues

by telling us

the negative

descriptions

of what love

isn't

what love is not.

And it's not

accidental

that these

negative

descriptions

are strikingly

accurate descriptions

of the Corinthian

believers themselves.

So Paul

is not writing

an abstract

essay here

on what love

is.

He's writing

a letter

to the Corinthian

church

and he's

applying

Christian love

to their

particular situation.

And so you'll

see that as we go.

He says

love does not

envy.

So the

adjectival form

of the same

word envy

was used

earlier in

chapter 3

verse 3

to describe

the rivalries

that divided

the Corinthian

believers.

So Paul

said that

they were

behaving

in a

fleshly

way

because

there

was

jealousy

and

strife

among

them.

The

jealousy

that's

the same

word

that's

translated

here

as envy.

So envy

is a covetous

desire for

something that

belongs to

another

and therefore

it produces

rivalry.

It means

to begrudge

the status

or blessing

of another

person.

And because

of that

it's contrary

to love.

If we love

someone

right?

Think about

if we love

someone truly

we delight in

their blessing

don't we?

we enjoy

it.

We delight

in it when

something good

happens to

them.

So it's

when we

don't love

someone that

we begrudge

their good.

It's the

opposite of

being kind.

Those who

are kind

seek the

good of

others.

Those who

are envious

begrudge

the good

of others.

Are you

envious of

others'

prosperity?

Their

blessings?

Their

giftedness?

Their

status or

position?

Envy is a

failure of

love and

we are

rightly

alarmed when

we feel

envy rising

up in

our hearts.

And love

also does

not boast.

The word

translated

boast refers

to heaping

praise on

oneself.

It's to

be a

bragger

really.

A pretentious

windbag.

That's another

way to

translate that

word.

It refers

to any

form of

self-exalting

self-aggrandizing

speech.

Once again

the Corinthians

were guilty

of this.

They are

described as

boasting in

their misguided

spirituality in

chapter 4,

7 and

chapter 5,

verse 6.

So do you

like to then

make yourself

to be larger

than you

really are?

Do you

exaggerate your

stories in

order to

impress others?

Do you

like to boast

about your

past accomplishments,

present projects,

and your grand

plans for the

future?

Do all your

conversations

somehow find

their way back

to you?

Are you

seeking

attention for

yourself?

Is your

speech aimed

at lifting

yourself and

not building

up others?

That's

boasting.

Boasting is

contrary to

love because

in order to

love others

we must in

humility count

them more

significant than

ourselves and

look not only to

our own interests

but also to the

interests of

others.

And boasting

because it's by

nature self-focused

it precludes

others and

orientation that is

centered around

others that

love requires.

Similarly love

is not

arrogant.

The word

arrogant literally

means puffed

up and it

means to be

full of hot

air.

So Paul again

used this word

five times,

all five times

and he used

it to describe

the Corinthian

believers.

He says that

they were puffed

up in favor of

one against

another in

chapter 4

verse 6.

They were

arrogant toward

Paul as well

chapter 4

verse 18 to

19.

And they were

arrogant even

in the midst

of their sins.

They were

boasting that

oh we're

so free,

so spiritual,

we can

indulge in

these sins.

They were

puffed up.

And they were

destroying their

brothers and

sisters,

Christian brothers

who had

weaker

consciences by

indulging in

their freedom

in this way.

They're puffed

up.

And this

arrogance is

antithetical to

love because

love requires

high regard for

others but

those who are

puffed up have

the highest regard

for themselves.

Their opinions,

their strengths,

their righteousness

and they are

self-confident

and self-sufficient

which leads

necessarily to

disregard of

others.

For this reason

they seldom ask

questions that

reflect their

concern for

others.

They really only

ask questions

that serve their

interests.

They won't

condescend to

associate with

the lowly but

they presume to

bring down those

above them to

their own level.

They are marked

by selfish ambition

and greedy for

honor beyond that

of their peers.

That's what it

means to be

arrogant.

Love is also

not rude which

refers to

behaving in a

disgraceful,

dishonorable or

an inappropriate

way, in an

unseemly way.

The word was

used in chapter

7 verse 36 to

describe the

Corinthians once

again who were

not behaving

properly toward

their betrothed.

And then in

verse chapter 11

2 to 16 Paul

wrote that men

and women who

blur their

differentiated

complementary genders

in the context of

corporate worship are

dishonoring their

heads and bringing

disgrace to

themselves.

So once again

that's rude

behavior, inappropriate

behavior, dishonorable

behavior.

And similarly in

chapter 11 verse 22

Paul scolded the

wealthier members of

the church who were

humiliating and

dishonoring the

poorer members of

the church at the

Lord's Supper.

Once again that's

being rude,

inappropriate,

dishonorable,

disgracing.

And so it refers

to the word rude

to all those who

indulge their

immediate selfish

desires without

concern for how

they are violating

the conventions and

courtesy of their

relationships.

Once again it's

opposed to love

because love

propels us outward

toward others but

rudeness drains

everything inward

toward ourselves.

Are we behaving in

a seemly way,

honorable,

appropriate way in

our relationships?

Love also does not

insist on its own

way.

In chapter 10 Paul

corrected the

Corinthians because

they were disregarding

the consciences of

others and insisting

on their own way.

So he commanded them

at that point,

let no one seek his

own good but the

good of his neighbor.

And he urged them

to follow his own

example.

He said,

I'm trying to please

everyone in everything

I do, not seeking my

own advantage but that

of many that they may

be saved.

All of these

negative descriptions

up to this point

are related.

And people who

insist on their

own way are

unloving and

they're arrogant.

It's because they

think so highly of

their own ideas,

they are willful and

stubborn and don't

take counsel or

criticism well.

When they are

proven wrong,

they are reluctant

to admit fault

and slow to reform

their ways.

Even with relation

to God, those who

are arrogant insist

on their own way.

When things are

going as they think

they should, they

pat God on the

back and say,

wow, you're great,

you're doing great.

When things don't

go their way, they

become disgruntled

and bitter toward

God because they

think they know

better than God

how their life

should be.

They insist on

their own way.

Now, this doesn't

mean that loving

people, that in

order to be loving

people, we need to

necessarily be

pushovers.

because that's

not what that

means.

It doesn't mean to

never insist on

our own way at

all.

So, Jonathan

Edwards, who was a

17th century American

pastor and theologian

who preached on

this passage, he

put it this way.

He says, a truly

humble person is

inflexible in

nothing but in the

cause of his Lord

and Master, which

is the cause of

truth and virtue.

In this, he is

inflexible because

God and conscience

require it.

But in things of

lesser moment, in

which do not

involve his

principles as a

follower of Christ,

and in things that

only concern his

own private interests,

he is apt to

yield to others.

Right?

It's always a

treasure to meet

humble people like

that, isn't it?

Right?

People who are

unflinching and

unyielding lions when

it comes to God and

his will revealed in

Scripture.

Yet, people who are

soft and tender like

lambs when it comes

to anything else.

Whenever possible, a

loving person puts

the interests of

others ahead of his

own.

And in contrast, an

unloving person

insists on his own

way.

Love is not

irritable.

A loving person is

not easily provoked

to anger.

This, too, is

connected to pride and

arrogance.

Those who think

highly of themselves

make much of little

offenses committed

against themselves,

and so they are

easily aroused to

anger.

Being irritable is

the opposite of being

patient and forbearing.

A loving person

exercises self-control

for the sake of

others, while an

unloving person

gives full vent to

his anger to

gratify himself for

his own sake.

The word resentful is

a translation of a

phrase that says

literally, it does not

count or reckon

evil.

It does not count

evil.

The NIV puts it

this way.

Love keeps no record

of wrongs.

We find a parallel

phrase in Paul's

second letter to the

Corinthians, chapter

5, verse 19.

It says, in Christ,

God was reconciling the

world to himself, not

counting their

trespasses against

them, and entrusting

to us the message of

reconciliation.

So love does not

count evil in the

same way that God

does not count our

trespasses against us.

It's similar to

Proverbs 10, 12, which

says that hatred

stirs up strife, but

love covers all

offenses.

A loving person is a

forgiving person.

An unloving person is

a resentful person.

And unloving people

have a tendency to

count not only real

evil, but also just

perceived evil.

They are quick to

presume guilt and

suspect others instead

of giving them the

benefit of the doubt.

Counting the evil of

others and being

resentful is contrary

to love because we

always give the

benefit of the doubt

to people we love.

When it comes to our

spouses, our children,

our best friends, we

think well of them.

We give them a break.

We don't hold grudges

against them.

We naturally make

light of their

shortcomings and put

the best possible

construction on whatever

they do.

And that's because we

love them.

But when it comes to

people whom we are

prejudiced against,

people we antagonize,

then we are quick to

point out and make a

big deal of their

shortcomings and put

the worst possible

construction on their

wrongdoings.

We count all their

evil and we resent

them.

Resentfulness is also

rooted in arrogance

because we fancy

ourselves to be above

the sins and failures

that we observe in

other people that we

find their sins and

failures to be so

inexcusable.

We are lenient with

ourselves but harsh

with others.

We are forgiving with

ourselves but resentful

of others.

This is contrary to

Christian love.

But the fact that love

does not count evil,

that it's not resentful,

does not mean that we

must condone evil and

never right the wrong

committed by other

people.

Verse 6 tells us that

love does not rejoice at

wrongdoing but rejoices

with the truth.

The word wrongdoing is

elsewhere translated

as unrighteousness or

injustice and the word

truth is the word that

refers to God's

faithfulness.

That God is always true

to his character, to who

he is.

He's faithful to himself.

This means that Christian

love opposes injustice

and unrighteousness and

rejoices with the truth

that God has revealed to

us.

So true Christian love is

always rooted in truth.

And once again this was

something that the

Corinthians were missing.

They said they rejoiced

and boasted in their

wrongdoings.

Chapter 5 verse 6.

They condoned an

incestuous brother who

was living in their midst.

And they indulged in

sexual immorality with

prostitutes.

But Paul tells them in

chapter 5 verse 13,

purge the evil person from

among you.

Personal forgiveness does

not mean that we tolerate

evil.

sin must still be addressed

and wrongdoing must be

made right.

And sometimes people will

gloss over clear scripture

teachings to condone sin

and in the name of

tolerance.

But such tolerance is

antithetical to love.

Because we tolerate sin

which is eternally detrimental

to someone.

So that we could avoid

conflict.

That's not loving.

That's hating them.

We're putting our desire

to avoid conflict above

the desire for the good

of the other person.

That kind of tolerance

is not love.

That's selfish and

unloving.

True love is rooted

in truth.

And after describing at

length what love is not,

in verse 7, Paul finally

returns once again to

describe what love is.

He says,

love bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

This verse is structured

like chiastically.

So that means the two

items at the beginning

and the end,

they match.

And the two middle items,

they match with each other.

So love bears all things,

parallels love,

endures all things.

And they both deal with

the present circumstances.

And love believes all things,

and love hopes all things.

They both look toward the future.

Love bears all things,

endures all things,

meaning there is nothing

that love cannot face.

Love can bear all things,

endure all things.

Love perseveres to the end.

That's what it's meant.

And I think here,

it's likely that believing all things

and hoping all things,

they refer to relationship

between people,

just like all the other

descriptions so far

has done.

So what does that mean,

to believe all things

and hope all things?

And I don't think

that all things,

that all things

are repeated here

for rhetorical emphasis.

And it conveys

the resilience of love.

But the fact that love

believes all things,

I don't think means

that we should be gullible

or credulous people

who believe everything

and everyone.

We need to be discerning

about what we believe.

But rather,

I think what it does mean

is that we should be disposed

to trust people,

to give them the benefit

of the doubt,

to believe the best about them

as an expression

of our love for them.

Instead of suspecting people

and distrusting them,

love believes all things.

Do we love one another

in this way?

Or are we suspicious

of one another?

Skeptical toward one another?

Or are we inclined

to believe and trust

one another?

Similarly, love

hopes all things.

Not in the sense

of naive optimism,

but in the sense

that love never

despairs of people.

We never give up on them.

We never lose hope

for the people we love

in all things.

Do you love people

in this way,

even when they seem

to take a turn

for the worse?

Do you continue

to pray for them?

Do you continue

to hope for them?

Or are you quick

to give up on them

and dismiss them

as a hopeless case?

And it's because

love believes all things

and hopes all things

that love bears all things

and endures all things.

Without faith

in what God can do

within our relationships,

through our church,

through Christ

in our church,

without hope

for one another,

our love will not

bear all things

or endure all things.

And having spoken

of the priority of love

and the properties

of love,

Paul turns to

the permanence of love.

He says in verse 8,

love never ends.

And that sets up

the contrast

between the gifts

of the Spirit

that will seize

and pass away

and love which never ends.

Right?

So read with me.

As for prophecies,

they will pass away.

As for tongues,

they will cease.

As for knowledge,

it will pass away.

For we know in part

and we prophesy in part,

but when the perfect comes,

the partial will pass away.

These are all references

to spiritual gifts

that were mentioned

early in chapter 12.

So prophecy, tongues,

utterance of knowledge.

And of course,

knowledge of God

itself doesn't pass away

as verse 12 makes clear.

But the gifts

of the word of knowledge,

the utterance of knowledge

does pass away.

It will pass away

because it will

no longer be necessary.

Our partial knowledge

will be subsumed

by the full knowledge

we will have

when our union with God

is consummated.

Similarly,

if the tongues

really is the tongues

of angels,

as I think the context

seems to indicate,

mentioned in verse 1,

then it doesn't make sense

that tongues would fade,

that it would pass away

in the age to come.

But the gift of tongues,

wherein the speaker

utters mysteries

that cannot be understood,

apart from interpretation,

that will cease.

And the gift of tongues,

which is partial

and incomplete,

will no longer be necessary

because all will be able

to speak and understand

one another fully in heaven.

The Corinthian believers

were much enamored

with the spiritual gifts

and they were misusing

these gifts

in the context

of corporate worship.

And they believed

that the possession

of these spiritual gifts

indicated their spiritual arrival.

I'm already experiencing

heavenly life here on earth.

I'm already like

the angels in heaven.

That's how they believed

themselves to be

because they possessed

these spiritual gifts.

But Paul is sharply

contradicting them

when he says this.

He's saying that

the spiritual gift,

contrary to what you think,

they don't belong

to the future age to come.

Rather,

they belong to the present age.

The spiritual gifts

are not a sign

of our arrival.

It's a sign

of our waiting

that the perfect

has not yet come.

We know only in part.

We prophesy

only in part

and this partial knowledge

of God

and partial prophetic revelation

are characteristic

of the present age

that will pass away.

And eventually,

we will know God fully

and we will see

his revelation fully

so that the gift

of knowledge,

the gift of prophecy,

they will be made obsolete.

That's what he means

when he says

when the perfect comes,

the partial will pass away.

And Paul's not merely saying

that just these three gifts,

tongues, prophecy,

and the word knowledge

are going to pass away.

He's using them

representatively

to say that all the gifts

that he is mentioning,

all the spiritual gifts

will pass away.

And it's an influential

Christian theologian

named Karl Barth,

he puts it this way.

Because the sun rises,

all lights are extinguished.

We turn on the lamps at night

because there is no sunlight.

But when the sun rises,

we turn them off

because there's no need

for those inferior lights.

In the same way,

when spiritual gifts exist

in the present,

only until we are fully united

with the giver

of all good gifts.

And they will be

no longer necessary

when we are united with him.

Paul also uses the knowledge

to explain this in verse 11.

He says,

When I was a child,

I spoke like a child.

I thought like a child,

I reasoned like a child.

When I became a man,

I gave up my childish ways.

And the Corinthians boasted

that their spiritual gifts

were a sign

of their spiritual maturity,

that they've already

been made perfect.

But he tells them

that that's actually,

those gifts are a sign

of immaturity,

of incompleteness.

Not immaturity in the sense

that people who don't have

the gifts are more mature

than people who have them,

but in the sense

that all the gifts

are an indication

of immaturity

because they point

to the fact that

our union with Christ

has not been perfected.

Just as we expect

grown men and women

to put away

their childish ways,

in the age to come,

the spiritual gifts

will be put away.

Paul continues in verse 12.

For now we see

in a mirror dimly,

but then face to face.

Now I know in part,

then I shall know fully,

even as I have been fully known.

And the word dimly here

can be more literally

translated as indirectly,

or by a riddle.

That's what it literally means.

And this verse

is actually an allusion

to numbers 12, 6 to 8,

where God says,

When there is a prophet

among you,

I, the Lord,

reveal myself to them

in visions.

I speak to them

in dreams.

But this is not true

of my servant Moses.

He is faithful

in all my house.

With him I speak

face to face,

clearly,

and not in riddles.

He sees the form

of the Lord.

Why then were you not afraid

to speak against

my servant Moses?

This is why Moses

is considered the greatest

of all Old Testament prophets.

God spoke to him

face to face,

whatever that means,

in the context,

not in riddles.

And God addressed

him directly,

rather than indirectly,

through dreams

and visions.

So the contrast here

of seeing in a mirror

dimly,

and seeing face to face,

is not merely

a contrast between

a low resolution image,

and a high resolution image,

but it's a contrast

between a mediated view

of God,

and a face to face

view of God.

Between an indirect view

of God,

and a direct view

of God.

And NIV gets this right

as well.

He says,

for now we see

only a reflection

as in a mirror.

Then we shall see

face to face.

We see and experience

God through the gifts

of the Spirit

like a reflection

in a mirror.

We see a true reflection.

It is true,

but it's only

a reflection.

We see indirectly,

but not directly.

We see partly,

but not fully.

Right?

And we should long

for this day.

I long for that day

when we'll see him

face to face.

I mean,

sometimes when I'm

coming home

from working outside,

I call my wife

on my way home

so I can talk to her.

And then my conversation

with her,

of course,

is indirect,

right?

It's mediated

through a phone.

But when I arrive

at home,

I put away the phone

because now

I can talk to her

in person.

I see her face to face.

The medium

is no longer necessary

because now

I'm face to face

with the person.

In the same way,

the gifts

are but a reflection.

They're a medium

through which

we know and experience God.

But a day

is coming

when we will see God

face to face

and the gifts

will no longer

be necessary.

Now I know in part,

then I shall know fully

even as I have been

fully known.

And as he enjoins

love on the Corinthian believers,

Paul's mind

comes to two other

central,

kind of cardinal

Christian virtues.

And he concludes

this passage

by mentioning

them in verse 13.

So now faith,

hope,

and love

abide,

these three.

But the greatest

of these

is love.

Paul frequently

mentions faith,

hope,

and love

together

as a triad

in his writings.

And those three virtues

really encompass

the entirety

of the Christian life.

so they are

really the defining

qualities of the Christian.

Because Christians

are those who live

by faith

and not by sight.

We have entrusted

ourselves to the Lord

Jesus Christ

and his salvation.

We are,

Christians are those

who live with hope

in their future inheritance.

Like we,

knowing that the Holy Spirit

is our deposit,

our down payment,

guaranteeing the future

consummation of those

spiritual blessings.

And the Christians

live with love

for God

and neighbor,

having received

and having been transformed

by the love of the Father.

So faith,

hope,

and love.

Faith in Christ,

hope in the Spirit,

the love of the Father.

These are the defining

traits

of the Christian.

But so,

if that's the case,

why does Paul say

that the greatest

of these is love?

Both faith

and love

are Christian virtues

for the present.

But they are not

for eternity.

Hebrews 11,

1 says,

Now faith

is the assurance

of things hoped for,

the conviction

of things not seen.

We have faith.

We need faith now

because we don't see.

Faith is characteristic

of this present age.

And when we see God

face to face,

our faith will turn

to sight.