I want to ask you to keep in your prayers the
Promise Keepers Rally that is planned for August
4th in Washington DC. A million men will be coming
together and it's going to be a great day of
prayer and repentance on behalf of our nation.
It's called Stand in the Gap. If you've thought
about going but just haven't made up your mind
yet, there's still that opportunity. In fact,
you can get down there and back in the same day.
on a chartered 747, and you can call this number
if you have interest in doing that. It's 644
-8144. Call that number and you'll be able to
find out the information as to how you can get
down there to stand in the gap on the same day
and get back on the same day. Well, there's a
Peanuts cartoon in which Linus announces to his
cranky sister Lucy that he's going to be a doctor.
She says, you, a doctor, you don't love mankind?
Linus replies to her, I do too love mankind.
It's people I can't stand. That touches on the
text that we have to look at this morning in
1 Corinthians chapter 13 as we think about loving
people. The Corinthian Christians, like too many
today, had spiritual eyesight problem. They suffered
from soul myopia, that is from spiritual nearsightedness.
They focused on the now and what appealed to
their sensual experience rather than on what
lasts and what brings genuine spiritual maturity
to the individual. John MacArthur writes, Instead
of being God's salt in Corinth, they were being
flavored by the culture around them. Instead
of penetrating Corinth with a spirit of godliness,
Corinth's spirit of ungodliness had penetrated
the church. Instead of being obedient to God's
spirit and controlled by the fruit he gives,
They were infected by materialism, pride, antagonism,
selfishness, compromise, indulgence, hatred,
sexual immorality, jealousy, and virtually every
other sin imaginable. Instead of Corinth being
Christianized, the church was being paganized.
Friends, those are frightening words. The Corinthians
emphasized the things that were passing and temporal,
not the things lasting and eternal. They were
caught up with that which is secondary and overlooked
the significant. And that's why Paul urges them
in a new direction, to get their focus off of
the spiritual gifts, as wonderful as they are,
and onto the life of the Spirit, which is manifested
in the fruit of love. For you see, after the
gifts have served their purpose, love will continue
on. No wonder that he points them in the direction
of love, calling it the more excellent way, or
the more excellent direction, than merely getting
excited about the gifts of the Spirit. For you
see it is love that will take us to genuine spiritual
maturity and Christ -likeness. There are two
reasons that he gives us earlier in chapter 13,
verses 1 through 7, for eagerly pursuing love,
these we studied last week. He says that we ought
to make love the energy and the motivation for
how we live, first of all, because of the preeminence
of love, and secondly, because of the portrait
of love. But as we look in the text for today,
which begins in verse 8, we're going to see a
third reason for eagerly pursuing love. and that
is the permanence of love. Love, that is agape
love, God's kind of love, is permanent in God's
new order. Love is the eternal energy that is
imminent in God and which animates all of his
deeds. Therefore, when you and I act in love,
we act in his powerful energy. Paul, would you
like to have this? There you go. I think Paul
needs the notes I'm going to be using this morning
so he can keep up with the slides. It's a good
idea. By the way, I had a compliment on you last
week. They said that you stayed right with me
the whole message and the person who was here
had been in another talk where the speaker was
talking one thing and the slides were doing another.
So, for you. I really appreciate it. Or maybe
I keep up with you, maybe that's what we do.
So you see when we act in love, what we are really
doing is acting in the powerful energy of God
because love is imminent in God and it animates
his mighty deeds. Now there are three aspects
of love's permanence that I want us to look at
in these verses. The first is The first part
of verse 8 where Paul simply says, love never
fails. Here we have the permanence of love's
power. Love never loses its potency. It never
fails. The word fail here means to fall down
to the ground, like petals of a flower fall to
the ground when the flower is dying. He says,
love doesn't wither. Love remains fresh. It is
ever seeking the good of its recipient. The Song
of Solomon chapter 8 verse 7 says, Many waters
cannot quench love, nor will rivers overflow
it. Just as God never changes or fails, so agape
his love is the same. It persists. It doesn't
give up. We can see this in Jesus. For it was
love that motivated him to go to the cross that
was so beautifully sung about this morning. It
was love that caused him to die for those of
us who were hostile to him. As it says in John
13 .1, having loved his own who were in the world,
he loved them to the end. That is, he loved them
to the uttermost. He loved them to the utmost
degree. Love never fails, but love can be put
off. Although love is a dynamic force unequaled,
it can be refused. It can be rejected and spurned.
Love's unfailingness may not achieve its desired
end, because love can be put off, and yet it
doesn't quit. Love never fails in spite of the
action or the inaction of its object. It just
doesn't give up. Love can accomplish by its power
what criticism, nagging, and condemnation can
never do. Aesop told a fable about the sun and
the wind, arguing about which one of them was
the stronger. Finally, the sun said to the wind,
look at that traveler down there. Let's see which
of us can get him to take off his coat. I'll
let you begin. And so the wind blew and the sun
hid his face behind the cloud. That caused the
traveler only to bring his coat more tightly
around him. Then the wind came, the sun came
out from behind the cloud. shown so warmly that
soon the man removed his coat. Within that fable,
we see this lesson illustrated that kindness
and gentleness will often get results that fussing
and scolding cannot accomplish. The permanence
of love's power. Nothing is greater than the
power of love. Secondly, we see the permanence
of love's place. beginning in the last part of
verse 8 through verse 12. He says, but if there
are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away.
If there are tongues, they will cease. If there
is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know
in part and we prophesy in part, but when the
perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
When I was a child, I used to speak as a child,
think as a child, reason as a child. When I became
a man, I did away with childish things. For now
we see in the mirror dimly, but then face to
face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know
fully, just as I also have been fully known."
The permanence of love's place. Spiritual gifts
have only a temporary place in God's plan. Spiritual
gifts have only a temporary place in God's plan.
Prophecy and knowledge. Well, it says here they'll
be done away. It's future, passive in this verb.
There's no effect that is given. It simply says
they will be done away in time. The answer is
when. Verses 9 and 10 seem to answer that. It
is when the in part experience of the present
is also done away. When the perfect comes, he
says, when that which is full grown comes. And
then he gives the illustration of a child growing
to adulthood, a beautiful illustration of what
he's trying to say. He further describes this
perfect or this full grown or this mature experience
as being when we are face to face with God. Bible
commentators differ over what this means, but
I think the best understanding is, in a broad
sense, it is the eternal state that is to come.
It's more than Christ's second coming. For even
after that, in the millennium, there's going
to be prophecy and knowledge. Gifts will still
be in existence. But he is pointing beyond that
to the eternal state, to the new heavens and
the new earth. And he says, then when we are
face to face, when we will fully know, just as
God now fully knows us, then, he says, there
will be no need for the spiritual gifts. You
will notice that he singles out tongues in verse
8 in a particular way, for he uses a different
verb of tongues. He says they will cease. This
is in the future middle voice. It's reflexive,
which means they will cease in and of themselves.
Whereas the other gifts that he mentions, knowledge
and prophecy, will be acted upon and done away.
Now there's a reason for that and we'll get to
that in a couple of weeks. But the implication
that I want you to see this morning is this.
that love is never outgrown. Love is forever.
Love is forever. The spiritual gifts are for
a limited time, but love is forever. It is vital.
It is as much a part of eternity as it is the
present. The spiritual gifts are for time, but
love is for eternity. Now he talks thirdly about
the permanence of love's priority in verse 13.
Love's priority. He says that there are three
graces or virtues that abide. Three of them.
Faith, hope, and love. He points to these graces
as those things that lead us on toward this ultimate
consummation when we will be mature. when we
will be face to face. There's nothing that surpasses
faith, hope, and love. These lead us on toward
that mature experience when the gifts will be
done away. Faith is reliance. It is dependence.
Alan Redpath defines it as, trust that rests
upon evidence and leads to action. It is not
blind faith. It is faith that knows fully well
what its foundation is. And because of that,
it is willing to risk all in responding to what
God says. It leads to action. It is obedience
that follows God, believing that He will not
and cannot fail. And then there is hope, says
Paul. Hope is a certain expectation. It is confidence
in the future. It is the assurance of God's promises.
Hope is optimism that is anchored in God. Faith,
hope, and love. Love is that which seeks the
welfare of another. It does so at personal cost
and despite the response of the one who is loved.
Love, agape love, can only be described by words
like extravagant, lavish kind of love. Agape
love doesn't give a beggar a bowl of soup. It
takes the beggar home and lets him stay. And
isn't that exactly what God has done for us?
sinners, beggars. He has loved us to the point
that he invites us to his home to stay. We only
need come through the door that he has provided,
and that door is Jesus Christ. That is God's
kind of love. These three graces abide, they
endure, they continue on and will into eternity.
But he says love is the greatest. Love is the
greatest. Love is the best. It is the most important
in value. Now why is that? Well probably he's
saying that because love encompasses the other
two. Notice in verse 7 that he says love believes
all things. That's faith. And he says love hopes
all things. And so the other two really are wrapped
up in love, and so he says, love is the greatest.
And friend, throughout eternity to come, there
will be love. Love incarnated in the person of
the Lamb, who himself will be in the New Jerusalem
as its lamp, as its light. The glory of God will
emanate from him, not in a frightening way, but
in a way that invites us to come to him as the
redeemed. Love will be incarnated in the glorious
person of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. His
presence will be an eternal reminder of the purity
of God's love. famous hymn writer of a couple
of hundred years ago summarizes this chapter
and captures it beautifully in a hymn that he
wrote that we do not sing. Had I the tongues
of Greeks and Jews and nobler speech than angels
use, if love be absent, I am found like tinkling
brass at empty sound. Were I inspired to preach
and tell all that is done in heaven and hell?
Or could my faith the world remove? Still I am
nothing without love. Should I distribute all
my store to feed the hungry, clothe the poor,
or give my body to the flame to gain a martyr's
glorious name, if love to God and love to man
be absent? In summation about our study of the
permanence of love, I want you to remember these
things finally. Five things I want you to remember.
First of all, that love is not a feeling It is
an action. Love is not a feeling. It is something
you do. Now, I'm not a skier. I've never had
knee surgery, that's how you know. But I know
enough about skiing to know this, that for a
skier, a downhill skier to turn, he must shift
most of his weight. to the left or to the right
foot. And when he does that, the other ski, the
other knee, will follow. And so the skier turns.
I think of that as an illustration of love. The
first thing that we must do is put our weight
on the action. We must decide what the right
thing to do is because of love. And when we have
done that, the feelings will come along, and
we'll be turning in the right direction. Even
when we don't feel like loving, we can still
act in a loving way. Love is not a feeling, it's
an action. Secondly, love is not free, it costs.
It cost God plenty, didn't it? Salvation is wonderfully
free to us, but oh the cost to God. And friends,
when we love with the love of God, it's going
to cost us something too. It means that something
of us must be a part of this act. It means that
some of our comfort zone is going to have to
be taken away. It means that some of what we
have preserved for ourselves, we give up. Love
costs something. It costs us to stay extra time
on a Sunday morning to work with children. When
we'd rather go home maybe. Well, I've been there
two hours already. Jesus was on the cross for
six. You see, love costs something. If it doesn't
cost me something, then I'm not really loving
the way God wants me to. Third, love is not peripheral.
Love is central to maturity. Please hear that.
You and I cannot mature. We cannot grow. in Jesus
Christ until we have learned to love. God will
take us through all kinds of experiences in life
to shake us down so that we will learn to love.
And the reason for that is that love is necessary
for spiritual growth. And until I come to that
place in my life where I am willing to give up
myself, part of me, part of my resources, out
of love for God and love for man, that I really
can't grow. We have to come to that place where
we begin to experience this love that Paul points
to as the greatest, just the greatest. Number
four, I want you to remember that love is not
self -driven. It is spirit empowered. You and
I do not have the strength to love in ourselves.
This way at least. We can do a kind thing for
somebody or do an extra deed or go the extra
mile on occasion in our own strength. But we
cannot consistently love with this kind of love.
by ourselves. We have to have the Spirit's energy
and that's why Paul says in Galatians that the
fruit of the Spirit is love. You cannot live
with that husband that is thoughtless and self
-centered and emotionally abusive perhaps in
your own strength. You will not be able to be
his wife apart from God's love. You will not
be able to live with that wife who does not understand
your needs as a man. Who doesn't consider the
pressures that you're under. or who doesn't know
how to love you in your own strength. You will
need the Spirit's enablement to do that. Those
of you who have been abused in your past will
not be able to love your abuser in your own strength.
But you can love that individual. in the fruit
of the spirit that is love. You can do it. Cory
Ten Boom used to tell the story about speaking
in 1947 in Germany. You remember that she and
her sister were taken to Ravensbruck, one of
the prison camps of the Nazis, and there they
were cruelly abused and Betsy, her sister, died.
And Corrie used to tell the story about being
in Germany and speaking to a group of Christians
in 1947, just two years after the war. And at
the end of the service, she looked back and she
saw a man coming up who was dressed in a suit,
but she instantly remembered him as one of the
guards at Ravensbruck. And in her heart, this
bitterness came up, this extreme anger. She remembered
Betsy. And how Betsy had just been so cruelly
treated that her strength gave out finally and
she died in that terrible place. And so she tried
to avoid this man, but he hung around and he
hung around and finally it was the man and her.
And she said, well surely he won't remember me,
I'm one of thousands of people. Therefore, I
will just acknowledge him and go on." And he
came up to her and said, you probably don't remember
me, but I remember you. And she said, yes, I
remember you. And he said, you know, I wouldn't
blame you if you would never forgive me for what
I did in that prison camp. But he said, in the
last two years, I have come to know God. I have
trusted Christ as my Savior, and I have acknowledged
all of that to him, and he has forgiven me."
And he said, I have come tonight to ask you to
forgive me. And he held out his hand to shake
her hand. And Corrie honestly tells us she struggled
at that moment. Can I do this? Will I do this?
Why should I do this? And then she decided that
although she did not feel very loving toward
the man, she could at least forgive him. And
so she reached out her hand to shake it and to
thus indicate, yes, I forgive you. And she said,
when their hands touched, she said, a warmth
filled her body. And God poured a measure of
love into her life that she had never known up
to that point. I don't know what past experience
may be staring you in the face this morning.
Or what person's visage is in your mind as I
talk about this. But I can tell you that until
you come to the place of being able to love that
person, or forgive that person, and show that
person agape, You may well be stunted in your
spiritual growth. Agape is powerful. It is powerful.
But it cannot be self -driven. We don't have
the strength in ourselves. But we can trust God
for the power to do the right thing. And know
that when we do, the feelings will come along.
And finally, I want you to remember that love
is not passing. It is God's permanent kingdom
order. Throughout eternity to come, love is going
to be the ethic of God's kingdom. And so I exhort
you and I exhort myself and all of us this morning
to become a person of faith and hope. Never neglect
faith and hope, but realize that love is the
greatest. That love is the greatest because of
its power, because of its permanence, because
of its priority to God. It is love that marks
you as a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus said,
by this will all men know that you are my disciples
if you have love for one another. Some unknown
person has written this poem entitled simply,
Why? On the street I saw a small girl, cold and
shivering, in a thin dress, with little hope
of a decent meal. I became angry and said to
God, Why did you permit this? Why don't you do
something about it? For a while God said nothing.
But that night he replied quite suddenly. I certainly
did something about it," he said. I made you.
And the question I have for you is, whom will
you love by the power of Jesus this week? Whose
life will be altered because you came across
that individual's path? Who will know the touch
of Jesus because your hand reached out to touch
him or her this week? Who will know his voice
because of your tongue? Who will know his love
because you acted? Love is the greatest. Love
is forever. Let's live the kingdom ethic now.
Let's pray. Will you in your heart say, Lord,
I will by your grace live in the power and the
energy of love. I will live in the power of the
Holy Spirit. Will you say that in your heart?
Will you ask the Lord to open your eyes to see
the ones He wants you to touch? the ones he wants
to speak to this week. Let's be his channels,
his conduits of love. Sing with me this little
chorus that many of you probably know. Channels
only, blessed Master, but with all thy wondrous
power. flowing through us, thou canst use us
every day and every hour. Let's stand together,
please, with our heads bowed. Lord, I pray that
the power of love, the power of the Holy Spirit,
will so be released in our lives. that those
that we come into contact with will know in some
measure that they have met a Christian, a disciple
of Jesus this week. And this I pray in His name.
Amen. Well, thank you for being with us this
morning in worship. And if you're visiting, would
you please slip first right to the back here
where you see the display, Grace Church, Roseville.
I'll be there. There'll be some other pastors
and elders there. We want to meet you. And thank
you. God bless you as you go. And have a wonderful
Lord's Day.