I invite you to turn in the Scriptures tonight to the book of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians, as we're continuing our study in that book. And 1 Corinthians chapter 13. Last week, we looked at the first part of this, the glorious first section of 1 Corinthians 13. I would just love to re-preach that sermon. But we'll have to look at the second part, which is just as good, I believe. So, we're going to consider verses 8 to the end of the chapter, but to set the context, I will read the entire chapter. It's on page 1220 in your pew Bibles. Let's give our attention to the word of the Lord. This is 1 Corinthians 13. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 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. If I give away all that I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth love bears all things believes all things hopes all things endures all things now our text love never ends 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 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 childish ways 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 so now faith hope and love abide these three but the greatest of ease is love. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. I'm sure most of you have heard sermons on the book of Revelation and the churches in Revelation. And that first church has always stood out to me that the Lord addressed when he was walking among his lampstands, his churches, that was the church in Ephesus. And that church was a remarkable church and such an interesting church but a startling church because the lord's indictment against that church was that it had left its first love what was encouraging about that church was its doctrinal commitment was its conviction about the truth i mean really a great commendation is given to the church in emphasis that they fought against the doctrine of the nicolaitans and the lord says i hate that doctrine. I am really happy with you. You guys fought against that. You stood against that. You were willing in a culture that doesn't stand for much at all. You were willing to fight against the doctrine of the Nicolaitans when many churches were compromising, and that I commend you. Remarkable. A church committed to the truth. How could you stand for the truth on one hand and then leave your first love on the other. That's always startled me. That's always perplexed me. That's why I don't think it would be right to say that this church left Christ. Some have tried to apply it by saying that they left their first love, they left Jesus. I don't believe they left Jesus. The problem is remarkably similar to the problem in Corinth, isn't it? It was similar that their works and their service in the life of the kingdom was not they were not driven by love and christ looked at the church in ephesus and said listen you need to repent and you need to go back and you need to do the first works what was the church like when it started well you know there's a lot of excitement when a church starts there's a lot of desire to help people when church starts there's there's a real eagerness when visitors walk in when a church starts there's um there's works that are motivated by sincere love when a church newly is formed. But then as time goes, it dwindles and a church turns inward. And they fight. That's the path. That typically happens. It's sad. Well, in that vein you see how it ties together with Corinth. I don't need to rehearse all the problems. I have been rehearsing a lot of problems. I understand and I trust you understand the problems now in corn you know what they were but but it's so important to understand that this beautiful treatment of love that this this wonderful teaching on love which we haven't taught enough this wonderful teaching on love comes in the midst of paul's teaching on gifts and that is so important what that means is is that the church in corinth in their use of the gifts they were not using their gifts in love and i made the case that this problem last time is really what's driving all the problems in corinth this single gift this single great gift that got all the intention in corinth was what tongues tongues and paul at the end of chapter 12 said i've got a more excellent way than your tongue speakers, which is really remarkable, isn't it? Here's your problem, he said, dear brothers and sisters in Corinth. Let me help you to see it. As a matter of fact, let me be a little bit extreme for a moment. If you had the greatest voice ever in the ministry, I went through this last time, the greatest voice, if you had golden mouth, casostrum's voice, and you could speak with the tongue of angels or or imagine if you had the greatest mind ever you could retain the most in that mind you're surely brilliant or or you're the greatest giver you're even willing you have enough strength in you to put your body into the fire if you were asked to be a martyr greatest voice i mean think about that the greatest voice the greatest mind and the greatest giver if you have not love all of that profits nothing everything you do said paul has to be controlled by this and he went into love what it is love is is patient and kind they're just so beautiful i would love to go through them again but i won't it doesn't keep a record it's forbearing it doesn't go to battle with people it's not looking for that god taught you love god showed you love now we looked at that here what he wanted to impress upon them. I believe that if you could correct this problem in the church in Corinth and motivate a sincere and genuine pursuit of love in the members in Corinth, all the problems that we've been studying now for 13 long chapters would go away. What does Paul do at this point? Well, if you have one gift that's dominating their interests, what does he say? I now have shown you the more excellent way? The more excellent way for you is love. But here's why this gift is worth pursuing. Let me tell you why this gift is so worth pursuing. Let me really motivate you to love. We know what ultimately motivates us to love. It's the love of Christ. That's what we unpacked last time. God has taught us to love. But in this passage, Paul is using two things to tell us that and motivate love. He says two things tonight. He says it is God's greatest gift to his church. You say, really? I'll come back to that. And love is the only permanent gift. It's permanence that drives this section to motivate you to love. It gives a real incentive to love. It gives you real motivation to love. What you are giving value to was designed to cease, says Paul. You guys are caught up in all the show. You guys are caught up in the tongues. That was all designed to stop. That was only short-lived. But let me tell you something. Love will go on forever. I want us to think about that tonight for a moment. I think it's such a powerful argument when you think about what you're doing in the life of the kingdom. Do you want to do something that matters? Do you want to do something that is eternal value? When you see a church without love, what do you see? You see a church that's going nowhere. You see a church that's lost sight of the bigger picture. You see a church that understands no longer what the goal of ministry is. That's the sad consequence of a church without love. And that was Corinth's problem. They no longer knew who they were. They no longer knew what the ministry was about. They no longer knew their goals. They had left their first love. So Paul calls them to pursue this one gift from Christ that is permanent. Let's look at this. The first thing Paul does is answer the problem of what's been dominating them. Since chapter 12, he addressed this single great issue, namely that a certain gift was designed to stop at some point. And that's been where all their interest lies. That's where all their fascination lies. That's where all, they were so intrigued with this. Well, that's verse 8. Paul says something that's so important to his main point. He says, love never ends. We're going to come back to that. Agape love, and we distinguished what that is last time. Sacrificial love. The love that's shown to us in the cross. The love that's shown to us by Christ. Never falls down. That's what the verb means. Never. It has a permanent quality. Now before we unpack that and look at that and conclude with that tonight, Paul basically says, you're stuck in what is temporary. There are things that fall over. There are things that end. There are priorities in the ministry. Oh, that's such a big principle for the Apostle Paul. He was an apostle of priority. He understood priorities. He knew what to fight about. He knew what not to fight about. He knew what to make a conscience issue. He knew what not to make a conscience issue over. Balanced. Beautiful. But priority is what he's going after here. Priority in the ministry. And so he says in verse 8, 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. I used to be so puzzled over those verses, and I always would sit and read them. I don't understand that. I don't understand that. And you really see the value of going through a book. It really has opened up to us now, isn't it? It only makes sense when you understand Paul's answer to the question about tongues. Why do I say that? I want you to look very carefully at those verses again with me. He mentions three gifts here. Prophecies, knowledge, and tongues. Tongues is what he's going after right now. Notice what he does. As for prophecies, they will pass away. As for knowledge, it will, same verb, pass away. As for tongues, they'll cease. Totally different verb. He chose the same verb for prophecies and knowledge, but a different verb for tongues. It's really fascinating here. Knowledge will pass away. Prophecies will pass away. What that means is, is that at some point they will simply be done away with. Something will bring them to an end. Now you understand this. When I was in school years ago as a child, I used to beg my parents to get me a little Walkman. Anybody know what Walkman are anymore? A Walkman with a little tape. And I thought that was just great when I got that. For some of you, it was an A-track. I don't know what that was, but I remember hearing a lot about it. And for some of you, you're so old, it was a record. Well, my kids come to me today. Are they asking me for any of those? They're asking me for MP3 players. They're asking me for phones, which I said no. You see, something better has come. In all those circumstances, something better has come. And immediately it brought the others to an end, didn't it? Once you're selling CDs, you're no longer selling cassette tapes. Well, that's what is the emphasis here. Something is going to come that brings to an end knowledge and prophecies that is so much better. You don't need it anymore. But that's not what he said for tongues. For tongues, he says, they will stop. Like a battery. it just runs out. Once the juice is out, you throw it away. That's exactly the sense. Now this is really important. 1 Corinthians 13, 9 through 10, for we know in part and we prophesy in part. Notice he just linked that together. We know and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. What did he link together? Knowledge and prophecy. He didn't talk about tongues we know in part and we prophesy in part that will pass away when the perfect comes tongues at some point was just designed to stop but these would pass away when the perfect comes what's the perfect well there have been a few ideas in the history of the church I would love to tell you tonight it's the canon. I'd love to say it's the Word of God when it was completed and handed. But that just doesn't work. They wouldn't have had any concept of that in Corinth. I believe, and I think most commentators accept, that this has everything to do with what we understand by perfect. What do you understand by perfect? What are you looking for? You're looking for the perfect to come. You're looking for Christ to return in glory and make everything perfect. You're looking for the state of glorification. You're waiting for that. You're looking for that. At least that's what we're taught to look for, right? There's a time when the ministry stops, he's saying. There's a time when the ministry, actually the verb would be better here, the time when the ministry is done away with. Why? Because Christ has come. it will pass away. You don't need the ministry anymore. There's a night coming when no man would work, Jesus says. Now, the thought of that should evoke the question, what am I doing here in the church? What are we doing in the church? If we're all caught up in our energies and the wrong things, think of Corinth, You've forgotten the bigger goal in picture. You're focused on all the wrong stuff in the ministry. One of the most moving endings to a movie I ever saw was the end of Schindler's List. I don't know if that's exactly how it went or not, but Spielberg, at the end of that movie, I was in tears. And every time I watch it, I'm in tears. You know why? Hard movie to watch. But when Oscar Schindler rescued all the Jews, And he bought them. At the end of the movie, he is weeping uncontrollably because he says, basically what he said at the end of it was, I could have bought more. My priorities were so wrong along the way. And all these Jews were standing there saying, no, we're here. But he says, I could have bought more. I was focused too much on this and things. And I didn't give it to this. And I've always thought that somewhat captures the bigger picture in the ministry I always have to keep in front of me. This is about the salvation of people. And if I forget that, what happens? It's tragic that a church can leave its love, isn't it? When there's no love, what do you get? You get Corinth. Remember? Factions, hero worship, valuing of all the things that the world values, obsession with knowledge and speaking abilities and divisions and fighting and separations and arguments over disputes over words, people pushing their agendas. This is what begins to dominate church life when there's no love. You ever seen that? It's no longer functioning as a church should function. It's forgotten its purpose. It's forgotten its mission. It's forgotten the reason it exists. And then it's no longer about salvation of people. The whole section then is moving us to set priorities right in the church. When you look at a church that's not operating well, when you look at a church that's a mess and not moving forward, you're going to see a church caught up in all the wrong priorities and the things that don't move you forward to the ultimate goal. What does Paul have in mind here? Tongues. You guys are caught up in the show. you guys are caught up in the ecstasy you want entertainment and enthusiasm but you don't understand that gift was designed like a battery to stop it's very thing and this is what what the general testimony is of the church it died when the apostles died that gift ceased that gift stopped that's the universal witness of the early church by the way origin the early church father said to celsius the sign gifts were temporary and not exercised by the christians of his day chrysostom states that tongues not only had ceased but could not be accurately defined augustine in the earliest times the holy spirit fell on them that believed and they spoke with tongues these were signs adapted to that time that thing was done for it passed away and yet we've got a whole charismatic movement caught up in it today. It stopped. It ceased. The battery went out. It served its purpose. So you hear what Paul's saying and you see the application now to us. You're caught up in things that were designed to pass away and you think it's the be-all and the end-all of ministry. Look at the contemporary church. Look at the challenges that we face. We're so caught up in what's temporary, thinking that if we just have all these great sign gifts. Let me ask you a question. For all the emphasis that's been given in our day on healings and miracles, for all the people that are healed, are they still going to die? Yeah. So they're caught up in something temporary that is not answered and provided the ultimate solution. Their bodies are still going in the grave. Nobody has stopped that but Jesus alone. So what Paul's doing here, and this is the challenge today, look at a ministry. Luther used to say a ministry is either focused on a theology of the cross or a theology of glory. The theology of glory is all about the temporary and the excitement in the moment now, the glory now. That's Corinth's problem. It's a theology of glory. It's the message that's not focused on a life of suffering, then glory. It's the message of Osteen. It's the message of have your best life now. Live it up now. Those are the enthusiasts. The cross is a way of denial. The cross is a way of suffering. Paul's point is, are we pursuing what has eternal value? They were looking at the gifts and thinking it's all about the performer. and remember what paul's been saying gifts that god gave are not for your glory your gifts are not for you your gifts are for the person next to you your gifts are for somebody else to be a blessing to and help when it becomes about you when it becomes about people when it becomes about this temporary fix of a high it's no longer done in love that's paul's point it's lost love is the motivation if it's a showcase of the speaker and knowledge and giving it's no longer love paul says that behavior is childlike 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 childish ways 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 in a sense we're like children right now we see it in what we value you know what is our temptation our temptation right now is to put our affection and love into things while the lord's told us remember the goal store up your treasures in heaven store up your treasures there we're thinking like children when all the values put on temporary things what do your children do well mine come up to me sometimes and say dad when I get old all I'm going to do is eat candy I said no you're not well why wouldn't I taste so good because you're not an adult and I assure you you when you're an adult you won't do that do we have to tell our children to uh to share their toys? Constantly. They hold tight to their toys. Children teach us a lot. Teach us a lot about us, don't they? We're holding tight to toys. In the ministry, you can hold tight to toys. Hold tight to all the wrong things that are temporary. When I was a child, I thought like a child. I acted like a child. I behaved like a child. When I became a man, I gave those things up. What's Paul saying? Well, when you get into the kingdom and glory, these little things that you're holding on to, you're not taking and they don't hold a candle to what's coming. We use certain gifts in the life of the church now for the benefit of others. We use the things of this life now for the benefit of others. But they will pass away. Some are designed to stop. I hope I'm making myself clear. Paul is saying, recognize that when we live like children, when we're holding on to what is temporary in the ministry, when we want all that glory now, when we in the church just want the cotton candy, for instance. when we in the church put all the value on the things that are temporary, we're not acting like grown-ups. We're not mature Christians. But when we're full of age and we've demonstrated some kind of maturity, we learn to say, I believe I brought nothing into this world and I know I'm not going to take anything out. It's hard to get there. I admit, hard for me to get there. But we're taught to live and value what God has told us is most important. The same is true with our spiritual life. The same is true with our spiritual life. Children value temporary things. Babies in the faith are caught up in following men. All these temporary things. Here's the point. The mature understand that the things that are temporary are used and subservient to the things that are lasting and the larger hope that God has set in front of us. What is lasting? What is lasting? I asked you the question, what is God's greatest gift to His church? I'm not talking about Christ. I'm talking about in His state of His exaltation, the Lord Jesus Christ, what is the greatest gift He's poured out on His church? Corinthians would have said tongues. You know what it is? Love. Love. And what was being sacrificed Christ in Corinth was the one gift, the greatest gift that continues into eternity. And do you see how damaging that is to a church? Verse 13, you love this verse. I love this verse. So now faith, hope, and love abide. These three. But the greatest of these is love. In our earthly life, there are these three great gifts that we have. Faith, hope, and love. Remember what Paul said? Love believes all things. Love hopes all things. What did he just do? He encompassed faith and hope under the umbrella of love. Love is the greatest of all the spiritual virtues. Why? Paul says it carries into eternity. It's everlasting. There will always be love as God has taught you love. I'm not talking about the sentimental stuff. I'm talking about the kind of love that you've known from Him. Agape love. And isn't that beautiful? Isn't that encouraging? Love, remember, is not just driven sentimentally. Here's what's so important. When you love, you are giving the most ready place for what is to come. An eternity of doing that. This is so beautiful, I think. We often ask, well, how could I be ready for Christ's coming? How could I be ready for the coming of what is perfect? Let me give you a great one tonight. Do you live in a ready state? How do you keep your lamp burning? Pursue love. That's the first thing chapter 14 opens with, doesn't it? Pursue love. A Christian is never more ready for what is coming in the eternal state, never more ready for heaven than when he loves because that's permanent. That is lasting value. It's not that the other gifts don't. It's that those are used but are designed to go out. Keep in mind the big picture. And that helps me to understand why the new covenant promise is so glorious, that the intention of the commandment was always love from a pure heart. In other words, remember what God said to Israel? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second like it is, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You never understood that until you saw it in the person and the work of Christ. And Jesus says that kind of agape love that we've learned from Him, that's what abides. That's what remains forever. And He's taught you it. You've seen it. You know what it is. So that when we are given new hearts by the Spirit, we begin to taste right now the fulfillment of that new covenant promise of love. And that carries into eternity so that you will one day love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself. What a beautiful thing. I will put my laws in their minds and write it on their hearts and I'll be their God. They shall be my people. Love fulfills. Christ, the ultimate fulfiller and now we tasting that and ultimately enjoying it in fulfillment forever. But now it's love that drives and propels the Christian life and that's the gift that carries on into eternity. When all of our gifts in the life of the church and all of our service and all of our doing and all of our actions are controlled by that, everything else will flourish and be in its right place in the Escondido United Reformed Church. In Christ, being forgiven by His grace, love is the link to eternity. That's what He wants you to pursue. And all these other things will fall into place. Let's pray to Him tonight. Oh Lord, thank You for teaching us to love. Thank You for explaining what love is. Forgive us that we've been selfish. Forgive us that we've been children at times looking for things that are temporary and not keeping our eyes on the ultimate prize and the ultimate goal that the perfect is coming. It seems so far away, Lord, but it could be here tomorrow. Thank You for redeeming us in love. May we pursue that love fervently here. And thank you for showing it to us in the person and the work of Christ so that we can live in joy and in peace and in love. Oh, give us hearts to eagerly pursue love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.