FHBC Sermon Notes

Doug Martin - Guest Speaker

1 Corinthians 13 - What Paul is describing here is something that we all struggle to attain. An ideal of love that in truth we know we fall short of. The backdrop to this chapter is a pride amongst the Corinthians for the spiritual gifts they had received. However, church is not ultimately about me. It is about Christ, and in the unity of the Spirit, our declaration as the church of his Word and gospel. We fall to this temptation as well. It is our glory we to often seek. We want to see ourselves be right for its sake, rather that taking on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

A more excellent way. - Ch 12:31

The "way" is an phrase used often in the bible. Like the passage in Isaiah that Nancy read. Jesus referred to himself as "the way."

Tongues of angels and noisy gongs v. 1

How awesome is it to be able to suddenly speak a language that I never learned. This is what the Corinthians had seen in their midst. Paul takes these even further, saying perhaps even as a jest, that even if we knew the language of the angels, it would be nothing without love.

The pagan gods of this times sometimes open their services with the run of a gong or cymbal. This may be the reference that Paul is referring to. It is as Paul is saying that all that is nothing but idolatry.

Prophecy, Knowledge and Mystery v.2

We don't know everything. We can say yes to the knowledge revealed in scripture. They are things in the word of God that cannot be understood with the Spirit of God.

Moving mountains and helping others. V. 2-3

So great a faith to move mountains, so sacrificial a heart to sell everything for others. These are things to be praised. Yet... Without love these things become baseless. Just like the book of James emphasizes, love is worked out in our lives in the way we serve others. Yet... Without a heart filled with the revealed the love of God, works are null and void, without power.

How love works. V. 4-7

Paul here spills out the very examples of how it is that love works. It's works by being kind, by being, patient. Persevering without anger. It works by not desiring the stuff of others, the gifts given, the wages earned. How often do we do this in the church? "How come he gets to do at? God should let me do that." "My talents are not that important. What I do isn't critical. Why do I have to suffer this job...". Answer to these thoughts. "Your kingdom come, Your will be done" Let this be our prayer to our Lord. And let the service to one another, be the genuine spirit filled love of the saints. That love that reveals in its very nature that this is the love of God himself.

The Hope of a Future v.8-13

We are all broken, condemned people. But we are unified in the life we have been renewed in. The life of Jesus! This is what the world will see. Not a love that ignores wrongs, that avoids offense by not speaking platitudes, speaking nothing at all. It is instead the love that says, I am like you. I have no hope on my own, but Jesus has made me new. Jesus is alive, and is alive is you and me because of the work of the Spirit in our lives. Let us rejoice together, for our Lord is great and glorious, and our hope will be made full in time to come. We shall know him then... Face to Face!

Amen.