Sermons

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Something for Everyone
September 9, 2001
Series on I Corinthians
Pastor Dan Baumgartner

I Corinthians 13

I confess to you that it is a little intimidating to preach on a passage that has produced a nearly infinite amount of sermons, books, and songs … that has been mentioned so often by everyone from St. Augustine to John Calvin.

So I’m particularly thankful for Eric and Nancy perhaps causing us to hear this I Corinthians 13 passage in a new way…because it is such a familiar one.

For some of you, as soon as you hear the words… “If I speak with the tongue of men and angels…” you are immediately mentally catapulted into a wedding ceremony! But the Apostle Paul has plans for us with this passage that take us a long way from weddings.

Last week we looked at the 12th chapter of I Corinthians, and Paul talked about the gifts of the spirit in worship, like words of knowledge, healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues and interpreting. He was very careful to say that not all people had all gifts, and that it was necessary for different people to share different gifts, to work together, and to not consider one gift or person better than another.

But at the end of that section, he says, “I will show you a still more excellent way.” And he begins to talk about love. Notice that he does not at all say, “Don’t worry about these other gifts, they’ve been superseded by love….” No, he affirms the various gifts…and he will do so again in Chapter 14. But he talks about love as not only what undergirds those gifts, but as the identifying mark of ALL of God’s spirit-filled people.

What does the God-invaded life look like for Paul? What will display God to the world? He gives us a number of images to think about here…the first three that, surprisingly, are shown to be inadequate.

The first is WORDS. The words of people. We put great stock in words, in our ability to communicate. How many words are you bombarded with each day? Radio, newspaper, books, PowerPoint presentations, e-mails, billboards, songs, people’s voices. Words are everywhere.

Words can be very destructive, of course. The slightest inflection of voice changes a word of encouragement to a word of sarcasm. And we learn only amidst much pain that words are impossible to take back. Once they fly out of our mouth, they change the world.

But words are important. We assign great value and admiration to people who can articulate thoughts well, teach, motivate, write, communicate. Words can express some of the inner thoughts of the heart.

And in the realm of the Spirit (“angels,” as Paul writes), there is great power in words. Words of knowledge, words of wisdom, words of prophecy, words in different tongues and the interpretations…words that come from beyond ourselves, words that come from God … incredibly powerful. BUT…the one who speaks can be just noise. Words cannot stand alone. Words by themselves are not enough.

The second image is mountains…or rather, the FAITH that moves mountains. We think, “If only I have faith, if only I believe…God will be moved to act. If I focus, if I concentrate, if I believe harder…then things will go generally the way I want.”

Is that what being a spiritual person is all about? Bending God to act in a known way? Believing the right things, and believing them so hard that our heads hurt? Getting the theology down. Having the disciplines that build faith. If I fast, if I pray, if I get up at 5 am (I always wanted to be one of those people who just naturally woke up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning, and had time with God…it just doesn’t happen. There’s another spiritual gift…called an “alarm clock!”) … if I do all those things, I will be a spiritual man.

But Paul says even if my faith is strong enough to move a mountain…I can still be nothing. Faith cannot stand alone. Faith is not enough.

Then the third image…GOOD DEEDS. How will someone know I am close to God? Look at what I DO. Let me be a philanthropist…. “philo,” love…and “anthropology,” human beings…someone who loves human beings. Isn’t that a good word?

Do you remember at the end of The Wizard of Oz…when the wizard is handing out courage and brains and the like. As he gives a heart to the Tin Man, he says, “There are people who live their whole life doing nothing but good deeds. They are called philan…philanth…” and then he gives up and says “they are called good deed doers.”

Paul lists two very important types of good deeds, of works. First, he deals with something that was an issue both in Corinth and here in America…materialism. Whether it is corporations laying off huge numbers of people, or innocent people killed on the streets for the sake of a watch or a pair of shoes…in our world, things are often more valuable than people. Paul says…if I could do this good thing, if I gave everything away, if I renounced possessions as having any hold on me…

OR, even further, if I handed over my material BODY…as a martyr, or lived in voluntary slavery or hardship…if I could rid myself of every single material diversion…surely that would be the mark of spiritual maturity.

Yet, he says…I could do all of that, and more…and gain nothing. Good deeds cannot stand alone. Good deeds are not enough.

I get to this point and say, “Paul, Paul, Paul…where are you leaving us here?” If the things we say, if the fervency of our beliefs, if the acts we perform are inadequate, if they will not show forth God…what can possibly do it?!?

Underneath all these things…there must be love. And he will go on to say what love is about.

Now, notice that love is not a feeling, it is not an idea, it is not abstract…it is very practical. Love is a behavior. Love is an act. And when Paul goes on in verses 4-7 to list out what love looks like, positive and negative…it is not a random list of attributes.

Paul responds DIRECTLY to the Corinthians. “Love is patient, love is kind,” those are the positive descriptions. Then come the negatives: “Love is not envious.” Paul had called the Corinthians on the carpet for their envious behavior in chapter 3. “Love is not boastful.” Boasting was a major bone Paul had to pick with the Corinthians…in chapters 1, 3, 4 and 5. “Love is not arrogant or puffed up.” Paul took issue with the Corinthians over this very matter in chapters 4, 5 and 8. “Love is not rude…or shameful…” chapters 4, 5, 6, 8 and 11. And so on.

It is inconceivable to think that the Corinthians reading this list would not have recognized that Paul was tying their actions…to an unacceptable description of love.

Perhaps God would speak these same words to you or me this morning. What might he say about YOUR love? Maybe these kinds of things, or maybe something else: Fred, “Love is not something given only when it is received.” Sally, “Love is more than physical.” Joe, “Love is not convenient.” Susan, “Love is not for the short-term, but for the long haul.” Love is a behavior, it is one we practice, it is one we grow in, it is one in which Christ is exhibited, it is one we desperately need the Spirit’s help for. Galatians says that the first fruit of the Spirit in us…is love.

These words should sound familiar. In the gospel of John (chapter 13), Jesus says this to his disciples: “A new command I give to you…to love one another…just as I have loved you.”

I was struck as I re-read that passage. What does Jesus mean, “a NEW command I give you, love one another?” There wasn’t anything new about that at all. Even all the way back in the book of Leviticus, it says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself…” So what’s new?

It’s in those six extra words, “…just as I have loved you.” That is new … because the love Jesus exhibited was an extraordinary love. Jesus’ love went to every single kind of person…those who had made terrible decisions, even decisions that harmed Him. Jesus’ love was not dependent on anything, was not waiting for a response before it was extended. Jesus’ love cared nothing about who opposed him, about what the culture approved or didn’t approve…Jesus’ love went to extraordinary lengths…even to suffering, loneliness, betrayal…Jesus’ love drove him to the cross. Love has been given concrete expression in Christ. And THAT is the kind of love we are to exhibit to one another.

THAT kind of love…is tough to live. It is tough to spot. But it pops up here and there in our world, and the darkness has no power to put it out.

I’ve told you several stories about our mission trip this summer to Costa Rica, and I want to tell you one more this morning. On that two-week trip, we spent most of our time building a seven-room addition to a school. Now, since very few of us knew very much about building, there had to be someone to supervise this cinder-block project. Those people were two Costa Ricans named Omar and Julio. Neither of them spoke any English, and out of 20 of us only a couple could speak any Spanish at all. And somehow, these two men had to communicate how to build a building to a bunch of novices.

You can imagine, I think, what that was like: 24 voices constantly shouting, “Omar, over here!” and “Julio, how do I do this?” with lots of crazy gestures and pointing. Bricks had to be re-set, things had to be taught and re-taught and re-re-taught. All around the project there were plumb lines (strings) stretched around the walls that we used to make sure the bricks were being set straight…they had to be very precisely measured and attached. I don’t think we broke those lines more than…oh, 20 or 30 times.

Throughout two weeks, Omar and Julio demonstrated the most incredible patience. Not once did they snap, or even frown. They laughed, their eyes sparkled, they corrected our Spanish. They were kind, they pitched in and helped, they taught instead of just doing.

They also taught us a new phrase, “Pura Vida.” Literally, it means “pure life.” The way Omar and Julio used it, it seemed closer to “Life is good,” or “It’s good to be alive.” The last day we were there, Omar stood next to me and looked over the project, and said “Pura Vida, eh?” I agreed with my impeccable Spanish, “Si, Pura Vida.” Then he said it again…only this time he added a couple words to it: “Pura Vida…en Cristo.” In Christ. I said, “Omar, do you know Jesus?!” He said “Oh, yes!” And Julio? “Oh, yes.” But you see, the thing is…

I already knew it. The love they had displayed was remarkable. “Love is patient, love is kind…”

You don’t need to be in Costa Rica to get glimpses of love like this. I’ve seen it many times this summer. I have to tell you, I have especially seen it lived out in several home groups here at Bethany. A number of people in our community have experienced major, major crisis and tragedy this summer. Things that make life stop, that make you reel, that create intense pain and questions.

At least four times I have seen home groups, small groups …rally around these folks. Care for them. Pray for them. Advocate on their behalf. Help with finances, with childcare, with groceries…with time, with verbal and non-verbal affirmations of love…that go way over the lines people normally call “friendship.” I have been moved to tears. Love like that defies explanation.

We don’t see it often enough. And it isn’t perfect. As Paul said, it’s like we see in a mirror just pieces here and there, not really the whole picture. But that’s only for now. In the now, we are like children who don’t get it all, we take gifts out of perspective, we see in a mirror dimly…not quite understanding that God knows us fully…and loves us fully. In the now, faith, hope and love remain.

But in the age to come, with the second coming of Christ…we will move to adulthood. We’ll see God face to face…we’ll know God fully. There will be no more need for faith, because we will be face to face with God. Our hope will be realized in Him. But love. Love will remain. That picture is somewhere off in the future. So what about in the meantime?

Gifts? Accept them, use what you are given for the wholeness of the church.

Words? Let’s use them with caution.

Faith? Theology? Let’s do it with humility.

Deeds? Let’s examine our motives at each step.

But love? Love is for everyone. Love will last. So, let’s love…with abandon. Even as we have been loved. Amen.