We want
to welcome you to a new sermon series today. We’re calling this one “The
Bible’s Greatest Hits”. We’re going to look at the most popular Bible passages,
as determined by searches at biblegateway.com, which is a website where you can
find the Bible in pretty much every English translation you can think of and in
a lot of other languages as well.
Now, in referring to these as “The
Bible’s Greatest Hits”, we don’t mean to imply that these are the only Bible
passages you need to know or that they’re the most important or anything like
that. After all, the Apostle Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy
that “all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting, and training in righteousness.” I think most of us would
probably agree with that.
But the thing is, just like with
music or books or TV shows or anything else, things become popular for a
reason. They speak to us somehow. They have a message that’s
important, or that appeals to us, or that makes us think or feel or something.
All scripture is useful, but we still have certain passages that speak to
us more at certain times. That’s perfectly natural.
But the other thing that can happen
is that sometimes, when we’ve read or heard something a number of times, we
stop thinking about it. We take it for granted. For example, how
many times have you heard the National Anthem? If you go to sports
events, you’ve probably heard it hundreds of times, maybe thousands of times.
How often do you really think about what the words mean? Probably
not very often.
So in this sermon series, we’re
going to take a look at these popular Bible passages and try to really think
about them. And we’re starting with what was number nine in the
biblegateway.com list, the passage we read from First Corinthians.
We read the end of First Corinthians
Chapter Twelve and all of Chapter Thirteen. Chapter thirteen is often
called “the love chapter.” It gets used at weddings a lot. It gets
used at funerals occasionally, too. As you heard, it talks about love,
what love is and what love is not. And you’ve heard sermons preached on
that before, and you will again. But today, I want to talk about the rest
of this passage. And I want to start with the part of chapter twelve we
included.
In chapter twelve, Paul writes about
gifts of the spirit. He says that we all have different spiritual gifts,
and that they’re all important. He compares it to the parts of the body.
He says that all parts of the body are important: the feet, the
hands, the ears, the eyes, all of it. He lists some of the gifts of the
Spirit, such as teaching, prophesying, working miracles, healing, helping,
guidance, all sorts of things. He says we should work together to develop
the gifts we’ve been given so we can serve God. But then he says this:
“And yet I will show you the most excellent way.”
Now, if you were listening when we
read today’s Bible verses, you know what comes next. But pretend you
don’t. Imagine that you’re one of the people in the town of Corinth that
this letter was written to. You’re reading his letter, or more likely
someone is reading it to you. And you’ve heard Paul say that all these
spiritual gifts are important and that we need to work together to develop them
so we can serve God.
And then you hear: “And yet I will show you the most
excellent way.” What would you think? I’d be thinking, “Most
excellent way? What could be more excellent than working together to
develop our spiritual gifts to serve God?”
Paul tells us. The more excellent way is love. Paul
says it does not matter how awesome our spiritual gifts are, or how hard we’ve
worked to develop them, if we don’t have love. Someone could be the
greatest speaker in the world, they could be the greatest prophet ever known,
they could have so much faith that they could literally move mountains, and
none of it would matter. None of it matters without love.
Did you ever wonder why that is? I mean, we just kind of
take it for granted sometimes, don’t we? We hear that, and we think,
well, of course none of that matters without love. But why not? Why
do prophecy or evangelism or even faith not matter without love?
I mean, suppose that I was a really great speaker and evangelist.
I know that’s quite a stretch, but just suppose it. And suppose I
was also a real jerk. Maybe that’s not as much of a stretch, but again,
just suppose it. If, by my great speaking ability, I was able to bring
people to Christ, why would it matter that I was a jerk? Why would it
matter that I was doing it for personal glory or for fame or for whatever
reason? As long as I was able to get someone to accept Jesus as their
Savior, why would it matter what my motivation was for doing it?
Paul answers that question. He says, basically, that that’s
the way children think. And he’s right. Kids will say, well, as
long as I do what I’m supposed to, it does not matter why I’m doing it.
But parents, you know better, right? You’ve told your kids to do
something and seen that look on their face. You’ve seen them trudge
slowly out to do what their supposed to do, like a condemned person walking the
last mile. And you don’t like it very much, do you? And you say
something, and the kid says, “What’s wrong? I’m doing what you told me to
do?” Children think that our motivation does not matter. Adults
know that it does.
Paul also answers the question in another way. He answers it
by saying that love is the only thing that will never pass away. It’s the
only thing that will never fail. There will come a time when all the
great prophecies will cease and pass away. There will come a time when
all the collected knowledge of mankind will cease and pass away. There
will come a time when all the greatest speakers will pass away and their words
will be gone forever.
And besides, while we’re on earth, none of our prophecies, none of
our knowledge, none of our speeches, will really be full and complete the way
they’re supposed to be. He says that, while we’re trying to see God’s
kingdom, but we can only see a reflection of it in a dim and cloudy mirror.
We can only get a vague glimpse of God’s kingdom while we’re on earth,
and that’s going to show up in all of our prophecies, and all of our knowledge,
and all of our speeches. None of them are going to be accurate or true.
The only time they will become accurate and true is when completeness
comes, when the Lord returns and, as Paul says, we can see clearly, face to
face.
The gifts of the spirit that we’re given are important. I’m
not saying they’re not, and Paul did not say that, either. And as Paul
says, we should work together to develop them as much as we can to serve God.
But no matter what gifts we’re given, and no matter how hard we
work to develop them, they’ll never be quite right. We will never be able
to develop them completely while we’re on earth. And ultimately, they
will all cease and pass away, just as we, ourselves, will all cease and pass
away from the earth some day. The only thing that will remain, the only
thing that will never fail, is love.
Think of it this way. Think of a teacher or coach you really
liked. Do you remember specific lessons they taught you? Or do you
remember that they cared about you and wanted to help you do the best you
could? Think of a pastor or a Sunday school teacher who made an
impression on you. Do you remember specific things they taught you?
Or do you remember that they cared about you and were there for you
whenever you needed them? If you grew up in a loving home, think of your
parents and grandparents. Do you remember specific things they taught
you? Or do you remember that they loved you and cared about you and that
they’d be there for you no matter what happened?
Love never fails. The things we do without love eventually
will always, inevitably, fail. But the things we do with love will live
on. In fact, when we do things out of love, the love we show will love on
long after the specific thing we did has been forgotten.
That’s why the gospels, and the letters, and all of the New
Testament emphasize so much that God is love, and that what we’re supposed to
do is love God and love other people. We talk sometimes about the things
God has done, and God has done great things. God created the world out of
nothing. God created everything we see, every tree, every rock, every
plant, every animal, every bird, every insect. God created you. God
created me. And God is still creating. And it’s awesome what God
has done and what God continues to do.
But imagine if God had created all that without love. Can
you even imagine that? I’m not sure I can. What would the world be
like without love? What would God be like without love? What would
you and I be like without love? It’d be terrible. No one would want
to live in a world like that, and no one would want to worship a God like that.
I really cannot imagine it and I really don’t want to even try to imagine
it.
And praise God, we don’t have to. Because God did create us
with love. And God created the world with love. Because God is
love. And when we show love to someone, we are behaving in as much of a
God-like manner as it is possible for humans to behave.
It’s important for us to work together to develop the spiritual
gifts God has given us. But it’s more important for us to use them with
love. Love is the most excellent way. Love never fails because God
never fails. And God is love.
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