October 15, 2006
Sermon # 647
1st Corinthians Part 19
The Gifts of the Spirit (Part 3)
Greater Than the Gifts
1 Corinthians 13:1 - 13 (NKJV) 1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 4Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Introduction:
We must not loose sight of the fact that in this most loved and greatest known writing about love that the subject has not changed. 1Cor Chapter 12-14 is about the gifts! What Paul is doing is introducing the fact that every gift of God must be matched with the fruit of God! All the fruits of the Spirit make up the one fruit of Agape. Agape is never a sentimental feeling but is a clear determined decision and judgment. It is never a nice warm feeling, affection, romance or desire.
I. Charisma without Love is nothing
A. Tongues
1 Corinthians 13:1 (NKJV) 1Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
ILL: Around the hem of the High Priest’s robe he wore a bell and a pomegranate. The pomegranate represented the fruit of the spirit- without the fruit the sounds of the bells could not be distinguished.
Exodus 28:33 - 35 (NKJV) 33And upon its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all around: 34a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe all around. 35And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the LORD and when he comes out, that he may not die.
? The pomegranate is one fruit made of many parts blue for heaven, purple for royalty and scarlet for sacrifice. – such is love!
Galatians 5:22 - 26 (NKJV) 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
ILL: notice that “fruit” is singular but it has many parts
B. Prophecy, Knowledge and faith
1 Corinthians 13:2 (NKJV) 2And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
ILL: This is why prophecy, spiritual knowledge, and faith cannot be judgmental or negative – if they were they wouldn’t have Love.
C. Benevolence and Martyrdom
1 Corinthians 13:3 (NKJV) 3And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
ILL: Agape is always self-sacrificing but self-sacrifice does not necessarily come from love!
Some people give just because it makes them fell good or they do not want others to think poorly of them!
ILL: The terrorist who blows himself up to kill his enemies is not going to receive heaven and 7 virgins!
II. The qualities of true love
1 Corinthians 13:4 - 7 (NKJV) 4Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1. Patient
ILL: The Atheist said “If God is real let him prove it by striking me dead in the next five minutes” The minister replied, “Sir do you think God’s love is so week that it cannot last five minutes?
ILL: When the man says “I love you and I want you” if he cannot wait for the wedding – he doesn’t love you!
ILL: The only reason the world has not been destroyed:
2 Peter 3:8 - 13 (NKJV) 8But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 10But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. 11Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? 13Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
2. Kind
Romans 2:4 (NKJV) 4Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
3. Never Jealous
1 Corinthians 13:4 (NKJV) 4Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
ILL: The word “envy” is also “not jealous”
Proverbs 27:4 (NKJV) 4 Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, But who is able to stand before jealousy?
James 3:14 - 17 (NKJV) 14But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
4. Never brags
1 Corinthians 13:4 (NKJV) 4Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
ILL: This is the opposite of jealousy – it is trying to make someone jealous!
Arrogant – ILL: William Carey the father of modern missions was once being put down by a English Lord who said, “Carey I understand that you were a shoe maker.” Carey replied, “oh no I was never able to make them only repair them!”
5. Never acts unbecomingly
Luke 7:36 - 39 (NKJV) 36Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”
6. Never seeks its own
ILL: Mary and I visit old cemeteries from time to time. I remember one behind a church in the mountains of Tenn. The message on the stone read, “shot by a dam Yankee” but the best one was in England.
Here lies a miser who lived from himself,
And cared for nothing but gathering wealth
Now where he is or how he fares
Nobody knows and nobody cares.
7. Is never provoked
1 Corinthians 13:5 - 6 (NKJV) 5does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
1 Peter 2:21 - 24 (NKJV) 21For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22“Who committed no sin, Nor was deceit found in His mouth”; 23who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
ILL You are not to retaliate nor rehearse it over and over again in your mind!
8. Love bears, believes, hopes, endures
1 Corinthians 13:7 (NKJV) 7bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
III. Gifts last for a time but love lasts for eternity
1 Corinthians 13:8 - 13 (NKJV) 8Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Conclusion: We will not need the gifts after we die or after Jesus comes but we need faith hope and love always!
