A Poor Reflection

meeting thing, but I just think
it’s so cool that in the absence of, you know, in the departure
of our worship leader, John, after 18 years, that we’ve seen
the Lord raise up three couples to help lead with worship. Drew
and Joanna, and Cliff and Laurel. Anyway, and Aaron and Caroline. I just had to look around a little
more. Thank you guys for just the privilege of watching the
Lord work in and through you. If you would, please turn to
1 Corinthians 13. 1 Corinthians 13. I will show
you a more excellent way. This is Paul’s promise at the
end of chapter 12. Chapter 12, that chapter in which
Paul had begun to answer their questions, the Corinthians questions
about spiritual gifts. And he reminds them of some important
principles in that chapter that the Holy Spirit was the one who
had bestowed on each one of them gifts for the service of others
and the service of Christ Their gifts, while diverse, were
all given by one Holy Spirit. And so the Corinthians had spiritual
gifts. They lacked nothing. And they
were indeed using those gifts, exercising them in the service
of Christ’s body. But something was missing. Something,
some key element was lacking. And from Paul’s vantage point,
based on what he had learned, the missing ingredient in Corinth
was love. And in chapter 12, as it drew
to a close, Paul promises a more excellent way for the Corinthians,
a way in which their very gifts could be utilized in such a way
that their Savior would be most glorified. And here in chapter
13, Paul opens the door to that way. The overarching subject
of chapters 12 through 14 is spiritual gifts. But here in
that very context, Paul embeds an exhortation to the exercise
of those gifts in love. This love Christian love was
not a new concept, not to Paul and not to the Corinthians. It
was both exemplified and commanded by Jesus himself. As Jesus drew
near the cross in John 13, it was our Savior’s plea and prayer
for his disciples. He said, a new commandment I
give to you that you love one another. Love was to be the supreme
mark of a believer’s faith in Christ. He said it this way,
by all, by this rather, all men will know that you are my disciples. And this love, Paul declares
here, is the missing feature in the Corinthians service to
Christ. Love for and toward one another
was supposed to be the supreme indication of faith in Christ. Not right doctrine, primarily,
but love as seen in acts of service toward one another. And here
in chapter 13, what we called the love chapter, Paul powerfully
urges the Corinthians to see their need for this foundational
grace and appeal to God. for its increase. In his opening
remarks of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we saw last Lord’s Day that
the apostle sets forth three proverbs. That’s what I called
them, that’s what I see them. Three wise sayings or truisms. Proverbs, after all, are found
not only in King Solomon’s Old Testament book of that same name,
These short statements of truth are generated by people in every
culture. Truisms or proverbs, we call
them, these kinds of sayings that are imparted to us by grandma,
right? A stitch in time saves nine. Well, these short statements
of wisdom extra biblical Proverbs as we might consider them. This
is what gives, this is what Paul rather gives in the opening verses
of chapter 13. These Proverbs set forth wisdom
on the subject of spiritual gifts. And these Proverbs, Paul declares
three different ways that it isn’t the gift or even the inefficient
exercise of that gift that renders it ineffective. It is the absence
of love that makes the exercise of that gift fruitless. The first proverb we saw in verse
one is that without love, they do not produce anything worthwhile. I become a noisy gong or a clanging
cymbal, Paul says, The second proverb is that without love,
I am nothing. I am nothing worthwhile if I’m
not exercising my Spirit-imparted gift in a spirit of love. The third proverb is that without
love, I gain nothing worthwhile. It profits me nothing. And so
in those three proverbial sayings, Paul cites six spiritual gifts,
tongues, prophecy, knowledge, faith, benevolence, and even
martyrdom. And he says that any of those,
even if they’re exercised, if they’re not exercised out of
a heart of love, they’re worthless, they’re pointless, they’re empty.
This is not an exhaustive list of spiritual gifts, but Paul
is just saying that gifts like these bestowed by the Holy Spirit, people can put those gifts to
use in the church, and yet they may still be unproductive without
the key element of love. The most spectacular gift without
love is worthless. But a reasonable question might
have begun to bubble up in the Corinthian readers’ minds. What, Paul, exactly does this
chief attribute of love look like? What would it look like
in our church? What would it look like to exercise
my gift in a spirit of love? Better yet, what would it look
like if I didn’t have love in the exercise of my gift? And
it’s in this particular context that Paul unfolds the most excellent
definition of love ever given. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we’ll
take the chapter in full, but pay special attention to verses
four through seven, our text this morning. Beginning in verse
one, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do
not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy
and I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have
all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions
to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do
not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind and is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not
arrogant, does not act unbecomingly. It does not seek its own. It
is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth,
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things. Love never fails. But if there
are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away. If there are tongues,
they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will
be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy
in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done
away. When I was a child, I used to
speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child. When I became a man, I did away
with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly,
but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
I will know fully, just as I have also been fully known. But now faith, hope, Love abide
these three, but the greatest of these is love. As we move
into this next section, verses four through seven, the one thing
we cannot forget is that Paul does not here just decide to
drop in an amazing description of love. This passage, like everything
else the Spirit inspires, has a purpose, as does Paul. And let me just say it again
here, this verse is not a wedding verse. You’re not wrong if you
had this verse referenced or read at your wedding, but it
is first and foremost not a wedding verse, it’s a church verse. Paul
is responding to what has either been reported to him or what
he actually had observed of the Corinthians himself. And he very
likely learned about some of these faults and shortcomings
and outright sinfulness. He learned it likely from the
Corinthians own letter to him. He has subtly alluded to this since
the very beginning of this section in chapter 12, if not from the
very beginning of this epistle. The Corinthians divided over
personalities, Apollos and Paul. They had contentions and lawsuits. Even over the matter of spiritual
gifts, there was controversy. And so, given what we’ve seen,
what we already know of the Corinthian church, we are not surprised.
It seems as if the Corinthians would contend with anyone about
anything. even spiritual gifts. The Holy
Spirit was being poured out like never before in God’s economy,
a direct fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy. And this great outpouring
included both the bestowal of spiritual gifts upon believers.
And like all believers, the Corinthians had been abundantly supplied
with these supernatural gifts. all manner of various means by
which and with which to serve Christ by serving his church. But if these gifts were remarkable,
fantastic, supernatural, unfortunately the believers were not. Just
like the church in our own day, the believers in Corinth were
spiritually immature. And sadly, that negatively affected
even their spirit-imparted gifts. And so, in this much-divided
church, even over the subject of spiritual gifts, these gifts had become a source
of pride, envy, division. Practically speaking, they began
to develop the idea that the more spiritual a person was, the more showy and powerful his
gift. Those who were granted some spectacular
gift tended to pride, seeking to impress everyone while looking
down upon those who were less gifted. And those who were given
simpler gifts tended to jealousy. Their own gift wasn’t good enough,
even in their own eyes. And so the Corinthians were turning
this amazing blessing of the Holy Spirit and his gifts into
just one more reason to argue. Only the most spectacular gifts
were valued. Those who possessed them highly
favored. Those gifts that they deemed
lesser were despised along with those who possessed them. And
so there was an uncomfortable atmosphere here in Corinth. So
Paul effectively places a spiritual mirror before the Corinthians. Now a trip to an actual mirror
for us can be a traumatic experience, right? There are times where
we inwardly sigh and lament at what we see. There are times
where we audibly gasp or groan for what looks back at us in
the mirror. And spiritually speaking, this
would have been precisely the experience of the Corinthians.
Because this was no ordinary mirror. Instead of revealing
reality of what they actually were, this mirror revealed the
Christian ideal. This mirror showed the way that
believers were supposed to carry themselves in the exercise of
their spirit-imparted gifts. This was a dramatic and even
alarming contrast to what they should have been. So if I may, the way that the
Corinthians were conducting themselves was short-fused harsh, resentful,
boastful, conceited, inappropriate, self-absorbed, incendiary, touchy,
easily offended, winking at sin, disregarding the truth, intolerant
of others, suspicious, and cynical, and faint-hearted. This is what
Paul or others who had informed Paul, had observed of the Corinthians
inaction, a chaotic, self-centered mess. Before we throw ourselves
headlong into this consideration of 4 through 7, I want to make
a few notes about this passage. And I want to address this as
one who likes to have everything neatly packaged. You know this
of me, don’t you? So that’s my thought, is that
we ought to be able here to corral these 15 elements into some nice,
convenient little categories. Sound good? It’s a section that has been
divided up many different ways over the centuries, so let’s
consider a few. One such way is to follow the
simple outline that Paul naturally imposes upon these items. Two positive to open his list,
love is patient, love is kind, followed by eight negatives. Eight statements what love is
not. not jealous, not arrogant, and so on. And that is followed
by five concluding positive statements. And that’s nice enough, I guess. Two positive, eight negative,
five positive. Yeah, I mean, after all, it’s
right there in the text. But there have been other attempts
to outline this section. One other commentator sees, get
this, 14 descriptive statements presented to us in pairs. So
14 pairs. The first pair is positive, as
we’ve already pointed out. Pairs two through five are negative,
as we’ve already observed. The last of which, verse six,
is also stated positively. So it’s not really a pair, it
kind of is glommed together with a third element. And while that
is intriguing, this 14 pairs idea, it’s not without that clunky
problem of having to append a third statement onto the so-called
fifth pair in verse six. It’s intriguing, but I’m not
convinced that that’s necessary. And I think there’s a simpler,
more natural way to approach this passage. To see this, let
me ask you, when you go to the mirror, do you examine yourself systematically? Say, beginning at the top of
your head and working your way down your face, I seriously doubt that you do.
More than likely, you approach the mirror, perhaps reluctantly,
and begin to take note of things. That wow, suddenly your hair
isn’t the color that it used to be. And that blemish, it’s
still red. And that ornery, out-of-place
hair is back. And is that a poppy seed in my
teeth? It’s random. That’s how we deal
with ourselves in the mirror. It’s anything but systematic.
We might even say that it’s haphazard. And frankly, there are some things
that we just plain ignore, right? All right, it’s just me. Well,
happily, there is still another commentator that says that Paul’s
description of love here in these verses is not a methodical dissertation. It is not in logical order. Paul presents these 15 different
elements as they occurred to him in contrast to the deformities
of character which the Corinthians were exhibiting. In other words,
as Paul is pondering the Corinthians, these things come to mind in
random order, and I completely agree with that. Paul has this mental image of
the Corinthians, and he contrasts those images as he thinks of
them in contrast with Christ’s own example. And they come to
them almost overwhelmingly, as Paul presents them, one after
the other, sometimes related to one another, sometimes wildly
at random. And the whole list is intended
to be overwhelming. And so as Paul has reminded his
readers of Christ’s biblical mandate to love one another,
If they would only acknowledge the most important gift of all,
love, that it was missing, absent from their fellowship, they could
humble themselves and look to Christ’s example and appeal to
God to reinvigorate his supply of this love so as to bring Christ
a greater glory in the exercise of their own spiritual gifts. We must remember as we course
through this lengthy list that these attributes of love are
exhibited in the exercise of one’s spiritual gift. This isn’t just a list about
general love. It’s about our service to Christ
in our service to his people. Would you glance at Paul’s list? as we look at this poor reflection
that the Corinthians would have had as they looked at Christ’s
example compared to their own. These are the expected features
of a Christian in action. Verse four, love is patient.
Paul opens his lengthy list with an almost expected grace For
a church embroiled in controversy and strife in almost every corner,
patience was obviously wanting. Patience, or as the Old Testament
so often has it, long-suffering, is one of God’s sweetest attributes
because it is used to speak of His forbearance with our sin. Of people, This word speaks of
those who are slow to be moved to irritation or slow to be moved
to anger or resentment. He or she is not short-fused. This is the person who is careful
not to meditate on or even to consider retaliation. How can I get this person back?
To the Thessalonians, Paul insisted that we are generous in this
grace. Be patient with everyone, Paul
says. But here in this passage, Paul
insists that especially in the course of our service to Christ,
that we be patient with others, patient with other believers.
Not everyone will think like we do. Not everyone will serve
as vigorously as we might. Not everyone will conduct themselves
like we do. Not everyone is gifted in the
same way as we are. Some people, can we say it, will
do things differently than we might do them. And some people are just plain
careless, and clumsy even in their function within the church.
And so we need that which Christ exhibits even toward wretched
sinners. He is patient toward you, 2 Peter
3 9. He is patient toward you, not
wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. In our service to Christ, we
must pray for the grace of patience with others. Look at the second. Love is patient, love is kind.
If patience is a passive grace, bearing rude treatment well,
kindness is the opposite in that it is an active grace. where
we freely and generously bestow blessings on others. The word
used here in this passage is used nowhere else in the New
Testament, but there is a closely related word that is used numerous
times. The two words speak of a gentle
benevolence. a caring concern that issues
forth in action towards someone, doing something useful for someone,
conferring some good thing upon someone in need. It should not
surprise us that such a noble word is used typically of God. It’s His kindness. As Paul so
favorably speaks of it in Romans 2, it’s His kindness that leads
us to repentance. But the word is also used to
believers. Galatians 5.22, it’s a fruit
of the Spirit. In Colossians 3.12, Paul admonishes
the believers there, as those who have been chosen of God,
holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility,
gentleness, and patience. There is no greater or more appropriate
way to show kindness than to serve the body of Christ by faithfully
exercising the gift that God has bestowed on us for that purpose. That’s the kindest thing that
we can do. Kindest thing that we can do
is to serve others to the glory of God. And so in our service
to Christ, we must pray also for the grace of kindness toward
others. Glance at the third in verse
four, if you would. Love is patient, love is kind,
and is not jealous. Well, this had to hit the Corinthians.
This is a word that is immediately familiar to you and I. You may
know that this word is also translated as zeal, passion, And fittingly,
there is good zeal and bad zeal. But here it is a negative feature. It’s the first of eight. Eight
negatives. And if the first two items on
this list were overlooked, patience and kindness, surely this one
would find its mark on the Corinthians. The sin of jealousy, may have
been the very thing that prompted the questions sent to Paul. Those who had meager gifts, small,
obscure, seemingly important gifts, were jealous of those
who had spectacular signed gifts that everybody saw. And that
jealousy had led to strife and even division in the church.
And it wasn’t the simple desire for some greater gift. Paul actually
encouraged them to pray for such. It was okay to ask God to give
to them a greater gift. Give me a way to serve Christ
more. It wasn’t the simple desire.
It was the resentful spirit of envy that he was cautioning. Back in chapter three, Paul had
rebuked this very church for its jealousy and strife. Here
he says, love, true Christian love cannot be envious of one’s
fellow Christian. But in Corinth, it was a thing.
The climate there surrounding even their service to Christ
was filled with acrimony. The believers either proudly
flaunting the gifts that they possess or jealously seeking
those which others possessed. But like the human body, we saw
that no single gift was ever unnecessary. No single gift could
function outside of the body. And so the focus on the gifts
that others have whether it results in aloofness or pride, or the
bitterness of jealousy, is unjust and inappropriate. In our service
to Christ, we must confess the sin of jealousy as we see it. There’s a fourth feature in verse
four. These expected features of a
Christian in action, love is patient, love is kind, and is
not jealous, love does not brag. As we just noted, there were
those who were jealous, and a large contributing factor was their
brother’s flaunting of those spectacular gifts. The word here translated as brag
just warns against playing the bragger, the boastful one. And
we should acknowledge that for a person to do such boasting,
they don’t even have to say a word, do they? They just strut around
showing off. It’s equally offensive to make
a boastful display, some ostentatious display of one’s gift with the
aim of gaining attention, notoriety, and the praise of others. That’s
a sin. There is no less than a silent
crowing about our gift, whatever it may be. It’s boastfulness. In Corinth, even spiritual gifts,
which were intended to bless and build the church, have become
a source of pride for some. Those with flashy gifts garnered
all the attention and favor. But doing so is absurd, if you
think of it. Who can justly boast of a gift
that they did not earn and do not deserve? In our service to
Christ, we must ever cultivate a humble gratitude for any manner
and any means of serving our Savior, regardless of who it
is in our midst that is blessed with such a gift. There’s a final feature in verse
4, this poor reflection of Paul holding a mirror of Christ’s
gifts up in the face of the Corinthians. Love is patient. Love is kind
and is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not
arrogant. You have no doubt seen this weed,
the Canadian thistle, right? It’s the one that has those jagged,
sharp leaves with the bright purple flowers, you will begin
to see them early in the spring and you will battle them all
summer long. They spread like weeds because
they propagate not only by seed but by roots. That noxious weed I think we
can consider jealousy to be the leaves of such a plant. And bragging
is the putrid flower of that plant. But the root, the root
is this arrogance of which Paul speaks. That’s the root of this
pernicious plant. Arrogance begins in the heart.
but it never resides there for very long. And just like the
Canadian thistle, that root, it will generate a plant, it’ll
generate leaves, and then it’ll generate a flower, and the process
will continue. this arrogance, this self elevation,
this pride that really tricks the person into believing that
they are spectacular, better than anyone else. Nobody, nobody
in the entire church can do what they do, whatever it is they
do. Paul addressed this sin in chapter
four of this epistle. He identified it there as being
Puffed up, same word, puffed up with pride. It is, as Paul
cautioned the believers in Colossae, to be inflated without cause. Conceit is a vicious and isolating
deception because it deceives a man into thinking that he is
superior and it leaves him quite alone. In our service to Christ,
we must root out every root of arrogance. And it is here where
Paul turns the corner into verse 5. Love is patient. Love is kind and is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not
arrogant. Does not act unbecomingly. Now in this lengthy list of cautions,
some are more expected than others. This one comes as a shocking
surprise. To act unbecomingly is effectively
to engage in some blatant act of sin. One writer explained
it as unmannerly. But rudeness doesn’t begin to
capture the inappropriate aspect of such deeds. It refers to a
behavior that is not merely improper, but that which is shameful. It
would include dirty jokes, innuendo, and all kinds of related behavior. The shocking thing is, is that
we’re still talking about the context of service in the church. Not on the golf course, or the
locker room, or some private conversation, but in the church. where causing someone to blush
is entirely wrong. What Paul speaks of here is this
place at which many men, especially, at which many men arrive, who,
because of their popularity and influence, begin to live as if
they could get away with anything. And so they say things and do
things, sometimes just for shock value because they think they
can. And this conduct is almost always
linked with foul treatment of those around them. Harsh treatment
born out of arrogance and pride because they think they’re better
than everyone else. But the godly man or woman remembers not only
the abundant grace granted to them, but the courteous treatment
that we owe to our fellow Christians. In our service to Christ, we
must watch carefully over our lives. Glance at the verse again,
if you would. Love is patient, love is kind,
and is not jealous. Love does not brag. and is not
arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own. Well, if the previous unbecoming
behavior is outward arrogance, this one is inward arrogance. Here the simmering motives prompted
and fostered by pride. This selfish attitude unfortunately
cannot surprise us given all that we have already learned
about the Corinthian church. Almost everything they did oriented
from self-seeking. They had their own particular
leaders according to their own desire. They had their own preferences. They had their own unique approach
of dealing with sin in their midst. We’re not dealing with
it at all. If they crossed with someone,
their lawsuits were self-seeking. If they dabbled in idolatry,
that too was because they were honoring their own choices. Why
else would Paul have had to remind these believers in 1024, let
no one seek his own good but that of his neighbor? Even at
the Lord’s table, they put themselves above others, as we saw. And
so it shouldn’t surprise us that even in the service of Christ,
it was becoming about the individual himself, not about one’s fellow
believers, not about the church. In his opening remarks about
the purpose of spiritual gifts, Paul oddly had to remind this
church that to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit
for the common good. These gifts are not for you.
This was a self-centered, self-absorbed church through and through. But
in our service to Christ, we are to seek the benefit of others. not what’s in it for me. So in
our service to Christ, we must pray constantly for an other-oriented
perspective. Look at number eight. Love is
patient, love is kind, and is not jealous. Love does not brag
and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, does not seek
its own, is not provoked. One of the applications of this
other-oriented perspective is the grace of not even considering
transgressions against ourselves by others. Interestingly, this
is a word that was used of Paul. But this, his rather, was a just
provocation. It occurred as he was walking
around the city of Athens, remember? And it just says that he was
observing the city full of idols. His spirit was being provoked
within him. It bothered him. And you know
what? That’s not a bad thing. He had
a good reason to be provoked. But that’s different from what
Paul presents here. People are people. Even Christians. And at times people do self-centered,
insensitive, even incendiary, provocative things. They may not intend them as such,
but people can be thoughtless and rude and clueless. And Paul basically says, don’t
let it get to you. Don’t take it personally. Don’t
allow yourself to become quick-tempered. Don’t let yourself be stirred
to bitterness. I’ve seen so many of these kinds
of things in my nearly 30 years of ministry. Some handled so
graciously by some saint. Some handled horribly. In ministry,
we are going to step on one another occasionally. And most often
without even knowing it, right? And so in our service to Christ,
we need to pray for a well-tempered spirit that is not easily triggered. Number nine. In this poor reflection, love
is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous. Love does not
brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, does not
seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a
wrong suffered. This is very similar to the previous,
but it’s different. Look at this. In order to cultivate
a mindset that is not so quickly triggered by the careless treatment
of our brother, We need to pray for yet another grace. Sometimes
we are too touchy. We are too sensitive. And Paul
explains that real brotherly love does not take into account
a wrong suffered. If the previous grace, not provoked,
if the previous grace captured the eruption before it leaves
our lips, This grace does not allow it even to flutter into
the heart. It doesn’t let it land there.
It’s the core virtue of that previous grace. It doesn’t even
let it get so far as consideration, this wrong suffered. It receives
each blow of inconsiderate treatment as no big deal, done, forgotten. This is the person who holds
no malice for even a substantial offense. He does not become suspicious
of another person’s motives. And watch this, in Romans 4,
we are treated to this wonderful word, reckoned. That’s how we
received our justification, remember? We didn’t earn it or deserve
it, but simply by our faith in Christ, God reckoned us as righteous. Remember? Well, here Paul uses the same
exact word, except that he’s talking here about what we do
not reckon. Our brother’s clumsy treatment
of us. Love, Paul says, does not reckon. the wrong. It doesn’t mull it
over. It doesn’t think on it. It doesn’t even go into the book.
It’s not registered as an offense. In our service to Christ, we
must pray for, can I say it? Thick spiritual skin. We come into chapter or verse
six. Love is patient, love is kind,
and is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not
arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, it
is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
does not rejoice in unrighteousness. This is an interesting one. Earlier
in this list, Paul mentioned unbecoming behavior, sin. This one is related to that. Only here, perhaps, we are not
the ones misbehaving. We are the observer. We are not
the one acting unbecomingly. Here, in contrast, the wrong
is done by others. We are watching. And in the context
of service in the church, what is likely in view here is what
we would call passive aggressive behavior. Instead of going to
our brother to address a matter, there is this silent, ugly battle
that takes place, gloating as we watch someone struggle, and we’re watching it. We’re
observing this taking place. But instead of recoiling and
addressing such petty behavior head on, we amuse ourselves by
watching it unfold. We rejoice in this unrighteous
behavior. If God takes no pleasure in wickedness,
Psalm 5, how can his children? In doing so, in essence, we sympathize
with evil. We wink at sin. Remember Jesus
as he was being arrested in Gethsemane? When Peter violently lashed out
and cut off the slave’s ear, can we even imagine Jesus cheering
or commending Peter? Atta boy. In our service to Christ, we must
confess the slightest measure of a secret joy in what is not
proper. Number 11, and for the sake of
time, the opposite of rejoicing in unrighteousness, it rejoices
with the truth. In direct contrast with the previous,
it’s stated here positively. This indication of love instead
rejoices with the truth. Here is the one who loves God,
loves the things of God, loves to see truth prevailing in the
world, especially in the church. It’s not only the prevalence
of what is true over what is false, but what is good and right
over what is morally evil. When God’s ways are prevailing
in others, by others, through others, biblical love is active. He or she takes no satisfaction
in bad behavior, unrighteousness. Instead, as now truth is personified
with love, they’re friends and they’re pictured as rejoicing
together as unrighteousness in the church is checked and conquered. In our service to Christ, we
must pray for all genuineness and sincerity, all righteousness. Verse seven. Love is patient, love is kind,
and in verse seven, it bears all things. This grace could
be considered the fruit of patience. The first one we considered,
when a person exercises patience for a very long time, it can
be said that they are bearing with someone or something. Given that we are still considering
these things in the context of serving Christ, this is a person
who is patiently enduring irritations and offenses for an extended
period of time. Paul used the same word in chapter
nine to inform the Corinthians of his love for them. We endure
all things so that we will not cause a hindrance to the gospel
of Christ. Can we imagine the damage that
Paul might have inflicted had he turned his writing campaign
against the Corinthians? When we endure all things, we
seek to excuse and even cover over others’ ill treatment of
us. And this is quite the opposite of how things are typically dealt
with in many other places, right? Most times the uncomfortable
details are abundantly distributed as if everyone in the church
were entitled to such harmful information. And everyone knows
everything within days, if not hours. Christ-like love bears
these things, seeking even to hide them from the prying eyes
of others. In our service to Christ, we
must pray for the grace to bear all things. Still in verse seven,
bears all things, believes all things. And it might be easy
to think of such a person who believes all things as gullible. This is not a fool. This is not
one who’s stupid. He or she is not gullible, he’s
gracious. It’s not surprising that Paul
should have to point out this quality of love because several
times in this letter, this man, Paul, this beloved pastor, this
church planter, this apostle and friend has had to plead with
these friends to believe him. Chapter four, verse five, do
not go on passing judgment, judgment against Paul. Chapter nine, verse
three, my defense to those who examine me, these suspicious
believers, it was their lack of love that made them distrust
Paul. Here is one, here is a person
who believes all things, who readily accepts another person’s
defense. He takes people at their word. There is with this person an
insistent tendency to trust their fellow Christian. He just takes
them as they present themselves to be. This person is not suspicious
of other people’s motives. He thinks the best of others.
He would rather err on the side of graciousness than be taken
and be taken advantage by others. He or she is quick to credit
others with good, not evil intentions. If someone falters, this is one
who finds allowance in fatigue. Maybe they were tired. A lack
of training. A lack of awareness. There’s a weariness of some sort. In our service to Christ, we
must cultivate a gracious trust of our fellow believers. Verse
seven, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. And we’ve crossed this word before.
Paul does not use this word hope as something unforeseen and certain,
like some wish, I hope that this or that happens. Instead, Paul’s
attitude is one of confident anticipation that God will do
as he has promised. Biblical hope is not wishful
thinking. It is the settled confidence in God that holds with certainty
that He will bring His promise to pass. It’s the very opposite
of cynicism, this grumbling and suspicious doubtfulness of other
people. This is the one who, even after
a terrible event, a disaster, remains hopeful. Such a person hopes for the best,
hopes for repentance, hopes for reconciliation, hopes for the
reinvigoration of a brother, hopes for God’s glory. This hope moves beyond faith
in the confidence in God’s good ways that they will triumph. And in the church and the service
of Christ, hope does not despair of God in completing his good
work and our fellow believers. As hard as he’s been on them,
Paul hoped all things for the Corinthians. He declared that
at the outset of this letter. In chapter one, verse eight,
he said, he will confirm you to the end, blameless in the
day of our Lord Jesus Christ. In our service to Christ, we
must cultivate a hopeful demeanor. Lastly, Verse seven, bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all
things. How do we understand this grace?
Simple. Even after we bear all things,
even after we believe all things, even after we hope all things,
we may yet be disappointed to see that someone has not changed.
They still do the same thing to us. They’re still just as
inconsiderate. They still take advantage of
us. But Paul says, even in the face of that, we endure. This is the one who perseveres
to the end with his brother. This is the brother who will
still be bearing with others, still be believing in God’s work
in others, still be hoping for God’s grace to prevail. This
is not a faint hearted believer. Rather, this is a stout-hearted
Christian who remains steadfast and confident, not gloomy, not
sullen, not resigned to failure, not negative, not doubting, he
waits. This is the one who, even when
there seems to be no sign of hope, no sign of success, he
remains joyfully steadfast because his confidence is in God, not
men. In our service to Christ, we must pray for the grace, for
the long haul. When all seems lost, when all
looks bleak, we endure. Would you humble yourself before
him?