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When I was
young, I looked forward to marriage. I believed that there was a woman
that was part of God’s plan for my life. I looked forward to the day
that I would meet her and enjoy all that God intended. Each girlfriend
that I dated for more than a couple of months caused me to wonder,
"is this the one." However, as time went on there were a number
of indicators that made it evident that all but the last one were not
"right" for me.
I have known Theri for
twenty-eight years now, and we’ll celebrate twenty-six years of marriage
on Thursday. As much as I loved Theri when we were younger, I know that I
love her more today than ever. Part of the reason for this is that we have
shared experience. We have known many joys and sorrows. We have known
wonderful moments and weathered many storms. In a time when marriages
continue to fail at such an alarming rate, we have remained steadfast in
our commitment to one another.
What I once believed I saw
fulfilled. What I once hoped for became a reality. The one I committed my
love to is always before me and I sing God’s praises for giving me my
heart’s desire. Yet, with the love we share we still proceed with faith
and hope in and for one another. Faith (and faithfulness), hope, and love
will always be a part of our life together, but love holds it all
together.
I used this illustration to
point us forward to the balance of the text in 1 Corinthians 13. I stated
before that this chapter is not understood as focused on marriage, but we
can apply the principles to marriage. My illustration was used to help us
to understand Paul’s final statement in v. 13 "these three
remain: Faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love."
In the opening verses there are some things that will come to an end (we’ll
look at those), but these will always remain with the greatest being love
that holds all else together.
"Love never fails." The
very essence of love is found in the One who is love – that is, the God
who revealed Himself as Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. 1 John 4:8, 16
reveal to us these words – "God is love." We can
understand the word fails as "failure", but that would not be
completely accurate. To be a failure is to be one that knows defeat.
Though this is a part of the thought, it only brings us a part of Paul’s
intention. To fail in this case means that it will "never end"
– it is eternal.
Let me take this thinking a
step farther. When we think in terms of the eternal, we think in terms of
time, and eternity as being never-ending time, because we are temporal
beings. When God thinks in terms of eternal, He knows timelessness. The
fullness of love is timeless because God is love. Love cannot fail because
God is love and God cannot cease to be. God cannot be a failure because of
who He is but that is not the intention of the text.
"Where there are
prophecies, they will cease." Prophecies come in two primary
ways: First, they tell of the future. Second, they are God’s
communication of essential truth to His people. The first tells of things
that will be. The second applies God’s revelation to life situations
(usually seen in action and consequence). Paul wrote that there would be
an end for the prophetic message. The reason for this is that human
history will close at the coming of our Lord Jesus. Therefore, prophecies
will cease.
"Where there are tongues,
they will be stilled." This gift was given to communicate the
word of the Lord in a way so that people could understand about Jesus. At
the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11), the people were separated by language and
scattered throughout the world. In Acts 2, with the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit, God made it possible for everyone listening to hear the glory of
God in Jesus through the testimony of the Apostles. In the kingdom of God,
there will no longer be a separation of the people by various tongues.
Therefore, there will no longer be a need for this gift.
"Where there is
knowledge, it will pass away." These words are often
misunderstood. To say that there will not be knowledge is to indicate that
we will live in ignorance (that is, lack of knowledge). Paul is not
purporting this. Rather, there will be no need for instruction regarding
the word of God because we will all know it. We have God’s word in the
Bible and we are able to know it. We understand that the mystery of God’s
purpose in history was to restore humanity to a relationship with Him
through Jesus. God has given the gift of knowledge to some so that they
could impart God’s word in a way that they too could gain knowledge of
God’s plan. However, when Jesus comes again, there will be no need for
this because we will know the fullness of God’s plan in that moment.
"For we know in part and
we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect
disappears." Again, each of these builds on what we have already
addressed. The word perfection can also be understood as completion. With
that in mind we look to Philippians 1:6 – "Being confident of
this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion
until the day of Christ Jesus." God’s plan is that the
imperfect will pass away and the perfect will come. Revelation 21:3ff – "Now
the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be
his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will
wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning,
or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was
seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’"
John further explains in Revelation 22:4 – "They will see his
face, and his name will be on their foreheads…They will not need the
light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them
light. And they will reign for ever and ever." There will no
longer be a need for the manifestation of these gifts because we will be
in the presence of God forever.
"When I was a child, I
talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When
I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." Returning to my
opening illustration for a moment, I want to share a part of my thinking
about marriage. When I gave my life to Jesus, I wanted to see Him come to
bring His children home. Through my middle teen years and into my early
college years I would pray, "Lord, I want you to come soon. However,
I want you to wait until after I’m married because I want to enjoy the
fullness of the human relationship shared between a husband and a
wife." Of course, you all know that I am referring to sitting down
with my wife and having endless hours of talking and listening about our
hopes and aspirations in life, because that is what all teenage boys think
about.
The truth is, when I was a
teenager (a child) I talked like a teenager, I thought like a teenager,
and I reasoned like a teenager. In my mind, "getting to know
you" didn’t always deal with talking. However, as I grew up (Theri
might argue that this is something she still hopes for), I recognized that
there was more to marriage than sharing physical intimacy. As we have
grown in our marriage over the years, we know (and I know) that intimacy
(knowledge of one another) is developed through communion with one
another. The expression of our intimacy is seen in different ways at
different times. This growth is a part of maturity.
The people in Corinth thought
the gifts God gave to His children were an end in themselves. They were
focused on the gift – not on the Giver, nor the one for whom the gift
was intended. They were childish in their thinking. The church is not much
different today. We continue to see the issue of God’s gifts as divisive
rather then edifying. People look at the gifts as inappropriate for this
age of the church, or as the benchmark of spirituality. Both ways of
thinking are inappropriate. The Church of Jesus Christ must mature in its
attitude towards its relationship with God. This relationship throughout
the whole Scripture is compared to a marriage – both in the appropriate
and inappropriate expression of its love.
"Now we see but a poor
reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now we know in
part; then I shall know fully even as I am fully known." The word
that we translate "poor reflection" is the word we know as
"enigma". An enigma is a puzzle or a mystery. There is no enigma
regarding God’s love for humanity and His design for the salvation of
His children. In Colossians 2:2-3 Paul wrote: "My purpose is that
they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have
the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the
mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge." God’s purpose is not shrouded in
secrecy. Rather, Paul is telling us in v. 12 that we are unable to see
everything clearly, because we don’t have the perfect light of God’s
love shining in our heart.
Think about that for a moment.
Who has a perfect understanding of the nature of God? Who has a perfect
understanding about the nature of His will in allowing life circumstances
to seemingly go awry? Who has the perfect understanding as to how our sins
are forgiven through the death of Jesus? We understand in part the
answers, but not fully. People half joke that they’re going to ask God a
lot of questions when they go before His throne. I don’t know if that
will be fully necessary. However, I do know that when we are "face to
face" there will be no more enigmas – for God’s will is made
evident. It is then that our lives will make perfect sense.
The wonder of all this is that
God knows me better than I know myself. Remember Psalm 139:1ff – "O
lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I
rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my
lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my
tongue you know it completely, O Lord." Then in v. 13ff – "For
you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I
praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are
wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I
was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depth of
the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me
were written in your book before one of them came to be." We
shall fully know God’s will when perfection comes and we see Him face to
face, even as we are already fully known by the One that created us and
then gave us new life through His Son.
"And now these three
remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love."
Tongues, prophecy, and knowledge will fail. However there remain three –
that is faith, hope, and love. We can understand how there is love in the
kingdom. How is there faith and hope in heaven? If we see God, then how is
there a need for these two? I cannot honestly explain it. I do know that
all the angels in heaven were face to face with their loving
Father/Creator and they rebelled. Therefore, it seems evident that there
is a freedom that remains for us to choose to live faithfully and
obediently. I don’t fully comprehend this, but I don’t believe that
this is the import of Paul’s closing statement.
"The greatest of these is
love." Here is the focus of the entire word of God. It isn’t
the gifts, though they are important for the work of God. It is the Giver
of those gifts that we remember when we minister the gifts in His name. It
is God’s love that rules in our hearts that is the motivation for all
that we do. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us richly
that compels and propels us forward to do all that we have been commanded.
Hear the motivation that moved Paul, and what he believes was to move all
Christians, in 2 Corinthians 5:14. "For Christ’s love compels
us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all
died. And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for
themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again."
In love, let us remember that
our lives are not our own; they were bought with a price.
In love, let us remember that
when we have received the love of God given through His Son Jesus we were
reconciled to God, adopted into the household of faith. In that, we were
restored to God in fullness. We were made new. We are in the process of
maturing into all that we were created to be.
In love, let us remember that it is our call
to go into all the world and "make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded
you."
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