Latest / Life Community Church / Sunday Message | Love Over Noise | 1 Corinthians 13 | Jamey Bridges

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Sunday Message | Love Over Noise | 1 Corinthians 13 | Jamey Bridges · Life Community Church

0:02
SPEAKER_00: Hello, this is Jamie Bridges, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: All of our services are inspired and built straight from the Bible.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Let's get into this week's message recorded at Life Community Church.
0:16
SPEAKER_01: Hey, we're in uh this series this summer, and we're in chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians, and um perhaps you know 1 Corinthians 13 because you've been to a wedding.
0:27
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times these 13 verses people talk about at weddings.
0:32
SPEAKER_01: And while it's a great passage of scripture for marriage and for weddings, Paul is addressing some things, and he wrote this because there's a group of people at Corinth who couldn't get along.
0:46
SPEAKER_01: So if you're getting married, 1 Corinthians 13 is more for those who are still married and you're dealing with conflicts.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: And if you're not dealing with conflict, just know it's around the corner.
0:58
SPEAKER_01: So what Paul is addressing is really how we respond to conflict, not just love is patient, love is kind.
1:06
SPEAKER_01: That sounds pretty in a setting of a beautiful bride, a handsome groom, flowers and candles.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: Sounds pretty.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: But what Paul is addressing is when you can't get along and you all are suing each other because you're mad at each other, love is kind.
1:23
SPEAKER_01: So he's really discussing behavioral things more than he is just pretty warm, fuzzy feelings.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: And everything Paul is talking about is really different, difficult because the church is divided, arguing, they're arguing over leaders, they're suing one another, they're fighting over freedom.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: There are people who saying, I'm richer, you're poorer, and so they're eating before everybody else.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's a lot going on.
1:49
SPEAKER_01: There is a lot of abuse, and chapter 12 ends.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: You see 1231, but this is a letter.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: This doesn't stop.
1:58
SPEAKER_01: So when Paul says in verse 31, but now let me show you a way of life that is best of all, Paul is saying, what I'm about to say is best of all.
2:11
SPEAKER_01: What I'm about to address to you in these next couple verses is the way you are to live.
2:16
SPEAKER_01: And Paul essentially is saying, you want to know what real spirituality looks like?
2:22
SPEAKER_01: It looks like love.
2:24
SPEAKER_01: And there's things that I'm gonna say today that you're gonna be like, this is impossible.
2:30
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna go, I don't know how anybody does this.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: And I will say this on your own, in our flesh, it is impossible.
2:40
SPEAKER_01: Because you and I don't save ourselves.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: You and I aren't the saviors of the world.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: You and I aren't, we don't even get it right most of the time.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
2:50
SPEAKER_01: So we do have to address what Paul is aiming at, what we're talking about is the goal.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: But none of us in this room have arrived.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: Not one of us.
3:01
SPEAKER_01: We're all in the same boat.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: Every single one of us are in the same spot in what Paul is saying.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: So we don't want to fall into the trap of saying things like, This is great for so and so, or that I need to send this to someone.
3:14
SPEAKER_01: This is for us.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: Because again, if you're in life right now and you're like, I'm in the sweet spot of life, I'm telling you, that could change in a moment, it could change in a phone call, it could change in a conversation, it could change real quickly.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
3:31
SPEAKER_01: So this might not be for you today, but it could be for the two o'clock of you.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah?
3:38
SPEAKER_01: Or it could be exactly where you are.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: And so this is what he's saying.
3:42
SPEAKER_01: Verse 1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: Again, to the church at Corinth, they they prided themselves in spiritual emphasis.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: They prided themselves in the spiritual gifts that they had.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: Specifically, this church at Corinth in speaking in unknown languages or tongues.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: He's essentially saying, you can speak beautifully, you can speak powerfully, you can pray powerfully, you can have incredible spiritual experiences, you can sound incredibly spiritual, but without love, you're just making noise.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: It would be like if I took two symbols right now and I stood in the end of the stage, and for five minutes I just did this.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: None of you are going, Pastor, that really ministered to me today.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: First song was beautiful.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: Watching people get baptized was amazing.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: But when you clang those symbols, whoo, something happens.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, something happened.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: You were ticked off, irritated, and you did not want to hear another sound of it, right?
4:49
SPEAKER_01: This is what Paul is saying.
4:50
SPEAKER_01: You guys are like this.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: It's noisy.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: And again, everything he's saying is so extreme.
4:58
SPEAKER_01: Verse 2.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: He says, if I had the gift of prophecy and if I understood all of God's secret plans and I possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains but didn't love others, I would be nothing.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, if if I had the gift of prophecy, which refers to a God-given ability that where we speak God's truth, whether it be encouraging, whether it be teaching, whether it be revealing his message, he says, Listen, even if you possess that gift, as remarkable as it is, that gift alone is not enough.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Listen, if you say, I have all of God, I know all of God's secret plans, I know all, I know everything.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: He he says, Listen, if I know all these things, Paul is again, he's he's speaking to the know-it-alls in the room at Corinth.
5:47
SPEAKER_01: He's talking to the guys who think they possess it all.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, if you knew all of it, and he's exaggerating, right?
5:54
SPEAKER_01: He's he's coming at this angle where it's like, you guys are so, do you hear what I'm saying?
5:58
SPEAKER_01: You that know everything, you that possess all of these things, even you, this understanding is worthless if you do it without love.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: And he says, and if I can move mountains because of my faith, man, if I can say that mountain, move over here, people are gonna applaud.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna be like, whoa, that is some faith.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: But he says, if you do it, listen, he doesn't say you accomplish nothing.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: He said, I am nothing.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: I am nothing if I can do all of those things, but I do not love.
6:34
SPEAKER_01: And this is what Paul is teaching.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: He's saying spiritual gifts are good, but they are not the highest virtue.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: He's saying knowledge and faith can become prideful if they are not guided by love.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: He's saying love gives meaning and purpose to every single one of us that follow the ways of Jesus.
6:53
SPEAKER_01: It gives meaning and purpose.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: It is, this is what love does.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: He says God measures of his measure of greatness is not merely what we know or what we can do, but whether we love others as he loves us.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he's ultimately saying.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: You can look incredibly spiritual and still miss the heart of Jesus.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: That's crazy.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: Verse 3, if I gave everything, because now he's hitting the money side.
7:21
SPEAKER_01: He's hitting the guy, he's sitting the people in the room.
7:23
SPEAKER_01: It's like, you don't understand what I've done?
7:25
SPEAKER_01: Look how like I know these things.
7:27
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Okay, if I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.
7:39
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, I can let everybody know this is where I put all of my money.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: I can let everybody know he he gave his life for it.
7:46
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, but if the motivation behind all of that is applause, you will always get it.
7:51
SPEAKER_01: There will always be one sucker around the room that goes, I want to be like that guy.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: Man, I want to be that.
7:59
SPEAKER_01: He goes, if that's all about and you want applause, you're always gonna get it.
8:03
SPEAKER_01: It wrestles with the question: who am I trying to please?
8:06
SPEAKER_01: Am I trying to please man or am I trying to please God?
8:09
SPEAKER_01: This is summed up in what we say when we leave this building, what we say when we leave Sunday nights, what we say when we leave small group.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: If we're walking away and we're going, I didn't really get anything out of it, you are a consumer Christian and you're so spiritually fat you need to exercise.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: But if you walk away and you say, Jesus, were you pleased with what I brought to the table at church today when I came to youth group on a Sunday night?
8:34
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, were you pleased with what I said?
8:36
SPEAKER_01: Or was I just consuming everything that everyone was doing for me, soaking it all in, taking it all in, or am I giving something out?
8:46
SPEAKER_01: Because if what we do on Sunday morning, if what we do on Sunday night does not change us on Monday, stop going to Sunday.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: Stop making it about that if it's not changing us.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: You're just going through a ritual, a tradition, and if it's not changing you, why do you think anybody would want it?
9:05
SPEAKER_01: I'm the same as I've always been at work, but I picked up this church thing, and they're gonna go.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to go to your church then.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: It'd be no different in if anything else.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: You join this book club, you join this.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: If it doesn't change your perspective, what are we doing?
9:22
SPEAKER_01: And this is what Paul is saying, guys.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
9:25
SPEAKER_01: You're fighting, you're suing each other.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: You Christians over here, you act like you're so great because you have money.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
9:32
SPEAKER_01: You're eating all of the food, and no one's missing people are missing it.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: Like, what are you doing?
9:38
SPEAKER_01: He he cannot even fathom, he cannot even understand what's happening, and again, his point isn't not to be generous or to sack like sacrificing is bad.
9:50
SPEAKER_01: His point is that God cares about the heart behind what we do.
9:55
SPEAKER_01: If the foundation isn't love, it'll always be about us.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: If the foundation is getting you to like me, I will always do everything to like you.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: But that is a this is a this is what it is when you get people to like you.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: It's like this.
10:14
SPEAKER_01: I used to say, if you want people to like you, sell ice cream, but now people are so like they can't have dairy, you know what I mean?
10:19
SPEAKER_01: Like it's like I gotta have all different kinds of ice cream because I can't even please anybody at the ice cream place.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: And then verse 4, this is where biblical love actually, he says, this is what biblical love actually looks like.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude, it does not demand its own way, it is not irritable, it is not irritable, and it keeps no records of being wronged.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: Love never gives up, it never loses faith, it is always hopeful, it endures through every circumstance.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, this is what love, this is what patience looks like.
11:05
SPEAKER_01: Listen to this definition: it is the ability to endure someone's weakness, immaturity, mistakes, or frustration without immediately retaliating.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: Come on, where's my reactors in the room?
11:19
SPEAKER_01: You're like, well, I didn't say anything.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: Nope, your face did.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: Your face said it all.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: And you know how I know that?
11:26
SPEAKER_01: Because it takes one to know one.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: I've never in my life got a yellow card for facial expressions until I did.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: Seriously, it's not even what I say anymore.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: Why?
11:40
SPEAKER_01: Because we're reactors, it is the ability.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: He's making your patience not about you, but about how you treat other people.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: And so he's saying, This is especially powerful in Corinth because these Christians, again, they're fighting.
11:58
SPEAKER_01: Love says, I don't have to win this argument, I don't have to get even.
12:03
SPEAKER_01: I can give you grace while God works on you.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's saying.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: Patience is.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, kindness.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: Patience is what love doesn't do, kindness is what love does.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: It's what love does.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: Patience is I'm gonna allow you to still be insecure, to be still walking in maturity, and I'm gonna walk with you.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: But how I'm gonna walk with you is I'm gonna be kind in what I say to you, and that's what's gonna change you.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: It's his kindness that leads to repentance.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: Like we talk about that scripture, like we're so grateful that Jesus' kindness leads to repentance, and then he says, Do as I do.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: Stop using that.
12:47
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's Jesus, that's not me.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: That is the aim to look like Jesus.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: And if the aim is to look like Jesus and his kindness leads to repentance, what do you think our kindness would do?
12:59
SPEAKER_01: It also said he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked, which blows out of the water who we selectively decide to be kind to.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: You've said, like, well, if they're thankful, I'll be kind.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: He goes, Well, that's not me.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: It's the ungrateful.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: Well, if they're a nice person, they're easier to be kind to, but that doesn't mean you don't be kind to them.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, we hit an erve, folks.
13:26
SPEAKER_01: Love doesn't tolerate people, it seeks their good.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: We're good at tolerating.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: He says, no, this is what love patience kindness.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: They go together like P B and Yay at O sugar.
13:45
SPEAKER_01: Come on, somebody.
13:46
SPEAKER_01: If you've not been to O sugar and tried the PB and Yay, golly, that is like an uncrustable in ice cream.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: Not that I I know it's too early for ice cream, but it wasn't last night.
14:02
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: It goes together.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: Patience and kindness go together.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: And if we we have a tendency to go, well, she's an extremely patient person, he's an extremely patient person, and hopefully the impatient people are marrying the patient people.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: Right?
14:20
SPEAKER_01: That's my case.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: What's your testimony?
14:23
SPEAKER_01: Impatient, married patient.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: Doesn't mean she's always patient, doesn't mean I'm always impatient.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: There's some things I'm really good.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Again, if we're saying like she's if she's identifying as the patient person, and I'm then we're always gonna look at each other.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: There's some things she's patient about, some things I'm I'm patient about, they flow together.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Okay, we're not perfect, there's no arrival moments.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: But he's saying they they marry each other just like Jesus was full of grace and truth.
14:55
SPEAKER_01: What are we supposed to be?
14:57
SPEAKER_01: Grace and truth.
15:00
SPEAKER_01: It's impossible to be biblically correct and relationally cruel.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: It's impossible for you to speak truth, but the way you do it is so cruel they never hear the truth.
15:20
SPEAKER_01: Was it truth?
15:21
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: It was.
15:22
SPEAKER_01: And if it's about being right, you'll get it.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: You're right.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: If you need to hear it, you're right.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: You're right, but at what cost?
15:33
SPEAKER_01: Your right has it has, but it's lost the relationship.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: He says, love is also not jealous or boastful or proud.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: Again, they were comparing gifts.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: This gift is better, that gift's better.
15:47
SPEAKER_01: You're your my leader's better, my knowledge is better, my all, my spirituality is stronger.
15:52
SPEAKER_01: Like he's saying all these things, and he's going, listen, love isn't jealous.
15:57
SPEAKER_01: Love can celebrate someone else's blessing without feeling threatened by it.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: It's the reason we say, can you celebrate with people when they win?
16:05
SPEAKER_01: Can we sell?
16:06
SPEAKER_01: It's the it's the true test.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: Can I celebrate when someone gets something that I did not get?
16:11
SPEAKER_01: That they're blessed.
16:12
SPEAKER_01: Because if I can't celebrate when they win, I will not have compassion when they lose.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: If I can't celebrate when they win, when they lose, I'm loving it.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: That is jealousy, that is boastful, that is proud, that is being proud.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: If that's what it's about, I can celebrate.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: Listen, if you were if we're going, how come she always gets that?
16:35
SPEAKER_01: See how that sounds?
16:36
SPEAKER_01: 50 years old.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: That should not sound like that.
16:39
SPEAKER_01: Man, they're always of course they got a new car.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: They always get new cars.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: Of course they bought a new house.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: Of course she got a promotion.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: Of course, all that, of course, how come I never get those things?
16:54
SPEAKER_01: Listen to me.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: When when we act like that, you can know all the Bible verses, you can attend every service.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: And if you are spiritually immature and acting like that, it negates all the other.
17:08
SPEAKER_01: You know what people didn't hear?
17:10
SPEAKER_01: Your favorite Bible verse.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: Because you're going, how come she always does that?
17:14
SPEAKER_01: Because this is what this is what pride says.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: How does this make me look?
17:19
SPEAKER_01: How's it love says, How can I help you?
17:23
SPEAKER_01: How can I make you better?
17:26
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't work in a competitive culture, it is not rude, does not demand its own way.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: This this statement right here in verse 5 would have hit Corinth really hard because they were using their freedom without considering other people.
17:45
SPEAKER_01: I say this all the time, people.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: You might be able to handle some things that I would call gray areas, but your kids can't.
17:55
SPEAKER_01: You might be able to handle some things that other people are struggling with, but the worst thing that we can be as the followers of Jesus is a stumbling block to someone else's faith.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: Because what you might have mastered, they could be struggling with.
18:12
SPEAKER_01: And if I then become a stumbling block to what they're stumbling with, and they then think I can do what you do, this is what's happening.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: Some of them were eating meat and they had no qualms with it, while others were going, I can't do that.
18:27
SPEAKER_01: And Paul was saying, then if you can't, I won't.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: What is that saying?
18:31
SPEAKER_01: I'm willing to put aside this gray area so that you don't struggle or stumble because I'm more concerned about you than I am me.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: This is what he's talking about.
18:43
SPEAKER_01: And this gets personal because love is not easily irritated.
18:51
SPEAKER_01: This doesn't mean Christians never get angry.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: It means we aren't constantly walking around with a short fuse.
19:00
SPEAKER_01: One test of spiritual maturity is not simply how you worship on Sunday, but how easily people can ruin your Monday.
19:12
SPEAKER_01: What Paul is addressing is that we are really good if life is good.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: But when life throws us something, that's who we really are.
19:25
SPEAKER_01: We don't like that.
19:27
SPEAKER_01: Because you might be in a season of life where it's not good.
19:31
SPEAKER_01: And who's coming out is the real you, it's the real me.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, one of the hardest things, it's a it's an accounting term.
19:42
SPEAKER_01: He says, love keeps no records of wrong.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, this word is the word we get ledger.
19:49
SPEAKER_01: And so he's saying, in other words, love doesn't keep a spreadsheet of everyone's offenses.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: You did this in 2019, and we need to address it.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: I've sat with couples who've talked about the arguing that they had on their honeymoon, and how that argument still sat with one of them, and they were married for 10 years.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: So for 10 years you held on to something that happened your honeymoon, and it always got brought up, which meant there was never getting over something.
20:22
SPEAKER_01: We were always talking about.
20:24
SPEAKER_01: He says, Love does not keep a ledger of every time you mess up noted.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: Where are my spreadsheet nerds in this room?
20:32
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, don't do that.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: Don't keep a spreadsheet where you're constantly bringing up, you did this the last time, you said this before.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're always gonna be this way.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: There is no grace to change when you're always bringing up someone's past.
20:45
SPEAKER_01: And love doesn't do that, it does not do that.
20:48
SPEAKER_01: And this is a powerful question that I beg every single one of us to answer in this room.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: Whose record are you still keeping?
20:58
SPEAKER_01: Some of you, you need to go back to high school, find the person that hurts you, and get past it.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: Because it's affecting you 20 years later.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: You didn't go to your reunion because of it.
21:09
SPEAKER_01: Not saying you should have, but I'm just saying it's keeping you from doing things because of what happened way back then.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Man, I'm gonna say this as nice and as spiritually as I can.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: Get over yourself.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: Holy cow, what are we talking about right now?
21:24
SPEAKER_01: We're getting into it.
21:25
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you got heads up.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: You know there's 13 verses, so you know I'm on verse 6.
21:32
SPEAKER_01: I'm almost halfway there.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: Verse 6, it does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: Love is not just being nice.
21:44
SPEAKER_01: Biblical love, spiritual truth, they're not enemies.
21:48
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we put them as enemies, which which this is the danger because our culture says accept everything I do and never challenge me.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: Just accept it.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: I said it, you have to say it.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: You have to say that to me.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing then?
22:30
SPEAKER_01: He was becoming a woman.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: But I don't agree with what you're doing.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: But then this man came to a sentence.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: And he said, You know who I call the person who told me the truth.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: You know what he remembered?
23:06
SPEAKER_01: That he was that he loved them.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's not so much about what we say, but how we made them feel.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: Maybe if they knew like the problem is one that we can always come back.
23:22
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they will.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: Tell them the truth in a loving way.
23:43
SPEAKER_01: I'm not responsible for the moment.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: I am responsible for being patient and loving and working with them and doing it in a different way.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: Which also means we've closed the door and the truth was never heard.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: Not because what we said wasn't true.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: But because of how we said it.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: This is what Paul is addressing.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: Verse 7 he says, Love never gives up, it doesn't lose faith.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: It is always hopeful.
24:27
SPEAKER_01: It endures through every circumstance.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: He says it does not give up.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: It does not lose faith.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: It is not goal, but it is a posture before the Lord that doesn't automatically assume the worst.
24:40
SPEAKER_01: That's what it is.
24:41
SPEAKER_01: We don't automatically assume the worst.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: It does not lose faith.
24:44
SPEAKER_01: It is always hopeful, which means love believes God is still working.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: It endures.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: Real love stays faithful when loving becomes difficult.
24:56
SPEAKER_01: We stay the course.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: Not the people you agree with, not the people who are easy to love.
25:07
SPEAKER_01: He says, listen, if at all possible with you, live at peace with everyone.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: He's saying love endures and stays faithful through it all.
25:17
SPEAKER_01: And some of you in this room, you're like, you don't even understand what I'm going through.
25:20
SPEAKER_01: And God is going through.
25:21
SPEAKER_01: Yes, endure it.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: Keep going.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: Stay faithful.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: I know it's difficult.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: Keep going.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: There's a difference between again cultural love and biblical love.
25:30
SPEAKER_01: Cultural love says, I love you as long as this relationship works for me.
25:34
SPEAKER_01: Biblical love says something different, it's shaped different.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: He says, I will seek your good even when it costs me something.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, in these moments, I'm asking you to grab a towel.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm asking you to serve the person that might be betraying you.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: Don't skip that.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: There were 12 disciples that Jesus washed the feet of.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't the 11 good ones, and then Judas, hey, I got you 11.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: Judas, get out of here.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: I know what you're about to do.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: He washed his feet knowing he was the betrayer.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: You know what?
26:14
SPEAKER_01: The issues that are going on in the church, they're not hot topics, you guys.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: They're not hot topics.
26:19
SPEAKER_01: We don't avoid hot topics.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: That's not what we're talking about.
26:22
SPEAKER_01: The issue is there's people in your life that disgust you.
26:27
SPEAKER_01: And instead of grabbing a towel, you kill them with your words.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: And it may not be to them, but it's to someone else.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: And all you're doing is severing the relationship that you could have instead of washing their feet to the potential relationship that you should have.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: This is what Paul is addressing.
26:49
SPEAKER_01: He says, prophecy and speaking in the unknown languages and special knowledge, all of them will become useless.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: There will be a day they become useless, but love will last forever.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: He's bringing 12 and 14 together.
27:01
SPEAKER_01: He says, Listen, gifts are temporary.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: Love is eternal.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: Gifts are temporary, love is eternal.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: One day we won't need prophecy.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: One day we won't need teaching.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: We won't need spiritual gifts.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: Why?
27:13
SPEAKER_01: Because we will be in the presence of Jesus.
27:15
SPEAKER_01: But love will remain.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I don't understand.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I have a different perspective, and I know it's hard because this life is hard, but it's appointed unto every man wants to die then to judgment.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: Like we all know that.
27:32
SPEAKER_01: Because we've all experienced death.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: Like we know someone who's died.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: So we've experienced it.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: So we know things of this life go away.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: They're temporary.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: This building's temporary.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: These clothes, the style, my truck, all those things are temporary.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: So if I'm putting all my stock in these temporary things, when he's saying this is what is eternal, he says, now all our knowledge is partial, incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: Paul's saying, you're arguing like you've got God completely figured out.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: You don't.
28:15
SPEAKER_01: Our understanding of God is real, but it is incomplete.
28:20
SPEAKER_01: That should produce humility.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: It should produce humility.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: There are things we know clearly from Scripture, and then there are other things we sincere Christians disagree about.
28:34
SPEAKER_01: Spiritual maturity knows the difference.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: And this is why he said, when I we get all this.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: We get this.
28:45
SPEAKER_01: Five-year-old you and 15-year-old you talk different.
28:50
SPEAKER_01: Like what Paul is saying, we we we fathom, we agree with.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: He says, but when I grew up, I put away childish things.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: He's giving us this picture saying children think differently from adults, and as we mature, he's saying certain behaviors must, should be left behind.
29:09
SPEAKER_01: And he's making a spiritual point.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: He's saying, growing older spiritually should mean growing more mature relationally.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: The things that bothered you as a kid should not bother you as you go up.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: And this is challenging.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: Because someone can know the Bible for 30 years and still respond to conflict like a child.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: And this is what Paul's addressing.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: He's saying you could be biblically informed and spiritually immature.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: And a major sign, again, of my maturity isn't how much scripture you know, it is how much your life increasingly looks like Jesus.
29:54
SPEAKER_01: And this is why he says, Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: But when we will see everything with perfect clarity, all that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God knows me completely.
30:14
SPEAKER_01: This was huge because Corinth was famous in the ancient world for bronze work, including mirrors.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: Their mirrors like our mirrors, the reflection was never perfectly clear.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: So when Paul uses this picture, right now he says, We see God and eternity truly but not completely.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: There are questions we can't answer.
30:40
SPEAKER_01: God, why did you allow this?
30:42
SPEAKER_01: Why didn't you answer my prayer?
30:45
SPEAKER_01: Why did this happen?
30:47
SPEAKER_01: Where were you at God?
30:48
SPEAKER_01: And Paul says, right now we see part of the picture.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: One day you'll see it clearly.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: One day.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: That gives believers humility for the present and hope for the eternal.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, and he ends with three things will last forever.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: Faith, hope, and love.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: And the greatest of these is love.
31:16
SPEAKER_01: He says, listen, faith, trusting God, hope, confidently expecting God's promise, love, living towards God like Jesus.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: And the greatest is love.
31:26
SPEAKER_01: Why?
31:27
SPEAKER_01: Because faith will eventually become sight.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: And hope will eventually become a reality.
31:35
SPEAKER_01: I don't have to hope for these things anymore.
31:37
SPEAKER_01: It's now real.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: I think about all the people who have gone before us, all the people have passed away.
31:42
SPEAKER_01: Hope is now reality, and love continues forever.
31:49
SPEAKER_01: Couple months ago, during one of the storms in the spring, our house was struck by lightning.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: And you could walk into my house and you could see everything was fine.
32:02
SPEAKER_01: Smoke detectors were there, my AC unit was still there, water filter, all those things were fine.
32:09
SPEAKER_01: But when you're trying to turn on a light, it didn't come on.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: When you try to start the AC, it wouldn't kick on.
32:16
SPEAKER_01: Water that's hard in Columbia continue to be hard.
32:20
SPEAKER_01: Like all of these things started happening, which meant you could walk into my house and you could see the smoke detector and be like, everything's fine because it looks good on the outside.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: But if there was a fire, we're in trouble.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: If we were getting hot and I couldn't turn on the AC, we're in trouble.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: All of those things on the outside looked great.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: But they weren't connected to the source.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: Something was wrong.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: And my challenge to us is to identify what's wrong.
32:55
SPEAKER_01: Am I reacting in a wrong way?
32:58
SPEAKER_01: Do I find myself not being friendly to a certain person, to a certain group of people?
33:04
SPEAKER_01: Am I walking around with a chip on my shoulder?
33:06
SPEAKER_01: Am I excusing it away?
33:08
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you need to reconnect and fix.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: Again, for the most part, we fooled 90% of the people in our lives.
33:16
SPEAKER_01: We fool them because on the outside they can see the shell of us.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it looks like a smoke detector.
33:21
SPEAKER_01: It looks like it works.
33:22
SPEAKER_01: When do I find out whether it works or not?
33:24
SPEAKER_01: When there's smoke, that's not good.
33:28
SPEAKER_01: He says, Deal with this now.
33:32
SPEAKER_01: I'm reading a book, and I talked about it a little bit yesterday to the men.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: Because I think I've been lied to for most of my life.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: When we had kids at seven, seven-year-old, a four-year-old, a two-year-old, and a newborn.
33:47
SPEAKER_01: Four kids in under the age of seven, and there's poop everywhere, and I was getting peed on, and all those things were happening.
33:54
SPEAKER_01: I thought that was the hardest time in life.
33:56
SPEAKER_01: Someone lied to me.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: That was not the hardest time.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: I would go back to diapers today, right now.
34:04
SPEAKER_01: Seven-year-old Jake, the rest of my life, in a heartbeat.
34:09
SPEAKER_01: And what it's done for me in my reflection is to look back and realize how selfish I was.
34:17
SPEAKER_01: And this is what Paul is saying the driving force behind a lot of what we do is selfishness.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: It's about us.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: I mean, guys, I'm I'm remembering bringing Libby home from this does not make me look good.
34:36
SPEAKER_01: I remember bringing Libby home from the hospital and having a two-year-old, 20-month-old, and then having Jake, three kids, and me saying to Kelly, hey, my soccer game's at 11 tonight.
34:49
SPEAKER_01: Is it cool if I still play?
34:52
SPEAKER_01: The kid should be sleeping then, right?
34:55
SPEAKER_01: And because Kelly is patient and usually kind, she reminded me in first service that that didn't happen once, that happened twice.
35:07
SPEAKER_01: And I can remember justifying when she would tell the story to well, listen, what Jamie did when I came home after being cut open and the baby being ripped out of me.
35:18
SPEAKER_01: It's like, dude, when you say it like that, I don't understand, right?
35:29
SPEAKER_01: I can remember justifying.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Well, you told me it was okay, you didn't throw a fit.
35:40
SPEAKER_01: Selfish.
35:44
SPEAKER_01: Jamie, put those selfish things away, and it may come out in other ways now.
35:50
SPEAKER_01: And Paul is constantly addressing is that your foundation?
35:54
SPEAKER_01: Is that what you're doing?
35:56
SPEAKER_01: Because our foundation has to be love, and if it's not built on love, listen to me, your marriage won't make it.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: Hear me, your friendships won't make it.
36:11
SPEAKER_01: Who you are will look very difficult and different than it does right now.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: Because you're choosing, if you have a chip on your shoulder and you're out to prove to so and so that you're really not what they said about you, I'm telling you, you'll find yourself to be a version of yourself you never wanted to be.
36:32
SPEAKER_01: And what Paul is saying is this is not how the church is supposed to be, it's supposed to be different.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: It's supposed to be different.
36:41
SPEAKER_01: So can we, over this week, can we evaluate where we are and be honest?
36:46
SPEAKER_01: Be honest about where we are, what we need to do, what we need to change.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
36:52
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, would you help us today?
36:55
SPEAKER_01: We cannot do this on our own.
36:57
SPEAKER_01: God, you are the gift giver, you're the one that gives us grace, you're the one that empowers us to be and to live different.
37:04
SPEAKER_01: God, we don't want to live different so that people know our names.
37:07
SPEAKER_01: We want to live different because we want people to see you.
37:11
SPEAKER_01: God, we follow you.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
37:16
SPEAKER_01: Not an ideology, but you, your ways, God, we want to look like you.
37:25
SPEAKER_01: Kind, patient, full of grace and truth.
37:31
SPEAKER_01: God, we need your help so we lean in.
37:33
SPEAKER_01: God, we ask that you speak to our hearts.
37:36
SPEAKER_01: Where are we fallen short?
37:38
SPEAKER_01: What what ledger have we kept?
37:41
SPEAKER_01: Where do we need to start over?
37:42
SPEAKER_01: Who do we need to forgive?
37:43
SPEAKER_01: Who do we need to say sorry to, God?
37:47
SPEAKER_01: God, would you help us to be kind?
37:50
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's not so much about what we've made it, maybe it's just about being nice and kind and speaking truth and extending grace.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: God, we can't do that on our own.
38:03
SPEAKER_01: We need you.
38:05
SPEAKER_01: Would you help us in Jesus' name?
38:07
SPEAKER_00: Amen.