Sermon Tone Analysis

18~/06~/1997

1 Corinthians 13

1 CORINTHIANS 13

 

Occasionally a TV programme steals to popularity almost without anyone trumpeting its qualities.

The programme *“ER”* has been like that.

One of the leading men in that series has now come to international fame at the age of 35, has appeared on the Barry Norman show in which the whole programme was dedicated to the interview.

One of the things about ER is that it’s hard to keep up with some of the dialogue.

As the paramedics bring an injured patient into the Emergency Room they’re shouting important information very quickly to the hospital staff.

I know that in the middle of it all are at least two *vital signs*.

blood pressure

pulse rate

 

These are called vital signs from the Latin *vita* which means simply “life”.

They’re life signs.

When there is a strong and healthy condition in your body then it will show in these and other indicators.

That principle’s important in the realm of Christianity.

There are certain signs of life in an individual and in a Christian congregation.

One of the NT’s favourite pictures for the church is that it’s a body, *the Body of Christ* in fact.

Christ is the Head, people joined together as Christians are the Body, and the Holy Spirit living in those people individually and corporately is the life force.

The NT teaches that it’s possible for churches to be healthy, not so healthy, sick, in danger of death.

In chapters 2 ‑ 3 of the Revelation of John there are descriptions of seven churches.

And they fall into these varying conditions of health, sickness, nearly dead.

There are various indicators of life.

Tonight we’re going to look at one.

Maybe the most important one.

When Dr Paul, the NT apostle, felt the pulse of the church in Corinth, a grim look came across his face, he shook his head, and began to write a prescription aimed at stimulating into fresh health one of these failing vital signs.

*1 Corinthians 13*.

*1.

LOVE’S CORE IMPORTANCE** ‑ verses 1‑3*

 

Most of us have had the experience of disappointment when first impressions give way to reality.

That gifted and brilliant man turns out to selfish and arrogant and you wonder what on earth you saw in him in the first place.

The Christian church in Corinth was a brilliant and gifted congregation.

If you were a scholar on your way to a conference or a business man on your way to Rome and you’d called in there for a Sunday you would have left thinking /“What a marvellous church!

If only there was a church like this back in Laodicea”/.

This church at the time of this letter’s writing was about four years old.

It has been carved out of a pagan society by the tremendous Gospel work of the apostle Paul.

It wasn’t only a brilliant church, it was an important church.

It stood on the border between the Asian world and the European world; between the Jewish world and the Gentile world.

A flourishing and healthy church in Greece augured well for the Gospel’s cause elsewhere.

Look how Paul describes this church in *1 Corinthians 1:4‑7*.

They were enriched in speech and knowledge, and their gifts abounded in those areas.

If you wanted to hear a good sermon, go to Corinth.

You’ll never leave that Sunday evening service without feeling that your mind has had a feast.

But there were serious problems in the spiritual health of these people.

*/ch.

1:11‑12/* ‑ quarrels

*/ch.

3:1‑4/* ‑ behaving like the unconverted world; infantile, given to jealousy and a contentious spirit.

*/ch.

6:5‑6/* ‑ one Christian was taking another Christian to court to get some dispute settled which ought to have been dealt with in the church.

on top of that they were tolerating incest in one family and boasting about their freedom in matters of morality.

They were putting their selfish spirit on display at the Lord’s Supper when some were feeding their faces and others were going home hungry.

Paul’s shouting out the blood pressure and the pulse rate and the temperature of this church, and he shouts loudest of all in *chapter 13*.

In the first four verses he says some absolutely devastating stuff in three key areas of church life:‑ what you say, what you know, what you do.

*What you say*.

The Corinthians were a congregation who enjoyed using the gift of tongues.

The ability to speak unknown languages through the direct inspiration of the Spirit.

They felt that not only did they speak in human languages (the tongues of men) but that they were able to express the language of heaven itself (the tongues of angels).

There was such a buzz of excitement around this church over the great things the Holy Spirit was doing amongst them through the gifts of inspired speech.

Is Paul impressed?

He looks these Corinthians in the eye and says ‑ */Do you know that pagan temple down the road which is so noisy as the priests and people hit their gongs, ring their bells, and make a noise to get the attention of their deaf and sleepy gods?

Well, that’s what you people at Corinth are like/*.

There’s an absence of love in the congregation.

And when God listens to your worship its no more than a pagan noise to Him.

It sounds wonderful to you and offensive to him, without love.

*What you know*.

In verse two we’re told that these people had the gift of prophecy and faith.

Wouldn’t you like that sometimes?

To have people in the church who could answer your deepest questions with wisdom and insight inspired by the Spirit.

Wouldn’t it be great to have people who could trust God so firmly in certain situations that great and mountainous problems could be overcome in next to no time?

Oh to be able to say in a counselling situation ‑ */Your problem sister is that at 6:30 last evening you stole some money from your husband’s wallet/*.

Or to be able to so trust God in faith as to say, */By this time next week every last penny of the King’s Centre’s debts will have been paid off/*.

And then to go about life in absolute confidence and to show no surprise when it happened as you knew it would by faith.

Isn’t that kind of thing a vital sign in the life of a church?

Paul looks at these Corinthians in the eye and says, You have these things but you haven’t got love, and */You are nothing/*.

He says “I” but he means “you”.

*What you do*.

(verse 3) He uses two magnificent illustrations of sacrifice.

Here’s someone who gives all he has to the poor; here’s someone who surrenders to death in the flames.

One gives away his substance, the other his life.

From a distance it looks stunning and admirable.

But if those people are not living in love relationships with their fellow Christians they *gain nothing*.

Do you see ‑ */Love’s Core Importance/*.

It doesn’t matter how gifted your speech, how deep your knowledge, how impressive your activity, if you are consistently disobedient in the area of love ‑ you are nothing, you gain nothing, you are simply a din in the ear of God.

 

*2.

LOVE’S CONTINUED EXISTENCE** verses 8‑13*

 

One of the signs of an infantile mind‑set is you lose sight of what’s really important.

When I was a young lad I pestered my Mum and Dad for months that I might get a model fort and an army of toy soldiers for Christmas.

The great day came and I got just what I wanted.

When the initial excitement had died down I spent the whole of the day playing with a tiny little catapult made out of a bent hair grip and an elastic band.

I couldn’t appreciate the value of the main gift and I couldn’t understand what would really be of lasting significance.

Have you ever tried to play rounders at a picnic when some doting father insists on letting his three year old play.

He thinks we’ll all be just thrilled to have his offspring join in the game with us.

The bat is passed to the little monster.

He picks it up.

Refuses to part with it.

Holds on to it for three minutes.

Screams and screams when it’s taken off him.

Five minutes later it happens all over again and the stupid father looks round approvingly at the other people assuming that they are overjoyed at this marvellous display of behaviour in the light of his life.

The little one has no idea of what’s important.

He has no idea what the gift is for.

He doesn’t care much about the impact of his behaviour on anyone else.

It’s to be hoped that when he becomes a man he’ll put away those infantile ways of behaving.

In the midst of all the marvellous features of the life of the Christian church in the world there are only three things that matter.