Worship in Spirit and Truth 27 - Love Never Ends - 1 Corinthians 13:8-13
Worship In Spirit and Truth • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 40:36
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· 5 viewsMorning 11 January 26
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8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Introduction
As we continue in applying the words of Jesus in John 4:24 “24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”” we can learn much from the errors in the church of Corinth. One of the major problems was the way in which they worshipped. We find the same problem in many professing churches today. Our responsibility is to worship in a God honouring and glorifying way.
Today I want to consider broad principles and then return to more detail in future sessions.
It is important to remember that this letter to the Corinthians was written 55AD, the third of Paul’s 12 or 13, if you include Hebrews, letters. Paul was converted in 34AD
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1. Continuing and Not Continuing v8
1. Continuing and Not Continuing v8
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8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
a. Continuing
a. Continuing
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
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As God’s Word never “falls to the ground,” so his love never fails. Love is eternal because it is one of God’s attributes . It emanates from God to all his people throughout time and eternity. While everything else in God’s creation comes to an end, love continues to be an active and lasting influence. Kistemaker, S. J.,
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
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b. Not Continuing v8
b. Not Continuing v8
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8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
i. Prophecies
i. Prophecies
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
A revelatory gift. Does not just mean predictive but the authoritative exposition and proclamation of God’s Word. In other words preaching!
But if there are prophecies, they shall be set aside.” Whereas love is timeless, predictive prophecies are temporal. Love remains active, but prophecies have only partial significance; Kistemaker, S. J.,
ii. Tongues
ii. Tongues
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
A revelatory gift.
iii. Knowledge
iii. Knowledge
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
1 Corinthians: Crossway Classic Commentaries “The Greatest of These …” (Verses 1–13)
It is not knowledge in the comprehensive sense of the term that is to cease, but knowledge as a gift, as one of the list of extraordinary endowments mentioned in
8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
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2. The Partial and the Perfect v9-10
2. The Partial and the Perfect v9-10
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9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
a. The Partial v9
a. The Partial v9
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
This applies to the period of inscripturation the last book, Revelation written in 96AD.
b. The Perfect v10
b. The Perfect v10
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
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Baptist Affirmation of Faith 1966 The Holy Scriptures
By the Scriptures, or Bible, we mean only the sixtysix books of the Old and New Testaments. The books known as the Apocrypha, not being inspired, form no part of the Scriptures. In the absence of the original manuscripts, God has divinely preserved his work in many faithful copies. Careful translations are to be made that all men might personally read God’s Word in their own language.
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Baptist Affirmation of Faith 1966 The Holy Scriptures
The Scriptures have their origin in God himself; they are Godbreathed, given by inspiration of God. This inspiration extends to all the books in their totality, down to the very words used, and is not limited in any way whatever either by man’s understanding or response. The Scriptures do not therefore merely contain God’s Word, they are God’s Word.
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3. Immature and Mature v11
3. Immature and Mature v11
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11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
a. Immature
a. Immature
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
b. Mature
b. Mature
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
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4. Seeing Face to Face v12
4. Seeing Face to Face v12
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12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Paul is now looking to eternity and our assurance of truly seeing Christ face to face.
a. Indistinct Reflection
a. Indistinct Reflection
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
Greek mirror polished metal not a clear image.
b. Face to Face
b. Face to Face
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
c. Partial Knowledge
c. Partial Knowledge
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
d. Full Knowledge
d. Full Knowledge
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
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2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
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18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
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24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
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5. Love is Greatest v13
5. Love is Greatest v13
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13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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1 Corinthians c. Permanence and Perfection of Love (13:8–13)
But in the light of Paul’s discourse, he differentiates the triad of faith, hope, and love from the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge. These gifts are set aside and cease, but the three virtues remain.
a. Faith
a. Faith
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
1 Corinthians c. Permanence and Perfection of Love (13:8–13)
Saving faith in Jesus Christ comes to an end, but another aspect of faith, namely, trust in him, remains forever; similarly, hope in Jesus Christ is timeless (see 15:19). Faith and hope are intimately linked, so that where there is faith there is hope.
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1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
b. Hope
b. Hope
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
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19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
c. Love
c. Love
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians c. Permanence and Perfection of Love (13:8–13)
Paul singles out love but sees no need to explain the attributes of the other two virtues. For him, love is basic because of God’s eternal love for his Son and through him for his people (
5 [in love]he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
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1 Corinthians c. Permanence and Perfection of Love (13:8–13)
In time and eternity the concept love remains foundational in divine-human relationships.
Conclusion
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13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
