SPEAKER_02: Welcome to an audio teaching from Windsor Park Baptist Church in Auckland, New Zealand.
SPEAKER_02: If you would like to look at the message notes or see some questions for reflection that take their lead from today's teaching, head to our website windsapark.org.nz and head to the online tab where you'll see services and series, and you can download different resources from there.
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us, and we hope you're encouraged by today's teaching.
SPEAKER_02: Well, today we continue our series called Come Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Knowing, loving, and living in his presence.
SPEAKER_02: And we arrive at what is a very familiar passage to many of us, 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty sure it was read on the 2nd of November 1991 at Palmerston North Central Baptist Church when Joe and I were married.
SPEAKER_02: And I'm pretty sure it's been read at perhaps half of the 77 weddings that I've officiated since becoming a pastor.
SPEAKER_02: While 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is beautiful at weddings, the Apostle Paul wasn't even thinking of weddings when he wrote this letter to the church in Corinth.
SPEAKER_02: He was writing to a church, the kind of church that everyone would want to visit.
SPEAKER_02: In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, we can see that the church loved spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_02: They had miracles, prophecy, tongues, wisdom, power, the full Holy Spirit combo meal.
SPEAKER_02: It was a Holy Ghost-filled, supernaturally empowered church.
SPEAKER_02: But they were using those gifts to show off, to one up each other, to divide into factions and make some people feel like second-class Christians.
SPEAKER_02: They weren't doing the one thing that Jesus said trumps all others.
SPEAKER_02: Love God and love your neighbor, which in Scripture are one action, not two.
SPEAKER_02: So right in the middle of Paul's teaching on spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians chapters 12 and 14, he suddenly stops and says in chapter 13, If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging symbol.
SPEAKER_02: If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
SPEAKER_02: If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
SPEAKER_02: In other words, he says to the church in Corinth and by association us today, you can have spiritual gifts, you can have spiritual experiences, you can have spiritual knowledge, but if love is missing, you've missed the point.
SPEAKER_02: And that's incredibly important for us because throughout this series we've been talking about how the Spirit empowers, guides, sends, and gives good gifts.
SPEAKER_02: But today we discover something foundational.
SPEAKER_02: The primary evidence of the Holy Spirit is not how gifted we are, it's how loving we are.
SPEAKER_02: Because wherever the Holy Spirit is at work, he always moves us towards greater love.
SPEAKER_02: On paper, the church in Corinth does sound amazing.
SPEAKER_02: In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verses 4 to 7, Paul says about them, I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: For in him you have been enriched in every way, with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge.
SPEAKER_02: God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you.
SPEAKER_02: Therefore, you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.
SPEAKER_02: The problem wasn't a lack of gifts.
SPEAKER_02: And to some of us, this church sounds a little dreamy, but Paul isn't happy with what he's seeing on the inside, because all this goodness was creating competition.
SPEAKER_02: People were comparing themselves, ranking themselves against others.
SPEAKER_02: Some thought they were more spiritual than others, some believed their gift was superior to what others had.
SPEAKER_02: And the result of that?
SPEAKER_02: Division.
SPEAKER_02: And a church that didn't reflect the message of Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Paul's answer to this division is fascinating.
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't tell them to stop using their gifts, he tells them to use them differently.
SPEAKER_02: He tells them to use them in love.
SPEAKER_02: He suggests that spiritual maturity isn't measured by giftedness, it's measured by Christ-like love.
SPEAKER_02: You see, there's a huge difference between being gifted and being mature.
SPEAKER_02: A person can be incredibly gifted and still be deeply immature.
SPEAKER_02: A church can have outstanding ministries and still fail to reflect Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit never gives gifts as an end in themselves.
SPEAKER_02: The gifts are tools for building people up.
SPEAKER_02: Love is the purpose.
SPEAKER_02: Paul uses an example we can relate to a clanging symbol.
SPEAKER_02: It makes noise, it gets your attention, it might even be impressive for a moment, but there's no melody, there's no harmony, there's no music, it's just sound.
SPEAKER_02: Likewise, you can have a church full of gifted people making noise, impressive, spiritual sounding noise.
SPEAKER_02: But if love isn't there, you haven't got a church, you've got a performance.
SPEAKER_02: We've seen that Paul begins chapter 13 with three dramatic examples.
SPEAKER_02: If I speak in the tongues of men or angels, if I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom or mysteries and all knowledge, if I have faith that can move mountains.
SPEAKER_02: I mean these things are impressive.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine having extraordinary spiritual experiences, imagine understanding profound truths, imagine possessing mountain moving faith.
SPEAKER_02: Yet Paul says that if we do not have love, we're nothing.
SPEAKER_02: Not we're less effective, not we're missing something, we're nothing.
SPEAKER_02: That's a shocking statement.
SPEAKER_02: Because the world usually measures success by our performance, or by our influence, or by how many followers we have.
SPEAKER_02: Well done, Tim Payne of the Or Whites.
SPEAKER_02: Or by what we've achieved, or by how much money we have.
SPEAKER_02: But Paul has a different measurement for those who follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: He asks, How much love do you have?
SPEAKER_02: Because love is what most resembles God's.
SPEAKER_02: Love is what most reflects Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Love is the fruit the Holy Spirit desires to produce.
SPEAKER_02: If we think about Jesus, we know that people were amazed by his miracles, but what transformed lives wasn't simply his power, it was his love.
SPEAKER_02: The leper felt loved, the outcast felt loved, the adulterous woman felt loved, Zacchaeus felt loved, the sinner felt loved, the broken felt loved.
SPEAKER_02: Power got people's attention, but love changed their lives.
SPEAKER_02: In verses four to seven, Paul goes on to give us one of the most famous descriptions of what love looks like.
SPEAKER_02: This is the part that makes most weddings.
SPEAKER_02: But notice that every one of the fourteen examples is relational.
SPEAKER_02: Love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, love is not proud, love does not dishonor others, love is not self-seeking, love is not easily angered.
SPEAKER_02: Love keeps no record of wrongs.
SPEAKER_02: Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
SPEAKER_02: Love always protects, love always trusts, love always hopes.
SPEAKER_02: Love always perseveres.
SPEAKER_02: Paul isn't describing feelings, he's describing behaviors.
SPEAKER_02: The kind of behaviors that the Holy Spirit produces in everyday relationships when we allow him to shape our hearts.
SPEAKER_02: Now let's be honest, that's a fairly depressing list.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, what if we were to do something that will make us uncomfortable?
SPEAKER_02: It makes me uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_02: Let's read those lines and replace the word love with our name.
SPEAKER_02: Grant is patient.
SPEAKER_02: Grant is kind.
SPEAKER_02: Grant does not envy, etc.
SPEAKER_02: I mean, how are you doing on the Holy Spirit-inspired love test?
SPEAKER_02: I I got as far as Grant is patient before I realized that we should move on quite quickly.
SPEAKER_02: Let's look at a few of these spirit-led behaviors specifically.
SPEAKER_02: Firstly, love is patient.
SPEAKER_02: The Greek word here, makrothumia, means having a long fuse, especially with difficult people.
SPEAKER_02: It's the capacity to be under pressure, to be wronged, to be frustrated, and yet to not have a short fuse, to not explode or retaliate or shut down.
SPEAKER_02: Who in your life requires the most patience from you?
SPEAKER_02: Give you a moment to picture their face.
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it's a family member or a colleague, maybe, and I say this with gentleness, it's someone in the church.
SPEAKER_02: The Holy Spirit grows patience in us towards that exact person.
SPEAKER_02: Not patience in general, but patience towards the specific, difficult, complicated person that we picture.
SPEAKER_02: I've seen this play out in my own family.
SPEAKER_02: As I watched my mum care for my dad as dementia took hold in his life, I saw her patiently answer the same question again and again and again.
SPEAKER_02: Not because she felt like doing that every day, but because love stays.
SPEAKER_02: I think that anyone that cares for someone with dementia is displaying a fruit of the spirit in remarkable ways.
SPEAKER_02: Or what about love is kind?
SPEAKER_02: Kindness sounds simple until you have the opportunity to practice.
SPEAKER_02: Kindness is love and action, it's encouragement, it's generosity, it's noticing people, it's choosing gentleness when harshness would be easier.
SPEAKER_02: The world is not suffering from an excess of kindness, but the church should be known for it.
SPEAKER_02: And then love is not self-seeking.
SPEAKER_02: This may be one of the hardest because our culture constantly teaches us to prioritize ourselves, my rights, my preferences, my comfort, my needs.
SPEAKER_02: But Paul says love looks outward.
SPEAKER_02: Love asks, how can I serve?
SPEAKER_02: How can I help?
SPEAKER_02: How can I bless?
SPEAKER_02: And kindness, the Holy Spirit, continually turns us away from self-centeredness toward Christ-centeredness.
SPEAKER_02: Then there's love keeps no record of wrongs.
SPEAKER_02: This doesn't mean pretending hurt never happened.
SPEAKER_02: It means refusing to weaponize the past.
SPEAKER_02: Love doesn't keep a running spreadsheet of offenses but chooses forgiveness.
SPEAKER_02: Not because the offense wasn't real, but because Jesus has forgiven us.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, one of the clearest signs of the Holy Spirit's work in us is growing in forgiveness.
SPEAKER_02: The word Paul uses here is a bookkeeping term.
SPEAKER_02: It means entering something into a ledger to write it down and keep a running total.
SPEAKER_02: And Paul says love doesn't do that.
SPEAKER_02: Love doesn't keep a score sheet.
SPEAKER_02: But we do, don't we?
SPEAKER_02: We're remarkably good accountants when it comes to how we've been wronged.
SPEAKER_02: We've got spreadsheets, we've got the receipts, we remembered the exact words they said in 2019.
SPEAKER_02: We remember the tone, we remember where we were standing.
SPEAKER_02: But love tears up the ledger.
SPEAKER_02: Not because the hurt wasn't real, but because the Holy Spirit gives us the capacity to forgive, actually forgive the way God has forgiven us.
SPEAKER_02: We could repeat that analysis with all fourteen behaviors, but you get the idea they're challenging.
SPEAKER_02: Paul reaches the pinnacle of the point that he's making in verses eight to thirteen.
SPEAKER_02: Love never fails.
SPEAKER_02: But where there are prophecies they will cease.
SPEAKER_02: Where there are tongues, they will be stilled, where there is knowledge it will pass away.
SPEAKER_02: For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
SPEAKER_02: When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
SPEAKER_02: When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
SPEAKER_02: For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror.
SPEAKER_02: Then we shall see face to face.
SPEAKER_02: Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
SPEAKER_02: And now these three remain faith, hope, and love.
SPEAKER_02: But the greatest of these is love.
SPEAKER_02: Here Paul is talking about the gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge as being temporary.
SPEAKER_02: They belong to the in part age that we're living in now, where we see dimly, where we know partially, where we experience the spirit in part.
SPEAKER_02: But when Jesus returns, when we see him face to face, the gifts will have served their purpose.
SPEAKER_02: They'll cease, they'll be stilled.
SPEAKER_02: But love, love never fails.
SPEAKER_02: Love is eternal, love is what remains.
SPEAKER_02: Think about what that means for how we see ourselves.
SPEAKER_02: The platform doesn't last.
SPEAKER_02: The title doesn't last.
SPEAKER_02: The impressive spiritual gifts, as extraordinary as they are, don't last.
SPEAKER_02: Even the memories of our greatest moments will fade.
SPEAKER_02: But every act of genuine love, every patient conversation, every forgiven wrong, every moment of staying when you wanted to leave, every sacrifice made in love, those things echo into eternity.
SPEAKER_02: Because love is the nature of God's, and love is what the kingdom of God is built on.
SPEAKER_02: Let's look at Romans chapter 5, verse 5 as a central passage that shows where the Holy Spirit fits into all of this.
SPEAKER_02: God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
SPEAKER_02: So the love Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 13 is not a self-improvement project.
SPEAKER_02: You can't grit teeth your way to this kind of love.
SPEAKER_02: You can't discipline yourself into keeping no record of wrongs.
SPEAKER_02: You can't willpower your way into persevering when everything in you wants to quit.
SPEAKER_02: The love that Paul describes is a gift, and that gift is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: And that changes everything about how we pursue it.
SPEAKER_02: We can't pursue this kind of love by trying harder.
SPEAKER_02: We can only pursue this kind of love by pursuing the Spirit, by staying close to Jesus, by letting the Spirit have access to the parts of us that prevent us from loving like God does, giving the Spirit access to our bitterness, our resentment, our insecurity, our pride, and our fears.
SPEAKER_02: When Paul writes to another church in Galatia, he makes it very clear what the fruit of this kind of spirit-filled living is.
SPEAKER_02: In another similar list, we see that Galatians chapter 5, verse 22 says, But the fruit of the Spirit who has been poured into our hearts is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
SPEAKER_02: But love is first.
SPEAKER_02: Love is the headline.
SPEAKER_02: Everything else is in service of love.
SPEAKER_02: If our service is making us proud, if our prophesying is making us competitive, if our giving is making us resentful, then we need to go back to the source.
SPEAKER_02: We need more of the spirit, not more of our gifts.
SPEAKER_02: As we think about our church here at Windsor, this passage asks us an important question.
SPEAKER_02: What do people experience when they encounter us?
SPEAKER_02: Do they experience gifted people or loving people?
SPEAKER_02: Do they experience impressive programs or genuine care?
SPEAKER_02: Do they encounter efficiency or compassion?
SPEAKER_02: Do they see people winning arguments or serving one another?
SPEAKER_02: The measure of our church is not ultimately attendance or buildings or budgets or programs.
SPEAKER_02: The measure of our church is whether people experience the love of Christ among us.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine if every person who walked through our doors or encountered us online felt deeply loved.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine if every newcomer felt welcomed.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine if every child felt valued.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine if every teenager felt seen.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine if every older person felt honored.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine if every struggling person felt supported.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine if every conversation reflected grace.
SPEAKER_02: That is the work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Because wherever the Holy Spirit is present, love grows.
SPEAKER_02: I've come to understand that the greatest miracle I strive to see is love between my brothers and sisters in Christ and the Church.
SPEAKER_02: The kind of love that Paul urges us to develop, which is clearly and obviously not possible in our own strength, otherwise we'd see it more.
SPEAKER_02: This kind of love is miraculous because it is a work of the Spirit in me and in us.
SPEAKER_02: Someone came to see me recently to tell me they'd left Windsor because of the decisions we'd made during the pandemic years.
SPEAKER_02: They're not the only ones.
SPEAKER_02: That season cost us dearly as a church.
SPEAKER_02: And personally it was by far the hardest period of my career.
SPEAKER_02: I still carry some of that pain, but the spirit keeps bringing me back to 1 Corinthians 13, challenging me to not let that pain and bitterness take hold.
SPEAKER_02: In these last few years, the Spirit has been helping me say, Grant is not easily angered.
SPEAKER_02: Grant keeps no record of wrongs.
SPEAKER_02: Grant always hopes.
SPEAKER_02: And Grant always perseveres.
SPEAKER_02: It is truly miraculous that I think my heart is soft enough to be able to say those things.
SPEAKER_02: It's a miracle.
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes people ask, how do I know the Holy Spirit is working in my life?
SPEAKER_02: It's a great question.
SPEAKER_02: We often look for dramatic signs, powerful experiences, extraordinary moments.
SPEAKER_02: Yet the New Testament repeatedly points us towards something beautifully simple.
SPEAKER_02: Are we becoming more loving, more patient, more kind, more forgiving, more selfless, more like Jesus?
SPEAKER_02: Because the ultimate goal of the Holy Spirit is not simply to make us gifted, it's to make us Christ-like.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that the Spirit's greatest miracle may not be speaking in tongues or prophecy or miraculous gifts.
SPEAKER_02: I believe that the Spirit's greatest miracle is transforming ordinary people into people who love like Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Paul finishes with these famous words.
SPEAKER_02: And now these three remain faith, hope, and love.
SPEAKER_02: But the greatest of these is love.
SPEAKER_02: Faith is essential.
SPEAKER_02: Hope is essential, but love is the greatest.
SPEAKER_02: Why?
SPEAKER_02: Because love is the clearest expression of God's heart.
SPEAKER_02: And love is the truest evidence of the Spirit's presence.
SPEAKER_02: As we continue exploring the gifts of the Holy Spirit in the coming weeks, Paul doesn't tell the Corinthians to stop pursuing spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_02: In fact, in the very next chapter, he tells them to eagerly desire them.
SPEAKER_02: His point isn't gifts or love, his point is gifts and love.
SPEAKER_02: Gifts exercised through love.
SPEAKER_02: Imagine a visitor walking into Windsor.
SPEAKER_02: They may never see a miracle, they may never hear a prophecy, they may never understand all of our theology, but they should encounter something unmistakable.
SPEAKER_02: A people who genuinely love one another.
SPEAKER_02: And when they ask where that love comes from, we can point them to Jesus and say, that's the work of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_02: Not simply giving gifts to God's people, but forming the character of Jesus in God's people.
SPEAKER_02: Might that be the reality of us as we strive, as we pursue, as we welcome the Spirit in our lives?
SPEAKER_02: Might we reflect the love of Christ and the way that we live as we mature, as we grow, on that journey towards becoming more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we thank you for this passage in 1 Corinthians 13.
SPEAKER_02: Many of us know us know it so well because we've heard it at weddings, perhaps even our own weddings.
SPEAKER_02: And the words are great for relationships.
SPEAKER_02: That's great for marriage.
SPEAKER_02: But the intent of this passage was for the local church.
SPEAKER_02: For brothers and sisters in Christ.
SPEAKER_02: Diverse as we are, different as we are, to reflect the work of the Spirit in and through us.
SPEAKER_02: Father, forgive us of our sin.
SPEAKER_02: Forgive us of our selfishness.
SPEAKER_02: Forgive us when we don't allow the fruit of the Spirit to germinate in our hearts and for it to translate into the way in which we love one another.
SPEAKER_02: Father, we do desire the gifts of the Spirit to be evident among us, but we pray that that would be in the frame of love.
SPEAKER_02: As we finish today, I'd love us to listen to a song which is called the Greatest of These, and when you reflect upon the lyrics as they come out.
SPEAKER_02: The lyrics are really 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
SPEAKER_02: Talks a lot about the things we could do.
SPEAKER_02: The greatest of them is love.
SPEAKER_02: Might these lyrics continue to help us reflect upon what the scripture says to us.
SPEAKER_02: Might the song be music to our hearts.
SPEAKER_02: Allow these words to sink into our spirits.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining us at Windsor Park Online today.
SPEAKER_02: It's been our pleasure to serve you.
SPEAKER_02: Might you know the peace of Christ in your life this week, and we look forward to continuing to serve you next week.
SPEAKER_02: God bless.
SPEAKER_01: If I don't have love So I will waste my brain's not a love.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have the love.
SPEAKER_01: There is a crowd.
SPEAKER_01: I can speak like the end Professor I can move with the feeling to move out.
SPEAKER_01: Should I come out?
SPEAKER_00: Never stop to end.
SPEAKER_01: If it's not for love I don't have the heart if it's not for love No let me say it's faith if it counts no cost there's no fear in love, but there is a grasp.
SPEAKER_01: A love will never die, but there is a grasp.
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining our audio teaching today.
SPEAKER_02: If there are ways that we can continue to support you or help you in your journey, please reach out to us.
SPEAKER_02: Head to our website windsapark.org.nz and you'll find various ways to contact us.
SPEAKER_02: God bless.