SPEAKER_00: We're going to begin this morning with a little bit of a history lesson.
SPEAKER_00: 1906 was the year, and on the streets of Los Angeles, reports began to circulate of strange activity taking place.
SPEAKER_00: Reports began to come in of people who had the power to speak in tongues and the gift to heal people.
SPEAKER_00: This event later became known as the Azusa Street Revival, and it sparked the beginning of a movement within Christianity known as the Pentecostal Movement.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're familiar with some of the different denominations and churches, you know that the Pentecostal denomination is one of the major denominations within Christianity today.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the Pentecostal and other charismatic offshoots account for approximately 25% of all Christians.
SPEAKER_00: What mainly distinguishes these denominations from other Christians is their belief that the miraculous and revelatory gifts of the Holy Spirit are still operative today.
SPEAKER_00: This includes the gifts of healing, prophecy, dreams and visions, and the gift of tongues.
SPEAKER_00: Which for us this morning means we must consider the question: are these miraculous gifts of the Spirit still functioning today?
SPEAKER_00: In our context, in the book of 1 Corinthians, we have begun in chapter 12 with a discussion on the spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_00: And we have been noticing specific instructions that Paul has been giving with regards to how to use these spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_00: And here now in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, in the passage we're going to dig into today, we are going to learn about the answer to this question.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians chapter 13, we will begin this morning in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: Love never ends.
SPEAKER_00: As for prophecies, they will pass away.
SPEAKER_00: As for tongues, they will cease.
SPEAKER_00: As for knowledge, it will pass.
SPEAKER_00: For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
SPEAKER_00: But when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
SPEAKER_00: When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
SPEAKER_00: When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
SPEAKER_00: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
SPEAKER_00: So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray, and then we'll dig into the text together.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, thank you for today.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you now for this opportunity we have to open up your word, and we ask, as we always do, that your spirit would help us to understand what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: And we approach your word this morning with humility and a desire to learn and to grow.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I pray that as we approach your word that way this morning, that your spirit would work in our hearts and in our lives, draw us nearer to yourself, make us more like Jesus, and help us grow.
SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: You'll notice in our text this morning that these verses must be read in the larger context of chapters 12 through 14.
SPEAKER_00: And if you recall, from last week, we just spent a whole sermon talking about love.
SPEAKER_00: All about love last week.
SPEAKER_00: And we learned what true, genuine biblical love is.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul gives that incredible definition and explanation of biblical love in this context of spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_00: And if you remember from last week, those verses are meant to teach us that if we serve using spiritual gifts without love, that serving, that utilization of those gifts is ultimately meaningless and worthless.
SPEAKER_00: There's no value to it.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's point is to say you can have all of these amazing gifts, but what must be infused in your serving in the church is love.
SPEAKER_00: You must infuse your serving with love.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're doing, doing, doing, serving, serving, serving, and you have no love, Paul's point is what you're doing is fruitless.
SPEAKER_00: It's worthless.
SPEAKER_00: Don't waste your time.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this was meant to call out the Corinthians because, if you recall, the church at Corinth really highly valued spiritual giftedness.
SPEAKER_00: And the problem in Corinth wasn't that they were lacking in spiritual giftedness.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it appears as though they had an abundance.
SPEAKER_00: They were very gifted, and they were using those gifts to serve.
SPEAKER_00: But instead of the church becoming a healthy church because everybody was serving with their gifts, the church was in an awful state.
SPEAKER_00: And here we get to the crux of the matter.
SPEAKER_00: The church had all of these issues and problems, not because people weren't serving, but because people weren't loving.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, you need to love.
SPEAKER_00: You need to love.
SPEAKER_00: Now, verses 8 through 13 think of these verses as the exclamation point to that challenge.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 8 through 13 are the exclamation point to the challenge.
SPEAKER_00: To use your spiritual gifts to serve, but to do so with love, because love is more important.
SPEAKER_00: Love is more important than serving.
SPEAKER_00: So that's where the context is taking us.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 8, we notice the very first thing that Paul says is that is that love never ends, but in contrast to love, there are other things that will end.
SPEAKER_00: Other things will end.
SPEAKER_00: He says that they will pass away in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: He uses that verb twice in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: The word that he uses there is the same word that you'll notice in a few different places in 1 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: In each of these cases, the word indicates that there is an expiration date.
SPEAKER_00: There is a point in time where the end of something is reached.
SPEAKER_00: You may think today of the the, some people say it's a conspiracy theory.
SPEAKER_00: I think it's 100% true, that technology is developed today with an intentional point in time where that technology becomes obsolete, where it stops working.
SPEAKER_00: And so the conspiracy theory has to do with like your phones today, those smartphones.
SPEAKER_00: And you, if you'll, if you've noticed, if you've had a phone for a long time, what eventually happens to that phone if you've hung on to it for a long time?
SPEAKER_00: What happens to that phone?
SPEAKER_00: Starts going slower, doesn't work as well anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I'm 100% sold.
SPEAKER_00: I think that they make their phones to eventually stop working.
SPEAKER_00: Because why?
SPEAKER_00: Because then you have to buy a new one.
SPEAKER_00: It's all a scheme.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's my crazy, my crazy theory this morning.
SPEAKER_00: It's all a it's all a scheme to get us to keep on buying more phones.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: There's this built-in obsolescence.
SPEAKER_00: We can see that in a in a less conspiratorial way this morning just by looking at technology over time.
SPEAKER_00: You you ask anybody today about a floppy disk.
SPEAKER_00: In my mind, there's like a disc and it's like this rubber disc.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking, like, a floppy disk.
SPEAKER_00: What is that?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's like old technology.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes obsolete.
SPEAKER_00: It passes away.
SPEAKER_00: This is the idea of the verb here.
SPEAKER_00: This is the idea that there is a point in time where this thing passes away.
SPEAKER_00: It becomes obsolete.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul's use of the word here indicates that there are some spiritual gifts that have a built-in obsolescence.
SPEAKER_00: Some spiritual gifts that were purposefully designed by God to be temporary.
SPEAKER_00: And notice the contrast: love isn't built that way.
SPEAKER_00: Love extends forever.
SPEAKER_00: But these spiritual gifts, they have an expiration date.
SPEAKER_00: So the question is, what spiritual gifts in particular are designed to become obsolete?
SPEAKER_00: And you'll notice he states them here in the text in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: We have a reference to prophecy, the gift of prophecy, the gift of tongues, and the gift of knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: And interestingly enough, all of these gifts have already been referenced by Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Preaching and teaching is the interpretation of an already inspired text.
SPEAKER_00: On Sunday morning, we come and I preach, I teach the Word.
SPEAKER_00: This is an interpretation of revelation that has already been given.
SPEAKER_00: You come on Sunday, you're not getting anything new.
SPEAKER_00: You're getting something from at least 2,000 years ago that God has already revealed.
SPEAKER_00: It's just being interpreted, it's being explained.
SPEAKER_00: Prophecy is different.
SPEAKER_00: Prophecy is the transmission of new revelation.
SPEAKER_00: Prophecy is revelation just received and then communicated.
SPEAKER_00: This is the gift of prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: In the Old Testament, we read about the prophets, and oftentimes the prophets begin their messages or they're introduced with the phrase, the word of the Lord came to.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost personified.
SPEAKER_00: This message that came, this new message has come, and now the prophet is sharing it.
SPEAKER_00: So this is prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: Tongues.
SPEAKER_00: We'll get to the gift of tongues, especially in chapter 14, where there's a full explanation of this gift.
SPEAKER_00: But the gift of tongues was the spirit-enabled gift to speak this new revelation in different languages, languages not native to the speaker.
SPEAKER_00: We see an example of this in Acts chapter 2 at Pentecost.
SPEAKER_00: Knowledge was a reference to divine knowledge that was given directly by God through the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Knowledge that is revealed to a person through supernatural means.
SPEAKER_00: So if we take all of these gifts and we ask the question, why are they all grouped together in this specific context?
SPEAKER_00: It begins to become clear to us that each of these gifts are singled out by Paul because they share a common bond.
SPEAKER_00: They are what we refer to as the revelatory gifts.
SPEAKER_00: These are the revelatory gifts.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, gifts that revealed the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Prophecy, tongues, knowledge, all gifts that are related to the revealing of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there's something else that is significant about these gifts.
SPEAKER_00: And as I've already mentioned, the Corinthians cherished their spiritual gifts.
SPEAKER_00: They valued them.
SPEAKER_00: They took pride in them, and they used them selfishly.
SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting that Paul mentions these gifts, especially the gift of tongues.
SPEAKER_00: The gift of tongues appears to have been an especially valued gift by the Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting that because we have already been challenged to infuse our serving with love, this exclamation point on this argument that Paul is making is that these revelatory gifts that you cherish so much, these gifts of the Spirit that you love so much and think are so valuable, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: They aren't gonna last.
SPEAKER_00: They're gonna pass away.
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna come a day when they're no longer even going to be necessary or utilized anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul's, so how is that an argument for the for the for the importance of love?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I remember before I was married, um, I used to hang on to socks as long as I could.
SPEAKER_00: I thought, why get rid of a good pair of socks?
SPEAKER_00: And and uh I'd wear these socks, and people girlfriend would notice you there's a hole in your sock.
SPEAKER_00: Future mother-in-law would notice.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you wearing a sock with a hole in it?
SPEAKER_00: I said, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_00: It's a perfectly good sock.
SPEAKER_00: I can keep wearing this sock.
SPEAKER_00: And uh eventually the message was communicated to me that that old holy socks, they're disposable.
SPEAKER_00: You're supposed to throw them away.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, I didn't know this.
SPEAKER_00: I was just, what's wrong with it?
SPEAKER_00: It's got a bunch of holes in it.
SPEAKER_00: That's what wrong, that's what's wrong with it, right?
SPEAKER_00: You're meant to dispose of it, it's meant to go away.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning that a sock is not something particularly valuable, is it?
SPEAKER_00: It's not necessarily something that you should that you should cherish and and value.
SPEAKER_00: They're cheap.
SPEAKER_00: So just buy some new ones.
SPEAKER_00: Now you take that, you take the sock, and you contrast that with perhaps like a wedding ring.
SPEAKER_00: And and when it comes to a wedding ring, that's a that's a cherished possession, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: That's valuable.
SPEAKER_00: You hold on to that, you're careful with that.
SPEAKER_00: You place a lot of weight on the on the wedding ring.
SPEAKER_00: That's an important, that's an important piece to your clothing, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: There's a contrast.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because one of those things is temporary and disposable and doesn't last.
SPEAKER_00: Whereas the other thing is meant to be a lifetime, it's meant to last a very long time.
SPEAKER_00: And so you see how we do this.
SPEAKER_00: We we are we just naturally we place weight and value in those things that last a long time.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the idea that Paul's trying to get across here.
SPEAKER_00: Love is forever, love extends into eternity.
SPEAKER_00: So place weight and value in love.
SPEAKER_00: And don't place so much weight and emphasis and value in these spiritual gifts that aren't gonna last forever, that are gonna pass away.
SPEAKER_00: It's really a question of prioritizing what am I going to make most important in my life and in my walk with the Lord and in my walk with other Christians in my church?
SPEAKER_00: What's most important?
SPEAKER_00: The thing that lasts forever.
SPEAKER_00: That's most important.
SPEAKER_00: This is the exclamation point Paul is making here.
SPEAKER_00: So then the question naturally becomes we already understand that these revelatory gifts, they will pass away.
SPEAKER_00: There's coming a time when they will cease to exist.
SPEAKER_00: The question then becomes, well, when is that?
SPEAKER_00: When is that?
SPEAKER_00: And I do believe Paul answers this question in the text.
SPEAKER_00: So look with me in verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
SPEAKER_00: But when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
SPEAKER_00: So we have this contrast here between the perfect and the partial.
SPEAKER_00: The perfect and the partial.
SPEAKER_00: The word there for perfect is literally completion, something that's completed or finished.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's the same word that Jesus uses on the cross when he says it is finished.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same word.
SPEAKER_00: When something is completed, when something is finished.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul is making the argument here that at the time of his writing of the book of 1 Corinthians, he says, now we know in part and we prophesy in part.
SPEAKER_00: And meaning in Paul's day, at this point in time, our knowledge is partial.
SPEAKER_00: It's incomplete.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting to notice these are direct references to the revelatory gifts we just mentioned in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: Do you notice that?
SPEAKER_00: We know in part, verse 9, that's the gift of knowledge.
SPEAKER_00: We prophesy in part, the gift of prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul is directly referencing these revelatory gifts, these gifts that revealed the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying that for now it's partial.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying that there's coming a time when this partial will pass away.
SPEAKER_00: Which means that there's a time when these revelatory gifts that partially reveal the Word of God will pass away.
SPEAKER_00: And when is it when that partial will pass away?
SPEAKER_00: When the perfect comes, when that which is completed comes, when that which is finished comes.
SPEAKER_00: And the question is, what is the perfect?
SPEAKER_00: What is the completed?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I think there's only one way to understand it and interpret it correctly, and it's in its direct context.
SPEAKER_00: And in the direct context, Paul is talking about what?
SPEAKER_00: Revelation, the revealing of the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: And so his point is right now it's partial, it's not finished.
SPEAKER_00: But when the finished version comes, that which is partial will pass away.
SPEAKER_00: So the finished version of revelation is another word for what?
SPEAKER_00: Anyone want to take a guess and shout it out this morning?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: This.
SPEAKER_00: This is the completion.
SPEAKER_00: This is the perfect.
SPEAKER_00: The completed word of God.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Paul is referring to here.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, right now we have the partial, the incomplete, the unfinished.
SPEAKER_00: The gifts that are used to communicate the revelation of God's word will cease.
SPEAKER_00: They will pass away when God's word is fully revealed, when it's completed, when it's finished, when it's perfect.
SPEAKER_00: So another way to say this is that this is a reference to the completed canon of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: The completed canon of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you look at the metaphors Paul uses, the metaphors Paul uses in verses 11 and 12 reinforce this concept.
SPEAKER_00: So in verse 11 we read, When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
SPEAKER_00: When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
SPEAKER_00: So Paul's point here is not to denigrate the revelatory gifts as childish in the sense that they are immature or foolish.
SPEAKER_00: They were useful.
SPEAKER_00: They were given for a reason.
SPEAKER_00: They were meant to be utilized when they were used.
SPEAKER_00: His point, though, is that they are age appropriate.
SPEAKER_00: They're age appropriate.
SPEAKER_00: So if you think about like a child, you would say that there is a time when it's appropriate for a child to use training wheels on a bike.
SPEAKER_00: There's a time when that's appropriate.
SPEAKER_00: But there's also a time when the child is meant to mature to a stage where they no longer need those training wheels.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe some of you are here this morning and saying, I never got to that stage.
SPEAKER_00: But in general, the idea is there's a point in time when the training wheels are necessary.
SPEAKER_00: But there comes a time when the child matures, when the child grows, when those training wheels, they're no longer necessary.
SPEAKER_00: They're no longer needed.
SPEAKER_00: They would no longer be appropriate for that child.
SPEAKER_00: Baby food.
SPEAKER_00: There's a time when you give a baby baby food.
SPEAKER_00: There comes a time though when it's no longer appropriate.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you, but when I sit down for dinner, I don't sit down with a heaping pile of baby food.
SPEAKER_00: That would be inappropriate for my development.
SPEAKER_00: I've matured, I've aged, I've gotten older, I no longer engage in those things that are appropriate for a small child.
SPEAKER_00: So why is Paul using this illustration, this metaphor here?
SPEAKER_00: His point is that the revelatory gifts, the partial, were appropriate for a certain period of time, a certain point in time when these were appropriate.
SPEAKER_00: But there was coming a time when they would no longer be appropriate, no longer necessary for the church.
SPEAKER_00: Understand how logically this makes sense to us.
SPEAKER_00: The book of 1 Corinthians is believed to have been one of the earlier epistles that Paul wrote.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, if you look at the full canon of Scripture, books like Colossians, Philippians, Romans, Peter's epistles, the book of Hebrews, John's Gospel, and his epistles, and the book of Revelation were all yet to be written.
SPEAKER_00: They hadn't even been written yet.
SPEAKER_00: And that's not even to mention the circulation of these letters, the circulation of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: It's not like today where you can say, hey, Paul's newest epistle just dropped.
SPEAKER_00: Let me blast it on my social media and send it out on the church email so everybody gets it.
SPEAKER_00: This was at a time in which it took a long time for letters to circulate and travel among churches and for that revelation to be shared with multiple churches in multiple different locations across the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a point in time when there was a lot of truth and revelation that the Corinthians did not have access to.
SPEAKER_00: Which means the revelatory gifts in the early church were necessary to supplement what the early church did not have.
SPEAKER_00: The completed canon of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: They were necessary, they were needed.
SPEAKER_00: But there was coming a day when the child would become a man.
SPEAKER_00: There was coming a day when God would be finished speaking.
SPEAKER_00: And the revelatory gifts would no longer be appropriate or necessary.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, in the Book of Revelation, chapter 22, verses 18 and 19, we read, I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book.
SPEAKER_00: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
SPEAKER_00: And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book.
SPEAKER_00: An interesting warning at the very end of the final piece of revelation God gave.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing more to be added.
SPEAKER_00: So don't add to what God has already revealed.
SPEAKER_00: We notice the second metaphor Paul uses in verse 12 is the metaphor of the mirror.
SPEAKER_00: We read, For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
SPEAKER_00: So some look at this verse and they would interpret this to be a reference to when Jesus comes back.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason they say that is because when Jesus comes back is when we will see Jesus face to face.
SPEAKER_00: We'll see him face to face.
SPEAKER_00: And so they would say this this passage isn't really talking about the completion of the canon.
SPEAKER_00: It's talking about the return of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And it is true that when Jesus comes back, and we're with Jesus, we will see him face to face.
SPEAKER_00: That is true.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be in the presence of the Lord forever.
SPEAKER_00: That's a wonderful truth and one we look forward to.
SPEAKER_00: Enjoying the blessings of being in the presence of God forever.
SPEAKER_00: That's our culmination of the culmination of humanity right there.
SPEAKER_00: But I don't think that's Paul's point here in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason why I say that is twofold.
SPEAKER_00: One, the context has already established he's talking about revelation, he's not talking about the return of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But the second reason is because the metaphor doesn't even make sense.
SPEAKER_00: Because what does he say in verse 12?
SPEAKER_00: Now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.
SPEAKER_00: So let me ask you when you look in a mirror, whose face is looking back at you?
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are afraid to admit it.
SPEAKER_00: It's my face.
SPEAKER_00: So the illustration, the metaphor here isn't talking about seeing another person face to face.
SPEAKER_00: Who's it talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Who do you see in the mirror?
SPEAKER_00: Yourself.
SPEAKER_00: So again, what's the I think the better, the better connection is if you go to the book of James, and in James chapter 1, Paul actually actually uses this exact same metaphor in James chapter 1, verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: He says, But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror.
SPEAKER_00: For he looks at who?
SPEAKER_00: Himself, and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
SPEAKER_00: But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
SPEAKER_00: So in the book of James, James uses the same mirror illustration, and what does he equate the mirror to?
SPEAKER_00: The word of God.
SPEAKER_00: It's the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: James's point is when you look into the mirror of God's word, you see yourself reflected back.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning you see how the word of God convicts and challenges and calls you to conform yourself into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You see yourself reflected in the word.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been reading the Bible and thought, ooh, that hurt?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been in a sermon and saying, ooh, pastor's talking about me this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Has that ever happened to you?
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: That's the word of God reflecting back to yourself and saying, here is where you need to grow and change and become be conformed into the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And interestingly enough, this perfectly fits the exact metaphor that Paul's using in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.
SPEAKER_00: Because again, what's he talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Revelation, the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: And what's his point in chapter 13 and in 1 Corinthians?
SPEAKER_00: His point is now we see dimly.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know partially.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the revelation isn't completed.
SPEAKER_00: The canon isn't finished.
SPEAKER_00: But when the day comes when the canon of scripture would be completed, would be finished, then you've got a clear mirror.
SPEAKER_00: A mirror where you can look, we have this, we have this entire canon of scripture to see ourselves clearly.
SPEAKER_00: And how we're called to repent, grow, change, become more like Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We can see it with clarity now.
SPEAKER_00: Because we're not missing half the book.
SPEAKER_00: We've got the finished copy here.
SPEAKER_00: We've got the finished copy.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's point is that with the partial revelation, we see ourselves in God's word partially.
SPEAKER_00: But when the word of God is completed, we get the full picture.
SPEAKER_00: It is simply another metaphor that Paul uses to refer to the day when the church would have the full completed canon of God's Word.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what about verse 13?
SPEAKER_00: I think verse 13 ties everything all together.
SPEAKER_00: So in verse 13, he says, so now faith, hope, and love abide, these three.
SPEAKER_00: But the greatest of these is love.
SPEAKER_00: Paul concludes his teaching on love and spiritual gifts by mentioning these three attributes, faith, hope, and love.
SPEAKER_00: And he says that these three abide.
SPEAKER_00: They abide, which means they remain or they continue.
SPEAKER_00: So once again, we notice a contrast between what is passing away.
SPEAKER_00: So the partial, the revelatory gifts, they'll pass away.
SPEAKER_00: He says, but but then faith, hope, and love, they'll abide.
SPEAKER_00: They'll continue on.
SPEAKER_00: They will remain.
SPEAKER_00: This is used in contrast to these revelatory gifts that will come to an end.
SPEAKER_00: But if we notice the flow of the passage here, we notice a timeline unfolding.
SPEAKER_00: We notice there's a timeline that unfolds.
SPEAKER_00: There will come a time when the revelatory gifts will cease to operate.
SPEAKER_00: When is that the case?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's when the canon of Scripture is completed.
SPEAKER_00: But after the canon of Scripture is completed, there's some things that will continue to remain.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, faith, hope, and love.
SPEAKER_00: So after we have God's word, we may not have the gift of prophecy anymore.
SPEAKER_00: We may not have the gift of tongues anymore, but we still have faith, hope, and love.
SPEAKER_00: And those are meant to be primary attributes of the Christian, primary characteristics of who we are as believers, to live in faith, to live in hope, and to live in love.
SPEAKER_00: This reference to the time in which faith, hope, and love abide is a reference to now.
SPEAKER_00: Right now.
SPEAKER_00: Revelatory gifts have passed.
SPEAKER_00: We have the completion of the canon, but we're living still with faith, hope, and love.
SPEAKER_00: But what's interesting is that once again, Paul draws a contrast because he says at the end of verse 13, out of all those attributes, which is the greatest?
SPEAKER_00: Love.
SPEAKER_00: Love is the greatest.
SPEAKER_00: So there's another distinction that's being drawn in the text.
SPEAKER_00: Faith, hope, and love, the distinction being love.
SPEAKER_00: Now, interestingly enough, if you go to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, Hebrews chapter 11, the great faith chapter.
SPEAKER_00: And the author of Hebrews begins that chapter with a definition of faith.
SPEAKER_00: And what does he say in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1?
SPEAKER_00: Now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen, the conviction of things not seen.
SPEAKER_00: Romans chapter 8, verses 24 and 25.
SPEAKER_00: For in this hope we were saved.
SPEAKER_00: Now hope that is seen is not hope.
SPEAKER_00: For who hopes what he sees?
SPEAKER_00: But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
SPEAKER_00: So notice a correlation here.
SPEAKER_00: Faith and hope both are looking forward to something.
SPEAKER_00: They're looking forward to something.
SPEAKER_00: And if you look in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, we notice what faith and hope are looking ahead to.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Verses 6 and 7.
SPEAKER_00: So we are always of good courage.
SPEAKER_00: We know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: For we walk by faith, not by sight.
SPEAKER_00: So in the timeline of 1 Corinthians chapter 13, the only way this actually makes sense is if you interpret it this way: to say that the partial, the revelatory gifts, they'll pass away, and after they're gone, faith, hope, and love will still remain.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there needs to be a period of time between when the partial passes away and when Jesus comes back.
SPEAKER_00: Because guess what's going to cease when Jesus comes back?
SPEAKER_00: Faith and hope.
SPEAKER_00: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus comes back, you won't need faith anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Your faith will become your sight.
SPEAKER_00: You will see Jesus face to face.
SPEAKER_00: You won't have to trust faith is not will not be the conviction of things not seen anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Because guess what?
SPEAKER_00: You'll see.
SPEAKER_00: You'll see what you're what you're hoping for.
SPEAKER_00: The hope that you're holding on to that Jesus is coming back someday, and all wrongs will be made right.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll get to enter into the eternal joy and the presence of my Lord and Savior.
SPEAKER_00: What I'm hoping for, it will become reality.
SPEAKER_00: When?
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus comes back.
SPEAKER_00: Are you excited this morning?
SPEAKER_00: Are you looking forward to that day?
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, right now, faith, hope, love, they abide.
SPEAKER_00: Because we don't see Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But out of all of these things, what's the one thing that will extend even into when Jesus comes back?
SPEAKER_00: Love.
SPEAKER_00: Love never ends.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we will enter into the perfect love of God when that day comes.
SPEAKER_00: Experiencing and embracing and enjoying it to its fullest effect.
SPEAKER_00: Love.
SPEAKER_00: So let's not, so, so I think there's important truths here that are important for us today.
SPEAKER_00: There's, I think there is strong biblical evidence and support to say the revelatory gifts are not designed to be operating today.
SPEAKER_00: They're not.
SPEAKER_00: We have the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: The completed word of God is sufficient.
SPEAKER_00: You're not lacking or missing anything this morning.
SPEAKER_00: You're not on a lower spiritual plane or level.
SPEAKER_00: You have the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: Sufficient for all things pertaining to life and godliness, as Peter says.
SPEAKER_00: You have the word.
SPEAKER_00: What's most important this morning, and in the context of 1 Corinthians, what's most important to recognize and understand is that as Christians, we ought to be pursuing love.
SPEAKER_00: Love should be the primary attribute and characteristic that defines who we are.
SPEAKER_00: And that, by the way, the whole of the law and the prophets hang on that single greatest command.
SPEAKER_00: Remember that Jesus says?
SPEAKER_00: And what is it?
SPEAKER_00: Love God, love your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: So serve.
SPEAKER_00: Serve at church.
SPEAKER_00: Please.
SPEAKER_00: Please serve.
SPEAKER_00: But serve with love.
SPEAKER_00: Serve with love.
SPEAKER_00: Use your giftedness with love.
SPEAKER_00: And that will then produce what is a healthy, thriving, growing, good church.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for today.
SPEAKER_00: Thankful for this chance we had to open up your word, dig into the text, to think about the gifts of the Spirit, and specifically this morning, those revelatory gifts, those gifts that reveal your word.
SPEAKER_00: We are thankful for your revealed word this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We're thankful we live in an age and in a time when the perfect has come.
SPEAKER_00: We have the completed version.
SPEAKER_00: We have your word, and it is everything we need, it's here.
SPEAKER_00: Everything we need for life, everything we need for godliness.
SPEAKER_00: It's contained in the pages of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: We're thankful for that gift this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We're thankful for the gift of your revealed word.
SPEAKER_00: Help us, Father, to not take advantage of it.
SPEAKER_00: We live in a day and an age where it's so accessible to us here in our country, it's so easy.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, how often do we neglect it?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, teach us to treasure your word, to love your word, to desire to spend time in it and to grow in it.
SPEAKER_00: And Father, I pray this morning that you would help us as a church to embrace serving that is motivated by love.
SPEAKER_00: May we be a loving people, a people who are devoted to you and love you, and are devoted to your people and loving your people.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray that as we seek to use how you have gifted us, each in our own unique ways, that we would seek to utilize those gifts of service because of love.
SPEAKER_00: Help us in these things, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: We need your grace and your mercy to help us.
SPEAKER_00: It's in Jesus' name I pray.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody said?
SPEAKER_00: Amen.