This morning we conclude our series of messages from I Corinthians 13, and I will read the text from
the King James Version. At the beginning of this series I said that at some point I would use the KJV,
so I do want to turn to that translation this week. After several weeks of using modern translations, the
King James Version will most likely sound very different to your ears.
I don’t know if you have noticed, but for a number of weeks there has been a collection of balloons
at the roof in the back corner of the sanctuary. They got loose during a birthday party a while back and
there were a bunch of them floating at the ceiling, and then for most of this series there were just three,
so I have been thinking of them in relation to the last verse in this passage – these three remain, faith,
hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. I find it very interesting that now there is just one, so
there floats our love balloon I guess we could say.
Follow along with me as I read, for the final time in this series, I Corinthians 13:1-13, this time from
the King James Version –
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding
brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I
have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have
not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
8 Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they
shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I
became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I
know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
I hope you will take the time to reread this passage in several different translations. Doing so, I find,
is very helpful in gaining a greater understanding of and insight into what Paul has to say.
I will focus on the final verse of the passage, where Paul concludes with a nice three-point outline –
faith, hope, and love, as he writes and now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of
these is charity. What I really find interesting is that after twelve verses of expounding upon love, Paul
suddenly reminds us of faith and hope as well. For twelve verses he doesn’t mention faith and hope at
all, at least not specifically (although I think we can say they are always implied), and then suddenly
puts them into the mix with love. He does so, I believe, because all three words – faith, hope, and love –
are inextricably bound together. It is as though he is reminding us that the three exist together and
cannot be separated. Where you have any one of the three, you find them all. Where you find faith, you
also find hope and love. Where you find hope, you also find faith and love. Where you find love, you
also find faith and hope.
So let’s take a look at each of these three, beginning with faith.
Faith.
I think it is important to distinguish between faith and belief. That might sound like a strange
statement, because too many people put faith and belief together, as though they are the same, as though
they are synonyms or two sides of the same coin, but I do not see them as the same. (I want to add, at
this point, that after both services I was offered very good explanations for the difference between faith
and belief. After the first service someone told me that belief is believing in what God has done in the
past, while faith is believing he will do the same in the future. After the second service someone told me
that belief was believing a chair would hold me, while faith was sitting in it. I like both of those
definitions very much). Belief, for many, is defined as the acceptance of, and adherence to, a list of
statements, such as doctrines. I will say that I believe in certain things, but to me, faith is separate from
any list of beliefs I might have. Belief is what I think and the doctrines to which I hold, but faith has to
do with the more practical ways in which we live. I have, for instance, a particular belief about what the
book of Revelation means and how it should be interpreted, and I think that it is helpful and good to
have those particular beliefs, but it is my faith to which I hold in times of loss and to which I turn to be
sustained in times of difficulty. When I have experienced times of great difficulty and trials, for
instance, I never said, I am so grateful for my belief about the differences between pre-millennialism and
post-millennialism. I never said, I am so grateful for my belief about how I interpret the passage about
the seven churches mentioned by John in the book of Revelation. I never said, I am so grateful for my
belief about how to interpret the number of the beast, because that is what is getting me through this
time of difficulty. No, what I held to was my faith that God was with me no matter what I was
experiencing, and knowing that whether or not I came through the difficulty unscathed or if I came
through it with many scars I knew and trusted that God was with me and would never leave me. I can
believe certain things, and I think it is important to believe them, but faith is when my beliefs are put to
work in the real world of everyday life.
What sometimes happens with beliefs, unfortunately, is this – people are told they must adhere to a
list of beliefs and their personal theology must line up with an official theology and they are told that is
what matters most and they must accept those in order to be considered a Christian or to be considered
acceptable as a person. When I was in college I visited a church that had two identical banners, one
hanging on the right side of the stage and one on the left. The banners contained a list of ten precepts, or
beliefs, and stated that one must adhere to those ten precepts in order to be a Christian. I read down the
list and started checking them off in my mind. Number one? Check. Number two? Check. Number
three? Check. On down the line I went, and I was doing really well, checking off every one of them,
until I came to number ten, and I simply could not agree with number ten. I guess I could have looked at
in this way – nine out of ten is pretty good. Nine out of ten would be a 90% score on a test and in my mind a 90% would be a good grade. But here is the problem with that list – it presented those ten beliefs
as requirements, meaning you could not get nine out of ten and be okay; you had to line up perfectly
with all ten, and number ten, to me, was a deal breaker because it was a very peripheral belief and to
make it absolutely essential was wrong and a violation of the personal integrity of each individual to
make their own decisions about what they will believe. To say that all ten of those doctrines were
essential was to impose a system of belief upon people that was not at all representative of the true
nature of faith, and it was something that I simply could not accept.
To draw people into a relationship with God we do it by the presentation of faith, not by requiring
them to sign on to a list of beliefs or doctrines that we decide are the ones most necessary. I understand
that in these uncertain times some people want theology presented to them in very stark, black and
white, specific ways, but I do not believe that leads to a healthy personal faith and I believe that each
person must struggle and contend with faith in a personal way and come to their own conclusions about
what beliefs they will accept and what beliefs will be important to them. At some point, we do indeed
need to disciple people in their faith and help them with their questions and we need to give them a
Biblical and theological foundation, but what people most need to hear is that when life is tough, as it so
often is, is that God will be there for them. You can put that in the form of a doctrinal belief, I guess,
but it is an expression of faith to actually live that truth when difficulty comes. People need to hear that
when they feel they have nowhere else to turn there is a place to turn, and that is God. People need to
hear that when they feel rejected by others they are accepted by God. People need to hear that when
they feel no one loves them or cares for them that God loves them and cares for them. That is faith, and
faith isn’t something that is simply an agreement with a theological statement someone presents to you.
Faith is rather, a way of life. Faith is a way of living out the truths we have accepted about God.
And, as it is my faith, no one can ever take it from me; it is God’s gift to me and mine to accept or
reject. When I was in seminary my classes sometimes had visitors who was there to record the words of
the professors in the hope of finding evidence that they should be removed from the classroom and fired
from their positions because they were not “properly” presenting faith. It was a time when some wanted
to impose a particular system of beliefs upon others. One day, one of those visitors asked me if the
professor had ever said anything that was a threat to my faith or if he had sought to take away my faith.
I thought then, as I do now, that the question was absurdly silly. No one can take my faith away from
me. My faith can either be embraced or rejected, but only by me. It can never be taken, as though it
were a simple object that could be stolen away by a thief.
Hope.
Is it possible to be hopeful today? Is it just me, or does it seem that there is a conspiracy against
hope pretty much every day? It’s just that there is so much wrong in our world that it would be
understandable to say I’ve given up on hope. But here’s what I think about hope in today’s difficult,
contentious world – hope is a shaking of the fist in the face of all that which says it is foolish to have
hope. Hope is actually an act of rebellion in our world, it is an act of defiance against all the pessimism
and doubt that surrounds us. Hope is an act of rebellion and an act of defiance against all of the troubles
and all of the difficulties and all of the cynicism of this world. Hope is a refusal to be worn down and
defeated by all those challenges that seem to make hope impossible. Hope says I’m not giving into
cynicism. I’m not going to be pulled down by the contentious spirit that has overtaken our world. I’m
not going to stop believing not only that things can be better, but I will believe that things will be better.
I will believe that when the Lord’s Prayer asks us to pray for God’s kingdom to come that it will indeed
come, and when it comes it will wash away the hatred and the hopelessness and the violence and all the
things that run counter to God’s kingdom. When God’s kingdom comes, we will see violence and hatred
and hunger and all those things which weigh us down pass away.
Some might say that hope is wishful thinking, simply holding to some kind of unrealistic desire of
what might be. No, hope is attached to something very real. Wishful thinking would be similar to what
I said yesterday to Tanya. We both walk early each morning, but on weekdays we do not walk together
because of our different schedules (she is out earlier than I am). On Saturdays we walk together and
before we went out to walk yesterday, I said maybe if I go outside in shorts and a T-Shirt and believe it
will be warm, it will be warm, instead of 24 degrees. I could hope and believe all I wanted but it was
still going to be cold, because my hope was not tied to anything real that could make it possible,
therefore it was nothing more than wishful thinking. When Jesus told the synagogue official that his
daughter was not dead but simply asleep, and those who were gathered laughed at him, they did so
because they could not dare to hope that something so amazing could be true (Mark 5:21-43), but it was
true because it was tied to the reality of Jesus. When Jesus walked to the tomb of Lazarus and
commanded that the stone would be rolled away, Lazarus’ sister Martha could not begin to hope that her
brother was moments from resurrection (John 11:38-44), but it was true because it was tied to the reality
of Jesus. When Jesus looked upon the crowds with compassion as they followed him and commanded
his disciples to give them something to eat, neither the crowd nor the disciples could begin to hope that
so many people would be provided food in such a miraculous manner (Matthew 14:13-21), but it was
true because it was tied to the reality of Jesus, and on and on we could go about the examples of hope
that we find in Scripture.
Love.
After all I’ve said about love over the past weeks, what is left to say? How about this – we need a
lot more love in our world!
As I said last week, the love of God has always been my theme, and always will be. I have
encountered plenty of people over the years who have told me that if you talk too much about love and
grace, as I have done, you are condoning anything and everything. I don’t believe that to be true. There
are many things about our society that concern me greatly and of which I do not approve. But I must
proclaim my belief that the gospel is above all a gift of grace, something totally and completely
undeserved, but given to us anyway. By emphasizing the gift of grace, I don’t believe I am at all
condoning or sanctioning sin and rebellion against God; I am simply agreeing with Jesus when he said
God did not send the son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through
him (John 3:17). There is a great danger in wanting to play the card of judgment, rather than that of
love, as judgment is a two-edged sword. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 7:1-2 not to judge because when
we do, we bring judgment upon ourselves as well. We may want to call down fire from heaven at times
upon this world, but that fire may fall upon us as well.
Luke’s gospel tells us the story of the woman who approached Jesus in the crowd, seeking to be
healed (Luke 8:43-48). She had suffered for twelve years with a hemorrhage, and she believed that if
she could just touch the hem of Jesus’ cloak she would be healed. Now there’s hope! There are many
fascinating elements in that passage, one of which is that Jesus was not at all judgmental toward this
woman. Do you ever wonder why people who are suffering are often judged for their circumstances?
There is a reason, I believe. It is a way of excusing one’s self from an obligation to help those who are
suffering and in need. If one can find a way to blame people for their circumstances, then it is possible
to excuse one’s self from helping them. After natural disasters I am always waiting and ready to cringe,
because so often there is someone from the religious community who will step forward and blame the
victims, saying it is God’s judgment upon them. Saying such a thing, judging people in such a way,
becomes, then, a very convenient way to be removed from the calling to help people. Notice also that
when the woman came before Jesus she was trembling with fear, Mark says in verse 33. Perhaps she
was trembling because she thought he’s a religious person, and those religious people can be tough.
But Jesus isn’t tough with her, he isn’t judgmental, and he isn’t critical; he gives her hope and healing.
Jesus didn’t scold here, and he didn’t say, why didn’t you come to me sooner? Why did you wait until
you ran through all your money and tried every other solution first? Why am I always the last resort for
people? Why can’t I be the first resort for a change? Jesus said none of those things, because he loved
the woman.
And so, in closing this series of messages I will say that love is the foundation of everything about our faith. It is the foundation of everything we do as a church. It is the foundation of the entirety of
Scripture. It is the foundation of God’s work in this world. It is love that makes faith and hope possible.
So let us go forth in faith, hope, and, above all, love!
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