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00:00:01 good morning church today's scripture reading is taken from 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse1 to8 I shall be reading from the NIV verse one if I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love I am only a resounding God or a climbing symbol if I have the gifts of Prophecy and can fathom all Mysteries and all knowledge and if I have a faith that can Mo my mountains but do not appow I am nothing if I give all I possessed to the poor and give over my body to heart that I may boast but do not have love I gain
00:00:43 nothing verse four love is patient love is kind it does not envy it does not boast it is not proud it does not dishonor others it is not self- serving it is not easily angered it keeps no record of wrongs love does not Delight in evil but rejoices with the truth it always protects always trusts always hopes Always perseveres Love Never Fails but where there are prophecies they will cease where there are tongues they will be stealed where there is knowledge it will pass away this is so word of God this me good morning Brothers and
00:01:31 Sisters in Christ morning all right um I'll just read out the um upcoming titles so first we'll be um Redeeming the time that's next week uh by um brother Arnold and also uh Speech and spirituality um Dr Peter and also give me this mountain by Dr Li all right before we begin let's come to the Lord with a pray Our God and our father we come into your presence through the name of our Lord Jesus and father we come this morning eager to hear your voice we pray our father that you speak to us through your
00:02:15 spirit and we pray our father that he will guide us into all truth and father we earnestly ask that you will transform Our Hearts by the love of our Lord Jesus Through the spirit's power and father we ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ all right um good morning once again so we'll take a quick reading again um for our topic today so today's topic is about the love and the Practical Graces and the approach that we're going to have is a little bit different from what we typically would uh see in 1
00:02:48 Corinthians 13 we want to look at how the gospel transforms our character so um reading again uh we will go through the passage again because this is a bit heavy U we are focusing on the first three verses not so much Verses 4 to S later on which we will take a look at it still nevertheless though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love I become a sounding brass or a clanging symbol and though I have the gift of Prophecy and understand all Mysteries and all knowledge and though I
00:03:22 have all Faith so that I could remove mountains but have not love I am nothing and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned and have no love it profits me nothing Verses 4 to7 love suffers long and is kind love does not eny love does not parade itself it's not pu up love does not behave brutely does not seek its own it's not provoked Things No Evil does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth Bears all things believes all things hopes all things
00:03:55 endures all things Love Never Fails that's now when we approach this uh topic it's very natural for us to think about weddings right so this is a topic usually you know is a list of um descriptions about love and we think okay wow you know it's actually about marriage but let me suggest to you and I hope that by the end of this uh mystery you come to realize that it's really not about marriage it's not about a wedding and in fact when the Corinthians received this it was actually to tell them these
00:04:41 are the things that you are not and so the Corinthians did not receive this with um you can say a happy countenance they weren't very pleased to hear from Paul about their less than ideal Behavior so what were the Corinthians like little bit about their background okay in the place of Corinth now it lies in an isou um somewhere in uh Greece so um corent at that point in time was a place of Commerce it's a place where people came together and they say this is where I'm going to make it all right
00:05:20 they came to make business and you know they came to really succeed it's not just place of Commerce it's a place of pagan idolatry they had um at least two temples that are really large the Temple of Apollo and the Temple of Afro or aphroditi now what's the significance of this now um I want you to think about it now I'm showing you a picture of K right um this sah just now was sharing that our Independence Day is coming up now I want to do a quick survey who here is not originally from K raise up your hands not originally from
00:06:02 K you weren't from K you're from out of town quite a significant number of you are actually from out of town okay my parents are from perah I was born here but you come to realize that a lot of people migrate through the states to Make a Better Living and that is what KL represents right so a lot of people if you were to come to K it's not by choice it's not like you know I really really like K maybe it is maybe not but most of us come to say okay you know there are better opportunity so we the emphasis in
00:06:40 a big city in in KL right are things like achievement success performance talents abilities your Brilliance we want all we all want some degree of Glory Fame and wealth these are the things that a big city can offer and if you think about it what were the Corinthians looking for the people in Corinth came over from different states on the outskirts from different towns looking for exactly the same things they came to see achievement success you know performance and talents you know they were there to demonstrate
00:07:17 their Brilliance they wanted Glory Fame and wealth there nothing wrong with wanting these things but what these tells us about the Corinthians were that they were a very high ACH achieving people and being high achiever right is very natural for them to be competitive so there were a number of things uh that they did very well all right so they could do very well in their business in fact you know we are told that they had lot spiritual gifts for to one is given the Spirit by the spirit the word of wisdom to another the
00:07:51 word of knowledge by The Same Spirit to another faith and then to another the gifts of healing and then to another the working of Miracles and another prophecy another Discerning of Spirits another diverse different kinds of tongues or languages to another interpretation of tongues or languages different gifts so they weren't just talented in terms of their circular work they were also very gifted spiritually that's just the chapter right before this now come to chapter 13 we are told that they did a lot of
00:08:23 things he say though you speak with the tongues of mens and of angels you know you have the gift of Prophecy you have understand all trees all knowledge you know you have faith to move mountains and even more they may be able to bestore all their goods to the poor you know they give their body to be burned you know they give everything it's a description of who they are yet in irony if they do not have love it means nothing that is what Paul is trying to get at now we're going to look at this list the tongues of men
00:08:55 you know the gifts of Prophecy Etc and then bestowing all Goods is Dowing all Goods a gift so you come to realize actually this is not a list of gifts it's a list of things that they could do so notice that they were divided I'll bring you back to the early part of 1 Corinthians in chapter 1 it says that there are contentions among you there are divisions there are fractions among you and what did they say I am of Paul I am of Apollos I am of cus I'm of Peter I'm of Christ they are taking sides literally they were choosing
00:09:36 people with whom they were associating themselves with now it's very possible for any church to face this problem to be divided I am of this group I am of that group there is division all right in all the places all the churches they have visited to some degree there is some division so the Corinthians were very very starkly divided and why remember they are very gifted people now they were very discontented with one another in chapter three it says therefore ye are yet caral you're still very fleshly why for whereas there is
00:10:17 among you envying and strife and divisions that's the cause they were envying one another wow you know that guy got such a nice uh that woman has such a nice uh that brother that sister they're looking at each other and they are envying one another whatever it is that they envying it can be you know whatever their talents you know wow that guy is a CEO or or something else you know or you know you can say that gu is very spiritually gifted you know it's all these kind of things they were envious
00:10:50 they were discontented now not so much just discontented the people themselves that were gifted we are told that there is something different about them they weren't that humble either so you remember when you when a person is envious of another party the party as well may be at home they also were treating others with this day in chapter 4: 6 says that no one of you be pued up or be arrogant for one against another you shouldn't be arrogant just because someone is gifted that person can say you know oh I
00:11:25 am better than someone else that's not quite what the script is teaching about so there's a huge list the Corinthians had a lot of deficiencies they were envying stri you know division they have were proud they were arrogant they were boastful they were self-sufficient you know they were saying we have so many gifts we are we are very gifted people we are very talented people they were proud they were Hy you know they were proud even you know when people were in immorality they didn't care they say it's okay we
00:11:55 are tolerant towards sin it's all right beyond that you know you know in chapter 6 all the way to 11 you know they are swing each other in court brother goes to law with brothers so instead of settling things within church instead of treating them with love they will suing one another imagine this if if in church you meet face to face you know on a Sunday morning and then Sunday Monday you go to court and see each other in court it's you can think of the irony right okay they they had a lot of knowledge as well you know it passed
00:12:28 them up they were stumbling block to some of the people who are weaker than them back to divisions and schisms at the end of the day now there was one thing that Corinthians lack and I think by now you come to realize what that is what they lack is something called inner Heart character okay they lacked inner Heart character and this is the thing that Paul is trying to address now today's topic is going to be tough it's going to be difficult in scripture you come to realize there are many difficult
00:12:58 passages difficult for various reasons some are difficult to understand like Revelations but this topic is not hard to understand it's not difficult to understand it's very difficult because it addresses our nature at a very fundamental level and it is something that is challenging not just to everyone here but to myself as well no one is perfect yes but there is one thing that we need to work on and not through Our Own Strength but looking at the Lord Jesus so the one thing that they La that inner Heart character what is this inner
00:13:36 Heart character that Paul is talking about it's an inner Supernatural change that only God can bring in our character it's not something that we can produce on our own it is something that can only be passed down by God to us that inner love and joy that we actually find in Verses 4 to7 so remember Verses 4 to7 love is patient love is kind you know ET Etc it's not saying that these are the characteristics yes in in the sense this characteristics Paul was saying that these are the things you Corinthians you
00:14:09 are not you are no way loving you're no way patient you're no way kind you no way bearing with one another you're keeping records of wrongs all these things so we are going to look at vers 1 to 3 in a lot more detail and I want to make sure that we really address that issue um of what this inner Heart character is and is not so inner Heart character is not being gifted and it's not being good now what does this mean we'll go through it now so remember we were talking about the tongues of men and of angels Gifts
00:14:50 of Prophecy understanding all Mysteries and all knowledge and all Faith to remove mountains let's take a look at this list they can be divided into categories one will be about speech your tongue your language the other is about intellect those gifts a gift of Prophecy understanding all Mysteries all knowledge have all faith that we remove mountains and then there's the virtue talking about how I can bestow all I have to give the poor and give my body to be burnt oh I don't know I pr okay now the tongues of men of angels um
00:15:25 actually Angels spoke very common language some people might think that this is a different language Al together but in scripture in Matthew 28:5 but the angel answer and said to the women at the tomb do not be afraid for I know what you seek um you are seeking the Lord Jesus who was crucified they were speaking in language that men could understand so it's very possible that language of angels really just means a term for elevated eloquent and you know exalted speech the gift of Prophecy I think this is something that we all know
00:15:56 what that is it's direct Revelation by God as a message for the Corinthians you know and say this is something that the Lord has spoken to you and the Lord could have used them as great leaders to miraculous works and have you know let them lead the people of God in the church they could understand all Mysteries and this is not the kind of mystery that we think oh no I I cannot understand it no mysteries in the bible really means something that has been hidden in the past from ages ago so you can see in the Old Testament from
00:16:26 Generations past but now it's made known it's revealed in the present now you know what it is so a mystery is something that was hidden now revealed all knowledge this doesn't mean about you know um you know H knowledge he talking about revelatory knowledge from God not by study I'm going through this very fast because this is not the main point faith that could remove mountain is not your saving Faith it's not faith that is exercised from day today you know faith that I can do well in this or faith that God will do this for me it's
00:16:58 not that kind of faith it's a faith that is used in the operation of gifts and of Miracles and this is especially prominent in the gospels the Lord would say oh ye of little faith why wherefore this thou doubt that sort of Faith so this is the faith that could remove mountains that's the thing that being referred to Here by Paul now you can have all these things all these gifts but if you have not love have not love have not love if it is Without Love it is for nothing it doesn't count that is what Paul's trying to say
00:17:37 if you don't do any of this with love it is nothing now this is where we get into the Nitty Gritty part of this passage what does the word nothing mean right we could think that is a rhetorical insult you know you're nothing not quite all right that's not what it really means Paul is not trying to ridicule them in that sense Paul is trying to tell them you could do all these things and yet be spiritually zero fail Gaga okay now I think everyone knows what the Gaga means that fail okay now in the
00:18:18 scriptures we also told in 1 Corinthians 9:27 I keep my body and bring it into subjection Les by any means when I have preached us I myself should be a cast away a reject a reprobate or a you can say I can be disqualified all right that's a word so I could do all this but if I'm not careful it can be summing up to zero it is possible to serve it is possible to exercise all the gifts that you have and yet have no special saving work of the spirit in our lives now that is where the danger lies now we will
00:18:59 talk about this in more detail next but in Matthew chapter 27 I think this lays the foundation remember what the Lord Jesus was telling one not everyone who says to me Lord Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of my Father in Heaven why many will say to me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works and the word wonderful works is really the word for miracles they were doing
00:19:32 miracles in the name of the Lord Jesus and what will the Lord say to them and then will I profess unto them I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity now let us think for a second it's a scary thought isn't it these people they were prophesying they were casting out devils and they were performing miracles and yet they are actually no pristines scary thought now that lays the foundation of what we're going to address here inner Heart character remember the first thing we're going to
00:20:10 talk about what it is not and then we'll talk about what it is first thing that is not is not being gifted it's something that we always associate with um character so we will think there actually there is a huge difference between talents gifts versus Supernatural Grace and character growth from the heart now what does this mean what you show on the outside can be very different from what's on the inside now there's a list of things it's possible to do Miracles we very Christians possible to give your talents
00:20:44 to the service of God and not give your hearts very possible for you to do great Deeds but Never Surrender Your Heart and your will in faith and trust towards God why just know that service does not mean spiritual growth Grace or character what we see on the outside doesn't necessarily reflect what's on the inside right so how is this possible how is it possible we we like to see you know wow you know if someone is gifted in a certain area you know and then they will receive a lot of a claim for it
00:21:20 there are people who are incredible leaders you know they have the gifts of Prophecy they have all sorts of other gifts they can do incredible things in other people's lives and yet they have no Grace or Little Grace in their lives how is it possible and this is the key it is very easy for us to mistake talents of gifts of service for character it is very natural for people to think wow there's a preacher on stage the preacher is more Godly no such thing it doesn't mean because I'm standing up here I'm more Godly than anyone of you
00:21:56 no such thing it's not about what you do the car the Corinthians they were doing a lot but their being was horrible so it's not about the doing God looks a little further than what you do he's looking at the heart and we tend to mistake these gifts these talents for character and it's not now take a look at this woman who's standing behind some flowers okay she's hiding behind some flowers it's very possible to do everything and yet be nothing now this is a very challenging thing like said for even
00:22:35 myself are we hiding am I hiding is a question that I have to ask myself am I hiding behind my abilities and my talents what does this mean it means this am I finding my identity in these things what I do it can be my work it can be my career it can be in what I do in church in my service it can be in a lot of different things and yet at the end underneath we are joyless we don't have any joy we don't have any sort of Tolerance towards others we are not patient we could be feeling slighted the minute people you
00:23:12 know attack us you know our ego is always no different we are irritable we keep records of wrongs we are unforgiving I can be hiding behind my talents and my abilities I can do do do and yet without love it means nothing so so natural for us to mistake gifts for grace and talents for character very solid thought now we move on to verse three we have considered verse two let's look at verse three now though I Resto all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned but I have not love it profits me
00:23:47 nothing so you can give everything you have to the poor you can give your body to be burn you can be a mar you can give not just what you have you can give yourself and yet it will all be nothing if we have not love so what about virtue this is what Paul is trying to say in verse three so we went to the GI L remember the prophecy you know have all knowledge all understand all Mysteries Etc what about virtue then then you know maybe it's not um the gifts you know that is in her character maybe it's I need to be
00:24:20 good I need to be better you know and Paul is saying no he's taking and adopting a different tone of voice saying is what why some comes up to Paul and says what if what we really need is not gifts and talents what we what we really need is moral virtuous Behavior what if what we really need is that and Paul is rhetorically answering already very quickly he's he he's like he's addressing the question before it even comes up he says no morally virtuous Behavior generosity Integrity all these things in fact you see them in a lot of
00:24:51 our friends on the outside now why you think about people that you know all right your friends on the outside who aren't Christians perhaps your Buddhist friends or your Hindu friends they can do a lot of good things generosity there are people of Integrity sometimes more so than us they they can be more generous than us they can give more and yet they can bestow all they have to the poor they give their body to the Flames etc etc they live with integrity and yet Paul says without love it is nothing it is not about being
00:25:24 gifted in her character is not about being good so Paul says again he takes the virtue list and then he slams it he dismisses it the same way as he did with the gift list gifts don't matter we know that but what about virtue about goodness again Paul says that also doesn't matter wow it's tough the law of things that we are thinking that we are doing good and Paul says it's nothing wow okay Paul is going really deep he's talking about all these things it can be anything else other than you know giving
00:25:55 and generosity it can be courage liberality etc etc and yet it's still not down at the Heart level he's not saying that it's being addressed just yet it's still on the surface why I bring this picture back again okay is possible to do everything and yet be nothing this time it's not about hiding behind abilities and talents are we hiding behind the good things that I'm doing for people are we hiding behind the good things we're doing for others being our service underneath again same things you
00:26:27 know we are joyless you know feeling slight ironable etc etc but it's so natural for us to mistake goodness this time not gives goodness for Grace not talents but virtue for character how we hiding behind and Paul is trying to say here we don't need to hide behind these things you know there is something more to it so we have considered how these things uh have not love have not love have not love you know without love now this time it's not I am nothing notice in verse two it says there but I have
00:26:57 not love I am nothing here it profits me nothing now there is a difference he's talking about heart motives here and it is very possible to be incredibly virtuous you know you sacrifice all your time your money and your life and commit yourself to a lot of different things and still be nothing how could that be means you still gain nothing so the word here prophit mean nothing is not and nothing it's gain nothing to count for nothing to Merit nothing to earn nothing it doesn't count so it's like saying
00:27:32 this um who here likes football nobody wow okay no think of another example um yeah okay recently election okay I'm sorry I was out station couldn't vote okay but for those who went who went vote right A lot of people right we all went to vote right now imagine this you went all the way and then after that you cross the box and they say I finally put my vote inside but then the government suddenly changes the rules and he say no sorry yeah now we don't think crosses anymore we need a think instead you
00:28:17 know all the votes won't count that is the meaning of the word here it profits nothing it does not count okay so without love it does not count it's like the rules have changed okay so it's there are two possible heart motives that we can approach our gifts our talents our service our goodness to others we can approach in two different ways okay and the first motive if I can love others Behavior behaviorally doing these things loving things like what like ministering to others loving people serving people I
00:28:57 can do all these things things but not how I can do it in what way can I do it I can do it so that I get a sense of selfworth I can find my identity in doing these things and if we do good to get a sense of worth and identity to count to be somebody God's face is nothing it's worthless it's not going to please me God is trying to say that your motive matters what you do should come from what you are what you are what we are so the second motive is genuine love okay now the common sense definition of love says
00:29:44 that um Love is really to serve others instead of ourselves all right we put our happiness in the happiness of other people now that's love now I won't jump in the definition of love it's quite deep in that one and we can spend a lot more time with that but we won't okay if the reason that we are kind we are generous coming back to the topic again is so that we can count we can be somebody you know we can be somebody to God you know we so that God will love me the Lord will honor me the Lord will do
00:30:13 something for me so that I'm a good person or at least I'm seen that way that's not genuine love at the end who are we loving in that case it is all about me I am loving not others I'm loving myself that is not genuine love so there's no love in it for others it's only for yourself but genuine love is about others so it is possible for us to be loving without love okay let's talk a little bit more about this we look at some illustrations and examples we can be loving in Behavior but in our heart
00:30:50 it's all about me I'm doing this for my glory I'm doing this for my fame I'm doing this for myself I giving to the poor so that people can say wow you know such a generous person or I can be you know spending time with others wow he's actually such a selfless person no in Romans chapter 12 says that let love be without dissimulation no deceit there is no ingenu if I can put it that way if there is such a way now I'm going to give you an example um now imagine if there is uh you're back in high school
00:31:30 right now there's a boy and then there's a girl okay and you know Valentine's Day comes so this boy is interested in a certain girl what he can do is to take a rose and give that girl and say you know I love you wow big statement the girl will be very scared run away now say just entertain my example the girl receives the rose okay now the boy could have done it for two reasons the first reason is that he genuinely loves this girl all right and he gives the rose as an expression of his love for that
00:32:17 person that's one the second case is that he gives this roles so that he can earn the love of that girl I give these roles so that you will fall in love with me back in return now it's a bit cheap you will say ah you know Willam is just one rose you think she's going to fall in love with you it can be anything it can be a huge big bunch of roses same thing as well okay now notice that the rose is the same Rose in both examples the first one as an expression of Love is a rose and the second one to
00:32:55 earn the love of the girl is also a rose the outcome the outward appearance is exactly the same and that's what Paul is trying to say here again your work can be exactly the same your service and yet your heart is not there you're doing it for yourself let's look at another example um 1 Samuel 16:7 the Lord doesn't look on what is on the outside he doesn't see the outward appearance what we do he sees the heart go what look of on the heart so what is our heart motive it's very very important for us to understand this now in
00:33:36 Philippians chap 2:4 look not every man on his own things on his own interests that is found in other versions but every man also on the things of the interest of others now taking at face value you can say that oh yeah I need I cannot think about myself so much I need to think about others very possible for us to do that but we can do it again for the wrong motives I am serving others so that I can take a box you know I can check my boxes and say oh yeah yeah I'm not thinking about my own I'm thinking
00:34:03 about others but essentially what you're really doing is that I'm doing this for myself again so it's a much deeper level problem it's not just about three okay remember the Lord Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God he says let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus why because although he was God he took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of man and being found found in fashion a man he humbled himself and became obedient un death
00:34:32 even the death of the Cross why did he do that he did that because he wanted to serve others us his love was not to himself his love was to his others he was genuinely from the heart he did not care about himself now it's hard to reach that stage now we're looking at a perfect example of the Lord Jesus right now let's look other um things now now the Verses 4 to S you'll be quite um disappointed no if you say oh yeah I came this morning I wanted to hear about vers 4 to 7 I'm sorry we are not actually talking about vers 4 to 7
00:35:04 we're talking about vers 1 to 3 so you'll be wondering wow you know there's really nothing about love in this um what you're hearing today in a sense that's is somewhat true we are not going through the characteristics but we're going through the why now it's not another list of dos and don'ts it may sound that way because that's the 10 commandments vers 4 to S love is patient love his kind you know etc etc it's not you have to be these things and I will tell you why and remember what we're talking about is
00:35:38 character it's more subtle it's below the rules is below Behavior it's not about what you see this is the kind of thing of that they seen by people in private seen by your closest family member your spouse or you know your brothers or sisters these are the things that we see deeper than rules you can give your money away you can honor all the rules and be an incredibly good person but am I impatient am I har am I rude am I vain am I self-centered am I always getting my feelings am I always keeping records of wrong all sorts of
00:36:16 things is it all about me is our service driven by love or not is a moral virtue driv by love two other examples the prodigal son so in Luke 15: 11-32 now this is quite interesting remember that there was a a man with two sons there was an older son there was a younger son the younger son says I want to have my share of inheritance and you know I want to go my own way and the father did exactly that went out on his own way into another country he had what the Bible calls Riot just living he lived however he wanted
00:36:51 to spend everything they had and then a famine came and once a famine came you know he was so hungry he was feeding a swine he want to to eat the food that was given to the swine and then something he he remembers oh in my father's house there is all those hired servants I can go to my father and say you know I've Sinn against Heaven I've sin against you you know I'm no longer worthy to be called your son but let me be as one of your highest servants at least still can Maan still got food and then he went all the way back and when
00:37:20 he was a far way off the father said you know he ran out and then said to the son bring the best Rob give him a ring and kill the fatted Cal for him so he's making a joyous occasion for the sun remember the sun now came along and say you know father I've sin against I've sin against you I'm not worthy to call your son before he can even finish the sentence and say I want to be your servant the father has already said let me give you the best R let me give you the ring let me kill the F Cal right now
00:37:51 the story of the prodigal son it's actually not about the Prodigal Son ironically it's about the older son the oldest son sees the celebration hears the music sees the dancing and he says what is this all about and the servant tells him and say your brother he has returned and he was very you can say you know B he not happy you know he he wasn't satisfied and he answering say to his father verse 29 though these many years do I serve the remember he has never left the house neither transgress I at any time I
00:38:30 commandment yet thou never givest me a kid you never gave me a cal that I might marry with my friends you never gave me these things don't you think then now that the oldest son he's doing it so that he can get these things to get something in return so the love that he has for his father is not real genuine love it's to gain something up right there one example now let's look at a counter example for that and that is zakus zakus was very little man very little man was he was climbing up the sore tree to see the Lord Jesus
00:39:05 Christ now there's a long passage we not going to read everything but what I want you to notice is in verse 2 3 4 5 6 verse six and he made Hast and came down and received him joyfully he received the Lord Jesus Christ into his house and then when they saw it all the people around they saw it they complained they said he's gone to be a guest with a man that's a sin remember zakus is a tax collector and zakus stood and said unto the Lord behold Lord the half of my goods I give to the poor and if I've
00:39:39 taken anything from any man by false accusation I restore him for forward interesting sounds exactly like what is being read in First Corinthians he was giving all that he had no now he's only giving half that he had but notice he's not doing this to gain the Lord Jesus Christ favor he has already received him and then only he's doing these things that's the difference inner Heart character is not being gifted it's not being good it is being graced now what does that mean it's a funny way to put
00:40:15 it in knowa character comes from a complete change in the way we approach God now this part brings us back to verse one remember he say if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels you know and have not Lov I am didn't say nothing it does say Prophet mean nothing it says something different it's as a sounding gong a sounding brass or a tinkling symbol now one interpretation of this is that it can just be noise right but there's another way to look at it and some commentators have put it this way
00:40:47 he was Paul was actually talking to the Corinthians about something that they understood that we don't the sounding brass and the thinking symbol may be actually about Temple worship now if you move and look around you know in other places you know where there are temples in our area you sometimes hear a lot of gongs a lot of clanging of symbols and all that kind of stuff what are they doing they were actually worshiping their gods and they were in a sense trying to impress them and gain their attention their
00:41:18 favor by doing these things get a point clim gain favor now how does this apply to us in church it is very possible for us to do very christian-like things we can prophesy we can fom Mysteries we can pray we can read and study the Bible we can obey the Lord's commandments we can lead we can serve we can you know form our own Ministries etc etc it's very possible for us to do all these Christian like things as a way of gaining God's sa without a fundamentally change heart towards god without a change relationship towards
00:42:03 God essentially we can do all these Christian Life things as a way of cleaning our symbols and sounding our god what does that mean we can do all these things talk about the Lord Jesus Christ to other people and yet really not be a Christian now that is a very solemn thought it's very possible to look like a Christian and then not be a Christian Christianity is very different fundamentally from every other religion because other religion says do and then be but here is no it's be and then do so Matthew chapter 6 we're not going to
00:42:40 do this because there a we are lacking the time okay but the Pharisees they were Hypocrites they were showing they were giving they were praying and they were fasting so that they can be seen not because they their hearts were really changed and in Matthew uh Mark 12: 384 they like to go in Long clothing salutations You Know Chief seats uppermost rooms at the feast you know they devour V those houses and they for a pretense make long prayers everything on the outward appearance not the heart they shall receive the greater
00:43:16 judgment the greater dation are we like that do we seek the approval of men or do we really do it because we really really love and now comes the very very important part um we are not supposed to be like that it's possible for us to draw n draw near to God and yet our heart is far from home what about us these people do we do these things and yet our heart is far from God we can do this out of an inner vacuum because you know we want to feel an inner emptiness within ourselves but no we are supposed
00:43:50 to count and don't we count with God before we serve it's not a way for us to fill our inner emptiness and vacuum serving others you know showing our gifts our talents doing good so that I can say I am a good person no it's because Christ has transformed he has made me new out that inner fullness and then only do we serve the answer of how do we do that lies in Verses 4 to7 now listen carefully remember love there's a lot of descriptions about it but in a sense it's not just all about nouns not
00:44:28 nouns sorry it's not all adjectives all right love is patient love is kind it's not that it's better translated as verbs because they are verbs love suffers a long time patience love shows kindness love does not burn with eny love does not get it's it's a set of verbs and Paul is really trying to tell us it is not a list of behavior characteristics it's a person get it it's a person he's personifying love the only way we are going to show real genuine love towards others is if we are transformed it's not
00:45:10 a set of rules love has to be breathed into us before we can show it to others it's not something notice the last point is not something it can be produced it has to be something that can only be passed on if we understand God's love towards us if we understand Christ's love towards us only then can we really show genuine love to others we're coming to our last consideration for today Paul is pointing to someone in the beginning of First Corinthians he was saying that you all are divided is Christ
00:45:54 divided they are forgetting the Lord Jesus they're forgetting the cross they forgetting that Christ died to unite them and they are here dividing themselves there was no there was Jews and Gentiles in the past now all brought together Beyond race and now they're trying to make themselves divided by some sort of faction we are never going to overcome our self love and love others instead if we think of Verses 4 to7 as a list of Behavioral descriptors I have to be a I have to be kind yeah you can do that and it will
00:46:30 last for maybe a short time but it won't last for long because you're doing it for yourself you have to think of the Lord Jesus Christ now if we are angry we're spiteful we impatient you know there's a lot of fighting have we forgotten about the Lord Jesus how can I be proud when the Lord Jesus humbled himself and died for me the cross the Lord Jesus Christ is the one that should lift you up if we are emotionally if if we want to care about what people think about us we are forgetting something
00:47:01 very important the Son of God died for from the beginning of First Corinthians we already considered the only way to deal with our character flaws the same the Corinthians is to look at the cross then you'll say to me first Corinthians chapter 13 now there is no mention of the Lord Jesus there no mention of the Cross are you sure remember that we read not just that love is patient love suffers patiently actually love suffered patiently he really did love suffered patiently for you and for he suffered on the cross my God my
00:47:48 God why has Thou forsaken me he patiently endured it in Hebrews and chapter 12 it says that looking unto Jesus The Altar and finish of our faith the joy that was set before him endure the word endureed is endure with patience so if anytime anyone does wrong to us and then you tell ourselves I need to be patient you're never going to be patient but if you say wow the Lord Jesus has been patient to me towards me for the many years that I have been rebellious against him and yet he's patient God is patient with me then will
00:48:24 I know how to be patient with others there is a huge uge list of things that we can consider what Christ has done for us if we find it hard to forgive others is because we have not understood Christ forgiveness for ourselves love didn't just suffer patiently love also kept no records of wrong father forgive them for they know not what they do if we are always wrong by someone we love and then we we we cannot forget it maybe perhaps we forgetting that God has forgotten our wrongs he's not keeping a
00:48:55 record of it love did not give up love never fails father if thou be willing remove this C from me nevertheless not my will but th be done so many ways love was shown to us and only then and then and only then we can reflect it towards it's very possible for us to live a completely ethical life without any love at the root of it and is only driven by fear by pride and by power but the Bible tells us we need to live a life there not morally restrained externally only on the outward appearance but by a supernaturally
00:49:34 change and transformed heart from the inside inner Heart character and it is not being gifted it is not being good it is being gra remember there's one thing that I want you to think about is this ver John 13:34 you love one another the Lord Jesus Christ is trying to tell not to your own strength love one another as I have loved you as I have loved you look at thiss 4 to7 as Christ has loved us before we sing our final song which this is our final song that we're going to sing When I Survey the
00:50:17 Wondrous Cross are you consider the lyrics When I Survey the Wondrous Cross on which the prince of Glory Di my we just gain I count but loss and poor contempt on All My Pride if I'm proud is because I have not seen the Wondrous Cross if I am Charmed by the things of this Earth is because I have not seen the Wondrous Cross the last section love so amazing So Divine demands my soul my life my heart shall we close in prayer before us our father we come before your presence again and we thank you so much
00:51:05 for the love that you have shown even to us in the person of your son but God commanded his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the unod again father we thank you for the love that the Lord Jesus shown to us at calvary's Cross Greater Love have no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends we thank you our father that we have been loved with an everlasting love we pray that we may learn to love others as he has loved us pray our father that our hearts may
00:51:39 be transformed from within so that we may serve others because we genuinely love you and love others not for ourselves so father we pray that we may catch a glimpse of our Lord Jesus even as we Survey the Wondrous today so father we pray you will now heart us with your blessing that we may see Christ and really truly be transformed by Him Father we ask this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ shall We rise to [Music] see thank you brother will let's respond by singing this song and as we sing by let's remember his
00:52:27 great love for us so that we can respond in love as well when I surve the wonderous [Music] cross the gra all glory died ious G I [Music] come on all my for being Lord that I [Music] should sa the of Christ might God oh the [Music] i [Music] s see from his hand [Music] his hands his feet sorrow [Music] [Applause] [Music] and love and sorrow me [Music] our [Music] so the whole of nature that [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] bring the [Music] of [Music] De soul de my soul my [Music] [Music] soul second Peter chter 3: 18 but grow
00:56:22 in Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to to him be glory both now and forever amen may the Lord bless the reading of his precious word and have a blessed Sunday
