The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
January 30, 2022
1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13
God’s Gracious Gifts to the Body of Christ!
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, 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 stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
As I was reading our sermon text for today did any of it sound familiar to you? My guess is that most of you are very familiar with the second portion of our text— 1 Corinthians chapter thirteen. This portion of Scripture is commonly known as “The Great Love Chapter” of the Bible. Many of us— including Brenda and I— included 1 Corinthians 13 in our wedding service. While that is a very appropriate application for the kind of love that is extolled by these inspired words, marriage was not exactly what Paul was talking about when he wrote these inspired words. The original application of these words is found in the opening verse of our text, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” Since our text for today is an important continuation of last Sunday’s text (1 Corinthians 12:12-21, 26, 27) our goal this morning is to see how God the Holy Spirit uses these words to focus our attention on: God’s Gracious Gifts to the Body of Christ!
Last week we saw how the Holy Spirit led the apostle Paul to use our physical body to help us understand that by the grace and power of God alone the Lord God Almighty took we who are many and united us into one Body, the Body of Christ, the Holy Christian Church. As one Body none of us can say to any other member of the Body of Christ, “I don’t need you!” God Himself has designed us to work together as one— to use our individual gifts to support each other and to help each other so that together we can carry out the mission that He (Pointing to the cross) has given to us.
Unfortunately, that was not happening among God’s children in Corinth. Even though the church in Corinth was blessed with every spiritual gift (See 1 Corinthians 1:7), this congregation was plagued with problems. There were cliques in the congregation and each clique pledged their allegiance to one of the pastors in the congregation. (See chapters 1& 3) There were people in this congregation who had “re-interpretated” the concept of Christian love to the point that they openly tolerated sexual immorality among their members (Chapter 5) and questioned both the value and the propriety of marriage. (Chapter 7) Instead of working together as one they burdened each other’s conscience about what food they could or could not eat. (Chapter 8 & 11) They settled their disputes by taking each other to court. (Chapter 6). They even argued over which of them had the greatest spiritual gifts. (Chapter 12) It is against that backdrop of discord and division and dissent that God the Holy Spirit had the apostle Paul remind God’s people in Corinth that by the grace and power of God they had been united together as one in the Body of Christ.
To help the Corinthians overcome the difficulties they were experiencing, the Holy Spirit now reminds them of the gracious gifts God gives to the Body of Christ. To people who loved to brag about their gifts, the Holy Spirit has Paul say to them, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And in the church God has appointed (very literally this reads, And in the church God has put or placed) first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration (literally this means, those with the ability to lead), and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?”
Did you notice the order in which the Holy Spirit has Paul list the gifts that God Himself has “appointed,” or “placed” into the Body of Christ? First, there are those individuals who are blessed with the privilege of proclaiming God’s Word to God’s people— “apostles, prophets and teachers.” Then comes those who are involved in serving others either in a miraculous fashion— “workers of miracles, gifts of healing,” or in a more ordinary fashion— “administration or leadership.” Listed last are the gifts that many people to this very day hold up as being the most “desirable” gifts— “speaking in different kinds of tongues.”
What are we to take to heart from this list? Does this list mean that we are to look at some of the gifts that God has “appointed” or “placed” in the church as being “better” or “more important” that others? Not at all! For example, while we are to give the individuals who have been given the privilege of proclaiming God’s Word to God’s people the honor and respect that they deserve, we do not want to “rank” them as being over or above or more important than everyone else in the church. Whatever gifts we have we have only because of the grace of God! At the same time, whatever gift we have received from God we are to use it faithfully and humbly in service to God and in service to the Body of Christ!
Paul emphasizes this truth when he goes on to say, “But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.” While all of the gifts that Paul has mentioned are amazing, wonderful gifts that God graciously gives to the Body of Christ, there are “greater gifts” than these. There is a way which “surpasses” all others! Paul begins to focus our hearts on these “greater gifts,” Paul takes us by the hand and leads us down “the most excellent way” by saying to us, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophesy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
Try to wrap your mind and your heart around what the Holy Spirit is teaching us here! No matter what gift God has graciously given to you, the greatest gift of all, the most excellent way to follow is to use that gift in a way that openly reveals your love for Him (Pointing to the cross) as well as your love for others. And to make sure that none of us misunderstand what that means, the Holy Spirit has the apostle Paul explain to the Corinthians— people who were fighting and arguing with each other, people who were taking each other to court to settle their differences— Paul explains to the Corinthians and he explains to us exactly the kind of love that is to motivate us as we strive to humbly and faithfully use the gifts God has graciously given to us.
The kind of love that all of God’s children are to strive to exude in their lives is agape love. That brings us to what is the most familiar part of our text, 1 Corinthians 13. To help you get a better flavor of what the Corinthians originally read when they received this letter from Paul, I want to give you a more literal version of these words. Paul writes, “Agape love is being patient, being kind is agape love, it is not boasting, it is not being proud. It is not being rude, it is not being self-seeking, it is not being easily angered, it is not keeping a record of wrongs. Agape love is not delighting in evil, but rejoicing with the truth. It is always protecting, always trusting, always hoping, always persevering.”
Notice how clearly the Holy Spirit emphasizes that agape love is an active love! Agape love empowers us to actively and continually and consistently take the love that God has for us, the love that God put into action right there on the cross of Calvary’s hill and reflect it in our love for others— especially our fellow members in the Body of Christ. With God’s agape love overflowing from our hearts into our lives we can and we will be the kind of person our God wants us to be— patient and kind, not envious or boastful or proud or rude. We will be someone who is not self-seeking or easily angered. We will not be someone who keeps a record of the wrongs that others have done to us so that we can use those wrongs as weapons to get them to do what we want. We will not be someone who delights in seeing and perhaps even participating in the evil that is so prevalent in the world around us. We will be someone who not only rejoices in the truth, but we will strive to proclaim the truth to others. With God’s gracious gift of agape love overflowing from our hearts into our lives we can and we will be someone who is always striving to protect others, always striving to trust others, always striving to hope, always striving to persevere!
When we stop to remember the discord and the divisions and the dissentions that were plaguing God’s church in Corinth, we not only understand why the Holy Spirit led the apostle Paul to emphasize the continuing and ongoing action of agape love, but we will also understand why the Holy Spirit led the apostle Paul to write the closing portion of our text, “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
Like God’s people in Corinth we are all “works in progress.” As our faith grows and matures we understand and accept that no matter how much “progress” we have made— we still have a long way to go! As our faith grows and matures we understand and accept how vital it is for us to stay focused on our “goal”— “perfection”! This is the ”perfection” that can only be achieved when we reach our ultimate “goal”— heaven! Until we reach our “goal” we continue growing and strengthening our faith in Jesus (Pointing to the cross) through regular use of His holy Word and Sacrament. Until we reach our “goal” we continue to strive with God’s help to be the kind of people our Savior has called us to be— people who gladly and freely take the agape love our God has given to us and put it into action in our lives.
God’s gracious gift of agape love is the ultimate gift that God has given to us, the Body of Christ. That truth is highlighted in the closing words of our text when Paul writes, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love— agape love.” God’s gracious gift of agape love has not only secured for us (Pointing to the cross) the “goal” of reaching the “perfection” of heaven, but God’s gracious gift of agape love now empowers us and motivates us, it guides us and directs us on our journey through this world. God’s gracious gift of agape love is what sustains and strengthens our faith. God’s gracious gift of agape love is what continually fills us with “hope” and “expectation”— even during the most difficult days of our lives! God’s gracious gift of agape love is like the crown jewel of all the wonderful gifts our God graciously gives to us, the Body of Christ!
While I am never surprised when 1 Corinthians 13 is a part of a Christian wedding service, I think it is important for us to see the “Great Love Chapter” of the Bible in its original context. Through His servant Paul, God the Holy Spirit speaks to a very gifted yet very dysfunctional congregation to help them recognize and appreciate the many wonderful gifts that God graciously gives to the Church, to the Body of Christ. May the Holy Spirit now help us to use these same words to gain an even greater appreciation for the many wonderful gifs our God has graciously given to us!
To God be the glory!
Amen