“A Changed Church” – 1 Cor. 15:50-58

So, the last couple of weeks I have started jogging again.  I know, it’s so obvious, right?  Now, when I say jogging, you might get the impression that I get up at 5 and get all stretched out, put on my high-dollar running shoes and my spandex pants and run for several miles.  That would be a mistake.  The picture you should get is more along the lines of what a baseball manager does when he leaves the dugout and jogs to the pitcher’s mound.

Have you seen this?  The guy is old and fat and so he jogs maybe 10 feet and then walks the rest of the way.  That’s the picture of me jogging.  But I’m trying and I have improved a little.  It just gets more and more difficult the older I get.  Most of you know what I’m talking about.  I remember when I was about 20, I looked down and noticed that I was a little too heavy.  I needed to lose about 10 pounds to get back down to high school graduation weight so I started jogging and practically the next day I had lost 10-15 pounds.

Those days are long gone.  My metabolism has gone way down and my cheeseburger count has gone way up and I just can’t do things like I used to.  I’m trying to make some healthier choices but I know I will never have my 20-year-old body back.  It is a fact of life that our bodies are going to get weaker and more decrepit the older we get and while we can make good choices and live healthier and longer if we do, we all know that at some point our bodies will finally just wear out.

Everything wears out, doesn’t it?  Your car wears out.  Your shoes wear out.  Your hair, well, my hair is completely worn out.  It’s just the way things are designed and while our bodies are incredibly designed and able to heal themselves and last an incredibly long time for what they have to endure, the honest truth is that someday, maybe someday soon, our bodies are going to die.

How’s that for an encouraging word from the pulpit today? James 4:14 says, “For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”  1 Peter 1:24 says, “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls.”  Job said, “Man, born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.” (14:1)

Now, you’re not going to believe this but this message is actually meant to give you great encouragement.  I know.  It’s not working too well so far, is it?  But it will.  It will if you are a believer in Jesus because, while all of this is true and maybe some bad news, I have some really good news for you from the book of 1 Corinthians.  This is the last message in our sermon series entitled, “Our Church” and I had planned on preaching from chapter 14 on orderly worship.  The title of that message was going to be, “Our Church Is An Orderly Church.”

How boring does that sound?  In chapter 15, though, we see Paul starting to close out his letter to that church in Corinth and one of the last things he tells them is about something really exciting.  I had a hard time trying to decide what the title should be because there is so much good stuff in here.  I finally decided on, “Our Church Is A Changed Church” because I couldn’t fit, “Our Church Is An Excited, Awake, Mysterious, Eye-Twinkling, Trumpet- Listening, Imperishable, Immortal, Unmoving and Victorious Church” on the heading of my paper.

So, if you want to leave here a changed church, please turn to 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 and let’s see what Paul has to say about our physical bodies. If you love your physical body, this may be some bad news for you.  If you love this old world, this may be some bad news for you.  But if you are looking forward to something better in the way of a body and a world, then you might accidently say “Amen!”

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹ Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— ⁵² in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. ⁵³ For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. ⁵⁴ When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” ⁵⁵ “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷ But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  ⁵⁸ Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

When I read that, especially verse 55, I think about my favorite boxer, Muhammed Ali.  If you were around back in the 70’s to see Ali fight then you know how he loved to taunt his opponent.  That’s what Paul is doing here.  “Hey, death!  That all you got?  Where’s your victory?  Where’s your sting.”  But we will get to that in a minute.

This is an exciting passage or it should be to us but Paul starts out with what sounds like bad news.  He says this flesh and blood body will never see the Kingdom of God.  It will never make it to Heaven.  This body won’t make it in Heaven for a similar reason as we can’t live under water.  This body is not designed for it.  This body is designed for this mortal world and it is designed to do well most of the time for an average of about, what, 70-something years?

We are all perishable.  We are perishable like a ripe banana.  One day we look good and feel good and are used for great things and then we start to get those age spots on us and before you know it, we are unrecognizable.  These bodies are perishing.  They are physical and mortal.  How could they possibly be able to work in imperishable, immortal Heaven?

But, look at what Paul says.  He says, “Lean in a little closer.  I want to tell you a mystery.”  When Paul says he wants to tell us a mystery he means to tell us something that had once been hidden, but now is revealed.  Don’t you love it when a great mystery is revealed? 

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Senior, was a doctor. As such he was very interested in the use of ether. In order to know how his patients felt under its influence, he once had a dose administered to himself.

As he was going under, in a dreamy state, a profound thought came to him. He believed that he had suddenly grasped the key to all the mysteries of the universe. When he regained consciousness, however, he was unable to remember what the insight was.

Because of the great importance this thought would be to mankind, Holmes arranged to have himself given ether again. This time he had a stenographer present to take down the great thought. The ether was administered, and sure enough, just before passing out the insight reappeared. He mumbled the words, the stenographer took them down, and he went to sleep confident in the knowledge that he had succeeded.

Upon awakening, he turned eagerly to the stenographer and asked her to read what he had uttered. This is what she read: "The entire universe is permeated with a strong odor of turpentine."  (Bits & Pieces, November 12, 1992)

Aren’t you glad Paul has a real mystery to reveal?  He says that we are not all going to die but we will all be changed.  Now, if you have never heard this taught, this may sound strange to you and if you have heard it before I hope it gives you great encouragement.  Basically, what he is saying is that there are two ways to get to Heaven.  I will add that there are also two ways to get to Hell.

I know when I say there are two ways to get to Heaven that most of you cringe and you should.  Technically, there is only one way for our souls to get there and that is by grace and through faith in Jesus Christ.  But that being understood and assumed, you then have two ways to go from there.  Most of us are probably going to die.  Pretty much everybody up to this point has died.  Okay, Elijah and Enoch are exceptions but everybody else has.  But not everybody will.

Paul is referring to the rapture.  Verse 52 -in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye we will all be changed.  One of these days; maybe today; maybe before I finish this message or even this sentence, God the Father is going to say, “That’s enough!  Bring my children home” and we who are believers will be raptured.  That word “rapture” is not in the Bible.  It is what we call it when Jesus meets us in the air. 

1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 talks about this as well.  Listen to what it says.  “According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

One of these days, you will be talking to an unbelieving friend and in the middle of your sentence…you’re gone.  You will be driving your car, you will disappear and the car will crash.  You will be on an airplane and I hope you’re not the pilot because everybody is going to wonder what happened to you.  I hope it happens while I’m trying to jog so I don’t have to do that anymore but it may happen at any time. 

Are you ready?  Are you doing what you want to be doing when that happens because it says it will happen in the twinkling of an eye.  I heard a preacher not too long ago spend about 20 minutes explaining how fast that really is.  He got into so much detail about how fast a twinkle is and how fast light goes from the front of your eye to the back and blah, blah, blah…it’s gonna be fast.  That’s all we need to know and I hope it is today.

There is an old hymn from the early 1900’s that says, “Jesus is coming to earth again; what if it were today?
Coming in power and love to reign; what if it were today?
Coming to claim His chosen Bride, all the redeemed and purified,
Over this whole earth scattered wide; what if it were today?”  (Leila N. Morris)

Isaiah 62:5 says, “as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”  What if it were today, my dear family?  Are you ready?

The rapture is one way to get to Heaven.  Death is another.  Now, there is no reason why the rapture couldn’t happen today.  It might happen at any second.  There are no prophecies that need to be fulfilled.  There is nothing else that has to happen.  We are just waiting on the Father’s good and perfect timing.  But in the meantime, we could also die at any time.  We are not guaranteed another breath.  I know it may sound morbid to some but it is just the truth.  Much crazier things have happened than for someone to be sitting peacefully in church and their heart just stop.  

For some people that would just ruin their day.  Don’t you just hate it when that happens?  I mean, you had plans.  You were going to go to Dos Chiles for lunch.  Then have a nice nap.  But, no, you had to go and die.  For some people, the thought of death…scares them to death.  But look at what Paul has to say in verse 54.  “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

In Revelation chapter one, Jesus says, “I was dead but now I’m alive and I hold the keys to death and hell.”  He says, “I am in control of death now, not the other way around.”  We no longer have to fear death.  Woody Allen once said, "I am not afraid of death, I just don't want to be there when it happens."  We don’t have to live like that anymore if we are believers in Jesus.

Now, look at how Paul taunts death as he quotes Hosea 13:14. “Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?”  What does he mean by that?  What is the sting of death?  He tells us in the next verse.  The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law.

Have you ever been to the funeral of a person who never claimed to be a believer of Jesus?  Somebody whom we have to assume was not a Christian?  Those funerals are the worst.  There is so much crying and so much grief.  Somebody is usually drunk.  I have seen family members fighting in the parking lot.  The songs are sad.  The eulogy is sad.  Everything is sad. 

Now, think about the funeral of somebody who was proud to call Jesus their Lord and Savior.  Those people put the fun back in funeral, right?  Sometimes it’s hard not to call it a party and it should be.  I want my funeral to be that way.  I’m not going to be there so y’all get together and have a good time.  I’m not kidding.  I will be mad at you when I see you in Heaven if you don’t have karaoke at my funeral.  I want you to play “Glorious Day” at the funeral and afterwards, please stick around for the karaoke party.  Maybe play some spoons, that way Jeff can finally win a game.

Paul says the sting of death is sin.  Those who don’t have God’s forgiveness of their sins have everything in the world to dread.  In fact, they have everything out of this world to dread too.  Even people who claim there is no God or who say that there is no afterlife all have this thought in the back of their minds that says, “But what if I’m wrong?”  That’s the sting.  That’s the dread.  That has to hurt.  That’s why they don’t want to die and why their loved ones feel so miserable.

“The power of sin is the law,” Paul says.  Even when somebody dies who doesn’t believe in the Bible, they still have the law of their conscience and they know they have done wrong and it makes the thought of death so horrible.  Romans 2 says, “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.”

They have every reason to fear death but look at what Paul continues with in verse 57.  This is when the fireworks go off and the cheerleaders jump out with their pompoms and I’m pretty sure somebody might even say “Amen”.  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Aren’t you glad that it doesn’t say, “But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our good works”?  It doesn’t say that God gives us victory because our good deeds outweighed our bad deeds or because we are Baptists or because we did anything.

Our salvation, our forgiveness, our ability to spend eternity in Heaven has nothing to do with who we are or what we do.  It only depends on Jesus Christ and all we have to do is believe – fully trust – in Him as our Savior.  Yes, Paul, thanks be to God for that!

Paul ends this beautiful passage as he often does, with a word of motivation.  If all of this is true; if everything Paul has said is right and we don’t have to worry about where we are going to spend eternity and what our bodies are going to look like or how we are going to get there then we ought to be able to trust God that He is going to protect and provide for us while we are here.

“Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”  Stand firm, he says, when you and your church are under attack.  Stand firm when your nation is morally crumbling.  Stand firm when your president declares that boys should be able to go into girls’ bathrooms.  Stand firm when abortion becomes law.  Stand firm when gay marriage is celebrated and affirmed.  Let nothing move you or your convictions.  We don’t answer to this world. Our reward is in Heaven and our labor is not in vain.

The only bad news I have today is for unbelievers.  As I said before, there are two ways to get to Heaven, rapture or death for the believer.  But for the unbeliever, there are two ways to hell.  You may make it all the way to the end of this world and it says that the sky will part – not the clouds, but the sky itself - and you will look up and see Jesus riding on a white horse with a sword in His hand.  The raptured church will be with Him and it will be too late for all those left behind.

The other way is the way everyone before us has gone and that is through death.  Either way, scripture tells of a Great White Throne judgment where unbelievers will face Almighty God and it is at that time that it says that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord.  But it will be too late for you if you are seeing that throne.  Just like there is a real Heaven, there is also a real Hell.

2 Peter 3:9 says, “God is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  Repentance means to turn away from your sin, ask for forgiveness of it and never do it again, asking Jesus to be Lord of your life and the Savior that you believe in and rely on.  Do that today.  We are not guaranteed another breath.

“A Loving Church” – 1 Corinthians 13:1-7

When I say the name “Stradivarius”, what do you think of?  You think of violins, of course.  How many violin experts do we have here today?  How many can even play the violin?  How many of you even know the difference between a violin and a fiddle?  Not many of us know very much about violins and yet most of us know the name “Stradivarius”.

The name Stradivarius is synonymous with fine violins. This is true because Antonius Stradivarius insisted that no instrument constructed in his shop be sold until it was as near perfection as human care and skill could make it. Stradivarius observed, "God needs violins to send His music into the world, and if any violins are defective God's music will be spoiled." His work philosophy was summed up in one sentence: "Other men will make other violins, but no man shall make a better one."  Our Daily Bread, January 25, 1993.

Now, let me ask you, (and don’t raise your hand or respond out loud) what do you do better than anybody else?  Are you the best athlete; the most intelligent, the best looking, the greatest cook or the best singer?  You might be good.  You might be really good but chances are, there is somebody, somewhere better than you.  It’s a lesson we usually start learning as kids and yet, some people may never really admit it.

The good news is that today we are going to learn how to do something in “the most excellent way”.  We have the opportunity as individuals and as a church to be the best and most excellent at something.  I remember as a kid wishing that I was the best at something, even if it was Tiddlywinks and here in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, Paul tells us how to do that, not in Tiddlywinks, but in something vitally important.

Like anything of value, it is not going to be easy but it will be worth it if we follow Paul’s way.  Booker T. Washington once said, “Excellence is to do a common thing is an uncommon way” and what is more common today than love?  Right?  Love is everywhere.  People fall into it and out of it.  Turn on the TV and love is everywhere.

The salesman on TV said that if I buy his “MyPillow” that I will love it.  So, I looked it up online and for $50 that pillow better love me back!  Every advertiser says we will love their product. From peanut butter to toilet paper to online dating services, we are guaranteed love everywhere we look.  It is so common and yet, in reality, the world is starving for it and here in the love chapter of the Bible, Paul shows us how to do it the most excellent way.

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul writes what may well be the most beautiful piece of literature in all of scripture.  I read one commentator who said to tear it apart in study is like tearing apart a beautiful flower to study it but it has to be done and it needs to be done if we are going to make a difference in this world for the sake of Jesus.

What we have to keep in mind, though, is that Paul is continuing his teaching to the church in Corinth about spiritual gifts.  Chapters 12, 13 and 14 are all pertaining to gifts; where they come from, why we have them and what they look like.  We looked at chapter 12 last week and we saw that God gives us each at least one gift when we become Christians and He gives it for the edification or building up of the church.  So, it’s hard to build up the church with our gifts if we are not going to church.

We saw that we all have different gifts and we have different ministries and we have different results and it is all for the glory of God and for the sake of His bride, the church.  So, if we are really going to be biblical and use our gifts to benefit the church, we want to strive for excellence, right?  Look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8.

And now I will show you the most excellent way.  If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.  ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

I am surprised as I read through chapters 12, 13 and 14 that Paul fails to say anything about the gifts that God gives…to dogs.  Anybody else surprised by that?  No?  Maybe he just forgot because my dog has a gift.  Most of you know I now have three dogs – because everybody needs three, right?  While they all three have some gifts, okay, while two of them have some gifts, Bo most definitely has the gift of administration.  It’s one of the gifts Paul talks about in chapter 12, verse 28.

The gift of administration is being able to bring order out of chaos and to be able to put people and things in their rightful place at the right time.  That’s Bo.  He is very effective at putting the new dog, Lola, in her place.  If she does something she shouldn’t be doing, he walks over and barks real loud.  If that doesn’t work – and it usually does – but if it doesn’t he then proceeds to bite her.  This also sounds just like a boss I used to work for.

But as effective as Bo is with his gift of administration, he is lacking in something.  Can you guess what?  Yes, love.  Now, he loves me.  He shows me he loves me.  I don’t doubt that at all but I’m the one who feeds him and walks him and gives him biscuits.  It’s easy for him to love me.  I’ll let you know when he starts to love Lola.

It will probably be about the same time that some of us start to show love to the people in our lives that are hard to love.  As we read through this list I bet that most of us are comparing ourselves to the list and we should be.  Most of us are checking off the boxes as we go saying, “Oh, yea, patient, kind, that’s me.  Not jealous, not proud.  Nailed it” …at least with some people.

We all have that one person or maybe a couple of people or maybe even most people that we can’t check those boxes for.  Well, I want you to think about those people and know and understand that it is those people that Paul is writing about here today.  You can’t check any box until you check it about everybody in every situation in your life.

Just like with all the gifts, Jesus is the perfect embodiment of every one of these descriptions.  You can put the name of Jesus in the place of every word “love”.  Jesus is patient.  Jesus is kind, etc.  The question is, can you put your name in the place of “love” in every situation and person in your life?  Are you patient?  The word literally means “long-tempered”.  It is the opposite of short-tempered.  Are you patient when somebody does you wrong?

Are you kind?  This doesn’t just mean are you having kind thoughts toward someone?  Every one of these is an active form of love.  It is only proved by doing something.  Are you kind?  Do you do kind things for people who use you and mistreat you?  Ouch!  That’s hard.  I know.

Now insert your name in each of these as we run through them really quickly.  (Your name) does not envy; is not jealous.  This isn’t talking about being jealous when your spouse is flirting with a member of the opposite sex.  You have every right to expect loyalty.  God is a jealous God.  This is talking about “I want what that person has.”  “I wish they didn’t have that and I did.”  This is common when we are talking about gifts especially when someone has good results from using their gifts.

But, like I said, these are all action words.  How can we show that we are not jealous of somebody else’s gifts?  How about supporting them with your presence or even your money if necessary?  That’s how you show that you are not jealous.

So, next is love (insert your name) is not boastful.  It does not brag.  Now we all hate this and yet so many of us struggle with doing what we can’t stand.  So, how can we show; how can we prove that we are not boastful or bragging?

Bragging is the other side of jealousy.  Jealousy is wanting what somebody else has.  Bragging is trying to make them want what you have.  How can we prove that we don’t brag?  Charles Trumbull once vowed: “God, if you will give me the strength, every time I have the opportunity to introduce the topic of conversation it will always be about Jesus Christ.”  You can’t make yourself look good at the same time you are making Jesus look good.

Next, moving quickly, love, is not proud or arrogant.  I have often thought that if I were a door-to-door salesman I would start my sales pitch by saying something like, “Now several of your neighbors told me you wouldn’t be able to afford this…”  I would say that because of this fault:  pride.

When it comes to gifts we need to remember that they are just that – gifts.  They are given to us by the Holy Spirit.  We have nothing to be proud about.  So, how do we prove that we are not proud?

A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, "Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realize that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?"  The pastor replied, "Mary, that's not a sin, why that's just a mistake!"  (Source Unknown)

Love (your name) is not rude.  Love does not act unbecomingly.  My mother recently told me about when my Dad had just become the pastor at a new church and one of the deacons there introduced himself by saying that his gift was being able to keep the pastor in line and evidently he felt that criticizing everything the pastor did was keeping him in line.

I don’t have a problem with loving, constructive criticism but being rude is not a gift.  It’s just rude and it’s sinful.  If you say you have the gift of speaking the truth then it better be done in love or it is not a gift but a fault.  So, how do we prove we are not rude?  What actions can we take to show that?  The best way is to show grace, just like God has shown us grace.  Grace is not getting what we deserve.  Show grace and you show love.

Moving on in verse 5, love is not self-seeking.  Are you?  Okay, here’s the scenario.  A friend of yours has lied about you to make himself look better.  How do you handle it?  Do you make up a lie about him?  Scream at him?  Or do you allow the Lord to handle it, knowing that He knows the truth and will protect and provide for you?  I told you this was difficult.

Next, love is not easily angered.  It is not provoked.  It does not get into arguments easily.  Paul is talking about only getting angry at what angers God.  Sound like you?

How about this next one?  Married folks, listen up.  I know you love your spouse but the next time you are losing an argument, remember this.  Love keeps no record of wrongs.  I know it’s tempting to bring up that stupid thing they did to misuse their gift last year but true love forgets it.  It is similar to forgiveness.  It is actually a bookkeeper’s term that means there is no record of debt.  It has been erased, forgiven and forgotten.

Look at verse 6.  Almost done and going quickly.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth.  You show that kind of love by not justifying sin.  Isaiah5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.”  It’s not love when you mask over your loved one’s sin by saying it is not sin.  We all want the truth.  Speak it in love.

I love this next one.  I’m not saying I’m good at it.  It’s just that it says that love protects and what it really means is that love will show itself when you shield your loved one from something bad, even if they deserve it.  Isn’t that interesting?  I was at a high school baseball game a while back and the batter hit a ball way up in the air but back behind the fence.  I saw a young man in the stands, who obviously couldn’t see where the ball was, stand up and lean over an older woman sitting next to him.  The ball didn’t hit him but it was close.  That is a picture of showing you have love that always protects.

Love always trusts. How do we show that we love someone so much that we always trust them?  We trust them by allowing them to fail without judgment and then our first response is to heal and restore.  Galatians 6:1 says, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” 

Similarly, love always hopes.  Another way to say this is love shows itself by refusing to take repeated failure as final.  We all mess up.  Some of us are better at failure than others and what better way to prove your love than to always hope that this failure is not the end?

Love always perseveres.  It endures all things.  That’s a military term meaning to withstand against overwhelming opposition.  In Acts 7, Stephen is being stoned to death and his last words are, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”  That is love that always perseveres.  That is love that just keeps on loving, no matter what.

So, there you go.  No problem.  Just use your gifts in love.  Should be easy enough, right?  Actually, no.  It’s not easy.  In fact, it is impossible.  There is no way you can do it, at least, not without the Spirit of God living inside you.  Even then, it’s not going to be our default setting.  We have to be so close to God that He is able to work in us His will and His plan.

Do these words describe you?  Unfortunately, they don’t describe the vast majority of people in churches today and, yet, we wonder why church membership is declining.  Why don’t more people come to church anymore?  Why should they when the church looks just like the world.

This agape love that Paul is talking about here is impossible without a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.  It is much easier to have right doctrine than it is to love like this.  It’s much easier to have great spiritual gifts than to agape love the unlovable.  It’s easier to be right and win an argument than it is to love biblically.  The question is, do you want to be right before men…or right before God?

In John 13, Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love (agape) one another."  If these words don’t describe you, especially when it comes to loving the unlovable, then you can’t be recognized as a disciple of Jesus.  Jesus was the perfect embodiment of all of these descriptions of agape love and He wants our church to look just like Him.

That starts with a relationship with Him.  We can have a relationship with God the Father through His Son Jesus and when we do the Spirit of God lives inside of us allowing us to love and to look like Him.  You can have that today.  Ask Him to be your Lord and Savior and to forgive you of your sins.  Then repent of those sins – turn away from them – and He is faithful and just to forgive you.

That is the ultimate, most excellent way!

“A Gifted Church” – 1 Cor. 12:1-11

How many of you would change something about yourself if you could?  How many would change something physical or mental or in some way change yourself if it were possible?  Everybody would, of course.  Now, I have a dog, Sara, who is perfect in every way.  I tell her that all the time and she just knows it but all the rest of us would change something, some minor, some major, if we could.

 

Did you know that parents can now design their babies to have or not have certain traits?  It started by screening for certain diseases and has evolved into selection for non-medical traits such as sex, hair color and other cosmetic traits, athletic ability, or intelligence.  I understand that this is exactly what my parents did before I was born.  I’m pretty sure they want their money back by now.

 

That’s okay because we know that God has made each one of us just like He wants us.  Not one of us is a mistake.  Yes, we have free will and can, by our bad choices, mess up what he intended but He made each one of us just exactly like He wanted.  Psalm 139:13 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.”  He made us, inside and out, just like He wanted us to be.  Some things we can change and some we can’t but God makes no mistakes in His creation.

 

In fact, we are going to see today that God gives each of His children certain gifts.  He provides each one of us with certain attributes that make His bride, the church, look exactly like He wants her to look.  Some of you men married women that looked one way on your wedding day and now they look much different.  Please don’t nod your heads up and down too forcefully or she might misunderstand that you mean she has changed for the better.  Keep your eyes wide open before the wedding, half shut afterwards. (Benjamin Franklin)

 

Jesus wants His bride to look a certain way.  It sounds odd for us today but Jesus wants His bride to look just like Him.  He wants the church to have all of the gifts He had.  As a church, we are called the bride of Christ or the body of Christ and through the Holy Spirit He gives us the gifts He wants us to have so that we reflect Him.  He was the perfect embodiment of all of these gifts and when we, as individuals, are all together we make up a church that looks just like Him.

 

That’s what we want.  That’s why we are going through 1 Corinthians in this sermon series called, “Our Church.”  We want to know what we are supposed to look like as a church and Paul lays out a precise description in his letters to the church in Corinth.  That church was very gifted but just like with anything that God does, Satan tries to counterfeit it.  God gave us love.  Satan gives us lust.  God gives joy.  Satan gives temporary happiness.  God gives wisdom but Satan gives blissful ignorance.

 

So Paul is writing in this passage to let them know what true Spirit-given gifts will look like.  Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12.  Last week we were in chapter 11 and Paul starts in verse 17 by saying, “¹⁷ In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. ¹⁸ In the first place…” and then he goes on to tell them how they were abusing the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper.  In chapter 12 it’s as if Paul is saying, “Now secondly…”  So let’s see what his point is in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11.  It’s on page 813 of most of the Bibles in the pews.

Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. ³ Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.  ⁴ There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. ⁵ There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. ⁶ There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.  ⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

Now, to me, this is fairly typical of Paul’s writing.  The first few times you read it, it doesn’t make much sense and evidently he was chasing some rabbits in there because what does the first paragraph have to do with the second?  But once you study it, it makes good sense and you realize that Paul never chased rabbits.  You just need to know who he was writing to.

The Corinthians had been pagans or Gentiles, which is just basically saying they weren’t Jews.  They had come out of a lifestyle of worshipping many different gods (little g) and in this worship it was common for them to work themselves up into a frenzy, banging on gongs and cymbals and dancing around until they were out of control all in the name of the god they were trying to worship.  It sounds like some churches still today.

But in this frenzy some of them would start to blaspheme and even curse the name of Jesus so Paul starts off with this illustration of what Spirit-given gifts are not.  In verse 3 he says that nobody who is truly led by the Holy spirit is going to curse Jesus.  It’s not going to happen.  God is not going to give anybody a gift that involves going against what He teaches or what He wants and while I doubt that any of us have ever been in a situation where people who were supposed to be worshipping started blaspheming Jesus, our take-away from this is that God will never give us a gift or ability that should be used to go against His will.

Several times I have heard people say, “I really believe that God is telling me to divorce my spouse.  Even though there are no biblical grounds for divorce, I know that God wants me to be happy.”  Wrong!  God is not in something that displeases Him.  Quit trying to justify your sin by saying what you think or what you want God to say.

Or I have heard people say that God brought this person into their life as a gift and they are going to get married.  No, they’re not a Christian but I’m sure God brought us together.  Wrong!  God says don’t be unequally yoked.  If you come to me to ask what I think, that’s pretty easy.  God did not bring you two together.  That person is not a gift from God and if he or she is not from God then who do you think is trying to counterfeit that gift?

Here’s one you aren’t going to like and you’ll probably get mad and leave the church and egg my house and slit my tires but I have to mention it because it is one of the greatest problems this church has.  Are you listening?  God is not going to give you a job that requires you to work on Sunday.  Period.  That’s not my idea.  It’s not me talking.  I’m not saying it so we can have big numbers at church.  What good are numbers to me?

This whole passage is talking about gifts that God gives to the church to glorify God and edify the church and if you are not in church then how can you edify the church?  I could go on and on about this and the spiritual importance of being in church and how it is sin not to be but we have to move on.  That’s just the first paragraph.

Now, looking at verses 4-6, Paul tells us three things about these Spirit-given gifts.  First, there are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit.  Hold your spot in 1 Corinthians and turn left one book to the book of Romans.  Find chapter 12, verses 6-8.  Paul lists several of these gifts. 

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.

Now leave there and turn to Ephesians 4:11-12.  This is the last place you’ll need to turn today.  That says, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”  I told you that wasn’t my idea!  That’s what Paul is saying in verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 12.  There are different gifts.

Next, in verse 5, he says there are different kinds of service or ministry.  The King James says “administrations.”  Let’s use the word ministry.  We all kind of know what that means.  Our ministry is different than our gift.  You may have the gift of teaching or of mercy but your ministry might be anything.  If you have the gift of mercy you may be called to minister to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated like our church is.

You may have the gift of encouragement but your ministry may be at work or to your neighbor.  That’s what Paul is saying here.  There are different gifts and different ministries.  Now, don’t mistake talents for gifts.  Paul is not talking about our natural-born talents.  You may have a talented singing voice but that’s not what Paul is talking about.  I found this definition of the word “gift” and I think it is spot on.  A Spirit-given gift is the desire and power God gives you to accomplish His purpose.  (Repeat)

I have to tell you, I was going to sing a solo last Sunday morning.  I had been singing a song in the car and I was rocking it.  I got to church and found the music and words and I even had it queued up in the songs on the computer but I thought I better record myself to see if I needed to change anything and boy, was I glad I did.  I quickly realized when I heard that recording that not only am I not gifted to sing, but it’s not my ministry or my talent nor should I have anything to do with it.  It’s not going to keep me from worshipping but that’s not where God has blessed me at all.  I had the desire but not the power.

Now look at verse 6.  In this paragraph, Paul tells us there are different gifts, different ministries and here he says there are different effects.  My version says there are different kinds of working.  Your gift of leadership, let’s say, is used in a different ministry than anybody else uses their gift of leadership and the effects of you using your gift are different than anybody else’s effects.  Your results are different than others.

It doesn’t mean either one of you are doing it wrong.  It’s just different.  That’s how God made you.  Just like he made all of our fingerprints different, He gave us different gifts to use in different ministries that will have different results.  Let me illustrate. The next time we eat together in the Fellowship Hall, suppose someone dropped a plate full of dessert on the newly-cleaned by Troy Pittman floor. This is how people with different gifts would respond.

· Gift of prophecy or preaching – “I told you to be careful.”

· Gift of service – “Oh, let me help you clean it up.”

· Gift of teaching – “The reason that it fell was because it was too heavy on one side.”

· Gift of exhortation – “Next time, maybe you should let someone else carry it.”

· Gift of giving – “Here, you can have my dessert.”

· Gift of mercy - “Don’t feel too bad. It could have happened to anyone.”

· Gift of administration - “Jim, would you get the mop? Sue, please help pick this up. Mary, could you get him another dessert?”

This passage is not about trying to show you what your gift is nor is this message about finding your Spirit-given gift.  We have talked about and studied gifts before and we will again but today you just need to focus on why you have gifts and where they come from.

A Spirit-given gift will always be given to bring glory to God and to God only.  But remember, Satan will always try to counterfeit your gift so you can use it for your glory.  1 Peter 4:10: “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.” Paul’s concern for young Timothy was that he not only be able to identify his gift, but that he would implement it: “Do not neglect your gift…I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God” (1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6).  (Brian Bill)

Some time ago I read a survey about bad Christmas gifts.  It said that 30% of the people interviewed found that a fruitcake was the worst gift you could give; even worse than no gift at all.  It said that 70% of the people would throw that fruitcake in the trash if they got it. 

I wonder what the statistic is of Christian people in the church who do the same thing with their Spirit-given gift.  How many people don’t use or misuse their gift?  When you study the first church in the book of Acts, you see that there was a lot going on.  They didn’t have a lot of possessions but you see they obviously had preaching and teaching and giving and wisdom and encouragement and discernment and all of that energized the church.  They were able to do great things with very little when they all used the gifts God gave them.

What happens to your cell phone when you put it on the charger?  It gets charged up.  It gets energized, right?  Then what starts happening the instant you take it off the charger?  It starts to go down.  It loses life and energy.  It’s the same with the church.  When you are here, you may not even know it but you may be using your gift in such a way that is just what somebody else needed.  When you aren’t here there are certain things that other people may have to do and they may not be gifted in that area like you are.  Or maybe those things just don’t get done.

Verse 7 says that these gifts are given for the common good.  That Paul was such an incredible writer.  I noticed something as I was going through this and I looked at the previous sermons I had preached in this series.  We started this series called “Our Church” with chapters 1-2 seeing how we should be a unified church.  When you use your Spirit-given gifts for the common good as God designed, there is unity in the church.

In chapter 8 we looked at being a sacrificial church.  Using your gifts requires sacrifice but is rewarded.  Chapter 11 talks about being submissive to one another and you can’t do that unless somebody steps up and uses his Spirit-given gift.

Chapter 13 is next week and it is an all-time favorite passage.  1 Corinthians 13 talks about love but it is in the context of using your gifts.  Paul starts chapter 13 by saying, “Now, let me show you the most excellent way” and he is talking about the most excellent way to use your gifts and you use them in love.

God made you just like you are and He didn’t make a mistake.  Then when you became a Christian He gave you certain gifts that would edify, or build up, the church and, again, He didn’t make a mistake.  He has given every one of us special gifts that, when used correctly, will make the church look just like Him and that is what He wants and that is what He will bless.  That’s what we want as well.

In chapter 12, Paul is talking about certain specific, God-given gifts that are given to Christians when they come to have that life-changing relationship with Jesus.  In fact, that is part of the life-changing that goes on.  You are given gifts.  But when you think about it, everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God.  Every breath we take and every relationship we have is God showing His grace and mercy and we thank Him today for those gifts.

But the ultimate gift God gives us is His Son Jesus, through whom we can have eternity in Heaven if we only believe in Him.  That word “believe” means to fully rely on.  In other words, it is fully relying on the sacrifice of Jesus for forgiveness of our sins and our entry into Heaven.

John 14:6 says, “Jesus said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life and nobody gets to the Father except through Me.’”  Have you truly believed in Jesus?  Have you truly put all your faith and trust in Him and Him alone?  There is no other way to eternal life.  There is no other way for forgiveness or peace or joy or the Spirit-given gifts we have talked about today.  Do that right now.