Deo Gloria
Sermon for February 3, 2019
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: 1 Corinthians 12:27-13:13
Theme: Jesus Reveals His Glory Through You!
- He gives you gifts to use for service.
- He gives you love to govern your actions.
Complete this sentence: Jesus revealed his glory…. OK, how many of you came up with the answer: “in his miracles”? How many of you answered “in his powerful preaching”? How many of you answered “on the Mount of Transfiguration where his face shone like the sun and his clothes became as white as the light”? How many of you answered “on the cross”? How many of you answered “when he rose again on Easter morning”?
During the season of Epiphany we look at many stories like that, stories where Jesus revealed his glory and demonstrated that was indeed the Son of God and Savior of the world. This morning, though, we’re going to look at a different kind of story. In fact, it’s not a story from Jesus’ life and ministry at all. It’s a portion of a letter the apostle Paul wrote to a group of Christians in the city of Corinth. In these verses Paul reminds us that Jesus reveals his glory in another way too. He reveals his glory through you and me. He does so by giving us gifts we can use for service and by giving us love to govern our actions.
If you’re like me, you often receive nice gifts for your birthday. Maybe your spouse makes a special dinner for you or maybe takes you out for dinner. Maybe your brother takes you to a Wild game or a Twins game. Maybe your kids get you a gift certificate to Menards or Fleet Farm. They’re obviously all very nice gifts, but the greatest gift you and I have ever received is the gift a Savior, a Savior who was born as a baby in Bethlehem. Because of him we have forgiveness for our sins, peace for our souls and eternal life in heaven.
And yet, God has given us other gifts as well, spiritual gifts, gifts we can use for serving our Lord and serving others. Paul talks about that, starting in v. 27. “Now you are the body of Christ,” he says, “and each one of you is a part of it.” What a blessing! What a privilege! Not only did Jesus suffer and die on the cross in order to take your sins away. Not only did he set you free from the power of sin and death so that you might live with him forever. Jesus also has adopted you into his family. He has made you a member of his body, a member of his team.
Imagine what it would be like to be on the Timberwolves’ team. I doubt whether any of us is actually good enough at basketball to make the team on our own. But let’s say you were chosen to be an honorary member of the team for one week. You got to practice with team. You got travel with the team. You got to suit up and sit on the bench during the games. What an honor that would be! Jesus has given you and me an even greater honor. He has taken unworthy, undeserving sinners like us, washed away our sins, and made us members of his team, members of his Church, members of the body of Christ. What an honor!
And yet, there’s more. Jesus also gives us gifts that we can use for serving.
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?(vv. 28-31)
Notice what’s first on the list: apostles, prophets and teachers; gifts that involve the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. That’s no mistake. God puts those gifts first because it is through the preaching and teaching of his Word that he builds up his Church and strengthens people’s faith. Notice also which gift is last on the list: the gift of speaking in tongues. That’s no accident either. One of the problems in the church in Corinth was that some of the members were bragging about the gifts they had, especially if they could speak in tongues. “Wow, look at me, everyone. I’m special. I’m important. I can do something you can’t do. I can speak in tongues.” So it’s no mistake that Paul puts speaking in tongues at the bottom of the list. It wasn’t such an important gift. Other gifts were more important and more valuable.
So what gifts has God given you? Granted none of us can claim to be apostles or prophets, but God has given any number of us the gift of teaching and the privilege of teaching his Word to others, from little children in Sunday School or preschool to teens and adults in Bible Class. Again, none of us can claim to work miracles or heal those who are sick, but God has given us the ability to help others. We can help a friend of ours fix their car. We can buy some groceries for a family we know is struggling. We can shovel the driveway for the elderly lady who lives next door. We can do all kinds of things to help others. How about administration? Has God given you that gift? The word Paul uses here literally means “helmsmanship.” A helmsman is the guy who steers the ship. God’s ship needs people like that too, people who are good at steering, people who are good at leading and guiding his church.
No matter what gift Jesus has given you, don’t forget that that is one of the ways he reveals his glory. Jesus, you see, doesn’t just make you part of his team, but then never lets you play. That’s what would happen if I were on the Timberwolves’ team. I mean it would be a tremendous honor to be on the team, but I know what role I would play. I would be bench-warmer Bob. I would end up sitting on end of the bench and would never get to play even if we were ahead by 40 points. That isn’t what Jesus does with us—just the opposite. He makes us part of his team and then he gives us gifts so we can play, so we can have a part, so we contribute to his team and help carry out the work of his church.
Whatever you do, don’t do what people sometimes do with the presents they receive for their birthday: They put them back in the box or tuck them away in a drawer or maybe some place in the back of their closet and never use them. No, appreciate the gifts that Jesus has given you and use them. Use them to contribute to his team. Use them to serve your Savior and to serve others. Use them as a member of his body to help carry out the work Jesus would have us do. That’s one of the ways Jesus reveals his glory. He gives us gifts we can use for serving.
He also gives us love to govern our actions. If you’re familiar with Paul’s letters to the Christians in Corinth, you know that one of the serious problems there is that they were using their gifts in an unloving way. As I mentioned before, many in Corinth were bragging about the gifts they had, especially if they had the gift of speaking in tongues. They were using their gifts to call attention to themselves and to put others down. In this letter Paul not only teaches them about the spiritual gifts that Jesus gives to his people, but he also teaches them the right way to use those gifts. “Let me show you,” he says at the end of v. 31. “Let me show you the best way, the most excellent way, to use your gifts:”
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.(13:1-3)
Obviously, when it comes to serving and using my spiritual gifts, love is pretty important. Imagine if I could speak in tongues and could even speak in the language of the angels, that would really be awesome. That would really be something, wouldn’t it? But if I don’t use that gift in love, all I’m doing is making noise. I’m like a resounding gong—bong, bong, bong. I’m like a clanging cymbal—kkiiissshhh. Or imagine if I had the gift of prophecy and knew the Bible backwards and forwards and understood every mystery in the Bible and had a faith that could move mountains—wow, I would really be something, right? But if I didn’t use those gifts in love, I’m nothing. In fact, by my pride I could actually being doing damage to God’s church instead of building it up. Or let’s say that I did more to help others than anyone else. I gave away all my possessions to help the poor. And let’s say I even made the ultimate sacrifice and laid down my life as a martyr for my faith as many Christians in the early church did. And yet, if I don’t do those things in love, I gain nothing. It doesn’t do me any good. Love is absolutely essential when it comes to using my God-given gifts.
But what is love really like? What does it mean to truly love others? Paul spells it out for us in vv. 4-7. As we take another look at these verses, I want you to notice something. Notice that Paul does not define love as a feeling or an emotion. Rather he defines love as an action. He defines love by what it does and what it doesn’t do.
Love is patient, love is kind. [Literally, Paul says, “Love does things that are good or kind or beneficial for others.”] It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude. [A better translation would be “it does not behave indecently.” Take at least half the shows on TV, take the Simpsons, take Jerry Springer, take Miley Cyrus. Love doesn’t act that way. Love does not behave indecently.] 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.
Do those words hit you the way they hit me? As I read through Paul’s description of how love is supposed to act, I have to hang my head in shame because I haven’t always acted that way. I haven’t always been patient with others, with people at church, with my spouse and children, the ones God calls me to serve each and every day. I haven’t always been kind toward others or willing to do things that were good and helpful for others. Sometimes the things I said to others were anything but kind or helpful. There were times I was envious, times I did boast and brag. There were times I was selfish and only thought about myself, times I did become upset and angry over little things. There were times I did keep a record of wrongs and even held a grudge. Is the same thing true of you? These words kind of sting, don’t they? They remind us of our sins. They remind us how unworthy we are to be members of Jesus’ team. They remind us that what we really deserve is to be kicked off Jesus’ team and to spend eternity with the losers in hell.
Thank God for Jesus Christ our Savior, the one who loved us even though we didn’t deserve it, the one who showed what love really is and what love really does! As our Savior Jesus lived a perfect life a love. He loved others the way we should, but so often don’t. He was always patient, always kind, never jealous, never proud, never rude or selfish, never easily angered, always ready and willing to forgive. He did that for you and me as our substitute. And for all the times we were not very patient or kind, all the times we were envious and proud, all the times we were rude and selfish and quick-tempered and unwilling to forgive, Jesus gave his life on the cross, suffering the penalty you and I deserved, so that we might be forgiven.
So how can we show our thanks to Jesus for what he has done for us? It’s obvious, isn’t it? By striving to put this kind of love into action in our lives and in the way we use our gifts; by striving to be more patient with others, with our spouse and our family, with our fellow members here at church and school; by striving to be more kind in the things we do and the things we say; by striving to be less jealous of others and less proud of ourselves; less rude in the way we speak and act, less selfish, by striving to control our temper and being more willing to forgive; and by striving to use our gifts, the gifts that our Savior has given us, in a kind and loving way, so they can accomplish what they’re supposed to: bring help and service and blessing to others.
As we do that, as we strive to be more patient and loving and kind and strive to serve others in love, it reflects well on Jesus. It allows others to see a little bit of him in us. And once again the glory of Jesus is shining, perhaps not as brightly as it did that day on the Mount of Transfiguration or on that day in Cana when he changed water into wine, but it’s shining all the same. His glory is shining in you and in me. Amen.