I just finished listening to some sermons from Tim Keller (thanks to Philip Carhart for sending them to me), and I only listened to 2 of an 11 part series so far, but they've been very solid so far, and very engaging and practical. They also I think tie in very nicely to the last topic on comfort I wrote about, and they give is some backbone and support.
Keller starts his series off with 1 Corinthians 13. The love passage:) He mentioned how many people often use this passage at their weddings, and they think it's very tender and nice. But in the context that Paul was writing this passage, we get anything but warm tender feelings, instead, we are shaken and convicted. The Corinthian church at this time was full of many successful people who had a lot of accomplishments. But they were always bickering with each other, and they were not acting at all out of love. And through out the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul is trying to remind the church of Jesus, and how humbling the cross should be for them. Let's look at chapter 13 here:
1If I speak in the tongues[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If 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. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,[b] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love 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. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When 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. 12Now 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.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
In verses 1-3, we see a humbling series of situations. We see that people can do seemingly great things, but because of the absense of love, they are meaningless. I think these verses remind me a lot of the book of Ecclesiastes.
Then in verses 4-7, we see the characteristics of what love looks like. Here is the part where Keller's message really blew me away. He showed that how in most English translations, all of these characteristics of love are translated as "adjectives." While in the original text, they are "verbs." And Paul is specifically writing them as verbs because he means to "personify" love. And Keller says he does this for both a general and specific reason. The general reason is so that we realize that love is a living and active power. It's not just a set of guidelines that we can try to apply to our lives, but instead, love must come into our lives and breath life into us. In a specific way, how can this love come into our lives. Well this love is really Jesus. Jesus personifies all of these principles perfectly. Spurgeon said that on the cross Jesus perfectly lived out all of these aspects of love, while the people crucifying him were the complete opposite, and yet he stayed.
So if you want, you can go back and read the passage again, but this time replace all of the words of "love" with "Jesus," and we get an idea of how we can attain this kind of love. This passage must not be merely looked at as a guide for our behavoir. If we look at it that way, it will only lead us to feelings of defeat, or on the flipside, selfishness and pride (a.k.a. religion). But, if we see this as a love that we don't have to do first, but was done to and for you first; and we see that Jesus pours himself into us (this is all pretty much direct quotes from Keller now), then this changes the whole dynamic.
Now this relates to my topic of comfort in that we see that without Jesus and love, the idea of living in uncomfortable circumstances is utterly useless. Verses 1-3 cover the whole spectrum of sacrifice. People could give their whole lives to a cause, they could give all their money to the poor, they could even die for a cause, but without Jesus, it gets them nothing.
So let us always remember the source and the reason for why we choose to live radical lives. We choose to live radical lives not so that we can somehow build up our sense of pride, or feel like only after we do these things that Christ will love us. No, we do them as a reaction to Christ's love that was first poured out for us. We love because he first loved us. We are incapable of this kind of love apart from Jesus. So let us always check our heart motives for everything we do. Are we doing things out of a sense of pride or are we doing them out of love for Jesus, knowing that he is the source of all good things; and that without Jesus, we can do nothing and we gain nothing.
This passage and sermon was really convicting for me as I look at my own motives for what I do. So often, pride and selfishness gets in the way of true service. I think as sinners, we'll never be able to completely, perfectly humble ourselves in service to God, but through prayer and Christ's strength, we must strive to honor and serve Christ according to the grace he has given us!
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