but earnestly desire the greater gifts, and yet I'm going to show you a far better way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I 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, but have not love, it profits me, Nothing. Please, let's pray. Lord God Almighty, our gracious God and Father, we thank you, Lord, for your scriptures, Lord, for your living word. We thank you for it, Lord, for in it we find life. We thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, for in him we find life abundantly. We pray, Lord God, that you be with us this morning during this worship service. We pray that the word that is preached is an act of worship as well as its hearing, and that the hearing of the word be applied to our hearts by your Holy Spirit. We pray, Lord, that it grow us in maturity as Christians, and that it grows us in our affections for the Lord Jesus. In his name we pray, amen. So beginning in verse 31 of chapter 12, and the verse reads, but earnestly desire the greater gifts, and yet I'm going to show you a far better way. By greater spiritual gifts, the apostle means the more excellent spiritual gifts. The gift of tongues had a limited use, while other spiritual gifts had the ability to excel in edifying the church. Paul wanted the Corinthians to earnestly desire the kinds of gifts that edify the church, but would first have them knowledgeable on how to exhibit them in a far better way. By applying Paul's exhortation, the various gifts and graces of the Corinthians would receive the ultimate upgrade. More importantly, the Corinthians would excel in edifying the church. What is Paul's exhortation? And what is Paul ready to teach them? More importantly, what is the church at Corinth's need that Paul is about to address? The Corinthian church did well and seemed to excel in a particular area, and that area was in prosperity. The church had everything and was prosperous. They were not lacking in riches, nor were they lacking in spiritual gifts. We learned in chapter one that they had a wealth of knowledge and their church housed a variety of languages, but to their detriment, they were missing what was most important, and it was crippling them. Their lack of this thing was making a racket of their spiritual gifts. Their extravagant and seamlessly endless gifts proved clamorous. Their wealth of knowledge amounted to nothing, while their acts of service and self-sacrifice ultimately profited them nothing. And brethren, as demonstrated by the Corinthians, we too often miss what is most important and what God wants us to focus on. The result is that we become preoccupied with material wealth, intellectual wealth, and even spiritual wealth. We are to be good stewards over what God has blessed us with, but without embracing what is most important, our material, intellectual, and spiritual wealth becomes worthless. These things that God has blessed us with are to the benefit of the church and the world outside. So we need a certain thing to enhance these things and to validate these things that God has blessed us with. In verse one of chapter 13, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And what Paul means to speak in the tongues of men and of angels is to speak in both human and divine languages, which is used here to be comprehensive, encompassing the whole spectrum of language. While the word though is used in this verse to be inclusive of all spiritual gifts. So although Paul is speaking about the gift of tongues, he is still speaking about all spiritual gifts. and concerning the gift of tongues, imagine having the gift to speak 10 different languages. What if all of us here had that gift? Think of the countries we could travel to, to where any of these 10 languages are spoken. We would not only be able to navigate, but we would also be able to engage the citizens there. We could make new friends for life in foreign exotic places. We could build international connections and networks. We could share our stories with them. We could share our lives with them. And most importantly, we could share Christ with them. Being able to communicate in 10 different languages would be a great skill and one that I believe would be the source of much opportunity and a cause of much joy. This too would have been a great thing for the Corinthians who had members within their church that spoke a variety of languages. The downside, however, is that they made the ambition for speaking in tongues, not just the ambition, or not just that action alone, but the ambition for it, of a greater importance than the ambition to edify the church. So what were they missing? And what would have actually given them and their spiritual gifts the value that God has given them and their spiritual gifts? The Corinthians set a higher value on themselves for being able to speak in different languages rather than loving the members within their church. They were missing the most important thing, which is God's very best. And God's best is love. God says that apart from love, spiritual gifts are useless. What could be more useless than a broken drum, or a beautiful voice that has been lost, or a cracked cymbal? Paul says that apart from love, his great gift of speaking in tongues which span the spectrum of human and angelic language is but a racket. So maybe if you can imagine this, a man may go to great lengths to tell his wife how much he loves her, doing so frequently and elegantly. He may leave notes around the house. leaving cards and sweets in the passenger seat of her car for her to find before she heads off to work in the morning. He may even take a step back in time and send flowers to her workplace with a message to be relayed by the carrier. But if he leaves the dishes piled high in the sink and never offers to prepare or pick up lunch or dinner, then what does he communicate? Though he constantly tells her how much he loves her, yet he never asks in what way he can help lighten his wife's to-do list, then what does he really convey? If he doesn't put in the effort to give her a mental, physical, and emotional break, then his notes and cards and messages become a racket. If he only loves her in word but not in deed, his words then become meaningless. And as we see in the text, Paul says the gift of tongues without love is like a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. So Paul wants us to be aware that love is a far better possession in comparison to spiritual gifts. Love should be our earnest desire and acting in love when using our spiritual gifts to the church's edification is the far better way that Paul wants to show us. So love is primary and must absolutely come first The excellence of love is the foundation on which our universe, our existence, and our salvation is built upon. And as Christians, Jesus is our foundation. And it is love that drove the Christ to suffer triumphantly. Apart from Christ's love, we would be nothing. We would not have a future or a hope. Love itself, Christ himself, validates all that we are and all that we do. And they are the scriptures which tell us that it is in Christ in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. God is love, and the ultimate manifestation of God's love is Jesus Christ. So I'd like to show you something. Let's look at chapter 13, 1 Corinthians, starting in verse one. And we can replace charity as it is rendered in the King James Version or love with Christ and see two things. One, the perfection of his nature and two, that it is only Christ or love that confirms us. So beginning in verse one, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not Christ, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, And though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, or have not Christ, 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 not Christ, it profiteth me nothing. In verse four, Christ suffereth long and is kind, Christ envieth not, Christ vaunteth not himself, is not puffed up, doth not behave himself unseemingly, seeketh not his own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Christ never faileth, but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail, whether there be tongues, they shall cease, whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. Love is God's absolute best, which has been demonstrated in God's setting forth of Christ as a sin bearer, as an atonement for those who have been redeemed. It is Christ who loved us and gave himself for us. Love is the driving force behind all God has done for us. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4, nine through 10. Because God has foreknown us, loving us from eternity, he has manifested the fullness of his love toward us by the sacrificing of his son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Love absolves our sins by him. Love swallows up our death in him. Love blesses us with eternal life through him. And love is to be desired above everything else. Love completes us. Love confirms our lives. Love lengthens our human limitations. Love gives us the ability to sacrifice to the benefit of others. Which brings us to our first point. Love makes us useful. Christ makes us useful by first making us His. Again, Christ makes us useful by first making us His. He then transforms us and gives us a love at once unknown to us, a capacity to love ourselves and others rightly. God has made us to be equally important parts of one body, unifying us through the Holy Spirit. And when the spirit enters into men and women and dwells within them, he freely and sovereignly distributes various spiritual gifts. And these gifts are to be used for the edification of the church. Out of a pure and undivided heart for Christ, God causes us to willfully and joyfully serve wherever and however the Lord decides to employ us for his services. Whether we eat or drink, whether we teach or sing, we now do everything to the glory of God. God has declaratively caused us to be useful to the end that we glorify Jesus Christ and God in him, as well as edify the church. For our first point of application, display the love of God through Christ. Love is the conscious choice to give God's absolute best to the person being loved. The world will know we are Christ's disciples by our love for each other. So, exhibit the love of God by loving those within the church with the pure love of Jesus Christ. Setting our great gifts on display should not be our primary ambition. Displaying the love of Christ to our brethren is to be our greatest ambition. Love is the primary component and the foundational means necessary to benefit the church before any spiritual gift. The psalmist writes, I have a goodly heritage. I have a goodly heritage. Psalm 16 in verse six is where that can be found. As Christians, love is a part of our nature. A lack of love shown to outsiders who visit the church can turn them away from the faith. We do not only edify the church and strengthen the brethren when we love one another, but we also capitalize on opportunities to foster the growth of the body of Christ when we love our brother and our neighbor. So verse one shows us that displaying love is far better than displaying extraordinary spiritual gifts. Verse two provides us with yet another example of just how important that is. When Paul says, though he has the gift of prophecy, what follows explains what that is. Due to divine help, Paul understands the biblical mysteries and all hidden things. Paul understands all the writings of God's prophets that foretold the incarnation, person, and work of Jesus Christ. Furthermore, Paul understands the theology and the implications and applications of Jesus Christ's teachings. Reasoning hypothetically, Paul essentially asks, what if he has exhaustive knowledge, unceasing knowledge, infinite knowledge? Does his intellectual wealth make him of a higher value? Knowledge is a possession, and once we learn something, we do own it. And as we continue to learn, we grow in intellectual wealth, right? You would agree. Knowledge is valuable, and by possessing an infinite amount of it, we could argue that one possesses infinite value. Imagine owning a treasure chest full of flawless, precious stones and fashion jewelry. It's a tangible thing, something you can see, could imagine. Now imagine owning all of the gold, silver, and precious stones in the world. So not just your treasure chest, but wherever you could fit all of those precious stones. Now try to imagine owning all of the knowledge in the world. Imagine being in possession of every secret thing, every hidden thing, every mystery. Imagine understanding all mysteries, everything that science has not yet been able to define due to ignorance or depth or distance. Imagine for a second time, possessing all of the information about any one subject, everything there is to know about it. For a third time, imagine possessing all of the information about everything that exists in the universe. This is the quantity Paul means by having all knowledge and understanding all mysteries. And when Paul says all, he means all. Consider how much more profitable we would be if we had all knowledge, how much more profitable you would be. You'd know which college to choose and what to major in. You'd know which occupational field to go into, where to buy a home, which investments to make, when to retire and what to do once you retire. Your time and efforts would be optimized to your benefit, and you'd have wasted nothing, no time at all, no resources at all. Yet, even better than having all knowledge would be having all faith, right? Faith that saves, correct? A faith that is believing. When we think of mountains, we think of giant, immovable, natural structures that are fixed in their places. Stones and boulders might move, but we would never imagine a mountain could move. A mountain being displaced goes against human logic. Yet, Paul says he has a faith that can remove mountains. What does this say about his faith? Paul is saying that his faith is strong, steadfast, unshakable, and even infinite, as it is all faith. But brethren, despite all of this, apart from love, Paul declares himself to be nothing. He is nothing apart from love. The Apostle contrasts marvelous spiritual gifts and love for the second time and affirms that the great gift of prophecy, the great possession of all mysteries, the great possession of all knowledge, and the great possession of all faith are nothing in comparison to the great possession of love. For our second point, love validates us. Possessions do not validate us. Wealth does not validate us. Intelligence does not validate us. But love, love validates us. God and his grace, Christ and his love, is the only thing separating the damned and ourselves, right? But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us, together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, By God's grace, he has made us alive together with Christ because of his love. So it is love that separates us from the damned, from those who are condemned. The possession of the love of God ultimately equates to the possession of the righteousness of Christ and his salvation. For our second point of application, know the love of God through Christ. We grow in our love for God as we grow in our knowledge of him. 1 John 4, 7 is a reference for that. As the deepness of our knowledge of God grows, the deepness of our relationship with him grows. Consequentially, the deepness of our love for him grows. As we come to greater degrees of our knowledge and relationship to God, our affections for him grow because we come to know more of his gracious and perfect nature. No one knows God nor loves God more intimately than Christ. Yet all who know God have been born of God. We are sons and daughters of God. Therefore we love the father and by him we are made to love the son and the brethren also. Love becomes a part of the Christian's nature. We are able to love each other with the love that Christ has, the kind of love which emanates from a deep, intimate knowledge of another person, the kind of love that lasts and thrives. And I urge you, brethren, to know this love of God. Seek the face of God in the scriptures. Learn more of his character. Labor in the scriptures to learn much of Christ, to learn from him. Pray for greater revelations of the gospel and to see visible evidence of the Spirit's sanctifying power in your lives. I must do this too, we must do this. Travail to know him, grow in loving him. Lastly, Paul tells us that service and sacrifice only find their value in love. Service and sacrifice only find their value in love. Verse three, I'll read it. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Paul's bestowing of all his goods to feed the poor and giving his body to be burned are two forms of self-sacrifice, which are acts of service. Self-sacrifice, an act of service. One form being more mild and the other being much more extreme. Giving one's body to be burned, bestowing one's goods to feed the poor. Mild, extreme. Giving away all of one's possessions is a sacrifice. Paul may sell all of his possessions, everything that he owns, to purchase food and feed the poor. He may sell all of his goods and give the proceeds to the poor so that they can buy food themselves and eat. He may give all of his valuable goods to the poor so that they can sell or trade them and possibly eat for months. Indeed, Paul giving away everything he owns that is a value for a significant sum, essentially making himself poor and emptying himself to feed the poor, is a great act of human kindness. Still, this is not a great act that can fix all of the world's problems, but an isolated act that could only satisfy the problem of some of the poor and some of the hungry. So, This is a good deed, but it doesn't fix the world's problem. Paul even speaks of giving himself up as a sacrifice. And what Paul might mean by giving his body to be burned could be giving his life away for Christ's services, both to the betterment of the church and to the glory of God. Still, by this statement, Paul ultimately communicates his willingness to be martyred for the sake of the gospel and the work of an apostle. In Acts 14, Paul was stoned and dragged out of the city while thought to be dead, left for dead for preaching to the Gentiles. In Acts 16, he and Silas were beaten and imprisoned. Acts 23, Paul was struck at the command of the high priest Ananias. In Acts 27, he along with the other members on board were tossed about on a ship in the perils of the deep and then suffered shipwreck. And in chapter 28, he was bitten by a venomous snake. So the length that he's willing to go. And we learn of Paul's imminent martyrdom to his letter to Timothy. And I quote, for I am now ready to be offered and the time of my departure is at hand. Eventually, Paul was beheaded in Rome during the reign of the Emperor Nero, ultimately dying a martyr after turning the world upside down along with the rest of the apostles. And surely this is a mighty life of service to Christ, finalized by a mighty sacrifice. Is this not exactly what our Lord speaks of when he says that there is no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends? in the last clause of this verse. But have not love, it profits me nothing. And yet, without love, great acts of service ultimately profit the one who is giving nothing. If Paul only sacrifices his goods or his body for his own boasting, and not for the benefit of others, he benefits no one. Which brings us to our third point. Love makes our acts of service profitable. Love makes our acts of service profitable. When our acts of service are driven by our love for Christ and the want for his glory, all that we do proves successful. It is always effective. It is always profitable. So I'll have you turn once more and let us read in the Gospel of John, chapter 21. Gospel of John, chapter 21. And we will be starting at verse 11. I'll give you some time to get there. Okay. Gospel of John chapter 21, verse 11. Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land full of great fishes, and hundred and fifty and three. And for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask, who art thou? Knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise. This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead. So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my lambs. He saith unto him the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, feed my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Jesus commanded Peter to perform a task upon the profession of his love for him. And by God's grace, this task would be accomplished by Peter, making Peter's labor a profitable service, a service performed thousands of years ago that is still at work. From Matthew 16 and verse 18, I'll read it, no need to go there. Matthew 16, 18, and I say unto thee, I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. We know that Jesus Christ's work of redemption is finished in his life, death, and resurrection. His church is still being built while our enemy has since been vanquished. Sin now no longer has dominion and Jesus has the keys of death and of hell. The gates are locked and Christ's church shall never enter. Christ's church shall never enter. Peter's efforts had been effective, significant, and profitable, sustained by the Lord. Efforts that have been unceasing, even eternal. When our acts of service are driven by our love for Christ, Christ makes our acts of service profitable. Again, when our acts of service are driven by our love for Christ, Christ makes our acts of service profitable. Which brings us to our third point of application. Show forth the love of God through Christ. Let us make sure that our acts of service, our giving and our sacrifices are done for the love of Christ and the love of his church. Let these things never be done to bolster our own image, but let us robustly display the love of Christ. Let the love of Christ that we possess be made known to all men by how we love each other and how we allow ourselves to be spent for the brethren and for the health of the church. So verse one shows us that a life exhibiting great gifts apart from love is meaningless. Verse two shows us that a life of great possession apart from love is worthless. And verse three shows us that a life of great sacrifice apart from love is unprofitable. Paul demonstrates the importance for the Corinthians need to start at love and work outwardly. Their need then is the same as our need now. we are to start at love and work outwards. Jesus Christ desires his church to make loving one another its highest priority, and that above spiritual gifts, as not to become a worthless church. Love in its purest state, to glorify Christ and edify the church, surpasses all else in importance. Because of love's transformational power, Christ desires us to love more. First, in loving God, and secondly, in loving each other. As a church, I see us using our various gifts for the edification of Christ's church. I see us giving our time and our energy to help set up a place for the saints to worship and be fed. I see us administering the ordinances of grace to the church, preparing tables for the sacrament and the fellowship meal. I see the musically inclined leading us in song and praises, musical worship, singing delights to our Lord. I see men using their gifts of teaching and preaching, relaying the full counsel of God to his people. I see us bearing the burdens of our brethren, ministering to them and remembering them in prayer. I hear us praying earnestly, one for another. I see us showing hospitality, opening up our homes to each other. I see us providing for the physical needs of others, their spiritual needs even. I see us being spent for the church, sacrificing ourselves for each other, even sacrificing for those who are outside of the body of Christ, our bosses, our families, our friends. As a church, I believe that we are doing well. I trust we are excelling in love. We are doing well because we are excelling at loving each other with the love of Christ, the love that Christ has. And yet, I urge you, brethren, to excel still more, to excel still more. And I believe that we can. Amen, let us pray. Almighty Lord, our gracious God, Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord God, for your grace towards us, this undeserving love that you have shown us, transferring us from a state of sin and a state of death into a state of righteousness and life in Christ. We thank you for your son and the blessing of his saving of our souls. We thank you, Lord, for your church body, which lifts one another up, upholds one another as Christ upholds us. We thank you, Father, for your Holy Spirit, which ministers to us and guides us and comforts us and provides us with peace. We ask, Lord, that you give us a full measure of your Holy Spirit and that you spur us along to love and good works, to the love and edification of the brethren and the church and to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.