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Muskegon SDA Church

The Way of Love

Jason Sliger

The Commandment of Love

The Way of Love- Part 1

The Way of Love- Part 2

The Way of Love- Part 3

The Way of Love- Part 4

The Way of Love- Part 5

The Way of Love- Part 6

The Way of Love- Part 7

The Way of Love- Part 8

The Way of Love- Part 9

Father in heaven, we are grateful this morning that we can come into your presence with our Bibles in our hands, knowing that you are about to impart to us a blessing.

Father, may our hearts be open to that blessing this morning.

And we pray that through the aid and the power of the Holy Spirit, that He would take that blessing and send it home to our hearts, that we may be more and more like Jesus.

You already have your Bibles open to 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

We have soldiered our way through this chapter.

There's been much good that we have gained and gleaned.

We are in the final stages of concluding our study.

And before we get into the new ones this morning, I wanna just do a quick flashback of what we have seen thus far.

In 1 Corinthians 13, you will remember, we have found out that it's divided into 3 sections, verses 1 through 3, as we studied it together, we found that Paul is talking about the supremacy of agape, or this Greek word for love, how it's much greater than the spiritual gifts found in 1 Corinthians 12.

In verses 4 through 7, Paul identifies, or gives us the characteristics of agape.

He breaks it down, what it is and what it is not.

He spends much of his time describing agape in this part of the chapter.

And then the final part, verses 8 through 13, Paul talks about the permanence of agape and how it will never come to an end.

He makes the statement, which we studied a couple of weeks ago, that charity never faileth, or charity never ends.

It is 1 of the 3 things that will last forever as we will find in the concluding chapter of this, concluding verse of this chapter.

But Flashing back to our last study, verses 8 through 10, I wanna just read them very quickly here and then we'll move on.

The Bible says, charity 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.

But we know, for we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be what?

Now we studied, as we looked at this, we found that the part, or rather the perfect, that which is perfect is come, we find that the only thing or the only person in the Bible who is described as perfect is who?

Jesus, so Paul is talking about the coming of Jesus here when he which is perfect is come, the partial knowledge that we have, the partial experience that we have, Paul tells us will be done away.

And so in the last few verses here, Paul begins to make a contrast or a comparison between the present mortal life and the future immortal life.

We know in part now, but when that which is imperfect is come, that which is in part will be done away with.

And he continues in the next 2 verses by giving us 2 examples of the present mortal state and the future immortal state.

What we are experiencing now and what we have to look forward to when that which is perfect is come, when dear Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven.

In our time together 2 weeks ago, I used the example of the candle and the sun that our experience and our knowledge that we have now is like a candle.

And the candle in the presence of the sun does not really offer much benefit.

But when you have that candle in darkness, it is very helpful.

So the little bit of knowledge and the little bit of experience that we have is vital.

But when Jesus, the Son of righteousness comes, the little bit of knowledge and little bit of experience that we have will pale in insignificance when it's in the presence of the perfect 1.

So this is what we have to look forward to in the future in mortal state.

Now Paul goes on and he gives the first example here, comparing between the present and the future.

In verse 13, Paul says this, when I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, and I thought as a child.

But when I became a man, what does Paul say?

Is there a difference between a child and an adult?

In terms of knowledge, there's all the difference in the world, really.

I mean, there's much more knowledge, much more life experience that takes place as you become an adult compared to a child.

And Paul is using this analogy, this illustration, to compare our experience now to what our experience will be when we get to the kingdom of heaven.

What we have right now is, in a sense, child's play.

But let me tell you something this morning, it is enough to keep us going, amen?

It is enough to drive us forward, to be ready when Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven.

But I look forward to that time when the childish things will be put away and we will be able to grow and grow and grow in more and more spiritual maturity.

Now, this does not mean that as God's people today, that we say, well, if I'm a child in my understanding, I might as well just wait until Jesus comes and then I'll get more knowledge.

Right, that's not what Paul is telling us here.

Of course we know that we should be studying the word on a regular basis so that we can gain and glean the knowledge out of the word of God that God intends us to have.

But what Paul is saying is even the deep study of God's word that we do now, even the depth of knowledge that I believe God has blessed our church with is still child's play in comparison to what we will learn in the kingdom of heaven.

So Paul is comparing here between children and adults.

Now I wanna kind of play on this here a little bit this morning, because I think there's a lot that can be learned out of this passage of scripture as Paul compares between childhood and adulthood.

You will remember the story in the gospels when the disciples were bickering amongst themselves about who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus, to teach the 12 men who would eventually turn the world upside down, to teach them an example, to teach them something, he brought a child in amongst them.

"'Unless you become as a child, "'you shall not inherit the kingdom of heaven.

So there are elements of a child that we would do well as adults to retain.

There are elements of a child that we would do well as adults to retain.

In fact, Paul continues this vein of thought in 1 Corinthians 14, just the very next chapter, verse 20, he says this, "'Brethren, be not children in understanding, "'howbeit in, " what?

"'Malice.'" in the Greek, that's the word for evil.

How be it in malice, how be it in evil, be ye what?

Children, but in understanding, he says to be what?

So Yes, there are elements of a child that we should retain.

And some of those elements include innocence, meekness, humility, honesty, trust, confidence, sincerity, truthfulness, happiness, freedom from worry.

They know their parents are there, that they'll feed them, they'll supply their needs, they'll put clothes on their back, they'll put a jacket on them if it gets cold outside, they'll get their raincoat if it rains, whatever it is.

They have not a care in the world because mommy and daddy are gonna supply the needs that they have.

So there are elements that we can retain of this childishness that will enhance and grow our experience with God and will be a witness to the world.

Now I know for me as a parent, and I think many of you here as parents and grandparents can agree with me that there's a lot that you can learn from watching children about your spiritual life and how you should relate to your heavenly father.

There's a lot that we can learn from that.

However, there are some things about our children and our grandchildren that we wish were not there, right?

You see sometimes these things that happen, they blow a gasket and you think, wow, man, I look forward to the time when they grow out of this kind of thing.

But you know, but as parents and grandparents, these types of situations, when we see them in children, we are willing to overlook them because they are what?

We're willing to put up with it in a sense because we understand that mentally, they don't sometimes have the capacity to control themselves, they're immature.

But let me tell you something this morning.

Sometimes as adults, We are not much different from children when it comes to our spiritual maturity.

And we're very able to see this in the lives of other people, but sometimes it's hard for us to see it in our own lives, in our own lives, the spiritual immaturity.

And as easy as it may be to put up with immaturity in a child, when it comes to an adult, whether it be emotional immaturity or spiritual immaturity, when it comes to immaturity in the life of an adult, this is the stuff that causes contention and strife, not only in the family and in the work environment, but also in the church.

We're familiar with this, we've seen it before.

In the book, Sons and Daughters of God, page 330, we're told this, "'We are not always to remain children in our knowledge and experience in spiritual things.

We are not always to express ourselves in the language of 1 who has just received Christ.

But our prayers and exhortations are to grow.

Grow in intelligence as we advance in experience in the truth.

There's really only 1 way that you can gain intelligence and that's by learning, right?

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Series

The Way of Love

The Way of Love- Part 8

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Plenary

The One Thing Jesus Can’t Give You

55m

The Commandment of Love - Part 2

57m

The Conflict

57m

The DNA of a Disciple

41m

The Way of Love

The Way of Love- Part 3

43m

Christ in Crisis

1h 7m

Restoration 2005: To The Point

How to Read Your Boyfriend’s Mind

28m

What’s Love Got to Do With It?

1h 3m

The Hardest Commandment

53m

Gerard Damsteegt: Sanctuary Series

Sanctuary, Part 2

46m

Plenary

Lightened With His Glory

1h 5m

For A Crown

1h

Sound Doctrine