[Manuscript from the sermon I delivered today]
(1 Corinthians 13.13)
In the last month Dwight and Walt have had great sermons on Faith and Hope. Listening to them gave me the desire to put together a message linking Faith, Hope, and Love. There will be some overlap but a little repetition is good, right?
As I listened to Walt’s message I realized that:
Faith leads to Hope and Hope leads us to Love. Faith and Hope are directly related to our ability to love.
These actions (faith, hope, and love) are put together in several passages in the NT.
Most clearly in 1Corinthians 13.13 (please, open your Bible to chapter 13) --- 1 Cor 13 - commonly referred to as the LOVE chapter, the Apostle Paul writes,
“But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
In this chapter, Paul is exclaiming the importance of loving others. If you do all kinds of great things, even miraculous things, if they are not because of love then they are pointless. The action becomes wrong; it becomes noisy interference. If my faith is so strong I can do amazing things, but I don’t use my faith for love, he says, “I am nothing.” If I sacrifice all my stuff and my life to gain riches in heaven, but I don’t do it for love, “I profit nothing,” Paul says in verse 3.
It seems our motivation means more than our actions. Think of Ananias and Sapphira. Why do we do the good things we do? Are there selfish reasons? Are we trying to earn our salvation? Impossible. We cannot do anything that will cause God to love us any more or any less. Our salvation is only through faith in Jesus and what He did on the cross.
Faith leads to hope and hope leads us to truly love (right motivations!).
This great chapter ends with the faith, hope and love statement. The chapter is about love. He says that these three abide now, but love is the greatest because I believe he is saying it abides forever. Faith and hope are not necessary in heaven. Because our faith will be sight and our hope will be fulfilled. Love however will continue on forever. God is love … and His dwelling place, heaven, will be all about love.
I would like us to look at each of these: Faith, then Hope and finally Love.
FAITH
Dwight’s message of a couple weeks ago brought out the episode of the two blind men of whom Jesus healed their sight. Jesus made it clear, it was because of their faith in Him that they were able to gain their sight.
Faith is to be placed in Jesus. Only He is capable of healing, of leading to true life, to salvation.
James teaches, recorded in James 2 that faith and works are inseparably joined. Faith leads us to do something. If we are not doing anything, our faith is dead or maybe it never had life in the first place. Note that the two blind men were following Him. Not an easy task for blind men. Two blind men traveling together. They could have stayed home and talked about their faith in Jesus. Saying, “I believe Jesus could fix our sight” and never do anything, no not them, they believed and went to Jesus. They were seekers.
It’s like the man who needs a job to pay the rent and feed his family. He can pray for a job … He can believe that God is capable of providing him a job, but if he simply sits at home and doesn’t search for a job. That’s faith without works, and its useless.
Speaking of blindness, our Faith must not be blind. Blind faith is no good either. Our faith can be powerful (e.g. the faith of a mustard seed and faith to move mountains is available to us). Faith without the facts is what I call blind faith. If we cannot give an answer to why we believe, is not our faith blind? Is our faith any better than the cult down the street or the false religions around the world?
The Apostle Peter writes, “Be always ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.” There’s faith and hope linked again. But his point is you should be able to explain why you have faith and hope.
Not like how my two year old boy answers to why questions. “Why’d you do it?” “Because”. “Because why?” “Because.” “Because is not an answer,” as many a parent has said.
If your answer is … my church teaches or …my parents said or …my preacher said or …you should call the preacher or Elders, cause I don’t know. These are not the right answers. We all should be able to give reasons we believe in God, Jesus, the Bible, the resurrection, heaven, etc.
Do you have to have all the answers? Impossible. But if asked something about the Christian faith you don’t know, you can always say, let me do some research and get back to you. And do it! There are answers to every question. Build your faith and those around you. Faith, what I call factual faith is built by understanding the evidence for faith.
There are different kinds of evidence for faith. In proving historical events you may use the same methods our legal courts use to prove or disprove arguments brought before judge or jury. This involves showing something is fact beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence is evaluated.
The types of evidence used are:
1. Oral Testimony 2. Written Testimony 3. Exhibits (physical evidence).
Do we have Oral Testimony? Well we cannot question the 500+ people who witnessed the resurrection (nor can we talk to Abraham or Noah). However, we can talk to millions of believers today who’s lives have been changed by the resurrected Christ.
Do we have Written Testimony to prove the resurrection? Yes, there is written testimony. The OT has many prophesies about the death-burial-resurrection of Christ. The four gospels tell of the events. The letters of the NT, written by the Apostles and prophets, give further evidence for the risen Christ. Josephus, who wrote a history of the Jews in the first century wrote that “Jesus was the Christ.” He also wrote in his history that Jesus “appeared to them alive on the third day.”
Do we have exhibits? Archeologists have been finding artifacts for hundreds of years. Verifying the history and claims of the Bible and Jesus’ life-death-burial-resurrection. Magazines such as Biblical Archeological Review and Creation-Ex-Niliho continue to publish new evidences that support the reliability of the Bible and everything it says.
Do you have any reason to NOT have faith? The evidence is out there. This is why those who seek Him are promised to find Him.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Mt 7.7
Deuteronomy 4:29
“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”
Proverbs 8
Open your Bible to Heb 11
“Faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Heb 11.1 There is evidence, but we cannot see all. Our faith must rest on God and Jesus who are not yet seen with our eyes. Chapter 11 of Hebrews is an amazing list of faithful men and women in the OT who “by faith” did amazing things for God’s Kingdom.
“By faith…Able, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, READ vs. 13, by faith Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, and even Rahab the Prostitute” statements in Heb 11.
READ verses 32-39
They hoped for a Kingdom that they did not get to see. They anxiously waited for a Savior … a Savior we who we do get to know …. and place our faith in.
Read: Heb 12.1-3
Once we fix our eyes on Jesus … we understand Hope.
HOPE
Walt’s sermon directed us to understanding hope. Not a blind hope, not a false hope. True hope … we should understand our inheritance.
“My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.” (The Solid Rock)
Randy Alcorn writes in his book HEAVEN,
“As human beings, we have a terminal disease called mortality. The current death rate is 100%. Unless Christ returns soon, we all are going to die. We don’t like to think about death yet; worldwide, 3 people die every second, 180 every minute, and nearly 11,000 every hour … [this] means that more than 250,000 people every day go to either heaven or hell.
… Ancient merchants often wrote the words memento mori – think of death – in large letters on the first pages of their accounting books. Phillip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, commissioned a servant to stand in his presence each day and say, “Phillip, you will die.” In contrast, France’s Louis XIV decreed that the word death not be uttered in his presence. Most of us are more like Louis than Phillip, denying death and avoiding the thought of it except when it is forced upon us. We [sadly] live under a fear of death.” (Alcorn, p. xxi)
However, we have a hope. Heaven should be looked forward to. Eternity in paradise is a welcomed thought for those who have faith and hope.
Jesus came to deliver us from the fear of death. “So that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.” (Heb 2.14-15)
In light of the coming resurrection of the dead, the Apostle Paul asks, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (1 Cor 15.55)
Since we avoid the thought of death, we don’t often have the right ideas about it. For the saved, for those who have faith and hope … death is a welcome thought. A pleasant reality … A dream come true.
However, there are unbiblical views of heaven. Some descriptions don’t sound like a place I would want to be.
John Eldredge writes, “Nearly every Christian I have spoken with has some idea that eternity is an unending church service … We have settled on an image of the never-ending sing-along in the sky, one great hymn after another, forever, and ever, amen. And our heart sinks. Forever and ever? This is it? That’s good news? And then we sigh and feel guilty that we are not more ‘spiritual.’ We lose heart, and we turn once more to the present to find what life we can.”
[ADDED THOT: There is a praise song, which sings over and over “I Can Sing of Your Love Forever”. It’s a nice tune and it is worshipful, but Lori thinks the thought of this song is crazy for a person who is not a singer. To some this might be more like hell.]
Gary Larson in one of his FAR SIDE cartoons captured a common misconception: In it a man with angel wings and a halo sits on a cloud, doing nothing, with no one nearby. He has the expression of someone marooned on a desert island with absolutely nothing to do. The caption reads, “I wish I’d brought a magazine.”
Huckleberry Finn learned about heaven from Miss Watson, “She went on and told me all about the good place. She said all a body would have to do there was go around all day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn’t think much of it … I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and she said, not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together.”
Sadly, these are common misconceptions.
Charles Spurgeon had a different take on death and Heaven: “To come to Thee is to come home from exile, to come to land out of the raging storm, to come to rest after long labor, to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes.”
Jonathan Edwards, the great Puritan preacher, often spoke of heaven … when he was in his early 20s, he wrote a list of resolutions (goals) … one read “Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world, as I possibly can.”
There’s for storing up treasures in heaven.
CS Lewis wrote, “Aim at heaven and you’ll get earth ‘thrown in’, aim at earth and you’ll get neither.”
Sometimes it feels like such a long journey, or like my boys are starting to get into the habit of saying on trips, “Are we there yet?” or 30 minutes into a 2 hour trip “Dad, how much longer until we get there?” Death seems like such a long time out, however, its not. Our life is like a vapor, here for a moment and then gone.
I think of another popular country song, “Live Like You Were Dying.” He sings of all the things he would do if time was short, like climbing mountains and riding in the rodeo. However, if we knew life was coming to an end those of us with Faith and Hope should be thinking eternity. The adventures are ok but more importantly we should be seeing with our spiritual eyes.
1952 Florence Chadwick stepped into the waters of the Pacific Ocean of Catalina Island, determined to swim to the shore of mainland California. She’d already been the first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. The weather was foggy and chilly; she could hardly see the boats accompanying her. Still she swam for 15 hours. When she begged to be taken out of the water along the way her mother, in a boat alongside, told her she was close and she could make it. Finally, physically and emotionally exhausted, she stopped swimming and was pulled out. It wasn’t until she was on the boat that she discovered the shore was less than half a mile away. At a news conference the next day she said, “All I could see was fog … I think if I could have seen the shore, I would have made it.”
If she could have seen the shore … it was so close. Heaven is close, be looking for the shore. It is there. You can make it. Help others to see the shore. It is so worth it.
The resurrection is something to look forward to … if Huckfinn could have understood that amazing untold adventures await us in the next life he also would have longed for Paradise with God and encouraged his friend Tom Sawyer into Faith and Hope, as well.
Not used but good: CS Lewis’ The Silver Chair – the underworld v. the overworld… pg 12-13 HEAVEN, By Alcorn.
Col 3.1-2 “Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is. Seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”
Hope in something so much better than anything attainable here and now.
Once we have faith and our hope is in heaven we can really love.
LOVE
Love is a result of faith and hope. Real love hopes for the best for those we love … which is nothing less than heaven. Love leads back to hope. Which leads us back to faith.
Our love for others desires they have the hope we have because of the faith we have.
Love lived out seems to be a confusing thing. We don’t do a very good job of understanding what it means to love.
There are many books written about love. In fact most books are about love in some way or another. Love stories, well all good stories include good v. evil and love. There are also many-many self-help books on love.
I have an extensive ministry library, one section includes quite a few books on relationships. I pulled out all the books with the word “love” in the title and found about 16 books.
Love- A New Look at a Old Word
Loving Your Wife
Loving Your Husband
52 Simple Ways to Say I love You
The Language of Love
Acts of Love
Love is a Decision
Do Yourself a Favor: Love Your Wife
Love For a Lifetime
The Two Sides of Love
How to Really Love Your Child
Love In The Family
The Five Love Languages
The Five Love Languages of Teenagers
The Five Love Languages of Children
Food and Love
Charlie Brown dealt the difficulty of describing love. Lucy says to Charlie Brown, “You know what I don’t understand? I don’t understand love.”
Charlie Brown responds, “Who does?”
Lucy replied, “Explain love to me Charlie Brown.’
“I can’t explain love. I can only recommend a book or poem or painting. I can’t explain love,” answers Charlie.
“Well try, Charlie Brown, try.”
Charlie says, “Well, let’s say I see this beautiful, cute little girl walking by…”
Lucy interrupts, “Why does she have to be cute, huh? Explain that! Why can’t someone fall in love with a person with freckles and a big nose? Explain that Charlie Brown.”
“Well maybe your right,“ answers Charlie. “Let’s just say I see this girl walk by with this great big nose…”
“I didn’t say great big nose, Charlie.”
In the last frame, his hands jammed down into his pockets, Charlie dejectedly walks away from Lucy and says, “You can’t explain love, you can’t even talk about it.”
In my original notes I wanted to take some time to look at practical ways of loving those closest to you by talking briefly about the Five Love Languages. However, I have gotten long winded and we need to simply know like the popular Phil Vasser country song says, “Love is Beautiful Thing.”
Col 3.14 – Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity
Phil 2 – Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves … look out for the interests of others … do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.
Read: 1 Cor 13.4-8
Love is a beautiful thing, but it is most beautiful if it comes directly from Faith and Hope. Which because of Love, we desire to pass on to others.
If you have not confessed your faith in Christ, been baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, thereby gaining the hope of heaven, we would love to talk and pray with about making those decisions.
