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THE KIRK OF KILDAIRE PRESBYTERIAN
CHURCH
CARY, NC
www.kirkofkildaire.org
A sermon preached by Stephanie Arnold
January 28, 2007
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
The Rapides Parish Fair came to Alexandria Louisiana while I was teaching
special needs High School students. On one of the days, the fair shut
down to the general public and they allowed only special needs classes
to come-for free, and of course, I got to go with them. What a great
day! We rode all of the rides over and over again-bumper cars, Ferris
wheels, the big boat- great fun... Some of my students wanted to go
in the house of mirrors. I had never been in one before, but if it's
free, you can pass it up! I didn't think it would be any big deal.
But when we got in there, I found that the mirrors made it so confusing.
Everywhere you looked, you saw yourself or the person in front of
you. It didn't take long for my class to start to freak out, scared
that they would never get out. I started to panic too- I don't want
to be trapped in a house of mirrors while one of the students had
a break down and I certainly didn't want to be the one having the
break-down. The panic increased, until I found the answer. I told
them (in my best teacher voice)-"Be quiet- call down. Look at
the floor. You see where the floor is worn down, it's almost a different
color that is the path that others have been - that is the way out."
The answer was right in front of us. The mirrors were just distractions
from the way out. When we all calmed down, it was not a problem at
all.
In many ways, this is exactly what Paul is telling his congregation
in Corinth. Ignore all of the mirrors, ignore your own reflection
and that of your neighbors and focus instead on what is really important.
The church in Corinth is having a wide host of problems. I know we've
had our share of problems at the Kirk from time to time-money and
mortgages, to name a few. But in comparison to his church, we've had
nothing but smooth sailing. There are some strange things going on-
• some folk really don't behave all that well at the meals that
they held in memory of Jesus
• some eat too much and others drink too much,
• while others are sent home hungry.
• some people take other church members to court instead of working
it out amongst themselves;
• And of course, there is the man who is sleeping with his step-mother.
And that breaks Pastor Paul's heart. The church in Corinth isn't just
any church; it is the one that he founded years before, a church
that he deeply loves. In the 3rd chapter of 1 Corinthians, he reminds
them that he built the foundation for this church on Jesus
Christ. This church is one that he planted and cultivated. He spent
time building relationships, training workers, preaching the gospel,
encouraging the saints, helping establish some structure for the church
and no doubt settled more than a couple of arguments.
But I imagine that one of the problems that breaks Paul's heart the
most is that of arrogance. Those who had special skills and abilities
became distractions, getting in what is really important. Like a bad
case of the flu-- arrogance began to be passed around
among the congregation and the leaders. "Apollo, the apostle
I follow is better than Cephas that you follow." "I give
more money, so I'm better." They were even arguing about who
is the most spiritual-who has the best gifts and who is more important
in the body of Christ. It is a bad case of arrogance that is ripping
the church apart. They have stopped acting like a functioning church
or like a cohesive family, instead have become arrogant and snobbish.
And, like mirrors in the House of Mirrors, their arrogance becomes
a distraction. All of their spiritual gifts, all of their abilities,
misdirect their attention from the important matters. Thinking that
they can speak with tongues of angels, they loose track of what is
ultimately important. Trying to prophecy, they get deterred from the
eternal truth. Caught up in their own generosity, they forget their
foundation. All of their great gifts-prophesying, speaking in tongues,
giving tons of money, they are nothing without God's love. You see,
if you focus on the temporal things, you can forget about those in
need around you. You can forget about being the Body of Christ. Feeding
the needy becomes less important than feeding your own ego. Caring
for the sick becomes less important than caring for yourself. What
a tragedy. What a waste of gifts.
Another problem that Paul's congregation struggles with is that of
wisdom. Some people are pretty sure that they have
a good handle on God. They think that they know it all and have it
all worked out. Paul reminds them earlier in this letter that he didn't
come to them with lofty words or wisdom. Instead, he came only knowing
Christ and him crucified so that their faith would be grounded in
power of God, instead of human wisdom. But some members of the church
of Corinth believe that they know all about God. But without humility,
what they know is worth nothing. So Paul has to remind about their
place in the world. All of their wisdom-is but a fragment of who God
really is. Isaiah reminds us that God's thoughts are not our thoughts
and God's ways are not our ways. As far as the heavens are above the
earth, that is how far God's thoughts are away from us. You see, focusing
on our own wisdom, can be blinding from the needs of the Christian
community and the needs of the world.
It's not that spiritual gifts or wisdom are bad. In fact, they are
really good things, but if pride or arrogance gets in the way, they
become distractions from the true foundation in God's love. Like the
mirrors in the "House of Mirrors," without focusing on the
right foundation, they can be distractions from the truth of God's
love.
As in any congregation there are people at different places in their
personal and spiritual journeys. And so, I imagine that some in Paul's
congregation are on the opposite side of the fence from those who
were arrogant about their abilities and their own wisdom. Instead
of arrogance, they may have been so unsure of what they believed
that it paralyzed them for any action and caused them problems. Their
insecurity is a problem that got in the way of knowing that they are
loved and they are created for love.
In seminary, we came to the end of the second semester of Theology.
We had spent time learning about the nature of God, the attributes
of God, the doctrine of sin, reading Calvin's Institutes and other
enlightening books. And it came time for our final exam. One of my
classmates was so proud of himself. He strutted into class wearing
a T-Shirt and a jacket. He made a big deal of taking off his jacket
and stretching so everyone could read what it said: "The Hokey-Pokey-what
if that is really all it is about."
Well, the professors weren't exactly thrilled-- trivializing the theology
studies that we had worked so hard on.
And yet, I sat there, feeling ill-prepared to explain my understanding
of God to my professors who had spent more years thinking about
theology than I had spent living. I felt unsure about knowing much
about God. And had huge doubts-what if I'm wrong? I have a feeling
that there were people in Paul's church who felt the same way.
Paul's reassurance to his congregation is that right now, we do
not know everything about God. God doesn't require all knowledge.
God's love is not dependant on us, but rather dependant on God alone.
In fact, try as hard as we want, we cannot know everything about
God.
But someday we will. And that must have been reassuring both
for the early church and for us. For now we see only in part, in
fragments, but then we will see face to face. Right now we see in
a glass or mirror dimly, but in the fullness of time, we will see
face-to-face. There is no reason to be distracted by our own insecurities
as long as we focus on God's love for us.
So Paul has to remind them and us of what really matters, that is
what we are made of. We are all the body of Christ and the uniting
force is that of God's love. Beneath it all, when you strip down
everything else, what you find (or what you hope to find) is the
core of love that God created in us. Paul wanted to strip off the
layer of arrogance or insecurity that surrounded them. It's kind
of like whittling…
There was a pastor named Roger who was a pastor in Austin, TX. He
tells the story of how, years ago, he tried to learn how to whittle.
He went to a man named Joe McMordie who was an accomplished wood
carver. Roger describes himself as a pretty pathetic student, but
he remembers one piece of wisdom that Joe gave to him.
One day they were carving a little dog and Roger, all frustrated,
asked, "How do you do this? What's the secret of carving?"
Joe looked at him thoughtfully for a moment and said, "That's
easy. You pick up a piece of wood and just cut off everything that
doesn't look like a dog."
I like that! This is what Paul is doing in this Corinthian passage.
He begins with what doesn't look like love-arrogance, impatience,
pridefulness. All of the things that need to be cut away from us
in order to allow genuine love to take root in our living. All of
the rest just gets in the way of acting on God's love.
Unlike love, prophecy will vanish in the presence of God. Speaking
in tongues will cease. All the wisdom in the world will similarly
be no more in the presence of God. Our limited understanding of
God will be complete in the totality of God, which totality is love.
I like the way the last few verses of I Corinthians 13 was translated
by Eugene Peterson in the Message. "Love never dies.
Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end;
understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the
truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when
the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. We do not
yet see things clearly. We are squinting in a fog, peering through
the mist, but it will not be long before the weather clears and
the sun shines bright. We will see it all then; see as clearly as
God sees us, knowing God as directly as God knows us."
Right now, we live in what is called the "Now" and the
"Not-Yet." This is the time before the complete, before
the fullness of time. During this time, there is so much that can
distract us-both individually and as the body of Christ. But we
are called as Christians to remain steadfast in God's love, to remain
single-minded in God's love.
So what exactly does it mean to focus on God's love? I assure you
it is not a mental exercise or brain-work-out. It's not focusing
on a warm fuzzy feeling in our hearts. It's not necessarily being
happy and care-free. Focusing on God's love calls for definite action.
And this is what Paul talks about in the final verse of today's
passage: Now faith, hope and love abide and the greatest of these
is love."
Living in God's love means that when you don't feel loving, you
do the caring thing anyway;
• Living in God's love means when you don't feel like being
kind, you say something nice about the person who is being rude
anyway;
• Living in God's love means that you don't think that someone
else's plan will work and that your idea is better, you let them
do it regardless;
• Living in God's love means that you don't think you can
possibly do what God is calling you to do, but you start doing
it anyway.
• Living in God's love means focusing on that which is eternal
and not the things that will pass away.
Eugene Peterson says it this way, "For right now, until that
completeness comes, we have three things to do. Trust steadily in
God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the
three is love. Go after a life of love as if your life depended
on it-because it does. " Amen.
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