October 13, 2025 • 30 mins
What if the Christian life is simpler—and richer—than performance, pressure, and spiritual résumé-building? We open 1 Corinthians 13:8–13 and trace a clear line: faith and hope matter deeply for life right now, but love is the only thing that never ends. Along the way, we challenge the drift toward religious hustle and recenter on relationship with Jesus, where dependence replaces display and grace outpowers grit.
We look at how Corinth elevated gifts like tongues, prophecy, and knowledge into markers of status—and why Paul calls them “in part.” Gifts are temporary containers for God’s work; love is the work. From there we sharpen practical definitions you can live: faith as confidence in Jesus alone, hope as expectant trust in His promises amid chaos, and love as delighted affection for God that overflows to people. We unpack the “already and not yet” of the Christian life—fully adopted and seated with Christ now, yet still maturing into what we already are. That tension reframes growth: not stricter rule-keeping, but deeper relationship.
You’ll hear how grace fuels real change, including freedom from numbing substitutes. Where alcohol and performance promise relief, Jesus offers healing. We walk through five anchor texts (1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1 Peter, Colossians) that thread faith, hope, and love into daily work, endurance, and community. Expect a call away from cultural religion toward humble trust, eager waiting, and steady presence with God—because love never fails, and that’s the life we were made to live.
If this resonates, subscribe, share with a friend who’s weary of performance, and leave a review with one takeaway you’re putting into practice this week.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:27):
We are going to be studying 1 Corinthians chapter
13, verses 8 through 13.
So this is our third week in 1Corinthians chapter 13 and our
23rd week studying the book of 1Corinthians altogether.
And we're going to be goingstraight through as we always
do.
But today, the title of today'ssermon is Faith, Hope, and Love,
(00:49):
Three Treasures from Above.
Right?
Sounds like a cute poem youlearn in kindergarten.
Awana class.
So Faith, Hope, and Love.
We hear those words all thetime, don't we?
I saw I was at yesterday, I wasin the airport, and a lady's
(01:10):
t-shirt said faith, hope, andlove.
And I almost stopped her to say,hey, I'm going to teach about
that tomorrow.
But that would have been reallyweird.
But I so I didn't.
Okay.
What is your Christian lifefocused on?
What do you really want more of?
(01:31):
What we're going to learn todayis that all we need to really
focus on is faith, hope, andlove.
But we're going to learn aboutwhat those things are.
Because those that all soundsreally like Christianese, right?
You go to church, you hear aboutfaith, hope, and love, and they
seem like these religious terms.
And it might sound religious,but it's really not.
Faith, hope, and love are theexact opposite of religion.
(01:54):
Because faith, hope, and loveare all based, they're all
relationship terms.
So you have religion and youhave relationship.
We hate religion.
We love relationship.
We love Jesus.
We love being in a relationshipwith God.
Christianity, the Bible, is allabout relationship with God, and
(02:16):
it is not about religion.
It's a total misconception inthe world to think that what
we're what we're teaching here,what we talk about, is religion.
Because you know why?
Religion is all about what youdo.
When someone becomes religious,it's what can I do to impress
(02:37):
God, to please God, to make Godhappy.
Well, I've been baptized, I takecommunion, I help old ladies
across the street, I give money,I do all the things that my
granny told me I was supposed todo to be a religious person.
And because of those things Ido, I think maybe I might have a
little bit of confidence thatI'm accepted by God, but that's
(02:59):
not what the Bible says.
The Bible says people who try toimpress God never impress God.
You can't.
He says, All our righteousnessis as filthy rags before God.
In other words, the harder youtry to impress God, the least,
the less you will impress God.
Because no one can impress Godexcept one time one dude came
(03:21):
and he lived a perfect life, andGod literally ripped open
heaven, he split heaven, and hesaid, This is my beloved son, in
him I am well pleased, meaningI'm really impressed by the life
Jesus lives because he's my son.
He's me and I'm him, and but yethe's my son.
His life impresses me.
(03:42):
Religion wants to make churchall about what you do.
The church in Corinth that we'vebeen studying this whole book,
they got really distracted overuh with an over-emphasis on
spiritual gifts.
And so Paul had to startwriting, and we started in verse
11, 12, start talking aboutspiritual gifts, and Paul wanted
(04:03):
them to understand spiritualgifts.
But what happens is thespiritual gifts got really weird
because the church made it allabout spiritual gifts.
And what does that make themfocus on?
They were focused on themselves.
What's my spiritual gift?
What's my spiritual gift?
And that's important, it'simportant to know how God's
gifted you, but they wereoveremphasizing it.
If you focus on them too much,your spiritual gifts begin to
(04:26):
lose their effectiveness becauseyour eyes get off of Jesus and
onto yourself, and so there's nospiritual life or power in
yourself, and so the spiritualgifts get neutered.
They only work when we'rewalking in the spirit.
So, how do we walk in thespirit?
We keep our eyes focused onJesus, our hearts focused on
(04:49):
Jesus, and surrendered to hisnew covenant of grace in our
lives.
That's how to walk in thespirit.
It's not some mysterious thinglike you have to go to a weird
prayer meeting, people have tolay hands on you, and you have
to speak in another language.
That's not what it looks like inthe Bible to walk in the spirit.
It's a heart that depends onJesus.
(05:09):
That's what the Holy Spiritinitiates and breathes into you.
He wants you to have a heartthat depends on Jesus.
This is kind of what I thinkthey would have said in Corinth.
Oh boy, we are so spiritual.
Woo we look at us.
Look at all the cool things wedo for God.
(05:31):
We we can speak in tongues, wecan speak in other languages.
We're gifted prophets andteachers and givers and helpers
and pastors.
Look at us, we are so awesome.
And that's what it looks like tobe super spiritual and fall into
religious spirituality insteadof true spirituality.
(05:53):
Performance-focused Christianityis just religion.
Look at what I can do for God.
Look at what I what am I gonnado for God?
If you're asking that question,it could be from a heart that
says, Yeah, my life issurrendered to God, I want to do
it, or it could be from a heartthat says, my focus is on me and
(06:19):
what I need to do, what I shoulddo, instead of your focus being
on Jesus.
So there's two ways that we, andit all comes down to heart and
relationship.
You can't ever fake it with God.
You can't ever fake humility.
Humility is Jesus, I truly knowthat I need you, and I'm
surrendering my life to you infaith.
(06:43):
So Paul's gonna teach us today,and he just like he taught his
church then, that they shouldfocus on love more than their
spiritual gifts, because theirgifts are temporary containers
of God's work, not the workitself.
So the work itself is love.
So just focus on the project,all the different aspects of the
project, they'll come togetherin time.
(07:05):
Those are the spiritual gifts,but the whole project itself is
love.
And so we've studied how thislove is actually, we call it the
greatest gift.
So it's this love is a gift, thegreatest gift we can receive
from God is a heart of agapelove.
And we learned what the wordagape love means last week,
(07:27):
right?
How it means the selfless,self-giving love.
And so that heart that lovespeople selflessly is agape love.
And it's a free gift that onlyGod can give you.
You can't muster up that heart,you can't give yourself that
heart, you can't earn that heartor produce that heart just by
(07:48):
saying, Well, I'm gonna beloving, I'm gonna be the most
loving person I can be.
You can't just decide that.
You have to receive that heartfrom God as a gift.
And who does he give that to?
Whoever asks.
Whoever says, God, I want to belike you.
I want to be filled with yourlove, with your very nature.
(08:12):
And what is that?
That's the Holy Spirit.
God, fill me with your HolySpirit.
Give me your Holy Spirit.
So this is the practical lessonof this chapter, okay?
We are children of God, and sowe're gonna love like our daddy
loves.
That love is gonna flow throughus because we're reborn as his
(08:33):
children in his image, and heputs his image inside us, and
that's called his Holy Spirit.
So we'll never live happily inany other way except loving with
agape love.
That's the only way that youwill be happy.
So if you're a child of God, ifyou know that you've been born
(08:55):
again and you have thisrelationship with God through
you.
SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
But does it really?
SPEAKER_01 (09:09):
Well, can I really love as God does?
Love never fails.
Can I you can do nothing withoutme, Jesus says?
That will always fail.
You see the difference?
We either connect with Godthrough Jesus with a humble
(09:30):
heart of faith, or we becomereligious, which will always
fail.
Jesus will never fail.
His love will never fail.
So let's read our text here in 1Corinthians.
It says, Love never fails.
Oh, that's where I got that.
But where there are prophecies,where there are tongues, they
(09:50):
will cease.
Where there where there isknowledge, it will fail in part
and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfecthas come, that which is in part
will be done away with.
SPEAKER_00 (10:04):
Okay, this is heaven, right?
That's when everything isperfect.
SPEAKER_01 (10:12):
So when we die, we will arrive in the spiritual
world.
Thing is love.
And then your loving responseback to him.
Because God is love.
So he you are gonna be theobject of his love.
He is going to be loving on you,on you, and that will be all
(10:34):
that matters.
And his truth will swallow upeverything else.
All the pain, all the sorrow,all the regret depression and
disappointment will be baptizedin his love and in his life.
SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
And all that's left will be his love for you, and
you will experience the tasty,the most glorious thing you
could ever imagine.
SPEAKER_01 (11:05):
So it's obviously happening, not so fast.
We also have an opportunity tosee the completeness of his
love, to experience and feel hislove on this planet.
And that's what's so incrediblehere.
(11:26):
The new covenant of grace thatJesus brought us has welcomed us
into the family of God now.
You are seated in heavenly inthe heavenlies right now.
You are seated with Christ rightnow.
You are in Christ, you are fullyadopted, and so everything
that's real about heaven, aboutGod's love and all that I just
(11:49):
described to you, it's yoursright now.
You have it right now.
That's your relationship withGod right now.
It's yours.
You're like, why don't I feel itthen?
Well, feelings are fickle, butyou have it in your spirit right
now, because your spirit islinked with Jesus, inseparably
(12:11):
linked with Jesus.
And this life, so what are wedoing in this life then?
Why don't we just die and go toheaven since that's our real
home, that's our real reality.
Why do we live this life?
Well, we're called to simplygrow in grace, which is learning
all that Jesus has done for us.
We're learning how to understandwhat Jesus has done for us and
(12:32):
then believe what Jesus has donefor us, believing in the
realities of heaven that they'refor right now.
That's our life of growth.
In 2 Peter 3:18, he says, Growin the grace and knowledge of
our Lord and Savior JesusChrist.
To him be the glory both now andforever.
So growing is very important.
So let's go back now to 1Corinthians, and it says, When I
(12:55):
was a child, I spoke as a child,I understood as a child, I
thought as a child, but when Ibecame a man, what's that?
Growing.
I became a man, I put awaychildish things.
For now I see in a mirror dimly,but then face to face.
Now I know in part, but then Ishall known know just as I also
(13:20):
am known.
So we are in this life, we aregrowing and maturing in grace.
What does that mean?
It means we are growing andmaturing in relationship.
We are not growing inreligiosity, we're not growing
in all the rules that you'llfollow.
You are growing in relationship.
(13:43):
That's what the gospel says,that's what the Bible says.
You grow in grace.
And we grow in this relationshipwith Jesus now until we die, and
then when we die, it'sperfected.
Nothing is held back from usuntil heaven, though,
relationally.
You get all of Jesus.
(14:09):
He did that so he could give youall of himself relationally.
As much as you want of him, hewill give you.
Oh, I wish my relationship withJesus was closer.
Well, who's that on?
Not him.
He is literally dying to getmore in your life.
(14:30):
It's us that hold back.
We hold back.
Oh, Jesus, I don't really wantyou to go into that little room
that I keep locked, that I keep,I don't even know where I have
the key anymore.
I don't want you to talk to meabout that.
I don't want to surrender this.
That hurt's too painful.
This is too too much.
And I'm I'm really afraid of youseeing all this part of me.
(14:57):
He is perfect in hisfaithfulness to you.
He is absolutely perfect.
And he calls you, he's invitingyou to grow in trusting in his
faithfulness, which is calledhis grace.
He wants you to trust, I amthere for you.
I am I'm here, I am your life.
And you're not going to be happywithout me.
(15:18):
So let's do this.
You and me, let's go, let's dothis.
The emphasis is on the perfectwork of Christ and our the
believer's identity in him,which is already complete and
perfect in a spiritual sense.
(15:38):
Okay, our identity is alreadycomplete in him.
We are both perfect in heavenright now and we are growing on
earth.
It's already but not yet.
Already, but not yet.
And we see that in 1 John 3:2.
Beloved, now we are children ofGod.
So that's complete, right?
(16:00):
Yet it not has not been revealedwhat we shall be, but we know
that when he is revealed, weshall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is.
So you see, already but not yet.
That's the day when we die, ourfaith will be made sight.
All right, Spurgeon quote,Spurgeon quote.
(16:27):
He says, He it is who shallrivet our gaze, absorb our
thoughts, enchain our affection,and move all our sacred passions
to their highest pitch ofcelestial ardor.
We shall see Jesus.
(16:48):
I love him.
All right, back to our text.
It says, and now abide faith,hope, and love.
SPEAKER_00 (16:58):
These three.
But the greatest why is lovegreater?
SPEAKER_01 (17:06):
Well, very simply, because love is eternal, love
lasts forever.
We won't need faith forever.
We only need faith in this life.
You don't need hope forever, youonly need hope in this life.
But love is eternal, it will goon forever and ever and ever.
You will be receiving God's loveand giving God love back and
(17:29):
forth forever and ever and ever.
That is our destiny.
That's what's gonna happen.
And you're like, well, thatsounds kind of boring, dude.
Have you ever been married?
Do you know how incredible it isto love someone and be loved?
It is amazing.
And we're talking about aperfect relationship based on
the love of God, and that iseternal.
(17:50):
So that's what why love isbetter.
But in this life, you can reallysimplify everything down to
faith, hope, and love.
So faith, what is that?
It's faith in Jesus.
It's not just like random faith,it's faith in the Jesus.
So this means choosing to placemy confidence in Jesus alone.
(18:10):
So why am I going to go toheaven?
Because Jesus died for me.
Why do I have peace?
Because Jesus gave it to me.
Why am I not guilty of sin?
Because Jesus has forgiven me.
All my confidence is in him, notme.
Not because I was baptized or Imade good decisions or I've done
this or that.
It's never about that.
It's only about what Jesus did.
So that's what faith is.
(18:31):
Hope is having hope in hisfinished work.
That means living with anexpectation that God will do
what he said.
So when you have hope, you'relike, I know it looks crazy
right now.
I know it looks insane.
I know it looks impossible, butI have hope.
I have a guarantee in my heartthat Jesus is gonna do what he
(18:52):
said he's gonna do.
And then love is delighting inJesus and living with passionate
affection for God through Jesus.
Not passionate religion, not I'mreally passionate about
following other rules, butpassion for God Himself.
You would rather spend time withGod than do anything else.
(19:13):
You would rather delight in hisword, in his presence than
anything else.
That is what love looks like.
This describes the life of graceperfectly that we talk about
every week as we put on thegrace glasses in 1 Corinthians
that we've been learning about.
But it this doesn't describereligion.
Like if you've gone to churchand if you've gone to certain
kinds of churches or justreligious churches or
(19:35):
traditional churches, thisdoesn't describe the life that
they're talking about all thetime because they want religion
wants you to focus on yourselfand what you do.
Faith, hope, and love are allrelational, not religious.
It's the practical way we candescribe a life lived with God
(19:56):
as your father, not God as yourboss, your slave driver.
No, it faith, hope, and love isGod as your dad, your daddy,
your your daddy, your papa.
So we're gonna look at fiveverses now to end our service
that describe the life of faith,hope, and love.
(20:20):
So first is first Thessalonians,first Thessalonians 1, 3.
Remembering without ceasing yourwork of faith, labor of love,
and patience of hope in our LordJesus Christ in the sight of our
God and Father.
(20:41):
So he at the beginning of hisletter to Thessalonians, Paul
says, This church, he's so happyfor them, he's so excited about
them because they placed arelationship with God as their
first priority.
And how did he describe it?
Faith, hope, and love.
That's what relationship withGod looks like.
And it affected everything thatthey did.
Yeah, they worked, they labored,they waited, but it was all
(21:06):
through Jesus.
It wasn't, they didn't havefaith, hope, and love in
religion.
They had faith, hope, and lovein Jesus.
It's relational, not religious.
All right, the second verse isthe same book, 1 Thessalonians 5
8.
So at the end of the book, hesays, But let us who are of the
day be sober, putting on thebreastplate of faith and love,
(21:27):
and as a helmet, the hope ofreligion.
Wow, we see them again.
Faith, hope, and love.
Anyone ever know someone whoneeds to be more sober in their
life?
Yeah, it's it's around, it's outthere, it's around.
And here we see thatrelationship with Jesus is the
only path to real, sober, truesober living.
(21:50):
Relationship with Jesus.
You can't accomplish it, youcan't truly see the freedom of
sober living through rules, it'sthrough relationship with Jesus
that you'll discover the lifethat is not even able to fall
into that kind of temptation.
It's life, it's love that Jesussets us free with, it's his own
(22:14):
power, it's his own life, it'shis own love that he invites us.
When alcohol says I can numbthat pain, Jesus says I can heal
that pain.
When alcohol says I can I canmake you feel better, Jesus says
I make you better.
It's a shallow ripoff of whatJesus Himself wants to give us
(22:41):
through his grace, through hisown life.
And Jesus and Paul's like,you've done it.
You got it, you're doing a greatjob, church.
All right, the next verse isGalatians 5, verses 5 through 6.
It says, For we through theSpirit eagerly wait for the hope
of righteousness by faith.
(23:02):
For in Christ Jesus, neithercircumcision nor uncircumcision
uncircumcision avails anythingbut faith working through love.
So in our lives, we have toeagerly wait.
Can you those words don'tusually go together?
How do you eagerly wait forsomething?
Like it just doesn't, I don'tknow, those words don't make
(23:26):
sense.
But to eagerly wait to see hisrighteousness show up as we
trust in him.
So, man, do you want to seerighteousness in your life?
Of course you do.
So do you go out there and starttrying to be more righteous?
No, that's not eagerly waiting.
That's stressing out and tryingto do it on your own.
That's by the flesh.
(23:46):
So you want to see righteousnessin your life, you want to see
yourself do the right thing,then eagerly wait.
That means wait with purpose.
I'm gonna wait upon the Lord.
I'm gonna dig into spending timewith, I'm gonna dig into getting
out in the morning and away frompeople and opening up the word
and spending time with Jesus.
That's how you eagerly waitbecause you're not in charge
(24:08):
when you're spending, when yougo for a walk with someone, it's
not like, all right, let's go.
You you you legally stroll, youleisurely, legally, leisurely
stroll with somebody, and that'slike an exciting relational
thing.
You ever tried to walk withsomeone who walks too fast?
It it doesn't lead towardsromance or anything like that.
(24:35):
Relax, chill out, spend timeeagerly wait, and that means dig
into a relationship with Jesuswhere you just spend time
together.
God has given you time in thisworld.
Spend it with Him.
You get you get a currency oftime.
Every day you get 24 hours, yougotta sleep for a few of them.
(24:59):
So what are you gonna do withthe rest?
God says, Take me with you.
I want to spend time with you.
All right, our next verse is 1Peter 1, 21 and 22.
For through him we believe inGod, who raised him from the
dead and gave him glory, so thatyour faith and hope are in God,
(25:20):
since you have purified yoursouls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit in sincerelove.
Faith, hope, and love again ofthe brethren.
Love one another fervently witha pure heart.
So again, we see faith, hope,and love working in us to
produce God's love with a pureheart for each other and back
(25:44):
for him.
Again, this all points us backto relationship.
Every single one of every timePaul mentions or anyone mentions
faith, hope, and love, it'salways about relationship.
So that's what you're learningtoday.
This is the message today.
Faith, hope, and love arerelational, not religious.
And our last verse, Colossianschapter 1, verse 4 and 5.
(26:06):
Since we heard of your faith inChrist Jesus and of your love
for all the saints, because ofthe hope which is laid up for
you in heaven, of which youheard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel.
Wow, there's all three of themagain.
It's almost like we should knowhow this relationship with God
(26:30):
works.
And that is by grace.
The gospel of grace.
He calls it here in this versethe word of truth, the gospel.
The gospel is all aboutrelationship.
We're gonna pound this in.
It's like, why do you keepsaying the same thing again?
Relationship, relationship,relationship.
(26:50):
Because we are in the deepsouth, right?
And in the south, Christianityis a pale version of what it's
intended to be.
In the South, generally, youhave people who say, I'm
Christian.
Why are you a Christian?
Because I go to church.
(27:11):
I've gone to church, I wasbaptized.
I am a good person.
I say this, I do this.
And that is not what being aChristian is.
According to the Bible, being aChristian is my confidence is in
Jesus.
I'm connected to Jesus throughfaith.
(27:32):
I died with him on the cross.
I rose again with him.
Now he lives inside me.
So the person I now I was beforethat was self-focused had died,
and I'm not that person anymore.
I'm born again, and it's nolonger I who live, but Christ
lives in me.
And the life which I now live, Ilive by faith in him who loved
me and gave himself for me.
(27:56):
So it's not about religion, it'snot about church, it's about
relationship.
My faith is in him, my hope ishim, and he is my love.
Because he loved me, I can loveothers in the way that he loved
me.
So I'm filled with a heart oflove, with a spirit of love.
(28:16):
That's what being a Christianis.
And we have to stand as a brightlight here in the community we
live in to say, I'm not justgonna be religious.
Because Jesus, you know, theonly people Jesus ever got mad
at were the religious people.
Those are the people that hetossed over their tables and he
(28:36):
condemned, you know, he said,you guys are not right.
And he spoke, he had he had veryserious words of woe to the
religious people.
But people who would connectwith him and would would would
just run to him with all theirproblems and all their mess and
say, God, I'm a prostitute, I'man addict, I need you, you're
(28:59):
the only one who can save me.
You're the only one who wants toeven talk to me.
And Jesus says, Welcome, come.
I will set you free, I will healyou.
He healed everyone who came tohim and asked.
Jesus never turned a singleperson away.
Who needed healing?
Who needed his touch?
Who needed his spirit?
No one.
He turned not a single personaway.
(29:20):
But when you become religious,you say, I don't really need
Jesus because I look how goodI'm doing.
I follow these rules.
I got the Ten Commandmentsplastered up on my wall.
I got pictures of Jesus, I gotstatues of Jesus.
I am good to go.
Look how religious I am.
And Jesus says, Don't think thatthat's a relationship with me.
(29:43):
Don't think that that'ssalvation.
A relationship with me ishumility, saying, God, I know
that I have sinned.
I deserve nothing, but Jesus, Iaccept what you are offering.
That you would forgive me.
I believe it.
I believe you were thesubstitute, the sacrifice for my
sin.
And I will lay down my life toyou.
(30:04):
I will receive your spirit, andI'm asking you to live through
me.
It's not about me anymore.
It's not about what I want.
I'm gonna live my life for him,through him, him living through
me.
That's it.
We are going to be studying 1 Corinthians chapter
13, verses 8 through 13.
So this is our third week in 1Corinthians chapter 13 and our
23rd week studying the book of 1Corinthians altogether.
And we're going to be goingstraight through as we always
do.
But today, the title of today'ssermon is Faith, Hope, and Love,
(00:49):
Three Treasures from Above.
Right?
Sounds like a cute poem youlearn in kindergarten.
Awana class.
So Faith, Hope, and Love.
We hear those words all thetime, don't we?
I saw I was at yesterday, I wasin the airport, and a lady's
(01:10):
t-shirt said faith, hope, andlove.
And I almost stopped her to say,hey, I'm going to teach about
that tomorrow.
But that would have been reallyweird.
But I so I didn't.
Okay.
What is your Christian lifefocused on?
What do you really want more of?
(01:31):
What we're going to learn todayis that all we need to really
focus on is faith, hope, andlove.
But we're going to learn aboutwhat those things are.
Because those that all soundsreally like Christianese, right?
You go to church, you hear aboutfaith, hope, and love, and they
seem like these religious terms.
And it might sound religious,but it's really not.
Faith, hope, and love are theexact opposite of religion.
(01:54):
Because faith, hope, and loveare all based, they're all
relationship terms.
So you have religion and youhave relationship.
We hate religion.
We love relationship.
We love Jesus.
We love being in a relationshipwith God.
Christianity, the Bible, is allabout relationship with God, and
(02:16):
it is not about religion.
It's a total misconception inthe world to think that what
we're what we're teaching here,what we talk about, is religion.
Because you know why?
Religion is all about what youdo.
When someone becomes religious,it's what can I do to impress
(02:37):
God, to please God, to make Godhappy.
Well, I've been baptized, I takecommunion, I help old ladies
across the street, I give money,I do all the things that my
granny told me I was supposed todo to be a religious person.
And because of those things Ido, I think maybe I might have a
little bit of confidence thatI'm accepted by God, but that's
(02:59):
not what the Bible says.
The Bible says people who try toimpress God never impress God.
You can't.
He says, All our righteousnessis as filthy rags before God.
In other words, the harder youtry to impress God, the least,
the less you will impress God.
Because no one can impress Godexcept one time one dude came
(03:21):
and he lived a perfect life, andGod literally ripped open
heaven, he split heaven, and hesaid, This is my beloved son, in
him I am well pleased, meaningI'm really impressed by the life
Jesus lives because he's my son.
He's me and I'm him, and but yethe's my son.
His life impresses me.
(03:42):
Religion wants to make churchall about what you do.
The church in Corinth that we'vebeen studying this whole book,
they got really distracted overuh with an over-emphasis on
spiritual gifts.
And so Paul had to startwriting, and we started in verse
11, 12, start talking aboutspiritual gifts, and Paul wanted
(04:03):
them to understand spiritualgifts.
But what happens is thespiritual gifts got really weird
because the church made it allabout spiritual gifts.
And what does that make themfocus on?
They were focused on themselves.
What's my spiritual gift?
What's my spiritual gift?
And that's important, it'simportant to know how God's
gifted you, but they wereoveremphasizing it.
If you focus on them too much,your spiritual gifts begin to
(04:26):
lose their effectiveness becauseyour eyes get off of Jesus and
onto yourself, and so there's nospiritual life or power in
yourself, and so the spiritualgifts get neutered.
They only work when we'rewalking in the spirit.
So, how do we walk in thespirit?
We keep our eyes focused onJesus, our hearts focused on
(04:49):
Jesus, and surrendered to hisnew covenant of grace in our
lives.
That's how to walk in thespirit.
It's not some mysterious thinglike you have to go to a weird
prayer meeting, people have tolay hands on you, and you have
to speak in another language.
That's not what it looks like inthe Bible to walk in the spirit.
It's a heart that depends onJesus.
(05:09):
That's what the Holy Spiritinitiates and breathes into you.
He wants you to have a heartthat depends on Jesus.
This is kind of what I thinkthey would have said in Corinth.
Oh boy, we are so spiritual.
Woo we look at us.
Look at all the cool things wedo for God.
(05:31):
We we can speak in tongues, wecan speak in other languages.
We're gifted prophets andteachers and givers and helpers
and pastors.
Look at us, we are so awesome.
And that's what it looks like tobe super spiritual and fall into
religious spirituality insteadof true spirituality.
(05:53):
Performance-focused Christianityis just religion.
Look at what I can do for God.
Look at what I what am I gonnado for God?
If you're asking that question,it could be from a heart that
says, Yeah, my life issurrendered to God, I want to do
it, or it could be from a heartthat says, my focus is on me and
(06:19):
what I need to do, what I shoulddo, instead of your focus being
on Jesus.
So there's two ways that we, andit all comes down to heart and
relationship.
You can't ever fake it with God.
You can't ever fake humility.
Humility is Jesus, I truly knowthat I need you, and I'm
surrendering my life to you infaith.
(06:43):
So Paul's gonna teach us today,and he just like he taught his
church then, that they shouldfocus on love more than their
spiritual gifts, because theirgifts are temporary containers
of God's work, not the workitself.
So the work itself is love.
So just focus on the project,all the different aspects of the
project, they'll come togetherin time.
(07:05):
Those are the spiritual gifts,but the whole project itself is
love.
And so we've studied how thislove is actually, we call it the
greatest gift.
So it's this love is a gift, thegreatest gift we can receive
from God is a heart of agapelove.
And we learned what the wordagape love means last week,
(07:27):
right?
How it means the selfless,self-giving love.
And so that heart that lovespeople selflessly is agape love.
And it's a free gift that onlyGod can give you.
You can't muster up that heart,you can't give yourself that
heart, you can't earn that heartor produce that heart just by
(07:48):
saying, Well, I'm gonna beloving, I'm gonna be the most
loving person I can be.
You can't just decide that.
You have to receive that heartfrom God as a gift.
And who does he give that to?
Whoever asks.
Whoever says, God, I want to belike you.
I want to be filled with yourlove, with your very nature.
(08:12):
And what is that?
That's the Holy Spirit.
God, fill me with your HolySpirit.
Give me your Holy Spirit.
So this is the practical lessonof this chapter, okay?
We are children of God, and sowe're gonna love like our daddy
loves.
That love is gonna flow throughus because we're reborn as his
(08:33):
children in his image, and heputs his image inside us, and
that's called his Holy Spirit.
So we'll never live happily inany other way except loving with
agape love.
That's the only way that youwill be happy.
So if you're a child of God, ifyou know that you've been born
(08:55):
again and you have thisrelationship with God through
you.
SPEAKER_00 (09:06):
But does it really?
SPEAKER_01 (09:09):
Well, can I really love as God does?
Love never fails.
Can I you can do nothing withoutme, Jesus says?
That will always fail.
You see the difference?
We either connect with Godthrough Jesus with a humble
(09:30):
heart of faith, or we becomereligious, which will always
fail.
Jesus will never fail.
His love will never fail.
So let's read our text here in 1Corinthians.
It says, Love never fails.
Oh, that's where I got that.
But where there are prophecies,where there are tongues, they
(09:50):
will cease.
Where there where there isknowledge, it will fail in part
and we prophesy in part.
But when that which is perfecthas come, that which is in part
will be done away with.
SPEAKER_00 (10:04):
Okay, this is heaven, right?
That's when everything isperfect.
SPEAKER_01 (10:12):
So when we die, we will arrive in the spiritual
world.
Thing is love.
And then your loving responseback to him.
Because God is love.
So he you are gonna be theobject of his love.
He is going to be loving on you,on you, and that will be all
(10:34):
that matters.
And his truth will swallow upeverything else.
All the pain, all the sorrow,all the regret depression and
disappointment will be baptizedin his love and in his life.
SPEAKER_00 (10:54):
And all that's left will be his love for you, and
you will experience the tasty,the most glorious thing you
could ever imagine.
SPEAKER_01 (11:05):
So it's obviously happening, not so fast.
We also have an opportunity tosee the completeness of his
love, to experience and feel hislove on this planet.
And that's what's so incrediblehere.
(11:26):
The new covenant of grace thatJesus brought us has welcomed us
into the family of God now.
You are seated in heavenly inthe heavenlies right now.
You are seated with Christ rightnow.
You are in Christ, you are fullyadopted, and so everything
that's real about heaven, aboutGod's love and all that I just
(11:49):
described to you, it's yoursright now.
You have it right now.
That's your relationship withGod right now.
It's yours.
You're like, why don't I feel itthen?
Well, feelings are fickle, butyou have it in your spirit right
now, because your spirit islinked with Jesus, inseparably
(12:11):
linked with Jesus.
And this life, so what are wedoing in this life then?
Why don't we just die and go toheaven since that's our real
home, that's our real reality.
Why do we live this life?
Well, we're called to simplygrow in grace, which is learning
all that Jesus has done for us.
We're learning how to understandwhat Jesus has done for us and
(12:32):
then believe what Jesus has donefor us, believing in the
realities of heaven that they'refor right now.
That's our life of growth.
In 2 Peter 3:18, he says, Growin the grace and knowledge of
our Lord and Savior JesusChrist.
To him be the glory both now andforever.
So growing is very important.
So let's go back now to 1Corinthians, and it says, When I
(12:55):
was a child, I spoke as a child,I understood as a child, I
thought as a child, but when Ibecame a man, what's that?
Growing.
I became a man, I put awaychildish things.
For now I see in a mirror dimly,but then face to face.
Now I know in part, but then Ishall known know just as I also
(13:20):
am known.
So we are in this life, we aregrowing and maturing in grace.
What does that mean?
It means we are growing andmaturing in relationship.
We are not growing inreligiosity, we're not growing
in all the rules that you'llfollow.
You are growing in relationship.
(13:43):
That's what the gospel says,that's what the Bible says.
You grow in grace.
And we grow in this relationshipwith Jesus now until we die, and
then when we die, it'sperfected.
Nothing is held back from usuntil heaven, though,
relationally.
You get all of Jesus.
(14:09):
He did that so he could give youall of himself relationally.
As much as you want of him, hewill give you.
Oh, I wish my relationship withJesus was closer.
Well, who's that on?
Not him.
He is literally dying to getmore in your life.
(14:30):
It's us that hold back.
We hold back.
Oh, Jesus, I don't really wantyou to go into that little room
that I keep locked, that I keep,I don't even know where I have
the key anymore.
I don't want you to talk to meabout that.
I don't want to surrender this.
That hurt's too painful.
This is too too much.
And I'm I'm really afraid of youseeing all this part of me.
(14:57):
He is perfect in hisfaithfulness to you.
He is absolutely perfect.
And he calls you, he's invitingyou to grow in trusting in his
faithfulness, which is calledhis grace.
He wants you to trust, I amthere for you.
I am I'm here, I am your life.
And you're not going to be happywithout me.
(15:18):
So let's do this.
You and me, let's go, let's dothis.
The emphasis is on the perfectwork of Christ and our the
believer's identity in him,which is already complete and
perfect in a spiritual sense.
(15:38):
Okay, our identity is alreadycomplete in him.
We are both perfect in heavenright now and we are growing on
earth.
It's already but not yet.
Already, but not yet.
And we see that in 1 John 3:2.
Beloved, now we are children ofGod.
So that's complete, right?
(16:00):
Yet it not has not been revealedwhat we shall be, but we know
that when he is revealed, weshall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is.
So you see, already but not yet.
That's the day when we die, ourfaith will be made sight.
All right, Spurgeon quote,Spurgeon quote.
(16:27):
He says, He it is who shallrivet our gaze, absorb our
thoughts, enchain our affection,and move all our sacred passions
to their highest pitch ofcelestial ardor.
We shall see Jesus.
(16:48):
I love him.
All right, back to our text.
It says, and now abide faith,hope, and love.
SPEAKER_00 (16:58):
These three.
But the greatest why is lovegreater?
SPEAKER_01 (17:06):
Well, very simply, because love is eternal, love
lasts forever.
We won't need faith forever.
We only need faith in this life.
You don't need hope forever, youonly need hope in this life.
But love is eternal, it will goon forever and ever and ever.
You will be receiving God's loveand giving God love back and
(17:29):
forth forever and ever and ever.
That is our destiny.
That's what's gonna happen.
And you're like, well, thatsounds kind of boring, dude.
Have you ever been married?
Do you know how incredible it isto love someone and be loved?
It is amazing.
And we're talking about aperfect relationship based on
the love of God, and that iseternal.
(17:50):
So that's what why love isbetter.
But in this life, you can reallysimplify everything down to
faith, hope, and love.
So faith, what is that?
It's faith in Jesus.
It's not just like random faith,it's faith in the Jesus.
So this means choosing to placemy confidence in Jesus alone.
(18:10):
So why am I going to go toheaven?
Because Jesus died for me.
Why do I have peace?
Because Jesus gave it to me.
Why am I not guilty of sin?
Because Jesus has forgiven me.
All my confidence is in him, notme.
Not because I was baptized or Imade good decisions or I've done
this or that.
It's never about that.
It's only about what Jesus did.
So that's what faith is.
(18:31):
Hope is having hope in hisfinished work.
That means living with anexpectation that God will do
what he said.
So when you have hope, you'relike, I know it looks crazy
right now.
I know it looks insane.
I know it looks impossible, butI have hope.
I have a guarantee in my heartthat Jesus is gonna do what he
(18:52):
said he's gonna do.
And then love is delighting inJesus and living with passionate
affection for God through Jesus.
Not passionate religion, not I'mreally passionate about
following other rules, butpassion for God Himself.
You would rather spend time withGod than do anything else.
(19:13):
You would rather delight in hisword, in his presence than
anything else.
That is what love looks like.
This describes the life of graceperfectly that we talk about
every week as we put on thegrace glasses in 1 Corinthians
that we've been learning about.
But it this doesn't describereligion.
Like if you've gone to churchand if you've gone to certain
kinds of churches or justreligious churches or
(19:35):
traditional churches, thisdoesn't describe the life that
they're talking about all thetime because they want religion
wants you to focus on yourselfand what you do.
Faith, hope, and love are allrelational, not religious.
It's the practical way we candescribe a life lived with God
(19:56):
as your father, not God as yourboss, your slave driver.
No, it faith, hope, and love isGod as your dad, your daddy,
your your daddy, your papa.
So we're gonna look at fiveverses now to end our service
that describe the life of faith,hope, and love.
(20:20):
So first is first Thessalonians,first Thessalonians 1, 3.
Remembering without ceasing yourwork of faith, labor of love,
and patience of hope in our LordJesus Christ in the sight of our
God and Father.
(20:41):
So he at the beginning of hisletter to Thessalonians, Paul
says, This church, he's so happyfor them, he's so excited about
them because they placed arelationship with God as their
first priority.
And how did he describe it?
Faith, hope, and love.
That's what relationship withGod looks like.
And it affected everything thatthey did.
Yeah, they worked, they labored,they waited, but it was all
(21:06):
through Jesus.
It wasn't, they didn't havefaith, hope, and love in
religion.
They had faith, hope, and lovein Jesus.
It's relational, not religious.
All right, the second verse isthe same book, 1 Thessalonians 5
8.
So at the end of the book, hesays, But let us who are of the
day be sober, putting on thebreastplate of faith and love,
(21:27):
and as a helmet, the hope ofreligion.
Wow, we see them again.
Faith, hope, and love.
Anyone ever know someone whoneeds to be more sober in their
life?
Yeah, it's it's around, it's outthere, it's around.
And here we see thatrelationship with Jesus is the
only path to real, sober, truesober living.
(21:50):
Relationship with Jesus.
You can't accomplish it, youcan't truly see the freedom of
sober living through rules, it'sthrough relationship with Jesus
that you'll discover the lifethat is not even able to fall
into that kind of temptation.
It's life, it's love that Jesussets us free with, it's his own
(22:14):
power, it's his own life, it'shis own love that he invites us.
When alcohol says I can numbthat pain, Jesus says I can heal
that pain.
When alcohol says I can I canmake you feel better, Jesus says
I make you better.
It's a shallow ripoff of whatJesus Himself wants to give us
(22:41):
through his grace, through hisown life.
And Jesus and Paul's like,you've done it.
You got it, you're doing a greatjob, church.
All right, the next verse isGalatians 5, verses 5 through 6.
It says, For we through theSpirit eagerly wait for the hope
of righteousness by faith.
(23:02):
For in Christ Jesus, neithercircumcision nor uncircumcision
uncircumcision avails anythingbut faith working through love.
So in our lives, we have toeagerly wait.
Can you those words don'tusually go together?
How do you eagerly wait forsomething?
Like it just doesn't, I don'tknow, those words don't make
(23:26):
sense.
But to eagerly wait to see hisrighteousness show up as we
trust in him.
So, man, do you want to seerighteousness in your life?
Of course you do.
So do you go out there and starttrying to be more righteous?
No, that's not eagerly waiting.
That's stressing out and tryingto do it on your own.
That's by the flesh.
(23:46):
So you want to see righteousnessin your life, you want to see
yourself do the right thing,then eagerly wait.
That means wait with purpose.
I'm gonna wait upon the Lord.
I'm gonna dig into spending timewith, I'm gonna dig into getting
out in the morning and away frompeople and opening up the word
and spending time with Jesus.
That's how you eagerly waitbecause you're not in charge
(24:08):
when you're spending, when yougo for a walk with someone, it's
not like, all right, let's go.
You you you legally stroll, youleisurely, legally, leisurely
stroll with somebody, and that'slike an exciting relational
thing.
You ever tried to walk withsomeone who walks too fast?
It it doesn't lead towardsromance or anything like that.
(24:35):
Relax, chill out, spend timeeagerly wait, and that means dig
into a relationship with Jesuswhere you just spend time
together.
God has given you time in thisworld.
Spend it with Him.
You get you get a currency oftime.
Every day you get 24 hours, yougotta sleep for a few of them.
(24:59):
So what are you gonna do withthe rest?
God says, Take me with you.
I want to spend time with you.
All right, our next verse is 1Peter 1, 21 and 22.
For through him we believe inGod, who raised him from the
dead and gave him glory, so thatyour faith and hope are in God,
(25:20):
since you have purified yoursouls in obeying the truth
through the Spirit in sincerelove.
Faith, hope, and love again ofthe brethren.
Love one another fervently witha pure heart.
So again, we see faith, hope,and love working in us to
produce God's love with a pureheart for each other and back
(25:44):
for him.
Again, this all points us backto relationship.
Every single one of every timePaul mentions or anyone mentions
faith, hope, and love, it'salways about relationship.
So that's what you're learningtoday.
This is the message today.
Faith, hope, and love arerelational, not religious.
And our last verse, Colossianschapter 1, verse 4 and 5.
(26:06):
Since we heard of your faith inChrist Jesus and of your love
for all the saints, because ofthe hope which is laid up for
you in heaven, of which youheard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel.
Wow, there's all three of themagain.
It's almost like we should knowhow this relationship with God
(26:30):
works.
And that is by grace.
The gospel of grace.
He calls it here in this versethe word of truth, the gospel.
The gospel is all aboutrelationship.
We're gonna pound this in.
It's like, why do you keepsaying the same thing again?
Relationship, relationship,relationship.
(26:50):
Because we are in the deepsouth, right?
And in the south, Christianityis a pale version of what it's
intended to be.
In the South, generally, youhave people who say, I'm
Christian.
Why are you a Christian?
Because I go to church.
(27:11):
I've gone to church, I wasbaptized.
I am a good person.
I say this, I do this.
And that is not what being aChristian is.
According to the Bible, being aChristian is my confidence is in
Jesus.
I'm connected to Jesus throughfaith.
(27:32):
I died with him on the cross.
I rose again with him.
Now he lives inside me.
So the person I now I was beforethat was self-focused had died,
and I'm not that person anymore.
I'm born again, and it's nolonger I who live, but Christ
lives in me.
And the life which I now live, Ilive by faith in him who loved
me and gave himself for me.
(27:56):
So it's not about religion, it'snot about church, it's about
relationship.
My faith is in him, my hope ishim, and he is my love.
Because he loved me, I can loveothers in the way that he loved
me.
So I'm filled with a heart oflove, with a spirit of love.
(28:16):
That's what being a Christianis.
And we have to stand as a brightlight here in the community we
live in to say, I'm not justgonna be religious.
Because Jesus, you know, theonly people Jesus ever got mad
at were the religious people.
Those are the people that hetossed over their tables and he
(28:36):
condemned, you know, he said,you guys are not right.
And he spoke, he had he had veryserious words of woe to the
religious people.
But people who would connectwith him and would would would
just run to him with all theirproblems and all their mess and
say, God, I'm a prostitute, I'man addict, I need you, you're
(28:59):
the only one who can save me.
You're the only one who wants toeven talk to me.
And Jesus says, Welcome, come.
I will set you free, I will healyou.
He healed everyone who came tohim and asked.
Jesus never turned a singleperson away.
Who needed healing?
Who needed his touch?
Who needed his spirit?
No one.
He turned not a single personaway.
(29:20):
But when you become religious,you say, I don't really need
Jesus because I look how goodI'm doing.
I follow these rules.
I got the Ten Commandmentsplastered up on my wall.
I got pictures of Jesus, I gotstatues of Jesus.
I am good to go.
Look how religious I am.
And Jesus says, Don't think thatthat's a relationship with me.
(29:43):
Don't think that that'ssalvation.
A relationship with me ishumility, saying, God, I know
that I have sinned.
I deserve nothing, but Jesus, Iaccept what you are offering.
That you would forgive me.
I believe it.
I believe you were thesubstitute, the sacrifice for my
sin.
And I will lay down my life toyou.
(30:04):
I will receive your spirit, andI'm asking you to live through
me.
It's not about me anymore.
It's not about what I want.
I'm gonna live my life for him,through him, him living through
me.
That's it.
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