Walking in Faith

Reading: 1 Corinthians 13

How would you define what love is? Before reading the passage, write down your definition and then test it against vv. 4-7. Can you think of any other ways of briefly summarizing the meaning of love, or of other words you could use in its place?

My definition of Love: the feeling of comfort, of complete devotion, complete dedication, the feeling of never wanting to be separated from a person, wanting their happiness and well-being above your own.

After comparing definitions, I see that my definition refers to love as mostly a feeling or state of mind, whereas the scriptures refer to love almost as a part of yourself, or what you are transformed into when you love. You are not envious, you do not boast. Love is what you can turn to in times of trouble.

In vv. 1-3 you will read some startling statements. Why is it, do you think, that lack of love makes these highly ’spiritual’ activities worthless?

Because if we don’t have love, then the message of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice is completely lost. Jesus came to die for our sins not because that was what He had to do, but because He loved us so much that he wanted to have that relationship with us. Everything that He did was because of love – not because of prophecy, power or knowledge. Love.

Verses 8-13 contrast temporary things with the permanence of faith, hope and love. How do Paul’s pictures about growing up and mirrors (vv. 11-12) help you to see the importance of faith, hope and love over ‘temporary’ things?

If my children were to see a reflection in the mirror of what they would look like 10 years, 30 years, or even 60 years from now, they would not know who they were looking at. Temporary things change, they are lost, they are in essence, meaningless. Just because the reflection in the mirror has changed, that doesn’t change what is inside the person – and at the core of that is faith, hope and love. That is everlasting and never-changing.

1 Corinthians 13

How would you define what love is? Before reading the passage, write down your definition and then test it against vv. 4-7. Can you think of any other ways of briefly summarizing the meaning of love, or of other words you could use in its place?

Love is a feeling a person has, deep inside, whereby they long to be close to another. They want to go through good times and bad with this person. They are willing to lay down their life for their loved one. What strikes me about vv. 4-7 is that I know that I love my wife, my children, my family. However, there isn’t a single one of the examples in these verses that I haven’t broken. I am not always patient, nor kind. I will envy and boast with them. I can be very rude and arrogant. Does that mean I don’t love my family? No! That means that I am human and I sin against them as well as the Lord. The last piece is the one that really grabs me though. Love endures all things. It doesn’t say some things or a few things but all things. If my wife cheated on me, should I stay with her? Obviously, that’s a conversation between God and I should that ever occur (don’t get any ideas, lady!) but it doesn’t have to be the end of my love. In fact, it can’t be if I truly love her. Verse 8a makes that perfectly clear: “Love never ends”. I can endure hardships, I can be patient, I can be humble and I can be a servant instead of an expectant master. All of these things are possible because my love never ends.

In vv. 1-3 you will read some startling statements. Why is it, do you think, that lack of love makes these highly ‘spiritual’ activities worthless?

If you don’t have love, you aren’t truly walking with the Lord. You may be practicing the traditions or statutes, but you aren’t obedient to the Lord. Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:36-40:

36″Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the great and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (ESV)

Love your neighbor as yourself. Much easier to say than do. However, a person who lacks love, is not being obedient to the teachings of their Savior, Christ Jesus.

Verses 8-13 contrast temporary things with the permanence of faith, hope and love. How do Paul’s pictures about growing up and mirrors (vv. 11-12) help you to see the importance of faith, hope and love over ‘temporary’ things?

Faith, hope and love are not things you can see. They are things you feel. Growing up, how your parents loved you will be a big indicated on how you love others. Your upbringing is essential in teaching you, building your character, etc. As I look into a mirror, I see the shell God has given me for my soul. My soul is what experiences love — not my fingers or my ears.

Reading: 1 Corinthians 7:1-16

As I quickly read through this passage, I find that Paul’s overall message is one of dedication and obedience to the Lord. He does not condone or promote marriage. He tells us that it is not a sin, but that marriage does result in worldly concerns (making your spouse happy and the like). He also gives suggestions (or are they guidelines) for widows and the unmarried. He makes no distinction between man and woman, husband and wife, in this chapter.

There are some pretty interesting nuggets in this chapter that I think are worthy of looking at deeper….

1. Husband/wife should give the other their conjugal rights. – NASB/NIV translate this as fulfill their duty. As I think about the culture back then, I wonder how this was received. Men dominated society and the women were second, if not third, class people. Here, Paul tells us that men must fulfill their duty to their wife. Being a man, I don’t really see that as much of a struggle for most men; however, just today I heard of a couple here in Austin that are having a tough time in their relationship. The husband and wife have not had sexual intercourse for over a year — and this is not the choice of the wife. That blows me away! That is a dysfunctional relationship that really needs to find Christ in their life. He will bring them closer together. And I think that is what Paul is really saying here. They should fulfill their duty to each other only insomuch that they are do so with the love of Christ in their soul. If they are doing it for earthly pleasures and sexual desires, that’s not the “duty”. Making love is something that is pleasing to the Lord. If it wasn’t pleasing, I firmly believe He would have constructed us differently so reproduction worked more like laying eggs. A husband and wife being intimate with each other can be very beautiful to the Lord if done with the right intent in their hearts.
2. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. – A limited agreement? Oh yeah… that would go over like a ton of bricks with my wife! “Hey honey. Let’s make an agreement to not have intercourse for 3 months…what do you think?” First, I would need to avoid the glaring looks and secondly the hand smacking my arm. The interesting part about this is that Paul basically gives only one good reason why a spouse should deprive the other — devoting themselves to prayer. Even if they devote themselves to prayer for a period of time, Paul makes it clear that it needs to be only for a limited time and then come together again. Why? So that Satan cannot tempt you because of a lack of self-control. Why would he say that? If I don’t have sex with my wife for 2 months because I am devoting myself to prayer — how would Satan attack me? Pretty easy! My eyes would wonder, my thoughts would wonder and my worldly desires would wonder to other potential women. When I stay focused on my wife, spend time with my wife, and am intimate with my life, I care much less for the looks, opinions and desires of other women. They become less important. If, however, I spend time away from her, they opinions become more important because of the innate desire of everyone to be loved.
3. To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife. – I am a firm believer that every person should have this read to them when they file for divorce. Men and women who call themselves Christians should have to talk to their pastor, or elders, regarding their decision based on this Scripture. The most striking part of this verse is the “not I, but the Lord”. The Lord makes it clear. It is a commandment. If we are to love Him and be obedient to Him, we should not divorce our spouse. I know this is extremely controversial because of situations where a man is beating his wife or not faithful to her and the like. Does this verse tell us that there must stick with this man — through thick and through thin? Let’s consider several other verses:
   

   “I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel (Malachi 2:16 NASB)

   So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate. (Matthew 19:6 ESV)

   But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. (Matthew 5:32 ESV, emphasis my own)

   But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. (1 Corinthians 7:15 ESV)

   I cannot interpret Scripture perfectly so I don’t have the answer for those seeking the answer to this question. What I can say is that when two people are in marriage, if they focus their life on living for the Lord instead of themselves, many of their problems will go away. Selfishness, pride, earthly desires will all be replaced with a passionate desire to do more for the other than for themselves. The key to the Scriptures quoted above is that God makes it clear that He HATES divorce. There are two potential exceptions but what becomes more important than the exception is that we follow God’s example of how to live our life. In His grace, God forgives our sins. We should follow His example and try to forgive our spouse. We should use our pastors, elders in our church, and people around us who truly love us to help us work through the sin and focus our life on God. (For more information, I did find a great article on Got Questions.org. I would encourage you to read this article and information from John Piper on this topic. John Piper’s statements can be found here.)
   

4. For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. This verse speaks to the Jewish beliefs and customs of the time. The tradition of the Jews was that children born to the Jews were holy but children born to the heathens were unclean. Paul is writing to the Jews and Greeks that lived in Corinth to explain to them that the husband or the wife would be counted as holy based on their marriage in one flesh. This does not mean that the unbelieving husband or wife would be sanctified and be saved for eternity. Holy here means that the husband and wife are being set aside by the Lord for a very specific purpose — the birth of the child. This verse also gives us assurance that as believers children are born into the world, the Lord views them as holy and, most likely, saved. Scripture is clear that everyone will be held accountable for their own actions in life, but it is not clear from what time in a person’s life that account begins. The implicit teaching from the verse (but absolutely not the explicit teaching) would make it seem that children born of non-Christian families would not be saved. I certainly wouldn’t bet my salvation on that, however!
5. Wife, how do you know whether you will save your husband? Husband, how do you know whether you will save your wife? No one knows if they can, or will, save their spouse. It is not for them to know. Certainly the Lord knows and He will reveal it in His time. What can be found in this verse is encouragement. With patient and endurance, the non-believing spouse may very well be impacted by the believer’s actions and find eternal salvation in Christ Jesus. 1 Peter 3:1-2 makes it clear, however, that it will be the actions of the spouse that impact the non-believers life, not their words…
   

   Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives– when they see your respectful and pure conduct.

   It is reassuring to know that decisions of our eternal salvation are not in our own hands or that of other sinful men and women around us, but instead in the hands of our Lord and Creator. He is righteous and perfect in all His ways. He knows our heart and our souls. He will justly bring us into His family or sentence us to a life separated from Him.