A contemporary paraphrase of 1Cor 12:30b through chapter 13

There are all kinds of supernatural gifts that build up the believers, but let me show you the high road, the supreme way, the ultimate.

If I could speak twenty different languages, was a Greek and Hebrew scholar, and even speak the language of angels, but didn’t have love, it would all be just a bunch of loud noise.

If I had insights into Scripture that no one had ever seen, and was the world’s greatest Christian apologist, and even possessed faith that produced incredible results, if I didn’t have love, I’d be a big zero.

If I was so generous that I gave everything I had to the poor, and ran into a burning building to rescue someone and was burned alive in the process, if I didn’t do it out of love, I haven’t gained anything!

Look at Jesus’ patience (he put up with Judas for 3 years) and his kindness (would you have been so gentle with Peter or the demoniac). He never envied anyone, never boasted about His accomplishments. He was never rude. His behavior was always exemplary, never irritable or resentful. Even when some wrong could benefit him personally, He chose the way of truth.

He put up with whatever came at Him. He believed God no matter how things looked. He never gave up hope and endured the worst to the very end. That’s because real love is forever.

All the supernatural gifts of the Spirit are incomplete and will one day be unnecessary. When the fullness comes, the incomplete is no longer  needed. It’s like a person growing up. When they reach maturity they no longer talk, or think, or reason like they did when they were a little child.

Presently we are just getting a glimpse of the Love of God. One day we will look straight into His eyes! Now it’s like getting acquainted with a someone through emails. Then we will live intimately with Him in His presence.

There are three things that endure, faith, hope, and love, but love is the ultimate.

Share on Facebook

Ida Pierce

Ida Pierce! Most of you have been in her home for supper with a group of people. You were probably asked to share about your journey to Christ, as were the others who came to enjoy her cooking. You were probably encouraged by words that Ida spoke about the good qualities she saw in you. Hospitality was her gift, and she used it in a way to draw us closer to one another, and closer to Jesus.

Encouragement was another of Ida’s gifts. Many of us received cards that did just that. She observed people and looked for ways in which they reflected something of the light of Christ. At meetings we were always reluctant to give Ida the microphone because we knew she would go on and on embarrassing us with thanks for the good she saw in us. She loved Philippians 4:8: …whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. She did just that!

It was the love of Christ that was the force behind those gifts, and that was behind another gift she used so well, prayer. Nearly every Sunday she was in the prayer room, going through the directory, praying for every one of you by name. She knew our prayer requests and prayed for them as well. The last few months she was with us, she would ask me, “How’s the book coming? I’ve been praying!” That is because I had asked her about six months before to please pray that I’d find time to complete it. One of the last things I spoke into her ear the night she went home was a word of thanks for prayers for the book, as it was completed that very day. It was just one more prayer answered out of so many that she prayed.

When I read Ida’s memorial directive, the poem she wanted read, and the things she wrote in her testimony, I realized what made her so special to all of us. She wanted to be more like Jesus. She was open to letting His word convict and change her. Did you notice how she saw the need to love us all to the same degree? Which of us can say we’ve arrived in that place? Yet she knew that is how her Savior was toward us, and she wanted to be more like Him.

She listened each week to the sermons and took them to heart. She actually adjusted her life by the revelation she received from the Word of God. When telling other pastors about Ida, my description was pretty simple, “She’s the kind of lady you wish you could clone until you filled up the church.” Never an unkind word about anyone would come from her lips. You could always expect an honest answer from Ida. She was kind but she didn’t sugarcoat anything. She spoke the truth in love. Several times she called me because she’d heard something that surprised her in a message I preached. I had to tell her what Scriptures I based it on and how I came to that conclusion. She wanted to be sure it was in the Word and was soundly interpreted.

You might be thinking, “This isn’t a message. It’s just more sharing about Ida.” Yes, Ida was the message. I couldn’t share with you any better message today than the message that was daily preached by Ida’s life. She learned from the Scriptures what a godly woman was to be like, and then she allowed the Holy Spirit to daily change her life to conform to God’s plan for her. She quietly and lovingly went about touching life after life with her genuine love and concern.

If you think you have to be outspoken and upfront to be useful to God, consider Ida’s example and the fruit of her quiet consistency. ²³ And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Luke 9:23-24 (ESV) Ida denied herself and found life. Like love itself, she bore all things, believed all things, hoped all things, and endured all things.

Your gifts and calling may not be the same. But the way we find them, and the way we go about developing them is the same. What made Ida extra special was that she took her favorite verse to heart. Matthew 22:37-38 (ESV) ³⁷ … “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. That motivated her to discover the gifts God had given her, and to use them for His glory. That is what will motivate us to do the same. That is what makes each believer special.

When the prophet Elijah was taken into heaven, Elisha, his disciple, asked for a double portion of the anointing on Elijah. Today, you don’t need to ask in that way for the anointing that Ida had. The Holy Spirit is available to all who have received Jesus as their Savior, all who have been made right with God through what Jesus did for us on the cross. Our problem is letting the Spirit of God within us have His way. That is what Ida did so well.

Memorial services are the one time we stop to think about our own mortality and the legacy we leave behind. What did our life say to others? It’s people that truly love others that are loved. The only way to truly love others is to die to your selfish ambitions and pride and submit yourself to the One that died for you. I know without a doubt that Ida will be rejoicing in heaven if just one soul decided it was time to yield their life to Jesus.

If that soul is you, please come and talk with me after the service. That change requires you confess your sin to God, and that you receive the salvation that Jesus made possible for you. He took your punishment upon himself. Then it requires making a stand, telling someone else. Jesus wasn’t ashamed to hang on that cross before everyone for you. He expects you not to be ashamed of Him.

Ida’s example challenges us to carefully hear what the Lord is saying to us, and to persistently follow through with the changes He would make in our lives. The greatest tribute we could give to Ida’s life is to take her favorite verse to heart. ³⁷ … “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

Share on Facebook

Psalms 116:15 (ESV)
¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

Last night I watched a soul quietly slip from her body and wing her way to the place she longed to be. It wasn’t that she didn’t like being here, though she had plenty of reasons to complain. You never heard of the hardship from her lips. Only family and old friends knew all that she endured. She chose to let the hardship make her better instead of bitter.

She also chose to look at the good and watch for opportunities to serve Jesus, her Savior and friend. If anything held her back from going home, it was prayers yet to be answered here. At the beginning of almost every service I would see her come out of the prayer room. She had been praying for everyone in the congregation, going through the directory name by name.  And if there was someone new, she would invite them over for supper, along with a whoever she thought they should get to know. After serving one of her feasts, and boy could she cook, the guests would be invited to share the story of their journey to Christ. By the end of the time at Ida’s, new friendships were formed and all went away challenged to grow in Christ.

Ida was as close as you can get to the perfect model of a Christian woman. She knew the Biblical role of a godly woman and she walked within those boundaries in a way that really brought glory to God in everything she did. I think she impacted the church as much or more than any of us elders. During one hospital stay, so many people came to visit her, people whose lives she had touched, that a nurse asked if she was a presidential candidate.

Most importantly, Ida loved and trusted her Savior. He was the power behind her actions. He was the source of strength. He was the motivating factor behind her daily service to others. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Ida was/ is the greatest among us!  God help us learn from the example she set.

Share on Facebook