An End to Childish Ways
1 Corinthians 13:1-13[1]
Children can be wonderful. The beauty of the unconditional love
they give so easily is almost indescribable. Their natural exuberance for life
is a joy to behold. And when they utter those magic words “I love you” for the
first time, it naturally melts our hearts. At the same time, children can be
challenging. After all they are people, just moving at something that can seem
like the speed of light to the rest of us! And moving that fast means that they
get tired and grumpy and want what they want right now! We call it being
“childish,” but in reality, we can all be demanding when we get tired and grumpy!
One of the greatest challenges as a parent is to allow your
children to grow up. The process begins with what we call “the terrible two’s.”
For the first time they are discovering their own identity, separate from mommy
and daddy. It’s hard on the parents, and it’s hard on the children. But as we
help our children through the various passages from childhood to adulthood, it
can be a fulfilling experience. I find that the greatest challenge for parents
is to learn how to let go just enough for our children to mature in a healthy
way. As they do so, we find them leaving behind their “childish ways,” and
becoming responsible adults.
As we’ve been taking a look at the church at Corinth, I think
we’ve found that the process of putting “an end to childish ways” is one that
doesn’t necessarily happen for everybody in the same way. This troubled
congregation was struggling in part because some of the members were behaving
in rather “childish” ways. Some of them were insisting that they were right and
all the others were wrong. Others were demanding recognition of their spiritual
superiority. Others were simply doing as they pleased, without much thought to
the way it would affect others in the church. Though they may have been adults,
they were behaving in “childish” ways.
As we have seen, one of the causes for this childish behavior was
confusion about “spiritual gifts.” These were the various abilities that Paul
said the Holy Spirit had given to the members of the church in order to build
it up, gifts like preaching, teaching, leadership, and service. One gift in
particular was causing problems: “speaking in tongues.” While there has been
some confusion about what this means, it would seem that, in this context, it
was some kind of non-rational prayer language. Unfortunately, those who
practiced this gift at Corinth seemed to have developed the attitude that
because they could speak a “heavenly” language, they were on a higher spiritual
plane than others. As we have seen, St. Paul was trying to bring some balance to the
church by pointing out that all of the gifts are important for the common
welfare.
In our lesson for today, St. Paul says he is showing them “a still
more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31). I think what he means is that this way is
“more excellent” than squabbling over whose “gift” is most important. In fact,
he begins by stating rather bluntly that even the most impressive spiritual
gifts are as useless as “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” if they are not
practiced in the right way. And the “more excellent way” that St. Paul
advocates for the church in Corinth to work together is the way of love. St.
Paul’s view was that no matter how significant we think what we do may be, when
it’s not motivated by love, it is “vain, selfish, [and] fruitless.” In other words, it is an example of “childish ways.”
By contrast, St. Paul describes the kind of love that he has in
mind in profound terms: “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or
boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not
irritable or resentful” (1 Cor. 13:4-5). The kind of love St. Paul advocates in
our relationships with one another in the church is the kind of love that Jesus
embodied. It is the kind of love that God has freely given us all. He describes
it further in this way: it is a love that “bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:7). He’s not talking
about love as a feeling, but rather love as a way of life, love as a basic
attitude toward others. It is a love that sacrifices for the sake of others. It
is a love that is unselfish and giving and generous. It is a love that bears
with others despite all their flaws and shortcomings. It is a love that goes
beyond the sweet but unpredictable love that belongs to “childish ways.”
St. Paul calls us all to put “an end to childish ways” by
practicing sacrificial and unselfish love. This kind of approach to
relationships with others is not something that comes easily or naturally. It
is a way of life that has to be taught and learned. And I will be the first to
admit that it’s not something that we learn easily. While some of us may get it
earlier in life, it takes a while for it to sink in for most of us. When you
really pay attention to the way St. Paul describes love, it becomes painfully
obvious that the process of putting an “end to childish ways” is one that takes
place over a lifetime. I would have to admit that I’m still in the midst of
that process. I haven’t arrived yet. But fortunately, in the church we all get
to keep learning how to do this with the help of friends who are farther down
the road. They offer us encouragement and hope as we continue to learn to put
an end to “childish ways” and to relate to one another with a love that is
unselfish and generous.
[1]
© 2019 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 2/3/2019 at
Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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