Everything in Love

I Corinthians 16:10-24

Today we wrap up the second of our two series in 1 Corinthians. We began back in May of last year with our first series entitled “Broken but Indispensable,” a theme that highlights God’s redemptive work and beautiful purposes for us as believers living by his grace. Love has been our theme in the second series, starting with chapter 13, the famous chapter defining and describing love. Love was the matter of first importance that Paul has highlighted for these believers – and for our benefit, all these hundreds of years later. We’ve looked at how the theme of love has been woven through the second part of this book. The final section of this last chapter concerns information and commands about miscellaneous people, along with greetings, and a brief benediction at the very end. Some of these details may seem mundane, but even here we see the practical application of the godly, agape love that Paul wants to be a part of their lives. He even makes it completely explicit in verse 14: “Do everything in love.”

As followers of Jesus, unselfish love should be our motivation, our guide, our boundary, and our witness in all aspects of our lives. Do you remember those WWJD bracelets that were popular a few years ago? What would Jesus do? The question was intended to get people to stop and think before acting out of fleshly instinct or worldly desire. What would Jesus do in this kind of situation? How would he respond? The answer can be summed up in this one word: love. Jesus always acted out of love. God is love, so indeed he cannot act contrary to his nature. Even the harsh warnings that Jesus nailed the Pharisees with were, in fact, loving. He longed for them to see past their legalism and hypocrisy and enter into the grace and fullness of joy that God desired for them. Tough love sets standards that people can depend on – and offers grace when they fail to meet them. Failing to set and enforce boundaries is actually not loving. You have probably seen this with parents who are too permissive with their children, letting them get away with anything they want. They may think they are acting in love, but the parent ends up looking weak or capricious, and the child feels insecure and angry. It is an unhappy situation for everyone. Consistent discipline is much to be preferred over complete license. We have seen elements of tough love in Paul’s message already, and we will see another hint of it today. Let’s get into our text – 1 Corinthians chapter 16, starting at verse 10:

When Timothy comes, see to it that he has nothing to fear while he is with you, for he is carrying on the work of the Lord, just as I am. No one, then, should treat him with contempt. Send him on his way in peace so that he may return to me. I am expecting him along with the brothers.—I Corinthians 16:10-11

You may recall from chapter 4 that Paul was sending Timothy as his representative.

Therefore I urge you to imitate me. For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church.

Some of you have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you. But I will come to you very soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will find out not only how these arrogant people are talking, but what power they have. –I Corinthians 4:16-19

So it appears that Timothy was not the bearer of this letter but was expected to arrive later. He was close enough to Paul – like a son, it says – that he could accurately describe and reproduce Paul’s way of life, as an example of godliness. He would be able to answer the question, WWPD? What would Paul do? Since these churches did not have the New Testament in hand to be their guide, they needed people like Timothy to help them apply the principles that the Holy Spirit had revealed to Paul, as well as to remind them of what the other apostles and Jesus himself had taught. It was important to maintain consistency as the gospel spread so rapidly in these early years.

But Paul was concerned about the arrogance in the Corinthian church. He had a forceful enough personality that when he was there in person he could assert his authority, command respect, and keep things under control. But Timothy was a young man, not as experienced as Paul, and there are hints that he not strong and authoritative. In 1 Timothy 4:12 Paul had to remind him, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” Paul was concerned that there would be those in the Corinthian church who would discourage him and try to push him around and not accept what he had to say. I have seen this happen in churches where certain members of the congregation are stronger, more forceful, better connected, or better-spoken than the pastor. It may be easy for them to push for their own way and end up treating the pastor with contempt. When a disagreement arises it is surprisingly easy for Christians to become unloving toward each other. An important part of love is always thinking the best of each other and living at peace with each other as much as possible. I remember as a kid that my dad would advise us to “put the best construction” on what someone else said and did. Particularly if the relationship is already strained, we tend to interpret everything negatively, regardless of whether or not there is justification for that. This is what we are seeing so clearly in the political arena today – but let’s not go there right now!

Paul wanted the Corinthians to demonstrate Christ-like love to Timothy and respect him as a brother and leader, cooperating with him in the work of the Lord. Similarly, even though we may notice the faults and weaknesses of other believers, other churches, and other denominations, we need to respect them for the work that they are doing for the Lord. The Corinthians were to send Timothy on his way in peace. He was to return to Paul with some other brothers, perhaps the ones carrying this particular letter. One of these brothers may have been Titus, who is recorded as returning to Paul after a visit to Corinth, in the second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 7:

But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, and not only by his coming but also by the comfort you had given him. He told us about your longing for me, your deep sorrow, your ardent concern for me, so that my joy was greater than ever.

Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us.—II Corinthians 7:6-9

So here we see that Paul’s tough love fulfilled its intended purpose. The first letter had convicted the arrogant Corinthians and brought them to repentance. This in itself may have been the comfort to Titus, that the church was willing to make amends and express their concern and longing for Paul as well. The strong words in the letter had caused hurt, but only momentarily as they led the believers to godly sorrow and a change of heart. If discipline is loving, then it is not harmful. Let’s carry on with today’s passage:

Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity.—I Corinthians 16:12

You may recall way back in chapter 1 that one of the contentious issues that Paul wanted to address with the Corinthians was their divisiveness over apostolic leadership:

My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”—I Corinthians 1:11-12

(This may be a little speculative, but perhaps Apollos did not want to visit partly because of this factionalism. Would his going without Paul bolster the pro-Apollos group and alienate the others? Perhaps he wanted to see if the divisiveness could be resolved and then he could go and minister to the entire body. But we don’t know for sure why he was unwilling to go, despite Paul’s urging. It may have been inconvenient for some other, completely unrelated reason.) Back to chapter 16 and Paul’s final exhortations.

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.—I Corinthians 16:13-14

Paul is cheering them on like a sports team: let’s go, be tough, let’s get this one! Offense and defense are both important for winning. How many times on the Ultimate field have I heard Bob tell his team, “The only reason we got that point was because Susie (or Henry or whoever) got us the disc back.” A good defense gives you the opportunity to play offense. Paul covers both here. Be on your guard against Satan. Stay alert for his lies and tricks, learn to recognize and repel his attacks. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

Stand firm in the faith. The shield of faith is our best defense against the flaming arrows of the Evil One. Faith is like the candle that burns in the darkness, and all the darkness in the world cannot overcome it. Be courageous. Now we are moving to offense. Don’t be afraid to step out. It’s not enough to protect yourself; the lost world is not going to benefit from that. We enter the battle with the sword of the Spirit, speaking truth and sharing God’s love and grace.

Be strong. Actually, how can you command someone to “be strong”? There is an element of will in exerting oneself. But strength requires prior commitment, prior preparation. A random person doesn’t just show up at an Olympic weightlifting competition and decide to lift 400 lbs. Telling him or her to “be strong” if they have never lifted anything before is not going to do much good. Every person who makes it to the Olympics has spent hundreds if not thousands of hours in the gym or on the track or wherever they need to be to build up that strength and skill. Spiritual battles require similar preparation: hours spent with the Lord, in his word, in fellowship with others, and exercising those “muscles” of faith in various ways.

Do everything in love. Strong and loving is a good combination. Doesn’t that sound like the ideal dad? Strong and loving. There is the classic schoolyard argument about whose dad is the strongest. But I’ve never heard of kids arguing over whose has the most loving dad. God is our example of strength and love kept in balance. He is the only one completely immune to the corrupting effects of absolute power. Being strong tempts us to want our own way. True love keeps us focused on what is best for other people. Do everything in love – that is the standard for our behavior.

As I was preparing this message, God fittingly gave me a chance to measure my own behavior by this standard. I can’t get into all the details, but I received an email that I felt made some completely unfounded and unjust accusations about someone that I am responsible for in my work. The email was from someone in authority whom I thought would have known better than to take second-hand accusations at face value rather than first confirming what had actually happened with the couple being accused. The situation seemed to clearly violate the principle of Matthew 18:15 which requires that we point out others faults first to them rather than to other people – especially, I would think, if we have not heard both sides of what may happened in a situation of conflict. I confess that it made me angry and I fired back a measured response (which included a reference to Matthew 18:15) – but I also copied in the accused. Well, that didn’t go over too well with the person who had sent me the email. He made some pointed remarks about confidentiality (though he had not told me to keep the matter confidential) and about treating each other in a gospel manner. Then I did realize that I had been rather heavy-handed in the way I had rebuked him, embarrassing him in front of others – though I did not regret what I had written about the accusations themselves.

Had I acted in love? I might argue that it was tough love, teaching someone a lesson about passing on unfounded accusations. We love seeing people get what they deserve. How many movies have you seen where the good guy wins and the bad guy dies a horrible death at the end? Human nature reinforces this mentality. But there is no grace in that. Every time I point a finger at someone, there are three pointing back at me. In one sense, I was guilty of what I had accused my friend of doing: pointing out someone’s fault to others without confronting him first. I could have just written back to him suggesting that he consider further and confirm his statements. I didn’t have to shame him in front of other people. Had I acted out of love? Well, love and concern for the accused perhaps, but not love for him.

So I apologized in my next email for getting angry and acting hastily, and he forgave me, which is always a really cool thing. And I was able to talk with the others involved, and I think we will be able to find a way forward that addresses the real issues, while offering grace and hope.

So, do everything out of love. It’s something that we will never be perfect at. There is always more to learn. Let’s carry on in our chapter.

You know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the Lord’s people. I urge you, brothers and sisters, to submit to such people and to everyone who joins in the work and labors at it. I was glad when Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus arrived, because they have supplied what was lacking from you. For they refreshed my spirit and yours also. Such men deserve recognition.—I Corinthians 16:15-18

Paul had baptized Stephanus and his household. We read about that in chapter 1. They were the firstfruits of his ministry in the area of Achaia. Achaia refers to the southern part of Greece, including Corinth and Athens. (The northern part was called Macedonia.) The household of Stephanus had demonstrated their love and thankfulness to God by devoting themselves to the service of his people. The authenticity of their faith meant that they could be trusted and respected. Paul appreciated the visit of these three men because they were so genuine and encouraging. His statement that they “supplied what was lacking” was not meant as a reproach to the Corinthians. It seems to be more of an expression of how Paul’s face-to-face fellowship with them made up for his inability to be with the Corinthian believers in person.

The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. All the brothers and sisters here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.—I Corinthians 16:19-20

Paul was writing to them from Ephesus, so he spoke on behalf of all the churches in that area in sending greetings. Aquila and Priscilla are an interesting couple. In the book of Acts we read that Paul had met them in Corinth and stayed with them, since they were tentmakers like himself. They had moved with him to Ephesus and were responsible for one of the house churches there. They were clearly very hospitable to Paul and even at one point risked their lives for his sake, as we read about in Romans 16:4.  They obviously worked together as a team, with the wife not just tagging along with her husband. In the six times that they are mentioned together in the New Testament, Priscilla’s name comes first half the time. Together, they were the ones who had “explained the way of God more adequately” to Apollos when he first appeared on the scene in Acts 18. So they seem to be a model for partnership in ministry as a married couple.

Greet one another with a holy kiss. What is holy kiss? Cheek kissing is a fairly common form of greeting in Middle Eastern cultures, following various rules. Paul commands a holy kiss to distinguish it from a one with sexual overtones or a deceitful one like Judas gave to Jesus. But why command it at all? It is something like “passing the peace” that some churches do during services, where everyone shakes hands and looks a little awkward? One theory is that encouraging everyone to greet each other with a holy kiss would help break down some of the societal barriers that might exist in the church: between rich and poor, between Jews and Gentiles, and so on. The emphasis would be on making everyone feel welcome and accepted.

I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand.—I Corinthians 16:21

Paul apparently dictated many of his letters, often just writing a few words at the end to authenticate the document.

If anyone does not love the Lord, let that person be cursed! Come, Lord!—I Corinthians 16:22

This is quite a serious thing for Paul to write. However, it does not seem to mean that he intends everyone to start cursing others who don’t love the Lord. For one thing, we need to be very careful of judging each other on that basis. Only God truly knows a person’s heart. This statement is more of a warning. The word for curse is anathema, which relates to the Old Testament concept of God setting something apart for destruction, like the city of Jericho. Since loving the Lord is such a crucial part of being a Christian, someone who does not is anathema – and liable for punishment. Come Lord, as judge for people to get what they deserve. Maranatha, we look for Jesus’ return.

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.—I Corinthians 16:23

This is the final benediction or blessing, in contrast to the curse. Grace gives us hope in the Day of Judgment.

My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.—I Corinthians 16:24

Once again, Paul has returned to the theme of love, our matter of primary importance, first and last. The grace of the Lord Jesus is with us to motivate us to love, to allow us to love, and to forgive us when we fail.