Do I make enough of a difference to matter?

In ancient Corinth, people were desperate to be significant. And that attitude spilled over into the church. An attitude that is still all over the church today, and one that is in our hearts also.

We want to be significant. We want to be important. We want to matter.

And just like in ancient Corinth, we have an idea in our culture today that we matter by making a difference and having an impact.

Do I make enough of a difference to matter?

Maybe your default answer to that is “yes”… …you’re changing the world, improving your business making a difference in people at church.

Or maybe your go to answer is “no”… …I can’t see the point of me, I seem not to matter it doesn’t make a difference if I’m here.

Both of those answers assume that I have to do something.

It’s the same reason so many people are uneasy when they hear whoever you are: God is in a good mood with you because of Jesus.

“But—not everyone is saved are they?”
“Surely I must have done something… Surely I must believe something that makes me different?”
“There has to be something in me that makes the difference??”

Well, Paul says, let’s test that because—and this is his first point:

1) Even my greatest achievement can’t make me matter

Just look at v. 1:

¹ If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

The word tongues means languages.

In the next chapter, Paul will talk about languages that people can recite, but don’t understand: that probably means Hebrew and Aramaic. The languages of the Jewish scriptures.

Many people throughout history have memorised things in religious languages. And they sound impressive when they recite them. But they don’t understand what they mean. “What’s the point of that?” Paul will say.

Here in chapter 13 he’s going even further: even if you spoke the languages of angels: who cares?

Even this doesn’t matter. V. 2:

² If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.

You know loads of the Bible. You have lots of impressive learning. You have deep, powerful, strong faith. But, without love you are nothing.

You see nothing about you makes the difference.

“God is not in a good mood with everyone, but he is in a good mood with me because I have faith.”

But Paul says even with faith I am nothing. Faith that becomes a reason why I matter to God is no longer faith, but a work.

The Gospel says… “God has forgiven you so…” not: “God will forgive you if…” and then, v. 3:

³ And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Even acts of incredible self-sacrifice. Acts that look like love. Acts that would seem to define love. Paul says when they are done without love: they are nothing.

Even my greatest achievement can’t make me matter

Don’t get Paul wrong… he’s not saying these things are bad: I want to be able to recite the Bible, even in the original. I want to have intimate knowledge of what God says. I want to have deep faith and assurance. I want to be an incredibly generous and self-sacrificial person.

But Paul is not giving me a standard to aspire to, as I look at how I’m doing. He’s not giving me a method to achieve it, as I look at how I’m progressing.

He’s giving me a reason to stop looking at myself entirely. And instead look at someone else who lives like this perfectly.

That’s Paul’s second point:

2) Jesus is the love I do not have (4–7)

Verses 4-7 is not a list of things you now need to achieve. It is a list of things Jesus has achieved for you.

⁴ Love is patient,

You get home from work, everyone is shouting, of course you find yourself shouting back.

Jesus stood before his accusers. And he remained silent. Not as an example for you to follow. But to forgive you, for that moment you lost it.

love is kind.

That person who wronged you—you just couldn’t help but attack them.

Jesus doesn’t hold your errors in front of you—he let go of them. Not as an example for you to follow. But, so you would know you are freely forgiven.

Love does not envy,

You want people to see what you can do. You don’t want your gifts to be put to waste.

Jesus emptied himself of everything, taking on the form of a servant not making full and frequent use of his divine attributes. Not to set a standard that you need to obtain. But so he could die and deal with every act of jealousy.

is not boastful, is not arrogant,

What Jesus did was not for himself; for God to get glory. It was purely for you. To serve you is God’s glory.

⁵ is not rude,

He never humiliates those who fail him.

is not self-seeking,

“Not my will, but yours be done” he said.

is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs.

He’s in a good mood with you. He’s borne the legal consequences of your sins for you. He’s has no need to set anything straight with you.

⁶ Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.

He takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner. He’s in a good mood with everyone. He’s so happy when people finally realise the unconditional positive attitude he has toward them.

⁷ It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This is what Christ did for you. Not to set you a standard. Not to put you in his debt. Not to coerce you. Not to manipulate or harm you.

All of us fall short of the glory of God. Each of us fails to live this list of love in even the smallest ways. It’s not here to make you try harder to live with love so that you’ll make your life matter.

Jesus is the love I do not have

This list is supposed to lift my eyes to look at him

And Paul’s final encouragement to do that is this:

3) Jesus alone is what lasts

Right now, we only know God through his Word. And we only see Jesus through the cross. Vv. 8-10:

⁸ Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. ⁹ For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end.

And so we experience God like children. V. 11:

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things.

We are entirely dependent upon God’s Word. We can’t think or reason our way to understand what he’s like.

This is a mistake so many people make today, and it leads them into so many different errors.

Paul uses this famous illustration in v. 12:

¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.

God’s Word is the mirror. We don’t see dimly in the sense that his Word is unclear. But we see dimly in the sense that I don’t yet see him directly in the way he already sees me directly.

That’s why we live now: in faith, which is trust in God what says that we can’t see with our eyes or reason; and in hope, which is trust in God’s promises for the future that we can’t experience until we reach it.

When Jesus returns, faith and hope will pass away, because we will no longer know God purely through his Word. We will know him directly.

And what will we know directly? We will know him who is love. God is love. And this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he has loved us, and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins.

That is why, v. 13:

¹³ Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.

Do I make enough of a difference to matter?
1) Even my greatest achievement can’t make me matter
2) Jesus is the love I do not have
3) Jesus alone is what lasts

You matter because the love that keeps no record of your wrongs will never end.