THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF A CHRISTIAN
Introduction: If you ask people what is the
Ultimate Goal in life? The answers vary depending on who you ask. A politician's
highest goal might be to become the next president of the USA. For an actor, it
could be to win an Oscar award and an athlete to win a gold medal in the
Olympics.
Yet, for others, the ultimate goal
in life may be to pursue the all-American dream. Jeffery Arthurs, a theologian,
talking about the hollowness of the American dream, notes, "You work hard
in high school so you can get into a dream college, then you study hard in
college so you can get a dream job. You work overtime at your dream job so you
can drive a dream car.
And that helps you attract a dream
spouse; you have a dream wedding, move into a dream house, and have 1.7 dream
kids; then you save money to take a dream vacation to get away from the dream
kids; then you plug away to build up a dream 401(k), so you can take a dream
retirement. Then you die. And you have a dream funeral with a dream casket
placed in a dream hole in the ground. Is there something better to pursue than
the American Dream?[1]
What does the Bible say about our
ultimate goal in life? In both letters to the Corinthian Church, the Apostle
Paul endeavored to show the Corinthian Christians what he pursued in his life
and encouraged them to do the same. As we have been journeying through I
Corinthians 13th, by now, you may have grasped why Love is the
trademark of a Christian, understood Love as the essence of life, clarified
what Love is and is not, what it does and does not do.
Throughout this discourse, we saw
the Apostle Paul as an ardent student who learned the essentials of Christian Love
and applied them in his life. As we come to the end of the chapter, he shows us
when pursuing Love becomes our ultimate Goal; Immaturity gives way to Maturity
and imperfection to perfection. The Ultimate Goal of a Christian. I
Corinthians 13:8-13
I.
Spiritual gifts become useless in the light of enduring Love. (8-10)
Vs. 8-10, Prophecy and
speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But Love
will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the
gift of Prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of
perfection comes, these partial things will become useless."
We will look into Prophecy and speak
in tongues more in chapter fourteen. But for now, the Corinthian believers were
boasting about exercising those gifts at the expense of practicing Love. So,
Paul rebuked them, saying you may have all these gifts, but you are nothing if
you have no love. Unlike some popular understanding, I believe these gifts of
Prophecy and speaking in tongues did not cease but are still meant to be in
operation in the Church.
However, as this scripture suggests,
they become useless when the time of perfection comes. In other words, we may
not need them in the future as much as we need them now. However valuable and
necessary those gifts may be, they are to be exercised by Love.
What did Paul mean by "when the time of
perfection comes, these partial things will become useless"? The context
suggests that Paul refers to the Second Coming of Christ as the final event in
God's plan of redemption and revelation. Compared to what we will receive then,
the present blessings are only partial and thus imperfect, including our
knowledge of Him.
We try to explain God's ways poorly
with our limited knowledge, but when Christ returns, we will know God fully.
According to Jeremiah, on that day, God would say to his people, "I will
be their God, and they will be my people. And they will not need to teach their
neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, 'You should know
the Lord.' For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,"
Jeremiah 31:34. We only get to know God deeply by loving Him intimately and
remaining in His Love continually.
II.
Immaturity gives way to Maturity as we grow in Love. (11-12)
Vs. 11-12, "When I was a child,
I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away
childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a
mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know
now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just
as God now knows me completely."
Paul used two metaphors of a child
and a mirror in these two verses. What was this putting away childish things
all about? Was he referring to their chronological age or urging them to grow
up? It wasn't about the physical progression of a child becoming an adult.
He was referring to their spiritual
growth. Though chronologically grown up, they were acting like spiritual
infants. Here is Paul's assessment of the Corinthian believer's Maturity. I
Corinthians 3:1-3, "Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you, I
couldn't talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though
you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to
feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren't ready for anything
stronger." Paul expected some emotional and spiritual maturity in them.
At times we see people in their
40's, 50's, 70's acting like infants and children. Some of our congressional
leaders behave that way, and we even see that kind of behavior in churches.
Like the Corinthian believers, some attend Church and sit through the
teachings, yet remain infants in Christ. Is it possible to become physically
mature yet remain spiritually immature?
We have found some answers in our Emotionally
Healthy Spirituality class. I want to share four different stages of spiritual
growth that we all go through. How do we recognize our phase of development?
Here are some pointers that might help us identify. I. Emotional Infants:
They look for others to take care of them. Have great difficulty entering into
the world of others. They are driven by instant gratification and use others as
objects to meet their needs.
II. Emotional Children: They are content
and happy as long as they receive what they want. They unravel quickly from
stress, disappointment, and trials. They interpret disagreements as personal
offenses and are easily hurt. They complain, withdraw, manipulate, take
revenge, become sarcastic when they don't get their way. They have great
difficulty calmly discussing their needs and wants in a mature, loving way. Do
you know some emotional children?
III. Emotional Adolescents: They tend to be often defensive are
threatened and alarmed by criticism. They keep score of what they give to ask
for something later in return. They deal with conflicts poorly, often blaming,
pouting, going to a third party, or ignoring the issue entirely. They become
preoccupied with themselves have great difficulty listening to another person's
pain, disappointments, or needs. They are often critical and judgmental.
IV. Emotional Adults: They can
ask for what they need, want, or prefer—clearly, directly, and honestly. They
recognize, manage, and take responsibility for their own thoughts and feelings.
Under stress, they can state their beliefs and values without becoming
adversarial.
They respect others without having
to change them. They give freedom to people to make mistakes and not be
perfect. Appreciate people for who they are—the good, bad, and ugly not for
what they give back. They are deeply in tune with their own emotional world and
can enter into the feelings, needs, and concerns of others without losing themselves.
They can resolve conflict maturely and negotiate solutions that consider the
perspective of others.
After listening to these four phases
of emotional and spiritual development, where do you see yourself? We all want
to be emotionally spiritually matured adults, but that doesn't happen
automatically. None of us were born as mature adults into the family of God. We
all started our journey as spiritual babies. Our goal is
to grow into emotionally mature adults. God is committed to building His
teachings precept by precept in us to become emotionally and spiritually mature.
How long will God continue this work
of equipping? As Paul says, in Ephesians 4:13-15, "This will continue
until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God's Son that we
will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the complete standard of Christ.
Then we will no longer be immature
like children. We won't be tossed and blown about by every wind of new
teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever,
they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in Love, growing in
every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the Church."
As a shepherd of Hope Church, I see
that as my role in a small way. The great shepherd, our Lord Jesus, is working
in all of us so that we will become more like Him when He returns.
III.
Our ultimate goal in life is to pursue love (13)
After explaining at length various
aspects of Love and its implications on the body of Christ, Paul makes a bold
declaration saying, Vs.13, "Three things will last forever—faith, hope,
and love—and the greatest of these is love." When everything else fails,
our faith, and hope in God, and Love for Him will remain. The greatest of these
is Love.
God's Love was the premise of
Chapter 13. Paul wanted the Corinthians to grow up and become people of God's
Love. So, he laid the foundation in Chapter 12: 31, "But now let me show
you a way of life that is best of all. He concluded with a challenge in Chapter
14:1, Let Love be your highest goal! Can this be our ultimate goal in life as
well?
I enjoyed learning
together about this crucial chapter of Love. Now it is time to put into
practice what we have learned. I am already seeing this teaching bearing fruit
at Hope Church. Let's grow to be a community of people who love God Love
themselves and others well. We love each other because He loved us first. So,
let us bask in our heavenly father's deep Love. As we live in God, our Love
grows more perfect. Amen!
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