1 Corinthians chapter 13. If I speak in the tongues of mortal Son of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol, and if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 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. It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 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. For we know only in part and we prophesy only in part, but when the complete comes the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part, then I will know fully even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide. These three and the greatest of these is love. So reads the words of the Living God. I know that many of you have been filled with a measure of anticipation as we have been speaking about beginning this series on the book of the Revelation. And many of you have been so kind as to tell me that you've been praying for me in this very regard. I am so thankful for that. Please don't stop doing that. Please keep doing that. I am certain that that is one of the reasons why I am filled with such excitement. I don't know that I've ever been more excited about anything in terms of the ministry of the Word of God or filled with such enthusiasm. And that is why it's a cause of some disappointment to me that I need to postpone the beginning of this series for another week, another seven days. Well, why the wait you ask? And to put it as simply as I can dear friends, it's not to string you along. It is in reality for the sake of another week, another seven days of some preparation. But a twofold kind of a preparation that I want us to think a bit about this morning. A preparation of the mind and a preparation of the heart. Now, what do I mean when I say a preparation of the mind? With every bit of seriousness, I want you to appreciate the fact that I want to make every effort to do this series rightly and honorably. To my way of thinking and in keeping with my own conscience, that means then not only doing my own work, which I hope you know I'm very committed to doing, but that also means I believe submitting myself to the listening and reading of everything that I can possibly get my hands on. Submitting myself to as many of the possible arguments, viewpoints, perspectives from every corner in the Christian world in an attempt to deal honestly and fairly with this portion of God's inspired word. One of the things that we have been taught beloved and rightly so from the Protestant Reformation is what Luther called the right of private interpretation. And what we mean by that is we don't look for the church to give us the infallible interpretation of God's word. At the same time Luther and the reformers also appreciated the fact that God gives doctors to the church. And it is irresponsible to study the word to approach the word as though it's just me in the Bible. And so for me to prepare in a vacuum without an honest consideration of the pious scholarship of other Christians, I think would be faulty at at least three points. First of all, I think it would regard it would display a lack of regard and disrespect for the revelation itself. Secondly, I think it would be friends, a manifestation of unbelievable arrogance, assuming that I already understand this book perfectly, which I can promise you that I don't. And thirdly, in that which I fear most of all that at the end of the day, my efforts would represent nothing more than another contribution to the mire of irresponsible thought on the revelation that has characterized so much of evangelicalism in the last 100 years. I don't want to do that.
That's a long way of saying I still have a little more to read. So be patient with me. Give me another seven days. I have to tell you I'm very thankful to Al and Don and a few others of you who have said to me upon the hearing of my dilemma, take the time you need to do it rightly. Now, beloved, I am not a prophet. I am not the son of a prophet in the language of Amos, but I do believe that done rightly this series has the potential to affect our congregation in more profound ways than we have ever known in our life together. I mean that with every fiber of my being this morning. So allow me, if you would, a little more preparation of the mind that I hope at the end will prove to be of benefit for all of us. You may hear me next week and say, you didn't need an extra week, didn't help, but I'm hoping that it will. But secondly, then as I have said, we can use another week for an appropriate preparation of the heart, which in effect brings me to the point that I want us to camp on this morning, that I'd like for us to consider with a measure of seriousness. You say, well, what do you mean when you say preparation of the heart, heart preparation, this internal kind of preparation? Well, my friends, some of you have been Christians long enough in the life of the church for a long enough period of time to know that for the last century, really, the book of Revelation has been an unceasing cause of discord, division, grief, fighting, and separation. Churches have divided of all things over the divergent interpretations of the revelation. Denominations have been fractured. Bible colleges and seminaries have become the target of abuse. There are Christians who have turned a particular understanding of the revelation into a litmus test of spiritual maturity, a basis for whether or not to engage in fellowship with other people who confess faith in Christ. You say, well, maybe it's best then to just avoid this book altogether. But beloved, that can't be good for us. Not if the Spirit of God fought it necessary for the well-being of our souls to have it. You say, but look at all of the problems that has been caused that have been caused by it. But to your friends, I would ask you to think rightly with me on this subject. The book of Revelation has not caused these problems. These kinds of problems are caused by arrogant Christians who have never matured to the point of being able to hold a difference of conviction in a kind and gracious manner. So that it need not be a cause of separation from brothers and sisters who hold different views. Now, please, beloved, what I'm saying requires a bit of thought at this point. There was a new one's to what I'm saying, a subtlety that you must not miss, all right? I'm not suggesting that real piety means never communicating your conviction strongly and passionately in the proper context. I take this to be that proper context. I am not postmodern. I'm not suggesting the truth doesn't matter. Truth does matter. There is truth. There is error. We repudiate error. We hold on to truth. Nor am I suggesting that it is less than Christian to correct errant views when necessity requires such a thing. And from time to time, then we will need to do that very thing given the vast majority of silly things that are being saying about the revelation in our own day and in our own culture. My point is, however, we must find a way of doing this so as to not depreciate the value of another Christian or to compromise the integrity of our fellowship that we share as members of the same family. Listen to the tension, beloved. Listen to the balance. True Christian scholarship does not mean that we refrain from bringing the cherished convictions of Christians under the careful scrutiny of the Word of God. It means that in our quest for the truth, we do so for reasons that are edifying not demeaning. A heretic by definition is not primarily a person with a deviant theological view. It's a person who with that deviant theological view becomes divisive and factious. That's a heretic. And this is of infinitely greater concern to media friends than getting you to agree with my convictions regarding the book of Revelation as passionately as I might believe them and as passionately as I will seek to communicate them. And so we have the need then this morning, not just to prepare our minds, but especially to prepare our hearts. Now, many of you are familiar with the context here in 1 Corinthians 13. In an attempt to bring healing to a congregation that was shattering a part over the subject of spiritual gifts, the Apostle Paul turns his attention to what he calls at the end of chapter 12 a still more excellent way. That is, he speaks to the Corinthians about the way of Jesus Christ himself, the way of Christian love. It's, it's as though right in the middle of the argument, the argument that begins in chapter 12, Paul stops dead in his tracks as though a light had been turned on by the Spirit of God. And he says, is it, we're waiting a minute. While it's true that you folk need some clarifying information on the subject of spiritual gifts, chapter 12, verse 1, the fact is there wouldn't even be a problem in Corinth where Christian love, the predominant disposition of your fellowship. That's why chapter 13 is stuck right in the middle of chapter 12 and 14. Now, the chapter divides itself up very nicely, working from the bottom up, in verses 8 through 13, Paul establishes what we might call the enduring nature of Christian love. The enduring nature of Christian love, right at the very outset of verse 8, Paul says, love never ends. Some of your translations say love never fails. That misses the mark. Love doesn't end. It's the perpetuity, the ongoing nature, the enduring nature of Christian love. Now, I'm well aware of the fact that some of you here are mindful that there is brotherly disagreement today among evangelicals regarding the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Some suggesting that all the gifts are operative today are there suggesting that there were gifts unique to the apostolic era alone. It's not my burden to engage with you at that point this morning. Rather, my concern is to say that regardless of where one might choose to draw the line in history either at the end of the apostolic era or at the end of the age as we know it, regardless of where you draw that line, Paul's burden is to show in the end the temporality of these gifts in contrast to the enduring nature of Christian love. Prophecy, it'll cease. Tongues will cease. Knowledge will cease. Even the greatest of these things. Faith, hope and love. Well, faith will one day be made side so there will be no longer need for faith and hope. Well, hope will one day find fulfillment. Thus no longer need for hope, but love. Love is the greatest of these for the simple reason that it will endure eternally. That's his concern in verses 8 through 13. In the paragraph just proceeding, verses 4 through 7, Paul then sets forth the glorious characteristics of Christian love. 15 of them, in fact, like a beam of light that hits a prism and is suddenly divided into a multiplicity of colors. Paul takes the love of Jesus Christ, shoots it into a prism, and all of its glorious characteristics are set before us. It is the full spectrum of Christian love, a portrait of Christian love with Jesus Christ himself, of course, sitting for the portrait. Each of these 15 characteristics can be drawn right back into the gospels to show that when Paul was writing these words to describe love, he was thinking of the very one who was the embodiment of it. Jesus Christ himself. That then brings us to the three opening verses of this chapter that set forth what we might call the absolute necessity of Christian love. The absolute necessity of Christian love. To say it, beloved, is simply as I can, Paul wants us to understand that without love, listen to what I'm saying, we need to be precise, that without love nothing else matters. It's not merely that nothing but love matters. Paul is not Paul's modern. It's that without love nothing else matters. You've heard me use this illustration several times over the years, some of you. It's like flying a kite. What is it that makes all of the principles of aerodynamics come into play so that that kite achieves its fulfilled purpose, the string that constrains it. You snap that string for a while, it will dart to and fro in the air, but inevitably it will end up on the ground as a heap of broken sticks and torn paper. It is the constraint of the string that allows the kite to achieve its ultimate purpose and design. And what Paul is telling us, beloved, is what a string is to a kite love is to spiritual gifts. You cut the string of love and the gifts will inevitably crumble into insignificance. He says, look at the concluding phrases of each of these three verses. At the end of verse two, if I don't have love, I am nothing. At the end of verse three, if I do not have love, I gain nothing. In fact, look at verse one for a minute. If I speak, and by the way, notice that each of these verses begin with the word if, that's because Paul is introducing a hypothetical scenario, he's not saying, I do these things speaking hypothetically for the sake of the argument. Remember that last week? Yes. If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. Now friends, Paul is very obvious with this, isn't he? This hypothetical scenario, what he's saying is, apart from the context of Christian love, even the most extravagant display of linguistic powers, earthly, heavenly, terrestrial, extraterrestrial. Apart from love, they'll produce nothing of any value. Now please be very careful at this point, friends. Paul's concern in verse one is not with the gift itself, but with the motivation that drives the exercise of it. The gift itself is not likened to noise, which is what I was taught for so many years. The gift itself is not likened to noise. What is likened to noise is the person who seeks to exercise it without love. Such a person becomes a noisy gong or a clanging symbol. Now for a while, this gift without love perhaps may arouse wonder and amazement in the eyes of onlookers like a kite without a string, but we're not to be mistaken. For all of the fall to run fanfare, it means absolutely nothing to the Lord of the Church. And the reason why beloved is because the source of motivation is rooted in selfishness. I'm not concerned with what's best for you. I'm looking to gratify myself, but therein is the rub you see, because throughout the New Testament, the purpose for the giving of spiritual gifts has been made repeatedly clear. They are given not for personal aggrandizement, but for the edification of the body. That's why spiritual gifts are given, and that's what Paul is saying here, that the very exercise of our gifts must be determined by one overarching thing, whether one praises, whether one sings, whether one serves, whether one teaches, whether one gives, all of those gifts, even in their greatest display, must be shaped by one overarching, consuming fact, and that is our love for each other. Apart from the context of Christian law even the most extravagant of linguistic powers will produce nothing of any value. Now in verse 2 then, Paul continues to build on his theme, this absolute necessity of Christian love, and in particular beloved, this is where I want us to pause for some consideration this morning. For this preparation of the heart, notice once again, Paul supplies us with another hypothetical scenario, verse 2, and if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and I'm going to skip the next clause because we're not going to give attention to it this morning, but do not have love, I am nothing. Please look at that closely. Don't glance over it quickly, look at it carefully. Notice that it is not, I produce nothing, it all results in nothing, I am next to nothing, I am almost nothing, I'm just about nothing. Rather, I am no thing. And once again, for the sake of clarification, I remind you, the issue at hand is not the value of these gifts. In the very next chapter, chapter 14, Paul himself tells us that prophecy may be the most important gift in terms of edification to the whole of the body. He finishes chapter 12 by saying, I want you to seek after the greater gifts. He then turns the corner in verse 14 and says, let me tell you how much prophecy is better than tongues. Paul's not making a valued judgment on these gifts, beloved. The issue at hand is the value of the person who exercises these gifts without love. Don't miss the personal pronoun here, circle it in your Bible, I am nothing.
We could summarize it as follows. Apart from the context of Christian love, even the most inspired proclaimer of divine truth is regarded as a spiritual zero.
And friends, this is what we need to hear as we approach John's apocalypse, the territory upon which such unloveliness has expressed itself. In a different realm, but illustrating an appropriate point, our friend Tom Smith has said on several occasions, you know, when a person comes to understand the doctrines of grace, they ought to be placed in a cage for about six months. And why does he say that? Because of what, so often takes place when this light of God's word is turned on in the mind of a Christian, they run out looking for every Armenian they can find. Former Sunday school teachers, former pastors, family members, friends, so that they can show them how utterly ignorant they are. It's like the temptation, beloved, that is unique to a seminary student. Have you seen it? I've seen it a million times, particularly a first-year seminary student. Oh, how proud they are that they can walk around with their little Greek New Testament armed with some new little truth. Eregance becomes the predominant disposition of real condescension toward others who are less informed. That's my fear as we begin the book of Revelation, you see, that if by the grace of God, I happen to get some portion of it right and it reveals the error of what others have cherished as truth. The temptation you see to arrogant condescension will be real. The temptation to run out and put others in their place will be real. The temptation to divide will be real. Now, again, beloved, I submit to you, I am not saying that there is not a place for strong engagement with brothers and sisters. Please do not fall prey to the man-be-pambi nature of our culture. I am committed to spiritually-minded, academic endeavor. I don't know how one can claim to love the truth and not be. Nor am I saying that we need to be so politically correct that we cannot even tease one another with affectionate respect. The other day the Sanderson's were very kind to have us in our home for a meal and I walked in and there it was right there in plain view. I said, Scotty, I can't believe you invite me over to your house and you got a diary study Bible sitting right there. Well, he comes right back at me friends and I want to tell you something with all of my heart without making myself the hero of my own story. Maybe we can make Scotty the hero of the story. I think that's healthy. I think that's I think that's the kind of thing that needs to be able to go on. However, we all know when I pray I never cross this line. I'm sure that I have. We all know when affectionate teasing becomes mockery and scorn. When it's intention is to denigrate and humiliate and this dear friends is sinful I don't care how much of the truth you have. And so before we take one step into the realm of the revelation let it be clear that we do so having agreed to one indispensable prerequisite. The prerequisite of Christian love and humility and respect. Now I want you to feel the strength of Paul's argument which means you need to take note of two very important things in this little verse. First of all, notice that this hypothetical person and of course Paul uses himself as an example. Notice in this hypothetical person the incredible combination of both gift and resources here is a person we are told who possesses the gift of prophecy and if I have prophetic powers now by nature friends prophecy is a communicative gift. It is the gift of proclaiming speech that is divinely inspired. It's not merely the work of preaching at least as I understand it it is more than that a prophet speaks direct revelation from the mind of God himself. Now as you can appreciate in the days prior to the writing and compiling of the new testament this gift was vital to the new covenant people of God. Can you imagine trying to function together as a church without the revelation of the new testament? And so you would need these guys to be around to give a fresh word from God for particular and practical situations which I take to be the distinction between apostolic revelation and prophetic revelation but that's not really at the heart of things. Paul refers to these guys in Ephesians 2 20 as the very foundation of the church. Now friends imagine possessing this great communicative gift and then be on that mark having it your fingertips not just a part but the totality of divine revelation and its application to every situation that has ever or will ever arise. These mysteries here these mysteries that Paul talks about refers to the plans and purposes of God that cannot be grasped by unassisted human apprehension. In other words they need to be revealed by God himself. That's what a mystery is something that has been revealed. And this knowledge here seems to refer to the understanding of the comprehension of these mysteries. There are various implications, applications and outworkings. In other words not only does this person possess all of the facts concerning the plans and purposes of God he understands what they mean. Now you see what Paul is getting at here. This is an incredible combination of both gift and resources. Not only does this person possess a great communicative power he possesses a mind filled with God's truth and all of its outworking. I mean if you're going to covet any gift friends this is the one to covet because you see we've all known people haven't we who possess the natural ability to speak. I mean glib my friend Frank Griffith often refers to such people in this way he could preach a comic book. I mean it's just it's the gift of dab it's just a natural ability to talk it seems as though words just roll off of their tongues but on the other hand we realize that they lack the mental abilities necessary to understand the deep things of God and thus they have nothing to say of any real substance. Have you heard preaching like this my friends I certainly have. You've gone to a conference you've gone to a retreat or a seminar someone had you absolutely laid out on the floor laughing and crying with stories and ethnic notes but later as you drove home and paused to reflect a little bit you realized not one thing of any real substance was communicated was stand up comic. Of course you've known people for whom the converse is true that while they possess incredible gifts of insight into the scripture they can't preach their way out of a paper bath. This guy possesses the extremely rare combination of both but that's not all the second thing I want you to notice the very very important is the extensiveness of the resources at his disposal look at this all mysteries and all knowledge this is not a guy who's gone away to seminary and got straight A's in all of his classes or graduated at the top of his class friends there is a godlike quality about this person he is theologically omniscient there are no limits to his understanding he possesses all divine truth and he understands the practical implications that flow from that truth and what's more with his silver tongue he can make that truth known perfectly, powerfully, infallibly, authoritatively. Can you imagine such utter giftedness can you imagine such incredible skill can you imagine the benefits to the body of Christ such a person might be but without love I am nothing Matthew Henry said it like this a clear and deep head is of no signification without a benevolent and charitable heart John Calvin wrote love alone is the rule governing our actions the only guide is to the right way to use the gift of God God approves of nothing that lacks it no matter how magnificent men may think it for without love the fairness of all virtues is mere veneer it is empty jangling it is not worth straw in short it is rank and offensive if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge but do not have love I am nothing does that surprise you beloved that Paul would be so strong that Paul would say that a person of such eminently powerful gifts was absolutely nothing
now friends in his sovereignty God may use such people to accomplish his purposes for the very reason that God loves his people God loves his church but as for the man himself the woman herself such a person is worthless is he friends there was a radical difference between the gifts of the spirit and the fruit of the spirit the fruit of the spirit spirit reflect spirit produced character the most obvious which is love gifts however can be exercised in rank carnately there are people I would remind you even on the pages of the word of God who possess great gifts from God who have never even been authentic believers right I mean Jesus does mean something when he says on the great and final day to people who have said didn't we prophesy in your name and cast out demons and perform many miracles and he says depart from me I never knew you you workers of an equity there there are people who have powers from God in God's sovereignty who are not even believers friends I would remind you of Balaam I would remind you of Judas Satan himself possesses more intellectual power than any man has ever or will ever possess and yet he is Satan still in a very real sense you see gifts and grace are two different things altogether one speaks of an endowed ability the other speaks of a transformed nature one speaks of a man's powers the other of likeness to Jesus this is why then Paul can say when he says here in 1 Corinthians 13 to that a person with even the greatest of gifts and knowledge means absolutely nothing to God when he is not motivated by love it is this over against everything else that must be the indispensable prerequisite now again God may use such a person to accomplish his purposes but as far as the person is concerned God's equation is simple watch this gift minus love equals nothing gift minus love equals nothing but my friends still the greatest punch is something you must see now that which makes this all the more pertinent to people like you and me you say what do you mean what does this say listen now if a person is spirit inspired and theologically omniscient but does not possess love he is nothing but how many of us here have been spirit inspired have you been I've not and how many of us here are theologically omniscient are you not me are you following my train of thought if a person who is spirit inspired and theologically omniscient is nothing without love what about the rest of us with our puny little gifts and limited biblical and theological knowledge you know what this is saying without love we are less than nothing we bring less to the table if we don't have love then we're less than no thing now beloved having said that I must share now very quickly on the heels of that that I fear one thing I fear potential misunderstanding all right that is that upon hearing what I've just said someone might say oh art I'm so glad to hear you say this because I've always thought there was an over emphasis on doctrine around here don't ever say that if there has ever been an under emphasis on love then let that be something for which we repent but we can never be
less than altogether preoccupied with the truth don't fall lie pray to the lie that post modernism feeds us beloved love and truth are not mutually exclusive you know what I hear people say so often today and in part it's right it just doesn't say enough I often hear people and even Christians say you know what brothers it's not enough just to be right it's not enough just to be right and what I want to say in response to such people is this yes yes it is not enough just to be right but you must understand that there is no honor in being wrong Paul is not saying well if it's a choice between love or truth choose love Paul does not give us that choice rather he insists the truth be communicated in the context of love otherwise the person who communicates that truth is less than a spiritual nothing it is ironic friends that the revelation of Jesus Christ a book that by design was given for the purpose of comforting Christians has often been used to affect the very opposite that a book designed to sustain Christians through persecution from those outside of the church has become so often the very cause of persecution from those inside of the church
you say well art maybe then it's best really to leave the revelation alone and what I want to say to you beloved is we must not allow the enemy to set our agenda independence upon the illuminating work of the Spirit of God we will give ourselves to this book we will speak from it with great passion and conviction we will when necessary reveal the weaknesses of errant viewpoints that are so prevalent in our day but by the grace of God we will endeavor to do all of this christianly this must be the indispensable prerequisite to the taking up of this task and my dear brothers and sisters of all people we ought to be able to do this we who have experienced this love we who have been the recipients of this love we who hear at this church both night I don't mean that arrogantly but take great delight in the fact that Christ is central to all that we do with all people we ought to be able to do this we ought to be able to make this business work and what will come to discover is that it's a book of revelation that calls us to that very kind of living I mean the fact of the matter is dear friends if you go home with your children this afternoon and you read through the book of revelation in one sitting even your smallest of children will understand its message the message is simply this we win you say I know that but why do we win and the answer is because the line of the tribe of Judah has become the slain lamb we overcome by the blood of the lamb and we will have that expression of love steadily put before us that's what revelation will do and if it doesn't then we've missed the intention of the spirit of God during all of her cromwells rain as Lord protector over all of England a young soldier was sentenced to dies a result of some egregious offense the young woman to whom he had been engaged pleaded with cromwell to spare the life of her fiance all to no avail the young man was to be executed when the curfew bell sounded at the appropriate moment as he had done for many many years the sexton of the church grabbed the rope and pulled on it repeatedly but unlike any time before the bell made no sound the young woman had climbed into the bell tower and wrapped her body around the clapper so that it could not strike the bell with every tug of that rope her body was pummeled and smashed against the sides of that giant bell but she refused to let go until the clapper stopped swinging when the sexton finally stopped tugging on the rope the young woman managed to climb down from the bell tower and stepped out to meet those who had gathered to observe the execution she was bruised from head to toe when she was bleeding terribly when she explained what she had done the overwhelmed cromwell commuted the sentence a poet who was there that day gathered with the crowd to observe the execution captured the scene with these words at his feet she told the story showed her hands all bruised and torn and her sweet young face still haggard with the anguish it had worn touched his heart with sudden pity let his eyes with misty light go your lover lives said cromwell curfew will not ring tonight and this is the very thing that we will see from the revelation done rightly it will not supply us with a chart by which we will now be able to incitfully decipher all of the current events in our world it will point us to a savior who has purchased our victory in his death in a world that is filled with such hostility against the things of God we of all people need not fear the future come what may because curfew will never ring for us Jesus Christ has wrapped himself around the clapper of God's judgment again and again beloved in this book we will see the love of Jesus Christ for us thereby making it all together incongruous for us to manifest any other kind of disposition toward our brothers and sisters in relationship to the truth we learn from this book so let us not merely prepare our minds and do the work we need to do to be honest with the text but let us especially over against everything else in the first place prepare our hearts let's pray together shall we our father and our god many of us are filled with such anticipation at the thought of drawing our attention it is portion of your word it seems that as we look at the Christian world there is either on the one hand an unhealthy preoccupation with this book to the exclusion of the remainder of the Bible or there is this bound determination to avoid it at all costs I pray O Lord and God that you would help us to approach this book wisely and carefully and Christianly I pray O Lord and God that you would give us minds ready to engage with the truth of your word oh god help us to put aside all of the all of the excuses that we give out in our day I'm too slow I'm not very smart I I can't understand deep and difficult things O Lord and God I pray that we would recognize that as a statement of irreverence as we come before your word your word deserves our best our greatest efforts grant us the strength to do that very thing and in the process mature all of us and in addition to that O Lord and God we pray that our zeal for the truth would not be outstripped by our naturally given arrogance O Lord we in the midst of this great pursuit
long to display the character of Jesus Christ Himself and so Lord we'll want to work hard and pray that you would give us strength and endurance we'll want to understand the distinctions between truth and error and we want charity to prevail and for this to be a unifying force in our assembly not a divisive one maybe remember O Lord and God that the greatest gifts the greatest knowledge the greatest understanding of the truth means nothing that we are in fact less than nothing if love does not prevail O Lord of all people by your grace we ought to be able to do this