Special Topic: Love Is a More Excellent Way (1 Cor. 13:1-3)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, August 31, 2025

Timothy Keller shares:

I was just reading a book by a wife of a man who is now gone (Norman Mailer). She was his last wife, and she has written a biography.

Of course, Norman Mailer was a brilliant author. Everybody came out to listen to him. He ran for mayor. Okay, so he stabbed one of his wives with a knife. You know, he is a colorful character. See, what really matters is he has the gifts. He has the talent, you see. Paul totally reverses that, and he says, “No, it’s the other way around. If you’re brilliant, if you’re gifted, if you’re talented, even in God’s service, even doing all this for God, but in your heart you’re filled with envy and pride and anger and insecurity, you are nothing. That is of no value to God at all.”^[1]

We will examine this from 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.

My theme today is:

Love Is a More Excellent Way

1. What is going on in 1 Corinthians 13?
   1. As we reach 1 Corinthians 13, we are in the third of three chapters in which Paul writes about spiritual gifts.
   2. 1 Corinthians 12 is written about the theology of spiritual gifts.
   3. 1 Corinthians 13 is written about the motivation behind spiritual gifts.
   4. 1 Corinthians 14 is written about the practice of spiritual gifts.
   5. The Corinthian church was a divided church.
   6. I remember sitting in a New Testament class at Indiana Wesleyan University. The professor shared how when he was a pastor he would hear people say, “We want to be like the New Testament church.” He would say, “Really, do you want to be like the church in Corinth that was divided over communion [see 1 Cor. 11:18]?”
   7. The thesis of 1 Corinthians is in 1 Corinthians 1:10:
   8. 1 Corinthians 1:10 (NASB95)
   9. Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
   10. By the time we get to 1 Corinthians 13, Paul has already written about many subjects, among them, but not limited to: marriage (1 Cor. 7); food sacrificed to idols (1 Cor. 8-10); the Lord’s supper (1 Cor. 11); and now spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12-14).
   11. Now, we get into the motivation behind spiritual gifts.
2. The importance of love.
   1. 1 Cor. 13:1-3 is written regarding the importance of love.
   2. The gift of tongues is useless without it (1 Cor. 13:1).
   3. Look at 1 Cor. 13:1
   4. 1 Corinthians 13:1 (ESV)
   5. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
   6. What does this mean?
   7. First, notice that Paul is using the first-person pronoun, “I.” He is using himself as an example. In 1 Cor. 12:31 he was writing using the second person pronoun “you.”
   8. Remember that the Corinthian church was divided over spiritual gifts, and it appears they were also divided over the issue of tongues.
   9. Now, this gets complicated. Why? I am glad you asked.
   10. Paul ends 1 Cor. 12:31 with, And I will show you a still more excellent way.
   11. So, it seems that he was telling them to desire “higher” gifts, and he will show them a more “excellent way.”
   12. Right off the bat, I think in 1 Cor. 13 Paul is saying “love” is a more excellent way. Furthermore, some would argue that “love” is the highest gift, or one of the highest gifts.
   13. Some would argue “love” is not a spiritual gift.
   14. Paul says even with the spiritual gift of tongues, if he does not have love, “he is nothing more than a noisy gong or clanging cymbal,” huh?
   15. Keller: That verse makes no sense unless, as the commentators say, it’s referring to the worship of the various temples of those Greco-Roman cities. Like in Corinth, they had all the various gods. They had all the various pagan temples. The way worship was done was a great processional in which there were gongs and there were cymbals. You were wearing your finery. It was a parade. The purpose of it was to honor the god, to get the god’s attention, to get the god’s approval. “Look how much we venerate you. Look at it!”^[2]
   16. IVP BBC NT:
   17. Although cymbals were used in some pagan worship (as well as in Jewish worship), the point of Paul’s comparison is undoubtedly simply that, though loud, by themselves they communicate nothing (like some rhetoricians in his day). Corinth was famous for its “bronze,” and bronze vases (not “gongs,” as in most translations) were often used for amplifiers in the outdoor theaters of this period.^[3]
   18. Witherington III shares: In vv. 1–3 tongues and prophecy are shown to be potentially divisive while love unites.⁸ Then love is said to be not the very things that Paul has already said that the Corinthians are: jealous (cf. 3:3), self-promoting, puffed up (cf. 4:6), shameful (cf. 5:2; 11:4), each one a seeker of his or her own advantage (cf. chs. 8–10), easily provoked, and reckoners of wrongdoing (cf. ch. 6).^9,[4]
   19. We will examine 1 Cor. 13:4-7 next week, but Paul will contrast the way of love with the way of the Corinthians.
   20. Further, Dr. Witherington III shares: Paul is not calling love the supreme gift, but rather the way of life for Christ’s agent. ^12,[5]
   21. Still in verse 1 (1 Cor. 13:1), Paul writes that he could speak in tongues, or of angels. What does he mean by “angels”? Some think he is writing about an angelic language. I think he is writing in hyperbole.
   22. Some also think he is writing about those masters in rhetoric likening them to angels.
   23. The gift of prophecy is useless without it (1 Cor. 13:2a).
   24. Look at 1 Cor. 13:2: 1 Corinthians 13:2 (ESV) ² 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 have not love, I am nothing.
   25. I like what Timothy Keller shares: Paul shockingly says, “It’s possible to even have miraculous gifts like prophecy, it’s possible to have tremendous leadership gifts, tremendous preaching and teaching gifts, without love. It’s possible to be doing all of this not out of love.”^[6]
   26. Further, in verse 2 Paul references knowledge. If he has all knowledge to understand all mysteries, it is nothing without love.
   27. Paul then references the gift of faith. “Faith” (1 Cor. 12:9) and “knowledge” (1 Cor. 12:8) are spiritual gifts. Yet, he is nothing without love.
   28. The gift of giving is useless without it (1 Cor. 13:3).^[7]
   29. Look at 1 Cor. 13:3:
   30. 1 Corinthians 13:3 (ESV) ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
   31. Witherington III writes: For Paul the essence of true spirituality is self-sacrificial love, not gifts, knowledge, or miraculous power. At least some Corinthians were focused on power and ego and had a different view of the real heart of Christianity. Paul’s point is that such egocentric behavior hurts not only others but also self. One has no profit without love. The argument here about “profit” or “benefit” points to a deliberative function of this otherwise epideictic chapter.^[8]
   32. This idea of delivering up his body to be burned likely refers to the “standard Jewish tradition of martyrs, some of whom threw themselves into the fire to avoid being forcibly defiled.”^[9]
   33. What is Paul saying? Without love, he is nothing.
3.  Applications:
   1. I am increasingly convicted that the Christian witness is the strongest when we are pursuing a loving way in all things.
   2. This does not mean condoning sin, no, just the opposite.
   3. It is not loving to condone sin.
   4. It does mean we really pray, really discern, really think about how to be loving in all situations.
   5. We need to pray before we talk to someone about something that offended us.
   6. We must ask, “Am I being too thin-skinned?” Or, “did they sin against me, or is it a preference thing?”
   7. We must think, “Am I in a place to confront this?”
   8. We must ask the Lord to exchange our critical attitude for an attitude of grace.
   9. Grace towards everyone (1 Cor. 13:7).
   10. We must ask the Lord to replace our critical attitude with an attitude of gratitude (1 Thess. 5:16).
   11. We must ask the Lord to make us swift to hear, slow to become angry (James 1:19).
   12. We must pray and discern-
   13. When do I really need to defend myself?
   14. Am I just wanting to be right?
   15. Dallas Willard writes:
   16. One of our finest Christian-college presidents recently devoted his periodic mail-out to the question “Why are Christians so mean to one another so often?” He quotes numerous well-known Christian leaders on this theme…
   17. Later, Willard writes:
   18. Well, there actually is an answer to that question. And we must face this answer and effectively deal with it or Satan will sustain his stranglehold on spiritual transformation in local congregations. Christians are routinely taught by example and word that it is more important to be right (always in terms of their beloved vessel, or tradition) than it is to be Christlike. In fact, being right licenses you to be mean, and, indeed, requires you to be mean—righteously mean, of course. You must be hard on people who are wrong, and especially if they are in positions of Christian leadership. They deserve nothing better. This is a part of what I have elsewhere called the practice of “condemnation engineering.”[10]
   19. Grace towards everyone.
   20. Faith towards God.
   21. Biblical wisdom in all things.

Timothy Keller shares:

See, almost all of us have parts of our lives we really want to see changed, but change is really hard. If you take a Coke can and you crush it with your hand so now it’s taking up less space (it’s smaller) and then you take your hand away, it stays where you put it. If you take a rubber ball and squeeze it with your hand so it takes up less space and then you take your hand away, it snaps right back to where it was. Why?

Because you restrained the rubber ball temporarily, but you didn’t really change it. You changed the Coke can, see, but you didn’t really change the rubber ball. You just restrained it, and it snaps back. Almost all of us have that experience (the rubber ball experience, I mean). We go out to try to change parts of our lives, and we put a lot of willpower behind it. We put a lot of pressure on certain parts of our lives. We say, “I think I got it” Then as soon as you let up or circumstances change, it snaps right back.^[11]

Prayer

^[1] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[2] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[3] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 1 Co 13:1.

⁸ This also prepares for the argument in 14:2–5, 29–32.

⁹ Rightly Mitchell, Rhetoric of Reconciliation, pp. 169f. I agree with Mitchell that factionalism is perhaps the main thing Paul is combating throughout this letter. “Enthusiasm” is most definitely one cause of this divisive behavior, so it is not an either-or matter.

^[4] Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 265.

¹² The chapter may have existed before Paul put it to use here, but in view of its specific targeting of the Corinthian vices and its use of Paul as an example, this seems most unlikely.

^[5] Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 265–266.

^[6] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

^[7] H. L. Willmington, The Outline Bible (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1999), 1 Co 13:1–3.

^[8] Ben Witherington III, Conflict and Community in Corinth: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary on 1 and 2 Corinthians (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1995), 268.

^[9] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 1 Co 13:2–3.

[10] Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ (p. 238). (Function). Kindle Edition.

^[11] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

Paul Witnesses in Athens (Acts 17:16–34)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, August 24, 2025

Last week, the sermon was about learning and studying the Scriptures. I focused on the Bereans and how, when there was a new idea, they went back to God’s Word. They checked the Scriptures to see what the Scriptures had to say about this new teaching that the Apostle Paul taught. Then they found out that this teaching did not contradict the Scriptures. They discovered the Scriptures prophesied about Christ, and they became Christians.

Tim Keller writes, this was in 2003:

Let me give you an example from popular culture. I didn’t see this show. I read about this in an interesting article. This article talks about when Howard Stern was on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show. Howard Stern had written a book about his life, and he was on there hawking the book. Interestingly enough, the article says Howard Stern repeatedly provoked Leno with language and behavior that pushed way past the rules of live network television.

Of course, Leno could get in terrific trouble if things are said and done on his show that go way past the boundaries of propriety. We all know there are certain boundaries for live network television. Of course, Howard Stern was blowing right by them and just trying like crazy, daring Jay Leno to make a moral judgment and say, “Stop that. You shouldn’t be saying that.”

The writer says something like, “Stern repeatedly dared him to play the role of the moralist who presumes to tell others how to live. The usually unflappable Leno was visibly disturbed. Wanting to avoid having to make any moral judgments, he tried to change the subject and started sorting through a bag of best-selling books that included Stern’s autobiography. Refusing to be silenced, Stern praised his own book but degraded and trashed every other book Leno retrieved and resolutely persisted in challenging Leno to make some moral judgment.

What Stern did not see was the inordinate amount of moral zeal with which he did this. He was extremely self-righteous in his denunciation of everyone else’s self-righteousness. He was absolutely moralistic in his insistence that no one else could make moral pronouncements. It was wrong.

In short, Stern embodied the contradiction of our culture in living and vivid color. We publicly declare all values to be constructed. We profess, therefore, a morality that is thin and lightweight, but daily experience itself retains a moral thickness and weight that contradicts the logic of the culture. The truly significant moment came as the show was going to a commercial break.

Exasperated with Stern, Leno reached into the bag one more time and pulled out one more book. It turned out to be a Bible. For one brief moment, Leno became a prophet. Holding it up and looking into the camera, Leno said simply, ‘Suddenly, everything in this book makes perfect sense.’ ”

What you deny, though, with the mouth you will always affirm. You might say, “No one should make any moral judgments.” What would be wrong with that if there were no such thing as a moral judge? You can’t not know there’s something wrong. It’s not just, “This feels to be wrong,” it is wrong. It’s not just that we have moral feelings. “Well, I feel this is wrong, and I feel that is wrong.” (Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).)

So, what is our standard? Do we go back to the Bible for truth? On one end of the spectrum, we must be sure that we are not corrupted by culture, which means that we know the faith and we go back to God’s Word. On the other end of the spectrum, we must be prepared to be a witness. How can you cross cultural barriers to be a witness? The Apostle Paul did this. Do you know culture?

1 Chronicles 12:32:

…from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command…

Everyone has a worldview, which concerns the way that we view the world. Most of the time, these are under the surface, and we do not think about them. The Bible gives us a Christian worldview. But we also must know where others are coming from. The Apostle Paul did. Sometimes we are afraid of culture. Sometimes we are offended by culture, and we withdraw. Or we are delighted by culture, and we assimilate. The Apostle Paul was distressed by the culture, and so he engaged the culture through the Gospel.

I want to look at Acts 17:16-34 and make the case that he knew the culture and he was ready to engage the culture.

[I am deeply indebted to Dr. Bill Brown, former President of Cedarville University, for some of my information]

1. Now, let’s look at the passage. How does Paul engage culture?
   1. There certainly is a lot in this passage.
   2. When we understand where the culture is coming from and where their thinking is, we are better equipped to engage the culture.
   3. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot ever fence it out.” (J. R. Tolkein; Gildor Inglorion of the House of Finrod; Fellowship of the Ring)
   4. There are three approaches to culture, and we’ll see Paul’s approach:
      1. We can be offended by culture, which leads to withdraw.
      2. We can be delighted by culture, and we assimilate.
      3. We can be distressed by culture, and so we engage culture.
   5. The latter is what the Bible calls us to do. . . . Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)—2 Peter 2:7-8
   6. James 4:4: You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
   7. This is what the Apostle Paul did.
   8. Verse 16 says that Paul was distressed by what he saw:
   9. Acts 17:16 (NASB95) Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.
   10. Are we distressed by the sinful culture?
   11. But Paul did not get distressed so much that he buried his head in the sand. He did not assimilate with the culture either. He engaged the culture. Later, we see that Paul reasoned in the synagogue. He talked to the people.
       1. Acts 17:17–21 (NASB95) 17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.  18  And also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers were conversing with him. Some were saying, “What would this idle babbler wish to say?” Others, “He seems to be a proclaimer of strange deities,”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is which you are proclaiming? “For you are bringing some strange things to our ears; so we want to know what these things mean.” (Now all the Athenians and the strangers visiting there used to spend their time in nothing other than telling or hearing something new.)
       2. Could he do that if he did not know the culture? No. Could he reason with them if he did not know Christianity and the Scriptures? No. Could he reason with them if he were not seeking the Lord? Not really. If we are not seeking the Lord, we can win an argument but lose the person.
       3. REMEMBER, WE ARE NOT SEEKING TO WIN ARGUMENTS BUT REACH PEOPLE WITH THE GOSPEL.
2. Paul’s method:
   1. 1. 1. Acts 17:22–34 (NASB95) 22     So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.  23   “For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24      “The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26      and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28    for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ 29    “Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. 30   “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31    because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” 32        Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, “We shall hear you again concerning this.” 33 So Paul went out of their midst. 34    But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
         2. We saw that Paul was greatly distressed by the culture (verse 16);
         3. We see Paul sought to understand the culture (verse 23)- he was passing through and examining… He saw an alter to an unknown God. That was also His bridge to connect to the gospel.
         4. He started where they were (verses 22-23), he quotes two of their own poets. That is like us quoting a rock band.
         5. Paul begins with a positive about the truth he found (verse 22);
         6. Paul knew culture. He knew and quoted sources (verses 22 and 28);
         7. Lastly, he communicated the Gospel (verses 18 and 30-31).

The Gospel changes society.

Tim Keller shares:

Nicholas Kristof, who writes an op-ed column for the New York Times editorial page twice a week usually, is a very influential, very smart guy. He went to Africa. Just six weeks ago he wrote this column. In Africa one of the things he saw, which is something that is getting more publicity now, is in large parts of the world born-again Christianity, if you will, is spreading like wildfire. Millions of people are becoming Christians.

When he went there and he looked at so many of the social problems in Africa, he saw Christians dealing with them. He saw orphanages, hospitals, places that cared for AIDS sufferers all being run by, pushed by, supported by Christians. Here’s the most interesting part. This is a quote from his column.

“Pentecostalists, who make up one of the fastest-growing sects, preach faith healing and raising from the dead, but they also give a substantial voice in church to ordinary village women. And that in turn empowers women in the home and community. ‘In our Mozambican culture, women don’t have an active voice in the family,’ explained Ana Zaida, who teaches Bible school. ‘But in Christian life, we discover that not just the husband but also the wife can have a role.… So the wives fight to transform their husbands.’ ”

This is the last line in the column, believe it or not. The New York Times says, “Yet while it sounds strange to say so, evangelicals may be Africa’s most important feminist influence today.” What is he seeing? I’m not sure he knows what he’s seeing, but I’ll tell you what he’s seeing. When you tell a poor African woman the gospel … What is the gospel? Everybody in the world is equally lost. It doesn’t matter your pedigree. It doesn’t matter your race, male and female, rich and poor. Everyone is lost. (Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).)

We live in a culture that is considered post-Christian, or we could call it pre-Christian, which means that we are ripe for revival. We are ripe for an evangelical movement. I want to be part of that movement. I want to be used of God. We see that Paul engaged the culture. I hope you will as well.

There was a music professor at a European school. He grew old, and he could not take care of himself. He had no one, so the school adopted him, and he lived in a men’s dorm. Every day, one of the men would come and say, “Professor, what is the weather like?” The professor would respond, “It is changing; the weather always changes.” He would then strike his tuning fork against his wheelchair and say, “This is middle C, it never changed, it is constant. The weather can change, but middle C does not change.”

What is your middle C? I hope it is the Scriptures, as it was for the Bereans. Cling to the Scriptures because culture will change. But don’t run away from culture. Study culture, be a student of the culture like the men of Issachar of 1 Chronicles 12:32, and then be like Paul and engage the culture with the heart and the mind of Christ.

1 Cor. 9:23

 I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

Remember, you are never alone; the Holy Spirit is with you.

Do you know Jesus? Maybe today you realize that you are assimilated into the culture. It is time to commit to Christ.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

Paul Witnesses in Berea (Acts 17:10–15)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, August 17, 2025

I read the following:

WHAT ARE YOU FEEDING ON? I really enjoy visiting Yellowstone. In fact, one of these days, when Jesus comes back, I’ve got dubs on Yellowstone! Come and visit me for a while! Once when I was visiting the greatest national park in America, I heard a story about bears that was amazing. In the 1950s and 60’s, tourists could drive right up to a bear, roll down their window, and feed their McDonald’s hamburger to the hungry animal. He would gladly take the burger along with the hand of the tourist! The bears were changing their feeding habits and endangering visitors. As a result, the National Park Service removed the bears and took them to higher country where God had already provided for them a natural diet of luscious berries. However, because the bears had changed their feeding patterns, many of them refused to eat the berries, and some actually died.  This story is an incredible picture of the lives of many believers in Christ. Sadly, many of us have been delivered out of spiritual Egypt and bondage to sin, but we have not been brought into the Promised Land of victory. It is interesting that God told the Israelites to eat the roasted lamb they had sacrificed (Exodus 12). The Passover lamb is a picture of the death of Christ. But feeding on the lamb is a picture of how we grow in Christ once we have been saved. What are you feeding on in your personal life? Are you spending time alone with Christ in the Word of God? Are you allowing the junk food of this world’s values to destroy your spiritual appetite for the Word of God? Feed on the Lamb of God and don’t allow the Enemy to feed you a lie.

Everyone pick up a Bible, hold it. This book tells you how to attain eternal life. This book gives you wisdom for life.

So, you are going on a trip, you choose the destination, wherever you want.

Where would you go? Shout out some places, just shout them out…

Okay, how are you going to get there?

What will you do once you arrive?

Do you think you may check out AAA or something? What if they don’t have food, indoor plumbing, or gas stations? Do you want to learn about a place before you visit it?

Why don’t we do that with our eternal life? We are going there; we are going to spend eternity in that place. Don’t you want to invest as much in eternity, or hopefully more, than you would in a vacation? Don’t we want to study Heaven? The Bible has a great deal to say about Heaven. Don’t we want to get to know God and Jesus better? He gave us eternal life.

The music director at the church I served in Cincinnati shared with me how every morning she would see her father studying the Bible. He would have his commentary, his Bible dictionary, and his study Bible. He would study the Bible before his job at the factory. Get this, he got up at something like 4:30 am to study the Bible.

He must have been like the Bereans.

In Acts 17:10-15, Paul comes to Berea and presents the Gospel. These people searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul shared was true. Many were saved. Let’s study that passage, and I challenge you to be like a Berean.

The great idea today is that the Bereans were studious, learners; they were not ignorant.

The application: emulate their example.

Acts 17:10–15 (NASB95)

10     The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.

11     Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

12     Therefore many of them believed, along with a number of prominent Greek women and men.

13     But when the Jews of Thessalonica found out that the word of God had been proclaimed by Paul in Berea also, they came there as well, agitating and stirring up the crowds.

14     Then immediately the brethren sent Paul out to go as far as the sea; and Silas and Timothy remained there.

15     Now those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they left.

1. Context:
   1. Paul is chased from Thessalonica to Berea, and in verse 10, he arrives in Berea. This is Paul’s second nighttime escape. In Acts 9:25, Paul had to escape by night as well.
   2. What was that like for Paul? I wonder what it was like for the early Christians?
   3. What was it like to flee from one place under threat of death?
   4. Are you out much after dark? I like to run early in the morning because of time commitments. I enjoy gazing at the stars and marveling at God’s beauty. But sometimes I’ll go down a street and something will scare me. I’ll see an animal or hear something. For Paul, there was no time for noticing the beauty of creation. He traveled at night because of the threat. There was much danger traveling during that time period, and especially after dark. I once read a book called Night in Times Past. The book was about the great fear and dangers of the night prior to the advent of electric lighting. Paul did a lot of traveling and faced numerous dangers.
   5. This case is no different. Paul and Silas traveled 50 miles southwest from their last location. Can you imagine 50 miles? By the way, Berea is situated on the side of a mountain, and traveling there was not easy.
   6. Paul arrives in Berea and goes to the synagogue to start preaching. That has been his modus operandi. Verse 11 says that the Bereans were more noble-minded than the people of Thessalonica. The Bereans examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul was teaching was true.
   7. Verse 11 contrasts with the people in Thessalonica. The people of Thessalonica chased Paul out.
   8. A lot of times we hold up the Bereans as a standard, and probably right to do so. But the reality is that they were more noble than where Paul had just come from.
   9. They were ready to learn.
   10. The Bible states that they discovered Paul’s words to be true.
   11. You know what, they were going to the Old Testament to confirm this. Do you realize that the Old Testament has enough information to confirm who Jesus is?
   12. Many were saved. Jewish people were saved. Greek men and women were saved.
   13. Then the people from Thessalonica come to Berea and stir up a riot chasing Paul out.
   14. Now, Paul goes to Athens.
2. Let me encourage you to be like the Bereans.
   1. The Bereans did study the Scriptures.
   2. Where do we get wisdom? Where are we receiving our wisdom? You see, everywhere we go, we have messages being fed to us. Where is the wisdom though?
   3. The wisdom is in the Bible. Moreover, as the Bereans discovered, eternal life is a central theme in the Bible. You see, Paul came declaring this Truth that they had not been taught, and they did not know what to think of it. So, what did they do? Did they turn on Home Shopping Channel to see what to think? Did they turn on ESPN to see what to think? Did they go to CNN, FOX News, or the Newspaper to see what to think? No, they went to the Bible.
   4. Okay, so two applications: The Bible is eternal life, and the Bible is wisdom to shape our worldview.
   5. You see, first, you must know Jesus for eternal life. Without Jesus, you are disconnected from God and all eternity. You need eternity. Search the Scriptures, they are all about ways to freely receive eternal life.
   6. Once you know Jesus, you get fed True, Heavenly, Spirit-filled wisdom from the Bible.

A woman was driving home one night. The weather was really nasty. Rain was coming down in buckets and visibility was very poor. Seeing taillights ahead of her, she followed the car in front. Not being able to see, the car in front seemed to be going in the right direction. So she stuck with it. All of a sudden the car in front of her came to a stop. She began to wonder what had happened; perhaps the car in front had hit a deer or something like that. She began to feel uncomfortable; thinking being stopped in the middle of the road can often lead to accidents. Much to her alarm the car in front of her turned off their lights. Her concern was now growing as well as her anger, and she was then startled by a knocking on her window. She looked up, and there was a man standing in the pouring rain, wanting to speak to her. She cracked the window open and asked the man what the problem was. The man replied by stating that that was the question he was going to ask her. She retorted that she wasn’t the one who had stopped in the middle of the road and then turned off the car lights. The man’s reply was that they were not in the middle of the road, but in his driveway. Obviously, this woman had chosen the wrong leader to follow. She had chosen a leader who would not take her to where she wanted and needed to go. She had chosen the wrong leader and the wrong road.

We follow information, we follow Truth, what is your source?

About 12 years ago, I heard about a book, which I read part of, The Smartest Kids in the World and How they Got that Way. Part of the studies showed that children that rank highest in the world on test scores see their parents reading at home.

The challenge: Be like the Noble Bereans, who search the Scriptures and study them.

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

Christian- pursue spiritual, mental, and emotional depth.

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for and at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH on Sunday, August 10, 2025

Charles Swindoll writes:

Our image-conscious, hurry-up culture celebrates people with broad appeal and shallow character. Just look at the proliferation of reality shows featuring people who are famous for being famous. They do nothing, contribute nothing, stand for nothing, and accomplish nothing, yet television and tabloids can’t get enough of them. This is nothing new, of course. Every generation raises a bumper crop of superficial image builders. Standing in their midst, however, like oaks among scrub bushes, men and women of strength and dignity rise above their peers. They reject superficiality in favor of depth. They shrug off broad appeal and choose instead to be transparent and authentic. Rather than cut a wide, yet shallow, swath through life, they focus on what they deem important for the sake of deep, lasting impact. They waste no time polishing their image; their interest lies in deepening their character.

Compare, for example, the careers of two American writers—best friends, schoolmates, and neighbors as children—Harper Lee and Truman Capote.

Truman was a lonely, eccentric child with a natural gift for writing. After his parents’ divorce at age four, he lived with relatives in Monroeville, Alabama. While other children played, he pursued his obsession with words, grammar, narrative, and stories. The notoriously foppish boy and the tomboyish Harper became fast friends, sharing a great love of writing and literature.

By the age of twelve, Truman returned to New York to live with his mother and stepfather. While in high school, he worked as a copyboy in the art department of the New Yorker and continued to hone his craft. Not long after graduation, he completed several award-winning short stories and published his first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms. While the book spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, it was his controversial portrait on the dust jacket that catapulted him to fame and earned him the public fascination he had always craved. He relished the attention he received from New York society, but he still could not gain access to the rarified company of the “jet set” elite he so envied.

In 1959, he enlisted the help of childhood friend Harper Lee to help him with the research for his “nonfiction novel” In Cold Blood. A few years earlier, Harper had moved to New York to become a writer. She supported herself as an airline ticket clerk until friends gave her a priceless gift. On Christmas, she opened a note that read, “You have one year off from your job to write whatever you please. Merry Christmas.” They supported her financially throughout 1958, allowing her to complete the first draft of To Kill a Mockingbird. Over the next year, she honed and perfected the manuscript, completing it in 1959. As her manuscript went to press, she helped her friend research his book.

In 1960, Harper’s novel debuted and became an instant classic, winning virtually every literary honor in existence, including the Pulitzer Prize. More importantly, however, her book became the most influential literary work in the black civil-rights movement since Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. But rather than seek glory for herself, she retreated from public view and gave her last interview in 1964. When asked about writing another novel, she declared, “I have said what I wanted to say, and I will not say it again.”

Capote, on the other hand, rode In Cold Blood into the stratosphere of fame. He finally achieved his goal, which was not to create a definitive literary work as much as to become celebrated and enshrined as a great author. In the seventies and early eighties, virtually everyone in America not only knew the name Truman Capote but also recognized the flamboyant image of an author who hadn’t written anything noteworthy since 1966. Meanwhile, alcohol, drugs, and celebrity consumed the man Norman Mailer once called “the most perfect writer of my generation.”¹ In the end, however, Gore Vidal, Capote’s lifelong rival, called the author’s death “a good career move.”²

Two uncommonly gifted writers, two completely different approaches to writing. Lee wrote one world-changing story for its own sake and then chose to avoid public praise. Capote wrote for the sake of fame. Interestingly, To Kill a Mockingbird is still required reading in most schools.^[1]

What are we focused on? What consumes us?

Today, my theme and application are:

Christian, be a person of depth. Pursue spiritual, mental, and emotional depth.

1. Pursue spiritual depth.
   1. In reality, this whole message is about spiritual depth. The Christian mind relates to our spiritual condition. The corollary is true. The Christian’s spiritual state is linked with their mental state.
   2. But specifically, we have a problem. Christians are quite content to be shallow.
   3. I read a Gospel Coalition article titled: “Is There a Future for Church Grandpas and Grandmas?”[2]
   4. The article is about how we used to expect to have older people in the church with well-worn Bibles quoting Scripture.
   5. 1 Timothy 4:6–8 (NASB95)
   6. 6 In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.
   7. 7 But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness;
   8. 8 for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
   9. Paul wrote this letter to Timothy.
   10. It is one of the Pastoral Epistles.
   11. Verses 6-11 (of 1 Timothy 4) are about discipline: discipline for godliness as opposed to this false asceticism and false regulations that are in 1 Timothy 4:1-5. A key verse in this section is verse 7- But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness…
   12. Paul was writing against this asceticism. Asceticism has to do with strict self-denial. Paul is now contrasting their self-denial. He was saying that the self-denial they were doing— it’s not even in the Bible. It is all from these godless myths.
   13. One writer says: the idea of myths: fit only for old women, this was a common saying denoting something fit only for the uneducated and philosophically unsophisticated.
   14. Then, Paul writes: But have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness…
   15. The word “discipline” or “train” is an athletic term: this denotes rigorous self-sacrificing training. So now Paul says that spiritual discipline is the key to godly living.
   16. Instead of being stuck in ascetic practices, we are disciplining ourselves for godliness.
   17. We are not simply denying food and drink as ascetic practices, no, we are disciplining ourselves to grow in Christ.
   18. Look at verse 8 again: for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
   19. 1 Timothy 4:1-5 was about mere bodily discipline.
   20. But Paul is saying that it is of little value. Godliness is valuable for this life and for eternal life.
   21. We are a fast-paced, instant-everything society. But there is no instant godliness.
   22. We must disciplines ourselves to grow in Christ.
   23. This requires an ongoing relationship with the Lord.
   24. Are we spending time in His Word?
   25. Are we spending time in prayer?
   26. Are we spending time with our church family- Sunday School, small groups, preaching?
   27. I urge you to pursue spiritual depth.
2. Pursue mental depth.
   1. These all go together.
   2. If we are spending time in the Bible, meditating on Scripture, we are also focusing on mental depth, but I want to go further.
   3. Many years ago Neil Postman wrote a book called “Amusing Ourselves to Death.”
   4. One author writes regarding the book:
   5. With the introduction of the television, Postman observed, entertainment did not merely become a bigger and bigger part of our lives — it became our lives. And everything else in our lives — news, politics, education, even religion — was increasingly forced to perform on its stage. Suddenly, everythinghad to be entertaining. Newspapers gave way to “the nightly news”; classroom lessons made their way to Sesame Street; worship services transformed into televised concerts with TED talks.
   6. The television slowly taught us that nothing was worth our time unless it was entertaining. And anything entertaining, almost by definition, requires less of us — less thinking, less study, less work. Entertainment, after all, isn’t meant to be taken seriously. But when everything is entertainment, doesn’t that mean little, if anything, can be taken seriously?
   7. For those who take the glory of God seriously, and our joy in him seriously, that becomes a very serious question.
   8. Postman warned about this devolution long before others noticed what was happening. He writes,
   9. [George] Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in [Aldous] Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity, and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think. What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. . . . In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right. (Amusing Ourselves to Death, xix)
   10. Postman is comparing Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World” and George Orwell’s book “1984.”
   11. Further, the same writer shares:
   12. As he attempts to summarize his warning to the ever-entertained, he says, “Our Ministry of Culture is Huxleyan, not Orwellian. It does everything possible to encourage us to watch continuously. But what we watch is a medium which presented information in a form that renders it simplistic, nonsubstantive, nonhistorical, and noncontextual; That is to say, information packaged as entertainment. In America, we are never denied the opportunity to amuse ourselves” (141).[3]
   13. So, are we deeper mentally than we used to be?
   14. I don’t think so.
   15. I encourage you to think deeply in two ways.
   16. 1) First, think deeply about “Special Revelation.” Special Revelation is the Bible. Get into the Bible. The Bible is God’s revealed Word to us.
   17. 2) Second, think deeply through “General Revelation.” Observe all truth. All truth is God’s truth. Study creation.
   18. “General Revelation” would be God revealed through creation.
   19. For example, the book, “The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” shares this:
   20. When he was still in his teens, the young Jonathan Edwards wrote down an extensive description of the shape, construction, and purpose of a spider’s web. There are many true things we can say about the physical character of the web, but according to Edwards, the ultimate thing shown by the spider in its spinning is “the exuberant goodness of the Creator, who hath not only provided for all the necessities, but also for the pleasure and recreation of all sorts of creatures, even the insects.”[4]
   21. How often do we allow ourselves to think deeply about subjects?
   22. Some people tell me they do not like to read. I used to be that way. I encourage you to stretch your thinking.
   23. The ability to read is an amazing gift.
   24. Maybe you have problems reading. Then, try audiobooks. Come to Sunday School. Listen to podcasts. Get a tutor.
   25. Pursue depth mentally.
   26. Pursue depth spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.
3. Pursue emotional depth.
   1. Again, these all go together.
   2. As we grow spiritually and mentally, we will be better emotionally.
   3. Are we emotionally available for our friends and family?
   4. What if our spouse wants to share their feelings with us? Are we there for her?
   5. I was raised to respect the older generation.
   6. I have now served in pastoral roles at three older congregations, two of which were as senior pastor.
   7. With respect, I do not think many in our churches are healthy emotionally.
   8. We can do better.
   9. We must do better.
   10. Just because you are older does not mean you are healthier emotionally.
   11. There is a book and a ministry called “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.” I recommend it.
   12. We are not healthy spiritually if we are glossing over our lack of emotional depth.
   13. Notice I said, “glossing over.” I am NOT saying that we have to be emotionally healthy to be spiritually healthy. The problem is when we ignore things.
   14. Are we glossing over anger?
   15. What about anxiety?
   16. What about depression?
   17. I bet your children, spouse, or close friends can point these out- as long as you let them in.
   18. But how?
   19. We must be humble.
   20. I have repeatedly said this.
   21. We must transform our schedule so that we have more quiet time.
   22. Some of us are so busy that we do not have time to think.
   23. We are so busy.
   24. We need time to reflect.
   25. We need time to listen to the Lord.
   26. We need to be active in the daily offices that I spoke about several months ago. We need to spend time journaling.
   27. We must spend time in prayer.
   28. We must have people holding us accountable whom we can ask, “Am I teachable?”
   29. We must be teachable to receive that instruction.

Pete Scazzero writes:

The term Daily Office (also called fixed-hour prayer, Divine Office, or liturgy of the hours) differs from what we label today as quiet time or devotions. When I listen carefully to most people describe their devotional life, the emphasis tends to be on “getting filled up for the day” or “interceding for the needs around me.” The root of the Daily Office is not so much a turning to God to get something but to be with Someone. The word Office comes from the Latin word opus, or “work.” For the early church, the Daily Office was always the “work of God.” Nothing was to the Creator … prayers of praise offered as a sacrifice of thanksgiving and faith to God and as sweet-smelling incense … before the throne of God.”

David practiced set times of prayer seven times a day (Psalm 119:164). Daniel prayed three times a day (Daniel 6:10). Devout Jews in Jesus’ time prayed two to three times a day. Jesus himself probably followed the Jewish custom of praying at set times during the day. After Jesus’ resurrection, his disciples continued to pray at certain hours of the day (Acts 3:1 and 10:9ff).

About AD 525, a good man named Benedict structured these prayer times around eight Daily Offices, including one in the middle of the night for monks. The Rule of St. Benedict became one of the most powerful documents in shaping Western civilization. At one point in his Rule, Benedict wrote: “On hearing the signal for an hour of the divine office, the monk will immediately set aside what he has in hand and go with utmost speed. … Indeed, nothing is to be preferred to the Work of God [that is, the Daily Office].”[5]

The daily office includes stopping, centering, silence, and Scripture.

1. This may be for 20 minutes a day, or maybe only a week at this point, but it is important.
2. Scazzero shares: At each Office I give up control and trust God to run his world without me.[6]
3. We center on God: Scripture commands us: “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7).
4. We practice silence: Dallas Willard called silence and solitude the two most radical disciplines of the Christian life. Solitude is the practice of being absent from people and things to attend to God. Silence is the practice of quieting every inner and outer voice to attend to God. Henri Nouwen said that “without solitude it is almost impossible to live a spiritual life.”[7]

Christian, be a person of depth. Pursue spiritual, mental, and emotional depth.

Pray

¹ Norman Mailer, Advertisements for Myself (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1992), 465.

² Deborah Davis, Party of the Century: The Fabulous Story of Truman Capote and His Black and White Ball (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006), 256.

^[1] Charles R. Swindoll, Living the Proverbs: Insights for the Daily Grind (New York, NY: Worthy Books, 2012), 27–29.

[2] See an article: Is There a Future for Church Grandpas and Grandmas?

Trevin Wax  |  May 20, 2025

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/future-church-grandpas-grandmas/

[3] Desiring God article on Feb 27, 2022 by Marshall Segall:

The Blissful and Trivial Life, How Entertainment Deprives a Soul

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-blissful-and-trivial-life

[4] Noll, Mark A.. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind (p. 50). (Function). Kindle Edition.

[5] Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality: It’s Impossible to Be Spiritually Mature, While Remaining Emotionally Immature (pp. 143-146). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

[6] Ibid, 147.

[7] Ibid, 148.