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May 20, 2025

The Preeminence of Love: Why Nothing Matters More

For several weeks our Tuesday night survey of the Pauline epistles has carried us from Romans into the first letter to the church at Corinth—a congregation gifted, energetic, and profoundly troubled. Corinth was prosperous, intellectual, and morally permissive; much of that spirit seeped into the fellowship. Paul therefore moves from problem to problem—division, immorality, litigation, misuse of the Lord’s table, confusion over spiritual gifts—and in chapter 13 he pauses to establish a single, non‑negotiable foundation: love. Whatever a believer claims to possess—eloquence, prophetic insight, faith that moves mountains—if love is missing, heaven calls it nothing.

Corinth in Context 

Paul planted the Corinthian church during an eighteen‑month stay (Acts 18). Soon after he departed, reports reached him in Ephesus that rivalry, doctrinal error, and outright debauchery had begun to dominate the assembly. Members argued about which apostolic voice carried the most prestige; the gifts of tongues and prophecy were brandished more for status than for service; some even arrived at the Lord’s table intoxicated. Paul responds with surgical precision, and nowhere is that precision clearer than in chapter 13.

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Four Rules for Sound Interpretation 

Before we trace Paul’s logic, remember four interpretive basics:

1. Who is writing? All Scripture is God‑breathed, yet the Holy Spirit employed human personalities. Knowing Paul’s background as a former Pharisee and persecutor deepens our reading.
2. To whom is he writing? Corinthian issues are local and first‑century, but the principles are timeless. Application requires discerning the original audience before leaping to ourselves.
3. Why is he writing? Each section tackles a concrete pastoral crisis. Chapter 13 confronts the Corinthians’ obsession with spectacular gifts devoid of love.
4. What covenant and era? Paul writes in the new‑covenant age, after the cross and Pentecost, with the church indwelt by the Spirit.

These rules keep us from superficial or self‑serving use of the text.

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Defining “Preeminence” 

The sermon hinged on one vocabulary word: preeminence—that which is absolutely superior, unsurpassed, and unrivaled. In Paul’s logic, love (Greek agapē) is not one gift among many; it is the atmosphere in which every legitimate gift must function. Remove love and the gifts collapse into spiritual noise.

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Exposition of 1 Corinthians 13

Verses 1‑3: The Poverty of Loveless Ministry

• Tongues of men and of angels: Corinth prized eloquence and mystical speech. Paul says that eloquence without love is a clanging cymbal.
• Prophecy, mysteries, knowledge, faith to move mountains: Gifts celebrated by the congregation. Paul bluntly: “I am nothing” without love.
• Extreme generosity and even martyrdom: Sacrifice unmotivated by love is spiritually unprofitable.

Verses 4‑7: Fifteen Verbs of Love (rendered as continuous prose to preserve flow) Love is patient, kind, free of envy, devoid of boastfulness and pride; it is not rude, not self‑seeking, not easily provoked, keeps no ledger of wrongs, finds no pleasure in evil but rejoices with the truth; it bears, believes, hopes, and endures all things. This is not sentimental feeling but volitional action—a choice empowered by the Spirit.

Verses 8‑10: Temporary Gifts, Permanent Love Prophecies will cease, tongues will fall silent, partial knowledge will disappear. When “that which is perfect” (Christ in His consummated kingdom) arrives, partial mediums of revelation will be obsolete, but love will continue because love is God’s own nature (1 John 4:8).

Verses 11‑12: Moving from Childhood to Maturity Paul illustrates with personal growth: childish speech, thought, and reasoning give way to adult clarity. Similarly, present spiritual experience is like viewing an image in polished bronze—real yet indirect. Face‑to‑face clarity awaits Christ’s return, but love presses us toward maturity now.

Verse 13: The Supreme Triad Faith and hope remain essential, yet both are oriented toward realities not yet seen. Love, however, participates in God’s eternal being; thus “the greatest of these is love.” Reject love and we reject God.

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Practical Implications for the Contemporary Church 

1. Evaluate every ministry by love. Discern whether preaching, music, outreach, or social media presence is driven by love or by self‑promotion.
2. Choose love daily. Emotions fluctuate; love is a Spirit‑enabled decision.
3. Refuse personality cults. Corinthians boasted, “I am of Paul… Apollos… Cephas.” Modern equivalents include celebrity pastors, stylistic factions, and departmental turf wars. True love dismantles such rivalries.
4. Persist in patient love. Real love endures disappointment and repeated failure, interceding rather than discarding.
5. Let love govern controversial gifts. Whether tongues, prophecy, or teaching, ask: Does this edify in love or merely display ability?

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Cross‑References for Further Study 

• John 13:34‑35—Love as the mark of authentic discipleship.
• John 3:16—The self‑giving nature of divine love.
• 1 John 4:7‑11—God as love and the obligation to love one another.

Meditate on these passages to reinforce Paul’s argument.

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Eloquence fades. Gifts cease. Knowledge, charity drives, even heroic sacrifice will be weighed not by quantity but by motive. Only love proves the reality of our union with Christ. Therefore Paul’s exhortation stands for every generation: pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts—but pursue love first (1 Cor 14:1).

May Reconciliation Ministries and every believer connected to this teaching embrace love as the non‑negotiable core of Christian life. To love God, love one another, and even love the unlovable is to reflect the heart of the gospel and to prepare for the day when faith becomes sight and hope is fulfilled—yet love remains.

Visit us in Chicago or connect at info@pastordkb.com as we continue this Corinthian survey. Together, let us embody the preeminence of love.

May 20, 2025

A Personal Challenge: Set Your House in Order

The Urgency of the Hour

So much is happening in the world today that if the saints of God don’t stand up, the devil will have a heyday. That means he will do whatever he wants—because there’s nobody praying.

I believe the saints ought to pray, and not just when they go to bed at night. “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep”—that’s beautiful, but we must go deeper. We must grab hold of the horns of the altar and let God know: we mean business—Kingdom business.

If we don’t pray, who will?

The people of God have authority to block the enemy’s plan and cancel the devil’s contract against our lives and purposes. The Bible says:

“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
—James 5:16 (KJV)

So I pray for those in the house and those watching from afar—and I ask for your prayers in return.

When Thinking Is the Missing Link

Some things happen in our lives simply because we don’t think. Let me ask you:
Have you ever done something, and a few days later asked yourself, “What was I thinking?”
Often, if we had just stopped to think—really think—we could have avoided the pain that followed.

Today, I want to put something on your mind that will shake you out of spiritual autopilot.

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Scripture Reading: Two Wake-Up Calls

Let’s look at two passages:

📖 2 Kings 20:1 (KJV)

“In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.”

📖 Luke 12:16–21 (Parable of the Rich Fool)

Jesus tells a story of a rich man whose land produced abundantly. The man said to himself:

“I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll say to myself, ‘Soul, you have plenty stored up for many years; take it easy—eat, drink, and be merry.’”

But God responded:

“Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”When Life Looks Good, But the Soul Is Starving

Let’s be honest: many of us have “stuff”—money in the bank, a good job, a home, food on the table. But just like the man in the parable, we may be rich in possessions but poor toward God.

We see this every day. Piles of untouched food tossed away at restaurants. Lavish living, but no worship. Full stomachs, empty souls.

The rich man in the parable didn’t realize he would have to give an account for his life. He was so focused on the temporary that he forgot about the eternal.

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A Personal Challenge: “Set Your House in Order”

Look at someone and say:

“Neighbor, it doesn’t matter what you have—you need to set your house in order.”

Hezekiah was a good and righteous king, a reformer of Judah. Yet when the word of the Lord came through Isaiah, it was simple and sobering:

“Set your house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.”

You are not above the reach of God or the reach of death.
You cannot negotiate with death or delay its arrival. When your number is called, ready or not—it’s coming.

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When Mercy Delays Judgment

Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed. He pleaded with God:
“Lord, I’ve tried to serve You. I tore down idols. I reopened the temple. I led Your people.”

And God—full of mercy—added fifteen more years to his life.

If God has shown you mercy—if He’s spared you from tragedy or given you a second chance—you ought to run to Him. When that bullet missed, or the accident didn’t take you out, that wasn’t coincidence. That was grace shouting: “Set your house in order!”

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Death Doesn’t Care How Old You Are

Two of my own sisters passed away at the age of 48. Friends and acquaintances have died young. Born in the ’90s or 2000s—and already gone.

That’s a warning. That’s a trumpet sound from Heaven saying,

“Get your house in order.”

Don’t play games with your life. Don’t play with fire and expect not to get burned. If you don’t go to the club, you won’t get caught in the violence at the club. If you don’t flirt with death, it can’t so easily find you.

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General Housekeeping—Spiritual Edition

You can dress up the outside, but God looks on the inside.

Some houses look beautiful from the curb—but when you walk inside, it’s chaos. So it is with many lives: polished on the outside, cluttered within.

You can’t fool God.

“The dead in Christ shall rise first…” (1 Thessalonians 4:16)
—but only if you’re in Christ when that trumpet sounds.

Don’t be the one scrambling to repent at the last minute. Be ready now.

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Not Everyone in the Church Is in Christ

Some folks are in church out of tradition—not transformation.
They come because Mama went. Or Grandmama. Or out of habit.
But they’ve never truly said, “Lord, here I am—wretched and undone. Wash me. Cleanse me. Make me whole.”

You’ve got to make a commitment to Jesus. You’ve got to say, “Take me to the potter’s house. Break me. Mold me. Make me new.”

That’s what it means to set your house in order.

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The Rich Fool Lives Again

Jesus called the man in the parable a fool—not because he was rich, but because he put his stuff before his Savior.

“I can’t come to church. My grandson has a football game.”
“I can’t serve God today. I’ve got errands.”

When you put anything—anything—before God, you’re in dangerous territory.

God isn’t anti-blessing. He wants you to enjoy your life. But He will never accept being second. He is not a side dish—He is the main course.

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A Word to the Working Believer

I’m a bi-vocational pastor. I have a job outside the church. But I’ll tell you this: nothing comes before my worship of God.

If your employer won’t give you a single Sunday off a month to serve your God, they don’t respect your soul. And you need to consider whether that’s a place you belong.

I’ve worked as a firefighter-paramedic. Even there, my coworkers knew who I was. They knew I was a preacher. They knew I had a house in order.

So I say to every believer: your walk with God is more important than your paycheck. Prioritize the presence of God.

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The Final Word

Set your house in order.
Get the dust out. Clean out the corners. Remove the idols.
And open the doors wide for God.

“He’s coming for a church without spot or wrinkle.”
Will you be ready?

This isn’t fear-mongering. It’s truth. When you take your last breath, none of your earthly things will matter.

What will matter is this:
Did you know Jesus?
Did you serve Him?
Was your house in order?

“For it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.”
—Hebrews 9:27 (KJV)

Now is the time.
Today is the day.
Set your house in order.

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🙏 Reflection & Response

• Is there anything you’ve placed above your relationship with God?
• Are there areas of your life that need to be cleaned up—repented of—reordered?
• If Christ returned today, would you be ready?

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✝️ Need Prayer? Want to Know More About Jesus?

Contact me at info@pastordkb.com.
Let me walk with you as you set your house in order and follow Christ.

May 20, 2025

The Sanctity of Marriage – A Pastoral Exposition of 1 Corinthians 7

Paul’s first letter to Corinth is equal parts encouragement, correction, and doctrinal clarity. In chapter 7 he tackles the most foundational of community relationships—marriage. What follows is a continuous rendering of the sermon you just read, reshaped only for website readability and search visibility (keywords such as Christian marriage teaching, 1 Corinthians 7, and biblical view of marriage appear naturally). Headings are kept to a minimum so the flow remains sermonic rather than segmented.

Marriage Is Honorable and Sanctified

Hebrews 13:4 states, “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” From Eden forward God has treated marriage as a divine institution. When the biblical model collapses, neighborhoods, cities, and nations unravel. Many couples now “test the waters” instead of entering covenant, yet Scripture calls marriage honorable—something God smiles upon, not a social convenience.

Corinth’s Reality and Paul’s Response

Paul planted the Corinthian congregation and later learned that sexual promiscuity, disputes over spiritual gifts, and general disorder had crept in once he departed. Chapter 7 addresses questions the church had sent him: “Concerning the things whereof you wrote….” His first principle is strikingly plain: “It is good for a man not to touch a woman.” In context Paul is challenging casual, non-covenant intimacy. Because “everybody was touching everybody,” he says, “Nevertheless, to avoid fornication let every man have his own wife, and every woman her own husband.” Sexual expression belongs inside covenant; outside it becomes destructive.

Paul then explains marital duty: each spouse owes the other “due benevolence.” Husbands are not free to withhold affection; wives are not free to weaponize affection. If the couple mutually agrees on a short season of abstinence for prayer and fasting, that is permitted, but they must “come together again” so that Satan does not exploit their incontinence. In plain terms: prolonged refusal without consent invites temptation.

Permission versus Commandment

Several times Paul distinguishes between divine command and apostolic permission. When he counsels widows and the unmarried that remaining single can spare them certain pressures, he adds, “I speak this by permission, not by commandment.” Celibacy is a gift, not a universal rule; “every man has his proper gift of God.” Those who cannot live contentedly single “should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn” with unbridled desire.

Believers Married to Unbelievers

A pressing Corinthian question involved mixed marriages—one spouse converted, the other not. Paul’s principle: if the unbelieving partner is willing to remain, the believer must not push for divorce, “for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.” Sanctified here means set apart—the believer’s presence brings spiritual influence to the household, even if it does not automatically save the unbelieving spouse. However, “if the unbelieving depart, let him depart: a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.” Forced co-habitation under abuse or abandonment is not required; peace is.

Commitment, Forgiveness, and Lifelong Learning

Marriage on earth is ordained in heaven but forged by daily choices. Forty-plus years of covenant living prove that every rose still has thorns—difficult seasons come. Yet commitment to God and to one another holds a couple steady. Reconciliation often begins with honest self-examination: if you have been married four or five times, the common denominator is you, not merely your former spouses. Healthy marriages require mutual submission, ongoing forgiveness, truthful communication, and respect for each partner’s strengths.

Practical Counsel

1. Seek God before you choose. A marriage “made in heaven” is really a marriage chosen on earth under heaven’s guidance.
2. Value covenant over chemistry. Feelings fade; vows endure.
3. Use seasons of abstinence wisely. Agree on purpose and duration, then reunite.
4. Honor one another’s body. Neither spouse owns exclusive rights; both belong to each other.
5. If you failed, start where you are. God forgives; learn, grow, and do it His way now.

“Marriage is honorable.” Whether newlyweds, veteran couples, widows, or singles wrestling with desire, Paul’s counsel lands here: God calls His people to peace, purity, and commitment. Let every household in Christ reflect that sanctity so the church may stand strong, and through the church, the city and nation.

If you live in the Chicago area, join us at Reconciliation Ministries (438 W. 120th St.) as we continue this Corinthian study. For prayer or pastoral counsel on marriage, contact us at info@pastordkb.com.