Spiritual Gifts and the Love of God
I Corinthians 13:1-3
Introduction: We’ve been talking for the last three weeks about spiritual
gifts, about how God has “S.H.A.P.E.”d each of us, like a Potter molding the
clay, and placed us in the Body, on purpose, for a purpose: to encourage the other
members and to do our part in the mission He has entrusted to us. How do we
evaluate how we are doing in using our own spiritual gifts in the church? Others will evaluate us on their own terms, since
they don’t know our heart. Remember back in I Corinthians 4:2-4 Paul said,
2 Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. 3 But with me it is a very small
thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not
even judge myself. 4 I am not
aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the
Lord who judges me.
Ultimately
we want to please God, and our passage today shows us the kind of “serving”
that God desires. The Corinthians had
gifts, they had knowledge, and they had great teachers. Still, in many ways,
they had not matured in their faith. They were proud of their “knowledge,” their
gifts, and even their teachers, and had an inflated view of their own
spirituality. They were enamored with certain, flashy gifts that they
deemed “greater,” but they were lacking in a fundamental attitude: love. They were more in love with the gifts of
the Giver, than with the Giver of the gifts. Warren Wiersbe said, “The main evidence of maturity in the
Christian life is a growing love for God and for God’s people, as well as a
love for lost souls.” Love is more
than a motivating attitude, love is an attitude that shows itself in action.
Think about how the Bible describes love (I’ll pick just a few verses from one
book):
John 3:16 16 For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should
not perish but have eternal life.
John 13:1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when
Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having
loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. [He
would wash their feet that night, and would soon lay down His life for them].
John 13:34-35 34 A new commandment I
give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you,
you also are to love one another. 35
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love
for one another." [Love must be something the world can see!].
John 14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
John 14:21-24 21 Whoever has my
commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who
loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to
him." 22 Judas (not
Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to
us, and not to the world?" 23
Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my
Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does
not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who
sent me.
John 21:15-17 15 When they had
finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do
you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you
know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs." 16 He said to him a second time,
"Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes,
Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my
sheep." 17 He said to
him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was
grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" and
he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love
you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.
You get the
idea. Love is something that is seen in actions. It is not just an attitude, it
is an attitude that acts. It is not just a feeling, it is expressed in what we
do, not simply in what we say. I
remember when Mary Ann phrased this idea (borrowing from James), “Love without
works is dead!”
The Big Idea: We’re all called to be
ministers, but any ministry, if it
is not motivated by love, is meaningless. This is the foundation of the
Christian life: Love God, and love one another!
I. “Giftedness” without
love is just noise
(1). We can be great communicators,
eloquent, entertaining, we can be gifted, but if we are not motivated by love,
it is just noise.
If I
speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong
or a clanging cymbal.
This week I
received a devotional directed at pastors that asked the question, “Why do you preach?” In answering that
question, the author said only two motivations really matter: 1) We love God. 2) We love others.
Love God,
love people. Whether
we are talking about preaching or any other ministering of the gifts God has
given us, that has to be our heart attitude: love God, love people. Remember
John tells us in his first letter that “God
is love,” and that we love, only because He first loved us. In almost every chapter of that letter John
calls the reader to love God and love each other, love is the compelling
evidence that we are children of God (I Jn 2:5,15; 3:1,10,11,14,16,17,18,23;
4:7,8,9,10,11,12, etc.). When Paul speaks about the fruit of the Spirit in
Galatians 5, he says first of all, “The fruit of the Spirit
is love...” The Corinthians
had seemingly lost their first love, they had drifted away from the fundamental
love relationship with God, that is the necessary foundation and source of our
love for one another.
Paul begins, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels...” Paul turns the lens on himself as he teaches the Corinthians, he switches to the first person, "I". He is showing love, by being gentle and pastoral. Since Paul wrote in Greek we need to
“interpret” what he was saying here. First of all, it is clear that “tongues”
in this context is simply the word for “languages” as we see in Acts 2:4-11,
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and
began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. 5 Now there were dwelling in
Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. 6 And at this sound the multitude
came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them
speak in his own language [dialect]. 7 And they were
amazed and astonished, saying, "Are not all these who are speaking
Galileans? 8 And how is it
that we hear, each of us in his own native language? [i.e.,
“dialect] 9 Parthians and
Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus
and Asia, 10 Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from
Rome, 11 both Jews and
proselytes, Cretans and Arabians- we hear them telling in our own tongues
the mighty works of God."
The words
“tongue” (glossa) and “language” (dialektos) are used interchangeably here
for the native languages of the pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem for the
feast. The “tongues” were a miraculous enablement of the disciples to speak the
Word of God in languages they did not otherwise know. Beyond the book of Acts, I Corinthians 12-14
is the only other context in which “tongues” is mentioned, and Corinthians seems
to imply, that with interpretation, this was a gift that God used in the early
church to bring revelation to the body. In the church at Corinth, it is pretty
clear as you read these chapters (12-14) that the abuse of this gift was
a problem. For the sake of emphasis Paul adds “...tongues of angels...” saying that even a heavenly language, if it
was not accompanied by love, is just noise. I don’t think that the point is
that some spoke a “heavenly language,” rather, Paul is using some oriental
hyperbole to make his point: even a heavenly language, without love, is just
noise! A “noisy gong” is a loud,
irritating sound. A “clanging symbol”
may point to the symbols that were used in some of the pagan rituals in
Corinth. If that is Paul’s intent he is saying using our gifts without love for
God and for others is as detestable as pagan worship. Many had lifted the gift of
tongues in particular as the sign of spirituality and it seems that Paul is
making the point that in the process, they had grown lukewarm in their love
for the Giver of the gifts.
You might think, how is this possible? How
can someone know God and love God and then get off track? I’ve shared enough of my story with you to
make it clear that I have firsthand experience with this. Coming to faith in
Christ at 23 years of age I was excited and in love with God. I started well
but probably took on too much too soon, and I dove into reading and rigorous
study of the Word. I was involved in ministry and doing good things, but
somewhere along the way something was missing. The joy wasn’t there and what
should have been opportunities seemed like burdens. Finally I was able to talk
to a friend who helped me see the truth: I was busy doing good things, but my
heart had grown cold, I had drifted from my first love. By God’s grace, with
the help of that brother, I got back on track. I’ve learned to “guard my
heart,” because everything else depends on it (Proverbs 4:23). Do you remember your first love? I mean first in importance, that is, your love for
God? If the answer is yes, that is good, because I have been around long enough
to know that we are all susceptible to drifting. Remember, we’re all called to be
ministers, but any ministry, if it
is not motivated by love, is meaningless. This is the foundation: Love God, and
love one another! I. Giftedness without
love is just noise, and...
II. Knowledge without
love is meaningless
(2). Right doctrine without a right heart is empty. We can speak the truth, know the truth, and
even believe the truth, but without love, we are nothing! We must speak the truth in love.
2 And if I have prophetic powers [i.e.,
the gift of prophecy], 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.
The Corinthians
were enamored with “knowledge” [gnosis]
as we sometimes are.
1) Speaking the truth, without love,
doesn’t make me something! “If I have prophetic powers... but have not
love, I am nothing...” Paul says if that is what I am doing, “I am nothing.” We have some examples in
the Bible of prophets speaking without love.
Balaam, who was hired by Balak, the king of
Moab to curse Israel, but even his own donkey seemed to have more spiritual discernment!
Jonah tried running from God rather than
warning the Ninivites. When he finally went and warned them of God’s impending
judgment they repented. Instead of
rejoicing he was mad about it since God relented from destroying them! Being a prophet did not guarantee that you
were operating out of love! We can speak
the truth and we should, but our motivation should be that we love God, and we
want others to love him too. We know we are called to love one another, and we
know that God “so loved the world,” shouldn’t we love them as well? Speak the
truth, clearly, passionately, in love.
2) “...if I understand all mysteries and all knowledge...” Knowing the truth, without love, doesn’t
make me something either. Did you know that the Devil could get an “A” in
theology class? He knows God is
real. Demons, confronted by Jesus, cried out, “What have we to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to
torment us before the appointed time?”
They knew the truth about Jesus. Some of them seemed to grasp who
Jesus was before his own disciples! They
even knew that judgement was coming.
Their theology was right. But they did not love the One who is the
truth. James said, “You believe that God
is one? You do well. The demons also believe, and tremble!” We can
sometimes be impressed by education, by the letters after someone’s name, the
paper framed on their wall, but I’ve known men of great learning, with great
knowledge about the Bible, but who did not know God personally. Knowing about God, and knowing Him, are not the same thing.
3) “...and have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am
nothing...” Paul seems to be using
hyperbole here, a deliberate exaggeration to make a point. Jesus had told the disciples that if they had
faith like a tiny grain of mustard seed, they could say to a mountain “be
gone!” and it would be cast in to the sea.
That was hyperbole to emphasize the truth that believing God as we pray
could accomplish the impossible. Here Paul seems to say that the only faith
that matters, the faith that pleases God, comes from a heart that loves God and
love people. We can speak the truth,
know the truth, and even believe the truth, but it only pleases God if it comes
out of love. A great preacher from the past said, “People won’t remember
everything you say, they’ll remember if you love them or not.” We should love, because HE first loved
us! We’re all called to be
ministers, but any ministry, if it
is not motivated by love, is meaningless. This is the foundation: Love God, and
love one another! I) Giftedness without love is just noise, II) knowledge
without love, is meaningless, and finally...
III. Even sacrificial service without
love is worthless
(3).
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.
Service,
even sacrificial service, impressive ministry, giving of ourselves and our
resources, can be “empty” and meaningless.
Remember the warning Jesus gave,
21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,'
will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven. 22 On that
day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and
cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' 23 And then will I declare to
them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness...'” (Matthew
7:21-23).
That is
tough language! Giving is good, it is important for our motivation to be right.
The example of Barnabas at the end of Acts 4 is positive. He is generous,
acting in love for God and love for his brothers, the pilgrim Jews in Jerusalem
who were in need. He sold a parcel of land and laid the money at the apostles’
feet. A generous donation! Acts 5 begins with a contrasting story, “BUT a man
named Ananias, and his wife Sapphira...”
Long story short, they too gave, a large sum. But their hearts were not right. They wanted the praise of humans. They wanted
to be loved, perhaps, but there was no love of God or of people behind their
actions. God was not pleased! Our life and our ministry, every one of us, must
flow out of our genuine love for God and our love for our neighbors.
What is God saying to me in
this passage? We’re all
called to be ministers, but any
ministry, if it is not motivated by love, is meaningless. This is the
foundation: Love God, and love one another!
What would God have me to do in
response to this passage? In contrast to the attitude of self-centered pride that was such a
problem in Corinth, Paul has been teaching about the body. He makes it clear
that our heart as well as our head has to be a part of our Christian life if we
are to grow in our faith and be all that God desire us to be. Love God, love
one another, love the lost. Love is a choice, a commitment to a
relationship. That means we choose to spend time with each other. First of all with God. Time in the Word, time
in prayer and worship. Remember Jesus
said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know
them, and they follow me...” Do you take time everyday to hear the Master’s
voice? Secondly, our commitment to fellowship with other believers. “Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves
together as is the manner of some...” The early church spent time together,
in corporate worship, and in each other’s homes. Small groups provide a great setting for
the “one another’s” of the New Testament to find expression in our lives. Have
you found a group to be a part of yet? Speak with me, or one of the elders, and
we will help you get connected. Finally, we invest in our 8-15 relationships,
those 8-15 people, on average, in our sphere of influence who we are closest to,
that we see and rub shoulders with on a regular basis, in our family, our work
place, our neighborhood, our school. Statistically,
we know that 95% of those who visit church, and eventually come to faith in
Christ, have been invited by someone who knew them. That is sobering! What is the key to reaching our community?
It all starts with reaching our friends and family. I heard a devotional this week in which the
pastor said, “If I had the cure for cancer and didn’t share it with those who
were dying, it would be criminal! If I
found the cure for A.I.D.S., and kept it to myself I should be arrested! We have the cure, the only hope, for
fallen sinful humans. Start by
literally writing down the names of those around you, your 8-15 people in your
most immediate sphere of influence. Not all of them come to church! Not all of
them know Jesus. Start praying for them daily.
Look for opportunities to invite them to a small group or to a church
service. Pray for an opportunity to share your story, your testimony of God’s
grace at work in your life. The Gospel of Christ has been entrusted to us. We
must share it!
Communion Sunday is an opportunity
to look back to the supreme demonstration of love on Calvary. “In
this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and gave His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins.” And, “This is
how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world
that we might live through Him.” We
love, because He first loved us! Think
about that. AMEN.
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