Spiritual Gifts in the Context of Love (I Cor. 13) -- September 15, 2013

 Sunday, September 15, 2013

SPIRITUAL GIFTS IN THE CONTEXT OF LOVE

I Cor. 12:31-14:1

            I suspect all of us have had the "something missing" experience.  Everything is almost right, but there is just something missing.  Many years ago I made an appointment to meet with our Associational Missionary.  All you need to know is that he was a preacher and I needed to talk to him about some vital concerns.  So I asked him if we could meet for lunch and visit.  That was fine with him.  Because I wanted to talk to him privately, I didn't want to eat in a restaurant.   I asked him if it would be okay to grab something and eat at the park.  That was fine with him (at least, he said it was).  We agreed on Long John Silvers, picked us up a plate of fish, fries, and cole slaw.  We arrived at the park and I laid out the food, got our drinks, and...    I suddenly realized that something was missing.  I looked in the sack and it wasn't there.  We didn't have a fork, knife, spoon, or any other eating utensil.  I think I found some Kleenex to use for napkins.  Have you ever tried eating Long John Silvers fish with no napkins for clean-up purposes?  Worse, have you tried using French fries to eat cole slaw?  That "something missing" experience was magnified by the fact that my fellow-preacher was rather sophisticated and proper.  Just eating in the park was a stretch for him.  I suspect he never forgot that lunch appointment.  I don't remember what it was we talked about, but I do remember that something was missing.

            So we have been looking at the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Though we have not examined them in any detail, we have encountered the gifts in I Cor. 12:8-10.  Three weeks ago we took time to consider the practical gifts of Rom. 12:6-8, along with a couple in I Cor. 12:28.  If you recalled, those gifts included service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, mercy, helps, and administration.  As we looked at I Cor. 12, we have also discovered the vital principle of unity in diversity.  Though one Spirit distributes the gifts, there is great variety and diversity in those gifts, just as there is great variety among the members of the body of Christ.

            Now let me ask you a question.  In our consideration of the gifts of the Spirit, does it feel like there is something missing?  Maybe we can't put our finger on it, but it just seems that something is missing.  Maybe it's because we haven't looked at all the gifts yet.  No, I don't think that's it.  Maybe it's because we are told so little about some of the gifts that it is hard to get a handle on them?  No, I don't think so.  Nevertheless, I'm just certain that something is missing. 

            In I Cor. 12 after giving detailed instructions about the gifts and their place in the body of Christ, Paul must have sensed that something was missing.  What would give us that idea?  The answer is very simple.  In chapter 14 Paul discusses two of the gifts --prophecy and tongues -- at length.  Everyone of us knows that there is a number between 12 and 14.  Paul discusses spiritual gifts in chapters 12 and 14, but what about chapter 13?  As most all of us know, I Corinthians 13 is the love chapter.  It's all about love.  I suggest that when it comes to gifts, Paul wants to make sure that something isn't missing.  That something is love.  And we want to make sure that this something known as love is not missing from our consideration of spiritual gifts.  So this morning we are going to look at love in I Corinthians 13 and how it relates to the gifts.

            Let's begin by reading I Cor. 13.  However, we will begin with the last verse of chapter 12 and we will conclude with the first verse of chapter 14.  Read I Cor. 12:31-14:1...

But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way. 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  14:1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

I.  Love Is the Context -- How Shall We Exercise the Gifts?  In the Context of Love

A.  Priority of Love -- How does this love compare with the gifts?

            Paul did not include this chapter on love by accident.  It's not like he grew tired of dealing with the gifts and decided to take a little break to talk about love.  No, his inclusion of love is vitally related to the exercise of gifts.  We see this first of all in the last verse of chapter 12.  12:31, "But earnestly desire the best gifts.  And yet I show you a more excellent way."  We will deal more later with this idea of earnestly desiring the best gifts.  For now we want to see how it relates to love.  Paul says, "Though it is right for you to desire the best gifts, I want to show you something that is even more important."  And what is it that is more important than desiring even the best gifts?  For the next 13 verses Paul speaks about love.  Though gifts are important, there is something that is even more important, and that something is love.

            If there is any question about this being Paul's design, the question is put to rest by the opening verses of chapter 13.  Notice that in the first two verses Paul deals with some of the gifts he has discussed in chapter 12.  Verse 1, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels..."  Verse 2, "And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains..."  Tongues, prophecy, and faith are all gifts that Paul has already listed in chapter 12.  Mysteries and knowledge may correspond to the "word of wisdom" and "word of knowledge" back in 12:6.  Or, they may be closely related to prophecy.  Either way, it is certain that Paul is setting love in the context of the gifts.  Notice that he emphasizes the very best use of the gifts.  The tongues includes even the speech of angels.  The prophecy understands all mysteries and all knowledge.  The faith is so great that it could remove mountains.  Paul isn't saying he has all these gifts, but the idea is, "Even if I did..."

            Now notice the contrast.  If he can speak such exalted languages and has not love, he becomes sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  Sounding brass and clanging cymbals denote sounds that are useless and may even become annoying.  If Paul has the kind of prophecy and knowledge and faith described in verse 2 and doesn't have love, he is nothing.  That is a strong statement. 

            Then come to verse 3, "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned..."   Here the idea isn't a giving away of everything all at once, as Jesus required of the rich young ruler, but rather a doling out of his goods to feed the poor.  Is this a reference to gifts?  It's possible that he might be referring to a form of "helps" in 12:28, but that isn't clear.  One widely-recognized teacher on gifts believes that these references denote a gift of voluntary poverty and another of martyrdom.   It doesn't seem that Paul is necessarily referring to gifts in these two citations.  Perhaps this simply points to great zeal.  Such a willingness to part with possessions and even give one's life for a cause would, no doubt, elevate a person's status before others.  Nevertheless, without love, even this will be of no profit.

            Paul does not say that love is one of the gifts.  He doesn't claim that love is the greatest of the gifts.  No, love is a way of life that stands above all the gifts.  If the gifts are not exercised in the context of love, then they have no real value.  This declaration of truth was desperately needed in the church at Corinth.  As we have discussed previously, it seems that gifts had become another occasion for division in an already divided church.  We talked about the danger of gifts, though the problem isn't with the gifts themselves, but with those who receive or don't receive those gifts.  A person who has a gift is tempted to pride, as he compares himself with other.  The believer who doesn't receive a particular gift is tempted to envy or to discouragement. 

            I remind you of what we read in Galatians 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law."  This is the nine-fold fruit of the Spirit, and love stands at the head of the list.  When the Spirit is working in us, He develops these qualities in our lives, and the one that stands above and holds them altogether is love.  The gifts were never intended to be exercised apart from love, for love is the fruit of the Spirit who distributes those gifts. 

            Let's be very clear about one thing -- it is possible to exercise gifts of the Spirit without love.  That is the precise reason why Paul places the words of chapter 13 at this point.  Gifts were abundant in Corinth, as is mentioned back in 1:7, where Paul says that they did not come short in any gift.  But the abundance of the gifts did not mean they were exercising love.  Gifts apart from love was the problem.  Apart from love, the gifts become distorted and even destructive. 

            So while Paul does not intend to depreciate the gifts in any way, he wants to show his brothers and sisters a more excellent way.  That more excellent way is the way of love, and the exercising of the gifts in the context of that love.  Love stands above each one of the gifts and even above all the gifts taken together.

B.  The Nature of Love  --  What Is This Love Like?

            Now we come to verses 4-7, where Paul tells us what this love looks like.  Before we look specifically at these verses, we must remember that the God-given love of the Bible is not like the love of this world.  The love of the world is either sexualized or trivialized.  The first of these tendencies is clear to anyone who lives in our culture.  The perversion of sexual love by the world does not have to be explained.  On the other hand, we can fall into speaking in terms such as these:  "I love hunting."  "I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches."  "I just love the color red."  As we will see, God's love is on a much deeper and purer level than what we see in this world.  This is the love that prompted God to send His Son into this world.

            Let's read it again in verses 4-7...

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

            Here we have eight things which love is not, sandwiched in between a total of seven statements of what love is.  First, two positive statements about love -- love suffers long and is kind.  Some modern translations (ESV, Holman) render it, "Love is patient," but "Love suffers long" is more literal and is better.  This word is the opposite of taking revenge.  Instead of retaliating, love endures long with the person who does it wrong.  It is not the word that deals with enduring difficult circumstances, but with enduring difficult people.  Not only is love longsuffering, but it is kind.  Paul uses a form of the same word in Eph. 4:32, "And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another..."  We know what it means to be kind.

            It is interesting that the noun forms of both these words occur in Paul's description of the fruit of the Spirit in Gal. 5:22-23, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness ("gentleness" in KJV).  This demonstrates how dominate love is in the concept of the Spirit's fruit in our lives, as longsuffering and kindness are used to describe love.

            Then Paul uses seven brief statements to tell us what love is not.  We won't elaborate on each one, because some are quite self-explanatory.  What I want you to notice is how these qualities as a whole focus attention on self.  "Love does not envy."  Envy wants for itself what someone else has.  The scriptures are full of examples of envy and the destruction it leaves in its path.  For envy Cain murdered Abel , Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, and the Jewish leaders delivered Jesus up to Pilate.  "Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up."  Several translations (NIV, ESV, Holman) have, "Love does not brag" or "Love does not boast."  It is not puffed up.  That is, it is not conceited; it is not arrogant.  Paul uses the same word in I Cor. 8:1, "Knowledge puffs but, love edifies (builds up)."  Often a person is puffed up because of his own knowledge.  "Does not behave rudely."  The one who loves is always concerned about his behavior toward others.  "Does not seek its own."  This might refer to money and possessions, but it might just as likely refer to pursuing one's own wishes.  Thus it has been translated:  "Is not selfish" (Holman), "Does not insist on its own way" (ESV), "Does not seek its own advantage" (NJB).  Do you see how all these things revolve around selfishness?

            Love "is not provoked."  The idea is certainly "not easily provoked," as in the KJV.  Other translations include "does not become irritated" (NIV), "is not irritable or resentful" (ESV).  All of us face the temptation to be irritable.  Even Moses, the meekest man on the earth, once succumbed to that temptation when the people quarreled with him.  "Thinks no evil."  That is not the best translation, as the word here rendered "think" is the word that Paul uses again and again in Romans to speak of God not imputing sin.  It is the word we find translated "reckon" in Rom. 6:11, "Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."  Love reckons no evil.  This is why many translations read something like this:  "Love does not keep a record of wrongs."  That is the idea.  Love has a poor memory when it comes to cataloguing the wrongs others do to it. 

            Love "does not rejoice in iniquity."  Better, "does not rejoice in unrighteousness."  It is the common word for "righteousness," but it has a letter in front of it that is parallel to our preposition "un."  Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but it rejoices in the truth.  Love never lines up with wrongdoing, but always with the truth.

            Finally, in verse 7 Paul gives us four positive pithy statements about love.  Love "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."  When Paul says that love believes all things and hopes all things, he doesn't mean to imply that the person who loves exercises no wisdom and discernment, not at all.  But he does mean for us to understand that rather than focusing on self, love focuses on God, trusting Him to work all things together for good (Rom. 8:28-29), to direct our paths (Prov. 3:5-6).  Notice that love gives rise to both faith (believes all things) and hope, completing the triad with which Paul will close this chapter.  It has been pointed out that this brief summary in verse 7 emphasizes that love is active, not passive. 

            What a beautiful portrayal of the love that comes from God.  If you want to see this love in action, just look at Jesus our Lord.  We won't take time to make that connection, but you can do it easily on your own. 

C.  The Duration of Love --  How Long Will It Last?

            We have seen the priority of love and the nature of love; now Paul speaks of the duration of love.  How  long will love last?  He tells us concisely in verse 8, "Love never fails."  Nothing could be clearer than that.  Love never fails.  The concept is clear enough, but Paul doesn't stop there, because his purpose is to describe love in its relationship to the gifts of the Spirit.  Love never fails, but what about the gifts?  That is the subject of the verses that follow.

            Let's read again verses 8-13...

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

            Notice that in verses 8-10 Paul mentions tongues, knowledge, and prophesy.  I am assuming that the knowledge he speaks of here corresponds to the "word of knowledge" in 12:8.  He is doing basically the same thing he did in verses 1-3.  There he mentioned some of the gifts to show the superiority of love; here is does the same to demonstrate the fact that love will outlast the gifts.

            We are not going to get into the details of these verses right now, because there are issues here that demand more time than we have this morning, but clearly Paul's purpose is to state that the gifts are temporary, while love is eternal.  The time will come or has already come (depending upon our interpretation) when tongues, knowledge (in the sense of the word of knowledge), and prophesy will no longer exist.  That can never be said of love.  As long as our God is on the throne, this love will continue to flow.  Long after  these gifts have vanished away, love will flourish in God's kingdom.  In Eph. 3 Paul prays that we may be able to comprehend the width and length and depth and  height of His love.  God is certainly answering that prayer in our lives, but in all eternity we will never exhaust the depths of His love.

Conclusion

            I originally thought we would cover this chapter in one session, but I think we need some more time.  Not only do I want us to explore a couple more concepts concerning the relation of love and the gifts, but I also want to give us time to think about these things.  I want to encourage you to go back over what we have covered this morning.  I included a brief outline in your bulletin that will help you do that.  Though you have perhaps been over this chapter many times, you might not have related it quite so closely to the gifts of the Spirit.  Understand that is the way Paul intended it. 

            This week we have focused on the truth:  Love is the context in which we must exercise the gifts of the Spirit.  Next week, Lord willing, we will emphasize two more concepts...

II.  Love Is the Catalyst --  What Will Prompt Us to Exercise the Gifts?   Love

III.  Love Is the Test  --  How Do We Know If It Is a Gift?   Does It Demonstrate Love?

            Brothers and sisters, if we don't emphasize love, there will always be something missing.  That is especially true when we think about the gifts.  Love was the missing ingredient in the gift-rich church of Corinth, and the same is often true today.  It is this love that will overcome the controversy that surrounds the gifts.  And it is this love that will enable us to exercise the gifts effectively. 

Prayer -- Eph. 3:14-21...

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height-- 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.