September 9, 2001

1 Corinthians 13

A Far Better Way to Use Your Spiritual Gifts

1. Introduction

1. Illustration – Bob Olmstead of Reno, Nevada, tells of the experience of colleague Bill Welsh, a pastor in Desert Hot Springs, California. Members of Welsh's congregation had a child who was subject to sudden seizures. These seizures were violent and painful, not only for the child but also for the parents and those who witnessed the child's suffering. "The father and child would come to church regularly and the father's practice was to hold the child. One Sunday morning in the midst of worship, the child was seized [and] writhed painfully ... The father lifted him caringly, carried him ... to the back of the sanctuary, where he stood still rocking the child tenderly, speaking to him gently until finally the seizure relented ... There was no sign of embarrassment or frustration on the father's face, only love for the hurting child. And then Welsh said, 'In that moment, while I was preaching, I was preached to. I heard God speak to my heart and say, "That's the way I love you through your imperfections. I'm not embarrassed to have people know that you are my child."'"
2. Context – Olmstead relates a beautiful story about the love of God for us. You know, so often we settled for something less than the love God intends for us. Apparently the Corinthian church had a similar problem. Let’s see what Paul has to say about this in 1 Corinthians 13.

1. Scripture Passage

1. 1 Corinthians 13 – If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. ⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹² Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. ¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
2. Most of the teaching I’ve ever heard about this passage treats it as a lesson exclusively about the characteristics of love. But look at the context of the passage. It comes in the midst of a lengthy section about spiritual gifts. So today we’re going to see how love and spiritual gifts are tied together.

1. Love and Spiritual Gifts

1. The twelfth chapter ends with Paul’s statement, "And now I will show you the most excellent way." The most excellent way to do what? The context is obvious – Paul is relating the most excellent way to use your spiritual gifts. That being said, Paul goes on to say "if" several times in chapter thirteen. Paul is being hypothetical. In other words, what we translate as "if" can also be translated as "supposing that." Many interpreters have tried over the years to read into this passage that Paul does these things. They try to tell you that Paul speaks in the languages of men and angels, that he has the gift of prophecy, that he can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, that he has a faith that can move mountains, that he gives all he possesses to the poor, or that he sacrifices his body in the fire. He may very well have and do all those things. But that’s not his point, and to use this passage to justify a standpoint on gifts that says that believers have to have any or all of them if they are truly Spirit-filled, is to add to Scripture something that simply is not there. That being understood, let’s move on.
2. What is the context of the passage? Spiritual gifts. What is the focus of the passage? Love. So in verses one to three, Paul is saying that it doesn’t matter what spiritual gifts you have or how you use them, if love isn’t the motivating factor and if love doesn’t pervade all of it, you are nothing. As the Greek says, "an absolute zero." No problem. I can have a warm, fuzzy feeling towards people when I use my gifts. I can either make myself feel that way or fake it, and that works, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, we often tell ourselves things like that because they make our lives easier. At least in our own minds. But there’s a couple of problems when we think along those lines. First, people can tell when we’re sincere and when we’re not. Second, God’s character is holy love, so we have to look at what God is like if we want to know what kind of love Paul is talking about here. And third, the Greek word that Paul uses here for love is "agape," which happens to be the same word used when the New Testament talks about God loving us enough to send Jesus to die for us, as well as the same one used to talk about Jesus’ loving sacrifice for us.
3. Agape isn’t warm, fuzzy love. It’s hard, sacrificial love that does what is best for the other person no matter what the cost. It’s the love Jesus showed when He washed His disciples’ feet. It’s the kind of love Jesus showed when He wept in Gethsemane the night before He died and cried out to God, "Not my will, but yours be done." It’s the same kind of love Jesus showed when He was beaten and crucified and died to save us from our sins. The love Paul is talking about is the kind that places self and ego at the bottom of the list and looks out to meet others’ needs first and foremost. That is a tough kind of love to live. It’s impossible to fake. It’s impossible for us to generate in ourselves. It can only come from the Holy Spirit within us if we choose to allow Him to fill us with it.
4. So what is love in action like? What does love being acted out through spiritual gifts look like? Paul tells us that this kind of love is patient or longsuffering. It’s kind and gracious. It doesn’t boil with envy. It doesn’t brag or boast. It isn’t stuck on itself, as the Greek says, it "not puffs oneself out like a pair of bellows." Love doesn’t behave indecently or in a shameful manner. It doesn’t seek its own gain. It’s isn’t irritated by others, it doesn’t become indignant, it isn’t touchy. It doesn’t credit someone’s account with the bad or evil they’ve done. Love doesn’t rejoice when wrong is done. But it joins in rejoicing with the truth. It protects as a covering, it is all believing or trusting, it is all hoping, it is all enduring, bearing up patiently. It never falls or fails. Spiritual gifts will one day be rendered inoperative, as the Greek says, because when we are with Jesus for all eternity we won’t need them anymore. We’ll be with Jesus, and He will be our shepherd and our guide. So Paul tells us that when we know Jesus completely, then our partial knowledge of now will seem fuzzy or like a child’s. We’ll know Jesus then just as fully as He know us now. What an exciting thought! Then Paul says that faith, hope, and love will always be around. But love is the greatest. Why? It supercedes and surpasses all else, because God’s character is holy love. Faith and hope are human things, but love is God’s. In a nutshell, Paul is saying that using our spiritual gifts with God’s love is the key. Paul is saying that love is a verb.
5. Illustration – L. Gregory Jones, in Embodying Forgiveness: A Theological Analysis, writes, A Turkish officer raided and looted an Armenian home. He killed the aged parents and gave the daughters to the soldiers, keeping the eldest daughter for himself. Some time later she escaped and trained as a nurse. As time passed, she found herself nursing in a ward of Turkish officers. One night, by the light of a lantern, she saw the face of this officer. He was so gravely ill that without exceptional nursing he would die. The days passed, and he recovered. One day, the doctor stood by the bed with her and said to him, "But for her devotion to you, you would be dead." He looked at her and said, "We have met before, haven't we?" "Yes," she said, "We have met before." "Why didn't you kill me?" he asked. She replied, "I am a follower of him who said 'Love your enemies.'" Love is a verb. Let’s start acting like it is.

1. Implications for Us

1. By now we could very easily say, "Nice passage, nice stories, but what do they have to do with us?" The connection is this: if we are to use our spiritual gifts in a way that is honoring to God and beneficial to the people around us, then we’ve got to use them with love. Like I said earlier, if God’s love is not the motivating factor in our use of the spiritual gifts God has given us, then we’re in the wrong. We’re sinning. If God’s love doesn’t permeate every aspect of the use of our spiritual gifts, we’re using them incorrectly. But how do we make sure that we are using our gifts in a way that is pleasing to God? Here are some guidelines.
2. First, check your heart to see what your motivation really is. Are you doing what you’re doing because it makes you look good? Then you’re doing it for your own glory and out of love for yourself, not for God and others. Are you using your spiritual gifts because doing so feels good? There is nothing wrong with feeling good about using spiritual gifts for God’s glory, and quite often it will feel great. But if that is the reason why you use your gifts, then you’re not following the guidelines Paul has laid out about using spiritual gifts with love.
3. Second, when you use your spiritual gifts, do you often feel as though you are able to be more patient than usual, or kinder, or more oriented toward the benefit of others? If so, you are allowing God’s love to flow through you through the use of your spiritual gifts. And that really is why God gifts us, to bring glory to Himself by causing His love to flow through us to others. Paul understood that it’s not "me" that matters, but Christ, His love, and His glory.
4. Third, ask yourself this important question: which is really more important to me, the gifts or the One who gave them to me? We tend to define who we are by what we do, and that’s not the way God sees things. He defines who you are by who you are, your character, your temperament, your love. If exercising your spiritual gifts are so important to you that everything else plays second fiddle, then you are out of God’s will, to put it mildly. And eventually, if you continue this long enough, your spiritual power will begin to come from Satan rather than God. The Giver is far more important than the gifts. God is far more important than spiritual gifts. Our families are far more important than exercising our spiritual gifts. God’s word says it. Make God the important one in your heart and life and you will find your spiritual gifts will be used by Him for His glory and honor and for the benefit of others.
5. Fourth, are you allowing the love of God to fill you to overflowing? The more you trust God to get rid of the junk in your heart and place you more under the control of the Holy Spirit, the more powerful and effective your spiritual gifts will become. God’s love has to take over our hearts, because human love simply isn’t enough. Remember what happens when we try to use human love? We do the fuzzy feeling thing or we fake the love, and we miss out on the power of the love of God in our lives and in the lives of those we minister to and with. The empowering of the spiritual gifts comes through the Holy Spirit as God’s agent for filling us with God’s love. If you want to see more power in your life and ministry, seek God first. Get to know Him better and, as a result, to love Him more. Then you will begin to see power in your life. Paul’s life was a powerful one because he loved no one and nothing more than God. John Wesley said that if you gave him one hundred men who loved nothing but God and hated nothing but sin, he could transform the world. He was right. God’s love is that powerful!
6. Illustration – James A. Chase, in What Does God Want of You?, writes, "So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life -- and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him" (Romans 12:1, The Message). It is time to ask a very important question, and it's time to seek the answer. What does God really want of you? Have you ever wondered? Perhaps you have heard the church talk about surrender and sacrifice. Do you understand what surrendering to God means? Do you know what Paul means when he writes about "presenting ourselves as living sacrifices before God" (Romans 12:1)? In human terms, surrender means "give up" or "give in." Maybe you've surrendered to your friends' influences from time to time. You know, God wants us to surrender, too. God wants us to surrender to his influence. When we do this, we don't lose: We win! When we "give up" control of our lives, God gives back some incredible gifts. You have been given very special and unique gifts, and God wants you to develop them. It's true! You have hopes and dreams, right? God wants you to tell him about them! God wants you to trust him! God will work in your heart to bring focus to your dreams and hopes, showing you how to maximize your spiritual gifts to their greatest potential. In The Lion King, Mufasa tells his son Simba, "You are more than what you’ve become!" Is that true of you today? Choose today to become what God has had in mind from the moment He created you.

1. Conclusion

1. What’s God been saying to you today about love and spiritual gifts? Let’s spend a few minutes of quiet listening to what He’s saying to our hearts.
2. We’re heading into a very important season in the ministry of our church. Our Harvest Fest outreach is just around the corner. Thanksgiving and Christmas aren’t that far away. This is the time of the year when people start to think about trying out a church. Some of them know Christ. Many do not. If we are going to effectively minister to those God brings to our church, either through supernatural prompting or because someone invited them, then we’ve all got to use the gifts God has lovingly given us the way He desires. Christianity is not a spectator sport. We’re all given gifts for a reason. Let’s start using them, to the glory of God. I’m not going to ask for a show of hands or anything like that, but if you haven’t been using your spiritual gifts for God’s glory in the life of this church, you can make the decision to do so. And God will honor that decision and help you get started.
3. Let’s pray.