The Superiority of Love

Part III in a Series on the Love Chapter

Photo by Marcus Spiske on unsplash.com

None of us can brag about our Spiritual gifts.

Paul writes:

And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

Have you ever studied 1 Corinthians 13 in its context? It is surrounded by two chapters  that talk about Spiritual gifts – particularly sign gifts.

• Chapter 12 – Spiritual gifts.
• Chapter 13 – Agape love.
• Chapter 14 – More on Spiritual gifts.

Love is the middle of the Oreo. It is the tasty white cream that is packed between the two chocolate flavored cookies. In fact, the chapter comes back to the subject of gifts right here at the end of chapter 13 – the Love Chapter.

Regardless of your beliefs about the charismata, or charismatic gifts, there is no doubt that love supersedes them all. 

Love is Greater Because of its Endurance.

The gifts of prophecy, tongues (or languages) and the gift of knowledge (not knowledge per se but the gift of knowledge) are all temporary gifts, as are many other gifts from the Holy Spirit. They do not last forever. God is instructing the Corinthian church and the church today to not get too caught up with temporary blessings, but to latch onto that which lasts. The special gifts, he says, will fail, cease and vanish away. They will be removed and they will play out. Their use will be exhausted and completed. Sign gifts will have been replaced in their importance by a full and finished revelation (the completed bible). God’s word is saying that there will come a time when none of these gifts will be necessary and will cease to exist, but not so with love. Love will endure forever.

Love will endure because it is the mark of a mature church. The word “perfect” in verse 10 means “compete” or “mature.”

You can tell when a kid is growing up, he or she will start to put away their childish toys. You’ve seen the big kid who finally gives up the pacifier, the girl who packs away her little baby doll to give to her niece, or the teenager who trades his little bike for a set of car keys. At some point every boy (hopefully) will start to do “man” things and a girl will begin to conduct herself as a woman.

In its infancy, the church was heavy with special gifts from the Lord such as miracles and healings. In its maturity, the church needs to transition to the full revelation of scripture and also needs to transition to the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22) over the gifts of the Spirit.

If you are a baby Christian, you will need to grow into a mature child of God. Childish ways will have to be left behind as you become a well developed grown up Christian.

The nation of Israel, during its journey from Egypt, ate manna [i] for nearly forty years but soon after they entered Canaan (the land of promise) the manna ceased. [ii]

And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. (Joshua 5.12)

Just as Israel no longer had need of manna but rather ate of the luscious fruit of the land; so we must shift from our emphases on gifts so that we may feast on the fruit of love, joy and peace.[iii]

Three things within the possession of the Christian outrank everything else. Those three things are faith, hope and love. They will “abide” for as long as we live on this earth. But the one trait, the one blessing from God that outweighs everything else in importance is love. Love is the one quality we now possess which we will take to heaven with us. Faith is “the substance of things not seen,” [iv] but when we get to the celestial city, we will see all clearly. Hope seen will no longer be hope.[v] It will have completed its course and finished its task.

But love – God’s agape love, will go forth throughout eternity. At the Father’s throne in heaven it will continue dwelling in our hearts without end. The Lord God will always love us, we will always love him and we will always love one another.

This is why we should love one another with a pure heart, fervently ... right now.

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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 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. 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. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (1Cor 13.8-13)

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[i] Small round bits of bread that came down to the ground from above. Makes me think of hushpuppies. (See Exodus 15.13-15)

[ii] And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. (Joshua 5.12)

[iii] This doesn’t mean that Spiritual gifts no longer exist, (though some may argue that some are no longer needed). The emphasis should now be placed more on the fruit of the Spirit.

[iv] Hebrews 11.1

[v] Romans 8.24

Love is ...

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

If you love someone, you will put up with a lot. I have seen the mothers of special children show the greatest patience with their children, even far after a spouse has long ago pulled away because he “just can’t deal with it.” 

Love doesn’t give up on somebody after the first and second offense. It is capable of forgiving seventy times seven.[i]

God’s kind of Agape love is about loving for what you can contribute to another’s life regardless of what they do for you. The only one who has ever successfully loved this way is the Lord Jesus Christ, but with the Holy Spirit within us and filling us, we can grow more into this kind of lover.

What kind of person would we observe who loved like this? How would we recognize an Agape kind of lover?

It is the man who forgoes his career to stay at home with his invalid wife. It is the farmer who goes and harvests his injured neighbor’s crop for him. It is the prominent citizen who goes out of his way to speak to the boy with an intellectual disability. It is the policeman who responds to an emergency call from a well known criminal.

Agape love is giving credit to someone else when you know that you also contributed heavily to the success of a project. It is downplaying the flaws of others, knowing that you have plenty of your own.

Love thinks well of others, speaks well of others and treats others as you would have them treat you.

Love will never be jealous of the success of others even if you have competed for the same prize. It will never wish any less blessing or more trouble upon another. It will never say, “They don’t deserve that” when something good happens to another; and it will never say, “They deserved that” when something bad happens to someone else.

The person who loves will not push one’s self up to the front of the line. It will not bully people but it will confront those who do bully others. Love will not allow us to grab the spotlight while shoving others out. Love focuses first on the Lord Jesus and then upon the indivuals around us. It never says "What shall be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?" and "Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?" [ii]

Love will not “think of himself more highly than he ought to think,”[iii] but will also look out “for the interest of others.”[iv] Love is not like the pufferfish, blowing yourself up thrice your own size to impress but will think soberly – realistically. It is not making yourself look smaller than you really are but neither is it making yourself look bigger.

We could use a few more good manners these days. It seems like we’ve lost so much of what we once had attained as a civilized society. Love will help us do that.

Love looks out for others as well as it looks out for one’s self. It doesn’t become easily provoked nor does it think the worst of others but gives a fellow human being the benefit of the doubt whenever possible.

Love is full of joy. There is joy when another succeeds as much as when you succeed. There is joy in the blessing of others as well as when you are blessed. There is joy when truth is spoken – the full truth. It rejoices in the truth that “the wages of sin is death,” but also in the truth that “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

This is just a start, but that’s what love is. And, if you really want to see true love, don’t look at all of us flawed humans around you; look at God – and the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ who loved you so much he came to a lousy sin cursed world to be one of us and die for our sins. This is love.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 

1 Corinthians 13.4-6

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I  Jesus, Matthew 18.22

[ii] Esther 6.6

[iii] Romans 12.3

[iv] Philippians 2.4

Without Love ...

If there is love in someone's heart, somehow it will come flowing through. Love is hard to disguise as is self centeredness. Either will exude and manifest itself in some way. The only way anybody can go unaffected by love is if he or she throws a shield up in resistance.

A Christian without love is like a car without an engine. It may look impressive, but it’s not going anywhere.

A Christian without love is like a piñata without any candy. You can beat it and whack it, but you’re not going to get anything out of it.

A Christian without love is like a river with no water. It may be a testimony to what once was, but it has no substance for today. Nothing can flow from it, for it only lies stale, dry, and lifeless.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 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. 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.[i]

Without love, you may have linguistic fluency, but it will only sound like disorderly noise to those you are trying to reach. It is better to stutter and stammer with love in your heart than to speak with the eloquence of Cicero without it. You may mesmerize people for a while with your style of speech, but that will not endure nor endear people to yourself or God.

Without love, your pronouncements of great wisdom, though they may be true, will ring hollow in the ears of those who hear it.

Without love, your deep knowledge that you want to display for all to admire will be rejected for something far shallower that comes from someone who seems to care.

Without love, your gift of faith may move mountains but it will not move a hungry soul who longs for something genuine, someone real.

Without love, all the “charitable deeds” you’ve done will be barrenly squandered away into the wastelands of every great but unloving deed done for all the wrong reasons.

According to an article in USA Today, there is a mass in the ocean known as the “world's largest collection of ocean garbage” which:

…is twice the size of Texas. ... The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a collection of plastic, floating trash halfway between Hawaii and California, has grown to more than 600,000 square miles.[ii]

That’s a big pile of floating garbage that some are hoping to remedy but most are trying their best to ignore. Yet it’s not as big as the collection of good deeds that have been done without love.

Without love, “I am nothing.” That means everything I’m accomplishing is actually doing others no good.

Without love, “it profits me nothing,” which means all my deeds are actually doing me no good. It’s not helping you and it’s not helping me either.

Years ago, I heard a lady talk about one aunt who was a blessing to everyone she knew, then she mentioned another aunt. Her words were “Aunt Cindy[iii] never did do nothing for nobody.”

Someone has said:[iv]“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”

But let me add this:

Do it in love.

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[i]   1 Corinthians 13.1-3

[ii]  https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/03/22/great-pacific-garbage-patch-grows/446405002/

[iii] Made up name

[iv] Attributed to John Wesley but others dispute he said it.

Be Sure You Find an Equal Yoke

Image from goodfreephotos.com

On a video we saw recently, a couple was getting married. The minister stood before the couple to help them go through the typical vows.  

Minister:         “I make this covenant with you,”
Groom:           “I make this covenant with you,”
Minister:         “In the name of the Father...”
Groom:           “Whose Father … hers or mine?”

Come to think of it, I guess that's a valid question.

Now days, when people marry, there is often confusion as to whom we are making our vows. 

We vow to our spouse before those present but we are also vowing before our Father God in heaven. He is the Father in whose name we make our vow.

One problem with marriages nowadays is the unequal yoke. We read in 2 Corinthians 6.14:

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?

You may say, “What is an unequal yoke?”

People around the world used to plow with various types of animals. Some still do. The Lord had told Israel not to plow with an ox or donkey together, not because he cared so much about how they farmed but to present a more important picture: Don’t create a bond with those who don’t believe in the LORD.

This does not prohibit us from all associations with unbelievers. “Then,” says Paul, “you would need to go out of the world.” [i] We can have good relationships with many non-Christians, and love them, but there should be no binding connection.

Examples of close associations Christians should avoid with unbelievers would be partnership in a business, investments, alliance in political endeavors, but most of all, marriage.

There is no closer bond than the bond of marriage. Husband and wife are not just tied together, they are welded. Whenever God brought him his wife, Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.” [ii] 

God’s commentary on this was, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

Breaking that bond will cause serious problems. It causes severe repercussions on the individual, the couple, the family (children, grandchildren, parents, extended family) and the society.

Jesus said; “'Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female,'" and then said, “'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."[iii] (Notice that Jesus did not say men were to marry men nor women marry women. And, Jesus said God made everyong male and female, not something gender fluid or something we can decide for ourselves. Such an idea is a Satanic perversion.)

Most children of divorced parents will end up in a fatherless home which creates many problems for those kids. [iv] Many will live with a step parent to which some will never adjust.

Christians, as well as the rest of society, fall victim to divorce way too often as well. Although a man or woman may say they know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, many  do not live up to their profession. There is no obvious love for the Lord Jesus in their lives. Many of these love sin more than the Savior, gambling more than God, lust more than love, fun more than family, and money more than meekness.

I'm not writing these things to chastise anyone or bring any unnecessary guilt upon them. We're about grace, not guilt. There is forgiveness and redemption. There is hope and healing, and many who enter into a second or subsequent marriage will find true love and companionship. Many children of divorce will find strength to go on and will often find a new father figure or mother figure in their lives that will bring them great blessing. We all pray that they will.

We are striving to help people make the right choice before entering into an “unequal yoke.” It is not bi-racial marriage that God prohibited his people from entering into, rather it was the marrying of those from the nations of idolaters and wicked people.

Here are some good questions to ask about your prospective mate before you marry:

• Does he/she claim to know Jesus Christ?
• Does he/she love to pray and read God’s word?
• Does he/she love to hang out with God’s people (the church)?
• Does he treat his Momma right?
  (If he doesn’t, he probably won’t treat you right either!)
• Does he/she live a life consistent with what they say they believe?
• Do you, yourself, live according to all the above?

Don’t think you are going to change someone whose heart is not right with God. If anything, they are putting their best foot forward right now. I have seen many make abundant promises only to revert back to old ways after gaining someone’s confidence. We know anyone can be changed by God, but don’t test him! He has placed his principles in his word for us to live by, not for us to presume upon his mercy.

Those were the don’ts. Here are the do’s:

• Do pray for God to direct you to that one person.
• Do search the scriptures for understanding.
• Do seek godly counsel and listen to those who love you and don’t mind speaking the truth.
• Do give yourself time to get to know this person you feel you love. Don’t commit too soon.
• Do let the peace of God be your guide.
• Do be willing to go through life unmarried rather than to marry an unbeliever.
• Do trust God when he gives you the green light.
• Do everything you can to hold your marriage together with the Spiritual soul mate that God has given you – through thick and thin.

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[i]   1 Corinthians 5.10

[ii]  Genesis 2.23

[iii] Matthew 19.3-6

[iv] If you have the guts to read about the effect on kids without Dads, read:
   https://thefatherlessgeneration.wordpress.com/statistics/