SERIES: Christ is the Answer When the Church Is in Crisis
What Is Greater than the Greatest of Spiritual Gifts?
SCRIPTURE: 1 Cor. 13:1-4
Introduction: Have you ever seen the movie, “Brian’s Song”? It’s actually on ABC tonight. It’s the touching story of the unlikely friendship between Gayle Sayers and Brian Piccolo. Sayers was arguably the greatest running back to ever play the game of football. A star at the University of Kansas, he went on to play for the Chicago Bears, performing running feats that almost defied the imagination. Unfortunately, his football career was cut short by some devastating injuries before he had time to rewrite the record books. But Gayle Sayers’ greatest claim to fame came not on Soldier Field but in the arena of friendship. Let me explain.
In 1967 Sayers and Piccolo broke the color barrier of the National Football League. For the first time a black player, Sayers, and a white player, Piccolo, became roommates. Despite their differences in race and background, the two became fast friends. Two years later that friendship was put to the test when cancer forced Brian Piccolo off the team and out of football. That Spring, 1969, Sayers and his wife planned to attend the Professional Football Writers’ dinner with Piccolo and his wife. But by the time the date arrived Brian was confined to bed and near death.
Each year at the dinner the George S. Halas Award is given to the most courageous player in professional football, and this time it was awarded to Gayle Sayers. As he stood to receive the award, tears running down his face, Sayers took the trophy and said, “You flatter me by giving me this award, but I tell you here and now that I accept it for Brian Piccolo. Brian Piccolo is the man of courage who should receive the George S. Halas award. I love Brian Piccolo and I’d like you to love him. Tonight when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him too.” [i]
Those are profound words: “I love Brian Piccolo.” It’s hard for some parents to say “I love you” to their children, hard for some husbands to say it to their wives, hard for many of us to speak those words to our friends. But here is a black man saying to a white teammate in 1969, “I love you, Man,” and meaning it. You see, a bridge had been built in their relationship that nothing could destroy–not cancer, not even death. That bridge was love.
Today, post 9/11, what people need more than anything else is love. Dr. James Lynch, a leading specialist in psychosomatic illnesses, has pointed out with astounding statistical support that a lack of loving relationships actually kills tens of thousands of people every year. He cites evidence that lonely people (singles, the widowed, the divorced, etc.) have a significantly higher death rate from all causes, (including cancer, heart disease, suicide, and even accidents) than do married people. Now certainly there are some married people who are also lonely, but those who have no intimate relationships are especially vulnerable.[ii]
What people need is love. What wives need is love. What husbands need is love. What children need is love. What employees need is love. What bosses need is love. What the poor need is love. What the rich need is love. What congregations need is love. What pastors need is love. What the world needs is love.
We come this morning in our study of 1 Corinthians to the greatest treatise ever written on the subject of love. Entire books on the topic have never approached the profound depths of these 13 verses of the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians.
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. 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. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
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. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 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. 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.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
I face a dilemma in coming to this passage. It is such a perfect marriage of prose and poetry. How can I teach it without destroying its beauty and its grace? The late A. T. Robertson wrote, “It is a pity to dissect this gem or pull to pieces this fragrant rose, petal by petal…. Paul’s language calls for little comment, for it is the language of the heart.” [iii] Well, I’m a pastor and that call for “little comment” is a tough one to fulfill, but there is a measure of truth in what Robertson says. I will try to resist the temptation of subjecting this beautiful portrait to a classroom-type dissection and analysis. Yet, at the same time, we don’t want to look at it so superficially that we miss some of its most profound truths.
The 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians has been preached, taught, meditated upon, memorized and paraphrased as perhaps no other portion of God’s Word, but all too often it has been treated as an isolated passage, to be read mainly at weddings and anniversary celebrations. Unfortunately, if we ignore the context in which it is found–both the chapter that comes before as well as the one that comes after–we are in danger of missing its major impact.
For the past month our topic has been the gifts which the Spirit of God has given to the church, as discussed in chapter 12. We have examined a number of spiritual gifts, which we defined as “capacities for special service given by the Holy Spirit, which, when fully developed, enable the recipient to perform a function in the body of Christ with great effectiveness.” The employment of spiritual gifts by everyone in the Body of Christ is critical to the health of the church. Many believers today are being reawakened to this long-neglected topic, and more and more are becoming sensitive to their importance in the functioning of the Church.
But, believe it or not, there is a greater way to serve God and one another than just discovering and using spiritual gifts! If you will recall, Paul concluded his chapter on gifts, chapter 12, with the exhortation that we should earnestly desire the greater gifts, by which I assume he meant the gifts that minister most to the Body. But then in the last part of verse 31 he says something that catches us by surprise: “And now I will show you the most excellent way.”
The most excellent way to what? To serve the Body of Christ. The most excellent way to serve the Body of Christ is not by attending a spiritual gifts seminar, as useful as that may be, or even by honing your spiritual gift to the nth degree, but by loving people. If you really want God’s power in your life; if you really want to be a spiritual giant; if you really want to help build the Body of Christ, learn to love.
Of course, there is no real conflict intended here between spiritual gifts and love. The contrast is between using spiritual gifts without love and using them with love. The latter is clearly what God desires for us to do. It’s not an either/or but a both/and. In the first three verses Paul establishes just one point:
Love is more excellent than any spiritual gift (or perhaps a better way to put it is, “any spiritual gift is wasted without love”). (1-3)
Love is greater than the gift of tongues. “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.” Some Bible students seem to have missed the Apostle’s point here and have interpreted him as speaking merely of eloquence in human speech, but clearly he is referring to the gift of tongues. After all, the last gifts mentioned in chapter 12 are tongues and the interpretation of tongues. And those same gifts are the principal topic of chapter 14. It is quite logical, then, that the Apostle begins the intervening chapter with these words: “If I speak in tongues….”
For a long time I thought Paul was merely using hyperbole in this verse when he included angelic tongues as well as human tongues. However, I am inclined now to believe that he was referring to two different kinds of tongue gifts: the gift of speaking human languages never learned and the gift of speaking a heavenly prayer language.3 When we come to chapter 14 we will expand significantly on these two kinds of tongues.
Paul contends that speaking in either kind of tongues without love amounts to becoming “only a resounding gong, or a clanging cymbal.” These loud noisemakers were used liberally in the pagan religion of Dionysus at Corinth, and perhaps this is what Paul is referring to. The most miraculous speech of heaven or earth without love is no better than a noisy pagan rite.
Next he addresses the gift of prophecy, which according to chapter 14, is superior to tongues when it comes to strengthening the Church.
Love is greater than the gift of prophecy. Before the NT was written down, the prophet was the one who spoke God’s truth authoritatively to God’s people. Today the prophet is the one who authoritatively proclaims God’s truth from the Bible, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He has a special gift in confronting the culture and society with God’s message. As important as proclaiming God’s truth is, loveless prophecy is worthless.
Many years ago my brother-in-law went to a church where a well-known preacher was conducting a Bible conference. In the 60’s this man was viewed by many as a prophetic spokesman. Having spent years in the study of Greek and Hebrew, he had an unusual gift of teaching and had a special way of challenging the thinking of that generation. After the service Jim went up to this preacher to ask about a theological issue that had been puzzling him. His response was, “Haven’t you read my book on that subject? Read that first and maybe then we’ll have something to talk about.” After that put-down he never went back. A gift of proclamation had been rendered worthless by a lack of love.
Love is greater than the gift of knowledge. Verse 2 continues, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge … but have not love, I am nothing.” Knowledge is another of the gifts of the Spirit, according to 12:8, and the knowing of all mysteries appears to be a heightened form of that gift. Paul’s point is that a man may learn the sum total of human wisdom, plus that which is attainable only by revelation, but if he has no love, he is nothing.
Thirty years ago at our own seminary there was a professor who surely had one of the greatest minds of the 20th century. He had nine earned degrees, including doctorates in philosophy, theology, and law. He had an incredible grasp of linguistics, history, philosophy, religion, law, psychology, classics, etc. But the man was so proud and overbearing that his colleagues could hardly stand him. He burned through secretaries so fast that the dean eventually made him find his own.
In the early 70’s this professor took on J. J. Altizer, the father of the short-lived “God-is-dead” theology, in a debate at the University of Chicago. He literally slew the liberal Altizer, making an absolute fool out of him. But because he went for the jugular and refused to show any mercy, the media reported that Altizer went away with the sympathy of the crowd and with the reputation of being more “Christian.” One can have all knowledge, but without love he is nothing.
Love is greater than the gift of faith. Verse 2 concludes, “and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” Every believer, of course, has faith or he would not even be a believer. But there is a special gift of faith which has the potential of moving mountains. Jesus spoke of that kind of faith in Matthew 17, where He indicated that it doesn’t even take a huge amount of faith–just faith the size of a mustard seed to move a mountain–but even that degree of faith is rare. I wish I had the kind of faith Paul is referring to here, a gift that goes beyond the ordinary and is able to trust God for the impossible. Unfortunately, I’m a lot more like Thomas: “unless I see, I will not believe.” But friends, without love even a great gift of faith amounts to a big fat zero.
Love is greater than the gift of giving. Verse 3 reads: “If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” Perhaps when you hear that, you say to yourself, “Who would ever give away all his possessions to feed the poor if he didn’t love the poor?” Well, many people harbor a guilt complex that stems from their accumulation of material possessions, and they give to relieve that guilt. As a matter of fact, all of us are capable of doing good deeds for wrong reasons. Sacrificial giving can even be done out of mental illness or to gain a reputation, and it can be done ignorantly for a false cause.
Giving that lacks love can actually humiliate those who receive it. It is often that way with liberal governmental give-away programs. The money is given to advance a cause but with no real concern for the individuals. It may meet a man’s physical need but does nothing for his spirit. Giving can also be used to manipulate people. Wealthy parents sometimes control their children by threatening to cut them out of their will or end their allowance if they don’t perform at a certain level or behave in a certain way.
Even Christian giving can be that way. Dr. Haddon Robinson tells of a friend of his who was visiting one of the slum districts of a major American city. He was shocked to find a picture of Christ deliberately hung upside down on one of the apartment walls. He was especially disturbed because he knew that several church groups had visited this slum and offered their help to the people. When he asked a man there why the picture was hung upside down, he responded,
“Mister, they weren’t interested in us at all. They did it because it made them feel good. They brought their Thanksgiving baskets but never tried to get to know us. They left us their religious literature, but if we didn’t agree with all their beliefs they just forgot about us. If that’s what Jesus Christ has to say to me, then I don’t want him.” [iv].
No doubt this man had a major chip on his shoulder, and perhaps he was unable to recognize love when he saw it, but there appears to be a ring of truth in what he says. Gifts without love can turn to ashes in our hands and dust in the wind.
The supreme sacrificial gift, of course, is one’s life. Martyrdom is farther from our experience today than it was at the time Paul was writing to the Corinthians. In those days hundreds endured physical violence and death because of their deep love for Christ. This text suggests, however, that martyrdom can result from fanatical devotion to a cause, rather than love for Christ. Martyrdom may even be motivated more from hate than from love, as we have witnessed in the recent suicide terrorist attacks. As incredible as it is to voluntarily give one’s life, if it’s done out of hate rather than love, the martyr gains nothing of eternal value, despite the guarantees promised by his religious teachers.
In these first three verses Paul has impressed upon us the unsurpassable value of love. It is more excellent than the greatest of spiritual gifts. If I do not have love, I produce nothing of value (v. 1), I am nothing of value (v. 2), and I gain nothing of value (v. 3).
But how do I translate these truths into my personal life today? I was wrestling with this issue this week when I providentially received a letter from an archeologist friend of mine. You won’t believe this, but they just recently dug up this manuscript which purports to be the rough draft of 1 Corinthians 13. Whether it is indeed that, I’ll leave to each one of you to judge:
“Though I have taken three years of Greek and Hebrew and though I have a college professor’s vocabulary and have graduated from both the Dale Carnegie Institute and Toastmaster’s, if I have not love, I am nothing but a scholarly windbag.
And though I have been elected to two consecutive terms on the Deacon Board, and in addition, served as Treasurer of the Men’s Fraternity, and even came to watch Monday night football at the church, if I have not love, my service means nothing.
And though I listen to verses in AWANA and attend every church business meeting, and though I went through all five years of Bible Study Fellowship twice, if I have not love I am just a busybody.
And though I tithe every week and send my kids to a Christian school, and even though I even invited the pastor over for dinner once–if I have not love, the whole thing means nothing.”
Frankly, I’m glad Paul kept working on that draft until he got it right.
Now I suppose most of us have at least a vague idea of what love is, but we have not yet taken the time to define it, which is important if we’re going to practice it as we should. Paul’s purpose in the next few verses is to make sure his readers know exactly what this thing called love is, without which they produce nothing, are nothing, and gain nothing.
Love is an attitude …
Perhaps the first thing we should observe is that the word “love” used in this passage has none of the ambiguity found in our English word, “love.” Just consider a few of the ways the word “love” is used today. The movie ad shouts, “The strangest love story ever. Now available, uncensored at your neighborhood cinema.” One lady says to another, “I just love that coat. Isn’t it divine?” A person ooh’s and ah’s over a new baby, “What a lovely little girl.” Another person says, “I just love Ted Drewes’ frozen custard.” And isn’t it curious how we speak of a person and his or her “lover,” usually unmarried? [v]
Each of these examples uses the word “love” but none means the same thing by it. The Greek language, on the other hand, wisely used different words for such varied meanings. Eros was used for sensual love. Our word “erotic” comes from this Greek term and conveys the passion and lust so often connected with sexual love. A more common word for love was philia. The city of Philadelphia drew its name from this Greek word–the city of brotherly love, but actually it’s the word for friendship. Storge is still another word for love, meaning “natural love” or “family love.” It implies affection for those familiar to us.
However, in the beautiful, incomparable love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, none of these words is used. Rather the Apostle chooses a word never found in classical Greek and only rarely in the everyday Greek of his day. It centers not on the emotions or the heart, but rather on the mind and the will. It is the word agape. The other words speak of an experience that happens to us, but agape is an experience that we cause to happen. It proceeds from the nature of the lover rather than from any merit in the one loved.
It would make no sense to command someone to feel sensually toward someone else (either you do or you don’t), and it makes no sense to command a person to have a warm friendship (you’re either attracted or you’re not). But it makes a great deal of sense to exhort a person to love someone with agape love, for that kind of love is controlled by the will. William Barclay has captured the spirit of agape love when he says, “No matter what any man does to me, I will never seek to do harm to him; I will never set out for revenge. I will always seek only his highest good.” [vi]
So much is agape a word of the will that it can only be properly defined in terms of action, attitude and behavior. Paul has no room for abstract, theoretical definitions; instead he wants us to know what love looks like when we see it. And so he paints 15 separate portraits of love, a few of which we will examine this morning.
1. Love is patient. “Patient” is the contemporary term that most modern translations use in verse 4, but I almost prefer the KJV rendering: “suffers long.” That is, love doesn’t have a short fuse. It doesn’t lose its temper easily. The Greek language has several words for “patience.” One signifies patience with circumstances while a different word is used in reference to patience with people. The Lord knows we need both kinds of patience, but it is this second word that is found here. A person who exercises agape love does not lose patience with people. Love never says, “I’ll give you just one more chance.” Love is patient.
2. Love is kind. The patience we just talked about is not a kind of stoical refusal to get one’s feathers ruffled. It must be accompanied by a positive reaction of goodness toward the other person. No one treated Abraham Lincoln with more contempt than did Edwin Stanton. He called the aspiring President “a low cunning clown” and nicknamed him “the original gorilla,” scoffing at those who would wander about Africa on safari trying to capture a gorilla when they could find one so easily in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln said nothing in retort. But when he became President he appointed Stanton his war minister because he was the best man for the job, and he treated him with every courtesy.
The night came when an assassin’s bullet struck down Lincoln, and in the little room across the street from the theater, to which the President’s body was taken, stood that same Stanton. Looking down on Lincoln’s silent face he said through his tears, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.” The kindness of love had conquered in the end.[vii]
Kindness, however, is not to be equated with giving everyone what he wants. Sometimes love must be tough. Kindness may mean forcing an addict to go through the hell of withdrawal. Kindness may mean saying no to a spoiled child. Kindness may mean reporting a crime committed by a friend. Kindness means to withhold what harms, as well as give what heals. Love is kind.
3. Love does not envy. Envy implies being displeased with the success of others. It caused Joseph to be sold into Egypt. It led King Saul into insanity and to the attempted murder of David. It drove the prodigal son’s brother to miss out on his father’s love in just as serious a way as the prodigal himself. Someone has suggested that the best way to cure envy is to pray sincerely for the one of whom you are envious. To pray for him is to demonstrate love, and envy and love cannot exist in the same heart.
4. Love does not boast. The root word for “boast” in Greek is very picturesque and is closest to our English word, “wind-bag.” Love is not an egotistical blowhard. Some people seem to bestow their love and affection with the idea that they are conferring a favor upon the recipient. But the real lover cannot get over the wonder that he is loved. True love is far more impressed with its own unworthiness than its merit.
Last year I had the privilege of standing in the great Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople. I learned that the Emperor Justinian ransacked Europe for marble and treasures with which to adorn it. At length it was completed and as such was one of the most glorious sanctuaries in the world. When the hour of consecration came, Justinian, with marks of deepest piety and humility, solemnly dedicated it to the Most High God whose glory alone, he declared, he sought. Then, having performed his part, looking around the great building he was heard to whisper exultantly to himself, “Solomon, I have outstripped thee!” Is that the real attitude of our hearts when we have achieved something significant?
Love does not boast. It is not big-headed but big-hearted. The greater a person’s ability, the less boasting he needs to do; and conversely, the less ability one has, the more noise he has to make about it. Remember, empty trucks always make the most noise.
5. Love is not proud. The term means “arrogance”, a grasping for power. It is more serious than bragging, which is only grasping for praise. Arrogant people push themselves into leadership, using people as stepping stones, and always consider themselves exempt from the requirements on mere mortals. Napoleon always advocated the sanctity of the home and the obligation of public worship–for others. Of himself he said, “I am not a man like other men. The laws of morality do not apply to me.”
Contrast Napoleon with the great missionary statesman, William Carey. He began his living as a cobbler but became one of the greatest linguists the world has ever known. He translated portions of the Bible into 34 different languages. When he came to India he was regarded by the ruling British with contempt. At a dinner party one man said in a humiliating tone of voice, “I understand, Mr. Carey, that you were once a shoe-maker.” “No, your Lordship,” answered Carey, “not a shoemaker, only a cobbler.” He did not even claim to make shoes, only to repair them. How refreshing to meet a person who is great and yet not inflated with a sense of his own importance. Love is not proud or arrogant.
I’m going to stop there this morning and pick up with verse 5 in our next message. But before closing, I want to share with you something of where we are heading during Advent. This morning we are being confronted with the great need for love in our relationships. Many of us know our spiritual gifts and use them with varied effectiveness. But do we really love? In the comic strip “Peanuts” Lucy was scorning Linus who had just announced that he planned to be a doctor. “You a doctor?” she mocked, “That’s a laugh! You could never be a doctor. You know why? Because you don’t love mankind, that’s why!” To which Linus retorted, “I do so love mankind. It’s people I can’t stand!”
Does that hit a nerve with you? I confess that it does somewhat with me. I am a great lover of mankind and of family and of church, but frankly, I struggle with loving people–even people I know. Perhaps especially people I know. I need the power of the Holy Spirit to love, and so do you.
Next Lord’s Day we will have a special guest who is going to address an even tougher subject, “Loving Those Who Hate the Church.” Bill Devlin is a minister of the Gospel who really exemplifies the kind of love we’ve been looking at today. Bill and his family live in inner-city Philadelphia where he leads a Christian ministry devoted to strengthening the traditional family, teaching abstinence to teens, and defending the unborn. But what makes Bill unique is his radical love for those who would naturally be his enemies. When his pro-family stance brought him death threats, he gave his attackers invitations to dinner at his house. When he argued against a domestic-partner-benefits law, his face landed on the cover of the gay newspaper, framed by a toilet seat and crude expletives–so he sent flowers to the paper’s editor and asked him out to lunch.
He reaches out in love to greet and get to know the porn store manager, the security guard at Planned Parenthood, the drug addict, the skateboard slacker–anyone God brings across his path. This kind of love is costly, and Bill has paid a price. He has been ridiculed, threatened, and even physically assaulted. But he doesn’t care about his dignity or comfort–he cares about being faithful to the cause of Jesus, and demonstrating the kind of love God has shown to him.
Then on the 16th we’re coming back to 1 Corinthians 13 to continue the searching process as to what love looks like in all of our relationships. And finally on Christmas Sunday I want to speak to you about the love of God which He demonstrated to all of us when He sent His one and only Son from heaven to earth to become one of us, and ultimately to sacrifice His own life for us. That is what we celebrate as we come to the Lord’s Table this morning. The infinite Lord of the universe loved us enough to give His very life as payment for our sins. He offers to help us love and to love through us if we allow Him to.
But just before we take communion together, may I ask you a personal question? In what way (or better, to whom) is God calling you to demonstrate His agape love this Christmas season? How will you use your gifts and talents in love this coming year? Could you stand up at an awards banquet in your honor, as Gayle Sayers did, and say with confidence, “I accept this not for myself but for my brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ, whom I love.” The Bible tells us that “we love, because He first loved us.” As the Elders gather at the back of the auditorium, I want us to take a moment to reflect upon the incredible love that sent Jesus to earth and then to the Cross.
Let’s pray. “Father, I ask that You would pour out Your love on us so that we can pour it out on others for the Glory of Jesus Christ.”
DATE: December 2, 2001
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[i] Illustration borrowed from Charles Swindoll, “What Makes Friendships Work,” Insights, Winter 1982, 2.
[ii] James Lynch, The Broken Heart, The Medical Consequences of Loneliness.
[iii] In Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost the gift of tongues was obviously the ability to speak in a human language which the speaker had never learned, and I believe that was true each time the gift of tongues was used in the book of Acts. But 1 Corinthians seems to be talking about an ecstatic prayer language. Look, for example, at 14:2: “For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God. Indeed, no one understands him; he utters mysteries with his spirit.” We will be addressing that passage in more detail in January, but for now please note how perfectly 13:1 fits into this interpretation. If chapter 12 refers to the gift of speaking human languages one has never learned, and if chapter 14 refers to the gift of a heavenly language, then it only makes sense that right in the middle of those two chapters the Apostle would say, “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
[iv] Haddon Robinson, printed sermon, “When Love Is Gone,” 4-5.
[v] Craig Blomberg, The NIV Application Commentary, 1 Corinthians, 264.
[vi] William Barclay, citation lost.
[vii] Barclay, The Letters to the Corinthians, 120.