The Greatest of These is Love

INTRODUCTION

We are continuing our spiritual gift study tonight

RECAP:

We left off last time at verse 27.

The primary teaching of those verses is: unity and diversity of gifts.

God is sovereign over the gift giving (1 Cor 12:11 “But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.”)

Does everyone understand what sovereign means?

He gives the gifts, according to His will and purpose. We do not choose our gifts, we discover them.

Now lets read the next 4 verses:

1 Cor 12:28-31 “And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way.”

Does anyone see a contradiction here?

⇒ In verse 11, Paul says God distributes to each one just as he wills.

⇒ In verse 31, Paul says, earnestly desire the greater gifts, and I will show you a greater way

So which is it?

do we desire the gifts we want?

Or does God through His Spirit distribute gifts to us just as He wills?

This is important for us to understand of students of the Bible

If we believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God (And we do!)

Then God does not contradict Himself (EVER)

Nor does God ever make an error

Therefore, we must interpret Scripture (and this verse) in light of those truths

We must read this in context

If God gives the gifts, and we do not get to choose, then what Paul must be saying here is to desire the gift that God gave us.

Instead of seeking “more showy gifts such as speaking in tongues to make us look more spiritual, we should earnestly desire to discover and exercise the gift that God gave us”

Question: Does this mean we can neglect our true gift “the greater gift” that we have been given? YES

1 Tim 4:14 “Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery.”

2 Tim 1:6 “For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”

The point I want to drive home is this: God gave us a gift…we need to earnestly seek that gift and not try to choose one to our liking!

And the greater gift is to serve others, not for our own liking

Which is exactly what was happening in Corinth

Questions or comments about those verses?

(v 31) “And I will show you a more excellent way”

1 Cor 13:1-3 “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”

Paul is saying that no gift is worth anything if it is not motivated by love

LOVE IS THE NECESSITY TO ALL SPIRITUAL GIFTS

Love is not the greatest spiritual gift, it must accompany every gift or the gift is worthless

“If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become a noisy gong

“If I have the gift of prophecy, but do not have love, I have nothing”

‘And if I give all my possessions to the poor, but do not have love, it profits me nothing”

One commentator said, “love is the mortar between the bricks of the Christian building”

What is love? 1 Cor 13:4-7 “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

In this context it is a deep genuine concern for the in the Christian community

It is the opposite of self-centered, it is “the other person” centered

I want you to notice how much these descriptions have to do with other people

⇒ love is patient

to bear up under provocation (something that arouses us) without complaint

⇒ love is kind

loving, merciful

⇒ love is not jealous

ill will or envy

⇒ love does not brag

to heap praise on oneself

to call attention to our own deeds and actions or characteristics

⇒ love is not arrogant

puffed up with pride

to have an exaggerated self-conception or exaggerating one’s own worth or importance

⇒ love does not act unbecomingly

disgraceful, dishonorable, indecently

⇒ love does not seek its own

strive for one’s own advantage

always looking out for number 1

⇒ love is not provoked

does not irritate or provoke others to anger

does not go into fits of anger

⇒ love does not take into account a wrong suffered

love keeps no score of wrongs done to them

There is not notebook of all the wrong things that have been done to them

They forgive quickly and forget easily

⇒ love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with truth

love does not support anything against God

Rom 1:32 “and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”

Love is glad when confronted with truth

Prov 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.”

⇒ love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things

The key word here is all (can also be translated “always”)

The point is: Love has no limits

It never gets tired of support, never loses faith, never exhausts hope, never gives up

Love is a gift for the one who is the object of our love

It is not enough to say we love someone if we do not demonstrate that love with these characteristics

Love is always about action

Paul never mentions buying someone gifts, or telling them we love them, or feeling emotions toward them

It is always about putting them above us regardless of the situation

HOW DOES YOUR LOVE MEASURE UP WHEN COMPARED TO THIS LIST?

Are there some things you can work on?

It often goes counter to what we think love is: feelings, doing nice things for people, smiling, never speaking bad of someone

It gos much deeper than that

Notice that love is not

⇒ love does not rejoice in unrighteousness; but rejoices in truth

⇒ love bears all things

⇒ love believes all things

⇒ love hopes all things

⇒ love endures all things

LOVE IS SUPERIOR TO SPIRITUAL GIFTS

1 Cor 13:8-13 “Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

“Love never fails”

It never ceases to exists

BUT Prophecy will end, tongues will end, knowledge will end

These spiritual gifts are only partial, but love is permanent

Illustration

A child into a man

The point: “There is an age appropriate to certain activities, but there comes a time when those activities are no longer appropriate”

Faith, hope, love

Essential Christian virtues

Christianity is impossible without them