1 Corinthians 13 is often referred to as the “love chapter.” You hear it a lot at weddings. But weddings aren’t where it was originally aimed. It was aimed at the church in Corinth – a church that was loaded with problems.
Corinth was like Las Vegas on steroids. Not only was sexual immorality rampant, but along with that came every other form of evil behavior. You might ask, “why did the Apostle Paul write such a beautiful message of love to a place like that?” But Paul saw it the other way around. He felt that a community stuck in sin was the perfect place for a message about the power of God’s transforming love.
In fact, that’s how it is with God’s Love – the deeper the sin, the more powerful God’s grace! Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans:
“… But where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” – Romans 5:20
And so the Apostle set out in his letter to the Corinthians to talk about God’s answer to their sin. He spent the first 12 chapters of that letter to them talking about the problems that faced them. Then in chapter 13 it’s as if he took a cleansing breath and said, “can we all agree that your way is not working? … let me show you a better way.” And LOVE is … that better way.
Then he goes on to show that all of the ways that the Corinthians (and we) measure success, achievement or happiness, are actually nothing without love.
1. You cannot measure the value of your words by the impressiveness of your speech. “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.” – 1 Corinthians 13:1
2. You cannot measure your spiritual maturity by the extent of your gifts.
“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.” – 1 Corinthians 13:2
3. You cannot measure the size of your reward by the depth of your sacrifice.
“If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.” – 1 Corinthians 13:3
Paul is echoing the upside-down Kingdom that Jesus had ushered in. In Christ’s Kingdom, the main currency isn’t speech, power, knowledge or money. It’s Love. It’s possible to speak in a way that just puffs up self. It’s possible to have knowledge about the inner workings of science – even knowledge about heaven and earth, but to use that knowledge in a way that serves our own power and position. And it’s even possible to give, and give generously, in a way that is more about our own gain than it is about loving the ones that we are serving. But Paul teaches that in Christ’s Kingdom, love of neighbor and love of God is the better way. It may utilize all of God’s gifts of speech, knowledge, faith, generosity and personal surrender … but it must never be about those things in and of themselves; it must be about Love.
Love, after all, is what drove God to send His Son into the world, and what drove that Son to the cross to die for us, isn’t it? (see John 3:16.) Clearly Jesus used words, knowledge, faith, generosity and personal surrender in His ministry … but He did them all with love … with perfect Love. And He calls us, as His disciples, to Love like He does.
The world is desperately in need of more Love, isn’t it? Chances are you could use a little more Love in your life too, right? So, we are spending the next several weeks learning about the “Better Way” of Love that Jesus wants for us. I look forward to digging into this wonderful image of Christ’s Love with you.
In Christ’s Love,
Pastor Augie.