Quick Note – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 – Driven by Love

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 – If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is everything.  As Christians, it can be easy for us to get caught up in the ministry of doing things for God.  We serve others by ushering them to their seats or setting up the sound before church; we teach Sunday school or Wednesday night Bible studies; we lead small groups or children’s church.  We go about doing the things we should.  But how many of us consider why we are doing these things?  We give of our time, our effort, and even our finances to help the church, but are we doing it for the right reasons? 

Paul in the opening of one of the most famous chapters in the Bible – 1 Corinthians 13 – the Love Chapter, wrote that without love whatever he did was meaningless.  He said this three times in three different ways in the first three verses of this chapter.  First, he said that if he speaks in an angelic tongue (which was valued by many Christians at that time) or many languages, it would just be like a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal if done without love.  In other words, speaking in languages that could impress but without speaking in love for the purpose of building and encouraging others would be as worthless as a child banging upon pots and pans without any discernable rhythm.  Love should drive his speech. 

Second, he said that if he had the traits that would impress any Christians like prophetic powers, an understanding of all the mysteries of God and the world, and even the faith and power to bring about miracles, he would be considered nothing if he didn’t have love.  Regardless of whether he had what people valued as important, he would be considered worthless if he had all these traits without the love of Christ.  Being valued for his skill sets meant nothing if he had them without love. 

Third, he said that if he gave away all his possessions and even his life but did it without love, he would gain nothing.  When someone gives, one usually expects a return.  If one gives of his or her life, one expects that the life traded for will be lived in a worthwhile manner.  When something is given up, a gain should be returned.  However, Paul said that if he gave everything but did it without love, there would be no gain at all.  It would be worthless.  To give without love would lead to no benefit. 

That is why we as Christians should be careful to understand why we are serving in the ministry.  Are we doing it for the recognition of others?  Are we doing it for our own internal fulfillment?  Are we doing it because we feel like we are obligated to?  If we are serving God but doing so without love being the primary reason driving it, then it is worthless.  We should be serving God out of love for Him.  We should be serving others with the love of Christ dwelling in us.  We should be growing in Christ, because we love Him.  If we do anything, let us do in love.  Let our lives be driven by love.

Loving God by Loving the Church the Way Christ Does – Give of Yourself – Pt.2

*This is a continuation from the last post.  Part 2 of the sermon shared at Trinity Baptist Church on February 9, 2013.

Ephesians 5:23,25 – “…Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior…as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her…” 

We can all recall some time in which we have seen someone make the ultimate sacrifice for one of their loved ones whether in reality or television.  We have seen fathers lay down their lives pushing their child away from an oncoming traffic.  We have seen boyfriends act as human shields to protect their girlfriends from a spray of bullets.  We have seen teachers stand up to gunmen as they hid children away from them.  History shows that this has happened multiple times.  For example, during the Holocaust, Corrie Ten Boom and her family sacrificed their freedom to protect Jews from the Nazis.  These men and women illustrated John 15:13 to the world, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”  Jesus spoke these words to His disciples on the night He was betrayed, the night right before His crucifixion, where He willingly laid down His life for all mankind, especially the church.  This is the event that our passage speaks of, “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”  Jesus Christ loved us so much that He provided Himself as the sacrifice for our sins; He gave of Himself so that we could have a renewed relationship with God, one that is filled with life and joy instead of judgment and fear.  Christ’s ultimate way to show love for His Church was to die for it.

Certainly, if we would like to copy Christ’s example, we could also die for the church but hopefully we don’t have to encounter those types of circumstances, instead we are called to be “living sacrifices” (Romans 12:1).  Far too often, Christians today go to their local church to figure out what they can get out of it.  They want to go in on a Sunday morning, get inspired, hear something in the sermon that will touch their hearts, have some people fellowship with them, and then go home.  They want all activities provided for them from Sunday school classes, small groups, and children’s ministries.  They are looking for any place where they can get something out of church easily with no effort.  It is all about my growth, my fire, my time, my…, my…, my…  It is sad to see that many Christians have seem to become these spiritual sponges which take up a lot of good lessons, grow a lot, but then never let it back out, instead they harbor all of this knowledge in and become sour holier-than-thou people.  Christ never sought what He could get from the church, instead He gave of Himself completely, while we were yet sinners, while we were still His enemies (Romans 5:8).  As disciples of Jesus Christ, we can show our love for Him by showing the same love for the church that He had.  In a way, we are actually loving ourselves, because we are the church.  Instead of seeking what we can get from the church, let us look for how we can serve the local church and the church as a whole.  It may be to teach at a Sunday school; it may be greeting new comers; it may be giving to the ministry or missionaries; it may even be starting a small group that is currently non-existent.  Whatever way you can give of yourself and your life do so.  Today, we have a shining example of a man who is giving his life to serve the Lord by serving the church.  Pastor Saeed Abedini is a US pastor who emigrated from Iran.  He then went back to Iran on a trip to help build an orphanage and support the local church.  While there he was taken from his place of stay, thrown in one of the worst prisons in the world, and is currently serving eight years in prison away from contact with his wife and kids who are here in the States; all of this because of his Christian faith.  He is a disciple who has shown the same love for the church that Christ has and is someone we can definitely look up to.  (If you have not signed the petition provided by the ACLJ, please go to this site and support his release:  http://aclj.org/iran/save-american-pastor-from-iranian-prison-sentence).

In biology, a healthy body will have all cells in the body contribute to the overall well-being of a person, but when cancerous cells appear, these cells will do nothing but take nutrients from the body as they continue to grow more and more.  Eventually, these cells form tumors, as they continue to rob the body of nutrients needed to help the body to live, finally killing the individual.  It is the same spiritually.  When Christians go to church to do nothing but take from the church, they act as cancerous cells which do nothing but rob the church of the help and contributions they can bring.  The Bible clearly states, that we are supposed to use our spiritual gifts to help our fellow believers in Christ.  Are we doing so?  Give of yourself just as Christ gave of Himself.  This is one way we can love Christ by giving of ourselves to His Bride, the church, the same way He gave of Himself.