“Without Love we are Nothing”
(1 Corinthians 13:1-3)
Series: Chaos & Correction (1 Corinthians)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
•Take your Bibles and join me in 1 Corinthians, chapter 13 (page 774; YouVersion)
While you are finding that, let me say thank you to our folks who pray for us in the prayer room over here through this door. Volunteers praying for us during the morning worship services every Sunday. Thank you so much.
If you’re visiting with us we are preaching through the book of 1 Corinthians. That’s what we do here, preach through books of the Bible, verse-by-verse, believing it to be the best way to read, preach, and teach the Word. “Cherishing the Word” is the first point of our mission statement, we “Cherish the Word.”
So we’re preaching through 1 Corinthians and today we pick up at chapter 13 and verse-by-verse preaching helps us readily understand why this chapter is positioned precisely as it is in the middle of Paul’s discussion of spiritual gifts in the church body.
Paul has been writing to the church at Corinth, teaching them about how God has uniquely gifted each Christian with at least one gift by way of the Holy Spirit. These gifts, such as teaching, prayer, healing, and so on, are to be used by Christians to edify—or build up—the church. Each person uses his or her gift to benefit others. The church is a focus upon God and others.
We’ve noted this time and again. Someone says, “Well, I don’t need the church. I can worship God alone.” Well, the New Testament never once gives that as an option. The New Testament teaches that every follower of Christ is part of the church, a member of a local assembly of believers. We are here to glorify God through corporate worship and to bless one another by using our gifts through the body of Christ, through the church. So the idea that one can be a follower of Christ and not a member of a local church is against the teaching of the New Testament. The New Testament takes for granted that every Christian is an active member of a local church.
By the way, if you are not a member of this church—and you have been visiting and are looking for a church home—we would be delighted to have you with us and, at the end of the service, you can come forward and share your desire to join with us and we’ll celebrate with you and register you for the next new member’s class.
So Paul has been writing to a church that has really lost her focus and has been focusing on self, rather than focusing on God and focusing on others. Jesus taught that a summary of the Law included this vertical and horizontal dimension of love, a focus upon God and a focus upon others—love for God, love for others.
Matthew 22:35-40:
One of the pharisees, “a lawyer, asked [Jesus] a question, testing Him, and saying,
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
So Paul is trying to help the church at Corinth regain her spiritual eyesight, correcting the chaos at Corinth.
And in chapters 12 through 14 Paul addresses this matter of spiritual gifts, because the church, in using their gifts, had begun using them in selfish ways, using them in ways that drew attention to themselves, rather than God, rather than being a blessing to others.
By the way, how many of you know how easy that is, to lose your focus upon God and others? You can be using your gift of teaching, leading, serving, or helping in some way and get hard-hearted. And you begin to think, “Well, no one appreciates me” or, “I’m never recognized for this,” or you work in some way to draw attention to yourself, considering yourself better than others instead of considering others better than yourself (Philippians 2:3)—spiritual competition, you know. Things like that.
And in many ways this is what had happened to the church at Corinth. The church at Corinth was a church that was very gifted, “you come short in no gift,” Paul had said to them back in chapter 1 (1 Corinthians 1:7). But they were using their gifts in ways that did not honor God. They were using their gifts in an unbiblical manner, especially the gift of speaking in tongues. Their use of this gift drew attention to themselves, rather than to God.
So Paul concludes chapter 12—and Matt preached this last week—by the way, someone asks, “Pastor, do you listen to or read the messages when you miss a Sunday?” Yes, with very few exceptions I have done as I trust you do, I get the audio of the message or I read the manuscript; both are available on our website. So I read Matt’s sermon from last week to help me study for the message this morning. And Matt preached on “The Power of One Body,” preaching verses 12 to 31, where Paul teaches that we’re all equally important to the body of Christ and we’re all to be using our spiritual gifts to praise God and to build up the church body, to benefit our brothers and sisters.
So to recap last week, for those of us who missed (and I’m raising my hand), we look to the end of chapter 12 and pick up verse 28 and following, 1 Corinthians 12:28 and following:
28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? (implication: NO!) Are all prophets? (NO!) Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.
Verse 31 is a transitional verse. Paul says, “Earnestly desire the best gifts.” The word “best” derives from the original, “mega” from which we get “megabyte” or “megaphone.” It means something “bigger” or “greater” or even “higher.”
And Paul is teaching in the last verse of chapter 12 that there are some spiritual gifts that are especially “greater” than others in so far as they are more likely to edify the church, to build up the church. And we’ll note that especially in chapter 14, where Paul teaches, for example, that the gift of prophecy—the proclaiming of spiritual truth—is more likely to build up the church than the gift of speaking in tongues when nobody knows what the speaker is saying.
Now I don’t want to get ahead of myself here, but I do want to point out that this is where Paul is headed. So he says at the end of chapter 12: there are a number of different kinds of gifts, but—verse 31, “earnestly desire the “best” or the “greater gifts,” those more likely to result in the edification of the church. Then, he adds this statement at the very end of chapter 12, “And yet I show you a more excellent way.” That is, “Let me tell you what is so vitally important as that which gives expression to our spiritual gifts,” or, “Let me tell you what matters more than our being uniquely gifted or talented in one way or other.” Or, “Let me tell you what is so important in the church, arguably more important than anything you can imagine,” and that which is so important is—love.
Everyone say, “Love.” Chapter 13 is about the need for love in the church. When Paul says, “Earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you are more excellent way,” he is telling the Corinthian Christians, “Guys, get ready. Pay attention. I have just talked about how we all have one spiritual gift or other and that we none of us have all the gifts, and now I am telling you what matters more than having these gifts—that you have love for one another” and we see that, then, in chapter 13, the “love chapter.” Everyone say, “Love.”
So long before chapter 13 was quoted by amorous poets, and long before chapter 13 was read at weddings, chapter 13 was understood as that which came between chapters 12 and 14, a section of Scripture in which Paul was teaching about the importance of love when meeting together as Christians and using our spiritual gifts in ways to love God and love others in the church. So the title of our message is, “Without Love we are Nothing.” Let’s see if that theme is taught in today’s short passage, verses 1-3.
•Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
2 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.
3 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.
“Without love, we are what church?” Nothing.
•Let’s Pray. “God, help us as we study to see our selves, to see our sin, and to see our Savior.”
Introduction:
A couple days before our Team left for Toronto, a Jehovah’s witness knocked on my door. She had material I recognized right away as stuff printed by “Watchtower Press,” the publishing arm of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. She was inviting me to a gathering in Evansville. I took her card and said, “Thank you, but I won’t be attending.” She seemed taken back by this and wanted to know why. I said, “Well, I am a Christian and we believe differently than you.” She asked in what way. And I just cut straight to the chase. I said, “Jesus is God.” She said, “No He’s not.” And we were off. We argued back and forth—and the whole while I’m thinking, “I know better than this.” But I just couldn’t bear to let her get away with false teaching, denying the deity of Christ, denying the doctrine of the holy Trinity, and other teachings.
When she finally left and I felt my blood pressure beginning to slow down again, I thought, “It’s so senseless,” you know, the arguing. It’s one thing when you can have genuine dialogue, but when the two persons are simply talking over one another, nothing really good comes of that. It seems so void of love—on the part of both parties. I’d like to say that I loved this woman enough to say that I was merely “speaking the truth in love,” but the reality is that I was very angry—justifiably to be sure; after all we’re talking about false teaching here—but at the same time, we can say things in a loving way or an unloving way. We can speak the truth in an edifying way, rather than a destructive way.
Now again, I don’t want to confuse the necessary refuting of false teaching with some silly, unbiblical call for silence or a wimpy and hollow tolerance of unbiblical views. The point is, rather, to illustrate how easy it is to speak the truth, but to do so in an unloving manner. During my discussion with the Jehovah’s Witness, there was clearly a time or two in which I spoke the truth in an unloving manner.
And while some of us may still wish to excuse this in light of the fact that this was, after all, a false teacher of a false doctrine, it highlights how easy it is to argue without love. If it can happen while talking to an unbeliever, it can happen while talking to believers, too. It is very easy to argue. It is a far more noble virtue, however, to argue in love, to share different viewpoints in a way that truly respects and honors the other person. We Christians are to model this kind of love every time we gather together, every time we talk to one another and, also modeling this kind of love to an unbelieving world around us. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another (John 13:35).”
In fact, remember that the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 is “first—what?—love (Galatians 5:22).”
Paul’s main point in these opening verses is that “Without love we are nothing.” Without love, spiritual gifts are useless. He’ll go on to define love in verse 4-7 and then he’ll talk about how this love outlasts the temporary nature of spiritual gifts in verses 8-13.
So in my study of this passage, I wrote this down: **Love is more important than…
The Words we Speak (1)
There’s an old saying most of you have heard: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
I remember in seminary so many of us young ministers learning all kinds of truth and we’d have these arguments between classes and in the coffee shop and places like that, arguing with one another. And arguing itself is not sin, you know. It’s good to argue in the strictest sense of the word. The legal system, for example, is the arguing of a case, making a case, presenting your side, and so forth. Arguing is not itself the problem. It is the way we argue that is the problem. And so many a seminary student found himself or herself arguing in unedifying ways, just trying to “beat someone up” in their biblical knowledge. Right or wrong? How many of you say, “Wrong?” Exactly. Love is more important than the words we speak. Verse 1:
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
Love is more important than the words we speak. Paul has in mind primarily the spiritual gift os speaking in tongues. We’ve noted before that to speak in tongues is to speak words in a language one had not previously known. We’ll talk more about that when we get to chapter 14. Paul’s point, for now, is that a person may be able to speak in ways that are highly esteemed among others but may do so without love—whether this man is “speaking in tongues” in the sense we just described it, or just speaking period. Verse 1, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.”
A “sounding brass” probably refers to the large “acoustic vase” used as an amplifier in Greek theaters. And the phrase “clanging symbol” is something we get right away. A clanging cymbal sounds good when used at the right point in a symphony. Used at the wrong point in a symphony, the clanging symbol can really mess up some pretty nice music, right?!
Imagine the beautiful symphonic sound of violins and oboes and other woodwinds and brass and then—at just the wrong time—a guy clangs the symbols. And not just once or twice, but repeatedly! Music or noise? Noise.
Paul says you can speak in such a way that you are just noise. If you don’t have love, you can be speaking—and you may even be right in what you are saying—but you are not saying it in love, so all the other person hears is “Clang, Clang, Clang!” You may as well be the little animated monkey with the cymbals in his hands, clanging them together.
“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
So again, don’t confuse truth with silence or intolerance. Paul is NOT saying, “Look, when people say something untrue or behave in unbiblical ways,” Paul is NOT saying, “Just smile and look the other way. Just hold hands and sing, ‘Kum-ba-yah my, Lord.’” We must speak the truth and sometimes the truth is difficult to hear, but we must speak the truth. And the Bible says, “Speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15).”
Call one another out on this when we goof up. You know, “Brother, say it in love. Sister, let’s talk in love.” Without love we are nothing.
Love is more important the the words we speak. Secondly, love is more important than:
The Wonders we Savor (2)
In verse 2, Paul lists some of the wonderful works of the Holy Spirit. He writes of a faith that moves mountains, of a superior kind of knowledge, and of the gift of prophecy. Look again at verse 2:
2 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 (what, church?) nothing.
Who wouldn’t want these spiritual gifts? Who among us doesn’t want to have a faith that “removes mountains,” a trust in God that is especially effective in accomplishing great things for God’s glory? What a wonderful gift!
And to be able to “understand all mysteries and all knowledge!” Another wonderful gift. And “the gift of prophecy,” to proclaim truth received from God by way of the Holy Spirit, another gift we’ll be studying in greater depth when we get to chapter 14. But you get the idea here, don’t you? These are wonderful gifts that the average Christian prizes, treasures, savors.
Yet Paul says in verse 2, “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.”
Without love we are nothing. Love is more important than the words we speak and the wonders we savor.
Think of it! These are really wonderful things here. These are awesome and miraculous works of the Spirit. And yet, Paul says, “These may be wonderful things, miraculous works, but without love they are nothing, and you are nothing.”
Don’t miss how important love is to God. Don’t miss that. Is proclaiming truth great? Yes! Is understanding all mysteries and knowledge great? Yes! Is a faith in God, an unbending, unyielding trust in God, great? Yes, yes, and yes! But without love, those wonderful gifts are useless. Paul says, “I could have all those great wonders of the Spirit, “But have not love,” and If I don’t have love, “I am nothing.”
Without love we are nothing. Love is more important the the words we speak. Love is more important than the wonders we savor. Thirdly, love is more important than:
The Ways we Sacrifice (3)
Verse 3 is about sacrificial giving, giving of one’s goods—that’s sacrificial—and giving of one’s life—that’s an even greater sacrifice.” Look again at verse 3:
3 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.
Paul says, “I can give all my stuff away.” I can “bestow all my goods to feed the poor.” By the way is that a good thing, to give to the poor? How many of you say, “Yes?” Yes!
But Paul says, “Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, but have not love, it profits me nothing.” It is useless. I’d be better not giving at all. I mean, without love, it really doesn’t matter. God doesn’t care about our ability to throw money at something if it is down without love.
This is why tithing, giving right off the top, the tithe means “tenth,” this is why tithing is never to be done legalistically. You can tithe in a way that is done without love. Your’e just doing it. You’re just “paying a bill.” There’s no love in it. Or you may do it begrudgingly rather than cheerfully. Paul teaches here a giving that is even greater than the tithe. Paul says, “Though I bestow ALL my goods to feed the poor, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
Our giving is to be done in the context of love, real love for God and for the church. Real love for God and others.
Paul also teaches in verse 3 that we may even give our lives for the truth of the Gospel and do so in a way that is without love. He says in verse 3, “And though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
The stress is on the fact that these are sacrificial things, right? What greater sacrifice than the giving of one’s life for the truth? Like Daniel’s friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were willing to do in Daniel chapter 3? Yet Paul says we can give our very lives in sacrifice for God or others and do so in a way that is void of love. We can sacrifice in a way that is unloving, doing so to draw attention to ourselves: “Look at me! Look at what I did or what I gave.” Without love, what is it worth, church? Nothing. “It profits me nothing.”
Without love we are nothing. Love is more important than the words we speak, the wonders we savor, and the ways we sacrifice.
Love is—last verse chapter 12, last three words, love is—the “more excellent way.”
•Stand for prayer.
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