Without LOVE, I Am Nothing – 1 Corinthians 13.1-3

It was the Fall of 1978 in San Francisco, and I was a freshman in college.  I found a dynamic (church) college group to join, and made a lot of friends in the City.  Probably a year into it, I was at a midweek in-depth Bible study, discussing the spiritual gifts.  One of the more strongly opinionated and outspoken guys in the group emphatically told me I wasn’t all I could be as a Christian because I did not speak in tongues . . . I remember the evening like it was yesterday, though it was 32 years ago.  Why do I remember it so clearly?  Because I remember how he made me feel while others looked on--like a loser, uninformed and immature.  He was both arrogant and smug.  If I had been a new believer, I think I probably would have reconsidered the whole faith thing—that’s how much he hurt me.  Hmmm . . .

(Huh! ‘Funny thing—San Francisco has a lot in common with the city of Corinth…)

Segue to Corinth~

In the first century, the city was intellectually astute, financially wealthy, and morally corrupt; the Christian community had to be taught that immorality had no place in her midst.  But even after immorality was addressed, the church struggled with divisive splits over their leaders, and godly wisdom vs. worldly wisdom.  Now she labored under the chaos of spiritual gifts being used and abused to make some feel superior and super-spiritual, while other church members were made to feel ‘less than’.  The health of the Christian community was threatened because of the pride that chokes—the pride that chokes out love.

Isn’t it ironic that it was division over tongues that Paul addressed first as problematic in the Corinthian church, while in the last hundred years, Christians by the score have divided over this spiritual gift more than any other?  So after describing the spiritual gifts and the importance of the members of the spiritual body all fulfilling their roles, Paul stresses the preeminence of love.

13 “If I speak the languages of men and of angels, but do not have love, I am a sounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” [Gongs and cymbals were often at the doorways of pagan temples; when people came to worship, they hit them to wake the gods so they would hear their prayers]

“If I have _⌊the gift of_⌋ prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so that I can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

And if I donate all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

I love the way the old 18^th century preacher, Matthew Henry, commented on verse one- “Could a man speak all the languages on earth, and that with the greatest propriety, elegance, and fluency, could he talk like an angel, and yet be without charity, it would be all empty noise, mere unharmonious and useless sound, that would neither profit nor delight.”  Beautiful.

How to get at this thing called love . . . it is one of the fruits of the Spirit--those things which should be evident in the character of Christians.  There are nine things: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  But which is given first place?  Love.  And what did Jesus say are the two greatest commandments?  Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; love your neighbor as yourself.  And at the end of this beautiful treatise on the subject, Paul concludes with: And now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  Love, love, love – that which we ought to exhibit, that which we ought do, and that which will remain forever.

And yet, why do SO many spiritual people feel SO unloved?  Is it any better for spiritual people who happen to be Christians?  Maybe . . . I’m afraid that the same spiritual pride that was present in the group Paul addressed, is just as present today.  That spiritual pride seems to give people what they believe is the right to judge, compare, and criticize, while the world looks on needing the Savior they claim, observing behavior that does not look or feel like love at all—because it isn’t. 

Yet, Jesus was known for his compassion, his touch . . . Many would stream by in front of a blind man begging for alms, but it was Jesus who really SAW him, and did something about his need.  No one has ever SEEN like Jesus.  And no one should SEE others like we see them; oh sure, others will LOOK, but we must SEE, and reach out in love to the one who hurts, the one who is hungry, the one who is  alone.  Jesus   lived  love. 

Whatever else you’ve got going for you, Paul was right—without love, you are nothing.

Christine