The Way of Love

 1 Corinthians 14:1-5

Welcome! Today we continue on in our series of I Corinthians. For the next two weeks we will discuss I Corinthians Chapter 14 which primarily deals with the gifts of tongues and prophecy. At the outset, let me say that Christians, mature believers, have had a pretty wide spectrum of beliefs about how to properly understand and interpret this chapter. My approach this week and next will be, as best I can, while giving an overview of this range of interpretations, to really try to look at this chapter in the context of the rest of I Corinthians and in context with the rest of Scripture.

In order to get that context, I want to go back to Chapters 12 and 13, because there is some key content in these chapters that will really help us as we seek to understand Chapter 14. Going to verse 4 of Chapter 12,

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. – I Cor. 12:4-6

This is one of what I think are the two main themes of Chapter 12 – there are lots of ways God supernaturally equips and empowers believers, but they are all given by the one and only true God. This is also the primary point in the following verses:

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He distributes them to each one, just as He determines. – I Cor. 12:7-11

The point of this passage is not an enumeration of all the different ways God supernaturally equips and empowers believers. This list is only illustrative, not comprehensive. We can say this with confidence because elsewhere in Scripture there are other lists as well as other individual descriptions of the work of the Spirit, and they are not the same. The point being made in this passage is that it is the same God, the one God, who distributes all of these gifts out. I think the passage emphasizes this so that the readers understand that there should be no divisions of believers based on how these gifts are distributed. Indeed, these gifts are given for the common good, for the good of everyone. It is good for everyone that some people have one gift and others another.

The second major theme of Chapter 12 is that everyone in the family of God is a valuable and essential part of the body, regardless of what gifts or kinds of service or kinds of working or manifestations are given, in other words, whatever good stuff God is doing through them. Here is a key verse:

But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. – I Cor. 12:24b-25

So the purpose of the gifts is the opposite of division (which sadly has happened many times over the understanding of the gifts of the Spirit); indeed, the very purpose of the gifts is unity, working together effectively, advancing God’s kingdom. And then we come to Chapter 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 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 do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. – I Cor. 13:1-3

What is the message here? It is that the spiritual gifts, amazing miraculous gifts of God, supernatural abilities given to people, will do nothing, accomplish nothing, achieve nothing unless the person has a motivation and a desire and a heart of love,. Even though these amazing things are from God, it doesn’t matter how amazing they are – without love, they won’t help anyone. They won’t help the church. They won’t help unbelievers come to faith. They won’t encourage believers. Nothing!

As we saw in the last few weeks, the passage goes on to describe what love really is. It’s patient. Kind. Not envious. Not boasting. Humble. Honoring of others. Not self-seeking. Not easily-angered. Not keeping records of wrongs. Rejoicing in truth. Always protecting, always trusting, always hoping, always persevering. It never fails. We have spent several weeks going slowly through these so as to think about what they really mean and what they should mean for our lives. Continuing on:

But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. – I Cor. 13:8b

So not only are these amazing miraculous spiritual gifts nothing without love, they also have a shelf life. They will expire. We don’t know exactly when they expire, but we can safely say that we won’t have these spiritual gifts in heaven. Why? Because we won’t need them! What will we have and be? I don’t really know, but I do know that the depth of our love for our Savior and for one another will be so deep and so complete that there will be no room for such paltry gifts. They will seem like child’s toys compared to the reality of our future, eternal life, in intimate fellowship with our Savior and with one another.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. – I Cor. 13:9-13

So not only do the gifts have a shelf life, they are limited, incomplete. The gifts, whatever they are exactly, only enable us to do things “in part.” But when completeness comes, we will no longer have any need of these gifts. Unlike the gifts, faith, hope, and love will persist forever, but even of these, faith and hope will be “lesser” – the greatest aspect of our souls of all, and of our lives together with Christ, will be love.

Follow the way of love and eagerly desire gifts of the Spirit, especially prophecy. For anyone who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. Indeed, no one understands them; they utter mysteries by the Spirit. But the one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort. Anyone who speaks in a tongue edifies themselves, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be edified. – I Cor. 14:1-5

I want to enumerate some of the specific things this passage tells us.

1. We should eagerly desire spiritual gifts.

2. We should desire prophecy (whatever it is exactly) most of all.

3. Speaking in tongues (whatever it is exactly) is directed to God.

4. Speaking in tongues is not normally understood by others.

5. Prophecy is understood by others.

6. Prophecy strengthens people in the faith (Greek oikodomeo, literally builds them up like a building, not a separate building, but building upon what is already there).

7. Prophecy encourages people in the faith (Greek paraclesis, literally comforter, a name for the Holy Spirit, implies intimacy).

8. Prophecy provides people comfort (Greek paramythia, literally, through speaking, calming and consoling or the opposite, exciting and stimulating; note the root word myth – a myth is a story that moves people in some powerful way).

9. Speaking in tongues builds up the speaker (literally like a building, same word).

10. Prophecy builds up the whole group of believers (literally the called-out ones, the ekklesia, same word for building up).

11. Speaking in tongues is a good thing – Paul would like it if everyone would experience it.

12. Prophecy is a better thing – Paul would prefer this even more.

13. The prophet is greater (same word used in how Jesus is greater than John the Baptist in Matt. 11:11) than the one who speaks in tongues.

14. The exception is when tongues is interpreted, so that the whole church can benefit (be built up) from the experience.

We will go much deeper next week when we have more time to explore what prophecy really means, what speaking in tongues really means, but I want to emphasize a few things here. Number one, Paul assumes his readers know what he is talking about. That’s why he isn’t defining any of these terms. The Corinthians were doing both. Despite all the serious problems they had as we saw in the first 12 chapters, God was imparting both of these gifts to the Corinthian church.

Number two, note that Paul makes quite clear the reason that prophecy is greater than tongues. It’s not because it’s more spiritual – both are supernatural gifts from God. It’s because prophecy (whatever that is exactly – and we’ll delve into this more next week) builds up the whole church but tongues does not - at least, not in the same way, not to the same degree. This is super-important to Paul. As we saw in Chapter 13, love is what the Corinthians lack and without it they (and we) have nothing. This gift of prophecy builds up the church together in love.

I want to spend the rest of my limited time on the very beginning of I Cor. 14.

Follow the way of love… - I Cor. 14:1

The Greek word translated “follow” literally means to run, to pursue. It is used twice in Philippians 3:12-14, where it is translated “press on”:

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. – Phil. 3:12-14

It is used in I Thessalonians 5 where it is translated “strive”:

Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. – I Thess 5:15

Really this means to pursue, to chase after, doing good for everyone. It is used in I Timothy 6 and in II Timothy 2, where in both cases it is translated “pursue”:

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. – I Tim. 6:11

Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. – II Tim. 2:22

And in Hebrews 12 it is translated “live”:

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. – Heb. 12:14

Really this means to chase after living in peace, to pursue peace. One more example: I Peter 3, where it is translated “pursue”:

Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. – I Peter 3:10-11

Here the reader is again exhorted to pursue peace.

I have a question for you: How do you pursue peace? How do you pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness? How do we pursue on towards the goal to win the prize that God has called for us? And as for I Cor. 14:1, how do we pursue love? What does this mean?

I think it helps to understand something relating to the culture in Bible times – running is not something the dignified ever did. Sure, there were races in the Olympic Games, and running was a part of military battles (and you see running in both contexts in Scripture) but as a matter of the regular course of life, to run was to draw extreme attention to yourself and do so in an extremely embarrassing way. Although there are situations in which this is still somewhat true today, we have a hard time grasping this fully because it is, overall, quite counter to our culture.

It is actually quite interesting to look at where in the New Testament people literally run. There are three main occasions. Here is one:

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of Him. – Mark 5:6

So without context, this sounds great, right? Some person, seeing Jesus, was so impressed that he ran to Him, not caring at all about how embarrassing he looked. This must be a pretty special person, right? Well, no. This was the demon-possessed wild man who lived in the tombs who the people had kept chained up until recent days, when he had broken the chains and no one could subdue him. With the proper cultural perspective, we finally understand – this person was so wild and even animalistic that he didn’t care at all how he looked. He ran not to worship Jesus, but to taunt Him! But yes, his running was embarrassing, shocking, and culturally inappropriate.

A second occasion of running is at the time of the resurrection of Christ. There is actually a lot of running, to and from the empty tomb, as the women and then some of the disciples see for themselves the tomb with the stone rolled away, with the body of Jesus missing, the burial cloths neatly folded, and so on. This is so astounding that they don’t care how they look – they just want to communicate this news as quickly as possible with one another.

The third instance of running is in the parable of the prodigal son. When the son finally comes back to the father in the story, this normally dignified man in his robes picks up his robes and runs toward his lost son. This is an absolutely shocking point in the story. We understand that this man so loves his son that he doesn’t mind at all looking like that wild demon-possessed man – all he cares about is his son.

There are examples in the Old Testament as well. In I Kings 19, Elijah calls Elisha to be his servant by throwing his cloak on Elisha. Apparently Elijah then moves off. Elisha is plowing with 12 yoke of oxen, so I presume he couldn’t just immediately follow Elijah. By the time he is able to go, Elijah is some distance away so Elisha runs to Elijah to ask permission to kiss his parents goodbye, and then he says he will follow Elijah. Elijah responds by saying, “Go back. What have I done to you?” This comment might just seem to be outright weird, right? What have you done to him? You put your cloak on him! I think it makes more sense if his comment is, at least in part, a reaction to Elisha’s undignified running. Not only is Elisha embarrassing himself, he is embarrassing Elijah because it is such a grandiose gesture.

Going back all the way to Genesis, we have the example of Esau and Jacob. Recall that Jacob had cheated Esau out of his inheritance, out of his blessing from his father Isaac, and this had made Esau so angry that he had planned to kill Jacob. Jacob fled, and spent many years apart from his brother. But then in Genesis 32, Jacob, on the move after fleeing from someone else he has tricked, sends very generous gifts to Esau hoping that reconciliation is possible. But news comes back that Esau is moving towards him with an army of 400 men! Jacob is terrified. When the moment of their meeting finally comes, we see, shockingly, Esau running to Jacob, not to kill him, but to embrace him! It’s really an earlier version of the prodigal son parable in real life! Again, Esau so loved his brother that he didn’t care at all how foolish he looked.

I want to give one more example – I will peel back history even further, to Abraham. This is Genesis 18:

Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground. – Gen. 18:2

The word for hurried there really means he ran. Abraham was a wealthy man. He had servants. The idea of the master of the place running to meet some strangers would have been shocking to Bible-era readers. Abraham goes on to have their feet washed, and then he has Sarah and his servants work quickly to prepare an absolute feast. He uses the very best flour they have. He has the best animal they have slaughtered for meat, a calf. It is extremely wasteful to serve a calf because it could still grow and provide so much more meat. And it says he personally set everything before his guests and that he waited on them himself!

Although there was no running involved, the most undignified act of all was Jesus choosing to endure the cross. The sinless man killed using the most public, disgraceful punishment of all, meant for only for the worst sinner. As the father in the parable ran to his underserving prodigal son, as Esau ran to his deceptive thief of a brother, and as Abraham ran to three strangers, infinitely more did God disgrace Himself for us so that we might have a restored fellowship with Him just as the prodigal entered into his father’s embrace, Jacob likewise experienced Esau’s love, and Abraham gave his guests a kingly welcome. Jesus is the ultimate model for us of what it means to pursue love, to run.

And so I charge you: Pursue love. Run after it. Be undignified. Don’t care if you embarrass yourself. Make yourself into a lowly servant for the sake of love.  

In our remaining time I would like us to form a circle for a brief sharing time. Let us speak to one another in love, encouraging one another, praying for one another. And as the Lord gives us insight, let us discuss a little more about practically what it might mean to pursue love.