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Today's spotlight sermon on Spiritual Gifts
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The title of this sermon is The Most Excellent Way
 This sermon is provided by Robert Tarullo
Sermon Topic: Spiritual Gifts
Sermon Synopsis: The love of God in Christ to His saints, particularly, to the Corinthians' context and their use of spiritual gifts in direct contrast to their intended purposes. Your love, your spiritual gift to others, which is the most excellent way.
Sermon Text:     1 Corinthians 13:1-8a
“The Most Excellent Way”
Community OPC, Newtown, CT
February 5, 2006

[Before reading the Scripture]
As you know,
this past week I was in Philadelphia for a workshop
on Biblical exposition.

That is the reason we will read from 1 Corinthians 13 this morning.

I wanted to bring to you something of the “good fruit”
of the word of God taught the men at this workshop.

We were assigned two passages to prepare for the workshop.
This passage was one of the two I prepared.

This morning, then, I am drawing upon that which I learned
and pray that we will all be edified through
the exposition of God’s word.


“And I show you a still more excellent way.”

In this closing phrase of chapter 12,
Paul transitions, he leads into, some of the most well known
verses of the Holy Scriptures

These opening verses of Scripture
have been used in countless wedding ceremonies,
by Christians and non-Christians alike.
These may very well be the most well known
words of Paul since they are typically even printed
literature anthologies for its high stylized form.

This morning we will look at these verses in two parts:
Love’s necessity (vs. 1-3) and Love’s character (vs. 4-8a).

I. Context is Key
But before we charge into the text itself,
because we have not been working through 1 Corinthians expositionally,
and we are therefore,
kind of jumping off the diving board
without knowing where the water is below,
we need to take a step back,
we need to understand the context of the this passage in the overall letter.

One of my seminary professors once said,
and this was emphasized at the workshop this week,
to do expositional preaching,
context is key.

Turn with me to chapter 1 of the letter
and follow along with me as we move through the letter.

Look at chapter 1,
what seems to be at issue there?
At verse 10, the apostle makes an appeal
for the Corinthians to agree and that there
be no divisions among them.

Turn over to chapter 3,
again, Paul addresses the Corinthians about divisions among them,
those who claimed Paul, those who claimed Apollos.
Again, look at chapter 4:7 & 8,
Paul castigates them for their arrogance and pride,
“Why do you boast?
Already you have all you want!
Already you have become rich…”
He writes admonish them according to 4:14.

Again, note chapter 5,
where Paul is outraged at the boast being made
by the Corinthians for their having an immoral man within their number.
“Your boast is not good,” he says in verse 6.
In verse 9, he writes that he already told them
not to associate with sexually immoral people
who bear the name of brother (v. 11).

It doesn’t end there, chapter 6,
these Christians are bringing lawsuits against one another;
they are defrauding each other and offending each other.

In chapters 1-6
Paul addresses, as you can see,
all of these problems in the church;
problems of an immature (he feeds them with milk),
wealthy and boastful church, a church divided,
very much looking sounding like the world.
I hope you see from the Scriptures here
that even at a cursory look the Corinthian church
is very much like the American church in so many ways.
These things are so very apt and relevant for us
in the religious culture that God has placed us.

Now, in chapter 7,
Paul continues in verse 1, “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote…”
Here we come to a transition in the letter.
Now Paul is addressing specific questions or concerns
that the Corinthians had written to him about.

And you’ll see this again and again to the end of the letter.
Note 7:25, “Now concerning…,”
and 8:1, “Now concerning…,”
and 12:1, “Now concerning…,”
and 16:1, “Now concerning….”

And in the midst of answering the questions or concerns of the Corinthians
with this introductory word, “Now concerning…”
we find our passage this morning actually
having its context within the larger section
beginning at 12:1 to the end of chapter 14.
And you’ll note how chapter 12 begins,
“Now concerning spiritual gifts…” (that word gifts isn’t there)
The entirety of this section 12-14 is about
Spiritual things, spiritual gifts in the church.
And given the overall context,
Paul uses this occasion to correct the Corinthians
as their way of thinking and behaving with regard
to THE Spiritual way.

Such that Paul says at the ends of chapter 12 and begins chapter 14
with almost identical words,
“But earnestly desire the higher gifts.
And I will show you a still more excellent way” (12:31)
“Pursue love,
and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts…” (14:1).

And that which is in between, chapter 13,
is the particularly apt corrective, the more excellent way,
the indicative of the imperative, “pursue love.”

II. What Paul is not teaching
You see, Paul is not teaching us
about some kind of airy, romantic love,
that we’ll might see on Valentine’s Day cards soon.
This is not the same kind of love
understood be the world even though
countless numbers use it in weddings.

Neither does this passage of Scripture teach
the manner in which Spiritual gifts are to be used.

III. What Paul is teaching us
Rather, what this passage does teach us
is that love is the most excellent way
because it is the way of Jesus Christ;
You might think of the other great John 3:16, 1st John 3:16, that is,
“By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us.”
Or consider 1st John 4:10,
“In this is love, not that we have loved God
but that He loved us and sent His Son to be
the propitiation for our sins.”

And also, in this passage,
“Paul points out a path of life superior
to a life spent in the seeking and displaying
of temporary spiritual gifts” (Grosheide, ?)
What I mean by that refers to Paul’s statement in 12:31,
“…the more excellent way.”
That word “way” refers to a pathway, a roadway,
and that way is more excellent.

IV. Love’s Necessity
The point is, and this brings us to the first 3 verses,
“in all your exercise of Spiritual gifts (temporary or permanent),
be sure to understand their proper place in the over-all scheme of things.”

You must see love’s necessity.
Love is absolutely necessary for the Christian life
and it is superior to all Spiritual gifts.
It is the first of the fruits of the Spirit;
and here to see its necessity,
we see that fruit unfolded,
we see that fruit of the Spirit blossom.

Paul illustrates the necessity of love vividly,
and quite possibly sarcastically (it depends on how you read this text).
I get the sense that Paul’s tone is somewhat exasperated:
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
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.
If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,
but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Now the Corinthian church was a troubled church,
immature, prideful, arrogant, young.
It was a church in a newly reconstructed city
that had quickly become the most productive economic
hotspot of the Mediterranean region.
It was a booming cultural hotspot
with all the pagan amenities of the day to go with it.
Pagan temples were all over the place.
“In a city of pagan worship where religious ecstasy was hugely
valued as a sign of great godliness…” (Jackman, 215)
where the hollow temple gongs clanged
to wake up the gods, to call their attention,
or to drive away evil spirits – all truly
being nothing but meaningless noise.
He is saying to the Corinthians,
“If you are exercising the gifts of tongues
of men and of angels in this way without love,
then you too are nothing but meaningless noise
just like the pagans at the temple down the street.”

The apostle goes on to the gift of prophecy, mysteries, and knowledge,
faith so as to move mountains (didn’t Jesus talk about that?),
but without love it is nothing.
You see, if faith is motivated by personal glory,
then in God’s sight that faith is nothing.

Is this not such a real challenge to today?
Christians can long for miracles, even the moving of mountains;
they can desire them to be noticed,
to be successful, for attention.
But if there is no love, it is nothing.

Now, you would think, as the Apostle goes on,
that surely giving away all you have and offering yourself for martyrdom
would be a sign of true spirituality
as all of these thing are supposed to be.
Surely this is true spirituality. Apparently not.

When we surveyed the deacon’s work a few weeks ago,
we talked about the early church’s inclination of selling property
for the sake of giving it to others in need.

But the difference that is made here is love!

If giving away all that you have is not done with love,
it is nothing; it is heartless.
Without love nothing is gained.
“Even martyrdom would be without value
if it was endured without love” (Jackman, 216).

I trust that the point is clear:
the Spiritual life or the Spiritual way,
is not measured by your gifts, the congregational programs,
size or impact, not by doctrine, or experiential testimony,
those things are important, extremely important,
and ought to be earnestly desired,
But the Christian’s Spiritual life,
the congregations spiritual life is measured by love.
One pastor put it this way,
“If I have Reformed doctrine, and have not love,
I have nothing.”
I could elaborate,
“If we have multiplicity of numerical growth,
and have not love,
we have nothing.”

Paul is correcting the Corinthians wrongheaded, arrogant, prideful
way of thinking about the Christian life,
specifically, he is referring to that which is Spiritual (12:1).
One author states it this way, “It is only the controlling presence
and motivation of love that denotes the presence of God’s Spirit,
because Biblical Spirituality is all about the self-giving
love of Christ in His atoning sacrifice for sinners” (Ibid).

Love is pre-eminent; love is necessary.
Without love it’s all useless.

V. Love’s Character (4-8a)
And it is in this context that we should read the following verses,
which describes loves character with a strong emphasis
on what love is not (i.e. in the negative).

Here we have a description of what love looks like and what it does not look like.

And when we read this description,
we need to remember that this is a corrective passage;
a corrective to the disunity, the divisions, the pride, the arrogance
that ringing from this congregation like hollow bells.

We must not excise this passage (4-8a) from its context
in order to make it into some love song.
David Jackman writes, “Instead of reading this as a purpose prose passage,
we should see it as a purple face passage,
as seen on the faces of the congregation as their embarrassment
and shame would have increased when they first heard this
apostolic indictment of their loveless practice” (217).

[This chapter of God’s word, you might be surprised,
has been referred to as the “Death Chapter.”
But it’s about love, you say, well, yes,
but without one single imperative
by the end of reading through this chapter,
you feel as though you have been hit by the law
and condemned because your love is not like this.]

To understand what Paul is doing correctly
and therefore to understand how we fit into things here,
we to be remain mindful of the church at Corinth.
There was “jealousy and strife among” them (3:1-3).
They were “arrogant in behalf of one against another” (4:6).
“Some have become arrogant,” foolish, and boastful in speech (4:18-20).
There was immorality in the congregation of
“such a kind that does not even exist among the Gentiles,”
and, to boot, they have become arrogant about it (5:1-2).
They were filing lawsuits against each other in pagan courts,
keeping records of wrongs, holding onto grievances;
these things already being a defeat for them (6:1-7).
They were arrogant about knowledge,
and caused others to stumble because of it (8:1-13).
They abused the Lord’s table,
not thinking highly of the fellowship in Christ’s body (11:17-22).

All of these things that Paul describes through this letter, you see,
are corrected here in these verses.
“Love is patient and kind.”
Like God, like Jesus, love is long-suffering
bearing up anything and everything
to go on serving Christ and His church.
Not only bearing all things in patience,
love actively does good for others in kindness.
“Love does not envy or boast”
because it does not covet; it is content.
Love receives what God has given with thankfulness
and uses those things (i.e. gifts) for the sake of building others up.
And it will certainly not brag about itself.
It is humble, does not consider itself greater.
It is not arrogant; it is not puffed up in vain glory.
Turn back to chapter 8:1,
there you see that Paul uses the same word to describe
that knowledge in contrast to love.
Have you heard how Bishop Spong (of the ECUSA)
has declared that the faithful Anglican churches of Africa
are simply just primitive in their understanding of the Bible
and that one day they too will be as knowledgeable
as the enlightened Episcopal Church USA? That is an example of arrogant knowledge.
Dear saints,
please be wary of using your knowledge,
even of the high and lofty, glorious truths of the Reformed faith,
in a self-confident way that serves only to put others down.
Love longs to build up.
It’s not rude. It will not take advantage of others
in an unChrist-like manner.
“It will not insist on it own way”
unity is found only in humility,
remember Philippians 2:4,
“do not look out for your own personal interests.”
It’s the same idea expressed here with reference to love,
interesting isn’t how Philippians 2 goes on to say
“Have this same mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”
I think we could say the same thing about
all these statements describing the character of love,
that they are all referring to Christ
as they explain to us the character of God,
for God is love (1 Jn 4:14f).

Love is not irritable;
it is not easily provoked.
(I don’t know about you, but these things are hitting home!)

Love is not resentful; it will not allow disagreements to
become unresolved wounds where bitterness begins to grow.
It is an awful denial of the gospel of reconciliation
when brethren in the same congregation
will not speak to one another because of some
wrong in the past, whether real or imagined.

Where would be we be if God treated us the same manner?
Love covers a multitude of sins, and certainly,
Christ has covered your brethren’s sins on the cross.
Paul is driving it home to these Corinthians, you see.
His point is that they cannot continue as they are
while still claiming to be found in Christ’s love.

“Love doe not rejoice at wrong doing, but rejoices with the truth” (v. 6)
It seems that the Corinthians
may even have reveled in untruthfulness.
Does have something to do with their lawsuits?
Maybe they were, in fact, frivolous
based upon falsehood.
Or, perhaps, the Corinthians searched for
others wrongdoings in some sort Gestapo-like fashion,
trying to find others faults and wrongdoings.
Not, love does not do this,
it rejoices in what is good and right
because is rejoices the God who is love.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hope all things, endures all things”
So, love is some sort of blind, flighty, gullibility
so that everyone in the world can take advantage of you,
is that what Paul means?
No, Calvin states it nicely,
“Love would rather be deceived by its gentleness of heart
than injure a brother by suspicion,
It is always ready to think the best,
to put the most favorable construction on anything.”

Love cannot be rebuffed, it will always hope in God;
and love never fails, because God is love,
and God never fails.
He will not fail you!

Conclusion
Far from being a Christian love song,
this passage is Scripture is one of the most convicting
portions of God’s word.
As it was meant to cause a bit of a red face for the Corinthians,
does it cause you to think again about love,
your love to wife, husband, neighbor, friend,
sibling, father, mother, brethren here, or even your enemies?
Without one single command until the first verse of chapter 14,
we read through chapter 13 and know that we are undone
because we are presented with the very character of God
manifested in Jesus Christ.

In the end, this love described by Paul
is a transforming love because it is the very character of God
manifest in the work of His Son on the cross.

And as His love has transformed us by the power of His Spirit
to truly make His people Spiritual,
so also, then, should we readily see this fruit of the Spirit
blossom in our lives though Christ’s continued
sanctifying work in us through His word.
May this love transform us
into ever more greater lovers of Jesus and His church,
that we might be truly be a Spiritually gifted congregation of the Lord.

Pursue love!

May this way, the most excellent way of love, be yours and mine in Christ, Amen.
Scripture reference: 1 Corinthians 13, 1 John 3, 1 John 4
Sermon length: 31-45 minutes (18173 characters
Intended audience: General Congregation Style: Serious


Previous spotlight sermons on Spiritual Gifts

The Most Excellent Way