The first three verses of 1 Corinthians 13 teach us that "Life minus love equals nothing." We saw in these three verses that the person without love produces nothing of value before God, is nothing of value before God, and gains nothing of value before God. We could say that love is the Soul of Christian Existence.
"If love is the soul of Christian existence, it must be at the heart of every other Christian virtue. Thus, for example, justice without love is legalism; faith without love is ideology; hope without love is self-centeredness; forgiveness without love is self-abasement; fortitude without love is recklessness; generosity without love is extravagance; care without love is mere duty; fidelity without love is servitude. Every virtue is an expression of love. No virtue is really a virtue unless it is permeated, or informed, by love." (Richard P. McBrien in "Catholicism." Christianity Today-Vol. 40, #1)
I feel that we need to be constantly reminded of the preeminence of love. This fact must dominate our thinking.
Let me show you this truth from another angle: the Christian who does not love will have a dead faith. Just as without use a muscle will atrophy so your faith will atrophy if it is not exercised in love. Apart from love our faith will die!
James 2:17-26 (NKJV) Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe; and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
It should be clear from this passage that faith without works is dead. This is a very misunderstood passage; if you would like an in depth study of it you can get the tape "Salvation by works." What is the work that keeps our faith alive? The answer is Love!
Galatians 5:6 (NKJV) For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
This can also be seen by comparing two passages:
James 2:14-16 (NKJV) What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
"Save" here is not used in the sense of the new birth. It is used in the way the wisdom literature uses it as "deliverance from the damage that sin brings." Without love, which here is meeting a brothers need, your faith is dead. This is clear from:
1 John 3:16-18 (NKJV) By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
17 But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
James 2:15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
I think that from comparing these passages you can see that the thing that is missing in the passage in James 2 is love. Dead faith is a faith that is inactive, it does not love. Without works of love our faith dies. But this does not affect our eternal destiny, but it does affect our temporal life and our eternal rewards. Love is actually the key to the vitality of faith.
Rahab and Abraham are used as illustrations of living faith. Their faith was alive and strong because they acted upon it. Rahab reached out in love toward the spies and saved their lives. She saw brothers in need and she meet that need. Abraham's faith was strong because he acted upon it: he obeyed God and offered his son as a sacrifice. Love toward God is manifested in obedience and love toward our brothers is manifested in meeting their needs. Love is preeminent! If we don't act in love our faith will die and we will produce nothing, be nothing and gain nothing of value before God. Love is to be our distinguishing characteristic according to:
John 13:34-35 (NKJV) "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
Our discipleship, or we could say our living faith, is made manifest by our care for one another. The world will know that we belong to Jesus Christ when they see us caring for each other. As they see our love they will be open to our message. "For a God who couldn't care more cannot be represented by a person who couldn't care less."
Lee Iacocca once asked legendary football coach Vince Lombardi what it took to make a winning team. The book "Iacocca" records Lombardi's answer:
"There are a lot of coaches with good ball clubs who know the fundamentals and have plenty of discipline but still don't win the game. Then you come to the third ingredient: if you're going to play together as a team, you've got to care for one another. You've got to love each other. Each player has to be thinking about the next guy and saying to himself: 'If I don't block that man, Paul is going to get his legs broken. I have to do my job well in order that he can do his.'
"The difference between mediocrity and greatness," Lombardi said that night, "is the feeling these guys have for each other."
In the effective church, each Christian learns to care for others. As we take seriously Jesus' command to "love one another," we contribute to a winning team. It is no wonder that the twentieth century American church is so ineffective, because it is so unloving. Only as we understand the preeminence of love, and begin to act in love will we be effective for the Kingdom of God.
So far we have looked at two of love's characteristics. Love is patient. The word patience conveys the idea of having an infinite capacity to be injured without paying back. It's having a long fuse. The loving person is able to be inconvenienced or taken advantage of by a person and yet not be upset or angry. Love is very slow to anger or resentment, and it never retaliates.
Love is kind. This is the Greek work chresteuomai, (khraste-yoo'-om-ahee); it means to show oneself useful, to act benevolently, to be kind or good. Kindness and goodness are so closely related that they are often used interchangeably. We could say love is good, it does good, it is useful to all. In our cruel and unkind society we have unlimited opportunities to show the world love through kindness. Proverbs puts it this way:
Proverbs 19:22 (NKJV) What is desired in a man is kindness...
What are the things that stop us from being patient and kind? First on Paul's list is jealousy. We are often not patient or kind because we are jealous. We are spiteful and short with people because we see them enjoying something that we want. They have a relationship that we envy; they have a quality about themselves that we do not have and we are angry about it, so we are short and spiteful. That is one reason why we are not patient and kind.
Love is not jealous. This is the first of eight negative descriptions of love. We can not only identify love by what it is (patient and kind) but we can identify love by what it is not. Love is not jealous. The Greek work is zeloo, (dzay-lo'-o). It is used 17 times in 11 verses in the NT. It is translated as envy, jealous, covet, zealous, and desire. It comes from the Greek verb that means "to boil." It is used both favorably and unfavorably in Scripture. It can refer to a virtue- it is the term from which we get zeal. It is used favorably in:
Revelation 3:19 (KJV) As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
We are to have zeal for the things of God.
Jealousy is used in three senses in Scripture;
1. as intolerance of rivalry or unfaithfulness. God is jealous for His people Israel in this sense. God is intolerant of rival gods
Exodus 20:5 (NKJV) you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Deuteronomy 4:24 (NKJV) "For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
One expression of God's jealousy is God's protection of His people from enemies.
Zechariah 1:14 (NKJV) So the angel who spoke with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts: "I am zealous for Jerusalem And for Zion with great zeal.
Paul speaks of his divine jealousy for the Christians at Corinth:
2 Corinthians 11:2 (KJV) For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
Jealousy is not used in our text in a positive way but in a negative way. Here it is used of a vice. Most often human jealousy involves hostility towards a rival, or supposed rival.
2. Jealousy can be used as a disposition suspicious of rivalry or unfaithfulness. It is right for a husband to be jealous if his wife is being unfaithful. That would be the first sense. But too often we allow jealousy to arise over nothing. Sometimes we are overly suspicious of our spouse.
When Adam stayed out very late for a few nights, Eve became upset. "You're running around with other women," she charged.
"You're being unreasonable," Adam responded. "You're the only woman on earth."
The quarrel continued until Adam fell asleep, only to be awakened by someone poking him in the side. It was Eve.
"What do you think you're doing?" Adam demanded.
"Counting your ribs," said Eve.
Christians are often guilty of this type of jealousy. For example you may have a friend, and if that friend spends time with another friend you can get jealous. This is a sin. There is no need to be jealous, people can have more than one friend. And if you really loved that person you would be happy for them, not angry with them because they have other friends. Unless they have entered into a covenant with you to have no other friends (which would be sin itself) you have no reason to be jealous.
3. The third use of Jealousy is as hostility towards a rival or one believed to enjoy an advantage.
What Paul is saying here is that love doesn't boil over when it sees someone else being promoted, receiving honor, or being successful.
Jealousy can be the attitude that says "I want what someone else has." If they have something better than we do, we want it, be it a house, car, boat, job, wife, children, or popularity.
Jealousy like all sin has its degrees, and jealousy can go to the point of saying "I wish that you didn't have what you have." It is desiring evil for someone else. That is the type of jealousy that was uncovered in the woman who came to Solomon pretending to be the child's mother. When her own infant son died, she secretly exchanged him for the baby of a friend who was staying with her. The true mother discovered what had happened and , when their dispute was taken before the king, he ordered the baby to be cut in half, a half to be given to each woman. The true mother pleaded for the baby to be spared, even if it meant losing possession of him. The false mother, however, would rather have had the baby killed than for the true mother to have him. (1 Kings 3:16-27).
This is the deepest form of jealousy, wanting evil on someone who has something that you want.
Two shopkeepers were bitter rivals. Their stores were directly across the street from each other, and they would spend each day keeping track of each other's business. If one got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his rival. One night an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers in a dream and said, "I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your competitor will receive twice as much. Would you be rich? You can be very rich, but he will be twice as wealthy. Do you wish to live a long and healthy life? You can, but his life will be longer and healthier. What is your desire?" The man frowned, thought for a moment, and then said, "Here is my request: Strike me blind in one eye!"
We laugh at that, but we know the depth of this sin, we may have felt this way ourselves. Love is not jealous.
The Bible is filled with illustrations that portray the disastrous effect jealousy has on personal relationships. The first sin in the Bible is a sin of jealousy:
Genesis 3:5 (NKJV) "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Eve was jealous of God's knowledge; she wanted to be like God. Cain envied Able and killed him. He was jealous because his brother's sacrifice was accepted and his wasn't. Jacob's sons were jealous of Joseph and sold him into slavery (Gen. 37). Daniel was thrown into the lion's den because of the jealousy of his fellow officials in Babylon. The high priest and his associates were filled with jealousy and jailed the apostles.
Acts 5:17-18 (NKJV) Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, 18 and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.
The word indignation is the same word used in our text, zelos.
The prodigal son's brother was jealous when his younger brother came home. And there are many more biblical illustrations of jealousy and its disastrous effects.
The Scriptures strongly condemn the sin of jealousy.
Proverbs 27:4 (NKJV) Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent, But who is able to stand before jealousy?
James 3:14-16 (NKJV) But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. 16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
Every evil work spawns itself out of envy and jealousy.
Galatians 5:19-21 (NKJV) Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 3:3 (KJV) For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
Their envy was a sign of their carnality. This was a real problem in the church at Corinth as it is today. This would have applied to those who had lesser gifts and felt inferior to others.
Those who are ears are not to envy those who are eyes.
Jealousy and envy usually lie in the same line of work or skill. It's very hard to rejoice over somebody who does exactly what you do, but does it better. I am never jealous over someone who can sing, no matter how good they are. But when it comes to someone who is a good preacher jealousy can easily arise.
Many years ago Michelangelo, the sculptor, and Raphael, the painter, were commissioned to execute works of art for the beautification of the Vatican. Although each had a different job to do and both were highly respected, there arose such a bitter spirit of rivalry between them that at last they would not even speak when they met. Their jealous attitude toward one another was obvious to all who knew them. The most amazing part of it all was that both were supposed to be doing their work "for the glory of God."
The only thing that can conquer jealousy is love. If we loved others we would rejoice in their happiness and accomplishments. We see jealousy defeated by love in the life of David and Jonathan. Jonathan was king Saul's son and was in line for the throne. But when David came along who was a greater warrior and more popular than Jonathan, and who also was a threat to the throne that Jonathan normally would have inherited, Jonathan was not envious or jealous. Why? Because he loved David and love is not jealous.
1 Samuel 20:17 (NKJV) Now Jonathan again caused David to vow, because he loved him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
Charles L. Allen in "The Miracle of Love" writes of a fisherman friend who told him that one never needs a top for his crab basket. If one of the crabs starts to climb up the sides of the basket, the other crabs will reach up and pull it back down. Some people are a lot like crabs. We hate to see anyone do better than us because we are jealous.
If you struggle with jealousy and envy how can you overcome it? How can you grow in love? Again we must focus our thoughts on the sovereignty of God. It is God who gives us talents, health, wealth, popularity, and promotion. And jealousy says to God that we are not content with what He has given us. The opposite of envy or jealousy is contentment. Discontentment is questioning the goodness of God. When we learn to trust in the providence of God we will be content and stop envying.
Until you come to the place in your life that you understand that God is sovereign and is ordering everything for His own Holy purposes and is working all things after the council of his own will you will never be content. Jealousy is not some little harmless sin; it is a very destructive sin that destroys relationships. We are called to love one another and love is not jealous.
The next characteristic speaks to those with the greater gifts. Next on Paul's list is boastfulness: "Love is not jealous or boastful." Oftentimes we are not patient because we cannot wait to listen to others. We are so anxious to brag about ourselves so they can begin to admire us. But that must be surrendered for love to appear.
Love vaunteth not itself, says the KJV. Love does not parade itself, says the NKJV. Love does not brag, says the NNAS. The Greek word here is perpereuomai, (per-per-yoo'-om-ahee); the root of this word means a windbag, a braggart, to boast. This Greek word is used only here in the NT. This verse was meant to take care of the problem of the greater members looking down on those with lesser gifts.
Bragging is the other side of jealousy. Jealousy is wanting what someone else has. Bragging is trying to make others jealous of what you have. Think about that. The whole idea of boasting is to make someone feel that you are superior to them. But that is the opposite of love which says "I want you to feel superior." It is ironic that, as much as most of us can't stand bragging in others, we are so inclined to do it ourselves.
Three little guys were doing what little boys do so well: bragging about their dads. One said, "My dad owns a factory." Another said, "So what! My dad owns a farm." The third boy, a preacher's kid, said, "That's nothing. My father owns hell." "Oh, yeah," said one of the boys "How can a man own hell?" "Well," the pastor's son said, "I heard my mother tell my grandmother that the deacons of our church gave my dad 'hell' last night."
All too often we brag about things that we should be ashamed of. And no matter what we think we have to boast about there is always someone who can top our story. In his book The Witness is Withness, David Augsburger told an imaginary story about a man who had just arrived in heaven. Attracted by a large crowd, he inquired what was going on, "Oh, it's 'show and tell' time," came the answer. He was asked if he had anything he'd like to share. "Why sure," the new arrival quickly responded, "I'll tell about the big flood we had back in 1889 when I was a boy in Pennsylvania." "That will be fine," he was told, "but remember, Noah will be in the audience."
Psalms 34:2-3 (NKJV) My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together.
Our boasting should be of the Lord or of others but never of ourselves. Will Rogers said, "Get someone else to blow your horn, and the sound will carry twice as far." Scripture says:
Proverbs 27:2 (NKJV) Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger, and not your own lips.
Sounding our own praise always does more harm than good. From Mongolian folklore comes this helpful little fable of the boastful frog. Two geese were about to start southward on their annual autumn migration, when they were entreated by a frog to take him with them. When the geese expressed their willingness to do so if a means of conveyance could be devised, the frog produced a long stalk of grass, got the two geese to take it one by each end, while he clung to it by his mouth in the middle. In this manner the three were making their journey when they were noticed from below by some men.
The men loudly expressed their admiration for the device and wondered who had been clever enough to discover it. Whereupon the vainglorious frog opened his mouth to say, "It was I," lost his hold, fell to the earth, and was dashed to pieces. Moral: When you have a good thing going, keep your mouth shut! Love does not boast, it does not parade itself.
Such bragging and boasting is just a symptom of a much deeper problem in our life. In the next characteristic Paul goes from a symptom to the cause. Paul says, "love is not puffed up", KJV & NKJV. Love is not arrogant, NNAS. The Greek word here is phusioo, (foo-see-o'-o) blowing; to inflate, i.e. (fig.) make proud, puff up. This word differs from the previous word in that boasting is the expression of pride, and "puffed up" is pride itself. A man may be very proud but not express it in boasting.
This word is only used in the NT six times, five of those occasions are in 1 Corinthians. One of the great problem of the Corinthians was their pride.
1 Corinthians 4:6 (KJV) And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
The pride of the Corinthians demonstrated a lack of love. Love is not puffed up. So often we are impatient and unkind because we think we deserve better treatment that we are getting; this is pride. And we need to understand that the root problem in any conflict between two people is pride.
Proverbs 13:10 (NKJV) "By pride comes nothing but strife,
Proverbs 13:10 (NIV) "Pride only breeds quarrels,
Proverbs 13:10 (KJV) "Only by pride cometh contention:
Whenever there is a division between a husband and wife, between a parent and child, between one believer and another believer, there is always a root cause, which is pride. And where there is pride there is no love. Love is not proud.
Pride revolves around three steps.
1. The person begins to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, he has an unrealistic view of himself. Paul warned the Romans of this attitude:
Romans 12:3 (NKJV) "For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith."
And once a person has an unrealistic view of themselves they think that they are better than they are. And it is a very short step to the second step.
2. They begin to think that they are superior to others,
Philippians 2:3 (NKJV) "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself."
And when that takes place the third step is,
3. He thinks that he has a right to certain things to which he has no right whatsoever.
Isaiah 14:14 (NKJV) "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'
That is the essence of pride. The solution to the problem of pride is to see yourself in a proper manner. To see yourself as a sinner saved and sustained by the grace of God alone. All we are and all we have is a gift of grace from God, what do we have to be proud about?
1 Corinthians 4:7 (NKJV) For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?
Deuteronomy 8:18 "And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
James I. Packer, in his book "Rediscovering Holiness," writes, "Pride blows us up like balloons, but grace punctures our conceit and lets the hot, proud air out of our system. The result...is that we shrink, and end up seeing ourselves as less--less nice, less able, less wise, less good, less strong, less steady, less committed, less of a piece--than ever we thought we were. We stop kidding ourselves that we are persons of great importance to the world and to God.... We bow to events that rub our noses in the reality of our own weaknesses, and we look to God for strength quietly to cope."
Pride and arrogance breed contention, with which the Corinthian church was filled. In such things love has no part. Pride is big-headed; love is big-hearted.
In "One Church from the Fence", Wes Seelinger writes: "I have spent long hours in the intensive care waiting room ... watching with anguished people ... listening to urgent questions: Will my husband make it? Will my child walk again? How do you live without your companion of thirty years?
"The intensive care waiting room is different from any other place in the world. And the people who wait are different. They can't do enough for each other. No one is proud. The distinctions of race and class melt away. A person is a father first, a black man second. The garbage man loves his wife as much as the university professor loves his, and everyone understands this. Each person pulls for everyone else.
"In the intensive care waiting room, the world changes. Vanity and pretense vanish. The universe is focused on the doctor's next report. If only it will show improvement. Everyone knows that loving someone else is what life is all about."
Long before we're in the intensive care waiting room maybe we can learn to live like that.
1 John 4:21 (NKJV) And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
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