1 Greatest Importance

Tool illustration – attempt to tackle a job or project and grab your tools. Get there and realize that you don’t have everything you need. Forgot the saw blades or drill bits. Socket handle but no sockets. or maybe you forgot extension cord or battery. No power to run the tool. The tools are useless.

Today we’re starting a series to learn what Paul had to say about power tools that lack the power. The Greatest

We’ve just finished the series Sold Out that showed us through and parallel passages that salvation is more than just a prayer, than just going to heaven, than just following some rules/law. Salvation is coming to Jesus, denying ourselves, turning over our life and rights to Jesus, and then following Him wherever He goes and doing whatever He does obediently and faithfully.

We wrapped up with and to show that we are dead to ourselves, now living the life of Christ in and through us, so putting off our old nature and putting on the nature of Christ.

The new nature comes from Christ living in us. The life of Jesus in us and coming through us transforms our heart and changes our behavior.

His foundational and most important “task” that He modeled and commanded was love.

love God, love others. Greatest commandment.

new command – love

John 13:34–35 CSB

34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

our key verse: a new command – love

Points

Dig deeper into what it means to love. Lots of places we could go, but we’ll turn to “the love chapter” .

Turn to 1 Corinthians 13

Contrary to popular usage, this chapter is not intended to be a wedding passage.

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth to correct sin, answer questions, and give some teaching.

One question was about the spiritual gifts

Spiritual Gifts

C12 and 14 are about spiritual gifts. C13 is not a break in the teaching, it really is the main teaching in this section.

For background

Read and give Brief c12 background vv.1, 4-7 (v.7 revealing), 12-14, esp. 31

1 Corinthians 12:1 CSB

1 Now concerning spiritual gifts: brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be unaware.

1 Corinthians 12:4–7 CSB

4 Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are different ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are different activities, but the same God produces each gift in each person. 7 A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person for the common good:

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 CSB

12 For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink. 14 Indeed, the body is not one part but many.

1 Corinthians 12:31 CSB

31 But desire the greater gifts. And I will show you an even better way.

Read

1 Corinthians 13 CSB

1 If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 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. 3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, 5 is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. 6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known. 13 Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—but the greatest of these is love.

Focusing on

tongues

1 Corinthians 13:1 CSB

1 If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

tongues

speak in tongues or languages, both earthly/human and angels.

Greatly gifted in speaking, in language skills, in communication. But what are you communicating?

Does what you say mean anything to the hearers if you do not speak out of a heart filled with the love of Jesus Christ?

And how can you speak out of a heart filled with the Holy Spirit if you are not yielded to Jesus?

noisy gong, clanging symbol. not much beauty in those sounds. crashing, noisy, not pleasant.

Can the Holy Spirit still accomplish something even if we do with wrong motives or do not have love?

Even those who do evil accomplish God’s purposes. What’s the difference? They do not benefit from knowing God and obeying him.

Example – Jonah. Jonah ran but eventually obeyed. God used him in Nineveh but his heart was not there, he did it out of obedience only and not love. He lost out.

1 Corinthians 13:2 CSB

2 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.

v.2 prophecy, mysteries, knowledge, faith

prophetic powers - able to prophesy, give inspired message,

understand all mysteries - nothing hidden or secret.

all knowledge - omniscient like God. know everything.

all faith - believe enough to change anything

All of these great powers, but still missing one thing.

I am nothing. All the rest is in vain, meaningless.

Inconsequential.

1 Corinthians 13:3 CSB

3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Give away all I possess, own, have. Donate to poor or needy. Something we are definitely commanded to do as followers of Jesus

Greek has sense of piece by piece helping others

Sacrifice wealth.

Also, sacrifice health and life.

Give up, submit, hand over, or sacrifice my body (to be burned?) put myself in harm’s way. reminds of the soldiers who sacrifice, or missionaries who go to remote places.

Martyrs.

Greek on reason for sacrifice = Literally - brand, mark, (to be burned)

Figuratively - to confidently mark as noteworthy, possibly in a negative way. Could potentially boast about how much you gave up.

Maybe showing the marks of suffering.

Going to the extreme of sacrifice - all wealth, all health, but still have not gained anything. All is lost.

In these first 3 verses, Paul is emphasizing the gift that is of greatest importance.

Greatest Importance

1 John 3:16–18 CSB

16 This is how we have come to know love: He laid down his life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. 17 If anyone has this world’s goods and sees a fellow believer in need but withholds compassion from him—how does God’s love reside in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or speech, but in action and in truth.

– lay down life, meet a need. But if we don’t God’s love does not reside in us. However, in even if we do these things but God’s love is not residing in us, it is useless. Nothing.

(v18) lay down life, meet a need. But if we don’t God’s love does not reside in us. However, in even if we do these things but God’s love is not residing in us, it is useless. Nothing.

What’s the difference?

not doing the right thing because love is missing, vs. doing the right thing with the wrong motives - love is still missing.

Real, Christ-like fruit of the Spirit love is unconditional. Loving not based on who or what the person is or has done, but based on the understanding that this person is one for whom Christ died. Seeing all humans as created in God’s image and needing (the love of) Jesus Christ. Reaching out to others as the good neighbor.

doesn’t mean we condone or excuse the evil they do, doesn’t mean we have to vote for them or invite them into our home, necessarily.

1 John 4:7–11 CSB

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.

love one another, love is from God, as God loved us we love others. serve. Be prepared to die for.

(v8) love one another, love is from God, as God loved us we love others. serve. Be prepared to die for.

Love. No matter how gifted and how diligent and how sacrificial, nothing means anything without love.

Spiritual gifts are good and necessary. We do not deny or put down or deemphasize spiritual gifts. We also do not overemphasize, elevate, or focus on spiritual gifts. Giftings of the Holy Spirit are given for the purpose of building up the body of Christ, which means Jesus Christ is still central, still the focus, still the main goal. Spiritual gifts are secondary to life in Jesus Christ, which means loving as Jesus loves. Spiritual gifts are the tools to help you love.

It is only in loving others, having compassion, serving, that our Spiritual gifts are maximized for full Kingdom advantage.

If you are not walking with Jesus on a daily and moment by moment basis (deny self, take up cross) then Spiritual Gifts are not going to be evident or useful.

Conclusion

We often get our focus off the main thing and get off track. Good things can take the place of God. The Bible – we focus on the written word and forget our real focus is the Living Word. We look for rules, we look for platitudes (nice sayings or encouragement) when Jesus is what we need. The written word leads us to Jesus, but should never stand in place of Jesus.

The same with fruit of the Spirit and gifts of the Spirit. The gifts are awesome abilities to use for God’s glory, but when we focus on the gifts and forget that love is the driving motivation behind them, we remove the real effectiveness.

Paul teaches about the gifts of the Spirit and effective use. Jesus, however, commands love - love God, love others.

Big Idea: The fruit of the Spirit is more important than the gifts of the Spirit.

Paul teaches about the gifts of the Spirit and their effective use. Jesus, however, commands love - love God, love others.

Until we get love right we’re not going to make effective use of any gifts we may have.

What About You?

Are you keeping your focus on the one thing of greatest importance?

As we follow Jesus let’s learn from Him how to love others unconditionally.

Then the special abilities His Spirit works in us can have maximum impact for building up the body of Christ.

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