The Main Thing, is the Main Thing

For the last several weeks, we have been looking at the spiritual gifts. We are now ready to return to 1 Corinthians proper. This morning’s Scripture lesson is taken from 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13. Before I read it, I want to remind you of the context. The Corinthians gave an inordinate importance to the more spectacular gifts, especially the gift of tongues. This should not surprise us, because as we learned from the first three chapters, they also gave an inordinate importance to human wisdom and rhetorical skills.

Behind all this was human pride. The more a person could place himself or herself in the spotlight, the higher the Corinthians thought of that person. In this, they are not much different from 21st Century Americans. It amazes me that just because someone is a Hollywood or sports star, they gain instant credibility in whatever topic they are talking about, even if they know nothing about it!

To counter this, Paul has been arguing that the purpose of spiritual gifts is to serve others, not our egos. In the middle of this discussion, Paul writes:

1 Corinthians 12:31–13:13 ESV

But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. 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. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 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 gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

May God bless this the reading of His holy and infallible Word.

Perhaps you have heard the saying, “The main thing, is the main thing.”

This saying reminds us that although we will confess with our lips that something is the “main thing”, our actions and attitudes often speak otherwise. I am sure that the Corinthians, as well as most Christians today, will confess that love is the “main thing”; however, our actions and attitudes often speak otherwise.

Paul in chapter thirteen, is reminding us why love is the “main thing”. He begins by reminding us that...

Love is the Main Thing, Because Without It All Else Fails! (13:1-3)

In a few short weeks, the season for Christmas parties begins. Imagine a woman who makes meticulous preparations. She picks and purchases just the right foods. She spends hours cooking this food. Her home is cleaned and decorated to festive perfection. The big day finally arrives and that evening she and her husband eagerly await for the guests to arrive. The appointed hours comes and goes, suddenly the women remembers she forgot to send out the invitations! Important things had distracted her from the one essential thing!

According to Paul, spiritual gifts without love are like parties without invitations!

In verse 1, Paul begins with the gift the Corinthians prized above all others—the gift of tongues. Already Paul has demoted tongues and its companion gift, interpretation of tongues by placing them last in three places, 1 Corinthians 12:10, 28, 30. Now he goes even further and says, that if a person can speak with the tongues of angels, but had not love, their tongue-speaking would be like an annoying noise!

In verse 2, Paul moves on to two more gifts that are spectacular, prophecy and faith. These are two gifts Paul has been arguing are the “greater gifts”, because they serve in edifying others; yet these two gifts are also useless without love, even if by the gift of prophecy they could “understand all mysteries” or by the gift of faith they could “move mountains”!

Finally in verse 3, Paul uses the example of sacrifice. Not just any sacrifice, but giving away all one has and being burned alive, but once again, without love such sacrifices are worthless!

The point Paul is making is easy to understand, but difficult to practice. We all have the tendency of pushing love to the basement of our lives—there are so many important things to do. We have to remind ourselves that the main thing is the main thing!

One of the reasons we fail to remember that love is the main thing is because seems so out of our control. It is a feeling that comes and goes, like the sun on a cloudy day, or is it. By what Paul says next, clearly he understood love as “more than a feeling”.

Love is the Main Thing, Because It is More Than a Feeling (vs. 4-7)

Joe was star struck the first time he saw Susan. He fell for her and he fell hard! He was so in love with her. As the preacher read from 1 Corinthians 4:4-7, he internally shook his head in a “yes” gesture. Because he was so in love, he was patient, kind, and all the other things in the list, and he was sure Susan felt the same way. Three years later, Susan and Joe were fighting like cats and dogs. They were anything but patient and kind to each other. Clearly, they had “fallen out of love” with each other. If only they had known that love is more than a feeling!

Verses 4-7, are perhaps one of the most familiar, yet at the same time underappreciated passages in the New Testament. What we under appreciate is that all the things love “is” are active verbs, not adjectives! Love is not a state of being that you fall into and out of, it is an action you conscientiously choose.

This is not to say that love is all action and no emotion, but we must not get the proverbial cart before the horse. Love is an action we choose, and when we choose it the emotion follows. Modern Western society tries to place the cart (emotion) before the horse (action).

In Romans 5:8 we read these words:

Romans 5:8 ESV

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Prior to our salvation there was nothing lovely about us. God the Father did not send His Son to die for us because He “fell in love with us”, He sent His Son to die for us because He chose to love us.

This is the only way to make sense of those passages that call us to love our enemies. You don’t emotionally love your enemies. Emotionally you hate your enemies. However, by God grace, we can choose to love our enemies, and as we do so, our emotions follow.

This is why love is the main thing; by action-oriented love, we can take control of the situation. In contrast, emotionally driven love will always make us victims of our circumstances. Love has the power to transform our circumstances.

1 Corinthians 13:7 ESV

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This power of love to transform our circumstances is what makes it so enduring:

Love is the Main Thing, Because Love Lasts! (vs. 8-13)

Have you ever seen in person or on a video a sand sculpture contest? As the tide goes out the contestants frantically begin building their sand sculptures. It is amazing how much they can accomplish is such a short amount of time, but the time is very short, soon the tide returns and their sculptures are consumed by the sea!

This is a picture of our lives here on this earth. When we are young, we think life is long, but as we grow older, we realize that it is very short. Without the hope of eternal life, this is a depressing thought. Soon the tide will come back in and all of our sand sculptures will be washed away! However, not everything:

1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Next Sunday, Advent begins. Three of the five candles are devoted to faith, hope and love. These are the carnal virtues of the Christian life, because when we devote ourselves to them, we are devoting ourselves to things that will last. The tide of death does not wash them away, but lifts them to a higher plane!

People often ask, what will I be doing for all eternity?

In this verse, we have the answer. We will be trusting, hoping and loving, and the greatest of these is love!