God's View of Great Truth-Speakers, Great Faith-Walkers, and Great Self-Sacrificers Who Lack Love
Oh man, 1 Corinthians 13 is such a punch in the gut to my prideful heart. Listen to the words of the Apostle Paul,
“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.” 1 Cor. 13:1-3
Wow, this means that all those times that I have given myself a pass because of how truthful, faithful, or self-sacrificing I have been, I have actually been doubling down on my own sin.
Paul is saying that a Christ follower’s actions, when lacking love, are in God’s view annoying sounds from useless people who are contributing nothing. Instead of overlooking my unloving nature (because I was “being truthful,” or “being faithful,” or “self-sacrificing for God”) God wants me to determine the fruitfulness, or fruitlessness, of my truth-speaking, faith exercising, and self-sacrifice through the act of love.
So this bring us to the question, what is love?
Cue 1 Corinthians 13:4, “Love is patient and kind;”
If we follow Paul’s teaching, impatient and unkind truth, faith, and self-sacrifice is obnoxious (clanging symbols), valueless, and adds no value to me. Why? Paul tell us because it is unloving.
Let me give you an example. A couple weeks ago Jenny and I were on our way to a restaurant for a date. During the car ride she was opening up about things going on in her life, some type of trial or problem.
When she finished talking, I immediately jumped in and told her the wrong things she was believing, what right things she needed to believe, and how she should go about that.
Let me tell you, to my wife I sounded like a noisy gong, and I assure you I gained nothing from my “great truth speaking.” Why? My response was impatient. My response was unkind, arrogant, and rude. My response treated her vulnerability as if it were a problem to be solved, or something broken that needs fixed. She is an image bearer of the one true God who needs the love of Christ, not solving or fixing.
You would think after twelve years of marriage I would have learned to walk in the love of Christ towards my wife, but we never arrive, not until we stand before the King with new bodies glorifying him together for all eternity. Thankfully, and graciously, she responded in love to me and forgave me and we had a fantastic feast!
Paul goes on, “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 is as if Paul knows my vices, and how I want to follow Jesus and keep my prideful schemes and thoughts at the same time.
One by one, Paul’s teaching of what is loving reveals how unloving I often am. I read “It is not irritable,” and I realize I owe my kids an apology.
A recent podcast for pastors hosted by Ray Ortlund and Sam Allberry makes this claim: “A church can unsay by its culture what it says by its doctrine… and not even realize it.” I think this is what Paul is after when he is teaching the Church at Corinth.
It is not just the Church who can do this, but Christian homes as well. Parents who are unloving to each other, their kids, and their neighbors, yet great truth-speakers, strong believers, and self-sacrificers can unsay by their culture what they proclaim to believe and we may not even realize it.
From home, to work, to church, to social media, we may speak with great truth, have great faith, and make great sacrifices, but if we don’t do these things in love as defined by Paul and exemplified in the life of Christ, then our works are fruitless, and profitless, nothing more than an annoying clanging sound.
Don’t know if you are being loving or not? Go to 1 Corinthians 13 and meditate on God’s Word, He will reveal it to you.
If unloving truth, faith, and self-sacrifice are fruitless, imagine how fruitful they are when done in love. You see, if having all knowledge, discerning all mysteries and speaking eloquently without love is a clanging symbol, then might it be true that when we speak the truth in love it is a beautiful orchestra in the ears of our God? When we speak the truth patiently and kindly God actually enjoys to listen to that soundtrack?
If having great faith without love results in us being “nothing,” then might it be that a loving faith reveals we are “something” truly great? And if unloving self-sacrifice profits us nothing, might it be that when we lovingly self-sacrifice God is storing up for us a great reward in heaven, a great gain? I believe He is.
It is clear from Paul’s teaching to the Church at Corinth, who had many issues from within and without, that the question Christians should be asking to discern their actions as fruitful or fruitless is, “Is it loving?”…even in their disagreements. What is love? God defines it in 1 Corinthians 13, and Christ exemplifies it through his whole life.
“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.
Here is an original poem to sum it up:
If it ain’t lovin, it’s in vain.
If it ain’t lovin, you ain’t nothing.
If it ain’t lovin, you don’t gain.
Your servant brother,
Joey Turner