Every body is a somebody in the Body of Christ. Everybody is important because we are all part of the body of Christ. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink."
God has created some wonderful bodies. Our physical bodies are the most wonderful creation in the world. Our bodies have some significant members. We have a mouth, eyes, teeth, bones, muscles, brain, kidneys, liver, stomach, etc. We only have one body and it is made up of many, many members. And the body of Christ has many members. We are all members of Christ's body. We are all members of Christ's church. Paul reminds us, "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others" (Romans 12:4-5).
The church at Corinth was confused concerning the relative importance of the different spiritual gifts. Paul, therefore took it upon himself to explain to the Corinthians Church, "A MORE EXCELLENT WAY," which he most eloquently shares with us in the thirteenth chapter. Paul sought to clarify the church's vision by focusing on Christian love, in the absence of which all other gifts, in the light of God is without merit. "A more excellent way" is all about the way of love, agape love, meaning a love on a higher level than that which is ordinarily manifested in human relationships. Love out-distances all else in durability, achievement, and conquest, because of the richness of its content and the beauty of its style. The thirteenth chapter is referred to as Paul's "Hymn of Love." John Wesley regarded it as the greatest chapter in the Bible.
Paul allows us to see love on a higher level, through a telescope that penetrates the space of the human heart. We also get to listen to the Apostle's heartbeat as he moves us to understand that love is more than a word. Love must leave the pages of time and penetrate our hearts in order that we may have a better understanding of love.
God's love in the human heart is to be the mother in our living, in our experiencing of spiritual gifts. Unless we find "a more excellent way," the way of love, we will miss God's design for our lives. Love is the only dependable, enduring, satisfying way. It is ever the highway of holiness leading to that heavenly city where Christ will one day receive us.
Other spiritual gifts, even those of a very high order, can never be a substitute for love. Paul enumerates some of these gifts. It so happen that the first one mention commanded much attention in the church at Corinth. Speaking in tongues was regarded by some as an indication of a very high state of Christian experience. It was taken to be the seal of the Spirit's presence in the life of the individual, but Paul makes it clear that the standard of measurement in spiritual things is love, not speaking in tongues. Scripture tells us, "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Love is the touchstone. Whatever charitable act or goodwill deed that is done, if it is done without love it loses it meaning.
Love is "a more excellent way," and the Apostle Paul understood the gift of love. It was God's love that knocked him down that day on the Damascus Road, and it was God's love that redirected his life. God's love move him from destruction to construction. It was by no accident that God gave His only Son as a sacrifice for the sins of man. We now have before us the greatest act of love, Jesus Christ dying on an old rugged cross. It is by this example that we are able to grasp what spiritual love is all about.
The Apostle Paul wanted to make sure we understand about the "true character of love." So he reached down into the depth of his understanding to lay before us some golden nuggets that described Jesus, who is LOVE. If we are to have the mind of Christ, we must have His character. Paul tells us, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres" (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
Then Paul wants us to look at the "supremacy of love." When we look at the supremacy of love, Paul tells us, "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away" (1 Corinthians 13:8). "And now these three remain; faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love" (verse 13). Love holds supremacy over all other gifts. It is the expression of the very nature of God. "God is love." Love is not only the greatest thing in the world, but the most glorious thing in heaven. Spiritual gifts such as prophecy, speaking in tongues, and knowledge shall vanish away, without a doubt love is the main ingredient that holds the universe together. Love cannot be measured. Yet it affects on the child of God is miraculous. Love is God working in us and through us. He becomes our spiritual influence when we give up self, and become like Him.
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