1 Corinthians 12: 25 – 31 (The Message)
“The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.
27-31 You are Christ’s body—that’s who you are! You must never forget this. Only as you accept your part of that body does your “part” mean anything. You’re familiar with some of the parts that God has formed in his church, which is his “body”: …
But now I want to lay out a far better way for you.”
Last week, we looked at scriptures that talked about the gifts that God gives us so that the church can function effectively for him. 1 Corinthians 12 is a whole chapter telling us about those gifts and why they are important, and then Paul finishes with the line that is in italics.
What is that better way?
1 Corinthians 13: 1 – 7; 13
“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. 3 If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. …
13 Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
It’s important to realize that God does give each of us a special gift to help build his church. But some of us aren’t sure what that gift is. We want to be an active part of the body of Christ, but how? We’re still figuring it out. The verses that follow chapter 12 tell us of one thing that is the most important for the church. Remember how Paul ends that chapter – “But now I want to lay out a far better way for you.” Love for each person we encounter in life is the “far better way”.
Love! Just look at the qualities of love. It’s patient and kind. We don’t expect we’ll always get our way; we might disagree with something, but it’s not going to get us upset and angry. We don’t even “keep a record” of the things that bothered us. We don’t think we always know the best way to do things, nor are we jealous of the people who seem to make most of the decisions. We don’t give up when things seem to be falling apart. We are hopeful people who “endure”, hang in there, when things are difficult. If you sum it all up, we are patient and kind people.
If everyone of us is patient and kind, seriously think how that would affect our church, our neighbourhood, the people at our jobs, the people we just meet somewhere on a day-to-day basis. Stop and think about it for a moment. Do patience and kindness make a huge impact?
Yes they do! If your neighbour was a kind person and didn’t get upset when you might do something that could irritate him/her – wouldn’t you love that neighbour? If your boss at work was patient and kind, would you want to quit that job?
Love is a quality that can change the world. If we were those loving, kind and patient people at work, would a fellow worker consider accepting an invitation to come to church with you? Would a neighbour think about going to that church the people next door went to? Would they listen to you if you shared some small things about your faith with them?
When people come into our church for the first time, do they sense a spirit of friendliness? Do people talk with them? Do they feel accepted?
Those gifts we have been looking at over the past week, are given to us to help build the church. To spread the good news of God’s love for each person. No matter what your gift is, love tops it all.
Three things will last forever
– faith, hope, and love –
and the greatest of these is love.
Our song for the week is Love God, Love People by Danny Gokey.