That Without Which — Nothing!
A sermon by
1 Corinthians 13
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SERMON: That Without Which — Nothing!
Everyone knows the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians—the great “Love Chapter” of the Bible. Who hasn't heard that famous last verse:
And now these three remain; faith, hope and love,
But the greatest of these is love.
But very few people know the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians—the chapter immediately preceding. That is unfortunate, because the two chapters go together. In the twelfth chapter, Paul presents a problem. In the thirteenth chapter, he presents the answer.
The problem that he addressed in the twelfth chapter is spiritual pride—the kind of pride that divides Christian from Christian—the kind of pride that says, “I am more important than you are.”
The problem in the little church at Corinth had to do with spiritual gifts. Some people said, “I am a prophet; therefore, I am better than you.” Others said, “I'm a teacher; therefore, I am better than you.” Still others said, “I speak in tongues; therefore, I am better than you.”
The problem still exists today. Many churches still practice speaking in tongues—which is all right. But in some cases they say, “Therefore, I am better than you are.” But that isn't what the Bible teaches.
If anyone ever tells you that you must speak in tongues, point them to the twelfth and thirteenth chapters of First Corinthians. In the twelfth chapter, Paul lists a series of gifts, and he does so in descending order. The first gift mentioned, being an apostle, is the most important. The last gift mentioned, speaking in tongues, is the least important.
Then Paul goes on to talk about what is really important. He says, “I will show you a still more excellent way.” Then he goes on to introduce the thirteenth chapter, the great “Love Chapter,” which begins:
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels,
but do not have love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
So he tells us that speaking in tongues is a minor gift, and love is the major gift. In fact, he tells us that none of the other gifts have any validity if we do not love. He says:
…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.
Now he isn't telling us that faith is not important. He isn't telling us that feeding the hungry is not important. He isn't telling us that the person who suffers persecution for his or her faith isn't doing something important. They are all important. But he is telling us that nothing that we do is important if we do not do it in love. Love becomes the validation of our Christian life and experience.
You can be a Christian without speaking in tongues. You can be a Christian without the gift of prophecy. You can be a Christian without the gift of teaching. But you cannot be a Christian without the gift of love. In fact, the apostle John says the same thing. He says:
Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
That does not mean that everyone who loves is a Christian. Far from it. There are millions of mothers who love their children but are not Christian. There are millions of kind and generous people who would resent being called Christians. Not every person who loves is a Christian, but every Christian loves.
There is a Latin phrase that describes what I am talking about. The phrase is sine qua non, which means “that without which—nothing.” In other words, if you don't have this, you don't have anything. For the Christian, love is the sine qua non—“that without which—nothing.” Paul says, if I “have not love, I am nothing.”
Then Paul goes on to describe what love looks like. He does so, because there is such a difference between the world's idea of love and Christ's idea of love. When the world says, “I love you,” it means, “I want what you have—your body—your money—your status.” But Christ's love is different. Paul says:
Love is patient; love is kind;
love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
(Love) does not insist on its own way;
it is not irritable or resentful;
(Love) does not rejoice in wrongdoing,
but rejoices in the truth.
(Love) bears all things; (love) believes all things,
(love) hopes all things; (love) endures all things.
Love never ends.
Now, I ask you to think of yourself as you hear these words. Hear these words and see if they are true for you. See if they accurately describe you. Can you say of yourself:
I am patient; I am kind;
I am not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
I do not insist on its own way;
I am not irritable or resentful;
I do not rejoice in wrongdoing, but I rejoice in the truth.
I bear all things; I believe all things;
I hope all things; I endure all things.
If you think that describes you, check it out. Ask your husband or your wife—or from your parents or children. Say to them, “Check me out on this. Have I got it right?” Then say:
I am patient; I am kind;
I am not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
I do not insist on its own way;
I am not irritable or resentful….
If you pass that test, I would like you serve on the church board. We don't have a position open right now, but we might be able to create one. In fact, you might take my place.
The sad fact is that I am sometimes not patient. I sometimes insist on my own way. I am sometimes irritable when I don't get it. But I am not proud of that. Those are things I need to work on, because they taint my Christian life. They are like poison in my soul. I need to get rid of them.
Now, if I wanted to get really personal, I could name a few names. I could identify people in this congregation who have the same problem. I could go through the roster and pick them out. In fact, I don't think that I would need a roster. I could point my finger at you from the pulpit, and say, “You are not patient. You are not kind. You are irritable. In fact, you are the most controlling pain…” —well, you get the idea.
And so we all leave here today with something to work on. Paul tells us that, “if we ain't got love, we ain't got nuthin'”. Then, when he tells us what love looks like—when he tells us that love is not lust—we see how far off the mark we really are.
•We need to pray for God's help to become loving persons.
•We need to pray for God's help to become patient.
•We need to pray for God's help to become kind.
•We need to pray for God's help not to be irritable.
•We need to pray for God's help not to be always insisting on our own way.
•We need to pray for God's help to become more loving, because without love, nothing else counts.
We need not just to love one another. We need also to love God. This is serious business. Many of us have broken God's heart with our lack of love. Richard Foster, one of the finest Christian writers alive today, puts it this way:
Today the heart of God is an open wound of love.
He aches over our distance and preoccupation.
He mourns that we do not draw near to him.
He grieves that we have forgotten him.
He weeps over our obsession with muchness and manyness.
He longs for our presence….
And he is inviting you, and me, to come home,
to come home to where we belong….
His arms are stretched out wide to receive us.
His heart is enlarged to take us in,
for too long we have been in a far country;
a country of noise and hurry and crowds,
a country of climb and push and shove,
a country of frustration and fear and intimidation.
And He welcomes us home….
Isn't that what we need—to come home?
•Indeed, without love, our world is a far country.
•Without love, we live in a country of noise and hurry and crowds.
•Without love, we live in a country of climb and push and shove.
•Without love, we live in a country of frustration and fear and intimidation.
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Most of us wish that our husband or wife would change so that we would not live in a far country. We wish that our neighbor would change so that we would not live in a country of noise and hurry and crowds. We wish that our co-worker would change so that we might not live in a country of climb and push and shove. We wish that our boss would change so that we might not live in a country of frustration and fear and intimidation.
But God doesn't offer to change our husband or wife, our neighbor, our co-worker or our boss. He offers to change us. He calls on us to become loving persons. When we do, we will find ourselves arriving home from the far country. We will find the Heavenly Father waiting with open arms to receive us.
And, strangely enough, we will find our husband or wife, our neighbor, our co-worker, and our boss changed too. The great paradox is that, if you really want another person to change, nothing works so well as love.
So today I give you the greatest challenge I will ever issue from this pulpit. I challenge you to become patient and kind. I challenge you to not to be envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. I challenge you not to insist on your own way. I challenge you not to be irritable or resentful. I challenge you to love.
I challenge you to love your husband and wife. I challenge you to love your neighbor. I challenge you to love your co-worker. I challenge you to love your boss. I challenge you to love each other within this congregation.
When you do this, you will see clearly the welcoming face of God.
Copyright 2006, Richard Niell Donovan.