THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY In Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, we have some of the most profound teaching of the New Testament. Chapters 12 and 13 of 1 Corinthians contain a supermarket of teachings and sermons for the average pastor. In Chapter 12, we learn how to think, speak and act supernaturally. Hundreds and possibly thousands of books, booklets, pamphlets and sermons have dissected this chapter all the way down into word by word teachings, yet there’s always more. From the beginning where Paul boldly declared that the Corinthians idols were silent. He used the word the King James translates as “dumb”. By today’s standards, this word also describes ignorance and stupidity. He immediately began to talk about the diversity of the church of Jesus Christ, God’s kingdom. He talked about how, as a body, there were many facets to the church of Jesus; how the foot and the hand were different, but were still part of the body. Oh how we need this teaching. It’s amazing how we think that our part of the body is often the only part that matters. We bicker about how the Baptists are only concerned with salvation and how the Pentecostals are only concerned with tongues and how the Charismatics are only concerned with signs and wonders, and on and on it goes. For crying out loud, we are a body. Of course we don’t all agree. We have different functions. The hands do not do what the mouth does. The tongue does not function like the foot. We’re not supposed to all do the same thing. One part is not better than another and to remove one of the parts has a dramatic effect on the rest of the body. Cutting off your foot because it offends you will put a quick end to your dancing career. Again, we are a body. Jesus is the Head. We make up the other parts. Sure, the nose thinks the feet stink. The opinion of the nose is irrelevant because the Head likes the feet just the way that they are. If Jesus is building the church through the works of the body, then the body parts need to stop being judgmental of the other parts and just do their job. I talked about distraction the other day. Don’t get caught up in it. I wasn’t planning to say that, but there you have it. All of the back-and-forth chatter of Chapter 12 was designed to lead us to Chapter 13. Paul calls it, “The More Excellent Way”. Now here’s a chapter that sermons have been preached from. All the bickering and judging of Chapter 12 is brought to a screeching halt by Chapter 13. Called “The Love Chapter”, this is where the rubber meets the road. What Paul tells us is that it doesn’t matter what we accomplish where we go, who we win, what we say or how we act if the basis of our doing is not firmly based on love. What’s the big deal about love? Well, our Father God is the essence of love. HE IS LOVE! When you represent a company, you carry a business card with the company logo on it and the company name. When you represent God on the earth His business card has one word on it, “LOVE”. In verses 4 to 8, you can replace the word love, or charity, with your own name. This is a good litmus test to see how your love walk is doing. I like the way it’s written as a list in the Message Bible. Love never gives up. It’s stable. Love cares more for others than for self. It’s not greedy Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. It’s not jealous Love doesn’t strut, It’s not a bragger Doesn’t have a swelled head, It doesn’t think too much of itself Doesn’t force itself on others, It isn’t pushy Isn’t always “me first,” It doesn’t think of itself first Doesn’t fly off the handle, It stays under control Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, It doesn’t keep records Doesn’t revel when others grovel, It takes no joy in others’ misery Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, It always seeks the truth Puts up with anything, It is extremely patient Trusts God always, Self-explanatory Always looks for the best, It finds the good in everything Never looks back, It will not use your past against you But keeps going to the end. There’s no finish line on love Love never dies. There are a couple lines in another translation that caught my eye. Love thinks no evil. That means in order to walk in love, you can’t be caught up in retaliation, “pay-back” and unforgiveness. It’s not about dirty thoughts, although that could be considered evil, it’s about plotting and dreaming and thinking about harming someone else, whether physically, mentally, financially or socially. If you’re doing these things, then you are not walking in love. The other one that caught my eye was this: Love keeps no records. This is a tough one for women. God gave you a great ability to remember details. I have a tough time putting years and months and dates together. I have to really sit down and think what year something took place, where women, with their truly God-given gift, cannot only tell you the day, the hour, and the year, they could probably tell you what you are wearing as well. (Smile) Not keeping records means that you don’t go digging into the past, especially in the middle of an argument. If it’s been forgiven then it needs to be forgotten. If you have trouble forgetting, you just don’t need to bring it up. This is a place where all the other attributes of love are brought into focus. They all work together to cause us to walk in love. Read the list above again and actually put your name in there. I know it’s a scary thing, but we all could use a little tweaking every now and then. If you can get your love walk right, like the song says, the world will know you are Christians by your love. If it was easy everybody could do it. We need to actively seek closer relationship with the Father and He will lead us into love. This is your homework assignment. (Smile) Let’s learn to walk in love and show the world the true meaning of that word. Have a blessed day!
Posted on: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 23:05:54 +0000
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