Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text on which this morning's message is based comes from our Corinthians 13 lesson read earlier.
Have you ever ordered a gift by phone from a retail chain store only to be told, "We're sorry, that item is out of stock" or "that item has been discontinued?"
The phone clerk responds "Would you like to receive a substitute item?" If the gift we are ordering is something our hearts weren't really set on, we can readily substitute for another gift. But if the gift was just exactly what we were looking for, what our heart was truly set on, then no substitute will do.
In 1 Corinthians 12, the previous chapter to our text, Paul has discussed a wide variety of important gifts, gifts of the Spirit, that is. These gifts included wisdom, knowledge, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, spiritual discernment, tongues, even apostles, prophets, teachers, faith and hope are described as gifts. They are gifts, gifts of grace to His Church. No human, no Christian ever earned these gifts. As Paul said in verse 11 of Chapter 12: All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. Paul's last words before he starts Chapter 13 are: But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And now I will show you the most excellent way.
That most excellent way is the way of love (13:1). All the other gifts, while very important, can be substituted for. If a (fictitious) phone clerk of heaven told you that the gift of healing was not currently available for you, could you substitute the gift of wisdom instead, you could say "YES, that will substitute nicely, if God thinks so. But when it comes to love, there is no substitute possible. Every one of the other gifts truly only works well if accompanied with love.
Why is love the one absolutely necessary gift for the Church? Why is love the one absolutely necessary gift for each individual member of the Church? Because love reflects the nature of God as no other gift can do. Love reflects our ability to forgive, as we have been forgiven through the cross of Christ. Love reflects who our God is and what He has done for us. We trust in His love for us, and then reflect that love to others. This type of love, agape, God's love, is hard to show consistently, impossible without the gift of God's Holy Spirit. We often hear these words from 1 Corinthians 13 at weddings, and that is not inappropriate. Couples should hear about the necessity and permanence and completion of love in a wedding service. But Paul didn't write these words thinking of a wedding. He is writing to a troubled congregation of Corinthians, split along various party lines and because of numerous issues. The Corinthian congregation is split because of worship practices, split because of adultery sinfulness, split because of differences in teaching. You name it, the Corinthians are split over it. They are divided among different factions and apparently quite willing to treat each other harshly because of their differences. Paul could have taken on each of these factions directly, confronting them head on in his letter right here. Instead he tactfully, poetically speaks about himself, and what he would be if he didn't have love. In essence Paul says: "If I speak miraculously, but have not love, I'm only a clanging cymbal. If I have the most wonderful gifts of prophecy and knowledge and doctrine, but have not love, I am nothing. If my faith can move mountains, but I don't do it in love, my faith helps no one. If I'm extremely generous, and even if I die for the faith, but don't exhibit love, my Lord, the God of love, is not glorified." Paul could have confronted each loveless person in Corinth harshly right here. They absolutely deserved it. But Paul, because of His love in Christ, shows them here how love is the one "unsubstitutable" gift. Only when Christ's people the church consistently exhibit this love, will the world come to believe that Christ's teachings about love are credible.
But Paul doesn't stop there. He takes the next few verses to describe love. Paul's words here are often turned into some form of romantic sentimentality, especially at weddings. Now, don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with romance, per se. Most of us men could probably be much better at romancing our wives than we currently are. But my point here is that Paul is not describing love here to gushy newlyweds. Paul is describing the love that Christians in congregations show for each other and show outwardly to the lost in the world. Agape love is patient, literally long suffering and kind. Love forgives over and over, suffers ill rather than acting unkindly. Love acts, it's not simply a feeling. In fact, in the New Testament description of love, loving emotions might not even necessarily ride along with loving actions. We might not feel like loving another person, but still be long-suffering and kind to them!
Then Paul strings together what Love is not. Love is not envious, boastful, proud, self-seeking, or quick tempered. Love erases the records of wrongs. Love isn't happy when evil befalls an enemy or someone in a different faction. No, love protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres, always.
Now, it is at this point in 1 Corinthians 13 that I start feeling overwhelmed. I can't keep loving that well, that perfectly. I start to feel guilty for not being always patient and kind. I sense my own envy and pride and anger, and I feel ashamed, unworthy to be up here and preaching about love. I know of my own shortcomings in showing love to family, friends, other Christians, and those who have sinned against me in some way. I know that I cannot, from within my human flesh, pour out the actions or feelings called for by Paul.
But then the Holy Spirit reminds me, through God's Word, that Paul is speaking about a gift from God. This love is a gift from God to us, the one "unsubstitutable" gift. It doesn't well up from within me, but comes to me from the outside, in. It is a gift given to me, to you, not because I've earned it or deserve it, but because God loves me and showed that love for me tangibly, in action, through His Son, Jesus Christ. Only through Christ's suffering, death, and resurrection can I receive that gift of God's love.
A few years ago I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Dale Meyer, the most recent Lutheran Hour speaker, preach on this text, not on the radio or at the seminary, but in a congregational setting. As I remember it, he concluded his message by showing the implicit deep connections that Christ has in these verses. He did so by rereading the verses, with the word CHRIST, God's tangible personal love shown for us, substituted for the word LOVE. Listen to how it sounds, and how it focuses Paul's words here back on to his main point throughout his letters, that is we are saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not Christ, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
2 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 Christ, I am nothing.
3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not Christ, I gain nothing.
4 Christ is patient, Christ is kind. He does not envy, He does not boast, He is not proud.
5 He is not rude, He is not self-seeking, He is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs.
6 He does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
7 He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Christ never fails.
God has given a variety of wonderful gifts to his church, gifts like wisdom, knowledge, healing, discernment. But the greatest gift He has given is the love of His Son Jesus Christ, shown to us through his suffering and innocent death, made explicit through His resurrection from the dead. There are no substitutes for this gift. None of the great talents or gifts that we desire are worth anything in the sight of God without the supreme gift of love which He has made known to us in His Son. Only through receiving the gift of Christ, day after day, are we able to reflect that gift of love over and over to each other here and to the world.
The love of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us and shown through us always. Amen.