The Proverbial Gifts

Would God’s people kindly open
their Bibles, momentarily at least, to 1 Corinthians chapter
1? 1 Corinthians chapter 1, for
just a minute. It could be said that the Corinthian
church had it all. In fact, Paul says exactly that. In the opening chapter of this
epistle, He expressed his gratitude to God for that very thing, that
the Corinthians had it all. Glanced down at verse four of
chapter one, if you would, where Paul opens with an expression
of gratitude. I thank my God always concerning
you for the grace of God, which was given you in Christ Jesus. that in everything you were enriched
in him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony
concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking
in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who will confirm you to the end, blameless in the
day of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Corinthians had it all. when it came to the graces and
giftings of God. What is more, they had the Holy
Spirit resident within them, and they had enjoyed the leadership
of no other than the Apostle Paul for a year and a half. The
Corinthian church was exceedingly blessed. But something was missing
in Corinth. Some key ingredient, some necessary
element was missing. They had not been able to put
their finger on it as a church, but now Paul will. If you would,
please flip over to chapter 13 of Corinthians. Paul had introduced the subject
of spiritual gifts in chapter 12. It was a question really
that the Corinthians had posed to him. And it was important
enough that not only did he begin to answer it in chapter 12, but
it began what would be a very lengthy answer, chapters 12,
13, and 14. We don’t know exactly what the
question was, but we can begin to piece together what the question
or questions might have been by the answer that Paul provides.
It might have gone something like this. Paul, what is the
best spiritual gift? Paul, is it because of sin that
some people do not possess these fancy gifts, prophecy and tongues
and miracles? Doesn’t the fact that some people
possess one of these, do not possess one of these sign gifts
mean that they’re lacking? Or to state it in the positive,
doesn’t the fact that people do possess one of these sign
gifts, doesn’t that mean that they’re more spiritual and therefore
more valuable to the church than others? Do we really need these
less gifted people? Is there any way to teach speaking
in tongues or prophecy so that everyone can participate? We
don’t know what the questions were, but it was something like
that. Because as Paul begins to discuss
these spiritual gifts in chapter 12, he points out a number of
things that dispel the notions suggested by those possible questions. One of the things that Paul informs
his divided church early in that chapter, verses four through
10, is that the Holy Spirit is the one common source of all
spiritual gifts. Each and every believer, Paul
says, has been gifted by the Holy Spirit. And there was great
diversity in what the Holy Spirit had provided. There were varieties
of gifts, Paul says, but one source. The diversity, the great variety
of gifts that was bestowed, was intended to be a blessing for
the church. where each believer would enjoy
the privilege of serving his or her savior. That was each
believer’s opportunity to manifest, that is to show forth the spirit
for the good of the church. So there were no unimportant
people. There were no unimportant gifts.
It is like the human body, Paul goes on to say in verses 11 through
17. Paul employs that metaphor of
the human body to represent Christ’s body, the church. This great
variety of gifts were all granted for the one body, Christ’s body. And this gifting was the Spirit’s
doing, distributing these gifts, Paul says, in verse 11, to each
one individually just as he wills. This is something that the Holy
Spirit decided. Who gets what gifts? Who gets
how many gifts? But while the varieties of gifts
are given by the one and same Spirit for the common good of
the church, the individual member is special, and not only special,
but crucial. He or she is an integral part
of the church. The church cannot function optimally
without them. Indeed, the church is not the
church without the individual members. Just as the eye and
the hand and the foot The individual portions of the human body are
necessary, so also the individual portions, the members of Christ’s
church, variously gifted, are crucial. Paul says in verse 18
that God himself is the one who takes these diversely gifted
members and places them into one body. It’s a beautiful statement. This is to have a unifying effect
on the church. These individual members are
unified by their shared assignment. We have one goal, that is to
glorify God in the proclamation of the gospel. We are unified
in our mutual dependence. We cannot go it alone. We need
one another, and we’re unified by our common care for one another.
These diversely gifted, individually placed members together comprise
Christ’s body. Paul says in verse 27, and they’re
placed in Christ’s body for service. We’re supposed to be active.
We’re supposed to be exercising our God-given gifts for his glory. Ultimately, our service, whatever
it is, whatever gift we have, is exercised to glorify Christ. And so this church, the Corinthian
church, was blessed. The individual members were variously
gifted. Seemingly, they had everything
they needed to flourish and glorify their Savior, but there was something
missing. God knew it. The Corinthians
sensed it. Paul knew it too. There was this
imperfection in their church, in their service to Christ. And
Paul alludes to this missing element at the very end of chapter
12. Just roll back one verse. Chapter
12, verse 31. Look there, please. But earnestly
desire the greater gifts, and I show you a still more excellent
way. Their situation wasn’t hopeless.
After all, they were exercising the gifts that the Holy Spirit
had given them. But if they could identify this
missing ingredient, if God would only supply this missing element
to their service, the exercise of these gifts would
bring Christ even greater glory. And so we come into chapter 13. Would you follow along as I read
chapter 13 in its entirety? If I speak with the tongues of
men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy
gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy
and know all mysteries and all knowledge, And if I have all
faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions
to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do
not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient. Love is kind and is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not
arrogant. It does not act unbecomingly. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked. Does not
take into account a wrong suffered. Does not rejoice in unrighteousness,
but rejoices with the truth. bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But if there are gifts of prophecy,
they will be done away. If there are tongues, they will
cease. If there is knowledge, it will
be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy
in part But when the perfect comes, the partial will be done
away. When I was a child, I used to
speak like a child and think like a child, reason like a child. When I became a man, I did away
with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly,
but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
I will know fully. just as I have also been fully
known. But now, faith, hope, and love
abide these three, but the greatest of these is love. As chapter
12 drew to a close, Paul hinted at a better way, a more excellent
way, A way in which their very gifts could be utilized in a
still more excellent fashion. Here in this chapter, Paul opens
the door to that way. Here in this chapter, no doubt
by now we have established the overarching subject of these
three chapters, 12 through 14, spiritual gifts. But embedded
within that primary topic of spiritual gifts is the emphasis
here in 13 on love. As it is magnified here, love
that is real, genuine, brotherly love was our own Savior’s plea
and prayer for his own disciples. Would you take a moment, keep
a finger in 1 Corinthians 13 and turn to John chapter 13. And you know. You probably even
remember that in John chapter 13, Jesus exemplified self-sacrificial
love by washing his disciples’ feet. He got up during dinner
and washed his disciples’ dirty feet, a thing that any one of
them could have done, should have done, and didn’t. And the
apostle John noted In the beginning of this chapter, look at verse
one. This is what motivated Christ.
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to
the end. Right up until this moment, Christ
has always loved them, and he’s going to love them even in this
moment where, if it were anyone else, it would have been all
about them. But for Christ, it’s all about
his brothers. And so it’s only fitting that
following that dramatic scene of Jesus selflessly washing his
friends’ feet, he makes this demand upon his disciples. Would
you just scroll down to verse 34? Following the foot washing, Jesus
says, a new commandment I give you, that you love one another
even as I have loved you. that you also love one another. By this, all men will know that
you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. And so not only by his example,
but here by his command, love for one another was set forth
as the supreme indication of our faith in Christ. It wasn’t
right doctrine, primarily, It was love for one another as exhibited
in their acts of service for one another. And Paul addressed
this so stridently in this chapter, chapter 13, that 1 Corinthians
13 could well be called the love chapter. No wonder one premier
commentator of 1 Corinthians, Charles Hodge, speaks so glowingly
about this chapter. He says, for moral elevation,
for richness and comprehensiveness, for beauty and felicity of expression,
it has been the admiration of the church in all ages. Everyone loves 1 Corinthians
13. I’m always quick to point out to those preparing for a
wedding, this is not a wedding verse. Not a wedding chapter. It’s not a marriage chapter.
This is a church chapter. It’s a church verse. He calls 1 Corinthians 13 one
of the jewels of Scripture, and that it is. So beautiful and
lyrical are the words of this chapter that some have even considered
it a hymn, a song which love is held forth as a treasure to
behold. A beautiful chapter. Now, switching gears, we have
a tendency to think of Proverbs as those sayings that are contained
in that Old Testament book of the same name. The book that was written or
compiled by wise King Solomon, and the words there are certainly
Proverbs, but if we back away and first identify what a proverb
even is, We will see that proverbs, proverbial sayings, are found
in many places, both in Scripture and outside of Scripture, even
in our everyday language. These short statements of truth
that are really found in any culture, A proverb in its most
basic definition is a short pithy saying stating the general truth
or piece of advice. A short pithy saying stating
a general truth or piece of advice. We might even call them truisms.
I looked up and found a bunch of different lists of these.
And for the most part, if we were to close our eyes and use
our imagination, we can hear grandma uttering many of these
things. I’ll just try on a few. The apple
doesn’t fall far from the tree. All that glitters is not gold.
A picture is worth a thousand words. Beggars can’t be choosers,
right? Did your grandmother say that?
Yeah, mine too. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Better safe than sorry. Blood is thicker than water.
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Don’t count your chickens
before they hatch. Every cloud has a silver lining.
Two wrongs don’t make a right. The pen is mightier than the
sword. Necessity is the mother of invention,
and then in college I realized I wrote my own. Necessity is
the mother of invention, then laziness is the illegitimate
father. The pen is mightier than the
sword. Birds of a feather flock together. Time waits for no man. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
You get the point. We use Proverbs all the time. We use what I would call extra
biblical proverbs all the time. Here’s my point. I believe that’s
exactly what Paul does in these opening verses in chapter 13. He gives us three proverbs. He
sets forth these three truisms, three proverbial sayings, that
set forth wisdom on the subject of spiritual gifts. He’s using
this as a teaching device. Paul is still dealing with spiritual
gifts, the subject he began to address in chapter 12, but here
in chapter 13, he opens with what I’ve entitled proverbial
gifts. And as Paul will declare, three
different ways, mind you, It isn’t the gift or even the inefficient
exercise of the gift that matters. It’s the absence of the key element
of love in the exercise of that gift that renders it worthless.
If the gift isn’t exercised in the context of love, it’s pointless. It’s empty. It’s vain. Each of these proverbs teaches
a slightly different lesson. Without the key ingredient, the
first proverb, it does not produce anything worthwhile. I have become
a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. The second proverb, without the
key ingredient of love, I am nothing worthwhile. I am nothing,
the proverb says. The third proverb, without the
key ingredient of love, I gain nothing worthwhile. I produce
nothing worthwhile, I am nothing worthwhile, I gain nothing worthwhile
if I don’t operate out of a sphere of love. Here in these opening
verses, Paul wants to issue forth wisdom on the exercise of spiritual
gifts. And in these three short verses,
Paul will address no fewer than six different spiritual gifts. He’s not looking to have a comprehensive
discussion on every possible spiritual gift. He uses these
like he’s already done a number of times. He’s using these as
an example. No gift exercised without love
can possibly be beneficial. these special grace gifts that
he mentions here, even though they’re given by the Holy Spirit
for the noble purpose of serving Christ and his church, not only
can they be misused, but Paul will show that they can be prominently
displayed and yet be unproductive and ineffective in the very purpose
for which they were given. If even God-given, Holy Spirit-imparted,
intended-to-be Christ-honoring gifts are used without that key
element of love, those activities will be utterly fruitless. The
missing element that renders them such is love. And so with
these opening verses of chapter 13, verses 1 through 3, they’re
Paul’s words of wisdom. on deeds without love. Deeds
without love. Let’s look at the first, shall
we? The first of these proverbial gifts. These words of wisdom on deeds
without love. The first proverb is the proverb
of the barren gift. Look at verse one. If I speak
with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love,
I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. Paul begins
with his presentation of wisdom on gifts with his opening proverb,
the proverb of the barren gift. With regard to presents, we just
came through Christmas, right? Or some of us had anniversaries.
With regard to presents, and I’m talking physical presents,
wrapped gifts. Christmas, birthday presents,
that kind of thing. There’s always so much buildup,
isn’t there? So many times we put so much
into that gift, we add to the buildup. We put it in a special box. We
wrap it with special paper, add special ribbons. bows, or if
you’re a man, you pay to have that done, and you should. You place a tag on it for all
the world to know, not only who this gift is for, but who it’s
from. We put it out early. We want
everyone to see this gift. As I said, all this just adds
to the buildup, to the excitement. the gathering excitement of what
this box could contain. So can you imagine, just for
a moment, you begin to open this gift, and instead of some long
desired thing, the sweater, that book, a drill, instead of any of that, the box
is empty. Completely empty. Nothing but
an empty box. That is essentially the image
that Paul presents here. Let’s look at the first proverb
of three. The proverb of the barren, empty gift. Here in this first proverb, he
shows a degeneration over time. It wasn’t always this way. I
might have started well with this business of tongues. I may have been something else.
I may have really been profitable for the church at some time,
but now I have become nothing. Surprisingly, or rather not surprisingly,
Paul begins his administration of wisdom with a discussion of
tongues, speaking in tongues. We’ll talk much more about this
in the weeks to come. I’ve already told you that I
believe that they passed away, but Paul spoke in tongues. And there’s a likely reason that
Paul begins with this gift, because it was the one that was so much
abused in Corinth. Speaking in tongues without love
was standard practice there in that church. And so it’s a mark
of true humility here that Paul uses himself as the foil. If
I speak, but do not have love, I have become. Paul spoke in
tongues. He acknowledges that in chapter
14. I thank God, he says there, that
I speak in tongues more than you all. He could have accusingly
wagged his finger at the Corinthians. If you speak, you do not have
love, you have become, but he doesn’t do that. Instead, he hypothetically points
out these consequences if he were to do so without love. Speaking in tongues we’ve already
seen is that supernatural gift that Paul first mentioned back
in verse 10 of chapter 12. He referred to it there as various
kinds of tongues. The spiritual gift, in Corinth
at least, was one of the most prominent, most highly esteemed,
and therefore one of the most highly prized of all of the Spirit’s
gifts. Everyone wanted it. After all,
it was a sensational, supernatural display of God’s grace. Who wouldn’t
want that? Those who possessed this gift
were admired and honored. It was held to be a personally
enhancing phenomenon. You were the better if you had
this gift. If you did not have this gift,
you sure wanted it, sometimes desperately. And that led, as
we’ve seen, to commotion and disorder in the Corinthian church.
The gift, as we reviewed, was bestowed upon the believers there
in Jerusalem in Acts 2, as we reviewed. There, by a sudden
great outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Christians began speaking
in other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. That
says two things. The Holy Spirit not only equipped these believers
with the supernatural ability to speak a foreign language,
an actual language, He also provided them with a divine message. I
mean, who wouldn’t want that gift? We gathered from this latter
phrase, as the Spirit was giving them utterance, that the Holy
Spirit was also giving them a message. not just noise. Tongues were not then, nor have
they ever been, the verbalizing of mere gibberish, but it was
an actual language with an actual message. And they were never
intended to be, it was never intended to be this casual or
general conversations, something about the weather. or who won the soccer match in
the town square. It was never intended to be that. It was for divine declarations. That was the purpose of tongues.
And this was indeed a display of supernatural wonders. The
problem is, in Corinth, these tongues were quite obviously
being misused. The gifts were being exercised,
that much was clear. but they were being exercised
absent the most crucial element, love. Tongues without love. And Paul expands his proverb
to incomparable extremes here. Look please at verse one again. If I speak with the tongues of
men, that is human, foreign languages, but then he adds, The tongues
of angels. What is that? With this, Paul
takes his illustration to an incalculable stratosphere. Tongues
of angels. Paul seems to be using a very
conceivable hyperbole here to broaden the scope of the impact
of his illustration. Angels have to communicate, right? We would assume that. We’ve even
seen occasions of that in scripture. Remember the shepherds were greeted
by an angel who brought a message? But we always hear of the angels
using human language. Who knew that angels possessed
and used their own language? Well, Paul may himself have actually
heard this angelic language in his second letter to the Corinthians,
2 Corinthians 12, 4. He tells this fantastic story,
how he was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words,
which a man is not permitted to speak. Angelic language, perhaps. And since Paul uses the plural
here, for such languages, tongues, tongues plural of angels. Does
that mean that angels had different languages, multiple different
languages, different dialects? Can you imagine an angel with
a Southern accent? The whole idea is mind-boggling. And Paul may well have been just
using hyperbole here to speak of the extreme of foreign language,
tongues of angels. Let’s come back to Earth. It’s an unseen world that we
can’t even begin to grasp anyway. And Paul’s countering phrase
here does a good job of snapping the reader back to earth. If I speak with the tongues of
men, if I should happen to possess the spiritual gift of speaking
in tongues, or even in the wildest extreme, I were able to communicate
with angelic beings, if I do so without love, it is completely
pointless. If I do not have love, even in
the exercise of so magnificent a gift, it’s all for naught. And as Paul so colorfully states
it, I become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If my exercise
of this stupendous gift is not used out of a heart of love for
my brothers, I’m no more than a human noise machine. Paul’s not-so-subtle insinuation
here is that that was exactly what was going on in Corinth.
Just noise. Displays of these supernatural
gifts, but they did not exercise them with love and in their pride,
they were flaunting this gift, if they even truly possessed
it. Under the best circumstances, were this gift to be exercised
in a spirit of love, the hearers would be blessed, Can you imagine
to receive an in the moment message from God himself? And the one
speaking it would be blessed to be in the service of his Lord.
But if it’s not done in love, Paul checks that quickly with
a display. Such a display that such, pardon
me, that such a display is mere noise. Noisy gong clanging cymbal. Gongs and cymbals have their
place, even in the world of music. In an orchestra, such instruments
blend with the rest of the instruments to make one beautiful, harmonious
sound. But apart from that context,
especially if poorly played, if not done at the exact right
time in the exact right way, it’s nothing but noise, like
a four-year-old banging on pots and pans, right? Such were those,
he says, who spoke in tongues, but did not do so out of a heart
of love for their brothers. In the end, their efforts were
nothing but meaningless noise. There’s a second proverb. I told
you there were three. The second proverb, not only
the proverb of the barren gift, but the proverb of the deceptive
gift. Look at verse two. If I have
the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge,
if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not
have love, I am nothing. Here he mentions three different
spiritual gifts, prophecy, knowledge, and faith. We’ll touch on each
of those. The second proverb, this is the
proverb of the deceptive gift, and in this proverb, it isn’t
about what we’ve become, it’s about what we are. I am nothing,
Paul says. Here in this proverb, he actually
mentions these three spiritual gift, prophecy, knowledge, and
faith. We’ve seen two of these before in the previous lists. We’ve seen prophecy and faith.
Prophecy, as we saw, was not just a prediction of the future. The main function of the prophet
was not that of prediction, but that of proclaiming. Proclaiming
a divine message. Sometimes that came by way of
a direct revelation from God. Sometimes it was a message that
was derived from God’s word. Either way, the prophet was a
proclaimer, not a predictor, first and foremost. The second
gift that we’ve seen before is that of faith. We came across
this in 12.9, to another faith by the same spirit. And there, just as here, it’s
not saving faith that is in view. It would make no sense at all
if Paul were to suggest that this is only saving faith, because
all believers receive that gift. This, as we saw, is an uncommon
faith, a spectacular faith. It’s the ability to trust in
God in even the most remarkable and challenging circumstances.
As Paul says here, this is the faith so as to remove mountains. That is a description of faith
that Jesus first used. Recorded several times in the
Gospels, but it’s an apt description. These are those believers who
even in the face of humanly impossible odds, their faith carries them
along and sees them through. They trust God. We often speak
of Hebrews 11, the so-called hall of faith, there with one account after
another of people of God who exhibited extraordinary confidence
in God, regardless of their situation. The person with the gift of faith
courageously trusts God for a miracle. And here in verse two, Paul maximizes
this faith when he says, all faith, they have it all. They
got the corner on the market on faith. There is no one who
trusts God more than these individuals. The third gift in this verse
is one that we have not yet crossed. It’s the gift of knowledge. Paul
introduced this gift this way at a glance in verse two. If
I know all mysteries and all knowledge, This is not, however,
mere bookworm knowledge. Say, like an exceptional student,
one with a photographic memory. Like all the rest of these aspects
of ministry in verses one through three, this knowledge is a spiritual
gift. Paul does mention knowledge in
12.8, as I said. Some people were given the word
of knowledge. I don’t believe that that’s the
same thing that we see here in verse 13. The word of knowledge
in chapter 12 seemed to be speaking of something temporary, something
fleeting, something for the moment. A word of knowledge that provides
caution or direction. That’s not what we have here.
Here, Paul seems to point to a body of knowledge, to know
all mysteries and all knowledge. This person may indeed be super
intelligent. I’m not suggesting otherwise,
but this particular knowledge is God-given. It’s given as a
whole, not through years of arduous study. This is the person who
serves as a great repository of information that is beneficial
to the church. In all of these, All three of
these rich and valuable and diverse gifts, prophecy and knowledge
and faith. Under the best circumstances,
both the ones receiving the fruit of these gifts, as well as those
exercising such remarkable gifts, all are blessed. The recipients
enjoy the blessing of God’s word, God’s knowledge, some mighty
sign of miraculous deeds, The one exercising such gifts enjoys
the sweet blessing of functioning as a conduit of grace used for
God’s glory. What a thrill. But yet again,
if they’re exercised without genuine love, Love for one’s fellow believers,
it reduces them to nothing but a cold, robotic, and vain activity. Please glance down to the very
end of verse two. You see, in verse one we saw
that the effect of tongues without love is mere noise. Here, the
exercise of prophecy and knowledge and faith without love is I am
nothing. This destroys the idea that many
had in Corinth, this idea that really many have in our own day,
that their faith is somehow enhanced, built up, added to by the exercise
of their gifts, that it adds somehow to their worth, their
value. that it adds to their status
by means of this exercise of a gift that they’ve received. That is impossible with the most
noble of intentions. That’s not how it works. We don’t
add to our faith. We don’t add to our salvation.
We don’t add to our status before God. But that truth is infinitely
so with faulty intentions. God will indeed evaluate our
work one day, and He will reward us accordingly. Paul speaks to
this in 1 Corinthians 3, remember? But the mere possession of some
great gift, or even the vigorous exercise of that gift, does not
merit the possessor. If that gift is not exercised
in love, the man’s work is no more than wood, hay, and straw. There’s a third proverb. Not only the proverb of the barren
gift, the proverb of the deceptive gift, but third and finally,
the proverb of the unprofitable gift. Verse three. If I give
all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body
to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”
Here he mentions two more spiritual gifts, benevolence and let’s
just call it martyrdom. That’s what it is. This third
proverb, the proverb of the unprofitable gift, First proverb, the proverb
of the barren gift, taught the unprofitable production of a
loveless expression of tongues. The second proverb, the proverb
of the deceptive gift, taught the vanity of thinking that the
use of these gifts somehow benefits the user. This third proverb,
the proverb of the unprofitable gift, teaches the vanity of a
bad investment. And here he speaks of what we
lay up for ourselves. It profits me nothing. Here Paul mentions the final
two of these six gifts. Benevolence and martyrdom. Look,
if you would, at verse three. If I give all my possessions
to feed the poor. Isn’t that a noble thought? The idea here is to selflessly
care for others in need, those whom Paul identifies here as
the poor. And this is an exceedingly severe
exercise of benevolence. Look at it. The literal image
here is graphic. The noun form of this verb is
used in John 13, 26, ironically, at the celebration of the Last
Supper. And the word is used to describe
that little piece of bread that Jesus dipped in order to identify
Judas. Well, the verb form is used here
to speak of that morsel. And here the verb picture someone
doling out food, literally a morsel at a time out of their storehouse
until it’s all gone. I’m gonna give it all. That’s
the attitude. But the individual here, and
it’s important to notice this, the individual is not gathering
from the church, not gathering from believers, he’s not gathering
from the community, he’s certainly not gathering from civil government.
The resources he’s using are his own. It’s out of his own
possessions. And it’s extreme in another sense. Like the widow who dropped two
coins into the offering plate, he gives it all. He gives all
his possessions to the task of caring for those in need. It’s
remarkable. The irony here is that such a
sacrifice might benefit whoever is fed. It might be the meal
that keeps them alive. But if it’s a loveless sacrifice,
If it’s done out of stinginess or some sense of obligation,
it does not benefit the one who’s giving it. The sixth and final gift mentioned
is that of martyrdom. Glance again at verse three,
Paul presents the condition, if I surrender my body to be
burned. could be no more noble thing
than this. He’s talking here about the ultimate
sacrifice of martyrdom, death by persecution. And this is not
as far-fetched as it sounds. Even in the recent context of
first century Christianity, or in the ultimate context of church
history, this is not far-fetched. First century Emperor Nero exacted
this very punishment upon many Christians in his day. In his
14-year reign, he used to use this frequently. He used this
cruel device not only for punishment, striking fear into the population,
but he also horrifically used this form of punishment for his
own delight. Shameful. During the Reformation
as well, many, many faithful saints met their end in this
very fashion. Called upon to renounce their
faith or face the ultimate form of persecution, burning at the
stake, a great many believers joyfully opted for the latter.
But Paul says that even this ultimate sacrifice could be done
in a wrong spirit, out of pride and not out of love for the Savior. The amazing influence of these
two gifts, if you think of it, is massive if it’s done in love.
The recipients not only enjoy the blessing of a meal, even
if it’s a fleeting meal, you need another meal tomorrow, but
the living example of selflessness that such a one would provide. And who could imagine a greater
example if one were to witness such than someone willing to
endure the flames of martyrdom for their love for Christ? What
a powerful example to any who were to witness it. But Paul
says that even these two this extreme benevolence and
this ultimate martyrdom, if they’re not done in the right spirit,
if they’re not done out of a love for others and a love for Christ,
they too are worthless. Would you look at the verse?
It profits me nothing. Even if exceedingly great sacrifices
such as these are yielded over, if they’re not done in love,
Paul says, it profits me nothing. And you say, how do I know if
I’m exercising my gift in love with a loving spirit? There are a few questions you
can ask of yourself. Why are you doing what you’re
doing? Because if it isn’t for others
and for Christ, you’re not doing it out of a spirit of love. When
you’re exercising your gift, who are you thinking about? Are you thinking about Christ
and what Christ has done for you? I remember that little old
song. By and by when I look on his
face, look on his face, look on his face. By and by when I
look on his face, I wish I had given Christ more. When you’re
exercising your gift, Do you look to the Savior and think,
I wish I could do better? Do you look to others in your
love for them? What is your motive for doing
what you’re doing? For whose glory is it? Is it
for your glory or is it for the benefit of your brothers and
sisters in Christ and for Christ’s glory? something for which to
examine our hearts. Let’s go before him.