Please turn to 1 Corinthians 12.
But desire earnestly the greater gifts. And moreover a most excellent way show I unto you.
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
And 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 have not love, I am nothing.
And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil;
rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth;
beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;
but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things.
For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known.
But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.Follow after love; yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.
Our heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee for Thy great love toward us. Thou hast demonstrated it to us as we partake of the Lord’s table. O Father, how we praise Thee that Thou dost love us so much as to give Thy only begotten Son to us.
We do praise and thank Thee that we may gather here at this moment to read Thy Word. We remember that Thou art the living Word. We ask that Thy Holy Spirit will quicken Thy Word to us, that we may gain Thee and Thou may gain us.
We commit this time into Thy hands. Give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Thyself. Amen.
I think we all know that 1 Corinthians 13 is a great chapter on love. I remember when I was newly saved, in 1930, during a few months a few of us young people were asked to speak in a church gathering on this subject. We divided the chapter into four parts, and everyone took one section. At that time, we thought we knew all about that chapter.
I wonder whether any one of us here has the same kind of feeling. It is a chapter with which we are so familiar. It is a chapter that we think we know all about.
It is a chapter on love. But love is of such boundless, limitless dimensions that you just cannot define love, circumscribe it, or put it in your text. Oftentimes, our understanding of this chapter is partial, not full. The reason is that we take that chapter out of its context.
There is a saying which I like very much: “A text out of context is a pretext.” If we take a text out of its context, it becomes a pretext. In other words, we can use it for any purpose.
So, in studying the Word of God, it is of tremendous importance that we do not take the text out of its context. That is the reason why I read the last verse of the preceding chapter and the first verse of the succeeding chapter.
You know, when the Word of God was given to us, it had no chapters, no verses, not even punctuation. This matter of dividing it into chapters and verses came later, for convenience’ sake. But sometimes it breaks the thought of the Holy Spirit.
Now, the preceding chapter, chapter 12, is a chapter on the body. It speaks concerning spiritual gifts, concerning spirituality. If we are to enter into the realm of spiritual gifts and spirituality, the one thing that is basic is the body of Christ.
How do we come into the body of Christ? In 1 Corinthians 12:13, it says:
For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit.
We came into the body of Christ through baptism in the Holy Spirit. We were baptized in one Spirit into one body.
When we believe in the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit not only regenerates us. That is to say, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The Holy Spirit does something to us individually. He puts life in us, gives us a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit Himself dwells in our spirit. It is very personal.
But at the same time, the Holy Spirit does something to us in a corporate way, because in one Spirit we were baptized into one body. At the time of our conversion, actually two things happen at the same time.
So far as our individual experience is concerned, or so far as it is personal, we are born again and made spirit. But so far as the corporate aspect is concerned, the Lord Jesus, the Head, has baptized us into His body.
We were baptized into one body. He does not say that we shall be baptized. He says that we were baptized into one body.
I want to re-emphasize this because there is so much confusion today concerning baptism in the Holy Spirit. I think the confusion comes mostly because of a misunderstanding of terms. I am not quarrelling with experience.
So far as the term “baptism in the Holy Spirit” is concerned, it is something that was done once and for all on the day of Pentecost and in the house of Cornelius. On the day of Pentecost, the Jews were baptized in one Spirit into the body. In the house of Cornelius, the Gentiles were baptized in the Holy Spirit into the one body.
If you consider the Scriptures in the New Testament, there are only seven passages in which the words “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” or “baptize in the Holy Spirit,” are used. Four are in the Gospels, where John the Baptist prophesied that he baptized people with water, but One was coming who would baptize them in the Holy Spirit.
In Acts 1, before the ascension of our Lord Jesus, He said, “Ye shall be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days hence.” So these five passages concern the prophecy of baptism.
Then, of course, the fulfillment of that baptism is found in what happened on the day of Pentecost and again in the house of Cornelius. In Acts 11, when Peter related what happened in the house of Cornelius, he said that the Lord baptized them in the Holy Spirit just as He did with us.
So we know that these two instances are the fulfillments of the baptism. Apart from these six passages, there is only one more passage in Scripture—in 1 Corinthians 12—where the meaning of baptism in the Holy Spirit is explained: “In one Spirit ye were baptized into one body.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, never think that we are not now in the body of Christ. The reason why we are in the body of Christ is because we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit. This is a fact that we need to recognize.
Even though Christ, the Head, has already baptized us into the one body, and it was something already done, probably many have not entered into that reality in their appropriation. That is why, in the Book of Acts, another word is used: the word filling.
Baptism is corporate; filling is individual and personal. Personally, we need the filling of the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit is not something that we have not had; it is an appropriation of what the Lord has already given to us.
You remember Ephesians 1:3: God “hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” When, individually, we experience the filling of the Holy Spirit, it is simply an appropriation by faith of what Christ has already done for the church.
It is not something entirely new. It is a new experience to us, but it is not a new thing. Individually, through the filling of the Holy Spirit, we enter into the reality of the body.
It is at that time that the gifts which the Holy Spirit gives to members of the body of Christ are activated. Just think for a moment. When you are born, you are born with a body, and this body has many members. Every member already has a gift.
You are born with eyes, and the gift of the eyes is seeing. You are born with ears, and the gift of the ears is hearing. It is not that after you grow up you begin to receive the gift of seeing or the gift of hearing. No, the gifts are with the body.
The gifts may not be used. They may not be really known, and they may not be functioning. But through the filling of the Holy Spirit, these gifts which have been given to the members of the body of Christ are activated. Therefore, you become functioning members of the body of Christ.
Now, this is not what I am going to share this morning. I just explained a little because last Sunday a question was raised. There is much to say about it; it would occupy more than one session, so I cannot do it now. But I want to explain simply what Christ has done and what we must experience individually.
In such a way, you have the body, and in the body you have the manifestations of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in the body, and He wants to express Himself through these gifts.
He gives gifts to each member. Every member has a spiritual gift. There is no member who does not have a spiritual gift. All that is needed is for it to be activated.
The Holy Spirit has given to each member, according to His pleasure, gifts that are manifestations of the Holy Spirit. In other words, they are not your manifestations or my manifestations. They are not to manifest you or manifest me. They are manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
The manifestations of the Holy Spirit are for one purpose: the building up of the body of Christ. So far as these gifts are concerned, we cannot say, “This gift is greater than that gift.” Why? They are all manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
How can you say that one manifestation is greater than another when they are all manifestations of the Holy Spirit? So far as the gifts themselves are concerned, they do not have degrees of greatness or smallness.
I hope brothers and sisters will remember this. But why, at the end of chapter 12, does Paul say, “Desire earnestly the greater gifts”?
Desiring earnestly the greater gifts does not mean that some gifts are greater than other gifts in themselves. It only means that those gifts which contribute more to the building up of the body of Christ are considered greater gifts.
They are not greater in themselves, but in the contribution that they give to the building up of the body of Christ. This is why it says, “Desire earnestly the greater gifts.”
In other words, what you have in view is the body of Christ. Therefore, we need to have a mature mentality. The mentality of a child seeks only gifts that will build up himself. But the mentality of a grown-up seeks gifts that will build up the body of Christ.
Then, of course, in chapter 14 you find these gifts in operation in the body. But before these gifts operate in the body, chapter 13 is placed here.
Here is the body, and in the body are the gifts. In chapter 14, the gifts are operating for the building up of the body. But in order that the purpose of building up the body may be realized, there is an excellent way in which we have to walk.
If we do not walk in this excellent way, then the gifts may end up destroying the body instead of building up the body. That is what you find in the church in Corinth.
The church in Corinth was very rich in gifts. They were not lacking in any gift. Yet, with all this exercise of gifts, the result was that the body was being destroyed.
Therefore, here you find the more excellent way—the more excellent way of exercising these gifts. This is a chapter on love.
What is love? Love is the life of the body. Love is the law of the body. Love is not a gift.
You cannot say that someone has been given the gift of love so that he can love, while God has not given you the gift of love, so you cannot love. No, you cannot say that. Why? Because love is not a gift.
Love is grace. There is a difference between grace and gift. A gift is something that God gives to each one of us differently. It is a skill or an ability that we may function with as members of the body of Christ.
But grace is not something that He gives to us merely as an ability or skill. Grace is God giving Himself to us as our life. Love is grace; it is not a gift. God is love. He gave Himself to us.
In giving Himself to us in grace, it is available to all; it is universal. Therefore, no one can say, “I have not been given love,” because God’s grace is impartially and freely given to us.
Love is the very life of Christ. Gifts are for function. We live by love, not by gifts; but we function with gifts.
How important it is, when we see the body of Christ, that we realize the very life of the body and the very law in the body is love.
Without love, no matter how many gifts we have, the body cannot live and it will not be built up. On the contrary, it will be destroyed. That is the reason why this chapter is so important.
It is a chapter on love, and the very life of the body is expressed in love as a way of life. We must live as members of the body. If we do not live and walk in the way of love, then we will never be able to live the body life.
How important it is for us to realize this.
This chapter is roughly divided into three parts. The first part is chapter 13, verses 1 through 3. There you find the value of love.
The apostle compares love with gifts:
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
Tongues of men, and even of angels. Now, to the Corinthian believers, tongues were the greatest gift. Why? Because it was something supernatural. It really made you feel that you were somebody. That is why the Corinthian believers coveted tongues more than anything else.
But Paul says, “If I speak with the tongues of men and even of angels, but do not have love, I am just making noises. That is all. There is absolutely nothing in it.”
Now, brothers and sisters, do remember this: a gift is a channel by which life may be imparted. The gift itself is not the substance. It is simply an ability, a skill.
By way of this gift, something of substance may be imparted, and the person’s life may be supplied. Whatever gift you may have—whether tongues, prophecy, healing, faith, or working of miracles—it is not the gift that deals with people. It is the substance through the gift that builds up the body.
It is the impartation of Christ. We learn to impart Christ to other people. The impartation of Christ as grace is love.
If we do not have love—in other words, if we do not have the measure of Christ in us—then even if we speak with tongues of men and angels, these are just high-sounding voices, high-sounding words, like a clanging cymbal: lots of noise; sweet words, lofty words, eloquent words, good words, mystical words—but there is no substance.
It does not build up the body. We need love. When these gifts are exercised in love, the substance—the life of Christ within us—is able to be ministered to others.
Without this, you may have a great measure of Christ within you, but you are not able to share it with other people. Christ is hidden within you. In order that you may help and minister to other people, you need these gifts, because they are channels, skills, and abilities.
But do not make the mistake of thinking that these gifts, by themselves, build up the body of Christ. They do not. It is love; it is Christ imparted through these gifts, that builds up the body of Christ.
That is why, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am merely a clanging cymbal making a lot of noise. But that is all; nothing is imparted.
And 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 have not love, I am nothing.
If I have prophecy, it means that I have insight into the very mind of God. I know what God is thinking concerning a particular situation—what He wants to say and what He desires. That is prophesying.
Not only prophecy, but knowledge: knowing all mysteries and all knowledge. Oh, brothers and sisters, how highly we would esteem such a person! If speaking in tongues of men and angels is something, then certainly prophecy, mysteries, and knowledge would be something.
If we are on the ground of estimation, we must be somebody. But Paul says, “I am nothing.” If you do not have love, you are absolutely nothing.
More than that, even if you have such faith that you can remove mountains, you can not only talk, but you can act. You have such faith that you can remove mountains. How we desire that!
I cannot forget that people asked George Müller, “Mr. Müller, you must have the gift of faith.” Why? Because, as a foreigner—he was a German—he went to England, and just by trusting God he supported thousands of orphans. He never told people of his needs; he simply went on his knees before God.
I hope you will read about him. In his lifetime, he could trace the answers to his prayers from beginning to end, recording half a million answers.
So people said, “Mr. Müller, you must have the gift of faith.” And George Müller answered, “No, I do not have the gift of faith. I have the grace to trust.”
Brothers and sisters, we may have all these things, but if we do not have love, we are nothing. There is no substance.
Oftentimes, we may speak very loftily, bring people into mysteries, and give the impression that we really know. Sometimes we may even be able to do great things. But, brothers and sisters, do not let these things mislead us. If we do not have love, we are nothing.
Then Paul enters into the realm of good deeds:
And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
If I give away all my things to the poor, and even if I am willing for my body to be burned, to be a martyr, certainly we would say that such a person must have love. No, not necessarily.
Some people do these things because they want to get a name. You remember Ananias and Sapphira in the Book of Acts. They sold their property and gave, but not out of love. They gave for a name. They wanted people to feel how spiritual they were.
Not in tongues, not in knowledge, not in prophecy, not in faith, not in giving away everything, not even in allowing ourselves to be burned—but in love.
This does not mean that God does not want us to have these things, nor does it mean that God does not want us to do these things. It does not mean that God despises these gifts—not at all. Gifts are all manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
It only means that if we do not have love, then these things are nothing. But if there is life, and love is behind tongues, love is behind prophecy, love is behind knowledge, love is behind mysteries, love is behind faith, love is behind giving away everything, and love is behind giving even our bodies sacrificially, then all these things are for the building up of the body.
In these verses, we see the value of love. In the next few verses, from verse 4 to verse 7, we have the qualities of love.
Love is not something nebulous. Love here is not merely an emotional thing. Of course, love can involve emotion, but this love is life. It is agape. It is more than an emotional thing.
Sometimes we consider love as an emotional expression. But love here is life. Because it is the life of God, the nature of that life is love. This nature needs to be developed into character.
On the one hand, brothers and sisters, we all have that love. It has been given to us. We all have the life of Christ, and the life of Christ in us has the nature of love. We all have it.
But, on the other hand, we do not have it as character. We have it as a nature, but we do not have it as character. Character must be developed.
This nature that is within us must be developed into character. We know that the development of character takes time. When character is developed, there needs to be training. You have to go through something for it to develop.
The qualities of love are found in the life of our Lord Jesus, because love to Him is more than a nature; love to Him is character. But so far as we are concerned, we are in the process of having this nature developed, and we need to be disciplined. If we are not disciplined, it will not be developed into character.
Love suffereth long, and is kind.
I often wondered, when I read this text, why it was written this way. If I were going to write a text on love, certainly I would not begin it this way.
Suppose you were going to write a text on love to define what love is and what its qualities are. What would you write? Probably you would think, “What is love? Love is good, giving itself.” In other words, our concept of love is that it must be positive, aggressive, and something going out.
Yet you find that the first quality of love is that it suffers long. O Lord, can this be a great chapter on love when it begins in such a negative way?
Not until the Lord showed me that He was not trying to give us merely a chapter on love as such. It is a chapter on love in the body.
As the body comes in, love is the law of the body. But when love is expressed in the body, the first way it is tested is in long-suffering.
We are brothers and sisters. God has put us together as members of the body of Christ. We are not Congregationalists. A congregation is a number of people gathering together. When they congregate, they are together; when the meeting is over, they are separated.
But the body is not like that. Whether the body is assembled or not assembled, the members of the body are never separated. God has put us in the body as members one of another.
We are not merely sitting by one another as members of a congregation. We are literally interrelated and built together in the body.
Because we are all members of the body, we are so close together. God has put us together in such an intimate way. Therefore, invariably, you will find that other members of the body often behave in a way that you do not like.
They may do something to you that you do not like. We are all different. God has put us together in such a way that the only way we can remain together is to suffer long.
If you do not want to suffer, get out of the body. But you cannot get out. That is the problem.
Love suffers long. Do not think that because you do something good to your brothers and sisters, therefore you love them. Oh, no. The measure of your love is how much you can suffer your brother.
Peter came to the Lord and asked, “Lord, how often shall I forgive my brother? Until seven times?” If I know human nature, I would say Peter thought that his brother must have been a difficult person. But actually, perhaps it was Peter who was the difficult one.
Peter was quick-tempered, impulsive, and not quiet. He noticed very little things. Oftentimes, those who are quick and hot-tempered marry someone who is quiet, cautious, and notices every little thing. But the friction is there, is it not? How often do we do the same thing?
With Peter, to suffer his brother seven times was a miracle. He thought he had done very well. So he came to the Lord and said, “Now, Lord, I forgive my brother seven times.” He was ready for the Lord to commend him.
Perhaps he expected the Lord to say, “Peter, you have done well. Now you can lose your temper.” But the Lord said, “I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.”
When the Lord says seventy times seven, it does not mean 490 times. If it were 490 times, you would be counting. In other words, you suffer long. There is no limit.
Look at our Lord Jesus, how He suffers us. Dear brothers and sisters, let us be very practical in love.
John said that we should not love in word only. We profess that we really love one another. Just see how much you are able to bear with your brother.
Every time the body is mentioned in the Bible, invariably you find exhortation for us to bear with one another and to forbear one another. Why? Because the body cannot exist without it.
It is the very life of the body: “forbearing one another.” O God, what a different kind of love this is—long-suffering.
Love suffers long and is kind. Long-suffering means that when you receive harm from your brothers and sisters, you are willing to accept it—not grudgingly, but really. But you do not repay it in kind.
It is not that you suffer long and that is the end of it. You suffer long, and then you do something positive to your brother. You are kind to him.
Look at our Lord Jesus. When they crucified Him on the cross, how they mocked Him and how they crucified Him! Yet He said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” That is kindness.
According to the law of Moses, it is an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But according to the life of Christ: “Father, forgive them.” Can we be kind to our brothers and sisters? We suffer so much, and that is love.
Love is not envious. When we see our brothers and sisters blessed by the Lord and used by the Lord in a way in which we have not been blessed or used, are we jealous?
Do we not think, “It could be mine”? It will not hurt us; it will hurt the body. Love is not envious.
Because when one member is glorified, the whole body rejoices. No member of the body is jealous of another member.
Perhaps the ears would say, “Well, I am not the eye, so I cannot see. I am jealous of the eyes.” Not at all. The ears rejoice that the eyes can see. Love is not envious.
Love does not vaunt itself. It is not boastful. It is not proud of itself. It is not vainglorious or seeking its own glory.
Love is not puffed up. It does not behave itself unseemly. In other words, love is never rude. Sometimes we say, “I am speaking the truth in love,” but we are absolutely rude.
Some think that being frank means being rude, but that is not frankness. I do not mean that we should be pretentious or hypocritical—not at all. But love considers others.
Love can be strong, but it is never rude. Never. It never does anything unseemly.
Love does not seek its own. Love is not self-seeking. It is not for itself.
Love is not provoked. The word “quickly” is not in the original. Sometimes people say, “I am not quickly provoked. I am provoked, but I am not quickly provoked.” But the word “quickly” is not in the original. Love is not provoked.
Even though you may be provoked, you are not provoked. Why are we so easily provoked? It is because we are too self-centred. That is not really love, either.
Love does not take account of evil. Brothers and sisters, you do not keep an account of what people have done to you. No, there is no record kept.
Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. This does not mean that because you do not take account of evil, therefore you are blind or indulgent. Not at all. You rejoice with the truth, but you do not rejoice in unrighteousness.
The word “beareth” means “covers.” You do not try, as it were, to break the roof and proclaim what is covered by it.
It is like the three sons of Noah. Ham was cursed because he saw his father naked and broadcast it. He made a public matter of his father’s shame. But the two other sons took a garment and walked backward so that they would not see their father’s nakedness, and they covered him.
Dear brothers and sisters, oftentimes when something happens, we tell another person. We must not only believe in the Lord; we must believe in our brothers. The reason why we can believe in our brothers is Christ.
Love hopes. Sometimes you may feel that certain brothers and sisters are hopeless, and perhaps you say, “You are hopeless.” But love hopes all things and endures all things for your brother and sister.
These are the qualities of love. These are the things that ought to be tested in the body. If they are not practiced in the body, the body cannot live.
No matter how many gifts there are, the body cannot be built up without love. But thank God, God is love. The only question is: has this love developed?
How does it develop? By the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is working in us. He looks to it that the life of Christ—love—may be made mature in us.
If only we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, the nature of God will be developed into character. Again, I say that the development of character takes time. It will be tested. It has to go through fire and water in order to become mature within us.
Finally, from verse 8 to verse 13, you find the permanence of love.
Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.
One day, we will not need to speak with tongues, because all will be clear. One day, we will not need to prophesy, because everything will be fulfilled. One day, we will not need knowledge in the present partial sense, because we shall know Him even as we are known by Him.
All these things will pass away. They are temporal, but love never faileth.
Whether it is tongues, prophecy, or knowledge, they are all partial. We only know in part. But love is the perfection of all this.
The more we are here in love, the more we grow.
It is true that we have to wait until that which is perfect is come. Then we shall put away all these partial things—our childish speaking, feeling, and reasoning—and be grown up. But until then, we have to follow after love.
Love is the way in which we have to walk. As we walk in this way and grow in love, all these gifts—the gifts of the Holy Spirit—will be properly used for the building up of the body.
Father, we do praise and thank Thee because Thou hast put us in the body. It is Thy will that each of us should be a functioning member, not merely living there passively, but functioning according to the gift that Thou hast given to each of us for the building up of the body.
But even more, we praise and thank Thee that Thou dost remind us that for the proper use of these gifts, we have to follow after love. O, we pray that the grace of God may so work in us that all these gifts may be used for the proper building up of the body of Christ. Amen.