Without Love I Am Nothing
I Corinthians 12:31b-13:13
What was the first thing you thought of when you heard the Epistle lesson for today? I would guess that for many of you those verses brought to mind a wedding, either your own or one you have attended. Those verses may have been read or may have been used as the text for the pastor’s message. Many couples have asked for that passage to be read as a part of their wedding ceremony because of what it says about the nature of love. It has such a wonderful application for a man and a woman who are about to become husband and wife. When you get to the part about love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it speaks to your human nature. It is actually a warning for you about letting your human nature take control of your relationships. When that happens, you are headed for trouble and the statistics that you hear about failed marriages seem to back that up. Most of the time when marriages end in divorce it is because there was not a willingness to be patient, kind, trusting and self-giving. This is a great text for a wedding if it is understood properly.
Having said that, it is also interesting to point out that the context of these words aren’t really speaking of a marriage. Paul had been talking about life in the church in the verses that come before the love verses. In the Epistle lesson from last week from I Corinthians 12, we heard about the body of Christ. “You are the body of Christ and each of you is a part of it,” Paul wrote. He talked about the importance of each part of the body. In comparing the church to a body, he mentioned that no one part can exist on its own. The various parts of the body need each other and each part plays an important function in the body. Not all the parts have the same job. Some are more out front that others. Some are in the background. Yet it is important for the whole body to realize that it is one body. When one part suffers the rest of the body suffers with it. When one part rejoices the other parts rejoice with it.
He continues with a summary of this line of thinking and then makes a direct application to the church. He mentions a number of functions in the church and makes the point that we don’t all have the same task. Not all are prophets, not all are teachers, not all are miracle workers and so on. We are not to become jealous of the gifts that others have and ignore the gifts that we have. Instead we are to use the gifts that the Lord gives us in His church in love. It is in that context then that he speaks about the importance of love. Paul summarizes his point by saying, “Without love I am nothing.” As we think about that statement today, may you come to realize the importance of God’s love in your life and may you be moved to put God’s love into action as you serve your Lord by serving His church and your community.
“Without love I am nothing.” What a powerful statement that is! First before we consider anything else, we have to understand what this love is. That word gets used and abused all the time in our world today. We talk about loving everything from our spouse to our pets to a new outfit to a large pizza with the works. Of course we mean different things as we use that word in different contexts. Greek does the same thing only it uses different Greek words for different kinds of love. The love that is mentioned here is a special kind of love that has its source in God. It is a love that is completely familiar with the object of love and loves with a giving kind of love that expects nothing in return. It is unconditional. It is not a love that has all kinds of “ifs” or “whens” attached to it. It is not “I will love you if you do what I tell you.” Or “I will love you when you start showing me some respect.” It is a love that simply loves you because you are God’s special creation. It is the love that Jesus spoke about when He said, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.”
It is a love that caused Him to sacrifice His only Son as the punishment for your sins. It was not deserved. It did not require complete obedience on our part. Without that love of God, you would be nothing. You would still be a lost and condemned sinner. Without that love you would not be able to be called a child of God through your Baptism. Without that love you would not be a part of the Body of Christ, the church. Without that love from God you would not be able to show that kind of love to others and especially to those in need. Your service to the church and to other people would mean nothing without the love of God in your heart.
It is that love then that empowers and gives value to your service to the church. There you see the context of these words coming in to play. Paul mentions a number of things that happen in the church that would be of no value at all without the love of God in your heart. He starts with the preacher. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am only a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.” In other words, I could be the greatest speaker in the world but if I am not speaking out of love for my hearers, I am just a lot of noise. It may be an impressive sound but it doesn’t really convey a message, much less the message of God’s love. I could be the greatest intellectual mind in the church but if I am not operating out of love for God and for the rest of the body of Christ, I am nothing. Even if I am generous to the poor and even sacrifice everything I have, even my life, but do not have love, I gain nothing. If all I am concerned with is personal gain, a good reputation, making a name for myself, in other words, just concerned with myself, I really don’t have that love of God alive in my life. I am nothing.
Paul then continues with the description of love as it is demonstrated in your relationships with others. It is patient. It is kind. It does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Loves bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. Once again, remember the context in which these words were written. He is talking about your life together in the church. How many churches down through the ages have been torn apart by people who did not allow this love to rule their hearts? The fact that we have so many different denominations just might be traced to the fact that personalities did not show the kind of patient love that is not proud and self-seeking.
That points out an important fact here. You are not perfect. You sin. You let your human nature rule your life when you know better. You are tempted and you have given in. Yet the beauty of God’s love is still there for you. Even when you rebel against God, He continues to love you with that never-ending love that knows all about you and loves you anyway. With that in mind, when you receive forgiveness, you are empowered to take that same love into your life and demonstrate it in your relationships with those around you in the church and in the other areas of your life. You show it to those in the church because you are fellow members of the body of Christ. You need them and they need you. When the body is not working together, you can imagine all of the painful things that can happen. Yet to show love to all the members of the body means that you are not resentful. You are not irritable. You do not insist on your own way. You can bear all things, believe all things, hope for the best and endure all things no matter what happens.
Paul closes this section of his letter with some additional comments about our life together in the church. First he says, “Love never ends.” God’s love for you never ends and you will always have it to share with others. Then he mentions that you need to keep in mind that your purpose here as a child of God is not just to satisfy yourself here on earth. He said, “Now I see a poor reflection in a mirror; then I will see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully even as I have been fully known.” The “then” that he is talking about is in heaven. Your time here is short. This is not your final destination. You are looking forward to the completion of all things in heaven. Your goal is heaven. The goal of the church is to make disciples of all nations so that all people may know fully and see God face to face. As you wait for all things to be completed, these three remain the key components of life in the church: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Amen.
February 3, 2013
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