What Is Love?
1. Produce by Faith (v2)
And if I have the gift I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
„à Now Paul goes on his third point about faith. Even if the person¡¦s faith has the power so as to remove mountains (referring to trusting God to do mighty things in behalf of His children). Paul say¡¦s a Christian is nothing if he does not have love.
Matthew 17:20 He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ’Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." The Lord¡¦s point to His disciples was that, by trusting Him completely, nothing in their ministry would be impossible.
„à Illustration of Jonah - Jonah had great faith. It was because of his great belief in the effectiveness of God¡¦s Word that he resisted preaching to Nineveh He was not afraid of failure but of success. He had great faith in the power of God¡¦s Word. His problem was that he did not want the wicked Ninevites to be saved. He had no love for them, not even after they repented. He did not want them saved and was resentful of the Lord¡¦s saving them. As the direct result of the prophet¡¦s preaching, everyone in the city from the king down repented. Even the animals were covered with sackcloth as a symbol of repentance. God miraculously spared Nineveh, just as Jonah knew he would. Then we read of one of the strangest and most hardhearted prayers in all Scripture: Everything Jonah acknowledged the Lord to be, the prophet himself was not and did not want to be. A more loveless man of God is hard to imagine. His faith told him that a great success would come in Nineveh, but the prophet was a great failure. The preaching wrought a great miracle, as he believed it would, but the preacher was a nothing.
2. Produce by Giving (v 3)
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor,
„à If you¡¦ve ever donated to your church or another charitable organization out of obligation, peer pressure, legalism, guilt, a desire for recognition, or simply to earn a tax deduction, you know what it means to give without love. Jesus, making a similar point, said, ¡§Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven¡¨ (Matt. 6:1).
If your motive for giving is to gain the approval of men, their accolades will be your only reward. If you¡¦re motivated by love for God, He will reward you abundantly (vv. 2¡V4). When you give to the Lord, what is your motive? Do you want others to think more highly of you? Do you feel obligated? Those are subtle influences, so be sure to guard your motives carefully. Remember, the only acceptable motive is love.
Luke 18:28 Then Peter said, "See, we have left all and followed You."
Luke 19:8 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold."
Luke 21:3 He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all;
Luke 21:4 "for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."
3. Result In Death (v3)
and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
„à Finally, Paul say¡¦s if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. In Paul¡¦s time, many slaves were branded with a hot iron to identify them as belonging to their master. For that reason, some interpreters believe Paul was referring to becoming a slave when he spoke of delivering his body to be burned (1 Cor. 13:3). Others think he was speaking of burning at the stake¡Xa death that many Christians suffered at the hands of their persecutors.
„à Although death by burning wasn¡¦t a common form of persecution until after Paul wrote to the Corinthians, I believe that¡¦s what he had in mind in this passage. In verses 1¡V2 he used extremes to make his point: speaking with the tongues of angels, knowing all mysteries and having all knowledge, having all faith, and giving all one¡¦s possessions to feed the poor. The horrible, agonizing pain associated with death by fire is consistent with those extremes.
„à Jesus called martyrdom the highest expression of love (John 15:13). But it isn¡¦t always a godly or loving thing to do. Many people have died for lesser reasons. You may recall stories of the Japanese pilots in World War II or, more recently, monks or students who burned themselves in protest of some political or social injustice.
„¯ St. Stephen suffered the next in order. To such a degree of madness were they excited, that they cast him out of the city and stoned him to death. We are immediately told by St. Luke, that ¡§there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem;¡¨ and that ¡§they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.¡¨ About two thousand Christians, with Nicanor, one of the seven deacons, suffered martyrdom during the ¡§persecution that arose about Stephen.¡¨
„¯ James the Great The next martyr we meet with, according to St. Luke, in the History of the Apsotles¡¦ Acts, was James the son of Zebedee, the elder brother of John, and a relative of our Lord; for his mother Salome was cousin-german to the Virgin Mary. James was led to the place of martyrdom, his accuser was brought to repent of his conduct by the apostle¡¦s extraordinary courage and undauntedness, and fell down at his feet to request his pardon, professing himself a Christian, and resolving that James should not receive the crown of martyrdom alone. Hence they were both beheaded at the same time. Thus did the first apostolic martyr cheerfully and resolutely receive that cup, which he had told our Savior he was ready to drink.
„¯ Philip He was scourged, thrown into prison, and afterwards crucified, A.D. 54.
„¯ Matthew suffered martyrdom, being slain with a halberd in the city of Nadabah,
„¯ James the Less - At the age of ninety-four he was beat and stoned by the Jews; and finally had his brains dashed out with a fuller¡¦s club.
„¯ Matthias Of whom less is known than of most of the other disciples, was elected to fill the vacant place of Judas. He was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded.
„¯ Andrew - Was the brother of Peter. He preached the gospel to many Asiatic nations; but on his arrival at Edessa he was taken and crucified on a cross, the two ends of which were fixed transversely in the ground.
„¯ St. Mark - was dragged to pieces by the people of Alexandria, at the great solemnity of Serapis their idol, ending his life under their merciless hands.
„¯ Peter Among many other saints, the blessed apostle Peter was condemned to death, and crucified. Nero sought matter against Peter to put him to death; which, when the people perceived, they entreated Peter with much ado that he would fly the city. Peter, through their importunity at length persuaded, prepared himself to avoid. But, coming to the gate, he saw the Lord Christ come to meet him, to whom he, worshipping, said, ¡§Lord, whither dost Thou go?¡¨ To whom He answered and said, ¡§I am come again to be crucified.¡¨ By this, Peter, perceiving his suffering to be understood, returned into the city. Jerome saith that he was crucified, his head being down and his feet upward, himself so requiring, because he was (he said) unworthy to be crucified after the same form and manner as the Lord was.
„¯ Paul, the apostle, who before was called Saul, after his great travail and unspeakable labors in promoting the Gospel of Christ, suffered also in this first persecution under Nero. Abdias, declareth that under his execution Nero sent two of his esquires, Ferega and Parthemius, to bring him word of his death. They, coming to Paul instructing the people, desired him to pray for them, that they might believe; who told them that shortly after they should believe and be baptised at His sepulcher. This done, the soldiers came and led him out of the city to the place of execution, where he, after his prayers made, gave his neck to the sword.
„¯ Jude - The brother of James, was commonly called Thaddeus. He was crucified
„¯ Bartholomew -Preached in several countries, and having translated the Gospel of Matthew into the language of India, he propagated it in that country. He was at length cruelly beaten and then crucified by the impatient idolaters.
„¯ Thomas called Didymus, preached the Gospel in Parthia and India, where exciting the rage of the pagan priests, he was martyred by being thrust through with a spear.
„¯ Luke the evangelist, was the author of the Gospel which goes under his name. He travelled with Paul through various countries, and is supposed to have been hanged on an olive tree, by the idolatrous priests of Greece.
„¯ Simon Surnamed Zelotes, preached the Gospel in Mauritania, Africa, and even in Britain, in which latter country he was crucified, A.D. 74.
„¯ John The ¡§beloved disciple,¡¨ was brother to James the Great. Domitian afterwards banished him to the Isle of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of Revelation. He was the only apostle who escaped a violent death.
The conclusion is evident. If love is so necessary, then it is imperative that a believer produce the fruit of the spirit in the midst of his service. God is more interested in why you give than what you give.
