Spiritual Gifts And Love

Paul does not lay down an order of service, but he does state that our gatherings are to have a balanced participation of gifted members. Equally, when we meet for teaching, fellowship and edification, we should do so in an orderly way. Does it make sense that if Spiritual gifts are given to promote unity that they are to be exercised in a unified and unifying way? I think so. Gifts must be used in a way that is consistent with the aims of the gifts. Gifts are to promote unity; thus they must be exercised in a sense of unity too.

Time for a free plug. For the last couple of months, I’ve been listening to Good News AM (1620 on the AM dial) on weekday mornings. A few weeks ago, on their excellent programme called "Back to the Bible" which is on at 8:00am, the speaker was talking about living in the grey areas of life. He said that it’s OK for a church to have differences, but it cannot tolerate division. Anything that we do that promotes disunity or division or disharmony is sin. I can see some grey areas in that statement because there are times when we need to be challenged in our Godliness or to understand another’s point of view, but I think essentially, the speaker got it right. Churches can live with differences, but anything that promotes disunity is sin.

And so we have Spiritual gifts, given to every believer, from God, for the common good to build and support the body of Christ. Within that body we are to be interdependent - showing concern and respect for each other.

THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY - WITHOUT LOVE YOU ARE NOTHING

But then Paul says something strange. In chapter 12 verse 31, he says, "And now I will show you the most excellent way." It’s a weird sentence. The most excellent way of doing what? Of using our Spiritual gifts - or more correctly of exercising the gifts that God provides.

Paul has encouraged the Corinthians to understand and use their gifts for building up the body of Christ. He has described the nature and purpose of such gifts, and he now talks about the context and motivation for exercising those gifts. "And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 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 love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."

Paul is not depreciating gifts, since, as Leon Morris observed, "there is something higher than the greatest of these gifts, and something that is within the reach of the humblest ... believer". Love. Paul is not saying that love is a way to attain gifts, but that love is to be pursued for its own sake not for what we can get, but for what we can give. At the Katoomba Men’s Convention earlier this year, Roy Clements emphasised that love is not a noun, it is a verb. It is not something we get, it is something we do.