Build Up the Church

Reading:  1 Corinthians 14:1-12
    
    For some reason, the Corinthians seem inordinately focused on the gift of speaking in tongues.  “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy”(1 Cor 14:1).  Prophecy is superior to tongues because “one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit” while “the one who prophesies speaks o people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation”(1 Cor 14:2, 3).  The whole issue here is understanding; when someone speaks in a tongue, they are speaking a foreign language.  As interesting as that phenomenon would be, it does little good.  Prophecy, meanwhile, speaks directly to people in intelligible ways and draws them closer to God by their understanding.  

    Paul then tries several metaphors to reinforce the point—musical instruments giving indistinct notes (v. 7), or an indistinct bugler attempting to summon an army (v. 8).  “There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me”(1 Cor 14:10-11).  We gain some insight into the nature of the gift of tongues here.  It appears to have been actual human languages that the speaker had not learned (see Acts 2:4-11).  All of these languages have meaning, but if I speak Vietnamese to a group of English speakers, there is little benefit.  “So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church”(1 Cor 14:12).  Here is the principle that guides our worship and interaction:  am I actually helping Christ’s church to be built up?

    Worship is a confusing topic for many in our world.  American churches strive to make worship appealing and exciting.  Did you enjoy the service?  Did it move you?  Did you “get anything out of it”?  Paul’s perspective is jarringly different.  His questions:  Did you understand what was said?  Do you leave encouraged and built up by hearing from God?  Rather than focusing on cool experiences and fleeting emotions, our goal in worship should be to clearly hear God’s word so that his people are built up.

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One Thing to Think About:  What is my focus when I gather to worship God with others?

One Thing to Pray For:  A deeper understanding of God’s word
 

Love Never Ends

Reading:  1 Corinthians 13:8-13
    
    Throughout this letter, Paul has been frustrated with the Corinthians’ tendency to focus on other things (their groups, their knowledge, their gifts) than loving their brothers.  Even when God blesses them with impressive spiritual gifts, love remains more important.  “Love never ends.  As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away”(1 Cor 13:8-10).  Love is better than spiritual gifts because it “never ends” while prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will all pass away.  These gifts are both temporary and partial; they will become obsolete by a superior knowledge “when the perfect comes.”

    There is a great deal of debate about what “the perfect” here means; some believe it refers to Jesus’ return, others to the completion of revelation of God’s word to man.  I believe there are valid cases for both of these interpretations, but I lean toward this describing the return of Jesus because of the promise of seeing “face to face” and “then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known”(1 Cor 13:12).  Regardless of your interpretation, Paul’s point is that spiritual gifts reflect a childlike state (1 Cor 13:11) that will be replaced by something far greater.  Why would we fixate on the partial, temporary gifts and neglect the surpassing permanence of love?  “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love”(1 Cor 13:13).

    We may not have the spiritual gifts the Corinthians enjoyed—prophecy and miracle-working and tongue-speaking and healing—yet we can easily share in their tendency to concentrate on our own gifts and neglect our need to love our brother.  As we grow in love, we latch onto something permanent.  Even when our gifts diminish because of age or lose importance because of our circumstances, love never fails.  Societal trends come and go, nations rise and fall, but “love never ends.”

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One Thing to Think About:  Do I ever focus so much on myself that I neglect my responsibility to my brothers?

One Thing to Pray For:  Growth in my love for others
 

The More Excellent Way

Reading:  1 Corinthians 13:1-7
    
    As the Corinthians clash and divide over the spiritual gifts they have received, Paul proposes to “show you a still more excellent way”(1 Cor 12:31).  Just as with knowledge (1 Cor 8:1), so spiritual gifts are not the most important part of following Jesus.  “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal”(1 Cor 13:1).  Speaking with tongues is useless without love.  Prophecy and miraculous knowledge and tremendous faith and amazing acts of self-sacrifice are nothing without love (v. 2-3).  The Christian life is never simply an intellectual matter, nor is it a matter of huge, dramatic gestures of faith.  It is about showing love, consistently and quietly, in everyday interactions.

    So Paul spells out what love looks like not by describing a series of emotions, but by the way it acts toward others.  “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude”(1 Cor 13:4).  Love does not view others as threats or rivals.  It is not easily frustrated or unkind.  When we love people, we let go of selfishness and learn to forgive their slights (v. 5).  We do not give up on the people we love simply because they are sometimes difficult or hurtful.  “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things”(1 Cor 13:7).  Love is tender and tough all at once.

     We have a similar problem to the Corinthians:  we get sidetracked from the key issues in our relationships with others.  We get a little too excited about whatever matters to us (knowledge, gifts, accomplishments, respect, attention).  Meanwhile, we think that since we don’t actively hate people that we know what love is.  Paul challenges us here that love is constantly proven in our interactions with others.  Our patience, kindness, compassion, and mercy must be continually demonstrated.  This is “a still more excellent way” to live.

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One Thing to Think About:  Are there some people I struggle to love?  Why?

One Thing to Pray For:  A sincere desire to do what is best for others
 

Division Through Condescension

Reading:  1 Corinthians 12:21-31
    
    Division in the Corinthian church runs two ways, as illustrated by Paul’s picture of body parts talking to one another.  Some may feel so unimportant that they don’t belong, but others can feel so important that they have no use for others.  “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,’ nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’”(1 Cor 12:21).  When others are quieter—or their gifts appear less valuable—or they contribute less to the group, it is easy to disdain them.  Paul insists that all members are “indispensable”(v. 22) and deserving of “greater honor”(v. 23, 24), like the private parts of our body that are covered and treated with great care.

    Crucially, we must remember the vision of the designer of the body.  “But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another”(1 Cor 12:24-25).  In God’s kingdom, we value the weak and unglamorous.  No one is overlooked.  God wants us to be united not only in mind and judgment (1 Cor 1:10), but in the “same care for one another.”  Our prideful attitudes precipitate division.  “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together”(1 Cor 12:26).  A properly functioning local church (like a human body) suffers and rejoices as one.  Despite the differences in our gifts (v. 28-30), we are united by love.

     Condescension leads to division.  We view others as less important, less valuable, and less worthy of our time and attention.  Our thinking inevitably comes across in how we deal with them.  We care more for others than for them and they can tell.  It is essential that we remember that we are not that great and that all people matter equally before God.  The unity and health of the body depends on it.

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One Thing to Think About:  How am I encouraging my brothers and sisters?

One Thing to Pray For:  All Christians to have the same care for one another
 

Division Through Insecurity

Reading:  1 Corinthians 12:12-20
    
    In a body, many separate members work together as one unit.  This is also Paul’s vision of the local church.  “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit”(1 Cor 12:13).  Thinking of the group as a singular unit helps us downplay the differences between us and focus our attention on the unique way we can contribute.  We learn to stay in our lane.  Just as the various parts of the body work together, contributing unique functions for the good of the whole body, so we each exercise our own gifts and blend them together as one.  The danger is that as we look at the gifts and work of others, we begin to question our own value.

    Paul illustrates this with the comical image of body parts talking to one another.  “If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body”(1 Cor 12:15).  Some of the Corinthians observe other, seemingly more impressive Christians—the “hands” and “eyes”—and then feel insecure in their own gifts.  They begin to feel that they “do not belong to the body.”  Yet Paul protests, “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?  If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?  But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose”(1 Cor 12:17-18).  Each part matters and adds something vital.  My gifts are from God and he made me “as he chose.”

    Insecurity can lead to division.  Feelings of inadequacy can extend to the spiritual realm.  We feel unappreciated and grow jealous and bitter.  It is important that we hear God’s affirmation of our usefulness and uniqueness so that we remain unified and the body functions as he intends.

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One Thing to Think About:  Why do I feel the need to compare myself to others?

One Thing to Pray For:  A strong sense of my value to God and his work