The Love Principle - Study 28: Love as Excellence
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1 Corinthians 12:31 NIV
[31] Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.12.31.NIV)
There are many organisations across the world that enforce standards and excellence.
Companies sign up to meet their standards to show that they are trustworthy and efficient: that the goods they produce and the methods used to produce them are the very best there are. Management of such companies take great pride in being certified as meeting those standards.
The most famous of them all, of course, is the Switzerland-based International Standards Organisation, or ISO. Becoming ISO certified is a huge deal for many organisations. Having that plaque or that certificate on the wall gives you a ring of confidence that someone properly qualified has confirmed that you are doing a great job, that you have reached a standard of excellence.
Which means that managers chasing this certification drive their employees crazy with demands to meet it and to keep it.
There is a standard of excellence in Scripture. It is a level to which every one of us should aspire. Even just the process of striving to meet it changes absolutely everything and makes us better people: people who truly do live for and glorify their God.
Paul talks of it in 1 Corinthians 12:31. He calls it ‘the most excellent way’: a way or method or process that far outstrips all others for its quality and excellence.
It is truly the height of human achievement. There never was, never is and never will be anything better.
Do you know what it is?
It’s love. Agape love.
The love we are commanded to have for God, our neighbours and ourselves.
That love.
In these three chapters of 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14, Paul told us that love was superior to three things that we treasure, both in the church and life in general. When we value them more than love, we make a serious mistake that destroys relationships and ruins our lives.
But when we get it right – ah! When we get it right! – the church functions as it should and lives are utterly and eternally transformed.
The first of these three things is that love is Better Than Gifts.
Better Than Gifts
1 Corinthians 12:27-31 NIV
[27] Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. [28] And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. [29] Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? [30] Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? [31] Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.12.27-31.NIV)
When I was a child, the first thing I wanted to be was a train driver. However, I was way better at being a train passenger.
Then I dreamed of being a footballer. However, after my damp home and my football club’s manager’s chain smoking made me asthmatic, and my lack of desire to do any training at all, allied to my lack of discernable skill, kind of killed of my chances of crossing the touchline and kicking a ball, I became a much more skilled football watcher.
Then I fancied myself as a rock star. I longed to either sing (my voice broke while I was singing in a Salvation Army choir and never recovered), play guitar (the furthest I got was the bass notes for Ben E King’s ‘Stand By Me’) or drums (my ‘career’ endedwhen an attempted fill sounded more like a washing tub being thrown downstairs), but I could do none of them well. In fact, so bad was I that when I was part of a short-term missionary team and was asked what I could do, I replied ‘Anything but singing’.
Sad to say that my wife would agree. She told me that she liked it when we went to church during the Covid pandemic because she could stand next to me without hearing me sing, since it was illegal at the time.
She probably thinks my singing voice should still be illegal.
I got the opportunity to preach for three years in Romania, sometimes as much as three or four times a week. Nowadays, I preach once every two years or so in the Philippines.
During and immediately after the pandemic, I was appreciated for some pretty creative Kids Talks in church, but those were cut as the preachers wanted more time.
So now I content myself with writing these studies.
We all long for the limelight, to trip the light fantastic, to have people recognise us for our gifting and to respect us. As an extrovert, I understand it. I get it. I was there myself.
But lately, as I sit on the back benches and write these lines, I feel like God has been teaching me personally a very big lesson.
You see, the Corinthian church is the only church that seems to have had a real issue with gifts and their use as leverage to gain power and prominence in church. An alternative, but perfectly feasible, translation of the first half of 1 Corinthians 12:31 stated that the Corinthians were ‘eagerly desiring the greater gifts’, and from the context of the rest of the chapter, as well as the chaos Paul tried to put right in 1 Corinthians 14, that could well be correct. What we see in that chapter is that their services had become chaotic and disorganised, with people battling to demonstrate that they had some significant spiritual gifts by showing it off, even if what they were showing off was of no real use to the church, which led Paul to give them this rebuke:
1 Corinthians 14:12 NIV
[12] Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.14.12.NIV)
And that’s precisely the point. If we are using our gifts to draw attention to ourselves, to feel good about ourselves, to prove to ourselves that we really are someone special, who are we really serving?
The answer is obvious and searingly painful: we are serving ourselves. We are seeking our glory, not God’s.
That is not to say that we should not use our gifts in public ministry. Of course we should. If God gave us it, then we should use it.
But we always have to check our motivation.
You see, the principle that over-rides everything is love. It isn’t enough just to ‘have it and flaunt it’ in ministry. It isn’t enough to realise you have a gift and seek to develop it – even if it is God’s glory. You could be the greatest preacher, the greatest singer, the greatest apologist the world had ever seen, but still completely miss out on the very essence of what it means to follow Jesus Christ.
Read again these stirring words from 1 Corinthians 13:
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NIV
[1] If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. [2] 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 do not have love, I am nothing. [3] If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.13.1-3.NIV)
Paul’s point was that yes, we should use our gifts and seek to excel in them; yes, we should use our gifts to serve the church. Absolutely. No-one is disputing that.
But first of all, and above all other considerations, we must love. Because it isn’t our gifts that cause us to obey God, it’s love.
This is a message I feel the modern church needs to hear right now.
So we have seen, then, that love is better and more excellent than even spiritual gifts. Now, I want you to see that love is Better Than Graft.
Better Than Graft
1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 27-31 NIV
[7] Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. [8] To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, [9] to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, [10] to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. [11] All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
[27] Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. [28] And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. [29] Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? [30] Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? [31] Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.12.7-31.NIV)
When I was in my teens, someone said of my that I ‘always seem to be busy’. I was always in a rush.
There were a few reasons for that.
Firstly, to be honest, I wasn’t the best organised. People who are not organised are always in a rush because they have a feeling that they should be doing something or be somewhere but they can’t remember what it is. Then they realise and it dawns on them that they are late.
People who are well organised and in control never look rushed. They appear calm. That’s how you can tell them apart.
Secondly, I always moved quickly from place to place. Life was never about the journey, always about the arrival. There was a reason for that too. I had spent most of my formative years in a town with a reputation for gang violence. People moved quickly from place to place for their own safety. The journey was nerve-wracking. The arrival meant relief.
Thirdly, busyness is a good substitute for thinking and spirituality. If you are busy, you can avoid thinking about your own sins and mistakes and repenting. You can substitute proper growth and maturity for simple movement and activity.
Even if that movement and activity doesn’t produce much.
I want you to take a look at those verses again. You see there a lot of important people doing a lot of important stuff. They are active. They are involved.
Having been involved in churches for most of my life, I can say that getting people to do something – anything – can be half the battle. A legacy of the mentality of our national churches (Anglican, Catholic, Orthodox, Presbyterian) is that Christianity can be seen as something of a spectator sport, where the pastor/minister/priest does all the ‘holy stuff’ and we just sit there and expect to be blessed.
That was evidently not true in Corinth.
However, the problem they had was that everyone was active and participatory for the wrong reasons. They were trying hard to serve themselves, not others and not God. They were actively building their own kingdoms, not God’s.
Look again at the first three verses of 1 Corinthians 13:
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NIV
[1] If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. [2] 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 do not have love, I am nothing. [3] If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.13.1-3.NIV)
‘If I speak...’. ‘If I prophesy...’. ‘If I give...’. These are all verbs. They are all action words. They are not insignificant actions either. They are important. Potentially life-changing.
Yet Paul said that without love, even they are nothing!
Look again at one of the most famous events in the Gospels, and a tale we teach our children from when they are old enough to understand:
Luke 10:38-42 NIV
[38] As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. [39] She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. [40] But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” [41] “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, [42] but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.10.38-42.NIV)
Martha was distracted by activity – important, necessary activity, but still a distraction – while her sister sat at Jesus’ feet, expressing her love for Jesus by spending time with Him and listening to Him.
Do you see it? I’m sure you do.
Often our churches we are distracted by activities and programs. They are necessary. Of course they are. But they cannot distract us from the one thing that is more important than any other:
Love.
If there is no love, we can do whatever we like to bring people in. We can be as relevant as we like. They might come. They might listen for a while. But the love they perceive and feel while they are there is what will make the difference. No amount of perfectionist programming or special effects can replace it.
It is love that convinces people we are truly His disciples, not activity or work.
Do we realise that?
So we have seen that love is better than gifts and graft. Love is also Better Than Glory.
Better Than Glory
1 Corinthians 12:31 NIV
[31] Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.12.31.NIV)
1 Corinthians 12:7 NIV
[7] Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.12.7.NIV)
1 Corinthians 14:12 NIV
[12] Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.14.12.NIV)
In the 1930s, some bright spark came up with an idea for a new energy drink, created it and marketed it and was absolutely sure it would be a huge success.
He could not have been more wrong. His creation – RadiThor – contained diluted radium, which is highly radioactive. The end result wasn’t increased energy, it was deadly radiation poisoning.
Paul wrote these words to a church that was tremendously gifted. They had a lot going for them and plenty of potential.
But they also had completely the wrong values.
So, while on the outside many would applaud them for their resources and activities, on tbe inside something was going very badly wrong.
Like the manufacturer of RadiThor, they were misusing the powerful things that they had.
Instead of using their gifts for God’s glory, they were using them for their own.
Look again at what Paul told them about love:
1 Corinthians 13:5 NIV
[5] It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.13.5.NIV)
Love does not push itself forward, particularly at the expense of others.
As Isaiah prophesied:
Isaiah 42:8 NIV
[8] “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/isa.42.8.NIV)
Look again at how chaotic their worship was:
1 Corinthians 14:26-33 NIV
[26] What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. [27] If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. [28] If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God. [29] Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. [30] And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. [31] For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. [32] The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. [33] For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.14.26-33.NIV)
Paul was trying to correct a situation where gifted people were constantly trying to practice their gifts all at once, to have their say and share the opinion all at once. It was a cacophony.
When you insist on sharing your gift when you want, who really gets the glory? Whose fame are you seeking? Whose kingdom are you building?
And that’s the problem.
Yes, we should use the gifts God has given us, but their primary function is to glorify God by serving His church in love, not by showing off our ability. The church is not a talent show.
It’s not just about what do, but how and why we do it.
It all has to be underpinned by love. Otherwise it’s useless.
Conclusion
1 Corinthians 12:31 NIV
[31] Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.12.31.NIV)
I have never in any way been an athlete. I would give myself a gold medal for running for a bus if I actually caught it. I know, though, that those who are successful have to have an almost all-consuming drive for excellence. Their drive causes them to eschew or cut down on things that the rest of us mere mortals consider normal. They have to sacrifice important family occasions and holidays. They go into very strict training for and are often away in training camps for weeks on end, away from loved ones.
All in the pursuit of excellence in their field.
We Christians are supposed to strive not just for competency or adequacy but excellence:
1 Corinthians 9:24-25 NIV
[24] Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. [25] Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/1co.9.24-25.NIV)
Philippians 3:10-14 NIV
[10] I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. [12] Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. [13] Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/php.3.10-14.NIV)
For those of us who have some kind of skill, we might want to go into special training and hone it, or find ways to get experience using it, or make sure that we are ahead of the game with how others are putting it into practice by reading journals.
These can all be useful and important. When we have a gift from God, we ought to use it to the best of our abilities.
However, there is something more important than all of these: more important that our gifts, more important than our graft, way more important than any glory we could ever seek for ourselves.
We must love.
I remember hearing of a missionary who was going to reach a hard-to-reach people from a distant culture with the Gospel. He was already struggling to get his head around the culture and the language and all the differences he would have to absorb. In his struggle, he turned to an older, more experienced missionary to ask what he should do.
‘How do I reach these people for Christ?’ he asked. ‘What should I do?’
The older missionary turned to him, looked at him straight in the eye and told him these words:
‘Love them.’
And that was it. That was the advice.
And it was the correct advice. Love is the most excellent way. It's more powerful than any method or gimmick or technique. It is more effective than any argument or apologetic or public speaking. There is nothing that can replace it or better it. If we want to excel in our Christian walk – and we should – then we must love.
There simply is no other way.
As the English pop band Madness put it succinctly:
‘It must be love, love, love
Nothing more, nothing less
Love is the best’
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am sorry when I have got my priorities wrong and have sought to excel in so many things but I have been so poor at loving. Teach me how to love. Show my how to love. Help me to love, I pray. Amen.
Questions for Contemplation
What does Paul say love is more excellent than?
Why is love the most excellent way?
What will you change to prioritise excelling on love over everything else?
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