“WHAT” AND “HOW” PT. II
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Because the Christian faith is ultimately about the status of our hearts, just doing something isn’t enough when it comes to being followers of Jesus Christ. We can go around and feel that we are great people because of the things that we “do” but what God is concerned with regarding us goes deeper than that. It’s not just what we “do”, it’s also “how” we do it and the two are inseparable when it comes to our Christian walk.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-3 – ESV)
Have we ever given true thought to what Paul is saying here? In summary, he is telling us that how we do things is equally important as what we actually do but the examples that he uses are very interesting when we take a look at the concepts that he is presenting in other places in the Bible. Let’s break this down a bit:
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
(Mark 12:28-31 – ESV)
According to Jesus Himself, to love God and to love others basically summed up how believers are to live. It is out of this love for God that we then have a love for others. It is out of this love for God and love for others that we do what is right by people. But it should also be out of this love for God and love for others that leads to how we do right by people as well. The key in whatever we do is love. And without love (love for God, love for others), every thing that we do is worthless to God.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
REFERENCE
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
(Acts 2:5-11 – ESV)
Let’s apply 1 Corinthians 13:1 to what took place during the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. In the Bible, when we see tongues being spoken, we see people declaring the great things of God. So while declaring the great things of God is awesome and does so much for the hearers, if it isn’t done so in love, we can be the cause of people missing the message that they need to hear in order to be saved and instead be an annoyance and hindrance to them. If the disciples in Acts 2 did not have love in their hearts while exercising the gift of tongues, what went down that day would have been much different.
“And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge…but have not love, I am nothing.”
REFERENCES
But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
(1 John 2:20 – ESV)
This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
(1 Corinthians 4:1 – ESV)
It is a blessing to understand the mysteries of God and to have knowledge concerning the Lord. And it is God who blesses with being able to have understanding. But to have understanding and not have love amounts to nothing. It just means that we have a bunch of head knowledge but what change has taken place in our hearts? To have understanding means nothing without love. Love is something that is on the inside and combined with knowledge, it allows us to truly worship the Lord in spirit (love) and in truth (knowledge).
“and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
REFERENCE
And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
(Matthew 17:14-20 – ESV)
As believers, we would all agree that faith is something that is necessary and vital to our Christian walk. And it is true that we need to have strong faith in order to move whatever mountains that seek to be obstacles in our lives out of the way so that we can carry out the will of God. Some of us are probably not where we should be in our walk because of lack of faith and that is something we could definitely grow in.
But notice that 1 Corinthians 13:2 says “all faith.” Not just a little, not halfway, or mostly, but ALL. So in the example that Paul is using, this person is a conqueror in Christ for sure but because that same person doesn’t have love, that person is actually nothing. This person will be able to put on an excellent display of faith but his/her heart still isn’t right because there is a lack of love.
CLICK TO READ PT. II
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-
Have we ever given true thought to what Paul is saying here? In summary, he is telling us that how we do things is equally important as what we actually do but the examples that he uses are very interesting when we take a look at the concepts that he is presenting in other places in the Bible. Let’s break this down a bit:
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
(Mark 12:28-
According to Jesus Himself, to love God and to love others basically summed up how believers are to live. It is out of this love for God that we then have a love for others. It is out of this love for God and love for others that we do what is right by people. But it should also be out of this love for God and love for others that leads to how we do right by people as well. The key in whatever we do is love. And without love (love for God, love for others), every thing that we do is worthless to God.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”
REFERENCE
Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
(Acts 2:5-
Let’s apply 1 Corinthians 13:1 to what took place during the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. In the Bible, when we see tongues being spoken, we see people declaring the great things of God. So while declaring the great things of God is awesome and does so much for the hearers, if it isn’t done so in love, we can be the cause of people missing the message that they need to hear in order to be saved and instead be an annoyance and hindrance to them. If the disciples in Acts 2 did not have love in their hearts while exercising the gift of tongues, what went down that day would have been much different.
“And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge…but have not love, I am nothing.”
REFERENCES
But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
(1 John 2:20 – ESV)
This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
(1 Corinthians 4:1 – ESV)
It is a blessing to understand the mysteries of God and to have knowledge concerning the Lord. And it is God who blesses with being able to have understanding. But to have understanding and not have love amounts to nothing. It just means that we have a bunch of head knowledge but what change has taken place in our hearts? To have understanding means nothing without love. Love is something that is on the inside and combined with knowledge, it allows us to truly worship the Lord in spirit (love) and in truth (knowledge).
“and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
REFERENCE
And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him and, kneeling before him, said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly. For often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
(Matthew 17:14-
As believers, we would all agree that faith is something that is necessary and vital to our Christian walk. And it is true that we need to have strong faith in order to move whatever mountains that seek to be obstacles in our lives out of the way so that we can carry out the will of God. Some of us are probably not where we should be in our walk because of lack of faith and that is something we could definitely grow in.
But notice that 1 Corinthians 13:2 says “all faith.” Not just a little, not halfway, or mostly, but ALL. So in the example that Paul is using, this person is a conqueror in Christ for sure but because that same person doesn’t have love, that person is actually nothing. This person will be able to put on an excellent display of faith but his/her heart still isn’t right because there is a lack of love.
CLICK TO READ PT. II
