As God's children, we are called to live in
love and to minister with His love flowing through us. Christ is the head and we are parts of his body. He gives
each person gifts for the proper functioning of His body. The life of His body flows through His Holy Spirit which operates
in His love through His members and out to the world. This gift is to operate in His love. This is the reason
1 Corinthians 12 which describes spiritual gifts for believers and 1 Corinthians 14 which explains specifically gifts of prophecy
and tongues, has 1 Corinthians 13 sandwiched right in the middle because it is the love chapter. People can be extremely
gifted and exercise their gift, and if it is administered without love, it misses the mark. It is wholly ineffective.
This is because God is love. 1 John 4:15 says, "God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them."
Romans 11:29 says, "for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable." Once God gives
a gift, He does not withdraw it. Using the gift, however great and magnificent it may seem, if it is done without love,
it is useless. It is like pouring water over a rock. People need and are yearning for the love of God and when
it is present and pours from one of His vessels to another though the gifting He has given the fruit is great. When
His love is not present and the gift continues in operation, people become heady and high-minded. Pride comes in and
the move of the Holy Spirit stops. The body has then become severed from the head which is Christ. There
can be no increase for the kingdom and only destruction will remain. Proverbs 16:18 warns, "Pride goes before
destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."
It is like the vine and branches illustrated by Jesus in John 15. He is the vine and we are
the branches. When the branch does not remain in the vine, it withers and is no good but to be picked up and thrown
in the fire and burned. Jesus goes on to explain in John 15:12, "My command is this: Love each other as I
have loved you." 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 illustrates it clearly, "If I speak in the tongues of man 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 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."
Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must
love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34,35
*World
Faith Outreach Church Service Today 4:30
3rd and Main
Street
Downtown Baton , La, 70802
(in the historic Kress bldg)