LOVE, THE TRADEMARK OF A CHRISTIAN
Introduction: If you had to
summarize your life in six words, what would they be? Several years ago, an
online magazine asked that question. It was inspired by a possibly legendary
challenge posed to Ernest Hemingway to write a six-word story that resulted in
the classic "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." The magazine was
flooded with so many responses that the site almost crashed, and the responses
were eventually turned into a book.
"Not Quite What I Was Planning"
is filled with six-word memoirs by writers "famous and obscure." Here
are some of the memoirs that range from funny to ironic to inspiring to
heartbreaking: "One tooth, one cavity; life's cruel." "Savior
complex makes for many disappointments." "Cursed with cancer. Blessed
with friends."
The challenge of the six-word
limitation is its demand to focus on what matters most, to capture something of
significance briefly. How would you summarize your life in six words?[1]
How
would you summarize the life of a Christian in six words? We have been working
through the first letter of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthian Church. Here is
the context of I Corinthians. The
people of Corinth had a reputation in the ancient world as an unruly, hard-drinking,
sexually promiscuous bunch of people. When Paul arrived with the Message, many
became believers in Jesus. They brought their past baggage right with them into
the Church.
Paul wrote this letter to address
sin, doctrinal and marital conflicts, false teachers and lay out a God-honoring
path for Christians to follow. We have worked through various themes of his
letter up to chapter twelve. In chapter twelve, he highlighted the significance
and the use of Spiritual gifts. He pointed out that God gave various people
different gifts to benefit one another. He encouraged them not to get carried
away by their gifts and showed them a better way to live.
In the first three verses of chapter
thirteen, If I were to summarize what matters most in the life of a Christian
in Six words, it would be "Love, the Trademark of a Christian." I
Corinthians 13:1-3. I Corinthians chapter 13 is familiar to many people as
the great chapter on love. Politicians used it to inspire goodwill in others. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt took the oath at his inauguration with his hand on his
family Bible, open to 1 Corinthians 13.[2]
In his inaugural speech, President
Barak Obama used these words, "We remain a young nation, but in the words
of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things, referring to I
Cor 13:11.[3] For the next several
weeks, we will explore this excellent Way of living.
I.
A knowledgeable person without love sounds like a noisy gong and a cymbal (Vs.
1)
Vs.1,
"If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't
love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." In NASB,
it reads, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels." The
tongues of men refer to the understandable human languages. The tongues of
angels may refer to the medium by which angels communicate in heaven. This
verse refers to a super linguist who understands heavenly and earthly
languages.
Talk about the gift of languages
here. One of the struggles foreigners faces in a mission field is the language
barrier. It would take years to master the local language. Imagine a person
gifted in every language, from the time they land in any foreign country and
begin to speak about Jesus to the locals in their local language. That would
make someone a great missionary.
Yet Paul said that even if you have
that gift and do not love others, you're a resounding gong, a clanging cymbal.
The word for a gong here is the Greek word chalkŏs. It was a huge gong usually
put into pagan temples. It would stir the worshippers into a frenzy. Also,
cymbals were used in pagan worship; the cymbals would be like cymbals in a
symphony orchestra today.
The gong and the cymbals had one
thing in common: there was no music in them. All they made was a loud,
senseless sound. And Paul is saying that your gift of languages or knowledge is
just a loud noise if you do not love others. Most people cannot tolerate the
loud sounds of cymbals. Similarly, it is hard to be around a "Mr. or Miss
know-it-all" without love.
In chapter eight, Paul showed us how
love is superior to knowledge. I Cor 8:2-3, " Anyone who claims
to know all the answers doesn't really know very much. But the person who loves
God is the one whom God recognizes. Or the person who loves has complete
knowledge.
II.
Loving others is far more valuable than the manifestation gifts of the Spirit.
Vs. 2
Vs.2,
"If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God's secret
plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move
mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing." The Apostle Paul
referred to three manifestation gifts in this verse: Gifts
of prophecy, knowledge, and faith. We may have all these gifts and even be used
by God, but we amount to nothing when we do not love others. We can neither
impress God with our knowledge nor our performance void of love. God wants us
to serve Him, not out of duty or obligation but out of our love for Him. Jesus
said, if you love me, keep my commandments.
III.
Without Love, human generosity and personal sacrifice amount to nothing. Vs. 3
Vs.3, "If I gave everything I
have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it, but if I
didn't love others, I would have gained nothing." The early Christians
were known to be giving all they had to the poor and the needy (Acts 2:45).
The Martyrs (who willingly died for
their faith) were highly esteemed. However, those noble actions yielded no
spiritual benefit if not done out of love. Do we sacrifice our lives and possessions
out of loving obedience to the Lord, or in doing so, are we fulfilling a
selfish need in our own lives? Three times in these verses, Paul stresses the
need to love others. Why?
IV.
Love, The Trademark of A Christian.
What is a trademark? A trademark can
be any word, phrase, symbol, design, or combination of these things that
identifies your goods or services. It's how customers recognize you in the
marketplace. Similarly, Christ has left a trademark for all His followers. It
is not the cross, but it is love. We will explore this extensively in the
coming weeks.
For now, love is the trademark of a
Christian. In the OT testament, God gave several commandments to evoke a
specific response from His people. In the NT, Christ not only told us what to
do but showed us how to do it. John 13:34-35, "So now I am giving you a
new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love
each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples."
It is not by what we do but by how
we love one another people will recognize us that we are His disciples. All the
apostles proudly wore that trademark of love, served their master, and were
martyred for their faith. Subsequently, many Christian men and women wore that
badge of love and followed the footsteps of our savior. Even today, many are
being persecuted for the Lord in many countries worldwide because of their
trademark of love.
The opposite is also true. Unfortunately,
the world perceives many Christians as unloving and uncaring. Some in the name
of Christ commit all kinds of atrocities, making people wonder who they follow?
If you call yourself a follower of Christ in the 21st century, can
people recognize you by your love for the Lord? Do you love one another as
Christ loved us?
Or do you find it hard to love
people in general? If so, why? In our Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Course
on Wednesday Nights, we are wrestling with these matters of love. When we are
emotionally and spiritually healthy, we can not only love God, ourselves, and
others, including our enemies; by doing so, God is glorified, and we will be
blessed. Amen!
[1] Source: Adapted from John Ortberg,
All the Places You'll Go ... Except When You Don't (Tyndale, 2015) pp. 1-2
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_inauguration_of_Franklin_D._Roosevelt
[3] https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamainauguraladdress.htm
