Love: The Ultimate Perfecter of the Spiritual Gifts

When we love we are being like God? But it's not just any kind of love and certainly not what the world portrays as love in movies. For starters, true love looks like 1 Corinthians 13, 1 John 4:8, and let's not forget John 3:16. Everyone knows at least the last portion of that Scripture including non-followers of Jesus. "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

Why do I bring the Bible into this discussion? After all, you may not be a Bible reader, and you may not even think the Bible is relevant to today's society. But you would be wrong because God is the very definition of love and He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; therefore He is always current. 

Why is love so important other than the fact that we all need it? The reason is where there is a vacuum of God's love, the enemy of our souls will seek to fill that gap with something else.
It's important to note that we are speaking of "agape," or unconditional love. Not romantic or "eros" love or even "philia" friendly love. This is the type of love that never changes just as God never does.

1 Corinthians 13 is a fascinating passage of Scripture for several reasons including the normal lesson on what love looks like. And we will discuss that here but I really want to look at Paul's connection between the spiritual gifts and love. I find it fascinating because we in the Church, especially in charismatic circles, but so much emphasis on the gifts, yours truly included, but Paul warns us about that. He warns us that the gifts are imperfect outside of the ministry of love which is the divine component that perfects them. That's because God is love and God is perfect. Do whatever you do in His love and you do it in perfection.

For instance, the partial gift of prophecy, faith, tongues, will all fail but since love never fails, when that which is perfect comes, it perfects the gifts. Notice that Paul is not referring to when we get  the great by and by, He is referring t now. That is why he begins this discourse with operating in the gifts without love amounts to nothing.

"The Greatest Gift

13 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ² And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

The spiritual in operation in the highest level done without love is nothing. That's hard for us to imagine in the church because we have such a celebrity mentality with out own brand of superstars in the faith. When they are operating in love, great! God is in it, but when it's apart from his genuine expression of love, it's just a gift operating in partiality no matter how impressive. (See my blogpost on the "Lesson on Spiritual Warfare: Prophecy vs. the Occult at http://asoniamorris.blogspot.com/2015/01/lesson-on-spiritual-warfare-prophecy-vs.html )

What does true love look like:

⁴ Love suffers long (patient) and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; ⁵ does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; ⁶ does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; ⁷ bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
⁸ Love never fails..."

Love is all of these things that really do not seems exceptional or outstanding or even really that impressive. They certainly do not seem spiritual by any means. Yet, that is how God chooses to describe how we are to love each other. Lest you think this perfection is an impossible standard God calls us to, this is a horizontal, human to human love that He expects us to 'administer' to each other. Walking in this kind of love is absolutely impossible without the infilling of the Holy Spirit. I don't care how amazing you are. You cannot do it without God's Spirit in you to accomplish it.

Keep in mind when Jesus gave His final charge before returning to the Father in heaven, He said, "I will go with you, I will never leave you nor forsake you." Matthew 28:19. That does not only refer to going on the foreign mission field to preach the Gospel and live among tribal people. That includes everything He told us to do that we are to continue in, even something as simple as loving our neighbor. I cannot be forgiving, love people who treat me badly, or any of it, without Him doing it through me. That is, I yield myself to Him on a daily basis in submission, and I don't have to struggle to do what He's told me to. He knows the human frame with all of our idiosyncrasies and weaknesses.

8" But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part. ¹⁰ But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.

Again the partial nature of the gives without love as the perfector. Prophecies on their own will fail, just tongues on their own will cease, knowledge on its own will disappear, because they are all partial but ...

¹³ And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

When the perfector, love has come on the scene, that which was partial is partial no more, it has been made whole, just like the One who makes all things new.

I leave you with 1 John 4:8: "He who does not love, does not know God, for God is love."

The corollary is: He who loves, knows God, because God is love.

And that is because true love is not just a human emotion but a divine impartation.

As life gets more difficult and things heat up on the world scene, let's trust God to help us to apply the perfecting power of love with reckless abandon.

Love Series: Love - A More Excellent Way than Power Gifts Alone

God is in the business of unity even in all of the diversity among mankind, both within the church and outside of it. However, apart from Him unity can neither truly exist nor be sustained. 

This is anything but novel but did you know that the Holy Spirit does not become female when ministering through a female? He is still God. One God in Three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Father and the Son are in heaven thought not confined there, the Holy Spirit is both there and here.He is Spirit and not constrained by time and space. Although all three Persons are always together though in perfect.  Our human minds cannot comprehend this completely.  

So only in the Holy Spirit can we ever be in "real time" with God. When you leave Him out of your home, your marriage, your ministry, or your meeting, you end up flat. And only through Him can we do the works of Jesus Christ, Who said we can "do nothing without Him." (John 15:5). But Paul tell us that in the anointing, we are neither male nor female. I don't mean we lose our gender, but that the Holy Spirit ministering through a person does not change Who He is based on the person's gender. We adjust to God; God does not adjust to us. Paul explains in Galatians 3:26-29 about those baptized in Jesus Christ. This is so awesome, check it out! 

"26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Distinctions that bring divisiveness disappear in the Spirit. Remember the Bible tells us there is always unity among the Three Persons of the Godhead. Never once has there ever been or will there ever be a disagreement within the Godhead among the Three Persons, who are very distinct yet equal to each other. They, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, always operating as One. That is why in 1 Corinthians 12 while discussing the cooperation within the Body of Christ of using the Spiritual Gifts, Paul tells us in verses 24-31 that there ought not to be a schism, meaning division or disunion: 

24"But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 
25 that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. 
26 And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

27 Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. 
28 And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles?
30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 
31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

Yes, the reason the Church is still here is to do the works of Jesus. What did He do? Well, the most famous Person to ever walk the earth did so much that the Bible says that if all He did were to be written down, the world would not be able to contain the amount of books that would be written. That's amazing considering His ministry only about 3 to 3 1/2 years long. And although we do know all that He did, thankfully, there is a good indication of His works here on earth in the Gospels, Acts of the Apostles, and Isaiah 42, 43, 53, 61 to start. 

How do we do these acts as He told us we would do in John 14:12 and elsewhere?  We do the acts of Jesus Christ by using the ministering gifts described in 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, through faith,  obeying His mandate to teach everyone about Him and His Kingdom and disciple the nations. 

But in ending 1 Corinthians 12, the last thing Paul says is in verse 31 that there is yet "a more excellent way" than the gifts anointing, 1 Corinthians 13, the Love chapter. Love is the better way Paul was referring to. In that chapter Paul tells us we have Faith, Love and Hope but the greatest of these is Love.  God is Love, (1 John, 4:18). And Jesus told us that the Greatest Commandment is to love God with all of our heart, strength, and mind and that secondly we should love our neighbor as ourselves. That is the "more excellent way". Remember when Jesus performed miracles. Several times in the Gospels we learn that He was moved with compassion before He ministered in power. I believe the Holy Spirit is saying to you and to me, passion before power, or to operate in love it better than to operate in power. That is the crux of the whole thing right there. Love... 

Love covers a multitude of sins.(1 Peter 4:8):  "And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” 

Love never fails, it conquers all. (1 Corinthians 13:8): "Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away."

It was love that moved the Father to send His son into the world to save us all: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him so not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

Gifts, powers, anointing, faith, hope love. The greatest of these is indeed love.