If you
drive by the corner of Quince/Mt. Moriah during the morning or
evening rush hour, on most days, who do you see? You see the
minister of that church. He's usually standing out there with a big
smile, waving at every car as they drive by, talking to passengers
when the light is red. When the weather is hot, he hands bottles of
cold water to passing cars from a cooler on the sidewalk. When the
weather is cold, he's still out there with his smile. More often than
not, he's wearing some type of silly hat, and if he gets the chance,
he will invite you to his church that Sunday. To me and probably to
most people, he is a fixture of our morning commute. He's been doing
this for so long now and so consistently that I notice when he's NOT
there. You might think that this guy standing there holding up
traffic everyday would be annoying to the drivers, but I think that
most drivers are like me and don't mind, or they actually enjoy
seeing the smiling face. The other day I ran into the host of FOX
13's morning show, Valerie Calhoun. And when I say I ran into her...
I literally ran into her... I hit her car with my car. While we were
waiting on the police to show up, we had the chance to talk for a
while and get to know each other. She was very nice. And if that
situation isn't embarrassing enough, every third car was yelling at
us, “Valerie, I love your show!” As we talked, she found out
that I lived in the neighborhood, she asked me about the minister who
stands on the corner every morning. She said that she had heard
about him and they had talked about doing a segment on him at some
point. He's getting a reputation. That guy stands out there every
day at that intersection waiting on the chance to invite someone to
church.
Compare
that story with this story...
The other
day, I was going through the intersection of Park/Getwell. As I
pulled up to the red light, I noticed a woman standing on the corner.
She was elderly, African-American, and small. Her clothes were old
and worn, and she looked like she might have been homeless. She wore
a very long denim shirt that was filled with carefully printed block
letters written with a magic marker. But what really got my
attention and what made me notice her was that she was carrying a
megaphone and singing a song to whoever was listening in the passing
cars. I rolled down my window (just a little) in curiosity and I
could hear her singing about how Jesus can save. She was definitely
not a professional singer but she had a nice enough voice, sort of
joyful and sad at the same time. I was in no hurry and her singing
was just as good as what was on K-love anyway, so I pulled over to
sit in my car to listen to her. When I could read her shirt, the top
line across her shoulders said “I know Jesus.” The rest of her
shirt was covered, front and back, top to bottom, with lines about
the power of God to save. At first glance, you'd probably think she
was a nut. I did. Some crazy old lady out there on the corner
singing with the megaphone. Still, I watched her and listened. But
the longer I sat there in my car listening, maybe five or ten
minutes, the more I didn't think she was crazy anymore. She wasn't
acting crazy, she was just singing to the cars driving by. I began
to wonder if my initial judgement of her was wrong. Maybe she has
been through enough struggles in her life that she actually knows
Jesus better than I could ever hope to. As I sat in my car listening
and watching, I began to think that maybe it was true. Maybe she was
spreading the good news in her own way, just like the preacher does
during the morning drive time.
The moral
of this story is that just because the preacher seems more normal
that the elderly lady, doesn't mean that she's crazy and he's not.
My point is that you can't always judge things by the way they look
on the surface.
This
concern for the way things look comes into play as we begin to look
at I Corinthians 13. Up to this point, Paul has been telling the
Corinthians that each spiritual gift plays just as important a role
as the others. Just because one gift seems more important doesn't
mean that it is. The spiritual gifts that seems on the surface to be
most important are no more important than the gifts that go unseen
and unnoticed. All gifts have their part to play. It seems that the
Corinthian church had been placing more value on some gifts, with
some members being elevated over others. Or elevating themselves
over others. So its in this context of spiritual gifted people
competing with each other that Paul begins this famous chapter of the
Bible on love.
The
Love Chapter
When
we read this chapter what is the first thing we think of? Weddings?
Paul writes an almost poetic section about the nature of true love
here. It meets four important tests for wedding ceremonies: it’s
from the Bible, it’s memorable, it’s about love, and, perhaps
most important, it’s brief . We romanticize the chapter and apply
it primarily to newly wed couples.
But
to only think of it as a romantic love essay is to rip it from its
context in I Corinthians. We should understand this chapter in the
context of chapters 12-14. There was an intense church fight going on
that was brought about by the arrogance of some members and it
resulted in divisions in the congregation. So after Paul addresses
the problem of spiritual gifts in chapter twelve, he gives an answer
to the problems about the importance of gifts: the gifts must be used
for the common good of the body. Then Paul brings the answer home in
chapter 13: Gifts are absolutely no good if not accompanied by love.
Paul
does not use the word “love” a lot in this letter outside of this
chapter. He implies it on many occasions. And Paul does conclude the
letter with the admonition to “Let all that you do be done in love”
(16:14). But he focuses intensely on it in this chapter. He sets
out some pretty strong guides for what love means and what real love
looks like.
In
our culture, love can mean a lot of different things. In the Bible
there are different words that we translate 'love'. There may be
some debate on the exact meaning of the words, but there are
different ways to verbally express love. It unfortunate but we have
one word that covers a broad spectrum. Love can mean anything from
loving your mom to loving your dog to loving your neighbor to loving
spicy food. So when someone today reads this chapter, they read it
with their own definition of love.
What
does love mean in our culture? How does our culture define love? As
a sentimental romantic feeling. As unconditionally accepting and
making no demands. As tolerant of all lifestyles and beliefs. As an
emotion. How would you define the love as described by Paul?
The
gifts that God provides are not an end. They are a means to loving
the community of God. Of uplifting the church. There's absolutely
nothing wrong with any of these gifts. They are all ways to
encourage and build up the community. This is Paul's point. There's
nothing wrong with speaking in tongues or prophesying. These are
God-given gifts to help the community of faith. The only issue is
with how the gifts are being used.
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