WHAT A BUNCH OF NOISE!
One of the most frequently quoted passages of Scripture is, you guessed it! 1 Corinthians 13th Chapter--we hear it at weddings, people write in books--Christian and non-Christian, it sounds lovely, doesn't it? It really does--Charity--or in our everyday, English language, Love. That's the subject of the chapter.
There's a problem though. As beautiful as it sounds, many of us seem to miss the real crux of the message. For instance, those first two verses are a slap in the face for many--if honest. Listen to this translation from the Amplified Bible: "If I can speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a NOISY GONG or a CLANGING CYMBAL. And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, BUT have not love (God's love in me) I am NOTHING (A USELESS NOBODY)."
Now, that is strong language. It would appear that LOVE is not at the top of our list--although it should be. It should be above faith--absolutely. It should be before prophesy--for sure. Tongues--definitely. According to those verses, everything we do, amounts to "0", if we have not the love of God, and the things we do are not motivated by that love. It is of utmost importance that we put NOTHING before love. Preaching, without "LOVE" is noise. Singing, no matter how sweet it may sound to the human ear, without "LOVE", God hears noise. Even your giving--if not motivated by "LOVE", makes a noise, in Heaven, and doesn't earn you any reward there.
I am lead to ask a question. In light of the importance of "LOVE" and the lack of it, in our midst--why do we spend so much time focusing on everything but love? Now, how is it that I can say that love is lacking among us, in the Kingdom? There is no revival. Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you, too should love one another. BY THIS SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YE ARE MY DISCIPLES, IF YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER [if you keep on showing love among yourselves]." (St. John 13:34,35) Here's the point, when the Church, loves within, according to the commandment of Jesus Christ--we will become irresistible to the world! We won't have to beg and plead--they will come. We won't need special programs, efficiency experts, demographic studies, world-renown choirs, etc.--they will come. Love is what draws people. Love is what KEEPS people. We look for the magic pill that will solve the problem of membership issues--gaining and maintaining. It's simple. It's the same as it always was: L-O-V-E.
What caused the Church to grow to 3000 on the Day of Pentecost and continue to grow by leaps and bounds was love. After they received the Word and were saved, they didn't part ways and go take care of themselves, but they developed RELATIONSHIPS, and that is how they survived. They were persecuted, but they "continued steadfastly" because they had fellowship with one another and they took care of each other. No one had a lot, while someone else suffered with nothing. They were willing even to, give it ALL, so that they "had all things common". They gave "as every man had need". And they continued with ONE accord, "breaking bread from house to house" with singleness of heart. "Praising God and having favor with all the people, And THE LORD ADDED TO THE CHURCH DAILY SUCH AS SHOULD BE SAVED."
So, here is the formula: Love one another + Souls = Church growth. None of our other plans and ideas will get the job done--only the one that the Word of God has set up. It will work, if we apply it, in truth. Understand, though, the world is not fooled by a facade of "love"--it must be the real thing. People know a fake when they see it. Fakes are a dime a dozen--and easily recognized; and people are weary of the fakes. Offer the real thing and they will come....
The other side of this is, if we don't stop making "noise" and start loving as Christ loved, we will be lost. All of the things we do in the Kingdom will not save us, if we don't have LOVE. We don't want to spend our lives working in and among the people of God only to hear, "Depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you...". We don't want to be separated to the left, because we "failed to do it for the least [in the estimation of men] of these...then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life". It is TOO important a matter, to leave to chance, or to think that you're okay--we have to KNOW, where our hearts line up with the Word of God. How much do you love your brother? It can't be just rhetoric! "Little children, let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity)." What will you give/do for your brother? Does he have a need? "But if anyone has this world's goods (resources for sustaining life) and sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in him?"
It is our love toward one another that PROVES that we belong to God, that we are related to Him and that we aren't just hanging around the Church making a bunch of noise. SHHHH!!!!
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is (springs) from God; and he who loves [his fellowmen] is begotten (born) of God and is coming [progressively] to know and understand God [to perceive and recognize and get a better and clearer knowledge of Him]. He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love." 1 John 4:7,8
There's a problem though. As beautiful as it sounds, many of us seem to miss the real crux of the message. For instance, those first two verses are a slap in the face for many--if honest. Listen to this translation from the Amplified Bible: "If I can speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a NOISY GONG or a CLANGING CYMBAL. And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, BUT have not love (God's love in me) I am NOTHING (A USELESS NOBODY)."
Now, that is strong language. It would appear that LOVE is not at the top of our list--although it should be. It should be above faith--absolutely. It should be before prophesy--for sure. Tongues--definitely. According to those verses, everything we do, amounts to "0", if we have not the love of God, and the things we do are not motivated by that love. It is of utmost importance that we put NOTHING before love. Preaching, without "LOVE" is noise. Singing, no matter how sweet it may sound to the human ear, without "LOVE", God hears noise. Even your giving--if not motivated by "LOVE", makes a noise, in Heaven, and doesn't earn you any reward there.
I am lead to ask a question. In light of the importance of "LOVE" and the lack of it, in our midst--why do we spend so much time focusing on everything but love? Now, how is it that I can say that love is lacking among us, in the Kingdom? There is no revival. Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you, too should love one another. BY THIS SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YE ARE MY DISCIPLES, IF YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER [if you keep on showing love among yourselves]." (St. John 13:34,35) Here's the point, when the Church, loves within, according to the commandment of Jesus Christ--we will become irresistible to the world! We won't have to beg and plead--they will come. We won't need special programs, efficiency experts, demographic studies, world-renown choirs, etc.--they will come. Love is what draws people. Love is what KEEPS people. We look for the magic pill that will solve the problem of membership issues--gaining and maintaining. It's simple. It's the same as it always was: L-O-V-E.
What caused the Church to grow to 3000 on the Day of Pentecost and continue to grow by leaps and bounds was love. After they received the Word and were saved, they didn't part ways and go take care of themselves, but they developed RELATIONSHIPS, and that is how they survived. They were persecuted, but they "continued steadfastly" because they had fellowship with one another and they took care of each other. No one had a lot, while someone else suffered with nothing. They were willing even to, give it ALL, so that they "had all things common". They gave "as every man had need". And they continued with ONE accord, "breaking bread from house to house" with singleness of heart. "Praising God and having favor with all the people, And THE LORD ADDED TO THE CHURCH DAILY SUCH AS SHOULD BE SAVED."
So, here is the formula: Love one another + Souls = Church growth. None of our other plans and ideas will get the job done--only the one that the Word of God has set up. It will work, if we apply it, in truth. Understand, though, the world is not fooled by a facade of "love"--it must be the real thing. People know a fake when they see it. Fakes are a dime a dozen--and easily recognized; and people are weary of the fakes. Offer the real thing and they will come....
The other side of this is, if we don't stop making "noise" and start loving as Christ loved, we will be lost. All of the things we do in the Kingdom will not save us, if we don't have LOVE. We don't want to spend our lives working in and among the people of God only to hear, "Depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity, I never knew you...". We don't want to be separated to the left, because we "failed to do it for the least [in the estimation of men] of these...then they will go away into eternal punishment, but those who are just and upright and in right standing with God into eternal life". It is TOO important a matter, to leave to chance, or to think that you're okay--we have to KNOW, where our hearts line up with the Word of God. How much do you love your brother? It can't be just rhetoric! "Little children, let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity)." What will you give/do for your brother? Does he have a need? "But if anyone has this world's goods (resources for sustaining life) and sees his brother and fellow believer in need, yet closes his heart of compassion against him, how can the love of God live and remain in him?"
It is our love toward one another that PROVES that we belong to God, that we are related to Him and that we aren't just hanging around the Church making a bunch of noise. SHHHH!!!!
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is (springs) from God; and he who loves [his fellowmen] is begotten (born) of God and is coming [progressively] to know and understand God [to perceive and recognize and get a better and clearer knowledge of Him]. He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love." 1 John 4:7,8
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