Follow the way of Love
1 Corinthians begins with these words “Follow the way of Love”… a command Paul gives the church after painting a picture of what love really is.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
So how do we “follow the way of LOVE”?
On Wednesday at Women to women we saw that Paul guided the Corinthian church to do this in three ways:
1. Love is seen when we… are more concerned that the church is being built up than we are about using our own gifts
"So it is with you. Since you are eager for gifts of the Spirit, try to excel in those that build up the church". I Cor 14:12 Spiritual gifts are not for our own edification but for the edification of others…
So let me ask … do we know what our spiritual gifts and are using them with this mindset of serving and encouraging and building others up - or are we constantly asking “what am getting out of this?”
2. Love is seen when we are more concerned about other’s hearing the gospel clearly than we are about getting our turn
In a church where everyone wanted to speak in tongues whether there was interpretation or not, Paul says in v 18 and 19 that its better to speak 5 words clearly than 10,000 in a language that no one will understand. When we speak God’s word clearly, we are loving the people we speak to…believers will be build up and unbelievers will hear the gospel.
Do we pray in a way that other’s might struggle to follow? Do we aim to make the gospel, God’s word, clear through our prayers?? I was in a small prayer group recently, struggling with evangelism and a particular situation that seemed overwhelmingly hopeless, and someone, knowing little of my struggle, prayed clearly about God’s heart for the lost, and his sovereignty over our circumstances. What an encouragement. Hearing scripture prayed, and clearly applied to a situation, is such an encouragement – not just to see that situation from a bible perspective, but an encouragement to trust God.
3. Love is seen when we’re more concerned about reflecting God’s image than about being seen ourselves.
The church of Corinth’s gatherings were fairly chaotic with everyone wanting to use their gifts. Paul says in 1 Corinthians v 33 that God is not a God of Confusion but of peace. So the way we conduct ourselves together should reflect who God is… people shouldn’t be going home confused about what’s going on but having had a glimpse of God from being among God’s people.
When we meet to pray – since we’ve been thinking about prayer this year - do we get all self-conscious and worry about what others might think of us for the way we pray… I think we all do to some extent. But let’s try to be more concerned with how we might reflect God’s image to those we pray with rather than worrying about how we are seen ourselves.
If you missed the last W2W, here’s the link for the talk.
Why not put April 5th in your diary and join us at the next one.
