For too long we have preached 'the hymn of love' from 1 Corinthians 13 at weddings while neglecting that it is all about motivation for worship and ministry!
It's a beautiful piece of poetry, yet it carries powerful and penetrating truth. Let's just recall it and read it carefully one more time:
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender mu body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; [love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be cone away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
One can surely understand why such a beautiful piece of poetry fits with the romantic atmosphere of a wedding. However, the context is public worship and the exercise of spiritual gifts for the edification of the church for the common good in a spirit of unity. It is not about a wedding, even though it is certainly not wrong to use it that way. But we need to seek the original biblical use and focus first, and that was the right use of spiritual gifts in an environment where spiritual gifts were practiced by other religions as well as misused by Christians.
The church at Corinth was divided and had a problem with, in modern terms, a 'celebrity obsession.' They were divided into fractions focussing on individuals over against others (1 Cor 1:10-17). The solution to this problem is not the wisdom of the world, but an genuine identity in Christ who is our all of God: wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption (vv 18-31). The work of the Spirit is the crucial element in understanding true knowledge. Such revelation gives us the mind of Christ, which in turn unites us centring around Christ (2:1-16). Paul and others are but servants of God, who is the ultimate Source and Force of the establishment, nourishment and growing of the church. Christ is the foundation and each ministers must build with corresponding 'materials' (3:1-17). Again, divine, not worldly or Gnostic, wisdom is the key to true knowledge. Paul then sets out to address several key issues in that church before turning to the use - and right use! - of spiritual gifts.
The first issue is that the use of spiritual gifts cannot be done according to ignorance (12:1), nor according to pagan practices (v 2). Since Paul is emphasising knowledge for the right use of spiritual gifts, it is implied that for him the solution to misuse was not non-use but right use. The Corinthians didn't have a problem of not using the Spirit's gifts, but rather missing them or doing things in worldly or pagan ways. Paul sought to set the practice right. The basis of it all - not just gifts but everything in life and godliness - is Christ and the Spirit-based approach (v 3). Paul's Trinitarian formula outlines the Source of gifts, ministries and effects: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (vv 4-6). The next crucial issue as the basis for the right use of spiritual gifts is that each believer can serve with what God has entrusted to him or her, yet the purpose is to serve the common good (v 7). This is in line with Paul's approach that the purpose of gifts is the edification of the church (14:12, 26c).
Paul strongly encourages the believers to 'earnestly desire' spiritual gifts (12:31; 14:1) but to 'abound for the edification of the church' (14:12). The 'more excellent way' of 1 Corinthians 13 stands not in contrast to the use of the gifts, but rather as the centrepiece or core of one's motivation. Before we are to 'earnestly desire spiritual gifts,' we are to 'pursue love' (14:1), which is the greatest gift of all (13:13). The 'more excellent way' then is the use of the gifts for the edification of the church and the common good in an attitude of love. That love is clearly defined: it is patient, kind, forgiving, decent, righteous and truthful, and not jealous, arrogant, selfish, self-seeking or self-glorifying. Love is also mature, long-suffering, faithful and enduring. With such a motivation gifts will truly serve to the edification and well-being of other believers and the glory of God.
Today, however, we find not only the selfish and self-glorfying misuse of gifts similar to Paul's time, but even a misuse of gifts for financial benefits and profits. Such misuse totally fails the point Paul was trying to make: gifts are tools for service unto others, not for the enrichment of the user. Public worship with the free flow of spiritual gifts must have the core motivation of the kind of love described by the apostle, which will bring such gifts under the authority of the Spirit and the godly order required that the misuse is not rampant nor uncontrolled (12:11; 14:40). As such, a truly Spirit-led meeting with mature and love-driven believers will not cause confusion but peace, unity and edification for the glory of God. Tongues, prophecy and other gifts are not to be forbidden (14:39), but must be used rightly, evaluated maturely and motivated by divine love. The answer to misuse is right use.
But the reason that all too often those using the gifts have become a 'noisy gong or a clanging cymbal' which 'profits nothing,' is because love - divine, mature love - has not been at the core of motivation, the driving force. Self-enrichment and self-glorification of men or church politics that control people rather than serve them have totally destroyed the beauty of God's love, even as expressed through gifts. Such unspiritual man-made religion is not only unattractive for unbelievers, it has driven away faithful believers who want to serve God and people, not a dead and dull institutional church that cannot be trusted. The solution, however, is not to say 'yes to Jesus, but no to church,' but rather a repentance and return to divine love - the centre of motivation for worship and ministry unto God and humanity. As believers gifted by God, we are to use these abilities, skills and talents to serve people and glorify God. People, not structures, protocols or rules, are the object of God's love. The Law was given for people; people were not made for the Law. Whatever God commands and instructs is to help us live like and serve people according to His will and purpose. We cannot, in dictatorial or Communist fashion, misuse people for our own aims, ambitions or institutions. rather, we need to use what we were given to serve people and glorify God. We are to let our light shine in such a way that people will glorify God (Mt 5:16). All too often we misuse people for our own church politics and glorify ourselves, rather than the exact opposite. If love is at the core of our motivation, we will get it right. With such an attitude of servanthood and a desire to glorify God can we truly be light in the world and salt of the earth.
While wedding readings of 'the hymn of love' are poetic, romantic and inspiring, the real issue of the apostle - which should also be ours - was the right use of that which edifies the church: spiritual gifts exercised by mature people motivated by love, serving others in selfless ways for their edification, which ultimately causes the church to grow and advance, and glorify the Source of all gifts and divine love - the Triune God!
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