We all want
to be the best, don’t we? I guess that’s just human nature. It’s true that some
people enjoy competition more than others; but let’s face it: given a choice of
coming in first or settling for second, not one of us would choose to be
anywhere but in the winner’s circle. After all, who remembers a second-place
finisher? We all know who Michael Phelps is, the great swimmer who won a total
of 23 gold medals during the course of four Olympic games. Does anybody know
who came in second in all those races? I bet you don’t. I know that we could
look it up, but… I don’t really care. In an athletic competition, if you come
in second, you might as well come in forty-second! First place is the place
that really counts. Now, that attitude is great in athletic events. In fact,
that’s what athletic events are all about – finishing in first place. The
trouble is, though, that this spirit of competition that is so necessary in sports
tends to sneak into places where it just doesn’t belong. Everything in life
isn’t a competition! In fact, competition can ruin some things. I know adult
siblings who have never liked one another because they have competed with one
another their whole lives. Their relationship has been consumed with worries
about which one was more successful, more intelligent, or more loved. Where
relationships are concerned, a little competition goes a long way.
That kind of
competition can even creep into the church; and when it does, a congregation
can start to rot from the inside out. Instead of working as a team to minster
to do the work of Jesus Christ, conflicts take root as church members start comparing
themselves to one another. “My idea was better than his was,” someone grumbles;
while another complains, “I do more work than she does! Why wasn’t I asked to be the chair of that
committee?” That kind of competition can spread like an infection; and no
church congregation is immune to its effects. Even Paul had to contend with
this kind of unhealthy competition in the churches that he started in ancient
Greece and Asia Minor. Judging from some of his letters, the church in Corinth
seemed to be especially fertile soil for the growth of competition weeds. In I
Corinthians, Paul scolds some of the Corinthian church members for always wanting
to be the center of attention. The problem was that each person wanted to have
a spiritual gift that would make him look better than everybody else! In the
part of his letter that I read this morning (I Corinthians 12:27-13:13), Paul
lists a whole slew of spiritual gifts: prophecy, discipleship, teaching,
healing, helping, and guidance. But nobody cared about those gifts, because
everybody wanted to speak in tongues! Speaking in tongues was a flashy gift
that set anyone apart from all the other church members. If someone spoke
in tongues, that person won the competition for having the best spiritual gift! All the other spiritual gifts came in a
distant second.
Paul had a
few words to say about that! He
reminded the church in Corinth that they all had to work together to do the
work that they had been called by God to do. He reminded them that all their spiritual gifts were necessary
to the ministry of the church, from the most eloquent preacher all the way down
to the person who set the dinner plates on the table. And then, Paul said
something surprising. He said that all the spiritual gifts that everybody wanted
so badly weren’t worth anything unless those gifts had something else behind
them. And that something else is love. Then Paul wrote the portion of I
Corinthians that everybody knows. It’s the chapter that preachers read at
nearly every wedding that they perform. It begins, “If I speak with the tongues of men
and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” As
you read those words, you probably envision a misty-eyed bride walking up a
church aisle, while her nervous groom waits for her at the altar. That text is certainly appropriate for a wedding, since it speaks of love and of the joy that it brings! But Paul
didn’t write that text to be read only at weddings. He wrote it for every single
church member, and expected them to put his words into practice every single
day! Patience. Kindness. Humility. Trust. Hope. Perseverance. Paul wanted his
congregation to practice these virtues not just with a spouse or a cherished
friend, but with every single person that they encountered!
We all know
what it’s like when we expect to encounter love but run head-on into its
opposite. Isn’t it disappointing to meet someone who is intelligent and gifted,
but who isn’t loving? You finally meet
someone that you respect highly for their talent or for their accomplishments;
and you are excited to be able to meet them in person at last! But when you do meet that person… well, he’s a jerk. He
may be talented and accomplished; but he is also rude and self-centered and
thoughtless. What a disappointment! “If I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” There are
an awful lot of clanging cymbals out there with lots of show but nothing
underneath. Paul wanted every one of his congregation to put their money where
their mouths were. If they claimed to have spiritual gifts, great! But if the
love in their lives didn’t lay a foundation for those spiritual gifts, they
weren’t worth anything at all.
What it all
comes down to is this: whatever good things you do are hollow if you don’t have
love as their foundation. If you don’t have love at the center of your life,
you’re like a beautifully decorated porcelain egg. It looks great from the outside;
but if you were to crack it open, you’d find nothing inside it. But if you
love… if you love, then you are like a real egg that’s filled with the potential
for life and growth! That egg may be plain white or brown, but what it looks
like really doesn’t matter, because it’s what inside that counts! That’s what
Paul was trying to tell all the members of the Corinthian church who were so
worried about whose spiritual gifts were the best. It’s what inside that
counts! In the end, you don’t need to worry about which spiritual gift you
have, because being a Christian isn’t a competition. Besides, if love is the
foundation of everything that you do, in any “best Christian” competition,
you’re already a winner.
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