Faith without Love

Read 1 Corinthians 13

When I was growing up, if someone mentioned the term gluten-free, I would have thought that it was some hippie protest in San Francisco.  What’s a gluten anyway?  Why do they need to be set free?

In 2019 if you don’t know the term gluten or gluten-free then you are a caveman.

I probably googled the term gluten-free a year ago.  I was tired of being the only person who was in the dark.  I discovered that gluten occurs naturally in most grains.  It is the component that lets us make bread that doesn’t fall apart.  It is something of a binding agent among the grain’s molecules.

We have ordered gluten free bread for the Lord’s Supper and sometimes even remember to put it out when we celebrate the sacrament.  What I noticed is that the wafers don’t hold together very well.  All of the elements for bread are present except the gluten.

Enough for this morning’s health and public safety announcement.

We continue our exploration of faith, so let’s begin with what should be a very familiar defining verse from the King James Version.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

If we can see it or touch it, taste it or feel it, then it’s probably not faith; but if we truly have faith we see that which is not seeable.  We touch that which can’t be touched.  Our faiths lets us act upon this world by knowing things that can only be known through God’s Spirit.

We have gained a greater understanding of Paul’s words that instruct us to live by faith not sight.

I think of faith that brings us to these words that we can say with greater and greater fidelity.  I am crucified with Christ.  Christ lives in me.

Our faith lets us deal with our trials and tribulations knowing that if we hold on to our faith we will grow.

Along the way I may have challenged your faith asking, “Is Jesus your Savior?”  That was the easy part.  We all like being saved from the eternal consequences of sin and death.  Here’s the challenge:   Is Jesus your Lord?  Do you have such faith that you don’t fit Jesus into your life?  He is your Lord.  Life fits in around what he calls you to do.

I think to the Son of Timaeus when I think of faith so great it was as if you could touch and feel it.

I think of faith proved genuine as we face trials and tribulations in this world. 

I think of those faith only moments that jump started our journeys of faith. 

And now I ask you to think of faith that’s not worth a hill of beans without this one element.  What is that element?

Gluten!

Actually, it’s love but love seems to be sort of like gluten when it comes to making a good loaf of bread.  Don’t extend the analogy much farther.

Paul’s thirteenth chapter in his first letter to Corinth is wedged in between his discussion of Spiritual Gifts in chapters 12 and 14.  He didn’t lose his train of thought and just catch the next train. This is about as deliberate a placement of this topic as anything we will find in the New Testament.

Paul concludes what we mark as the end of the 12^th chapter with these words. 

And yet I will show you the most excellent way.

Paul begins this next chapter with words you know so well.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.  If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

We have been talking about faith for several weeks now and I have suggested we covet the faith of men like the Son of Timaeus.  I have challenged you to keep your faith in times of trouble, knowing that Jesus said we would have trouble in the world, but we are to take courage.  He has overcome the world.

We think of having faith the size of a mustard seed that could move a mountain and now Paul tells us that if we have faith that can move a mountain but do not have love, we are nothing.

This really should not surprise us.  We spent a considerable amount of time on the topic of love. 

Our exploration of love brought us to the golden rule.  We see what Jesus did for us on the cross as not just a sacrifice but the ultimate act of love. 

We understand that the law and the prophets come together in love—love for God and love for each other.

We understand that we can’t love God and the world at the same time.  We can’t love God and money.  We can’t love God and anything else that we elevate to divine status at the same time.  Yes, you can still love your kids.  You can still love your favorite team.  You can still love chicken friend steak and gravy, but none of these at the same level that you love God.

You will love one and hate the other.  We must choose:  God or the world.  Whom will we love?

Love governs so much of our discipleship, but then again, so does faith.  So where does that leave us?

Faith and love must be intertwined.  It seems that in some areas faith or love could be a stand-alone entity, but truly faith and love are two elements in a three-strand rope of discipleship.  The third strand is hope, but that’s for another day.

If I have such faith that I step out every morning not concerned what the world thinks about me, just fulfilling the directives found in the Bible; I might still miss the mark if I don’t live in love.

If I believe all of the promises of God but don’t have love, I am proficient but not productive.

If indeed I have faith that can move a mountain but don’t have love, I am a pitiful creature. 

If I have the faith to fulfill my commission but do it without love, what’s the point?  Well, I passed on the information, right?  I checked the blocks, right?

I want the faith of Bartimaeus who threw off his cloak and went to Jesus knowing that the Son of David would heal him, but I need love to govern my steps. 

James tells us that faith without works is dead.  Paul tells us that faith without love amounts to nothing.  What is it about love that is so essential to faith?

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 

We all had that faith only moment when we came to profess Jesus as Lord.  We let go of the world’s grip on us and leaped into the loving arms of God.  For us, it all began with faith, but with God it all began with love.

He first loved us.  We can step out and do what God has called us to do but if we do it without love we are missing the mark. 

Our response to God’s overwhelming love is first faith.  We receive his grace by faith.  Then comes our response to this great love.  We trust, we obey, and we love one another as Christ loved us.

We are his disciples and as such we find both faith and love intertwined into our very being.  We don’t quite comprehend all of it now, but we trust our Lord.

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

It takes a lot of faith to love like Christ commanded us. We can’t please God without faith, but it takes a lot of love to make our faith produce the fruit expected from a disciple of our Lord.

And there is no way that I end this message without finishing the chapter.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

We will talk about hope in the near future, but for now know that love is the binding agent here.

We grow our faith by putting our Master’s words into practice but for our faith to truly grow, it must be more than simple obedience, it must include love.

Our hearts are being shaped like those of our Master.  Trust, faith, belief, obedience, hope, and love are all in play here, but the one that binds the others together is love.

Whatever it is that we do to please our Master, let’s make sure it always includes love.  You can have your bread gluten free but you can’t have your faith love-free and please our Master.

Amen.