Ron Dunn Podcast - Something Better Than Gifts

Episode Date: December 8, 2021

Ron Dunn brings a message titled "Something Better Than Gifts"

Now would you open your Bibles to the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 31. We're going to read through verse 13 of the 13th chapter. 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, beginning with the last verse of that chapter, verse 31, and reading through the entire 13th chapter. And the message tonight is a conclusion of our studies on spiritual gifts, and it is entitled, Something Better Than Gifts. 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the last verse, reading through the 13 verses of chapter 13. But covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I unto you a more excellent way.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love, I am nothing. Though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long and is kind. Love envieth not. Love bondeth not itself, is not puffed up,

does not behave itself unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth. Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never faileth, but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child. I understood as a child. I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, love.

These three, but the greatest of these is love. It seems almost sacrilegious to say anything about that chapter. To dissect it seems to be sacrilegious. To outline it, to comment upon it seems beside the point. There is probably not a greater chapter in all the word of God. Many have memorized it. Songs have been written about it. It's been preached on so many times in so many ways. We read it. I've read it so many times. And yet there is a certain something about it, such an anointing of the Spirit upon it, that to read it again over and over again never loses its beauty and never loses its power. But really the significant thing of the chapter is where it is found. Probably you would never expect to find such a beautiful hymn on love where you find it.

And perhaps to the casual reader, it seems to be an interpretation, or rather an interruption of the apostle's train of thought. At first glance, it might seem that the apostle has done what preachers are want to do that's to get off the track to take a little side road to detour but when you come to understand you understand that actually Paul is not interrupting his trainer thought, but rather he is intensifying his thought. He is not digressing, but he is delving deeper into what he's talking about. And really, to understand the text, you have to understand the context.

Chapter 12 on one side, speaking about the spiritual gifts that god has given to every believer chapter 14 on the other side giving some rules and regulations for the exercising of certain gifts and in between this beautiful chapter on love one seminary professor said chapter 13 is the meat between the two pieces of bread. Paul has been discussing spiritual gifts. I think perhaps he anticipated that we might do something that we do, and that's place any gift, all gifts, some of them greater than others, some of them more profitable than others.

And he comes to the end of this chapter and he addresses himself to the church and he says, you ought to desire and to prize and to be zealous after the greater gifts, the greatest gifts. And then he says, and yet I show unto you a more excellent way. I was interested to know what the makeup of that word excellent was.

And literally it means to throw, out throw somebody else. To throw beyond or farther than anyone else can throw. It's an interesting word, isn't it? What a man can accomplish with spiritual gifts and how God has blessed the body of Christ with spiritual gifts. I look at some of these gifts as I have often, and I've often wished that it were a shopping list and that the Lord would let me choose which ones I want I think if I had to choose any I would want to choose the gift of faith because it seems to me that that perhaps may be the key that opens up the door to everything else and wouldn't it be great to be able to have all of those gifts rolled up in one human personality and what you

could accomplish. And yet Paul says, I tell you something, I want to show you something that will out throw the greatest gift imaginable. I show unto you a more excellent way. I show you something better than gifts. Now, don't interpret this to mean that Paul is saying love must be accompanied with the gifts or the gifts must be exercised in love and the gifts are of no value unless they are ministered and exercised in the realm of love. That is what Paul is saying. That is true. But he is saying more than that, much more than that. What he is saying is there is something even better than gifts, period. There is something greater than the exercising of the greatest gifts, and that is the practice

of love. He's not merely saying that all of these gifts must be ministered in a spirit of love. He is saying that that is true, but that is not what the apostle is finally and ultimately saying. What he is saying is that the practice of love is more to be desired and greater than the exercising of the greatest gifts imaginable. Not all of us have the same gifts. Not all of us have all the gifts. You may have a gift and I may have a gift. I may wish I

could have your gift. You may wish you could have my gift and that is not possible because as it has pleased the Lord, he has set the members in the body. But Paul says, while all of us cannot have all of the gifts and perhaps we cannot have that person's gift, there is something that all of us can have that outshines and super exceeds any gift and that is the practice of love. And all of these gifts lose their value and lose their profit if they are not exercised in the spirit and in the power of love. Love is to be the basic motivation as well as permeating atmosphere of the exercise of any spiritual gift. And yet even more than that, love in and of itself is the greatest thing a man can possess. And the reason for that simply is God is love. God has expressed his own nature

through love. And as I read through this chapter and study it again and again, I have to come away with saying what we have in chapter 13 is nothing more nor less than an expression of Jesus Christ. It's simply a portrait of Jesus himself. It is God's nature expressed in human language. And something better than any gift, Paul says, is love. I show unto you a more excellent way. And as wonderful and magnificent as spiritual gifts are, God is saying to us that more can be accomplished in the body of Christ by the everyday practice of love than can be

accomplished by the exercising of the greatest of all gifts. I must confess that as I started studying this intensely in the past month, and I have been studying it for two or three years, but the last few months I just as intensely and deeply as I knew to study it, I've studied these gifts. And I confess that when I started, I was greatly excited about finding out all I could about the gifts and knowing what each one really was and knowing how it was exercised

and knowing what its characteristics were and knowing how we received the gift and I became so enthralled with these gifts. But you know, the more and more I studied them and I think the closer and closer I got to what I want to talk about tonight, the less enamored I became of the gifts themselves. And there was a point when I almost wish I hadn't even started on it because I didn't want us all to get so much in view of the gifts that we forgot the more excellent way. And it is possible for us to become so enamored of gifts

that we forget the more excellent way. And that's the way of love. Paul simply says in this chapter that love, genuine love, is indispensable in the Christian life, in the ministry of the gifts, in the exercising of that body of Christ. Love is indispensable. There is no substitute for it.

Notice what he says in the first three verses. It's beautiful language. Though I speak with the tongues of men and angels and have not love, I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. A man might have the gift of tongues and he may speak with the tongues even of angels, a language that only heaven could understand. But if he speaks without love, he says, I am become as sounding brass and tinkling similar he said I'm just so much noise there's really nothing to it though I have the gift of prophecy and understand notice all mysteries isn't that something and

all knowledge though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not charity have not. I am nothing. He didn't say, I'm little. He says, I'm nothing. Notice he didn't say the gift is nothing. He says, I am nothing. I am nothing. What would you say about a fellow that had the gift of prophecy?

What would you say about a man that understood all mysteries? Boy, there's some mysteries I'd like to understand. I don't know about you, but there are times I get a little bit tired of knowing in part. I get tired of looking through that glass darkly. I want to know in whole. I want to see clearly face to face. Wouldn't it be wonderful tonight to be able to understand all, not a few, not some, not even most, but to understand all mysteries,

to have all knowledge, and to have all faith, not just great faith, not greater faith, but all faith so that you could literally move mountains. What would you say about a man like that? Well, maybe he doesn't love as he ought. Maybe he not has the disposition he ought to have, but after all, he has the gift of prophecy.

After all, he understands all mysteries. Let's beat a path to his door so we can somehow glean that knowledge. He has all faith. He can remove mountains. What does it matter if he's rude to the waitress in the cafeteria? What does it matter if he's not gentle with other people? What does it matter if there are a few imperfections? After all, look what he

has. God says he's nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not a little bit. he is absolutely nothing though i bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though i give my body to be burned and have not loved it profit of me nothing that third verse here's a fellow who gave everything but himself what is love I think this would be a good spot to just to stop for a moment and understand what the word means that Paul is using. There are several different words that we use for love, and the tragedy of the English language is that it is so limited and cannot really express itself fully as it ought. We mean so many different kinds of love by the one word love. The New Testament uses two different words for love. One word is spileo, which means an affectionate kind of love, a sentimental type of love. It's a love of a brother for another,

a love of a husband for his wife, love of a son for the father, love of a patriot for his country. Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love, it's brotherly love, affectionate human love, has in it the idea of emotion and sentiment, not the word that Paul uses here. There is another word, agape. It's almost untranslatable. It's the word that is used in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world. It is the word that is always used to describe God's love as expressed to mankind. And I think I could best, I think I could best define the word like this. This kind of love means two things. It means self-denial and self-giving. And I think having said that, I've said what love is that Paul is talking about. It means, first of all, to deny yourself, deny what you would want, deny what would please you, deny what would make you happy,

self-denial. But on the other hand, it's more than simply self-denial. It is self-giving. The man who loves like this loves like God. What did Jesus do? He denied himself, but more than that, he gave himself for someone else. It is a love that loves the utterly unworthy. It is a love that loves even when that person it loves hates. It is a love that loves even when that person it loves hates. It is a love that loves without thought of return. It is that kind of love that Paul describes in Romans chapter 5. While we were yet sinners, God commendeth his love towards us. While we were in the very process of sinning against God, hating God, being the enemies of God, yet he loved us.

It is that kind of love that expresses itself, denies itself, and gives itself to a person that it well knows in the end is going to reject that love. That's what Paul is talking about. And this fellow in verse 3, he gave everything but himself. And that's what love is. It is giving yourself to meet the needs of somebody else. It's not what you give, but what you share. For the gift without the giver is bare. And what Paul is saying is simply this, that love is indispensable. There's no substitute for it. There's no substitute for it. And the thing that every Christian is

exhorted to seek after and to put his heart into is this matter of love, ministering in love, living in love, practicing in love. There is nothing that can replace it. There is nothing that will substitute for it. And I suppose one of the greatest indictments against our society today is that we minister without real love. And we operate without real love. And we live without real love and we live without real love

and that is not the tragedy but the tragedy is we accept it as so and tolerate it and think very little about it. A man may be a great preacher. Oh, he may be the greatest of all preachers. He may have such a gift of evangelism that he could stand and give an announcement about mowing the lawn and follow

it up with an invitation and hundreds be saved. We say, let's have that man and let him come to our church and exercise his gift. But that man in his personal life does not know what it means to deny himself and give himself away. God says he is nothing. He is nothing. And our religious system today, its tragedy is that men are promoted to the top seats in the synagogue, not out of devotion and love and Christ-likeness, but for other reasons. And sometimes those that know what it means to walk in the way of Christ and minister and live in love, you never hear from, never hear about.

And we exalt these and God says they are nothing. Love is indispensable. But more than that, Paul goes on and he says love is indisputable. You know, there's one thing about real love. You know when you meet it and you can't fake it. It's indisputable. I was thinking earlier today, as I have thought so many times about that breakfast that Jesus had with Simon Peter. And they asked him, you know, the three questions. He said, Simon, lovest thou me more than these? Now, I want you to watch it. Simon said, Lord, you know I love you. Feed him a sheep. Ask him a second time. Simon,

lovest thou me? Simon said, Lord, you know I love you. Feed him a sheep. He asked him a third time. He said, Simon, lovest thou me? Lord. And at this point, Peter got exasperated and irritated. He said, Lord, you know all things, and you know that I love you. Jesus said, feed him a sheep. Have you ever wondered why it was that Peter got put out with Jesus when he asked him a third time? It wasn't because Jesus was repeating the question.

It was because Jesus did not repeat the question. Jesus said, Simon, do you agape me? Simon said, Lord, I phileo you. Jesus was saying, Simon, do you deny yourself and give yourself away to me? Simon said, Lord, you know I like you. Jesus was using the higher word. Peter was using the lower word. He asked him a second time, Simon, Simon, do you agape me?

Simon said, Lord, I phileo you. Third time, Jesus said, Simon, do you phileo me? And Simon exasperated, said, Lord, you know, I phileo you. And that third question did not repeat the question. He changed it, and he dropped from that lofty level, and he said, Peter, do you even like me? I wonder why Peter didn't come up to the Lord's level. I'll tell you why. Peter had enough sense to know you can't fake the real thing. And he was kindly affectionate towards Jesus. He did like him, but at that point in his life, Peter knew that he was not at the stage

where he could absolutely deny himself and give himself away for Jesus Christ. He knew that, and he could not fake it because real love is indisputable. You can't fake it. You don't meet it very often, but I'll tell you something, boy, you know when you meet it. You don't meet it very often. Oh, I tell you, you can tell when it's not there.

It doesn't make any difference how eloquent the man is, how many gifts he has, how powerful he is. When it's not ministered, when it is not performed in that kind of love, you know when it's not there. You know when it's not there. It's indisputable. And then beginning in verses 4 through 8, Paul just gives us what this love is. I want to, I think the best thing to do is just go through these verses and see what he's really saying. Paul is saying love is indisputable. You know the real thing. And now he describes it. He said, here it is. Let's start with the fourth verse. Number one, he says, love suffereth long and is kind. Now the word suffereth long means it has infinite capacity for patient endurance.

Now, follow me. There is another word that is used for patience and suffering and endurance that indicates patience and endurance with circumstances and things. That's not the word Paul uses here. The word he uses here indicates a patience and an infinite capacity to endure ill treatment from people, not things, not circumstances. He says real genuine love has about it a capacity to be mistreated, ill treated, misjudged, wrongly judged, and yet just endure it. Take it. And he's good natured about it. You see, he throws that in. He's kind. Not only does it suffer long. I know some people who can suffer long, but they're not kind about it. They're not sweet taking it but it's taking it with a sweet sweet spirit it's kind and it has the idea that while this fella is doling out mistreatment and ill treatment you're doling back in return

kindness and goodness now uh i think most of us are going to fall short of a measuring stick tonight. Probably there's no more painful thing that I've done in my own life than just today go through this again. Love suffereth long. You being mistreated by somebody, ill-treated by someone, love takes it, endures it, and in return is sweet-natured and returns goodness and kindness.

That's love. Notice next, love envieth not. Literally, he says, love doesn't boil with jealousy. The word indicates it is not pleased with the failure of others. You know, the greatest, the most horrible thing about envy is, envy is not so much wanting what somebody else has, their position, their reputation, their attention, but the horrible thing about envy is that when that person fails, we're pleased with it. Every time I go to a convention, I don't know if I gather more grace or more gossip. But you know, every year,

there's some pastor, some evangelist, someone in the convention that God has used in a unique way, and man, their church has just grown, almost exploded. And you can walk up to a preacher and say, well, what do you think about so-and-so's work down there? Well, I don't think it'll last. And you get the idea he's hoping that it won't. Love envieth not. Love is not pleased when somebody else fails.

You know, it's so difficult for us to have this kind of love at times because there are people that we do not agree with. And I've learned something of late that I already knew but didn't know I knew. I don't have to agree with somebody theologically for them to bless my life and to have fellowship with them. We don't have to have to see eye to eye on everything

in order for us to fellowship together. But isn't it strange how if there is someone that we don't agree with on every little point and we stand at theological poles different from each other, isn't it strange that somehow there is a warm feeling that goes through us when they fail? He says, love is not pleased at the failure of others. Love envieth not. Notice next, love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Now those two things go together. Vaunteth not itself refers to the outward manifestation,

and is not puffed up refers to the inward disposition. The voneth up is a, voneth itself is a very picturesque word and could be translated love is not a windbag. The word literally means sounding off or showing off. Love does not sound out its own praises. It doesn't go around patting itself on the back and talking about what it's done, what it has accomplished, its achievements. And some of us say, well, I don't do that.

But he says, and it's also not puffed up. And that refers to the inward disposition. It means to be inflated from the inside. I may not express it. I may not tell you all how wonderful I am, but I know that I am. Love is not puffed up. It does not vaunt itself. It doesn't talk about itself.

It doesn't brag about itself. It doesn't show off. It's not a braggart. You know, love doesn't have to brag. You know it's there. I'm always impressed how they introduce people. The smaller they are, the bigger introduction it takes. Have you ever watched U-Half, how they introduce the President of the United States? Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. They don't

go back to tell where he was born, what school he went to, how many awards he won, how many committees he served on, how much money he's given to this, what he's done here, and all of his accomplishments. They simply say, ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. Always humbles me when I go someplace and they spend about 15 minutes trying to explain why they've invited me. Now, folks, don't get scared. Don't get nervous.

I want you to know what all he's done. And I had to write a resume. They always want a resume. And I had to write a resume. And I don't remember everything I had in it, but they had one place there for awards. And I remember when I was in the sixth grade that I won a Rudolph the Red-Nosed

Reindeer coloring book. In the sixth grade, we played 20 questions. That's on my resume. You ask the secretary, it's on there. And it says, listing your travels. And I put down there La Flora County and Sebastian County and Van Buren, Arkansas. And then it put down there LaFleur County and Sebastian County and Van Buren, Arkansas, and then it put down there writing, and I said, yes, and I print, too. Now, I didn't fix that up just to be humble. There really wasn't anything to put down. But love doesn't have to give a resume of itself. And the smaller a man is,

the bigger introduction it takes to get him across. Love doesn't brag. Love never pushes itself to the forefront. It doesn't have to. All right, now look at verse 5. Love does not behave itself unseemly. The word unseemly has the idea of rude treatment. Of rude treatment.

Love is not rude. It never does anything dishonorably. It never acts in a way that is out of place. I mentioned earlier about being rude to a waitress in a restaurant. I just simply mention that because it's so easy, it seems to be rude to some people. Love is never rude. Love never behaves itself unseemly. I hear some people say, I love so-and-so, and yet there is thoughtlessness, rudeness, impoliteness. A husband says, I love my wife, and yet there is rudeness, impoliteness, faultlessness.

That's not love. That's not love. Notice next, seeketh not her own. Oh, this is a tremendous thought. Love does not seek its own. This has the idea, love never insists on its own rights. Now, remember what the definition of love is. Love is self-denial and self-giving.

Love does not insist on its own rights. Now, listen, there are many people whose basic motivation in life is self. And every decision is based on this, how will this affect me? They are completely self-centered, and their motivation isn't what they can do for somebody else and how they can help somebody else, but they are basically motivated by how they can enlarge their own holdings or how they can enlarge their own reputation. And they always think in terms of, now, is this going to be fair to me? A person so motivated by selfish interests

and his first thought and his middle thought and his last thought and his second thought is always, what about me? How will this affect me? Love never seeks its own, never insists on its own right. And I could tell you tonight how you could stop every argument,

every squabble in every church and in every home, and that's if people practice love and walk the more excellent way. I guarantee you tonight, as sure as there's a God in heaven, every time you've lost your temper and there's been an anger rise out of your heart and there's been a fight and a fuss,

it's because somebody has been insisting on their own rights. And then we say, I love you. That's not love. Interesting thing about this word love, it is always used in regard to the will, never in regard to the emotions. I'm not talking about sentimental, emotional type of affection and attachment. He's talking about a willful love where I will to deny myself and give up my personal rights,

and I sacrifice every right I have for your good and your welfare. Love seeketh not her own. Now, notice this next one, O brother, is not easily provoked. Now, folks, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to scratch out that word easily. It's not there. It just ain't there in the Greek text. Don't you wish you could leave it there? That's kind of a vent, an escape valve.

If we could leave it there, we could always say, well, I wasn't easily provoked, but after a while, no, what Paul is saying is, he is making an absolute statement. He's saying love is not simply not easily provoked. Love is not provoked, period. You ever, you think he could provoke God? I read somewhere in this book where they took his son and they spit upon him. They pulled his beard from his face and they put a crown of thorns on his brow. And they lacerated his back and they nailed him to a cross and they stuck a spear in his side. and he said, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

You think you could provoke Jesus? Love is not thin-skinned is the idea behind the word. Provoke means to be pushed to a point of exasperation to be touchy there are some people who live their lives like a cocked pistol with a hair trigger and you have to tiptoe around them careful now that you don't hurt their feelings

careful now that you say the right thing or they'll just explode't hurt their feelings? Careful now that you say the right thing? Or they'll just explode and get their feelings hurt? That's not love. You say, well, you don't know what such and such did to me. I don't know what they did to you. I'll tell you how I feel about my own self. I've been mistreated before.

But I tell you this much, I've never really gotten what I deserve in mistreatment. And if you knew what I really am and you knew my heart, you wouldn't treat me half as good as you do. And if I knew you and what you really are, I wouldn't treat you half as well as I do. It doesn't make any difference how you've been mistreated, friend. You've never gotten what you deserve. It doesn't make any difference what they've done to you. I'll tell you what, when somebody takes you and nails you to a cross, then you come back and tell me what somebody did to you. And even at that point,

love is not provoked, period. All right, let's move on. Thinketh no evil. Now, that word thinketh is a bookkeeping term, and it means it doesn't keep a record of evil that's done against it. Could I look at your account book tonight? Could I get a court order from heaven? Subpoena your records? I'd like to look into your account books. I'd like to see if you keep a record of every time somebody has injured you

and slighted you and wronged you. And if you'll let me open up those record books, and if I find that you're keeping a record, I'll tell you something. You don't know what love is, and God says you're nothing. Love doesn't keep a record of the things that's done against it. Some of us keep in those records.

Every time we see that fellow, that thing rises up in our hearts. We remember how what he said or what he didn't say, what he did or what he failed to do, and we've just got it etched there in our hearts, keeping records. And yet we say we know the love of God. Love thinketh no evil. It does not keep a record of the evil done to it. Now we're going to have to just very quickly finish. It rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Its joy is in the truth. Verse 7, it bears all things.

Let me just mention about that. That word bear is a very interesting word. It means it outroofs all things. It outroofs all things. And the picture is a roof over something that keeps out everything that would fall upon it. Now, there are some things that will keep us from being hurt. There are some things that will keep bitterness and resentment from affecting us, but nothing like love. Love will just outroof anything else.

And love is such a roof that when resentment comes and bitterness comes and ill treatment comes and misjudgment comes, it never touches us because love keeps it from affecting us as a roof keeps the rain from coming inside the house. There's all things. Outroof of all things. It believeth all things. The idea there is it is always ready to give a second chance.

It's more eager to believe the good about a person than the evil about a person. Now, we're just the opposite. We are more suspicious and more eager to believe the bad about a person. But it believeth all things. It's ready to give a person a second chance. Next, it hopeth all things, endureth all things. Now, that word endureth is very important because love has an enduring hope. It doesn't make any difference how bad things look.

There is a hope within the heart of a Christian who loves that God is in charge and there's going to be victory. But even when hope gives away, it keeps on enduring all things. Even when there's no hope, it endures all things. Now we come to the last point of the message. Not only is love indispensable and indisputable, but love is indestructible. Verse 8,

Love never faileth. Love never faileth. That word is so unusual. The background, the root of that word, now listen, means literally, love is never booed off the stage. There's one thing that appears on the stage of life that'll never be booed off.

Love will never lose its place. Love will never falter. Love will never collapse. Love is indestructible. Love is indestructible. Folks, there's some things, a lot of things, most things that are going to collapse. But there's one thing it'll never. You may have a great gift of prophecy prophecy but one day you'll lose it

and if you spend your whole christian life just loving that gift and being enamored with that gift you're going to lose it you may have a gift of tongues they'll cease one day and if you spend your life being enamored with that gift and exalting that gift, it's a waste. You're going to lose it. You may have a gift of knowledge. It'll pass away. It'll vanish.

Paul says the more excellent way is love because it'll never fail. It'll never fail. It'll never fail in your life. As you practice it and minister to others in the spirit of love, it'll never fail. It'll always work it out. It'll never fail. And that's the one thing that you carry in the glory with you. Faith, hope, and love are the greatest of these, is love. Donne messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Donne. For more Ron Donne

materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondonne.com.