"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity [Love], it profiteth me nothing." — I Cor. 13:3
Here is the third illustration, or category if you will, of things that will not substitute for Love— the Love of God— in ministry; the third striking evidence of Love's priority in the service of God. Self denial and self sacrifice are no substitutes for this Love.
The Lord Jesus often expressed His compassion for the poor, yet here is an indication that extending ourselves for the poor can be falsely motivated and yield no personal benefit from God. What is suggested here is not a tithe, nor an offering above the tithe; it is "all my goods." If I bestow all my goods to minister to the needs of the poor, doing the right thing, but for the wrong reason, it obtains no profit, none whatsoever. The motive is everything, and the only right motive is the Love of God.
The "Good Will" box, the food kitchen, or any other form of "good works" pursued to obtain the favor of God or to win the approbation of men, will come woefully short of God's recognition. "And though I give my body to be burned… ;" making the so-called "supreme sacrifice" can also be accomplished for the wrong reason and prove to be less than "the chaff which the wind driveth away," profiting nothing.
How often, when the preacher preaches, when the giver makes his donation, when the laborer invests his best efforts in the "divine calling," the heart is inclined to think, 'God will be pleased with this.' In fact that is not the case. There is nothing we can "do" that will obtain merit before God.
When, on an occasion, the apostles approached the Savior and said, "Lord, Increase our faith," He gave them a strange answer, immediately following a text we looked at last week which measures the tragic level of our faith (or lack thereof - Luke 17:6); "But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do [Lk. 17:7-10]."
This passage, in conjunction with I Corinthians 13:1-3, tells us that nothing we can "do" can improve our position with God. Whether we live for Him or die for Him, we have never done more than our duty. Our duty is obedience, pure and simple, whatever the demand, whatever the cost. We have His "unmerited favor," grace, from eons before the day of our regeneration, and we have it not because of what we are, or what we have done, but solely because "God is Love." If we do "right things" for any other reason than the Love of God, that reason destroys their value. If we do them by virtue of the Love of God, then it is a borrowed Love channeled through us by His grace, and every shred of "profit" or praise belongs to Him, not to us.
We are so incurably egocentric that this concept is all but impossible for us to grasp. The Psalmist sensed it, however, when he said, "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake [Ps. 115:1]." In the service of the King of Glory, the servant is nothing, and He is everything. He may choose to honor us, if we have in any measure mirrored His love to others, but if He does, our spontaneous and proper response will be to cast our "crowns" before Him in that day when we see Him face to face, knowing that this, too, is "grace upon grace!"
"He must increase, but I must decrease."
For HIS glory,
"Pastor" Frasier
Here is the third illustration, or category if you will, of things that will not substitute for Love— the Love of God— in ministry; the third striking evidence of Love's priority in the service of God. Self denial and self sacrifice are no substitutes for this Love.
The Lord Jesus often expressed His compassion for the poor, yet here is an indication that extending ourselves for the poor can be falsely motivated and yield no personal benefit from God. What is suggested here is not a tithe, nor an offering above the tithe; it is "all my goods." If I bestow all my goods to minister to the needs of the poor, doing the right thing, but for the wrong reason, it obtains no profit, none whatsoever. The motive is everything, and the only right motive is the Love of God.
The "Good Will" box, the food kitchen, or any other form of "good works" pursued to obtain the favor of God or to win the approbation of men, will come woefully short of God's recognition. "And though I give my body to be burned… ;" making the so-called "supreme sacrifice" can also be accomplished for the wrong reason and prove to be less than "the chaff which the wind driveth away," profiting nothing.
How often, when the preacher preaches, when the giver makes his donation, when the laborer invests his best efforts in the "divine calling," the heart is inclined to think, 'God will be pleased with this.' In fact that is not the case. There is nothing we can "do" that will obtain merit before God.
When, on an occasion, the apostles approached the Savior and said, "Lord, Increase our faith," He gave them a strange answer, immediately following a text we looked at last week which measures the tragic level of our faith (or lack thereof - Luke 17:6); "But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do [Lk. 17:7-10]."
This passage, in conjunction with I Corinthians 13:1-3, tells us that nothing we can "do" can improve our position with God. Whether we live for Him or die for Him, we have never done more than our duty. Our duty is obedience, pure and simple, whatever the demand, whatever the cost. We have His "unmerited favor," grace, from eons before the day of our regeneration, and we have it not because of what we are, or what we have done, but solely because "God is Love." If we do "right things" for any other reason than the Love of God, that reason destroys their value. If we do them by virtue of the Love of God, then it is a borrowed Love channeled through us by His grace, and every shred of "profit" or praise belongs to Him, not to us.
We are so incurably egocentric that this concept is all but impossible for us to grasp. The Psalmist sensed it, however, when he said, "Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake [Ps. 115:1]." In the service of the King of Glory, the servant is nothing, and He is everything. He may choose to honor us, if we have in any measure mirrored His love to others, but if He does, our spontaneous and proper response will be to cast our "crowns" before Him in that day when we see Him face to face, knowing that this, too, is "grace upon grace!"
"He must increase, but I must decrease."
For HIS glory,
"Pastor" Frasier
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