Better Relationships #2

We are made for relationships, yet those relationships are not easy. What does the Bible say about having better relationships? 1 Corinthians 13 is not just a passage that you read at a wedding, the context of this passage is how we treat one another within the church. The church is to be different than the rest of the world by the way we love one another. 

1 Corinthians 13:1-2 “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.”

#1 If I have love in my heart, what I say will be more than noise.

“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” In some translations, there is the phrase “the tongues of men and of angels.” This is a poetic way of simply saying language, while at the same time also being articulate. I’ve been a pastor for a long time, but I am nowhere close to the best preachers out there. I wish I was a lot better of a preacher. There are some pastors that preach and I am amazed at how they can turn a phrase and put together thoughts and I wish I could do that. If I was a fantastic public speaker, speaking with the tongues of men and angels, the greatest possible eloquence, oratory, and articulation of speech in languages of heaven and earth, yet no language in heaven or earth has real meaning without love.

Have you ever noticed that you can get an album with just piano music, or just guitar, or one of the several different kinds of horns? However, I have yet to find an album of just cymbals. The cymbals blend into the background, but the repeated clashing all by itself just makes meaningless irritating sounds. The Bible tells us that if I do not have love in my heart, my words will just be about as welcome as clanging cymbals.

#2 If I have love, what I know will be of worth.

“If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge…, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing.” My great-grandpa Cleveland was an amazing guy. He was a school teacher, but also spent some time as a pastor in the Pacific Conference in the 1940’s & 1950’s. I remember one time when I was probably around junior high age and great-grandpa Cleveland said to me, “hey Brian, what do you know?” And, as a typical adolescent I said, “not much” or something along those lines. Then grandpa told me, “Don’t ever say that. You’re a smart kid. When someone asks you ‘What do you know?’ you tell them, ‘I know everything, what do you want me to tell you?’”

I obviously do not know everything. However, you can be the person who knows almost everything. You could be Albert Einstein, Elon Musk, Dr. Phil, and King Solomon all rolled into one, but without love in your relationships, all you know is worthless. It says in 1 Corinthians 8:1b “while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church.” If we want to have a strong conference of churches, if you want a strong local church, if you want a strong marriage, or a strong family, we need to have love for one another.