Ministering from the 'platform' of love & grace

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NKJV):

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 is a continuation of 1 Corinthians 12 which talks about operating spiritual gifts. One day, the Lord spoke this: “Jesus is the platform, and Holy Spirit is the factor”. The Bible says the Holy Spirit is the source of all spiritual gifts (read 1 Corinthians 12:3-11), and in TiC, we encourage & teach each one in the operation of his/her spiritual gifts. No problem with that. However, this operating of spiritual gifts should first be founded on the ‘platform’, i.e. on Jesus. Every ministry of a believer is in effect Jesus’ ministry. It’s His ‘platform’, not men’s, no matter how ‘anointed’ he or she may be.

This is exactly what 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 means. Jesus is always your ‘rock’, the ‘platform’ on which your ministry is founded on. In other words, your ‘feet’ should be firmly on this ‘platform’ as you move and serve in the Spirit. When you are founded on Him, your ministry will flow out with love and grace in abundance! Why? Because Jesus Himself is love & grace personified. In other words, as you behold and receive more of Him, His love & grace will flow out as you minister with spiritual gifts!

You see, spiritual gifts are not for us to ‘parade ourselves’, or telling others how ‘anointed’ we are. Spiritual gifts are definitely not meant for us to ‘show off’ how accurate we are in ministering (though it’s important to minister with accuracy) compared to others. It’s never meant for us to feel ‘mean’ when we are ‘better’ in the operation of certain spiritual gifts than other ministers, or ‘miserable’ when we are not. It’s also not for us to abuse it and use it to judge or condemn others.

Notice Paul wrote about ‘love’ (1 Corinthians 13) right after he wrote about ‘spiritual gifts’ (1 Corinthians 12), and he wrote it very aptly ‘have not love’ (where the word ‘love’ is a noun), instead of ‘do not love’ (where ‘love’ becomes an ‘act’ you do). “What is the difference, pastor?” One is about ‘having’ or ‘beholding’ love, the other is about ‘doing the act of love’. In short, one is ‘beholding’, the other is ‘doing’. I believe there’s no mistake in God’s Word. So, when it is written ‘have not love’, Paul really meant ‘have not love’, not ‘do not love’. The whole context of 1 Corinthians 13 is actually about the word ‘love’ being a noun, i.e. having or beholding love.

Back to the question: “Who then is this noun ‘love’ in 1 Corinthians 13?” He is the Person of Jesus. As I’ve said, Jesus is love & grace personified. You see, JESUS IS LOVE (1 John 4:8), not just ‘loving in action’. By the way, what does it mean by ‘beholding Jesus’? To ‘behold Jesus’ is to receive the fullness of Him, to let Him embrace you in all His loveliness (like the father embracing the prodigal son in Luke 15:20), or being conscious of His love, grace, and goodness always. So, ‘love’ here is never a ‘task’ of trying to love, or forcing yourself to love. Now, let me ‘qualify’ what I’ve just written. I’m not saying I don’t believe in ‘love in action’, but I’m saying ‘love in action’ comes supernaturally as you first behold the Person of ‘love’, i.e. Jesus!

And as you behold Jesus in all His loveliness and His perfect work on the cross, love flows out through you as you minister to other lives! As 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, you (or your ministry) are being transformed from glory to glory as you behold Jesus more, and many lives will be touched, restored, healed, and set free as ‘love’ flows out through you. Hallelujah!

If you read further in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, you’ll see Jesus (who is the noun ‘love’ Himself) fits so perfectly here:

Jesus suffers long and is kind; Jesus does not envy; Jesus does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Jesus never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

Amen!

Wherever you dig your 'wells', there'll be 'water'!

Genesis 26:13 (KJV): The man Isaac waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great.

It means Isaac grew and continued growing until he became very prosperous and influential. In New King James Version (NKJV), it’s written this way: “The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous”. Wow! That’s triple prosperity! And ‘three’ is a number of ‘completion, perfect testimony, invincibility’. In other words, Isaac had ‘complete, perfect testimony, invincible’ prosperity! ‘To be invincible’ is ‘to be too strong to be overcome or defeated’. In fact, this happened in a time when there was famine in the land! (Genesis 26:1)

It all started when the Lord told Isaac ‘not to go down to Egypt’ (Genesis 26:2), but instead continue to dwell in the land which He had promised Abraham. The Lord even said, “I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father” (Genesis 26:3). God backed up what He said with an oath! ‘Egypt’ here represents ‘the worldly way of getting wealth’, and the Lord told Isaac to look away from that and stand on His promises and His way instead. The word ‘oath’ in Hebrew is from the root word ‘shaba’, which means ‘seven, perfect’. An ‘oath’ by the Lord is also to say “it’s impossible for Him to lie”. When He said He will perform, HE WILL PERFORM! And the good news is as a believer in the New Covenant, this very same ‘oath’ has already been ‘performed’ perfectly when Jesus died for you on the cross! It’s already been done for you. And now you can stand blessed like Isaac was!

What is the similarity between Isaac and you (a believer)? The blessings of Abraham! You both are sons of Abraham! And in Genesis 25:5, notice that Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac, and God truly blessed Isaac! That’s why when Isaac sowed in the land, he reaped in the same year a hundredfold (Genesis 26:12). And the man Isaac began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous, so much so until the Philistines envied him (Genesis 26:14). And wherever Isaac dug wells, there was water! Not only did he re-dig the wells of his father, he also found new wells of running water! That’s favor, my friend! Will you believe this for yourself? Believing, you’ll receive too! Claim it! Give thanks for it! And step into your blessings! The truth is this is your ‘birthright’ as a son (or daughter) of Abraham!

And you know what? Those who envy you will eventually acknowledge ‘the Lord is with you, and has blessed you’ (Genesis 26:28-29). The blessings in your life are evident for all to see, and yes, even your adversaries will make peace with you (Genesis 26:31).

All these happened to Isaac, and because of the ‘oath’ that has been performed through Jesus Christ on the cross, this can happen to you too! Hallelujah!

Receive His love & embrace

Luke 15:20 (NKJV): And he (the lost son) arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

These are also the 5 things God does to you in all His love & grace. No matter how you have ‘blown it’ in your life, or what your sins or mistakes may be, just as in this parable (Luke 15:11-24), God wants to embrace you and pour (lavish) His love on you! (Romans 5:5)

When the lost son ‘came to himself’ (Luke 15:17), hungry, broke and with nowhere else to go, he decided to come back to his father and be his hired servant. But when the father saw him from a distance, he was so filled with compassion that he ran towards the lost son. Now, that was never supposed to be in their family tradition! The son should be the one running towards the father, not the other way round! But all that didn’t matter to the father anymore! What mattered was “my son is back!” It also didn’t matter how filthy, dirty, or unkempt the son was at that time, he went on to embrace and kiss him. That’s how God (in all His love and grace) is to you too!

Not only that, the father then made sure the best robe is put on the son, a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet (Luke 15:22). The robe means ‘God’s righteousness’ (Isaiah 61:10), the ring means ‘God’s authority’ (Genesis 41:42), and the sandal means ‘being God’s beloved son’ (Exodus 12:11). In His loving embrace, He wants you to know you have all these too, and that’s exactly how lavish God’s love and grace is for you. Know that He doesn’t look at your sins anymore when you look to Him. All your sins have already been punished on Jesus’ body when He died for you on the cross. In fact, there’s no more condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Will you allow Him to embrace you again? There’s really no one too filthy for Him to embrace. In fact, He specializes in the sinners, the lepers, ‘the lost, the last, and the least’ during His ministry on earth.

I’m not saying “you try to embrace Him”, but I’m saying “allow Him to embrace you”. There’s a big difference here, and it’s when you receive His love and embrace, your life will change!

His love for you is also always sure. Human, organizations, or even your best of friends may fail you, but His love for you never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8). Look unto Jesus & all that He’s done for you on the cross. In Him, you are complete (Colossians 2:10), and in Him is all your sufficiency (2 Corinthians 12:9). His love for you is perfect, and in fact, 1 John 4:18 says, ‘His perfect love (for you) casts out (any) fear’.

Indeed, there’s no fear in His love & embrace!