The goal of discipling (1 Cor. 13:1-3)

In one occasion the elders in our church were talking about discipleship.  How do we invest in people in order to help them grow?  We wondered about doing something like a six-week teaching course with people.  But as I spent more time thinking about this issue, I thought that it is important that we begin by thinking about the goal of discipleship.  In what direction do we want to bring people?  What does spiritual growth look like?

Much of our modern discipleship centres on teaching.  That makes sense.  After all, Jesus commanded us to go make disciples of all nations … teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you … (Matthew 28:19-20).  But this cannot not simply be the type of teaching that fills up the brain, but leave the heart unmoved.  It must be teaching that changes us.  After all, the apostle Paul warned that ‘knowledge puffs up’, whereas ‘love builds up’ (1 Corinthians 8:1).  If all we want to do is fill people’s minds with doctrine, they may end up less mature than when we began discipling them.

No, the goal of discipleship must be love.  The Greek New Testament has a number of words that are translated 'love'.  One of them is ‘agape’.  While the meaning of a word can vary depending on the context in which it is used, ‘agape’ generally refers to a pure and sacrificial love that seek the good of others.

Agape is seen in its truest form on the cross.  The apostle John wrote, ‘this is how we know what agape is: Christ died for us’ (1 John 3:16).  As we share the message of Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:13), we ask the Holy Spirit to take His loving word and make us people of love.  People that are becoming more like Jesus.  That is the essence of true spirituality.  That should be the goal of our discipleship.

We are going to look at agape as we study the great passage on love that is 1 Corinthians 13.  The context of this chapter is the immaturity of the Corinthian Christians.  There were those in that fellowship who had the gift of tongues, and some of them thought that this made them more spiritual than other Christians.  Paul points out that spiritual gifts are not designed to make us as better Christians than others, but rather they are meant to help us serve one another.  There was another group in the church that saw how the gift of tongues was being abused and thought that it would be best to stamp out the use of this gift altogether.  To this latter group, Paul writes, ‘do not forbid the speaking in tongues’ (1 Corinthians 14:29).  Paul says that the right response to the bad use of spiritual gifts is not to ban the gifts, but to learn how to use them in love.  That is what 1 Corinthians 13 is about.

This divides nicely into there parts.  We are going to look at the first part (verses 1-3) now.

1.    Without agape you are just an annoyance

If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am merely a resounding gong or clanging symbol.

Sometimes, after our church services, a child will go up to the drum set and have a right old bash.  As the adults in the room try to chat with each other, you can see them getting irritated with the disturbing background noise.  That is what some of the tongue-speakers in Corinth were like.  Because they were not motivated by agape, they used their gift to try to convince themselves and others that they were a cut above everyone else.  Such super-spirituality just ends up being an irritation in the church fellowship.  It sets people in competition with each other and it robs the fellowship of joy.

Whatever gifts God has given you value them on their ability to help you love and serve each other.  It doesn’t matter if they are spectacular or seemingly ordinary, they are given to help you encourage other people.  That is the way of agape.  I believe that the variety of gifts can include things that you seem naturally good at, and that the Holy Spirit uses to strengthen the church.  I believe that finding your gifts involves figuring out where you are particularly effective in serving others.  I believe that growing as a disciple involves using your gifts in love.   

Without agape not even Christian

Whatever spiritual gifts you may have, they are not the measure of how spiritual you are.  In fact, not only does spiritual gifting fail to prove that you are spiritual, they fail to prove that you are even a Christian.  Think of those loveless people on the last day who say to Jesus, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and drive out demons in your name, and do mighty miracles in your name?’  And yet Jesus says to them, ‘I never knew you’ (Matthew 7:21-23).

Paul lists some impressive spiritual gifting in the second verse.  ‘If I have the gift of prophecy, and can fathom all mysteries and knowledge, and have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing’.  He does not say that these gifts and workings were nothing.  He doesn’t not say the gifts were counterfeits.  He says that the user of the gift is nothing.  Not a mature Christian, not an impressive Christian, and possibly not a Christian at all.

Now Paul is not saying that our agape makes us a Christian.  But our agape does show that we belong to God.  We are not Christians because we have shown agape, but because agape has been shown to us.  As we look at the crucified saviour, giving His life in agape for us, the Holy Spirit takes the truth of the cross and plants Christ-like agape in our hearts.  Growing as a disciple of Jesus, is developing a heart that is centred around the crucifixion.

By the way, if you listen to this and feel convicted that your agape is weak, that is a good thing.  The realisation of your imperfection in agape is a gentle work of Christ in your heart.  The desire to grow in agape is a result of the Holy Spirit in you.  I would be much more worried if you thought that you had this agape thing sorted out.  As we grow in our faith we simultaneously become more like Jesus, and more aware of how unlike Jesus we are.

Without love you will receive no heavenly reward

Agape is a sacrificial love.  As the agape of Jesus flows into our hearts the Holy Spirit produces agape within us.  The sacrifice of Jesus in giving His life for us causes a desire to serve others.  We cannot follow Jesus without being will to make sacrifices for His people.  Again, the apostle John writes, ‘If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister [in Christ] in need, and has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? (1 John 3:17).  Yet, it is possible to make sacrifices for those in need, and even give up our life as a martyr, and not do it with agape.

If I give all I have to the poor, and surrender my body to the flames—some versions of the NIV explain the motive here, ‘in order that I may boast’—but have not agape, I gain nothing.  Our wonderful heavenly Father, who like all good parents delights to reward His children’s obedience, will reward us for every act of agape done in love for Him.  Every sacrifice in agape has an eternal significance.  But those parts of our service that are motivated by looking good in front of others have already received their reward.

Conclusion

So, I was thinking about discipleship, and I was thinking about the aim of discipleship.  The aim is not simply to grow in knowledge.  Knowledge puffs up, and love builds up.  On the last day we will see that there were people that we judged to be less ‘sound’ than we were, and yet who were far more truly spiritual them us.

Agape is the measure of true spirituality, but how do we grow in agape?  Firstly, remember that agape is a part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22).  It is not something that we can work up in our own heart.  But how does the Holy Spirit grow us in agape?  He grows us in agape as we behold Jesus (2 Cor. 3:18).  

So, teaching has a central role in discipling!  But it is teaching that must result in transformation.  We centre all that we teach on the cross of Christ and ask God to warm our hearts and grow our sacrificial love.