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There’s probably one passage more than any other that’s usually read at weddings. It’s the great chapter on love from 1 Corinthians 13. It’s an appropriate passage for married couples to reflect on, but it wasn’t written for them. This passage on love was written in a prolonged discussion of church ministry. It shows us how love turns volunteering into ministry and how a lack of love can make serving something less than it was intended to be.

1. Serving without love serves no one

When I first became a Christian, I read a number of Christian biographies. I was in awe of the stories of heroic Christians who did amazing things. William Carey famously said, “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.” That may be true, but the apostle Paul warns of an attitude that wasn’t on my radar. In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, he writes:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

This passage is all about heroism. It pictures the ultimate Christian superstar, fluent in various languages, wise beyond belief, with faith to move mountains, generous to the point of poverty, and committed enough to be burned at the stake. This is exactly the kind of Christian that historians write biographies of, but Paul’s point isn’t to hold such a person up as an example to follow.

Instead, he wants Christians to realize that a lack of love neutralizes even the greatest talent, faith, and dedication. You may speak a dozen languages, but without love, you’re just making noise. As Paul says, without love, “I am nothing … I gain nothing.”

Serving in love, means, first of all, that you serve. You put up your hand to volunteer and be a part of what God is doing. But it also means that you see past the task to the people you can love. I still remember the greeter at a church I attended. He showed so much love and concern for me on my first visit that I not only kept attending, but we became life-long friends. Love matters whether you’re serving in the parking lot or leading an international ministry. People will remember how you cared.

2. Serving with love is shown in the weeds of ministry

One of the reasons that 1 Corinthians is read at weddings is that it takes the word love which is often reduced to a feeling and translates it into concrete steps. Again, though, the primary focus of these actions is directed toward how we serve in ministry. In verses four to six, Paul defines love this way.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Any idea why Paul would be talking about the need for patience and kindness and not being irritable or resentful? It’s because if you’re going to rub shoulders with others in ministry or serve people in various ways, you’re almost guaranteed to be irritated at times. Serving for Paul meant riots and stonings. Serving for Jesus meant being crucified. Serving for us will almost certainly involve inconvenience and misunderstanding. It will include setbacks and difficult people. There may be tension or nervousness. But believers anticipate the challenges of ministry and receive them out of love for Christ. He gave so much more in ministry for our sakes and so we say with Paul, “Love bears all things.”

Has love moved you to look for ways to serve the church and the community? If it has, how can you make serving more than just a task? How do you turn the ministry into an opportunity to love people? Who does serving give you the opportunity to care for? And what are some of the weeds that love calls you to put up with? What are some of the challenges of serving that you choose to bear in love?

As believers serve together in love, God turns our ordinary into something extraordinary.

In awe of Him,

Paul