1 Corinthians 13 (1)

Pray Psalm 25.4, 5.
Show me Your ways, O LORD;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.

Sing Psalm 25.4, 5.
(Festal Song: Rise Up, O Men of God)
Make me to know Your ways, teach me Your paths, O LORD!
My Savior, all day long I wait and seek You in Your Word.

Read and meditate on 1 Corinthians 13.1-3.

Preparation
1. What matters most in Christian faith?

2. Does anything else matter apart from this?

Meditation
I don’t know much about zombies, but I do know that many folks today are fascinated by them. The ODE defines a zombie as “a person or reanimated corpse that has been turned into a creature capable of movement but not of rational thought, which feeds on human flesh.” An alternate definition reads, “a person who appears lifeless, apathetic, or completely unresponsive to their surroundings.”

In brief, zombies are dead people, walking around acting like live people, but without any real human essence.

We don’t want to become that way as Christians. You know, active in everything, talkative about doctrines and Bible studies, faithful in worship, touting our ministries, but lacking the true measure of the Living Water of Jesus: love.

In the churches in Corinth, division was rife because people were so busy parading their religiosity and touting their gifts and knowledge that they left off loving one another and thus were devouring one another and their churches.

Yep. Zombies.

From what I can gather, zombies are a bit of a nuisance. They contribute nothing and ruin the neighborhood.

Christian zombies contribute nothing to their neighbors or churches, nothing that manifests the Presence and shows the effects of the Spirit of love. Paul has been holding a mirror up to the Corinthians, and now he sharpens the focus: Zombies of Corinth, wake up and live!

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162.
Though I can do everything—speak the Gospel in every known language, foretell the future with accuracy, understand all mysteries, comprehend all knowledge, have faith to literally move mountains—to impress the church folks and the watching world, if I do not have love for them, “I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13.2).

Though I can be everything—generous to a fault, martyred for my faith, outstandingly courageous, sacrificial, and bold—but do not love those I have done these things for, “it profits me nothing” (1 Cor. 13.3).

“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? …Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 Jn. 3.16, 17).

“For love is as strong as death…its flames are flames of fire, a most vehement flame” (Song 8.6). And as the footnote states: the final flame could be written, “A flame of YAH” (a poetic form of YHWH, the LORD). And that indeed is a most vehement flame—love amazing and divine.

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (Jn. 11.25 KJV). Jesus wants to bring us to life to love His people and His Church. We need only ask Him.
“Do you believe this?” (Jn. 11.26) Yes, we do.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5.17). Our shabby, scraggly, apathetic selves now manifesting the Presence of Jesus by living out the effects of His Spirit of love into every nook and cranny of our Personal Mission Field.

When I survey the wondrous cross,
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
(Isaac Watts, 1707)

For reflection
1. How would you be able to know if you were lapsing into some kind of “zombie Christianity”?

2. Love, Paul says, is the “more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12.31). Why is that?

3. What would you say are the keys to loving like Jesus loved?

In other words, says Paul, if I have no love I am not just useless but a positive nuisance. John Chrysostom (344-407), Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians 32.6

Pray Psalm 25.8-13.
Pray that the Lord will make you and your church more like Jesus—loving, growing, ministering to your neighbors, and walking the path of faithfulness and love in all things.

Sing Psalm 25.8-13.
(Festal Song: Rise Up, O Men of God)
Upright and good are You, You lead us in Your way.
The humble You instruct in truth and guide him day by day.

The paths of God are all of love and faithfulness.
All they who keep His covenant the LORD will surely bless.

For Your sake, LORD, forgive. All they who fear You, LORD,
shall know Your blessings day by day and follow in Your Word.

T. M. and Susie Moore

The Church in Corinth was in need of revival. But there was much to be done before that would happen. The Church today is in need of revival, and the same is true for us. Our book, Revived!, can help us to discern our need for revival and lead us in getting there. Order your copy by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter, available by clicking here.