The More Excellent Way . . .

Paul promises in 1 Corinthians 12:31 to show us a, "more excellent way" to serve the Body of Christ using our Spirit-given gifts. The "more excellent way" is defined in Chapter 13 as sacrificial "agape" love. Paul says that we can have the greatest of speaking gifts (v1), the greatest of wisdom gifts (v2), and even use our gifts in a way that involves much sacrifice (v3)--yet, if we are not motivated by agape--it's all meaningless! Our spiritually-gifted service must sail on an ocean of love to be of any value to God. And lest we redefine love to meet our selfish ends--God provides the definition for us in verses 4-7. Replace the word "love" with "Jesus" and the paragraph makes perfect sense. But replace the word "love" with "Dave" and it quickly becomes a joke. Why are we so far from Jesus example of service? Here's the answer--we are not truly filled (saturated, baptized, immersed, flooded, overwhelmed) with the Holy Spirit. Most of us are still serving in our limited power and we get what we can produce--not what God intends to give. The Scripture says, "We love because He first loved us". Have we really received the love of God? God promises, "The fruit of the Spirit is love . . . " Have we really received the Holy Spirit of God? According to the authoritative Word of God, here is what true Spirit-powered service looks like:

It is patient.
It is kind.
It is not jealous.
It does not brag.
It is not arrogant.
It does not act unbecomingly.
It does not seek its own.
It is not provoked.
It does not take into account a wrong suffered.
it does not rejoice in unrighteousness.
It rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things.
It believes all things.
It hopes all things.
It endures all things.

I don't think that any of us will have to look very far to find gross shortcoming in our own service to God. How different would our churches be if we served in the Spirit instead of the flesh? How different would our families be if we served in the Spirit rather than the flesh? How different would our denomination be if we served in the Spirit instead of in the flesh? We must repent of our self-sufficiency and seek God for nothing less than total Spirit saturation.