Love and prophesy

“𝑃𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑢𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑔𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑦” (1 𝐶𝑜𝑟. 14:1).

First Corinthians chapter thirteen focuses on love, even concluding that love is far superior to things like prophecy, tongues and knowledge, which will be “rendered useless” and “cease.” Yet at the very beginning of chapter fourteen, Paul seemingly contradicts his words, commanding the Corinthians to “[p]ursue love, and desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.” Why does Paul put these two together, especially cautioning the saints about the “activity” of prophecy? What is the relationship between “pursuing love” and “prophesying”? To us, “pursue love” is just a grand, broad statement, not readily challenged or debated, and prophesying seems like a straightforward activity. Yet Paul desires to uplift our understanding: what is the spiritual application of “pursuing love” when it comes to the practical living of the local church? The fulfillment of chapter thirteen—of pursuing love—is hiding in chapter fourteen.

𝑷𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒖𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒄 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.
“Pursue love” is a word in the Bible that everyone likes to read; who doesn’t want to talk about love? But do we know in what way this love can function? We often say that we have an “organic” church life; “pursuing love” is an organic function of this very life. The word “organic,” which is Latin in origin, refers to any functionality that is produced from organisms—from life. For example, when a seed is sown into the soil, a green sprout spontaneously comes out of the earth. By what power can a seed grow exponentially in size? That power comes from the life within the seed—the tree is simply the sign and the expression of that life; it is the testimony of the function of the “tree life” that started within the seed. 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬. Life needs a way to be expressed; love is the organic functioning for that expression.

𝑷𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆.
What, then, is that expression? Many Christians overuse and misuse the phrase “spiritual gifts” mentioned in 14:1, interpreting it as natural talents or aptness for doing certain things. Simply speaking, however, the gifts are nothing but the expression of the functionality of this divine life—the love—in which we have been rooted. This function of life isn’t something abstract, but something manifested and expressed; 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠. Without love as the foundation, prophecy “will be rendered useless” (13:8). In saying this, Paul cautions the saints in Corinth against prophesying—or doing anything—without first pursuing love; prophesying should be the spontaneous result of exercising that organic life in “the seed.” As the seed sprouts, it automatically lives out the organic function of its life. Similarly, we function according to the organic life inside of us; that life is our spirit. That function is exercised when we use our spirit to prophesy in love. If we don’t, the seed of life will never be fully expressed.

In order for seeds to progress to the stage of blooming and propagation, the seed has to be broken open—to die. Through death and resurrection, the fruit of love is the propagation of life. Only in this way can it be resurrected and become fruitful, yielding a season of propagation and filling the air with the expression of love. At that time, all of the seeds spread for the reproduction of that life. Thus the fruit of one tree can yield a hundred, even a thousand trees of the same life. We can see who is truly “pursuing love” from whether the saints are propagating and fruitful to build up the church. If they are, their words will be spontaneously filled with the richness and power of this propagating life. Prophesying that builds up requires much more experience than speaking out good words or a convincing sermon at a meeting. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐮𝐬.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒖𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈.
“𝑆𝑜 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑧𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑠, 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ.” (1 𝐶𝑜𝑟. 14:12)

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐝’𝐬 𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲; the prophesying out of love as the blooming of this life deposited into us also builds us up together and builds up the church: “…he who prophesies speaks building up and encouragement and consolation to men…he who prophesies builds up the church” (14:3-4). When we have this organic function, our relationships with one another will change. Spontaneously, we will prophesy to each other, rendering the true building and reality of the local church. We prophesy to each other to enter into the organic building in resurrection. No matter if we comfort or rebuke, speak gently or speak harshly, tell a member they are hopeful or hopeless—no matter what we say or how we say it—as long as it is from that seed of life and from the expression of love, it will result in the building.

It doesn’t matter how much we exercise prophesying, prayer, pray-reading, singing, writing spiritual literature, going to see a brother, serving our household, reading the Bible, or any other “spiritual” activity—the building will only happen when we exercise this organic faculty out of the expression of the pursuit of love. When we do this, the reality of the church is brought into being and expressed. That’s our church life. When we say we are the body of Christ, our relationships have to be sourced from life, express that pursuit of love, and render the true building, manifested as the local church.

(𝐴𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑔𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 9/27/2020, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑟.)