Seven Minus One Equals Zero

It is whatever you are doing plus love that matters. It is whatever you are saying plus love that makes a difference. For whatever you are doing or saying or giving or being or sacrificing or whatever, without love, it's nothing.

With love, no matter what you can give, no matter how you serve, no matter what you're sacrificed, no matter where you serve, no matter what it is worth, to God, everything. What do you get when you subtract one from seven? That seems like a pretty easy math problem.

The answer would be six, right? Well, today you're going to learn that's not always the case. The simple equation may work in arithmetic, but not in Christianity. Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen Davey has a lesson for you called seven minus one equals zero. If you take seven good attributes such as faith, hope, discernment, worship, mercy, and service, and subtract love from them, you end up with nothing. God's divine equation always comes out the same. Anything minus love equals zero.

Here's Stephen Davey with today's Bible lesson. Of all the cities of ancient Greece that would have had a twisted view of love, it would have been Corinth. In fact, of all the churches probably in the New Testament era that would be in need of teaching on the subject of true love, it would be these former adulterers and thieves and homosexuals and fornicators and swindlers who had come to faith and joined the church in Corinth. They had lived for their own lusts and their own pleasures. They had extorted. They had stolen from their neighbors and employers and perhaps each other if you can imagine that. Now they're in the assembly where they're learning that giving is better than receiving and serving is better than ruling.

This would be a life-changing perspective. They already knew how to use people to their advantage, but they had to learn how to serve people. They already knew how to have sexual relations with other people. They had to learn purity outside of marriage and fidelity inside of marriage. They naturally followed the motivations of greed and self-advancement.

They could use people. They could manipulate relationships to get what they wanted, but they knew nothing of this unique motivation of agape love. This isn't, of course, just a problem in Corinth, is it? It's necessary for every church and every culture and every generation to learn how to love. We're all infected with too much of ourselves. We're all infected with a terminal case of self-love, self-promoting, self-advancing, self-appreciating, self-enamored, self-increasing, self-enhancing love. Just watch a toddler in the nursery who taught him to pitch a fit when his toys were taken away. He's gotten old enough at that point to evidence the characteristic trait of human nature, which is the opposite of agape. It is self-centeredness. We have to learn how to give.

We have to learn how to be selfless in serving. In fact, we all want to be loved with agape love, but we must learn how to be lovers with agape love. Someone sent me several things children said regarding true love, and I thought they were great. Rebecca, age eight, said, when my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend down to paint her toenails anymore, so my grandfather does it for her. That's love, I'll say. Danny, age seven, said, when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy, she takes a sip before giving it to him to make sure the taste is okay. That's love. Chris, age seven, said, love is when mommy sees daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he's handsome. Elaine, age five, says, love is when mommy gives daddy the best piece of chicken.

I like the direction these are going, don't you? Carl doesn't get it. This little kid said, love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on cologne and they go out and smell each other. One more, Jessica, age eight, delivered this profound statement. You really shouldn't say I love you unless you mean it, but if you mean it, we should say it a lot, because people forget.

The world has frankly been trying to get it right for thousands of years. To the Greeks, when we're introduced to this chapter, in Paul's day they focused on storge, as we learned in our last session, family love, natural love that comes from being a part of the family. They emphasized the word philia, the love of mutual attraction. The downside of philia says, I will love you if everything I love you love.

Another word that was heavily used was eros. This was erotic, stimulating thunder and lightning kind of feelings that temporarily intoxicate the senses. It ought to head toward a commitment of soul and body and mind, but the world never moves past that. They can't, since agape is at its core divinely inspired. It is not in our flesh. It is not of us.

It is impossible to love with agape love apart from a commitment to Christ. Now you need to know that by the time Paul sent this letter to these Corinthian believers, they were actually imitating their self-centered culture. What's even more dangerous is that they're in the process of moving Corinth into the church.

They're moving it right inside. They're bringing into the assembly their old ways of life, where they were first and everybody else came last, where they mattered and no one else came close. So Paul is actually putting on the brakes on his discussion on spiritual gifts, and he closes chapter 12 by giving us a hint at what's coming. He says, I am going to show you a more excellent way to live, and it's this thing called agape, love that makes up its mind to live and serve others in a loving way. And you can't help but notice that as 1 Corinthians 13 opens, Paul begins by using himself as the example.

Did you notice? If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have agape, I have become a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal. What Paul will do in this paragraph is say, listen, if I, one of Christ's apostles, don't have agape, I accomplish nothing. Look at verse 2, if I have the gift of prophecy, if I know all mysteries and I have all knowledge, if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. Paul is going to teach us something radical. We could call it divine mathematics. He will present the hypothetical possibility of adding seven eminent qualities of spiritual life and dynamic ministry, but without love, those qualities add up to nothing. Seven wonderful attributes all added up without love equals a big zero.

Here's the divine mathematical formula, seven minus one equals zero. Let's look at the list. The first dynamic element is eloquence. Again, verse one, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels. Now Paul is no doubt referencing the gift of tongues. The Corinthians' enthusiasm over this spotlight gift was sort of leading them into prideful disorder.

One author referred to this culture right here as charismatic chaos. Paul immediately captures their attention by saying, listen, imagine if I were the world's most gifted tongue speaker. Imagine if I were the greatest tongue speaker. I could speak in all of the languages or tongues of the world.

In fact, the word here from glossa translated tongue gives us our word glossary. It could be better understood what Paul is saying here if we translated it languages. Paul is saying, what if I was fluent in every language of mankind, but without love?

I would only be impressing myself. Paul has them imagine even further. Look there next, if I could speak with the languages of the angels. Now, the Bible doesn't teach any kind of unique or special angelic language or dialect. People often misunderstand that the groanings of the Holy Spirit to be some sort of language, his utterances. No, he can speak perfectly within the triune Godhead. Paul is basically saying here, if I were given the supernatural ability of the angels to address mankind in whatever their language, I mean, it doesn't matter where I would be the hero missionary.

You know, I could show up in any country to any people group with any tongue, any glossary, any language, and I could fluently communicate the truth to them. But notice without love, he says, I would be nothing more than a noisy gong and a clanging symbol. Paul is referring to the percussion section of ancient music. These two instruments gave off noise more than music. They had their place and when well used could have dynamic effect. But there's no such thing as a symbol solo.

Bach, you know, never did that or Beethoven, but they can be effective if they are timed and timely. Paul is saying, look, if I could speak in any language, if I could communicate the truth and in some effective way, and yet I lack love for the people I was speaking to, I'm just a noisy symbol. I'm a clanging gong. Just a lot of noise.

Let me principalize it this way. Without love, communication becomes noisy confusion and contradiction. A noisy symbol will never attract anybody to Christ. A noisy saint who serves without love, who speaks without love, will never edify anyone in the church. Now Paul anticipates, I think, his audience saying, you're right, Paul, anything that we come up with saying needs to be said with the right spirit for it to be meaningful and fruitful and to have an impact. But what if God gives you some kind of revelation that it really won't matter if you love people or not, right? Because this is just the message of God and you're just delivering the message as his messenger.

So love won't matter. Paul says, I anticipated you thinking that. So verse two, if I have the gift of prophecy and I know all mysteries and all knowledge, let's stop. Prophecy is the ability to publicly proclaim God's truth. Paul is saying here, listen, if I have the ability to both tell the future or receive some new truth from God, or if I have the ability to preach and teach what God has already revealed, yet I don't love my students, he says, I am a zero.

Which is an interesting thought. You've been teaching for 15 years maybe, that class of fifth graders, if you don't love them, your ministry amounts to nothing in the eyes of God. Paul goes on to add to prophecy all mysteries. This is the understanding of God's ways yet unexplained.

The mystery was some redemptive truth once hidden that's now revealed through scripture. Paul adds to all mysteries, all knowledge. In other words, you're a walking Bible encyclopedia. You have all of the theological answers to any spiritual question, any spiritual mystery, you know it all, yet if you lack love, Paul says, you will be nothing.

Robert Gromacki said it this way, a full head with an empty heart adds up to nothing. It's possible then to know a lot about the facts of the Bible and very little about the heart of God. Here Paul is saying in principle form, sharing insight with others without showing interest in others is ineffective. That's why the Lord Jesus made it very clear that the disciples were not to be known by their knowledge. Jesus never said, they will know you are my disciples by your IQ. They will know you are my disciples by your amazing insight. They will know you are my disciples because you know the future.

You ever thought about that? We know the future. The world is dying to know what happens after you die. And we know, we know the future. We can describe heaven for people right down to the pavement. We know it. But have you ever had anybody say, wow, you know what my future state is going to be after I die. Then in that case, what must I do to be saved? I want to come to your church.

You know the future. What makes them wonder, what makes them thirsty is when they see you acting in a loving way toward your boss at work who just trampled all over you or that employee perhaps in the next cubicle who stabbed you in the back to get a promotion. And that you still care about what kind of job you're doing and you still care about them.

What gets their attention is that you care about that student in the classroom that nobody else cares about and you speak to them. That's distinctive. That's why the mark of the disciple is what? They will know you are my disciples by your by your agape, your love. John 13 35. So Paul, I think at this point, seems to anticipate people searching for perhaps another loophole because he knows how we are.

Right. So, OK, we won't say anything at all. We're not going to try to demonstrate the public speaking gifts. We're not going to walk around like some Bible encyclopedia. All we're going to do is act with great faith in God who has the power to make great things happen. Paul says, in effect, imagine then if I had all faith so as to move mountains, I am nothing. Here's the third point he's making without love. A reputation of faith becomes a farce. He's suggesting that all faith is not as important as some love. And would you notice Paul does not say without love, my great faith and the acts of faith become nothing?

No. He says, even if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. So here's how to be nothing. Demonstrate the gifts without demonstrating grace. Divine mathematics adds it all up and says, well, that equals nothing.

OK, I got one more chance or two. I'll just back up my loveless heart with acts of love. I don't love people, but I'll just act as if I do. God will take note of that, won't he?

No. Paul seems to anticipate that. Notice verse three. If I give all my possessions to feed the poor. Now, Paul, stop for a moment, uses language that's very descriptive. The verb so midzo means to literally feed by placing morsels in the mouth. You are literally ladling out the soup. He leaves no question.

You are personally intimately involved. You are spooning it out until you have no more soup and no more money to buy any more soup and you give it all away. Paul says without love. All that was worthless to me. It will not be rewarded. It will not be honored by the father.

It's zero. That's true, isn't it? Because God is not so impressed with what we do as much as he is with who we are. We focus on the works of our hands and he focuses on the condition of our heart. To give without love profits you nothing. Well, I had the question in my mind, why would anybody give without love? I have one commentator who wrote about 200 years ago who just gave me a list that embarrassed me for ever asking the question.

Here are several of them. You give to make your conscience quiet. You give to put the unpleasant need out of sight. You give to look like you care. You give out of a sense of obligation. You give what you really don't want to have. You give to look like others around you that gain respect and attention by giving. It's possible to give without love. The rabbis of Paul's day required that a faithful Jew gave 20 percent of what they had.

Paul is literally upping the ante. In fact, he's talking about unheard of generosity. He says, even if you gave everything you owned away 100 percent without love, it is worthless to your own account. That's divine mathematics.

Seven minus one equals zero. Now we've looked at six of them that all add up to zero without love. Paul is covering all of the possibilities of life without love. He's addressed what you say and how well you say it. He's talked about what you believe and how much you know it. He's talked about what you give and how much you give it. Now he moves to the ultimate demonstration. This is how you die. This will get his attention. This will reap many rewards at the bima.

He goes on. And if I give my body to be burned and do not have love, it profits me what nothing. Now it's possible that Paul is referring to the ancient custom of branding slaves. Perhaps Paul is referring to someone going into slavery so that someone else could be freed and they're willing to give their flesh, their back, their thigh or their arm to literally be burned with that brand.

That would be a wonderful sacrifice to give your life into slavery so that one who is enslaved can go free, wouldn't it? I personally believe, though given the ascending significance of these elements of sacrifice, that Paul is actually thinking of someone dying a martyr's death. Even though Christians at this time in Paul's life were not being burned at the stake as they will one day be, but criminals and enemies of the state were burned to death. But Paul is a Roman citizen. And a Roman citizen, one of the guaranteed rights of citizenship is that you will never be executed by burning. No Roman citizen, no matter how vile, corrupt or criminal ever had to worry, no Roman would ever be executed by burning.

So Paul, in effect, is saying, what if I, a Roman citizen, was willing for someone else to lay aside my rights as a Roman citizen and die this horrific death of burning? Even that would profit me nothing without agape. Seven characteristics minus love equals nothing. Seven minus one equals zero.

So how do you avoid becoming the sum of these divine mathematics? Well, six ways. One, whatever you say, ask, does it sound loving? Two, whatever you do, ask, is it done with love? Three, whatever you think, ask, is it balanced with love? Four, whenever you respond, ask, is it covered in love? Five, whenever you serve, ask, is it motivated by love? Six, whatever you give, ask, is it generated by love? Now maybe you're thinking, stop, slow down, I'm at point two.

No, I did that on purpose. You don't need to write anything down. All I want you to think is this, it is whatever you are doing plus love that matters. It is whatever you are saying plus love that makes a difference. For whatever you are doing or saying or giving or being or sacrificing or whatever, without love, it's nothing.

With love, no matter what you can give, no matter how you serve, no matter what your sacrifice, no matter where you serve, no matter it is worth to God everything. Author and speaker Jerry Bridges gave a great illustration of this divine mathematics. He said, write down either in your imagination or on a sheet of paper a row of zeros and then another line of zeros and then another line and another line and another line until you filled up the front of the page, turn it over and just keep writing zeros until you get to the very last one. Now add them up. Now for someone like me that just never did well at math, I've got that one down. It would be zero. Well let's add a thousand more zeros. Let's get pages and pages and pages and you just write zero, zero, zero, zero, zero. Come to the end. Add it up.

What would it be? Zero. Then he said, what you do is you go back to the beginning of your list, the very first page, the very first column, the very first zero and in front of that zero add one little positive number like a two or a five and immediately all those zeros have value, immense value. Paul is saying, list all your gifts, list all your talents, list everything you can do, everything you can give, everything you can say, every way you can serve, list them all.

They add up to zero unless at the front there is this one element, agape love. There can be so many things about our lives that we're doing right. We're serving, we're worshiping and all these other great qualities and actions.

But without love, it's nothing. You're listening to Wisdom for the Heart. This is the Bible teaching ministry of pastor and author Stephen Davey. You can learn more about us or interact with us at our website, wisdomonline.org. Once you get to the website, you can access the complete archive of Stephen's 35 years of Bible teaching ministry. You can also find all of our other resources including books, commentaries, Bible study guides and much more. And by the way, if you've never been there before, I want you to know that you can listen to all of Stephen's Bible teaching and you can read the manuscript that he prepared in writing his lessons absolutely free.

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