BEING GOD: The LOVE Aspect - Part 2 By Daniel J. Musokwa

Here's the second installment in this series of foundational teachings on LOVE by my dear brother Apostle Daniel J. Musokwa, Founder and General Overseer of New Testament Ministries - Tanzania. The First installment is here.

Daniel J. Musokwa

It is absolutely important for us to get things in their proper perspectives if we are to grow into the express image of the Son of God. So many times we place higher premiums on things like tongues, water baptisms and church activities than we do on the all-important issues like love. 

Notice, if you will, in 1 Cor 13:1 the Apostle Paul says that even if I spoke in angelic/heavenly tongues but I am without love, then my tongues are nothing but noise! I’m just like a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal! A picture of more utter and complete futility has never been painted! 

We have been guilty of teaching our people so much about tongues and there are many camps and denominations divided over the issue, but there are hardly any denominations divided along the lines of love or over the issue of love! Yet… YET, Paul tells us that your speaking in tongues is just NOISE to God if you lack in the area of love… please think about that deeply my friend.

And if you think this love is just a feeling of being amicable with everybody at all times then you couldn't be more wrong. I’ll say it again… Love is the key ingredient of Christianity without which there is absolutely no Christianity whatsoever! The church today is in dire need of learning how to love again! When I was teaching on this subject at Tehillah I over-stressed this point by saying “some of the church’s external evangelistic efforts need to be re-directed internally to teaching the already-saved the lost art of loving others, both sinners and the brethren alike, regardless of their denominational or doctrinal affiliation.” 

Self-righteousness and love are two bi-polar opposites; one is pagan while the other is Christlike. It is a crisis of extreme proportions, especially because we have completely forgotten that our God is a God of principles. We will look at some of these principles including the age-old question; “How do I know that I am saved? Does the Bible give a singular test of salvation?”  

Speaking in tongues without love, healing the sick without love, raising the dead without love, working miracles without love are all possible because the virtue in the name of Jesus Christ is independently powerful. Most gifts can still work even if the minister is without love; therefore these gifts are never an indication of the Lord’s pleasure with the one who possesses them! Doing these things without love is the same as a very Tanzanian young man trying to act American by emulating the language (intonation and pronunciation), dressing and various American mannerisms. He can get everything right, but if war broke out in Tanzania, he wouldn't be able to convince the US Government to take him back “home” with its own citizens. He’d remain in Tanzania to face the music with his American accent and all! Most of us have a Holy Ghost accent, but that is all we have. Our citizenship is that of this fallen world because we have failed to learn the requirement for citizenship in heaven; LOVE!

1. Are you saved at all?
2. Can you Love?

Those two questions are one and the same because the latter answers the former! This is so biblical it’s not even funny. We will see this soon enough. 

Now, let us look at the pre-eminence of love…

The Pre-eminence of Love

1 Co 13:8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

1 Co 13:9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,

1 Co 13:10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.

1 Co 13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.

1 Co 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

1 Co 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (NIV)

Source: Google Images

The prevailing subject in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 is LOVE. Then interestingly in verse 8 the Apostle Paul tells us that“love never fails or never ceases,” then he says “BUT…,” and every time you see this little word ‘but’ you know that whatever follows it would contradict, correct or re-direct the preceding statement. He says, and I paraphrase,“love never fails; BUT prophecies will cease, tongues will be stilled and knowledge will pass away.” He is establishing love as an eternal and pre-eminent character trait of godliness above the gifts of prophecy, tongues and knowledge. 

Most of the times we are hung up on the gifts and we forget that having the gifts without the character of the giver makes us beggars instead of kings. We proudly display our gifts thinking that they are a sign of our godliness and acceptance by God, but we forget that the gifts simply declare that the GIVER is true and not the possessor! So why did Paul have to say that ‘love never fails but prophecy, tongues and knowledge do fail?’

Check out verses 9 through 10, Paul says “For we know (knowledge) in part and we prophesy (gift of prophecy) in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” I don’t know how many times I’d read this verse and was just happy that it says what it says even though I had no clue what it really was saying! As Christians we sometimes have this uncanny knack for memorizing certain Scriptures and getting really happy when they are read out loud by the preacher, but we have absolutely no clue what is being read. We are blind as a bat, but hey, we are happy anyway. But God is calling us deeper into seeking His wisdom in understanding His Word. We each need to spend a lot of time STUDYING and digging into the Word of God, and praying for wisdom in unlocking the treasure therein. Otherwise shouting and yelling in our meetings whenever certain Scripture is quoted will be like a ‘sounding brass and clanging cymbal’, the sound of an empty container.

Now, you must remember the prevailing topic here is LOVE. In essence Paul was saying that the gifts (knowledge, tongues, prophecy etc.) come in part, they are just partial emanations of something more perfect. BUT love is perfect; “…but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.” Now how do we know what is meant by the word “perfection” in verse 10 above?

Let's find out in the next installment...

TO BE CONTINUED...