And Now I Show you the Most Excellent Way

by David Ritchie
Published July 26, 2005

1 Corr 12 tells us about spiritual gifts, ending with the exhortation to “eagerly desire the better gifts”. When all of that had been said we are then told, “And now I will show you the most excellent way.”

In 1 Corrinthians 12 the apostle has just finished illustrating how the church functions, using the human body as an illustration. V12 – 27 then in v 28 he goes on to list the gifts that are in the church v 28. In v 29 - 30 he explains that we all have different gifts. The apostle also gives the exhortation to desire earnestly the better gifts. It is these gifts that enable the church to function and flourish in a hostile world and enable the body to function.

The gifts are in people – you individually have some gifting within you that comes from God that is for the purpose of making the church function, and / or lighting up the darkness around you.

There is a train of thought that the gifts stopped functioning with the apostles, at the end of what some people call the church age. That presents us with a problem for we read that God has set in the church apostles, prophets, teachers …... The gifts are all still evident in the church today!

Examine for yourselves what the word of God says, v 28 And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers….
Desire earnestly .... How can you desire a gift? If we think on November and December, a whole lot of desiring goes on with children as they anticipate their Christmas presents. In the same way we can desire the best gifts from our Heavenly father.
Psalm 37 v 4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Ask God today to give you the gifts that you need to function and to be the person he wants you to be.

However he does not stop there, he says ‘and now I show you the most excellent way’. This is a way motivated totally by love (Ch 13). This is what we have been called for, this is indeed our high calling. You do not need to be a preacher to walk it, neither do you need to be an eloquent speaker, you can walk this road with just a kindly word here and there. Speaking a word in season.

As we walk this way we will undoubtedly be different. My wife will go into a café and sit down at a table next to a stranger and start a conversation and before you know it people start telling her their life story. I cannot do that. But there are things I do that she cannot do. That is our different giftings, the body functioning as individual members function in their ministries.

The most excellent way is far more about being than doing. When we are all we should be, without effort, we will do all we need to do. (Like seeking first the Kingdom, and everything else falling into place)
1 Corr 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is ………

>From these we can be involved in many great and honourable ministries, use of talents, gifting, sacrifices, yet we clearly see that for any of them to have any value, the motivating factor behind them needs to be LOVE. Anything short of that will be burned up as wood, hay and stubble.

This is the most excellent way, and that is why we need to focus more on what we are than on what we do.
When love is the motivation, nothing is a problem. When we do it for any other reason it is a chore or a task. When we are motivated by love we are not concerned when we get the heavy end, that others are getting more, doing less because love gives, is not envious, is kind, not self seeking – love changes everything.

A small verse that is very helpful is Neh 5 v 15 but the earlier governors -- those preceding me -- placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God I did not act like that. Love needs to be our propelling power. In that day Nehemiah would have been more entitled to his share than any of the others, but his love for God put the needs of the people before his own personal needs.

We don’t do things because the boss is looking on, we can be depended upon to do the job even on our own. We don’t jump up a gear when certain people are around, we do it because of our love for God and our respect for his word which has become a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. When we find this to be our motivation we then find what Jesus meant when he said my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

No, the Christian path is not easy in our own strength, but when we step on the more excellent way – we are ‘cooking by gas’. We can sing of a truth; Heaven above is softer blue Earth around is sweeter green Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen Oh this full and perfect bliss Oh this transport all divine In a love that cannot cease I am his and he is mine. (G Wade Robinson)

More than anything we need to learn to love.

For some we need to learn to love ourselves, there may be things there that we see as unlovable, but if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1 v 9

If we want to be effective in winning others we need to love ourselves in the right sense. There is a saying, ‘Whole people heal people, hurt people hurt people!’ When we love ourselves as the person God made us to be, we will be able to love others as he wants us to love them, when we are walking in love, we are entering that more excellent way.

John 13 v 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

(All quotations from NIV)

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