"But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." (I Corinthians 12:31-13:13)
After not only teaching on the gifts of the Spirit, but also after having encouraged the Christians at Corinth to earnestly covet the best gifts, Paul continued on to show them a more excellent way. These Corinthians came behind in no gift (I Corinthians 1:7), yet they had all sorts of problems with their character. There were those who were carnal in that they were focusing more upon the likes of Paul, Peter and Apollos than upon Christ Himself. There was an impenitent man in their midst who was having sexual relations with his father's wife and he was left unchallenged until Paul stepped in. There were those who were provoking the Lord to jealousy be eating things sacrificed unto idols without any seeming care whatsoever in relation to how the same might have negatively affected those weak in the faith and there were those who were turning the Lord's supper into their own supper and behaving like gluttons and drunkards while eating and drinking damnation unto themselves. In his second epistle to these Corinthians, Paul had to go so far as to admonish them to examine themselves to see if they were even in the faith...yet, again, they came behind in no gift. A gift is just that: a gift. It is not a sign necessarily of character or maturity. I could give the gift of a new car to one of my underage children and they'd probably kill themselves if they sought to actually use it because they're not mature enough to do the same. Paul likened the gifts of knowledge and prophecy to "childish things" in that they will one day cease. IOW, when we appear before the Lord face to face, then what we've known in part will be replaced by greater knowledge and what has been prophesied in part will be done away with by the reality itself of being with Christ. Love, on the other hand, never fails or never ceases in that it is God's eternal law and that is a fruit of the Spirit. Yes, love surpasses even faith and hope because, again, there will come a day when neither is needed in that the One Whom we've placed our faith in will be before us in Person and the One Whom we've hoped to see in our glorified bodies will likewise be before us. With such things in mind, I'd say that the fruit of the Spirit and love especially greatly surpasses the gifts of the Spirit, but both are presently necessary.
I think what is so troubling is that there are some who claim to have maturity when they have not begun in the Spirit. Jesus said about the signs that follow them that believe, including tongues, and Paul spoke at greater length saying what other signs (or evidence) we may expect to see in the church of true believers. So in its simplest terms, it means that if there are no signs, then there are no believers.
Possibly some find it annoying that young and old, rich and poor, simple fishermen or intellectual lawyers all have to go the same way to receive anything from God, i.e., humbly, and that God Himself distributes to all believers severally as He will. Not being a respecter of persons, it means that it is up to God to distribute not according to the value system of man. Naturally, that will upset people who feel they have a superior entitlement but still fail to receive.
Matt 18 1 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you,
Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
There is no getting around this. Humility is the only way to make a start with Jesus and then to continue.
So assuming we have made a start, by coming to Him humbly, and trusting Him to have paid the price for all our sin by His death on the cross, being willing to turn from everything we know to be wrong, and asking Him to come into our hearts and into our lives and to make us new, THEN He takes up our case, washes us clean, and becomes resident in us by His Spirit.
Some time later we will see the manifestation of a gift of the Spirit, or maybe more than one, which comforts us that we are His, and is able to be used in loving service among the brethren.
Without the Holy Spirit we cannot demonstrate the love of God, because we don't know what it is. Without the mind of Christ we cannot even conceive of it. We can make a fair show of it, and there are many kinds of human love that we experience without His Spirit, but WITH His Spirit, we begin to know what the love of God feels like, selfless and sacrificial, and we begin to see what Jesus endured in order to give us that love, and what we must endure too, to a great extent.
I do not for one moment believe that when Paul speaks of putting away childish things, that he is talking about putting away the spiritual gifts. These are indispensable in the body to help us progress spiritually, as we are able to minister one to another as we all have need.
Spiritual gifts are also a demonstration and manifestation of the power of God, so you would think that if we know a fellowship has members with such genuine gifting as Paul lists before the love chapter, we can hope and trust that the power of God is there. And if we know the power of God is there, like as not we will be loved and nurtured as we would expect.
You would think that, but it isn't always that simple.
Today is not a day to be in any doubt about the warning of God , that if a congregation have the "form" of godliness, as in a religious form, but deny His power, He says, from such turn away.
So it is perfectly reasonable that we would want to be sure that the place we have chosen to worship is going to give us sound doctrine, including such doctrine which concerns any demonstration of the power of God.
It is a very sad thing that in modern society we are often so lonely and loveless that we would settle for any kind of church preaching any kind of doctrine, so long as they welcome us with open arms. An obvious example of this is the relatively modern cult of the Jehovah's witnesses...everything looks good on the outside, but when the rubber hits the road, the Holy Spirit is absent. Many are caught up in that, believing that their love is the love of God.
Dangers on both sides: going after the gifts, or going after the love.
See, Jesus said signs FOLLOW believers, not believers follow the signs, whether love ...or any demonstration of the power of God.
Faith first: God always honours it.
