Marsha's Musings: Gifts of the Spirit & Fruits of the Spirit

1Co 13:4 ¶ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
 8 ¶ Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

I never noticed this before, but last chapter talks about the gifts of the Spirit and how each member of the body of Christ has been gifted in some way by the Holy Spirit for the common good of all the members (12:4-7). But Paul says in the last verse we can desire the best gifts, but there is a more excellent way and then the next chapter launches into the love chapter.  As I read the love chapter, I discovered that all the attributes of love are nothing more than the fruit of the Spirit at work.  Compare Galatians 5:22-23 with the description of love in 1 Cor. 13 and I think you will see what I mean.

Basically, Paul is saying that if we are using our gifts in the church but our lives exhibit no fruit of the Spirit, then all of our abilities (gifts of the Spirit) and the works we do with them are nothing but emptiness.  It means nothing. 

I've been in a church where they had elaborate workshops on how to discover your spiritual gift (gift of the  Spirit), but as I look back on it, not once during that workshop did they talk about the fruit of the Spirit.  They had a floury of spiritual gifts at work in that church, but the fruit of the Spirit was lacking as they viciously tore apart a good pastor/teacher through gossip and then kicked him out so they could hire the man they wanted years earlier but wasn't available at the time.  It was very ugly to watch. But this is the kind of thing that can happen when the gifts of the Spirit are exercised without the fruit of the Spirit.

The gifts of the Spirit must be exercised with the fruit of the Spirit or it's nothing but sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. A concert with nothing but symbols and tooting of brass horns is monotonous and gives you a headache. But a concert where the instruments all work together to make melodies is enjoyable and enriching.  So it is when the gifts of the Spirit are exercised with the fruit of the Spirit.