Why do I want tools?  Is it all about displaying my tools in my workshop?

There is something better than owning tools.  It is the finished product produced by the tools.

 1 Corinthians 12:31 – 13:13 NLT            

³¹ So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

Love Is the Greatest

^13:1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.
⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
⁸ Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! ⁹ Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! ¹⁰ But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. ¹² Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

¹³ Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Examine the scriptures:

1 Corinthians 12:31 – 13:13 NLT
³¹ So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.

• We don’t choose our spiritual gifts. God chooses for us.

1 Corinthians 12:7 (NLT)
⁷ A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.

1 Corinthians 12:11 (NLT)
¹¹ It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

1 Corinthians 12:28 (NLT)
²⁸ Here are some of the parts God has appointed for the church:

Meaning:
Stop desiring the showy gifts,
appreciate the gift(s) God has given you, and
use your gift to build up the church. 

• Use your spiritual gift correctly.

1 Corinthians 14:12 (NLT)
… seek those (special abilities the Spirit gives) that will strengthen the whole church.

 1 Corinthians 14:12 (CEB)
The same holds true for you: since you are ambitious for spiritual gifts, use your ambition to try to work toward being the best at building up the church.

1 Corinthians 14:12 (ESV)
So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.

 Ephesians 4:11-13 (NLT)
¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.  (more of this passage later)

 Focus on the reason for spiritual gifts. 

• Spiritual gifts should be used to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.

But now let me show you a way of life that is best of all.

Something greater than spiritual gifts.

The way of love.

1 Corinthians 14:1 (NLT)
Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy.

 Love Is the Greatest

^13:1 If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I had the gift of prophecy (bringing God’s truth to people), and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.

• Spiritual gifts without love gain nothing.

The word love was not admired and thus seldom used in Greek literature.

The word love occurs 759 times in the NLT

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. ⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

A description of Jesus.  (Substitute “Jesus” for the word “love”.)

The fruit of the Spirit. (A gift from God.)

Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT)
²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 

Love:

is patient
is kind
is not jealous
is not boastful
is not proud
is not rude
does not demand its own way
is not irritable
keeps no record of being wronged
does not rejoice about injustice
rejoices whenever the truth wins out
never gives up
never loses faith
is always hopeful
endures through every circumstance

 ⁸ Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! ⁹ Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! ¹⁰ But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.

• Knowledge is partial and incomplete.
• Spiritual gifts are a temporary blessing in an imperfect age.
• Spiritual gifts will become useless.

The tools are no longer needed after the task has been completed.

Ephesians 4:11-13 (NLT) (continued from earlier in this lesson)
¹¹ Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

• Love will last forever

¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. ¹² Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

¹³ Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

 Your goal should not be obtaining the tool(s).  Your goal should be the finished product.

Understand the place of spiritual gifts.

Expression of perfect love toward God and each other.