I Corinthians 13:2  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.
3  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.
4  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
6  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
7  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

As an aside, we need to keep in mind that Mr. Trump is currently “the president elect.” He will not take over as president until January 20, 2025, Lord willing. Things are happening at quite a pace currently on the world scene. As we have mentioned in the past, it is important to keep a close eye on what is happening in the Middle East, in particular with relation to Israel. The Ukraine/Russia situation is also important to watch. God is not dead. His plan is moving forward according to His timetable. Nothing can interfere with His plan. It is important to know Him today.
In our text, the apostle Paul was directed to address the importance of a right view of God’s gifts. We know from observation that many people get a “fat head” when they achieve an important position in society. We know that to be true of our politicians. They seem to put their reported former qualifications in neutral when they take office. What we do know and often ignore is that when a person is given enough rope, he will reveal who he really is. That is certainly true in politics. Sadly it is also true in religious circles. Most seminaries are designed to corrupt the minds of the attendees. That is my observation. God expects saved people to be students of His Word.

II Timothy 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Most seminaries do not function on that basis. They follow some philosophy of humanism. In our text the apostle Paul addressed several gifts that were unique to the apostles. God gave them certain gifts to help the people to know who His men were. There were false teachers at that time as well as in our time.
Paul began with the gift of prophecy. Today we do not need the gift of prophecy because everything we need to know about the future is found in God’s Word. We can make application through that but no one has further insight other than what is in the Bible.
The apostle Paul could understand the mysteries of the Scriptures. A Biblical mystery was something that was not fully understood previously. In I Thessalonians 4 the apostle Paul encouraged the saints with what happens when a true saint dies.

I Thessalonians 4:13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

We can understand this because it has been clarified in the Scriptures. The apostle Paul was a man of faith. He trusted God in a unique way. He had these special gifts but if he did not use them with charity, he would be nothing. Arrogance has no place in Christian ministry. We need to remember that Paul was an apostle. God gave the apostles special power to authenticate their ministry. The Scriptures were not complete while they were on earth. They were given the responsibility and privilege of completing the recording of God’s Word. There were false teachers at that time. There were false letters being written. God showed the saints and the ungodly as well, that they could trust the apostles and they needed to reject the false teachers.
In verse 3 we see that even if Paul gave everything he had to the poor, and if he gave his body as a sacrifice and did not have charity, it would be of no benefit. One of the evidences of the fraudulent Christianity of our time, is the reality that professing Christians fight against submitting to God’s rule. I spoke with a man yesterday who expressed concern that people are taking the Bible and making the Bible support what they want to believe. I stated that we need to accept the authority of the Word of God and we need to be conformed to the Word of God. He agreed with that statement. I do not know if that man is saved, but he expressed a concern that he had observed over the years. He is right to express that concern.
Cain tried to rewrite the Word of God. He came with a humanistic form of religion and expected God to accept his efforts. God flatly rejected Cain’s rebellion. Cain did not like God’s rebuke and took it out on his brother. He murdered his brother. God did not ignore this rebellion. Since the fall of man there have been many attempts to rewrite God’s Word. That has been very evident over the past 100+ years through the many perversions on the market. There is a perversion for many different tastes. They cannot all be right.
Outward facades do not equal a right heart. A person can put a nice coat of paint on a barn. The boards might be greatly decayed, but to the unobservant person, the barn looks nice. When you get up close you can see the true nature of the barn. In the spiritual realm, the devil does not want us to look too closely at what he is doing. The natural man follows his lead. It is by the mercy and grace of God that He has sent the Holy Spirit, “another Comforter”, to interfere with the devil’s lies, showing lost humanity that the lies are not good for us.
In verse 4 we see that charity is patient. Patience is different than tolerance. Patience is the willingness to work with a person and show him or her the truth over and over again. Tolerance is an acceptance of wrong as legitimate. Jesus was patient with the false teachers. He never tolerated their false teaching. He was willing to listen to their false accusations. He always gave them a straight answer. He exposed their hypocrisy and helped the people to see that they needed to reject the false teachers and their false teaching.
Charity is also kind. We have accepted a false definition of the word “kind”. The Greek word there is a long word, but it means “to be mild”. The charitable person uses an approach that is designed to help the other person to see their need to change in a righteous manner. The lost person may not see it that way, but the saved person needs to honour God in his approach. Again, the Pharisees and their friends did not see Jesus as being kind. They grew to hate Him. They were the ones with the wrong thinking. Jesus was kind and He sought to help them to see they were wrong.
Charity does not envy others. The apostle Paul was chosen as an apostle. He had certain powers as an apostle. Others did not have that power, but the true saints did not envy the apostle Paul’s gifts. The sons of Sceva wanted to play around with what the apostles had. God showed them they were wrong. They were not even saved, and even if they had been saved, they were not apostles and thus they would not have those sign gifts. The saved were not clamouring for the power given to the apostles. The apostles did not abuse the powers given to them.
Charity does not puff itself up either. God did not enable the apostles to do specific signs so that they would be worshipped. They needed to be respected in their office as apostles. However, they did not expect to be worshipped. The apostle Paul and Barnabas rejected the intended worship from the people in Lystra. After they rejected this false elevation to deity, the apostle Paul was stoned and left for dead. He was not going to allow the people to have a false view of his ministry.
In verse 5 Paul continued to point out that charity does not allow for the true child of God to act in a manner inappropriate with their calling. The apostles never sought to deceive people with the gifts that God gave them. No one needed to fear they would be abused by the apostles. They were true men of God.
We are out of room for this devotional and will continue tomorrow, Lord willing.
Pastor Bartel