Ephesians - 5

Ephesians - 5

Ephesians 4:7-16

Introduction

A ‘turn of phrase’ refers to a clever or creative way of using language to make an unexpected point. The idea comes from the era before the printing press when a writer’s style referred not just to their content but to their calligraphy. Their ‘style’ was made with a stylus, the instrument of writing. They could make a phrase beautiful by the words they use and by how they could ‘turn’ it to make it look even better. So today, an author can ‘turn’ a phrase, utilizing a clever wordplay or creative usage of a word, to create something unexpected or entertaining.

Missing you comes in waves. Today I am drowning. On the beach and in the sea, animals do not leave trash; humans do. Please behave like animals. Sometimes we have to let go of what is killing us, even if it is killing us to let go. Arthur C. Clark - Two possibilities exist. Either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.

In Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul shows that he is a brilliant and clever linguist. He utilizes the power of language to hammer home life-altering truths. In 4:4-6 he emphasized the theological unity of God’s people by repeated usage of the word ‘one’ seven distinct times. One body. One Spirit. One hope. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God and Father. That sevenfold confession shows us that our unity is truly a theological unity that is built around our belief in who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. After using ‘one’ seven times, he is now going to use it an eighth time. But with this eighth time, he will mean something completely different than he did with the first seven.

Ephesians 4:7-16 - 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

8 Therefore it says,

“When He ascended on high,

He led captive a host of captives,

And He gave gifts to men.”

9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?

10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

11 And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ,

13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ,

14 so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming,

15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ,

16 from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

One. One. One. One. One. One. One. All speaking to our collective, corporate, unity, oneness, that exists among God’s unified people. But in verse 7, ‘but to each one of us’ he will address the individual believer in that unified body to show the individual’s responsibility to ensure the reality of unity. To teach this, he offers two distinct truths that show us how individual believers can live in unity with one another.

THAT JESUS GIVES GIFTS (V. 7-10)

v. 7 - But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. To each one of us…each separate individual has been given ‘grace.’ Here, grace refers not to saving grace, but to spiritual gifts. Grace is charis, while gifts is charisma. That it refers to gifts is obvious from the context in speaking about each of us receiving it and putting these gifts to use for the sake of our unity. So it is our diversity, diverse gifts and diverse amounts of those gifts…diversity helps ensure unity. In fact, the very concept of unity infers a diversity. Otherwise it would be uniformity. To be in unity does not mean that we are all the same. It means that even in our diversity, we choose to be one.

The fact that he calls our gifts ‘grace’ simply highlights the fact that they are undeserved. They are unearned. That is what a ‘gift’ is…it is granted to you. And while our gifts are unearned, they are also unequal. These gifts are given ‘according to the measure of Christ’s gift.’ So whatever gifts you have are not only given by Jesus to you, but even the amount of the gift is decided by Jesus. This is important. That means there is absolutely no place for jealousy or competition in the body of Christ. There is no sense whatsoever of my gift is better than your gift, or I am more important because I can do that better than you. Jesus determines what gift and how much of it you receive.

This is the same thing Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 - 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.

5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.

6 And there are varieties of workings, but the same God who works everything in everyone.

7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for what is profitable.

Or Romans 12:3-6a - 3 For through the grace given to me I say to each one among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound thinking, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function,

5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another,

6 but having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us

In an act of gracious generosity for His unified people, Christ has gifted each one of us in varying ways, to varying degrees, to help live out the reality of our unity. Verses 8-10 are the theological foundation for verse 7.

v. 8-10 - 8 Therefore it says,

“When He ascended on high,

He led captive a host of captives,

And He gave gifts to men.”

9 (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also descended into the lower parts of the earth?

10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

Paul is quoting from Psalm 68:18, a psalm of victory, as God thoroughly defeats all His enemies. Here, he applies it to Jesus…Jesus has ascended into Heavenly glory, and as He did so, He handed out gifts to His people as the spoils of war. And Paul goes off on this parenthetical note that this same Jesus who ascended on high is the same Jesus who descended…He came from Heaven to the Earth as God in the flesh, and defeated the enemies of sin and death. And upon His resurrection from the dead, He ascended as victor over His enemies and graciously grants now to His people all the gifts they will need to be who He wants them to be. And what is the purpose of Him doing this? V. 10 - so that He might fill all things. Through His graciously given gifts to us, He intends to fill, to dwell in, to permeate the life of the Church as we serve others in His name with the gifts He has provided.

WHY JESUS GIVES GIFTS (V. 11-16)

Verse 11 lays out five leadership positions in the church that Christ has gifted to His people. v. 11 - And He Himself gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers…scholars and church leaders love this verse and love to debate what is going on here. They envision some fivefold ministry and that all church leaders fall into one of these five roles and that is how you have a healthy church. Totally unnecessary and untrue. Or they debate the fine nuances of the differences between these…what really is the difference between an apostle and a prophet? Again, totally unnecessary. Paul’s purpose is not to show differences, but to point to unity. All five of these gifted positions in the church are all united in the fact that they are ministries of the Word somehow.

Apostles are the ‘sent ones’ from Christ who were inspired by the HS to author the NT letters. Prophets are simply those who speak on God’s behalf. Evangelists take the gospel to wherever it is not believed. Pastors/teachers are those who faithfully preach/teach the Bible to a specific group of Christians in a local church. And what is their purpose in leading with Scripture in the Church? v. 12 - for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. The role of church leaders is to bring Scripture to bear into the lives of God’s people, so that they will be thoroughly equipped to serve the Lord however He leads them, so that the Church can be built up. This is why in Acts 6 when the issue of feeding widows was addressed, the apostles gave that responsibility to servants in the church. Their job was ‘prayer and the ministry of the Word’ (Acts 6:4). This is also shown in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The purpose of church leaders is to ensure God’s people anchor in God’s Word…because it is God’s Word that thoroughly equips them to serve God’s people. And here is the result of that faithful ministry: v. 13 - until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. We will ‘attain’ to the unity of the faith. ‘Attain’ is used in the book of Acts to refer to the arrival at a destination. Church leaders equipping people with Scripture enables us to arrive at the destination of unity of the faith. Notice it is a unity of ‘THE faith.’ We talked about this last week in 4:5, that there is ‘one faith.’ There is one objective body of truth built upon the truth of the Bible. If we are to arrive at that reality, this is what it takes to get there. ‘The faith,’ or the ‘full knowledge of the Son of God’ shows us it is the truth of the Bible that unites us together.

The goal is to become ‘a mature man.’ He envisions the Church as a person who is growing and has become mature in his understanding and knowledge. ‘Mature’ is the greek word telios, used in Matthew 5:48 to refer to the perfection of God. It means end result, or goal. For a person, that is a sense of maturity…that’s the end goal. This is further highlighted when he says we are to grow to the ‘measure of the stature’ of Christ. God’s people are to mature into spiritual adulthood and that looks like Christ. He is the goal. He is the pattern to follow.

And while verse 13 shows the positive motivation to pursue maturity, verse 14 shows the negative side to avoid. v. 14 - so that we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. We are to grow up to be a mature man, as opposed to being children. The Bible’s teaching on spiritual growth is pretty simple…grow up! Stop being a child, a metaphor for ignorance and lack of knowledge. Be an adult. Know stuff. Learn stuff. Take responsibility for growing up.

Maturity brings stability. That happens in life, and that happens with the soul. Without maturity, without the knowledge of Christ, without being anchored in Scripture, you will be about as stable as the waves on the sea. Tossed back and forth. ‘Carried about’ by every wind of doctrine. ‘Carried about’ means ‘dizzy or confused.’ You won’t know what is true and what is false, because you aren’t anchored in the truth of the Bible. Just as you are at the mercy of the waves when you are out on the ocean, the immature believer is at the mercy of all the false teaching that is out there. This is why v. 4-6 stressed the absolute necessity of theological unity. It anchors us.

So here is the alternative…here is the strategy…v. 15 - but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is Christ. We are to speak the truth in love. Now, typically when we talk about speaking the truth in love, we mean that we should confront people with their sin, but be loving about it. You’re being dumb. But I love you. Stop being dumb. And while we should do that, that is not Paul’s point here. Speaking the truth in love is not a relational principle, but a theological one. ‘Speaking truth’ literally translates as ‘truthing.’ Because we want to live in unity, because that only happens when there is theological maturity, because there is so much false teaching out there, our job is to ‘truth’ each other. The truth of Scripture is to be the content of our conversations. Because that is what actually enables the unity of the faith to be a reality. It is built upon the full knowledge of Christ, the truth we speak and the truth we embody.

We are to grow up into Christ, meaning that as we mature we become more like Him…Christ, v. 16 - from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by what every joint supplies…Christ is the ‘head’ of the Church. That Christ is the ‘head’ of the Church can have two meanings. First, that He is its authority, which He is. Or it could mean that He is the ‘source’ of the Church, like the head of a river is its source. That is Paul’s implication here. Christ is the source of the Church…He has created it, He has unified it, and He has gifted it. It has all come from Him. It is ‘joined together’ and ‘held together.’ This is the Unity Christ has created (2:11-22).

But notice what else holds the Church together…v. 16 - being joined and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the properly measured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. Lot to unpack here. ‘By what every joint supplies,’ what is that? Your joints are where your body parts come together, where they are joined together. The Body of Christ has joints too…where you as a body part joins in unity with another body part in the service provided to them. Where there is connections between two church members, there is unity. Every joint (connection between two parts) supplies ‘measured working of each individual part.’ So we’ve come full circle back to your gifts. Christ has gifted Church leaders to the Church for the purpose of leading in the Word. So that you are fully equipped to serve the Lord however He leads.

But remember, He has gifted us all. v. 7 - But to each one of us…you have been gifted somehow in some way…varying gifts in varying degrees…designed to cause connections between parts of the Body of Christ that joins it and holds it together. Each individual part (everyone’s responsibility) causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. So…if we want this Church to grow up, to be built up, then a few things to be happen:

Church leaders have to continually focus on leading in the Word. To bring God’s Word to bear on people’s lives. By doing so, people will be thoroughly equipped to serve in whatever way the Lord leads. People identify their gifts given to them by the Lord and deploy them in service to other members of the body of Christ. As each part does its work, the body builds itself up. It grows. It matures. It begins to look more and more like the Jesus who created it. All of this is done ‘in love.’ We are built up ‘in love.’ We speak the truth ‘in love.’ We serve because we love. We do our part because we love. We meet other’s needs because we love. We study the Bible because we love. We lead well because we love. We focus on Scripture because we love.

All it takes to ruin that is to sit on the sidelines and not live this out. Don’t discover and deploy your gifts. Don’t grow in your knowledge of Scripture. Don’t strive for unity. Be isolated. Focus only on you and Jesus and neglect the Church. Do that…and we have a handicapped body. A body that could, that should be living in ways that honor the Lord, but can’t because some of our body parts decided to stop working.

You’ve been gifted for a reason. You are here at this church for a reason. This is that reason.