No Longer Children

What has Jesus given to the church?

I. Jesus gave the church grace (Eph 4:7-10)

Jesus is the victor over sin and death, and in his return to his people, he distributed gifts.

How has Jesus given these gifts?/What are these gifts?

II. This grace is shown through his gifts (Eph 4:11)

The “gifts” that v. 7 speaks of are the “Apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers.”

The gifts that Jesus gave to his bride, the church, are the people whom he has given to begin and then lead the church. The Apostles and the Prophets came at the beginning, and they laid the foundation (Eph 2:20) for the church (Christ as the cornerstone) upon which we all build today. The evangelists and the shepherd-teachers are those who continue to build and teach the church today!

Why did Jesus give these gifts?

III. The goal of the church is to build us up (Eph 4:12-14)

Jesus gave these gifts because he knew what the church would face. It would face challenges, “waves” that would

What does it look like when the churches uses these gifts well?

IV. Unity, Truth, Love (Eph 4:15-16)

As many, yet one.

You have been given exactly what you need to do exactly what God has called you to do. You do not need to look like somebody else that you think is cool.

Personal Point. I’ve struggled with this as a pastor! There is sometimes this strange culture of idolizing certain pastors, saying, “I want to preach like pastor so-and-so.” NO! I wasn’t called to be a pastor to preach like a famous person I like, I was called to be pastor Zach.

Story. A story attributed to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. He dreamt one night that he died and stood before the great judge of all, and was called to the dock to give an account of what he had done with the great gift of life he had been given. Heschel says that, to his amazement, he was not asked about what he had done on such and such a day or any other specific thing; he was not asked why he hadn’t been more like Moses or David or Einstein. Instead, he was asked only one question: were you or were you not Abraham Joshua Heschel? And Heschel says “then the holy one, blessed be He, leaning forward to hear my response, said to me the words that haunt me still: He said, “It’s important to me, you see, because you’re the only one of him I made.”

You have a job to do.

What is the job God has given you to do?

1. Dwell in unity with the Body of Christ.

2. Speak the truth in love.

3. Grow up (into Christ)!