Ephesians: The Church United (Pt. 3)

The controlling principle is that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the Head of the Church and is the Giver of the variety of gifts which are enjoyed by the Church as a whole and by every single member in particular.

The Holy Spirit is gift given by Christ from God

Christ told His disciples that he would send another.

John 15:26 KJV 1900

But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:

Christ has given every believer that gift.

John 14:16 KJV 1900

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

this is the most important gifts. this gift could only be given if Christ left.

John 16:7 KJV 1900

Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

Christ has given the unified church gifts that were established in heaven.

Psalm 68:18 KJV 1900

Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.

Vs 9 and 10 are quotes from Ps. 68:18.

Paul places them here to prove to his readers that the He that ascended was none other then Christ.

it is what they call a parenthetical

II. The Gifts Given

V.11

A. Temporary Gifts

Apostles

An apostle was a man of whom the following things had to be true.

First and foremost,

he must have seen the risen Lord,

he must have been a witness of the resurrected Christ.

We cannot deal with all the scriptural proofs, but one of the most important is ...

1 Corinthians 9:1 KJV 1900

Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?

Then in 1Cor. 15 Paul says that Christ was seen of the 12 then of me who am of the least of apostles.

A man could not be an apostle unless he could be a witness to the Lord’s resurrection, unless he could say that he had seen the risen Christ. It is very important that we emphasize that.

The second essential is that

he must have been called and commissioned to do his work by the risen Lord Himself in person;

not by the Church,

not by any delegation.

This, again, is seen in Galatians chapter 1.

Paul generally starts his epistles by describing himself as ‘Paul, called to be an apostle’, or ‘a called apostle’.

He thereby differentiates himself from other men who claimed that they were apostles but who had never been called by the Lord.

They had called themselves, or certain sections in the Church had called them.

Paul was ‘called’ on the road to Damascus.

The risen Lord appeared to him; and Paul saw Him.

This was not a vision, Paul actually saw the risen, glorified Lord with his naked eyes.

He saw Him as definitely as each of the other apostles saw Him in the Upper Room and elsewhere.

The Lord commissioned him there and said that He was going to make him ‘a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee’ (Acts 26:16).

He said that He had ‘appeared’ to Paul ‘for this purpose’.

Without actually having seen the risen Lord a man could not be an apostle.

Third,

an apostle was a man who had the power to work miracles.

This is stated in Hebrews 2:4, where we are told that the word was first spoken by the Lord, and by them who heard Him, ‘The Lord also bearing them witness with signs and wonders and divers miracles’.

The Lord had said to His disciples, ‘Greater works than these shall ye do’ (John 14:12).

All this is important because even in the days of the early Church and of the apostles themselves there were men, claiming to be apostles, who were setting themselves up as apostles and teachers.

They are referred to by Paul in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians.

These men were troubling the church at Corinth and other churches; and this is what Paul says about them,

2 Corinthians 11:13–14 KJV 1900

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

That there were false apostles makes it vitally important for us to understand what an apostle truly is.

False apostles had not seen the risen Lord,

they had never been called and commissioned by Him.

They did not understand the truth,

they had never received the revelation,

they did not work miracles.

They were imposters who gave to, and received ‘letters of commendation’ from one another (2 Cor 3:1).

By definition this office of apostle was clearly an extraordinary and a temporary office.

It is impossible that it should continue, were it merely for this fact, that no man has seen the risen Lord with the naked eye, or could possibly have claimed to see Him in that manner, since the Apostle Paul.

Some have claimed to have seen visions, but visions belong to an entirely different category.

Paul did not see a vision on the road to Damascus, he actually saw the Lord Christ.

Prophets

We come next to the term ‘prophets’.

In the New Testament prophets are generally coupled with the apostles, as in the second chapter of this Epistle: ‘And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone’ (v. 20).

But though coupled with the apostles, prophets are obviously different.

For instance, it was not necessary that a prophet should have seen the risen Lord.

Indeed he need not, in general, have most of the qualifications of the apostle.

Essentially a prophet was a man who spoke under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

It is clear also that sometimes a prophet was a woman.

We are told in the second chapter of Luke that Anna was a ‘prophetess’.

Likewise we are told in Acts that Philip the evangelist had four daughters who ‘did prophesy’ (21:9).

There are many references to prophets in the New Testament.

For instance, in Acts we are told that there were several prophets in the church at Antioch some of whom had come down from Jerusalem (11:27; 13:1).

One of them named Agabus prophesied that a dearth was about to come upon the earth and he warned the Christian people about it.

There is specific teaching about the prophets in the fourteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians.

The whole question of prophets is a difficult subject, and one must not speak too dogmatically about it.

We can and must be absolutely dogmatic about the apostles, but as regards prophets we must be more cautious, because the teaching is not clear-cut.

We can say, however,

that a prophet was a person to whom truth was imparted by the Holy Spirit.

Indeed we can say that he received a revelation of truth, and was given power also to speak and to utter This truth in a more or less ecstatic manner.

This becomes evident from the fact that one of the problems in the church at Corinth was that these ecstatic utterances of the prophets were tending to cause confusion.

Some who prophesied there were excusing themselves by saying that they were helpless under the power of the Spirit. Paul counters that by saying ‘and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets’. He teaches that prophets can and should control themselves, and that they must speak one at a time and not interrupt one another.

So is there any need for prophets today?

No.

Why?

Prophets were being used in the church by God for one reason, to Relay His message to His people.

There was no written New Testament at the time of the New Church.

We have the complete Word of God now so there is no need for modern day prophets.

In the Pastoral Epistles which apply to a later stage in the history of the Church, when things had become more settled and fixed, there is no mention of the prophets.

It is clear that even by then the office of the prophet was no longer necessary, and the call was for teachers and pastors and others to expound the Scriptures and to convey the knowledge of the truth.

The answer to all this is that the need for prophets ends once we have the canon of the New Testament.

We no longer need direct revelations of truth; the truth is in the Bible.

We must never separate the Spirit and the Word.

The Spirit speaks to us through the Word;

so we should always doubt and query any supposed revelation that is not entirely consistent with the Word of God.

Indeed the essence of wisdom is to reject altogether the term ‘revelation’ as far as we are concerned, and speak only of ‘illumination’.

The revelation has been given once and for all, and what we need and what by the grace of God we can have, and do have, is illumination by the Spirit to understand the Word.

The preacher should not enter his pulpit claiming to have received a revelation; his claim should be that he is a man who reads the Word and prays and believes that the Holy Spirit illumines and enlightens his understanding, with the result that he has a message for the people

Now we come to the gifts that are still given today and these are the permanent gifts.

B. Permanent Gifts

Evangelist

Some commentators want to place this one in the temporary list, but I believe evangelist are still being used by God today as they were then.

An evangelist is by definition, a preacher of the gospel.

An evangelist assists the local church

An evangelist has a special call to preach the gospel.

An evangelist is similar to a pastor, but is a different calling, a different gift.

I think, and this is my opinion, a pastor could be an evangelist, but an evangelist could not be a pastor.

Paul tells timothy to do the work of an evangelist. Paul didnt call him an evangelist, Timothy was a pastor, but as a pastor he had to also do the work of an evangelist.

You never hear Paul tell an evangelist to do the work of a pastor or teacher do you?

Pastor

Next is Pastor.

Some commentators put Pastor and teacher together. I dont believe that is what Paul was meaning here.

There are many teachers in the church that either, dont meet the qualifications for pastor or dont have the gift of preaching, which would take you back to evangelist.

But, I do strongly believe that a pastor should be able to teach.

The office of a pastor is generally concerned about government and instruction and rule and direction.

It is borrowed, of course, from the picture of a shepherd.

The shepherd shepherds his flock,

keeps the sheep in order,

directs them where to go and where to feed,

brings them back to the fold,

looks after their safety and guards them against enemies liable to attack them.

It is a great office, but unfortunately it is a term which has become debased.

A pastor is a man who is given charge of souls.

He is not merely a nice, pleasant man who visits people and has an afternoon cup of tea with them, or passes the time of day with them.

He is the guardian, the custodian, the protector, the organizer, the director, the ruler of the flock.

Teacher

The teacher gives instruction in doctrine, in truth.

A teacher expounds on the Word

A teacher

III. The Goal of the Gifts

v.12

If we were to look at this verse without considering the wording and the punctuation, we would think that it is giving all three of these as goals of the gifts, but it actually builds off the other.

A. Equip

The pastors and teachers are to equip the saints so that they can

B.Employ

work in the ministry and the body being involved in the work of the ministry helps

B.Edify

or build up every member, helps to strengthen every member to continue in the work.

When Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall. Was it just him that was building the wall.

No it was the congregation. Each one had their own part and them doing their own part, was strengthening the wall and was encouraging the others to continue.

We all have a part in this ministry, no one is to feel like they have nothing to contribute. You doing your part helps others keep on keeping on.

Remember that next time you feel like you have nothing to give or you feel like you cant do anything.

God has something for all of us to do.

God has given us Salvation as His first gift, His Spirit as the Second and we all have been given the gift of prayer. So when you dont think you have anything to give, remeber that your prayers help keep us all on the wall.

Maybe you are here today and have never recieved the greatest gift ever given.

You can, it has already been offered that day at calvary, all you have to do is accept it.

Wont you do that today?

Saint, God has given all of us gifts, we all cant be preachers and teachers but we all can be about the fathers business, praying!

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