Christ's Gift
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning
Did you hear that scientists have successfully combined the DNA of a sheep, and ant and a humingbird.
They are calling it the Baahumbug.
Stick around after service, we are having a business meeting to discuss, business.
I am looking forward to our game night on the 29th. We will have a short time of prayer requests and praises and then let the games begin!!
Be praying for the men’s retreat that starts next Friday.
Today we are going to be in Ephesians 4:7-16.
Last week we looked at how we are all one in unity. We are unified in Christ. We are His body. We are to walk in a manner that is worthy of the calling. We are to have humility, gentleness and patience. With those virtues, we are able to bear with one another in love, working to eagerly maintain the unity that the Spirit brought in a bond of peace. We also saw that there is only one.
One body
One Spirit
One Lord
One Faith
One Baptism
One God and Father
Today we are going to see that unity does not mean sameness. We are unique as individuals, with different roles and abilities that enrich and bless the church. Paul is going to show us that the church, with all of its diversity, function in a healthy way.
Please stand as we prepare to hear God’s Word.
7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,
“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”
9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Pray
Paul starts with the word but. He is transitioning from unity of believers to uniqueness of believers.
Because of our uniqueness, Christ has given each of us a measure of grace according to the gift that we are given. This passage about gifts is different because it is Christ centered. Paul highlights Jesus’ generosity and authority. Again we see Jesus serving by giving gifts and grace. Jesus is a giver, we should be givers as well. This is not a portion of saving grace, this is grace that enables us to do the ministry that we have been gifted in. We can call this ministry grace. Paul states that each one of us have been given this grace and a gift. It is this grace that enables us to serve and build up the body of the church. In chapter 3 Paul stated that he was given grace to preach to the Gentiles. We are all given this same grace to do the ministry that we have been gifted in. Every believer is called to ministry. When we are saved and made a new creation, Christ gives us a ministry gifting and then He provides the grace to do that ministry. We should be generous with these gifts. When we use the gifts and grace that Jesus had given us, we are extending His ministry here and now. When someone’s gift blesses you, you should see it as Jesus blessing you. Not everyone is called to be a leader in the church, but that is not the only ministry. Child care is a ministry, Church admin is a ministry, leading worship is a ministry, teaching a class is a ministry, greeting is a ministry, cleaning the church is a ministry. The list is long of things that can be done as ministry.
How do I know what my gift is? I am glad you asked. Ask yourself this question. Self, what do we like to do. Then go around to others in the church and ask them what they think you are good at. Use those things to do ministry. Use those things to lift up the body of Christ. We are all gifted with some sort of ministry. Christ gives us the grace to do it. Remember, Jesus said that His yolk is light. And all that are weary to come to Him and He will give them rest. Doing ministry is challenging, but it is also rewarding. It is through Jesus’ grace that we can do the ministry that we are called to.
Next Paul references Psalm 68 and he relates it to Jesus’ triumph and authority. Paul gives a general summary of the entire psalm. Psalm 68 is a victory hymn. After a king won a war, it was customary for him to bring back the spoils. Here, Paul is referring to Jesus’ triumph over sin, death, hell, and the grave. With this victory, Christ has given His people spiritual gifts so that they might minister to His church. Jesus blesses us so that we might be a blessing to others.
Verses 9 and 10 act like a parenthesis. Paul speaks of Christ’s descent and ascent. Paul is envisioning Jesus’ birth as the descent and Christ’s ascension as evidence that Jesus is the Saviour and King. Christ is our ascended Lord. He came all the way down from glory and has now gone all the way up to the right hand of the Father. From that seat of highest honor, He fills all things. Christ is above all. Christ fills all. Christ gives gifts to all. We should marvel at His generosity and authority.
Why do you think Jesus gives us these gifts? So that we would use them!! 1 Peter 4:10-11
10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
These gifts differ from believer to believer. Even though we all have different rolls in the body, we all have the same value to God. In baseball, pitchers are not know for their hitting and the hitters are not known for their pitching. No football team would want the center to be the quarterback. A basketball team with 5 seven footers on the floor at the same time would not be good. It is through our diversity of gifts and service, that the church functions the way that God intended it to. The church needs everyone using the gifts given to them so that we can be a unified and effective team.
Paul mentions some of those in unique leadership roles in the church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. His focus here is on those gifted in articulating the gospel, teaching the Word, and shepherding God’s people.
The first two that Paul mentions: apostles and prophets, they have a broad range of meaning. In one sense the apostles and prophets were foundational to the church. In a strict sense of Apostle, it refers to the twelve called by Jesus. In this sense of the word, we do not have apostles anymore. In a general sense of the word, it refers to someone sent. I don’t like it when people call themselves apostles. To me they are trying to draw attention to themselves and not to Jesus. In a way, we are all sent by Jesus to go an make disciples of all nations. I don’t think we should all call ourselves apostles.
Prophets is the same way. The Old Testament prophets were forth-tellers more than they were future-tellers. They were often calling for the nation of a person to repent. We do not technically have prophets anymore. But generally speaking, a prophet is someone who applies God’s Word to God’s people. So almost anyone who preaches and teaches is a prophet. I don’t think we should call ourselves prophets.
Evangelists are those who are gifted in proclaiming the gospel. We are all called to evangelize, but some of us are uniquely gifted in proclaiming the gospel. Billy Graham is probably the most famous evangelist of our time. He was truly gifted as an evangelist.
Pastor in some translations is called a shepherd. As shepherds, pastors are to nurture, defend, protect, know, and sacrifice for the flock. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, pastor’s are the under shepherds.
Some people combine the pastor and teacher here. I believe that they are two different giftings. They are similar but different. All pastors are to be teachers, but not all teachers are pastors.
One thing is abundantly clear: God has blessed His people throughout redemptive history with gifted proclaimers of His Word. Hebrews tells us,
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Faithful, gifted leaders are instruments in the Redeemer’s hands, used for our sanctification. Their teaching strengthens us and equips us for ministry as we will see next.
Paul tells us why He gave us these church leaders in the last verses. This is not the first time Paul mentioned work, or is it the first time work is mentioned in the Bible. Earlier we saw that God created us for good works. In Genesis, God worked for six days. We are to imitate God by doing the good works He created us for. The pastor works and the people work. We should have an every-member ministry. There is something for everyone to do. Everyone is gifted to do something. See that those go together. It is like it was planned! What are you doing with you gifting? Just imagine how enriched the church will be when we are all using our gifts for His glory.
Paul Tripp puts it this way”
Exalting Jesus in Ephesians We Have Diverse Responsibilities (4:11–12)
Your life is much bigger than a good job, an understanding spouse, and non-delinquent kids. It is bigger than beautiful gardens, nice vacations, and fashionable clothes. In reality, you are part of something immense, something that began before you were born and will continue after you die. God is rescuing fallen humanity, transporting them into his kingdom, and progressively changing them into his likeness—and he wants you to be part of it.
There is nothing greater we can do than to spend our lives using the gifts given to us for the glory of the Redeemer-King and the advancement of His kingdom.
We are to keep building up the body of Christ until we reach maturity. Notice the contrast in 13 and 14 between a mature man and children. Every member should grow up and use a towel not wear a bib. They should not be immature consumers but eager servants. Paul wants the church people to grow up. Notice a key activity that helps us mature, doing the work of ministry. While we are working, we are building up the body and we are attaining to he unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God. We do not wait until we are mature to serve, we serve to mature. As immature believers, there are limits to where and how they can serve, but they should be serving. When serving, I believe that growth is so much faster than when just reading and listening to teaching. Getting the opportunity to put that teaching into practice is so invaluable.
Paul mentions four traits of a spiritually mature person.
Christlikeness.
Christ is the ultimate picture of maturity. Our goal is to be like Jesus. We need to not only study who and what Jesus was like, but we need to get out and put that knowledge into practice so that we can grow. We should long to be individually more mature but also corporately more mature also.
2. Doctrinal Stability.
We need to be growing in our knowledge of truth. He mentions growing in unity of the faith ( the body of doctrine) and the knowledge of God’s Son. This knowledge brings stability. Paul says that we should not be little children thrown around by every wind of doctrine. Children are gullible and very easy to deceive. False teachers look for these immature believers so that they can creep in and toss them around. They prey on the gullible, saying things like:
All religions are the same.
If you are a good person, you’ll go to heaven.
The Bible is just one among many other religious books.
Believe in the idea of resurrection, not a bodily resurrection.
Just like all children that must be taught as they grow up, believers are no different. When we are saved, we are a new creation. Babies in faith and knowledge of the holy truth. We are not to stay that way, we are to grow up through the Word and good works He has for us. We are to become disciple making teachers.
3. Truth and love go hand in hand.
We are to tell the truth to others, and we should always do it in love. We must hold truth in high regard. We must remember that the core of Christianity is Love. The Greek word used in verse 15 is truthing in love. That to me is a better picture of what we are supposed to do. Mature Christians are to have truth-telling, truth-maintaining, truth-doing love. Love should ooze out of us along with the truth. This can be said of a mature church, they teach the Bible faithfully and they love each other like family and their neighbors as themselves. If people do not agree with us, they should at least know that we love them.
4. Contribution
We are all parts of the body of Christ. The body can not function if all the parts are not doing their part! Every single part of the body is important and is needed to function properly. We need each other, we need each other to be contributing, using the gifts that they have been given.
Our ultimate need is Jesus. We grow up into Him. We are dependent on Christ, who is the head of the church. At the same time, we are all members of the same body, so we are dependent on each other also. Ephesians 4:16
16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
Do you see that, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body!!!
The more use our gifts in love, the more healthy we will become. The converse is true also, if each individual part is not properly working, we will not grow. It takes all of us! Each one of you is vitally important to this church.
It is wise and good to be health conscious, taking care of our physical bodies. But let us be more concerned about the health of the body of Christ. I pray that we are marked by spiritual unity, spiritual diversity, and an ever-increasing maturity. I pray that this is a spiritual check up for us. Let’s make sure we are all using the gifts that He has given us so that He will be glorified.
We all have a part to do, a gift to use, love to give.
Let’s pray.
