God's Creative Work

Introduction

Good morning church family. Let me start off with a question this morning - what are you good at? Think about that for a moment - what am I good at? When I started thinking about that what I’m good at. I first thought about the first couple things I started to cook. Now, I need you to understand, many of the things I attempted were tragedies. I mean I could burn water. I remember a few times when Amy would return home from the days work, and there I was trying to get supper ready. She would extend me so much grace, when she walked into this fog of stuff burring. Well at that point there was not much to do except make a trip to Dion’s or Blakes, and the let the house air-out for a while. You get the idea.

You see cooking, baking and preparing meals is something I find joy in. It is also something I had to work at. I’ve had me fair share of dry cakes, flat breads and cookies that could pass as a shotgun target. We all these kind of skills that we have to work at and develop. Then we have these whole other set of gifts, that when we put into action; we don’t have to try all that hard. Things just seem to fall into place naturally. You’ve seen it. Now I’m not going to call anyone out this morning, but I’ve see it in my short time here.

This morning we are going to look at a passage in one of my favorite books in the bible. I like to call it the believers bank of check book. It’s because God’s work and blessings are continually deposited.

Turn with in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4 . We are going to be reading from verses 7 and 8.

Ephesians 4:7–8 ESV

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.”

Pastoral Prayer

Chapter 4 of Ephesians is where Paul begins to address the theme of unity in the body. When we get down to verse 7, verse 7 marks a transition in Paul’s thought, you could think of it as changing gears but we’re still in the same car. That’s what we have here with the word “but,” that kicks us off in verse 7. We change from the theme of unity to the theme, or gear, of diversity within unity.

Take for example, when I’m preparing a cake, I prefer to make my own buttercream. When I do this, I am in control of the ingredients. I control their density as well as the amount of each ingredient I decide to add. We all do this when we’re cooking. Many of us seldom follow the recipe exactly, well maybe in the beginning. But after following the recipe, the next time around, many of us will change the recipe closer to our preferred taste. This is diversity. It’s the number of the various ingredients we use. Diversity within the body speaks to Christ’s role and involvement within the body. This is how He continues to add too and shapes His church.

When Jesus adds and shapes His church, this is done by grace. Paul talks about this grace here in verse 7, where he say “grace was given to each one of us.” Grace is a single-word definition of the gospel. The nature of grace is giving. The Bible tells is much more about giving than getting. And, this is because God’s nature is to give. God is a God of grace because He is a God who freely gives. It has nothing to do with anything we have done of failed to do.

The gospel is the good news of God’s grace to our sinful nature, and while this is true. This is not the type of grace Paul is referring to. The “grace” is not saving or sanctifying grace, but ministry grace. The grace which we stand not only saves us but enables us. Paul is saying it is by the grace of our Lord we receive our gifts. Paul is making it clear that grace is given to every believer. This grace is the enabling power that make each of our special gift, and for some - gifts, function to bring glory and honor to God.

Each of our gifts are unique. If you think about it, if we each had the same gift, first things would be pretty boring. We would all be ministering in the exact same way. And two, nothing would get done. The measure of our specific portion is provided by God’s sovereign design coming right from the Head of the church. And, that not me. The Head of the church is our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord knows the exact portion of the recipe and measures it out exactly. We each have a gift that is measured out to us with certain distinct capabilities, parameters and purposes.

To help us grasp what Paul is trying to get across, you really have to love what he does here in these next couple verses. First of all, in verse 8, Paul uses part of Psalm 68 - 18:

Psalm 68:18 ESV

18 You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train and receiving gifts among men, even among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there.

Before going into the specific gifts, Paul uses part of this Psalm as a comparison passage to show how Christ received the right to grant those gifts. When He ascended on high, this shows a triumphant Jesus returning from battle on earth then back into glory of the heavenly city with the trophies of His great victory.

We spoke of the resurrection last month, but not much about His crucifixion. In His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus Christ conquered Satan, sin and death, and by that a great victory. He led a host of captives who once were prisoners of the enemy. When a conqueror won an area, the conqueror usually picked up all the items of value. And, when returning, the items of value were distributed. That is what Jesus is doing. He as won and is distributing all the items he has won. That is us, you and I. We are being distributed throughout for kingdom work. Through part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, gifts are being provided and distributed.

What is a spiritual gift? When Boyd Hunt was delivering sermons in the late 80’s at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, he offered a simple working definition:

“Spiritual gifts are God empowering His people through the Holy Spirit for kingdom life and service, enabling them in attitude and action to live and minister in a manner which glorifies Christ.”

When Paul was writing to the Romans, he gives us a list:

Romans 12:6–8 NLT

6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

This passage here in Romans lays the groundwork for the diversity of these gifts in the grace of God and their use. Paul gives us a more extensive list over in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 (we can leave that passage for homework).

Throughout the biblical cannon, we see God empowering leaders with gifts like Moses, Joshua, prophets like Elijah and Elisha and kings like David for kingdom service. In Acts we hear of 2 prophets Judas and Silas:

Acts 15:32 NIV

32 Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers.

These are some great examples of how God has moved in the life of these people. God can move the same way in your life. If you’re thinking no way or I don’t even come close to some of the people you mentioned, after all look at what they accomplished. Let’s turn our attention to Gideon.

Local farmers of Gideon’s tribe were being constantly harassed by Midianite raiders, who would sweep through, plunder their crops, taking livestock - essentially leaving the Israelite with nothing; this also included Gideon’s community.

Gideon too was farmer. In fact we hear Gideon hand-threshing his wheat in a winepress to keep it secret from the Midianites. An angel came to Gideon in response to the Israelites’ prayer for help, although Gideon did not recognize him as an angel. The angel addressed Gideon as a “mighty warrior.” Could you image being described as a “mighty warrior?” I would think how AWESOME!! I’m a mighty warrior. Yes I am. You see that angel over there, that’s who told me I’m a might warrior. Then after this had a chance to let it sink in a bit - I’d be saying wait a second. Are you talking about me? Little ol’ me? Are you sure? I think you might be talking about my twin I have yet to meet. I know he’s here somewhere, because I see his shadow right there. The Lord turns to Gideon and said:

Judges 6:14 NIV

14 The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

This is a call and commission of Gideon. It’s interesting that even at this point Gideon did not believe God. Look at how he responds in:

Judges 6:15 NIV

15 “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

This reminds me of Christmas when we’re all sitting opening gifts. You get that one gift you don’t want or would never use. And you wish you could give back, because re-gifting is not an option. On one side of the coin you have God saying to go, and to go with what you have in the strength that has been given. The you have Gideon chasing after God with the question of how? How God can this be done? How God is this even possible? I am the weakest in this land. God has personally chosen Gideon to bring relief.

Consider Simon Peter. Whoever would have chosen him? Why would God choose him? He was only a fisherman after all. What great accomplishments could ever come from a fisherman? Keep in mind, this is the same guy who denied knowing Jesus three times!! He is credited with giving up once where he told Jesus to “depart from me, for I am a sinful man.”

Conclusion

We have the blessing to God’s Word to look back on the lives of these many people with us right here. Where they did not, because they were going through life as Scripture was being written. So what’s the point? The point is God chooses ordinary people. These big names we mentioned this morning are just names. They are ordinary people, just like you and I. It is through ordinary people that God can gift to perform His work and advance the kingdom.

If you’re thinking along the lines of Gideon, Lord are you sure you want me? Are you sure you have chosen me? Lord if you only knew me - I wouldn't choose me!

If you’re feeling like there is no way God could use you or want to use you. That is a lie straight from the pit of Hell. That is Satan talking to your heart! God wants you involved in His Kingdom. Jesus wants you involved in His church!

When the Lord called Jeremiah, He him some great encouragement saying to him:

Jeremiah 1:5 NIV

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

This is a great promise which is available to us today. It’s awesome to know the Lord already knew who I was before my earth suit started to take form.

Jesus calls us out by what he sees, not what we think we see or don’t see, or what the world tells us that it sees.

Has God revealed or developing a gift in you? If you don’t know - ask Him.

Closing Prayer