6 Gifts Christ Gave His Church, and How We Can Live Worthy of it

1. Scripture Reading

Ephesians 4:1–6 CSB

Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

Let’s pray.

2. Introduction

Introduction to Theme

It is an honor to preach God’s word this morning, and I am humbled to be able to preach along with Brian, Jared, and Zane over the next few weeks as our pastor and his family take a well deserved sabbatical.

And I just want to say, that I love my church. I absolutely love my church, this church. And we know that a church is not a building, or a brand, or a website, or an activity. It is the people of God united together in Christ, to live out the mission of God in this world.

I hope you join me in your affection for your church. But I have known many people and friends throughout the years, and including here among us now, that might say it differently.

1. Maybe it is your first time here this morning, Welcome! I’m really glad you have come. You might not know us yet, but I promise you there is not a better group of Jesus loving people I have ever been around and served with, than here in this church. And I hope you will come back next week.

2. Maybe you loved your church at one time, but for various reasons your relationship started to strain, or become distant.

3. Maybe you have been pained or hurt by a church once, and the scars are still fresh and deep, and the wounds haven’t healed.

4. Maybe you were forced to come here today, and you keep checking your phone every few minutes just to pass the time.

5. Maybe COVID knocked you out of the church, and you haven’t been back. Maybe you were hoping for a reason to leave anyways. Or try something new.

6. Maybe you have never been part of a church.

No matter how you define your relationship with the church, did you know that Christ gave His life for it? Did you know that Christ is the head of the church — the true lead pastor? Did you know that Christ has supplied the church with gifted people to do the work of ministry — together? Did you know that Christ has created and brought the church together, and filled it, all for His glory. Did you know that Christ loves His church?

I hope, no matter where you stand in your relationship with the church, you will listen to what Christ has to say about it, and our role in it.

Introduction to Text

We are beginning a series over the next six weeks where we will be studying Ephesians chapters 4-6, in a series we have called “Living Worthy”.

Ephesians is a letter written by the apostle Paul that was to be delivered and read to many different churches in the Asia Minor region — many which would have been smaller house churches.

And it is just as foundational, and instructional, and equipping for the church THEN as it is for the church today.

Now Ephesus is a place Paul was very familiar with. The book of Acts records his ministry there of creating a movement of the gospel. People were claiming Jesus Christ as the one and only God in a time where the worship of idols and pagan gods was widespread.

Paul was seeing such success there, that he said in:

1 Corinthians 16:8–9 CSB

But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, because a wide door for effective ministry has opened for me—yet many oppose me.

There are two quick lessons to learn here:

May we constantly pray that God would send the church to places in our community, our neighborhoods, our city, and our world where there is a wide door for effective ministry. Let’s pray for that.

May we do so despite the fierce opposition that may await us.

I bring these points up because our passage begins with Paul urging us, pleading for us to walk worthy — or live worthy — of the calling we have received. This calling is our call to Christ, our salvation through faith.

Unifying the church wasn’t easy. Paul got beat up very badly in Ephesus. One story in Acts describes how he caused a real riot with the silversmiths because they were making a living off of making these little silver replicas of pagan gods for people to worship. And Paul was going around saying that “gods made by hands are not gods” because the gospel of Jesus proclaims faith in God and God alone. They weren’t too happy about that because it wrecked their livelihood!

This is what the early church was up against - widespread pagan worship, proclaiming Caesar as Lord, and every kind of human indulgence imaginable. Yet, through the gospel of Jesus a wide door for effective ministry was opened, churches were planted, people were coming to faith in Christ alone.

Ephesians 1-3 is all about the gospel. All about our identity in Christ — who we are in Christ. In fact, “In Christ” is a major theme throughout the entire letter, and it carries into the last three chapters where it gets very practical on how we live out our new identity.

So Chapters 1-3 explain our identity in Christ, 4-6 provide instructions on how to live it out. 1-3 reveal our position, 4-6 help us put it into practice. So, who we are — and how we are to live out our faith.

And I believe it is no coincidence that — the very first instruction Paul gives after urging us to live worthy of our new identity in Christ — is to live worthy as the church. As the people of God. As one-another. Later in Chapter 4, it gets personal and individual. But the first instruction he gives is to the church.

This morning I want to present from this text 6 GIFTS CHRIST GAVE HIS CHURCH, AND HOW WE CAN LIVE WORTHY OF IT.

3. Exposition

1. Christ gave His life for the church (1)

Ephesians 4:1 CSB

Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,

Paul identifies himself here as a prisoner in the Lord. That means that His life has been fully surrendered to Christ. His desires and His preferences, His calling, and His freedom can be found in Christ alone. This once great destroyer of the church is now preaching unity of the church.

And Paul’s heart isn’t just captivated by Jesus, but he in fact is an actual prisoner as he writes this. Most likely physically chained to a Roman guard as he awaits trial.

So let’s be clear - living worthy in Christ certainly won’t be your best life now. Living worthy certainly won’t guarantee you comforts, preferences, or privilege. Living worthy might not make you a lot of friends. Living for Christ in no way will be easy.

Christ gave His life for the church, and you have given your life to Christ.

2. Christ gave us relationship skills for the church (2)

Verse 2 says to live worthy “

Ephesians 4:2 CSB

with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

Humility, gentleness, patience, and love are all relationship characteristics of a life surrendered to Christ. These are qualities that the Holy Spirit grows and produces in you.

And here is the problem. When you are disconnected from Christ, you are disconnected from His body. When you are disconnected from His body, you are disconnected from the gifts that he gave to His body to function together.

Why do you think COVID has been so detrimental to the unity of the church? Because it has disconnected us. We have grown out of practice of bearing with one another, being gentle with one another, showing patience and humility to one another.

And when our voice rings louder — when we proclaim our preferences and our conditions and our stances instead of letting the fruit of the Spirit take hold, and with love, and patience, and gentleness and humility, bearing with one another...

when we bow to ourselves instead of bowing to Jesus and His authority as head of the church...

we subvert the very means by which Christ blessed us to be a people brought together in Him.

Jesus is the perfect example of these qualities.

Philippians 2:5–8 CSB

Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross.

So what does this look like practically for us? When our pastor makes a difficult decision, when your community group leader goes against your preferences, when someone offended you by their positions...

did you respond with humility, or hostility?

gentleness, or with force?

patience, or with hysterics

in love, or in anger.

Christ gave His life for the church. Christ gave us relationship skills for His church.

3. Christ gave us unity for the church (3-6)

Ephesians 4:3 CSB

making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.

We are instructed to keep the unity of the Spirit. This is not something that we create, but it is something that we are called to make every effort to maintain.

This was something that Cliff shared about at last Sunday night’s all-partner meeting. We have to work at this. And we have to work at this in a way that is worthy of who we are in Christ.

How? Through the bond of peace.

Back in Chapter 2, we read of two categories of people: the Jews and the Gentiles.

The Jews were a chosen race, God’s own people blessed to be a blessing to the world.

Listen to how the Gentiles were described:

“without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world.”

There was no peace between the Jews and the Gentiles. Do you know how Jesus brought peace to the two? Listen to this — He did away with both.

Ephesians 2:13-14 says ..”in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility.”

He took two groups hostile to one another and made one new creation in him. There is no longer Jew or Gentile — there is a new creation in Christ where unity is defined by what we share in common:

Paul lists 7 “one” statements in a way that was probably an early Christian creed. “There is one body, one Spirit, we were called to one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.”

What does it mean to be the church? It means we come together in unity around what Christ has done for us. There is not one little thing we can do to change this.

Christ gave his life for this new creation — the church. Christ gave us the relationship skills we need among one another to exist as this new creation. Christ gave us a unity that defines our existence.

But unity doesn’t mean uniformity. Jesus united the different. He brought together those who were far and near. He united races and languages and ethnicities together. Where the world uses our differences to put us at war with one another, Christ uses us differently in His body. We share and embrace differences that make us stronger.

4. Christ gave us gifts for ministry (7-12).

Ephesians 4:7–10 CSB

Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. For it says: When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people. But what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower parts of the earth? The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, to fill all things.

One of the ways that we are set apart and unique in the church is how Christ has gifted us to do ministry. And to be clear — everyone who is in Christ is called to ministry in some way. “He gave gifts to people”

Any gift we receive is a result of grace. Think about it — a free gift is often one we don’t deserve. The act of gift giving is a result of grace giving, and not anything that we have earned.

Illustration: I’ve thought a lot about the power of grace with my daughters. I know that one day — a few decades from now :) — a young man will show up at my doorstep and ask to date my daughter. And a few decades after that — marry her :) I will not, and cannot, just freely give my daughter away in marriage. That boy has gotta EARN IT. You know what I mean? He has got to prove his worth. He has got to show me that he deserves my daughter. But that isn’t grace. That is effort. That is merit.

And did you know that even though we were dead in our sin, we were saved by grace.

Ephesians 2:8–9 CSB

For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.

And from that saving grace, Christ gives a ministry grace to serve and build up the church.

Paul uses this passage in Psalm 68 where it says “When he ascended on high, he took the captives captive; he gave gifts to people” to show how Christ has the authority to rule and give gifts to His church.

Psalm 68 is referring to a king who went to battle, was victorious, and claimed the spoils and captives of the conquered land as His own. The victor had the right to do whatever he wanted to with what he had conquered because it was now his. He conquered it.

Here, Paul is referring to Christ and us. We were enemies of God and held captive by sin. So, in God’s great mercy he blessed us with every spiritual blessing the in the heavens in Christ.

God sent heaven to earth, in Jesus, to conquer Satan and sin and death through His blood on the cross. But for Jesus, the battle didn’t end in death - it ended with life. Jesus rose again and returned to heaven to fill all things. He has been to the heights of heaven and the depths of earth, he has experienced life and death and life again, and he brought us back as the spoils of battle into communion with God again.

Through Christ’s victory over death He now rules His church as the head — the cornerstone — and by the measure of His grace he gifts us to be his hands and feet on this earth.

This is one of several prominent passages in the New Testament that talks about spiritual gifts — or how we are equipped to walk worthy and do ministry. Christ has made us all uniquely different and assigned us all unique roles within His body. We must embrace this. We must come together in unity and embrace the diversity. And we must honor and respect our leaders as Christ-appointed.

Ephesians 4:11–12 CSB

And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,

Christ gifts the church with leaders. The role of a leader is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ. We can’t do this on our own or with our own initiative.

The terms apostle and prophet have a broad range of meanings.

An apostle was foundational to the church, and in a technical sense referred to the 12 appointed by Jesus, but in a general sense can refer to a ‘sent one’.

A prophet served as a mouthpiece for God — speaking what God would reveal or had revealed. In a technical sense, we don’t have biblical prophets anymore because God’s word has been fully revealed in the Scriptures, but in a general sense a prophet applies God’s Word to God’s people.

An evangelist proclaims the gospel, and while we are all called to evangelize, some people are uniquely gifted at this.

Pastors and Teachers shepherd and oversee the flock. These roles can have overlap as well as distinctions based on the measure of Christ’s gift.

These are not all of the spiritual gifts available, and Christ has gifted everyone uniquely different. But Christ has given each of us gifts for ministry in His church.

5. Christ gave us a measure for the church (13-14)

Ephesians 4:13–14 CSB

until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.

Simply put, our aim in life is to be like Christ. To grow in maturity in our faith, to know Christ to the fullest. To not remain as little children in the faith, but grow to be wise adults in the faith.

Think about the difference between an adult and a child. Did you know a lot of divisions in churches are over very childish things? Why do you think that is? We must grow to a maturity in our faith defined by Christ’s fullness because the devil has many schemes, and we must be able to carry the full armor of God as we fight for truth.

6. Christ gave us a love for the church (15-16)

Ephesians 4:15–16 CSB

But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.

How do we keep unity as the people of God? By speaking the truth in love. How do we handle differences in thought, doctrine, or practice? By speaking truth in love.

Paul uses this example of a body, with all these different parts (arms, legs, hands, feet,) that work together and grow together in love.

Christ gave us a love for His church, and this love for each member, each gift, promotes the growth and the proper working of the body.

Conclusion

So, I love my church.

Christ gave His life for it.

Christ gave us the means by which we can relate to one another.

Christ gave us unity that we must work to keep.

Christ gave us gifts to do its ministry.

Christ gave us a measure for growth.

And Christ gave us a love for it.

We can live worthy as a church united. We can live worthy in our differences. And we can live worthy as we grow to maturity.

There are some very practical steps that can be taken as we finish.

Trust Jesus as your savior.

Baptism.

Partner/Membership/Join

Identify your spiritual gift, or actually use your spiritual gift in the church

Engage in discipleship

Come back. Return to the body. Join together with the members of the body. Unity is something that is seen, not just perceived. Let our unity be a force that is felt, and a love that is undeniable