Life in the Vineyard: Jesus' resurrection ensures you are a gifted instrument of grace to the church.

Where is the Piccolo?

Sir Michael Costa, the celebrated conductor, was holding a rehearsal. As the mighty chorus rang out, accompanied by hundreds of instruments, the piccolo player ceased playing, thinking perhaps that his contribution would not be missed amid so much music. Suddenly the great leader stopped and cried out: “Where is the piccolo?”

Who would’ve thought that such a small and seemingly insignificant instrument, such as the piccolo, could be missed by the conductors ear. Yet the piccolo was not only missed by the conductors ear, but its absence disrupted harmony and unity of the orchestra.

I would contend, brothers and sisters, that the church is much like an orchestra. When everyone is using their blood wrought gift to be an instrument of grace to preserve the unity of the church and support its ministry, the church plays a mind-moving, heart inspiring, God-glorifying song that changes the church, community, and home. Your place in our orchestra is so important, even if you feel like it is insignificant, that when you stop playing-stop using your blood wrought gift, Jesus is left saying to you, “Where is the piccolo?”

Life in the vineyard means we live a life actively serving the Lord. All of us serve a purpose. All of us have been gifted to serve the church in tow ways: to preserve the unity of the church and support its ministry. In other words, Ephesians 4:7-16, will show you that,

Jesus’s death and resurrection ensure you are an instrument of grace, gifted to the church to preserve its unity and support its ministry.

To understand the significance of the gift you have been given, I want to explain to you why I say it is “blood wrought.” In verses 7-10, Paul explains that it was Jesus salvation work that ensured you are gifted as n instrument of grace.

Jesus’s Salvation Work made you an Instrument of Grace (Ephesians 4:7-10)

Paul says in verse 7,

Ephesians 4:7 ESV

But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.

Grace was given by Jesus. This grace Paul is referring to is not emphasizing saving grace, but a gifted grace to do ministry and preserve unity in the church. That is why I call you an instrument of grace; much like the piccolo. God gives you grace to be grace for the church. Let’s flesh this out a bit.

The main verb, “was given,” in verse 7 is a passive. Christ is the implied acting agent. Look at the latter part of verse seven. What does the phrase “measure of Christ’s gifts”? The word measure means “apportioned.” He thoughtfully measured out to each one a peculiar gift. In other words, Jesus distributed grace in the form of gifts to varying degrees to his people; which are a diversity of people (See Ephesians 2). Not all gifts are alike and some people will have a greater degree of gifting than others. And yet, every gift and its amount, is enough to fulfill the purpose of God for that believer and his church. Furthermore, every believer in the church is properly gifted and responsible to use their gifts for the work of ministry and preserving the unity.

Paul affirms this to the Roman church,

Romans 12:6 (ESV)

Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them...

and again to the Corinthian church,

1 Corinthians 12:4–6 ESV

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

1 Corinthians 12:11 ESV

All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

Why did Jesus measure out gifts with such diversity?

The short answer is to preserve the unity. Paul says as much in both the previous verses (Eph 4:4-6) and in verse Eph 4:13; “until we attain the unity of the faith.”

Jesus’ goal is not to make everyone the same. Making everyone the same does not preserve unity of the church. God ultimately preserves the unity through his Spirit. Remember what Paul said to the Corinthians; “all the gifts are empowered by one and the same Spirit (1 Cor 12:11).” God empowers you through his Spirit to preserve unity, and expects you to use your gift to help preserve the unity of the church.

The grandeur of the gospel is its power to take people from all over the world who have absolutely nothing in common, who have even once hated each other, and unify them as one harmonious body all playing the same song with different instruments and harmonies. Only Jesus can do that. God has chosen to use a variety of gifts and a diversity of people to maintain unity through his spirit. Klyne Snodgrass sums this up well when he says,

“Unity does not exist in the sameness of person or responsibility, but in origin from God, dependence on the one gospel, and destination with God. Within the unity, grace is given to everyone so that each person has a different responsibility…unity is maintained by diversity and variety.” Klyne Snodgrass

How often has the church’s unity been fractured because either on the one hand, people do not use their gift’s to support the church’s ministry, forcing others to carry too much of the burden, or people have stepped into a role they are not gifted to serve or lead? Why are their so many stories of rogue deacons fracturing the unity of the church? Is it possible that men who were not qualified to be deacons, or gifted to be deacons, were put in a deacon role?

You, brother and sister, are a gift to the church. You are an instrument of grace. Jesus has measured out to you an appropriate gifting to be used for the preserving the unity of the church and supporting the ministry. Using your gift is vital to the unity of the church. Understand, that your gifting will not look like your neighbors gifting, and that is by design and in no way devalues your gift or your purpose- mostly because it was a blood wrought grace filled gift.

Paul explains to what extent Jesus went to make you an instrument of grace for his church.

Paul says in verse 8,

Ephesians 4:8 ESV

Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

Paul then goes on to explain,

Ephesians 4:9–10 ESV

(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

Paul mostly quotes David in Psalm 68:18. David says,

Psalm 68:18 ESV

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.

In antiquity, when a king conquered another king’s army, he would lead those whom he captured on a victory lap procession in front of cheering crowds into the heart of his city. There the king would sometimes kill the other king and his commanders and then disperse gifts from the spoils of war to his soldiers and subjects. David is saying the same idea in Psalm 68 in reference to Yahweh defeating evil at Mount Bashan. Mount Bashan was the considered the door to darkness, the gateway to evil in the under world. David says Yahweh defeats evil and parades his enemies, giving their riches to his people. Paul, takes Davids words regarding Yahweh, and applies them to Jesus. Paul uses Psalm 68:18, to describe Christ’s victory over the powers of Satan, sin, and death, and the empowerment and gifting of his people.

How did Jesus conquer Satan, sin, and death?

Jesus descended into the grave, which means, he also descended from heaven, incarnated as a human being, in order to die on a cross to atone for the sins of his elect. The cross marks the death blow to Satan’s power, sins stain, and death’s grip on us. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice to purify your sin and satisfy God’s justice so that the wrath you deserve can be removed from you and put on Christ, your substitute. The world knows, Satan knows, God was pleased with Jesus’ sacrifice because he ascended from the grave, that is his was resurrected, and further ascended into heaven, where he sits right now at the right hand of God as the sovereign over all the earth, filling all things. Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension is what empowers your gift and makes you an instrument of grace to the church. The power comes from his atonement for your sin and gift of His Spirit. For your sins to be atoned and his Spirit to be given to you, he had to die on the cross, rise from the grave, and ascend into heaven. Your gift is a blood wrought gift of grace that empowers you to be an instrument of grace to church, community, and home.

This should inspire you. Instead of leading you, his enemy captive, on a death procession on main street because of your hostility toward God as his enemy, he saves you, he frees you, he adopts you, and gives you abundant life and the grace of gifting to flourish in his kingdom.

I don’t know why so many in the church have chosen to sit on the sidelines, not using their gifting for the church and God’s kingdom. Maybe you feel like you are the piccolo. Maybe you don’t even realize you are the piccolo. What I do know is, not using your blood wrought grace empowered gift has severe consequences on the church. It could be the reason why the church is struggling in sustain its unity.

Jesus Equipped You as an Instrument of Grace to Serve the Church for the Work of Ministry and to grow in maturity (Ephesians 4:11-16)

Theologian Harold Hoehner provides a helpful outline in verses 11-16. I will uses his part of his outline to help you see the persons involved (v11), the process (v12), the product (v13), and their purpose (v14-16) relating to the gifting. First, Paul notes that Jesus gifts the church gifted leaders.

The persons Involved are gifted leaders (Eph 4:11).

Ephesians 4:11 ESV

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

In verse seven, Paul focused on every believer being given a gift. In verse 11, he shifts to describe specific gifted leaders in the church. Paul offers a similar list of gifted people in

1 Corinthians 12:28 ESV

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.

Paul describe another list with similar gifting in Romans 12:4-8. In all three texts, the verb “give” is used to indicate that God graciously gifted these people to the church for a purpose. Who are these people?

Apostles

Apostles are mentioned first. According to Hoehner,

“An apostle was Jesus Christ’s official delegate with the task of authoritatively proclaiming Christ’s message in oral and written form and of establishing and building up churches.” Harold Hoehner

He advocates that there are three kinds of apostles: those who had been with Jesus in his ministry and had witnessed his resurrection (Acts 1:21–22), Paul, who was born at the wrong time (1 Cor 15:8–9), and those who received the gift of apostleship. The first two categories were an office whereas the last, the gift of apostleship, is more of a church planter/missionary role. They are God’s messengers who open up new territories for Christ. he would advocate that Barnabas (Acts 14:1, 14; 1 Cor 9:5-7), Apollos (1 Cor 4:6,9), Epaphroditus (Phil 2:25), Andronicus and Junia (Romans 16:7), were believers who had the gift of apostleship.

I have said in the past that the office of apostleship is closed. Apostles were those who had first hand ministry with Jesus, or had encountered Jesus such as Paul did on the road to Damascus. There were more of them than those mentioned primarily in the Bible. I’m not as inclined to create three groups of apostles such as Harold Hoehner has done.

That being said, I am intrigued with the gift of apostleship as Hoehner describes it for two reasons. First, the main idea behind the word apostle is a divinely commissioned messenger. The word has a broad semantic meaning in the New Testament vernacular. It can be used to describe someone who has seen the resurrected Lord. But it can also be used to describe those who are envoys or agents of the church 2 Cor 8:23

2 Corinthians 8:23 ESV

As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.

It can also be used to refer to people sent with a divine mission or task; such as a church planter or missionary.

Second, the “gift of apostleship” seems to fit within the boundaries of the Great Commission today. There are those in the church who are called to plant churches in unreached places. These people are divinely commissioned agents or missionaries who are given the task of establishing the gospel with an unreached people group.

I’m still convinced that the office of apostleship is closed. Furthermore, I don’t think it is wise to call church planters apostles. But I do see church planters and missionaries as a special gift to the church. Is the gift of apostleship, I am unsure of that, but they are a gift nevertheless.

Prophets

Daniel Wallace points out that in the early church era, prophets were believers who revealed God’s will for the present (forthtelling) and predicted the future (foretelling). All apostles were prophets, but not all prophets were apostles. These were people who were filled with the Holy Spirit to prophesy for purposes of edification, comfort, and encouragement. Paul says as much to the Corinthian church,

1 Corinthians 14:3 ESV

On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.

1 Corinthians 14:31 ESV

For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged,

In the present day, given that we have a closed cannon, that is we have the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and the Bible is inerrant and fully sufficient, the prophet is more of a gifted man who prepares believers for ministry, and for building up the body, through preaching God’s word. Preachers are to proclaim God’s inerrant truth by exegeting the truth out of the scripture for the encouragement and edification of the church. Jesus gifts his church with prophet/preachers.

Evangelists

The word “evangelist” occurs two other times in the New Testament. First, Philip is called an evangelist in Acts 21:8. Second, Paul commends Timothy to do the work of an evangelist 2 Timothy 4:5. The prophets were gifted to proclaim the mystery of doctrine and revelation. The evangelist are gifted and charged with proclaiming the spread of the gospel. These people are heralds of the good news:

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Although everyone who is of the body of Christ is compelled to share the gospel, evangelists are especially gifted for the sake of building up the church and doing evangelism. How blessed is the church who has gifted evangelists!

Pastors/Teachers

Pastors, elders, shepherds, are all synonomous of each other. Elders are pastors who oversee the church. That is the idea in verse 11. Pastors are both teachers and shepherds who care for the church. Pastoral ministry provides oversight for the vision and direction for the church, as well as providing comfort, guidance, and wise counsel. Pastors and teacher provide clear and right insight to doctrine and theology for the sake of keeping the church free from false teaching.

Plurality of Elders at FBCL

In the New Testament, as we have already seen, the church is to have a plurality of elders who lead the church. There is no one man who encompasses all of these gifts. Jesus gifts the church qualified men as elders who assume the responsibility to paster and oversee the flock. To this point I would add that one of the contributing factors to disunity in the church is the idea that there is a Senior pastor who shepherds at the will of the deacons. That is not a scriptural church polity. Deacons are servants of the church who serve the body under the authority of a plurality of elders. To use the gifts Jesus as given us, to preserve the unity and support the work of ministry, FBCL needs to move away from the Senior pastor model and toward a plurality of elders in order to fully use the gifts Jesus has given us.

Second, Jesus as given us a way to work and mature.

The process is to equip the saints for the work of ministry and build up the body (Eph 4:12).

Verse 12 offers both the process and in part the purpose of the gifted leadership.

Ephesians 4:12 ESV

to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Gifted elders, evangelists, preachers, church planters, missionaries, administrators, and everyone in between, is meant to equip the body, that is the process, for the work of ministry. My job as one of your elders, is to equip you, the church, to joyfully advance the kingdom of God by making much of Jesus until the church, community, and home joyfully abides in Jesus. This is the process of building up the church. Building up the church is what it means to edify the church.

To equip you means to prepare you, condition you, and train you for service. This, brothers and sisters, is one of the purposes of discipleship. The leadership trains you, involves you, and equips you, through Sunday School, DNA Groups, Evangelism training, ect, so that you can take that training to do the work of ministry-serving the church, community, and home in ministries such as: TTV, Breaking Bread, Deacon Ministry, Elder Ministry, Sunday School Teachers, Nursery Workers, Youth Ministry, Worship, Evangelism, Missions, Administration, Hospitality and so on.

You have a job to do for Jesus. Jesus has gifted you as an instrument of grace to work in the ministry. This means what Hoehner rightfully says it means:

“Ministry is the responsibility of all believers and not just a few.” Harold Hoehner

There is an unfortunately reality among too many churches: Twenty percent of the people do ninety percent of the work. Tell me church, what would it sound like if only twenty percent of the orchestra played their instruments?

The product is to attain unity, maturity, and the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:13).

The goal of building up the church is unity, maturity, and experiencing the fullness of Christ. Unity of what? Unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son.

Unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son combine together to give us the idea of both intellectual growth and experience of Christ himself. It is not only a unity of the knowledge of the truth of the gospel, but it is a unity of truly knowing Jesus and living in the life of Jesus. It is a unity that happens with true believers who know Jesus do ministry together never severing the bond of peace we have in Christ Jesus. Moreover, we hold that bond until we reach the reality of physically living with Jesus. We must keep working, equipping, training, ministering together until to that end.

Second, the goal is maturity. Maturity, in this sense, refers to the church as a whole. Paul has already described the church as a “new man” or “new person” (Eph 2:15). The church is to intentionally work toward spiritual maturity. Paul in his letter to the Philippians describe spiritual maturity in his prayer for the Philippians. Spiritual maturity involves love for Christ and each other (Phil 1:9), love that abounds from the Knowledge of Christ (Phil 1:9), discernment (Phil 1:9), sincerity and purity (Phil 1:10), perseverance (Phil 1:10), bearing fruits of Righteousness that glorifies the Father (Phil 1:11).

Personal Maturity Matters

Corporate church maturity is directly tied to your personal maturity. If you are not maturing in your walk with Jesus, you are hindering the church from maturing as a body. Keep in mind, preserving unity is one of the main goals of your gift and equipping of the saints. How many churches have stalled in their mission to joyfully advance the kingdom of God because of spiritual immaturity? How many churches have suffered disunity because of a lack of maturity?

Be mindful that maturity does not happen in isolation or without intention. If you are not active in your local church, you will not mature in the faith. Maturity is intentional and communal.

Finally, the goal is fullness of Jesus. that is, conformity to Jesus. All of us are being conformed into the image of Christ. That is the goal of sanctification. God is growing you, maturing you, by gifting you and equipping you to serve others in the same way Jesus serves us. The church should be so filled with Christ-conforming Christians that the world looks upon us and sees Jesus himself. That is the goal. And that goal is achieved in part by using your gift and being equipped to serve the church, community, and home.

The purpose is to mature in such a way that we speak truth to one another like Jesus (Eph 4:14-16)

In verse 14-16, Paul gives the ultimate purpose of Christ gifting the church. He does it in a negative and positive coordinate phrase.

Ephesians 4:14 ESV

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.

The danger of remaining in your immaturity is you become more and more susceptible to deceit and error. You never loose your naïvety. Immature Christians are gullible to false teaching, weak in discernment, and are double-minded and unstable in their ways. Immaturity leads to believing you can build your house, the faith, on both the rock and the sand. This is devastating to you heart.

I’m sure you have seen this in your won life or in the church. In your immaturity, you try to love Jesus and the world at the same time. So you build your house on both the sand and the rock. Then, tragedy strikes, persecution comes, stress rises, and everything you built on the sand collapses. And instead of learning your lesson, you keep doing the same thing over and over.

I see this in relationships. Single women or men who are not happy with God’s plan for their singleness or timing, decide to date a man or a woman who is not a believer. They know its wrong and not wise, but they are going to build their house on the sand anyways. Then, when it does not work out, because it was never meant to work out, the whole thing comes crashing down. Think of the disunity you cause in the church, community, and home. You fracture the unity of the church because you were unequally yoked to a nonbeliever, which brought unnecessary tension with the community and your elders. Second, the community as a whole is given the wrong picture of God’s design for marriage, and the picture of Christ and his bride, by your relationship. Finally, your house is in disunity. Just as oil cannot yoke with water, so you can never fully yoke with the unbeliever. There will always be tension and loneliness and separation in your home. Sure, you love Jesus, but your life is a mess. And it remains a mess until you mature into the image of Jesus.

Your maturity and growth matters to the church. The church will not grow in unity, and maturity, and fullness of Christ if you are not actively maturing.

Where is the piccolo?

Last year, Ethan and I were given the opportunity to attend the University of Cedarville’s Orchestra Winter Concert. There were a diversity of people playing a variety of instruments in harmony. The sound they produced was mind-engaging, heart-moving, even inspiring to hear. Everyone played their piece of music on time and in harmony with each other, and it produced beauty, even glory. What a picture of a healthy church, wouldn’t you say? Think for a moment.

When the piccolo player stopped playing his piccolo, the conductor had to stop the music. One small instrument stopped the entire orchestra from playing in unison and it disrupted the progress of the piece of music. In a similar way, when you do not use your blood wrought grace filled gift, the unity and ministry of the church is disrupted, even fractured. It slows the progress of the church. The work of the ministry is not being done as well as it could. The sound of that one small instrument was necessary to the harmony, and the conductor’s ear had not missed it.

Brothers and sisters, you are an instrument of grace to this church. You are a means to godliness and and life for FBCL and Litchfield. Your place and role in this church, not matter how seemingly insignificant, is significant, so much so that when you stop serving, Jesus says, “Where is the piccolo?” Serve. Serve well. Serve often so that you instead hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”