Sermon Tone Analysis

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,

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,

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,

Paul then goes on to explain,

Paul mostly quotes David in Psalm 68:18.

David says,

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).

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

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