God's Gracious Gifts

  • David Fairchild
  • Jul 4, 2010
  • Series: Galatians

Ephesians 4:7-12 [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…”

The last few weeks we’ve been working through Ephesians 4 and unpacking how we accomplish the unity of the church that Christ intended.

In verses 1-2 we looked at how God calls us to unity through our character. Humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance and love should describe each of us.

In verses 3-6 we looked at how God creates unity out of His character and nature. Since He is Triune and unified, He wants us to bear His image and likeness as His children.

This week were going to look at how God designed His church to be unified, not by making us all the same, but by making us different. He is absolutely committed to the unity of the Church because it displays what He’s like. He loves unity not uniformity. Uniformity is when everyone looks and does the same thing. He wants us to share the stunning joy of being unified and different at the same time.

Of course, it’s much more difficult now that sin has broken our unity. Instead of our differences being cherished and treasured, they are often the cause of misunderstanding and distrust towards one another. This isn’t what God intended for us and He isn’t going to let it continue.

Instead, God set out on the long journey of recapturing what was lost in the Garden. He made us to be different but not divided. Through the grace of Jesus, He’s weaving together His purposes until we are completely one in Him.

This is glorious news because it shows that Jesus is committed to our unity even when we’re not. He’s accomplishing our unity even when we don’t see it.

Thankfully, however, Jesus doesn’t leave us in the dark. In this passage He is speaking to us to help us better understand what He’s up to and how we can join Him in building up and unifying His body. So he speaks to us about our spiritual gifts.

 

1) Who Gets Spiritual Gifts?

Verse 7 - But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Paul says that grace was given to each one of us. He isn’t talking about salvation. He’s using the word “grace” in the strictest sense. He’s saying “But gift was given to each one of us…”

It’s the Greek word charis which is where the word charismatic comes from. Paul’s speaking of spiritual gifts as we’ll see at the end of the passage.

These gifts are given to each and every one of us. And Jesus gave a different measure of gifts to each of us.

 

No Boasting

The first thing we see is that there is nothing for us to envy since these were a gift of grace. Whatever He gave, we didn’t deserve. Instead of wanting the gift of another, we should be thankful because Jesus personally gave exactly what we have in a specific portion unlike anyone else.

In the marketplace, you’re value is determined by what you do. But in the church, what you do is determined by your value. Instead of performing to be approved, Jesus makes it crystal clear that He already values us and approves us, so that out of that approval and value, we serve Him by serving others.

If we boast in our gifts, we’re forgetting we received them by grace alone and not by what we did. Out of resting in that, we want to say “thank you” by serving.

 

Gifts for All

Also, these gifts aren’t reserved for the spiritual elites but are given to everyone. Since He gives different gifts in different measures, we don’t have to compare ourselves to one another and become envious because we want what someone else wants, or become prideful because we think everyone should have the same gift in the same measure as we do.

 

2) How Does Jesus Give Spiritual Gifts?

Verses 8-10 - 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.)

Paul places this parenthetical note after verse 8 to show us what Jesus is up to in giving us spiritual gifts. He quotes Psalm 68 in verse 8 and makes a direct link to this Psalm to explain how Jesus gave us these gifts. He uses the imagery of a victorious God who has conquered His enemies.

In the ancient Near East, when an enemy was conquered, the victorious king would lead a processional march through the city and he would ascend to his throne.

First in the procession was the triumphant King. Thousands would be cheering and shouting his praise. Often times they would worship him as a god.

Immediately behind him were the king’s generals, followed by the heroic in battle, and the entire army would follow. The crowd would roar and throw flowers. They would reach out to touch them and shout out how great they were.

After the king, generals and army marched through the city, the defeated king, some of his generals and elite men would be paraded through as the people mocked and jeered them. They would be spit upon and laughed at. They would be stripped naked and the purpose was to utterly shame them.

The scene in this procession would be the gold, jewels, crowns, armor and riches of the conquered foe. The people would become ecstatic at the sight of this treasure.

Then the king would ascend to his throne and he would distribute gifts to his generals, his army and his people from the treasures he captured. The king would not only lead the captivity captive, he would ascend and give gifts to his people.

The people would shout with joy and cry out in thanksgiving and praise to their victorious king who defeated their enemies and gave them the spoils of victory.

Psalm 68 takes that image and applies that to God. The Psalm is a song of God’s victory over the enemies of Israel.

It talks about how God came down and descended from His throne to defeat His enemies. He then calls His people to rejoice and shout with songs of joy. They prayed to God for a deliverer and God answered their prayer.

In the Psalm it says, the chariots of God are tens of thousands. As He takes His throne, He led captives in His train and gave gifts to men.

Paul takes this Psalm and applies it specifically to Jesus by showing us who won the victory over our enemies and captured our enemies. He wins the most important battle in history so that when He ascends to His throne, He could shower us with His spiritual gifts.

 

3) What are the Spiritual Gifts?

Verse 11 - And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers…

Apostle

The office of apostle was reserved for those who had personally been with Jesus in His ministry and witnessed His resurrection. Paul was an apostle, but as he says, he was one born out of season. Jesus personally came to Paul after His resurrection and called him. Those two are the office of Apostleship.

However, we also see in the New Testament examples of those that were gifted with the gift of apostolic ministry. Barnabas, James, Jesus’ brother, probably Silvanus and Epaphroditus, and a couple others are mentioned. They had a specific gift that was given for the sake of the church.

They were God’s messengers and workers to plant new churches for Christ. This gift is still active today. In fact, the Acts 29 Network we are part of is a heavily apostolic ministry in that it exists for the purpose of planting new churches and calling existing churches to plant new works.

I feel a burden to plant churches. I feel a sense of gifting and calling to see new works started. In fact, I think about, imagine, strategize, plan and easily daydream about new church plants around this city, our state, nation and world. I would go crazy in a ministry where I was not allowed to exercise this gift in some way.

This gift is not only important because Jesus gave it; it’s also for our good and according to His plans and purposes to fill all things with His presence.

 

Prophets

The second gifted person Paul mentions in this passage is the prophet. The prophet was someone who was empowered by the Holy Spirit for the purposes of preaching and proclaiming the word of God by delivering His news to the people. They confronted, encouraged and edified the church.

This gift had a predictive element prior to the establishment of the NT church and during the formation of the NT church. However, the predictive element that was given to validate and complete the writing of the NT Scriptures became less about telling the future and more about telling what God had said and promised to do.

Their role in the church today is to proclaim the revelation of God from His written word by explaining His plans and purposes for the church rather than writing or proclaiming new and authoritative revelation.

Apostles and Prophets often share many of the same characteristics. However, one who has an apostolic gift will eventually desire to move and plant new works instead of staying in an established one. The prophet may or may not be motivated to move on but will call God’s people to continue to establish new works.

Often church planters are gifted with an apostolic and prophetic gift. This makes them somewhat difficult to be around because they are always looking forward and outward to what God is doing rather than inward. Praise God He gives us more gifts than Apostles and Prophets in the church!

 

Evangelists

The third gifted person mentioned is the evangelist. This gift is a special grace given to someone who is both burdened and able to preach the gospel to non-believers in such a way that they become a Christian.

Evangelists have a passion and burden to reach the unreached in our city, nation and world. The evangelist is able to win converts to Christ by sharing the Gospel. The apostle establishes churches by creating Gospel communities. The prophets proclaim the Gospel and help to mature and strengthen believers in the faith. Needless to say, these three are effective when working together for the church.

 

Shepherds

The fourth gifted person is a shepherd or literally a herdsman. We might say they have the gift of a pastor. They are the shepherds of the sheep. They care for the flock and are able to effectively minister to troubled saints by comforting and exhorting believers. They are passionate and concerned with nourishing the saints in the Gospel so we grow in spiritual maturity.

Shepherds are greatly needed in the church, especially where there is a strong apostolic and prophetic gifting. Without shepherds the sheep have difficulty resting and being renewed in Christ.

Shepherds are indispensible to the health and maturity of the church. The problem is that apostles, prophets and evangelists usually don’t recognize this because they are thinking about the next church plant, message and person they want to reach. But Jesus is faithful to show us our needs and help us see how much of a gift they are. I can’t tell you how thankful I am for Tom Fine and others at Kaleo that have this gift.

Personally, I’ve moved from seeing them as good to have if we have them, to absolutely necessary if we’re going to equip the saints and build the body.

If you’re a shepherding type that finds joy in seeing believers renewed by God’s grace as you counsel and minister to them with the Gospel, we need you desperately and want you to find a place to serve and minister at Kaleo. Jesus wants the same thing which is why He gifted you and gave you to us!

 

Teachers

The last gifted person is a teacher. This is someone that thrives off of instructing and growing the saints in their understanding of God’s word. Teachers teach the word of God and instruct believers in who God is, what God has done and how we are to respond to His word.

Teachers often love doctrine and enjoy engaging others around God’s word. They enjoy helping the saints apply God’s word to their daily life. They are a great gift from Jesus to the church because they ensure we are continually going back to the word to check our motives and beliefs to ensure they are in-line with Scripture.

Each of these gifts are never to be used for self-promotion, but for building up the saints and serving others so that we are all doing the work of the ministry.

One of the difficult truths we have to learn is that the church doesn’t exist as a stage to showcase our gifts. Instead, our gifts exist to showcase the glory of Jesus. If ever we are more concerned with exercising our gifts than loving Jesus and His people, we will find Jesus opposing our prideful work.

 

4) Why Does Jesus Give Spiritual Gifts?

What is the purpose of Jesus giving gifts to each one of us?

Verse 12 - …to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ…

In ancient days, as Kings would give away all the treasures their army captured, the people would take that treasure and give it back to their great king by building a palace or a monument that images the King.

When Moses led his people out of Egypt, they took the great plunder of Egypt with them and used it to build a beautiful Tabernacle for God in the desert. They used all the gold to worship their God.

When Joshua and David went into the promised land and defeated all of their enemies, they used the treasures they captured to build the temple.

When the people were dispersed and carried off into exile, then eventually freed and returned to Jerusalem, they took treasure from Artaxerxes, king of Persia who defeated Babylon, and used it to rebuild the temple. This same pattern repeats itself.

God is using these gifts to build a dwelling place for Himself. The goal of History climaxes in God dwelling with His people. This world is to be a place where God fills all things. Where, at the end of history in the last book of the Bible in Revelation 21, it says:

 

Revelation 21:3 …“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with Him and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God.”

Until history comes to fulfillment when Christ returns, His body and temple (the church) are to use the gifts He’s given us, the spoils of His victory, to construct and strengthen His dwelling place.

 

Hindrances to Unity

I believe there are three widespread challenges to building up the body of Christ today. The problem isn’t the church (Jesus’ idea of it), the problem is in us. We have picked up attitudes and assumptions from the world and projected them into the church and it is dividing, not uniting us, as Jesus intended.

 

1) We’ve adopted a me-centered attitude.

We’ve fallen into the trap of believing that the church exists to meet my needs rather than existing so that we can meet the needs of others. Notice that in verse 12 it says we are to be equipped to do the work of the ministry to build up the body. Though we benefit from the body being built up, it’s not about my demands, expectations and comfort.

The more we cling to our time, money, expectations and comfort, the less we get back.

Was this what Jesus did? Can you imagine Jesus taking a me-centered attitude towards us? What did He do instead?

How beautiful was His self-giving and service. In doing so, He is able to forgive us of our selfish and self-centered attitudes and free us to live for Him and others in ways we could have only dreamed of!

 

2) We’ve allowed our prideful independence keep us from passionate involvement.

Jesus is radically committed to His bride and calls us to care as much for her as He does. We should want to love what He loves and honor what He honors.

Instead of allowing ourselves to be independent, the purpose of the gifts shows us that we are intentionally and purposely gifted to be interdependent. Without the passionate involvement of every member of the body who is to labor to build it up, the church becomes weakened and unity is compromised. Every member has a part no matter how much you think you’re not needed. The Scripture says that each one of us was given a gift by Jesus so that we would invest it building up His body.

Was Jesus pridefully independent? Can you imagine Jesus relying on only Himself and not His father? What if Jesus tore himself from the Trinity and refused to involve Himself in our lives?

Through Jesus’ faithful dependence upon the Father, He was able to passionately involve himself in our life and open a way for us to be forgiven and connected to the source of His dependence and to one another.

 

3) We’ve adopted a critical attitude towards Jesus’ bride.

We’ve falsely assumed that our complaining and criticism accomplishes something. Well, it does. It accomplishes division and disunity.

So many of our problems in the church are due to our attitude towards Jesus’ bride. When we think we have the right to criticize and complain about Jesus’ bride, we are placing ourselves in a dangerous position. I don’t know about you, but when someone criticizes and complains about my wife, I want to lovingly defend her honor.

As wrinkled, spotted and unholy as she can be at times, this is still the bride He chose to die for. It is still the body He chose to create. It is still the Temple in which God’s Spirit and glory dwells.

Our gifts aren’t given so that we can tear the church apart by criticizing it, but instead to build her up because she needs us. Your gift isn’t for you, it’s for her. It’s to serve her, love her, honor her, protect her and beautify her. And just as a harsh and critical husband reaps what he sows, so a harsh and critical Christian will reap the results their attitude.

Did Jesus come to criticize and complain about His bride? What did He do instead?

Can you imagine if Jesus complained and criticized His bride instead of sacrifice for her on the cross? Where would we be if He chose to keep our record of wrongs and not let them go?

ow that He has forgiven us and cancelled our record of wrongs and the righteous complaints against us, we can be free to cancel our criticisms and let go our record of wrongs towards the church.

We’re free to live for her beauty and commit to her growth since we’ve been forgiven of our sin to become part of her.

So what do we do with our selfish, independent and critical attitudes towards the Bride Jesus came to save, wash, purify, deliver and beautify for Himself?

 

A Better Processional March

There was another processional march some 2,000 years ago. In this scene, the defeated foe (Jesus) was stripped naked, led through the city and jeered as He was forced to ascend Calvary under the mocking crown of thorns and placard that read “King of the Jews.” Satan assumed victory was his as the demonic hosts salivated at the thought of God’s only Son being paraded and shamed.

However, in shocking reversal the defeated and shamed King was no victim of circumstance that was forced to march. Instead, this King was mounting a victory march in a way no one expected. Jesus, by giving Himself as a sacrifice for His own people, led Satan, sin and death in a parade to their own prideful destruction. Our glorious King drove a heart into the chest of everything contrary to the will and character of His Father. By His death He not only defeated our greatest foe, He also won the spoils of victory, you and I, which became His treasure.

This King is not only sacrificial, He’s generous. He takes what is rightfully His by victory, you and I, and He gifts us to one another. He shares His treasure so that we are no longer impoverished, malnourished and insecure. He gives us one another so that we might build up His body into perfection until He returns to complete His great Temple project!

 

Additional Gifts Not Mentioned in this Message

The New Testament contains several lists of the various gifts Jesus has given the church. There are more than 20 different gifts listed (several are repeated). Some gifts are public and visible and some are less visible and spectacular.

 

Romans 12:6-8

 

1) Prophecy

2) Service

3) Teaching

4) Exhortation

5) Generosity

6) Leadership

7) Mercy

 

1 Corinthians 12:6-10, 28-30

 

8) Wisdom

9) Knowledge

10) Faith

11) Healing

12) Miracles

13) Prophecy

14) Spiritual Discernment

15) Interpretation of Tongues

16) Apostles

17) Prophets

18) Teachers

19) Miracles

20) Healing

 

Ephesians 4:11-12

 

21) Apostles

22) Prophets

23) Evangelists

24) Shepherds

25) Teachers

 

1 Peter 4:10-11

 

26) Speech

27) Service

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