November 8, 2007

• Bible Reading: Ephesians 4-Spiritual Gifts

  PRAISING OUR GIVING GOD

  Our God is a generous, gracious and giving God.

  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)
  

  
  God's gave His only begotten son as a ransom in our place--a propitiation for our sins--so we might have eternal life. He gave us the power to  become sons of God and be delivered from this present evil age and the kingdom of darkness and be translated into the Kingdom of His dear Son.

  The character of Christ is all about giving:

  For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.  (II Cor. 8:9)

  For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)
  

  And God continues to freely give His children all things:

  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?   (Romans 8:32)

  In Ephesians 4, Paul writes about the gifts of the Holy Spirit given to us by Jesus Christ. (For more on spiritual gifts, see I Corinthians 12-14; Romans 12:1-8, I Peter 4:10-11.)

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

  
  

  "When He ascended on high,
  He led captivity captive,
  And gave gifts to men."
  

  
  (Now this, "He ascended"—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)

  Note here that Paul writes that to "each one of us," meaning each member in the Body of Christ has been given at least one spiritual gift--no exceptions. In I Corinthians 12, Paul reminds us we should not be ignorant about spiritual gifts.

  Sometimes we may receive a gift that we don't like or isn't quite right for us, may not be the right color or the right size or might be a duplicate to what we already have. So inside the gift box we often will find a gift receipt in case we need to return the gift.

  However, since our God is perfect, the gifts He gives to us never need to be returned.  Every gift given to us by the heavenly Father of lights is good and perfect for us. It is not necessary for a gift receipt to be enclosed with God's gifts.

  Let's look at what this passage says to us:

  Christ "gave gifts to men."

  I think we read that and take it for granted.

  Christ "gave gifts to men."

  To think that our Savior has specially gifted each one of us is mind boggling to me.

  We often discuss spiritual gifts and we forget how gracious and good our God is to us. Let us never forget to praise Him for His the gracious mercies He lavishes upon us in and through Jesus Christ, including the spiritual gifts He has given to His Church.

  STEWARDING OUR GIFTS

  What is your response to the gift(s) Christ has given you? What are you doing with the gift(s) God has given to you?

  Jesus Christ gives us spiritual gifts not so we can be puffed up or for our own personal benefit. The gifts are not given to be left unused. The gifts are given to build up the Body of Christ for His glory. Each one of us is responsible to be a good steward of the gift(s) God has given us.

  Let's say you've spent many hours (and perhaps much money) acquiring or making a gift for a very good friend. You know this person so well that you had just the perfect gift in mind. If the gift were one that could be bought, you went from store to store, you waited in line, you hunted on the internet, you did whatever it took to get that gift. Or perhaps you spent hours gathering materials together to craft or create something special for your friend. You gladly gave your time, energy, resources and effort because your friend is so special to you and you wanted to give her a very special gift.

  After all that, if you gave your friend the gift and she didn't open it, how would you feel?

  Or, how would you feel if after your friend opened the gift, she really did not seem to appreciate the gift or even bother to use it?

  I wonder if this might not be how God feels when we don't use the spiritual gifts He has given to us.

  If we are not good stewards of the gifts God has given us, we are showing contempt for the shed blood of Christ, for the gifts come through the crucified Christ, straight through the cross, and they are specially chosen and given to each one of us by God to build up His Church and to honor Him.

  • Do you really believe Christ has given you a gift, or do you think spiritual gifts are only for a few "special" people?
  • Have you opened the box? Do you know the gift(s) God has given you?
  • Have you read the instructional manual that goes with the gift? Have you sought out help and equipping from God through His Word and prayer and from the Body of Christ in discerning and using your gift?
  • Have you expressed thanks for the gift(s) you have received? Have you thanked the God for the giving you the gift(s) He has?
  • Instead of being thankful, do you grumble and look around the room at the gifts of others and wonder why you didn't get a different gift? Do you look around at others in your congregation and wonder why you didn't get the gift that someone else has? Do you continue to look at the gifts of others and covet or envy those?
  • Have you even taken your gift out of the box? Have you begun to use the gift(s) God has given you?
  • Are you now actively using the gift? Perhaps you received this gift a long time ago and you used it in the past but now it sits buried in a closet somewhere. Are you faithfully ministering Christ's gift as a good steward of God's grace given to you? Are you an actively functioning part of the Body of Christ, using your gift to build up the Body?
  • Do you look at your gift and wish you had a different gift--perhaps something a bit more flashy and colorful? Do you embrace the gift(s) God has given you, trusting His sovereign plan and purposes for you and trust Him to help you as you step out in faith and use your gift(s)? Or do you shrink back from using your gifts out of fear and uncertainty and lack of confidence?

  We must remember that God is all-wise and He has gifted us as He sees fit, for His good pleasure and for His glory and for the advancement of His Kingdom. He has not haphazardly given out the gifts. He didn't just grab a name from a hat and say, "Hey, William over there, you get the gift of administration. And Sally, here's the gift of helps." God knows us better than we know ourselves, so we must trust Him and not only accept but joyfully embrace the gift(s) He has given us for each one of us has an indispensable part in His grand and glorious plan of redemption. He has been working His plan since before the foundation of the world, so we can trust He is continuing to do so today.

  Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1) reminds us that the devil attempts to get us to compare ourselves to others so we will not function in the Church as we ought. He emphasizes that each unique member is essential to the working of the whole Body of Christ:

  Be yourself! you are never mean to be anything but yourself. Endless trouble is caused by our being anxious to be something we are not! . . .  It is a wonderful thing to be yourself. You are an individual made by God. These things are not accidental. There is great value in individuality. . . .
  
  I may not be meant to be a great corner-stone in the building, but it is necessary to have a number of loose stones to fill up the gaps between the big stones. I am only one of them perhaps, but if there were none of them, the others would not be able to sustain the wall, and the building would never go up." In I Corinthians 12 there is a complete exposition of this matter. "The less comely parts" are essential to the body. Do not despise or deride them, do not look down upon them. Every part of the body is essential to the functioning and the working of the whole. There is no such thing as an unimportant Christian, an unimportant church member; every one of us counts.

  THE GIFTS WORKING TOGETHER IN THE CHURCH
  
  Church members cannot look to a few other members to do all the work of the Church. God never intended His Church to function with only a few people at the "top" doing the work, which is often the case in many congregations. When that happens we find many disillusioned church members burnt-out, exhausted and lying wounded on the side of the road. (We also find that same burnout when people continue to serve on a long-term basis in roles for which they are not gifted and equipped.)

  Every member of the Body is a minister. The Church is a royal priesthood. Each one of us is called and ordained by God to render service to Him. We are all called to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God. The work of the Church includes all the members of the Body, not only those who are in paid ministry or those who may have titles such as pastor, elder or deacon. God has gifted certain individuals to "lead"(2) in the Church, but those leaders were never intended to, nor can they, perform all the work of the Church. As Paul explains that God has given such leaders to the church and given them a specific mandate: to equip and perfect (KJV) the saints (v. 12), Paul also reminds us it is vital to the life of the Church that each and every part of the Body does its share.

  11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

  Through His Spirit, God has given each of the members of the Body one or more spiritual gifts as He wills. God has placed all the members of the Body together as He sees fit to build up the Church. Some may believe their gifts are not really all that important and doesn't really matter if they use them or not, but God has made it clear that each member of the Body is necessary and each of one of us is responsible to be a good steward of the gift(s) given us. Paul explains this further in I Corinthians 12 likening the Church to a physical body, where all the body of parts are necessary for the body to function--where one part of the body doesn't say to another, "I don't need you." In the same way, all parts of the Body of Christ are to be valued and honored as they are all necessary and essential. Sometimes the more visible, upfront gifts are deemed more important, but God reminds us that each and every member, each and every gift is both valuable and necessary. Christ would not have given a gift for it to be wasted or left unused. The Church cannot function as God has intended if any one member does not function as he ought.

  WHAT IF WE DON'T USE OUR GIFTS?

  We read in Ephesians 4:16 that the "effective working" of the Church occurs when "every part does its share."

  Using your gift(s) is not optional; when you do not use your gift(s), the whole Church suffers and is ineffective.

  When each member does not use his gift(s) as God has intended, here is the sorry outcome:(3)

  • The saints will not be equipped, or perfected.
  • The work of ministry will be incomplete.
  • The Body of Christ will not be edified.
  • The Body will not be unified.
  • The knowledge of the Son of God will be tainted; false gospels will begin to take a foothold.
  • The growth of the Body will be stunted in various ways--we will stagnate and remain immature, not growing more and more to resemble Christ and not growing up in all things in Him.
  • The immature Body will be increasingly susceptible to craftiness and trickery, resulting in her being tossed about with every wind of doctrine.
  • Truth will not be spoken in love.
  • Each part of the Body will not function as God intended. (This is one root of a dysfunctioning Church, but it is also a continuing consequence of the parts of the Body not continuing to function as God intended.)
  • The Body will not be built up in love.
  • And most importantly, God will not be glorified. Peter gives us this exhortation:

  As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

  -I Peter 4:10-11

  * * *

  "What God calls men to he fits them for, and does it with an almighty power.
  An effectual working of divine power attends the gifts of grace."
  Matthew Henry on Ephesians 3.

  "There is no such thing as an unimportant Christian,
  an unimportant church member;
  every one of us counts."

  If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

  
  

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  (1) D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, "The Christian Warfare: An Exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13" (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1977 reprint), 310-311.

  (2) Here I am talking about those who take on more "traditional" leadership roles in the church, but we must always keep in mind Jesus' teaching about leadership and service, e.g.-Mark 10:35-45.

  (3) I'm focusing on this particular passage (Ephesians 4:11-16) but much more could be written about this by pulling in additional Bible passages on the functioning of the Body of Christ.

  Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
  
  

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