September 18, 2011

In the military everyone is expected to do his or her job. The success of every military operation in combat and noncombat is dependent upon faithful service. Where there is faithful service, there is unified accomplishment. The same is also true in sports. The best teams, the most successful teams are ones in which every player does his or her part.

Now last week we learned that in the church, unity is cultivated by Christian virtues and grounded in the unity of God. But like any other organization, in the church, unity is advanced by faithful Christian service.

I. CHRIST HAS GIVEN GIFTS. Eph.4:7-11

In vrs. 3-6 Paul emphasizes unity and oneness. “One body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Then you notice that v.7 begins, “But to each one of us....” Right away we are made aware the while believers are unified in God and in the Body of Christ, there is within this unity, a diversity, and this diversity has to do with gifts for ministry. We all have been given gifts by Christ. And let me just point out that in 1Cor.12 the gifts are distributed by the Holy Spirit and John Stott suggests that in Rm.12 the gifts are given by God the Father. In other words, Father, Son and Holy Spirit work together.

In v.8-10, Paul cites Ps.68:18 as scriptural support for his statement about Christ giving gifts. Ps.68 describes God as a victorious conqueror, who, having gained victory over his enemies ascends on high, receiving gifts among men. That Paul applies this verse to Jesus shows that Paul understood Jesus to be God in the flesh. The Hebrew word translated, “receive” in Ps.68:18 can have the idea of receiving in order to give. It is well known that when a king was victorious in battle he often distributed the spoils of battle as gifts to his men. Paul applied this verse to Jesus.

Paul points out that before Jesus ascended to the Father, he descended. He came to earth. What did Jesus do on earth? He revealed the love, power, and authority of the Kingdom of God. He took on the realm of the Evil One and defeated it by dying on the cross and rising from the dead. He established his Church, the body of Christ against which the gates of Hell will not prevail. The gates of Hell cannot prevail against the Church because Christ has already defeated the gates of Hell. So now, our victorious King has ascended to the Father and he is giving out gifts to those who have entered into the Kingdom, the family, the Church of God. These gifts enable the Church to take the victory won by Jesus Christ and permeate that victory into the world at large. How? By being the Church.

There are four passages in the New Testament that identify the various spiritual gifts given to believers. These passages are Rm.12, 1Cor.12-14, Eph.4 and 1Pt.4:7-11. When I read about spiritual gifts in Scripture here is what I see. There are communication gifts, serving gifts, and miraculous gifts. It seems to me that spiritual gifts include any ability or talent that God chooses to use to build his church. God may use you in one way and then use you in a completely different way. Because we are unique in our personalities and life experiences, the various gifts will be uniquely expressed. Our personality and background will fit us for certain gifts as opposed to other gifts. I would not say that I have the gift of administration. Administration does not fit with who I am. But because the gifts are divinely given, as we are yielded to God and willing to serve, God can use us in any way he chooses.

In Eph.4 Paul identifies four gifts all having to do with the ministry of the Word of God. I believe that here Apostles and prophets refer to foundational gifts given to establish the church. The word, “apostle” basically refers to one who has been sent to represent another. But here Paul is referring to the twelve disciples, those who had been with Jesus and were eyewitnesses of his resurrection. Paul also is included in this list. These were the first leaders of the church. They spoke with authority and power. Likewise, I believe “prophets,” also refers to a foundational gift. The gift of prophecy has to do with proclaiming direct revelation from God, what we call Scripture. I do not believe that the gifts of Apostle and Prophet exist today. Having said that, there is a gift of prophecy that Paul refers to in 1Cor.12, but I believe that’s a different kind of prophecy, not involving the speaking of Scripture or divine revelation.

The next gifts are, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Evangelists were those who go out proclaiming the good news about Jesus Christ. Of course, all believers are evangelists in the sense that we are all called to be witnesses for Christ, but the gift of evangelist refers to those who are especially effective in gospel proclamation. I believe the gift of evangelist continues today. Some believe that the gifts of pastors and, teachers are really one gift, pastor-teacher. Grammatically this makes sense. Pastors are those who shepherd the flock of God in various local congregations. One of their main tasks is proclamation, teaching God’s Word.

Now what I want us to see here is that the gifts are given in the context of Christ’s victory over Satan and his kngdm. The gifts are given as a result of his victory and are meant to be an expansion of his victorious reign on earth. God’s gifts are not static or passive. They are always expressive and expansive. This is why it is counterintuitive for a believer to sit and do nothing in the church. Christ has given gifts.

 

II. CHRIST HAS GIVEN GIFTS FOR BUILDING UP HIS CHURCH. Eph.4:12-13

Now for the moment let’s focus on the four or five gifts Paul specifies here. Why did Jesus give these gifts? Clearly these gifts are given to prepare God’s people for works of service. These works of service have already been prepared for us to do by God. Eph.2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God doesn’t ask us to do anything that he has not already prepared for us to do. The work of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers was to help enable God’s people to serve the Lord in the local church.

What kind of preparation are we talking about? Well, since the primary purpose of these gifts is proclamation, I would suggest that first and foremost God’s people are prepared for works of service through the preaching and teaching of God’s Word. But the teaching of God’s Word involves a number of characteristics. There is the giving of information. We do need to have knowledge about God and his Word so that we have a biblical understanding of God and what God is seeking to do in this world, in the Church and in our lives. In fact we may be very zealous for God, but Paul points out in Rm.10:2 that, zeal without knowledge can cause one to miss the truth about God, thinking that their zeal for God is sufficient in and of itself to win the favor of God. The gospel gives us the knowledge of salvation. In Rm.12 P tells us that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. We need Biblical knowledge.

But as important as knowledge is, knowledge alone is insufficient. Paul said in 1Cor.8 that knowledge alone breeds pride. And so in the preaching and teaching of God’s Word there must be an emphasis on cultivating the character and virtues of Christ. This character must be exemplified by those doing the preaching and teaching. The virtues in v.2 are exactly what we’re talking about. And then there is a motivational dimension. Through the preaching and teaching of God’s Word our hearts are stirred up. The Holy Spirit speaks to us about the need to be full participants in the work of Christ and his church.

All this discussion about preparing God’s people for works of service is given so that the local church may be built up. Let’s be very clear about something. The church is not built up by the pastors and teachers. The church is built up by all the believers serving together. Now there is a problem. We have a membership of about 125, along with some regular attenders who are not members. We also have a variety of ministry opportunities in the church. But if all 125 members plus regular attenders suddenly signed up to be involved in ministry, I’m not sure we would have enough ministry opportunities to go around.

Of course, some can’t actively serve because of age and illness. Others would find it difficult to serve because they are already serving in some other ministry organization. But that still leaves many available for service. It’s also true that some serve occasionally like in VBS.

Brothers and sisters, I would like to say that if we are followers of Christ, we have been brought into the church of Christ, which is alive through his Holy Spirit. Our being alive as a local congregation is dependent upon our willingness to allow the Holy Spirit to move us into ministry through teaching of the Word of God. And frankly our being involved in ministry is very important for the well being of the church because you see...

 

 

III. CHRIST HAS GIVEN GIFTS FOR BUILDING UP HIS CHURCH THAT HIS CHURCH MAY BE MATURE IN CHRIST. Eph.4:13-16

In these verses Paul tells us what happens when all of God’s people are doing works of service. He says that the church reaches unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the son of God. And that the church becomes mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Unity and maturity are the byproduct of faithful, humble service. So what does a unified and mature congregation look like?

Well for one thing we will be unified in the faith. Being unified in the faith does not mean that we all hold to the exact same theological understandings. There are numerous theological issues about which committed followers of Christ do not agree on. Will the rapture take place before the tribulation or after the tribulation? Are spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues and healing for today or have they ceased? Are you a Calvinist or an Arminian? Do you believe in eternal security or not?

Being unified in the faith means that we will agree on the core doctrines taught in the Bible. We are talking about the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, Christ atoning death on the cross, his bodily resurrection, his ascension to the father. His second coming. The trinity, the verbal inspiration, veracity, and authority of Scripture. These are all core doctrines of the Faith.

But along with unity in the Faith, is maturity in our life together. Paul say in v.15 that we will speak the truth in love. Literally it says, “truthing in love. In other words, not just in our speaking, but in all of living we are truthful, faithful, loyal to Christ, his word and his people. What is more, our faithfulness and loyalty is to be framed by love. Truthing in love is the way of growing up into Christ. Christ is the Head of his body. We are his body. The life of Christ in each of us, the life of Christ which unites us into the same family, continues to nourish us in the love of God. This is more than what I can explain, but I don’t want us to miss that all of this growth and maturity takes place as each part does its work. Do you see how important it is that every believer in the church is serving? It is in our service together that we are properly nourished and strengthened in Christ.

 

Orthodox Church officials in Russia discovered in 2008 that one of their church buildings had disappeared. Poof-gone! The 200-year-old building northeast of Moscow had gone unused for a decade, but the Orthodox Church, which was experiencing growth, was considering reopening the church building, and that’s when they discovered their building wasn’t there.

They had to get to the bottom of this. After investigating the matter, the church officials did not blame aliens from outer space for the missing structure. Rather, they said the perpetrators were villagers from a nearby town, whom they said had taken and sold bricks from the building to a businessman. For each brick, the thieves received one ruble (about 4 cents).

This two-story church facility did not go from being a building to not being a building in one bulldozing stroke. Rather, the bricks were apparently chiseled out one by one by lots of people. In the same way, some churches-built not of bricks but of “living stones,” that is of Christians-are not reduced in one fatal stroke but rather by Christians one by one choosing not to be involved. Stay home and watch a TV preacher. Read the Bible and pray, but don’t mess with the organized church. Do your own spiritual thing. Each decision means one less living stone. In the end, the church, intended by God to be the wisdom and glory of God, is chiseled away. Just come & sit. Stay home and watch a TV preacher. Read the Bible and pray, but don’t mess with the organized CH. Do your own spiritual thing. Each decision means one less living stone. In the end,  the Church, intended by God to be the wisdom and glory of God, is chiseled away. Are you part of the Church of Jesus Christ? How is God using you to build up the body of Christ? Amen.