Gifts - Ephesians 4:7-12

We continue our study now in Ephesians chapter 4 where Paul is talking about walking in unity. We've seen now that there is a basic spiritual unity among the people of God. Though outwardly there seems to be division, we have many different kinds of churches. And yet inwardly in the heart there is a spiritual unity which God can see. Now, I believe the Lord wants us as Christians to walk in unity. And where we have this one body, this one spirit, where we believe this one faith and bow to the Lordship of the one Lord, we can walk in unity.

Now in verses 1 through 6, Paul has been talking about this unity in general. But now in verse 7, he gets down to being very practical and personal: "But unto everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Now he tells us, this unity is a wonderful thing. Seek to maintain this unity in your own practical life by living the way God wants you to live, and by using whatever spiritual gift God has given to you.

Now this is all tied in with 1 Corinthians chapter 12. So if you have your Bible before you, I trust you'll turn to that particular chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 12. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12:4-7, "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. There are diversities or differences of administrations or services, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations or workings, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit with all." That is, the Holy Spirit of God gives spiritual gifts to every Christian for the benefit of the whole church.

Now he goes on to list here some of the spiritual gifts. Down in 1 Corinthians 12:13, Paul says, "For by one spirit are we all baptized into one body." Back in 1 Corinthians 12:12, he says, "As the body is one, that is the human body, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body, so also is Christ." The point is very clear, I believe. Paul is telling us in Ephesians 4:7, and in 1 Corinthians 12, that even though there is unity in the body, there is diversity in our workings. Now, everyone does not have the same spiritual gifts. There's a difference in the Bible between the gift of the Spirit (singular), the gifts of the Spirit (plural), and the graces of the Spirit. Let me explain the difference.

The gift of the Spirit is when you receive Christ as your Savior. You receive Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. He moves into your life. He becomes resident in your body. He turns your body into His temple. This is the gift of the Spirit. And if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, says Romans 8, "he is none of His." I don't care how religious you may be on the outside. I don't care how many gifts you may give to the church. I don't care how religious you may talk. If you don't have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, you are not saved. This is the gift of the Spirit.

Now when you were saved, and when you receive the gift of the Spirit, the Spirit gave to you spiritual gifts. Now spiritual gifts are spiritual enablings to serve the Lord. You see, Christians are not decorations. Christians were not saved just to sit around like so many beautiful geraniums and so pretty; we were saved to serve. Now we can't serve in our own strength. The natural man, the fallen nature, cannot serve God and cannot please God. So in order for you and me to serve the Lord, we have to have a spiritual gift.

Now God gives different people different gifts. These are listed in 1 Corinthians 12. Some of these gifts were temporary. They were never meant to be permanent gifts. In the early church, before the Bible was completed and the New Testament was written, they had to have special men with the gift of prophecy. These men would stand up and proclaim the word of God. Some had special gifts of healing. Some had special gifts of tongues. These were not permanent gifts. 1 Corinthians 13 makes it very clear that these spiritual gifts were temporary.

Now some of these gifts are permanent: the gift of wisdom, the gift of preaching, the gift of discernment, the gifts of administration. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts. Now why were these gifts given? These spiritual gifts were given to us for the service of Christ in the local church.

I believe in the local church. Those of you who have listened to these studies week by week realize this. I believe in the one body of Christ, the unity of all true believers. But the one body in Christ accomplishes nothing apart from local bodies of Christians. Now I've met some Christians who will not identify themselves with the local church. This is a sin. When they were saved, they were given a spiritual gift, not to use in their living room, not to use once a year at a conference someplace. They were given a spiritual gift or perhaps spiritual gifts to use every day through the ministry of the local church.

Now if you'll read the book of Acts, you'll discover when a person was saved, he was baptized and he identified himself with that local church, and he went to work for God. Now if you're saved, God has given you a spiritual gift. I don't know what it is, but you'd better find out what it is and put it to work for the Lord. Because your spiritual gift is your stewardship. We are to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Paul says in Ephesians 4:7, "But unto everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." Now He gave a spiritual gift, then He gives you the grace to serve with this gift. Paul says, "By the grace of God I am what I am. And I serve, but not I, but the grace of God in me." God graciously gives us a gift, then He gives us the grace to use this gift for the benefit of the church and for the glory of God.

Now when were these gifts given? Well, the gifts that the Spirit of God gives to us are given when we're saved. When you were saved, you received the gift of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God witnesses to you that you are God's child. The Holy Spirit of God is the seal, the down payment of your inheritance. That's the gift of the Spirit. You are also given gifts of the Spirit, some kind of spiritual ability to serve the Lord.

Now don't confuse natural abilities and spiritual gifts. I know men who have more natural ability for speaking than I do, but they can't preach unless God gives them a spiritual gift. I know men who have natural ability at studying language, but the Bible means nothing to them unless they have a spiritual gift. I know men who are great teachers of history or mathematics, but unless they have a spiritual gift, they'll never teach the Bible. Do you see the difference? Natural abilities are those things we were born with. Now God can use natural abilities. But these natural abilities must be sanctified by spiritual gifts. Otherwise a man cannot have a spiritual ministry.

Now He also gives gifted men. Ephesians 4:8 says, "Wherefore he saith," and here he quotes Psalm 68:18, "When he Christ, ascended up on high, that is he went back to heaven, he led captivity captive." That is, the souls that had been captive by Satan were now captured by Christ. "He led captivity captive, and he gave gifts unto men." These are the spiritual gifts. "Now, that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens that he might fill all things." Jesus Christ went back to heaven, and having gone back to heaven, sent the gift of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit of God gives gifts unto men.

Now Ephesians 4:11 says that Christ also gives gifts to His church. Now what are these gifts to His church? They are gifted men. They are "apostles, evangelists, and some pastors and teachers." Now, notice this is not two people. Pastors and teachers, these two go together. The word pastor means shepherd, and some shepherds, and teachers. How do you shepherd? By teaching.

Now many times in the Bible, God's people are compared to sheep. "We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture." "I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." "Take heed therefore unto yourselves and unto the flock over which God hath made you overseers." The word of God compares the local church to a flock of sheep. Now, sheep are clean animals. Sheep by nature feed on that which is clean. Christians feed on that which is clean. And, uh, sheep need a shepherd. And churches need a pastor.

Now I know there are some groups that say we can do without a preacher. We can bring somebody in on Sunday, and on Wednesday speak. That's all right, that's perfectly all right if you want to have babysitters all the time. But a local church, a group of people, a group of saints needs a leader. And this leader is the pastor. And he leads by teaching. You can build a crowd without teaching. You can get a movie projector and some wild music. And you can build a crowd, but you can't build a church. The work of the pastor is the ministry of the word of God and prayer. Acts 6:4. Your pastor needs to spend time praying and studying the word of God, so that when he stands up before the flock, he has some food to give them. And when the people receive the food of the word of God, and begin to grow, then they start to reproduce. They go out and do the work of the ministry. The saints are supposed to be the ministers. The pastor's job is to equip them. The work of the pastor is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying or the building up of the body of Christ.

Now, what is the work of the ministry? The saints are supposed to do the work of the ministry. The saints don't hire the minister. The saints don't direct the minister. The saints do the work of the ministry. And as all the saints are doing the work of the ministry, the body of Christ is being edified. Now, a church does not grow by addition; it grows by nutrition. It grows from the inside out. We'll talk more about this in our next lesson. May the Lord help everyone of us to do what He wants us to do in this matter of building up the local church.

Shall we pray together? Our Father, we thank Thee for the work of the ministry, that all of us can share together in this wonderful, wonderful work of the Lord. We thank Thee for the spiritual gifts that Thou hast given to men. Now help us to use these gifts by Thy grace, for Thy glory. Bless the apostles, and the prophets, and the evangelists, and the pastors and the teachers. Bless the saints as they receive the word of God, and then go out and do the work of the ministry. And through it all may Jesus Christ be glorified as His church is built up. We pray in His name and for His sake. Amen.