Ephesians 4: 7 – 13 NLT
“However, he has given each one of us a special gift through the generosity of Christ. 8 That is why the Scriptures say,
“When he ascended to the heights,
he led a crowd of captives
and gave gifts to his people.”
9 Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world. 10 And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.
11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”
Gifts have been given to the church, the body of Christ. Yes – that means you have been given a gift!
Over the next couple of days, we’re going to look at the gifts God has given us by also reading verses in Romans and 1 Corinthians. It’s so important for us to realize that God has a plan for our lives to honour him and to help each other. Church is not just weekly attendance at a service. As believers, we are all part of a body at our local church, and part of the world-wide church. So God gives each of us gifts to keep that body functioning well.
You might find verses 8 to 10 rather strange. Paul is quoting from Psalm 68, a psalm that David wrote praising God for how mighty he is, and recounting many events in Israel’s history that show God’s strength and care. In the New Testament, we know that Christ’s time on earth also showed God’s might and care for us. Those verses tell us how Christ came (descended) to earth and then ascended to the “heights” (heaven).
It is this incredibly powerful Christ who is giving us gifts so that we can continue to build up the church on earth – “to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”
So what are the gifts that are talked about in these verses? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Bible commentators that I read said that the gift of being an apostle is now past. That was a gift to the beginning church as the disciples and Paul had the gift of healing, even raising people from the dead. They also had incredible bravery and speaking ability as they took the message (without a Bible to back them up) all around the world of that time. Their memories of what Jesus said and did were accurate as the New Testament began to be written.
Prophecy is a gift that tends to belong to those mentioned in the Bible. Old Testament and New Testament writers told about what would happen down through history and the future to come. Sometimes today, you might meet a person who says God has given them the gift of prophecy. The Bible has told us a lot about the future until Christ comes again – and even about our lives someday in heaven. If a person says God is leading him/her in some way, or that God wants something changed in a person’s life or the church, I listen. Pastors, elders, and people pray asking God for direction in their lives, in their churches, and God answers those prayers. To be able to actually foretell the future, seems to be a gift that was in Bible times.
That leaves evangelists, pastors and teachers. You might be saying that certainly isn’t me.
What is an evangelist? It’s someone who tells others about Jesus. It doesn’t mean you are like Billy Graham, a person who spoke to thousands. You may have the gift of just talking to friends and family about faith in Jesus. You discover you can find just the right words to share your faith with someone at work or a neighbour. The rest of us shouldn’t decide that we don’t have that gift and just keep our mouths closed. I can remember times when an opportunity to speak about Jesus popped up, but I was too scared to say anything. I regret those times. We can all learn to be aware of the opportunity to speak, pray and then talk.
A pastor or teacher is someone who can shepherd, oversee, train, coach, lead others. That is definitely a gift that most pastors of churches have. But it is also a gift for Sunday School teachers, youth leaders and volunteers, Bible study leaders – even the leaders of groups like Divorce Care, Grief Share, Mothers of Preschoolers, etc. You’ve been given that gift of loving to help people learn, grow and develop in some way.
Start thinking about what your gift might be. We’ll look at other verses in the New Testament in the next couple of days that talk about our gifts. It’s exciting to understand what God wants to do in our churches, in ourselves.
Our song for today is I Will Follow by Chris Tomlin.