The MESSAGE for July 9, 2023

Gifts and Grace

Ephesians 4:7-17+

Live Broadcast

Greater Concord Missionary Baptist Church

 

Gifts without grace can be harsh, abrasive, and presumptuous in their effort on others; and tend to create egotism and self-complacency in ourselves. Gifts without grace produce pride, friction, and carnality. The more gifts we have, the more grace we need. All the gifts are given so that we can manifest to the world and to one another the marvelous traits and abilities of the Lord Jesus. (Ephesians 4:7) “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” Once we understand that God’s free and undeserved favor has given us any gifts we have, we will be more diligent in developing and using those gifts, and more humble in enjoying them.

 

The gifts bestowed by the Lord on His church came at Pentecost in fulfillment of the promise and Psalm 68:18. The King was victorious from the enemies spoils and gave bounties to his men. We see the parallel. Jesus triumphed in battle over sin and Satan. Then Jesus took his place on high and “gave gifts unto men.” He bestowed liberal, magnificent gifts on His own. The gifts assigned 4:11-13 “And He gave some, apostles, and some, prophets, and some, teachers, and some, evangelists.” The gifts listed here are different from most of those mentioned in I Corinthians 12. There, for the most part, the gifts are bestowed on believers. Here, gifted believers are bestowed on the Church.

 

In I Corinthians the gifts are viewed primarily from the standpoint of the local church. In Ephesians they are viewed from the standpoint of The Universal Church, the whole body. The five gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11 can be summarized in this way:

 

1. Those gifted to deal with situations

a. Those equipped to guide the infant Church in ways it ought to go (Apostles)

b. Those equipped to guard the infant Church in what it ought to know (Prophets)

2. Those gifted to deal with sinners (Evangelists)

3. Those gifted to deal with Saints

a. Those gifted to tend the flock of God (Pastors)

b. Those called to teach the flock of God (Teachers)

 

The gifts of the Apostles and prophets were foundational and unique to the early church. Primarily, apostles were men who had seen the Lord, who had been with Him from the beginning, who were eyewitness of His resurrection. They were given the task of imparting New Testament truth to the church by direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The prophets spoke by direct illumination of the Holy Spirit. Their task was to disseminate New Testament truth before the completion and distribution of the New Testament. The spirit of God empowered the prophet to impart truth to the local church. Evangelists are men who are gifted by the Spirit of God to win souls, is the church’s salesman, so to speak.

 

All believers can be soul winners, but not all believers can be evangelists. When the evangelists come to town, sinners turn to Christ in significant numbers. If the person has the gift of the evangelist, something happens when he preaches. People come to Christ. Nobody can produce fruit like the evangelist. A person either has or does not have the gift of the evangelist.

 

Well, I need to say a word about the pastor. He is simply a shepherd, as the name of the gift implies. He loves the Lord’s people and has a heart for the flock. He cares for the weak, the sick, and those who are going astray. He councils the young, cares for the needy, and comforts the bereaved. He does these tasks supremely well because he has shepherds heart and the pastoral gift.

 

The teacher expounds the Bible’s great truths: it’s sublime doctrines; it’s underlying principles; and the broad scope of its history, theology, purpose, and impact. He compares spiritual things with spiritual, I Corinthians 2:13, shows God’s ways with men down through the ages, and communicates God’s stirring plans for the future. The teacher develops consistent hermeneutic and discerns a unifying principle broad enough to explain all of God’s revealed ways; he teaches others how to divide the word of truth, II Timothy 2:15, and opens their eyes to the wonders of the Word of God.

 

The church has a need, the purpose is “for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” God brought into being, a perfect vehicle through which the Incarnate Word of God could fully express God’s thoughts, likeness, ways to men. The universal gifts that God has given to the church are intended to build up the church locally and universally. Till we all come into the unity of the faith, of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The Holy Spirit wants us to grow up until we display, here on Earth, something of Christ’s stature and maturity. “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.”

 

Now, I must close this message. God did not want this Ethiopian proselyte to return to Ethiopa without Jesus. So, the angel of the Lord told Phillip the Evangelist to go toward the South; and he arose and went. There in the desert he met the Ethiopian eunuch reading Isaiah. Phillip heard him and asked him did he understand what he was reading? He said, how can I except some man show me? Isaiah, the 53rd chapter tells about Calvary. The text tells of the Messiah silent before His shearer. We see Jesus abused by the Sanhedrin, ridiculed by Herod, scourged by Pilot, scoffed at by the soldiers; we see him stripped, seemingly as helpless in their hands as a sheep in the hands of its shearer. All the dignity that comes from dress was stripped away. How Phillip must have seized upon the silence of Jesus!

 

Yonder in the glory were twelve legions of angels, straining over the battlements of heaven with drawn swords, waiting for a word. One word, and they would have flashed down the skyways of the stars, burst upon our planet, stamped flat the high hills of Judaea, turned to blood the waters of seven seas, and ushered in Armageddon then and there. But the word never came. He was silent before his shearer. O Praise His Holy Name. The Ethiopian had found in Jesus what he had not found in Jerusalem. At last his search was over!

 

Pastor, Rev. Dr. Cullian W. Hill