Gift Giving…   Ephesians 4:7-12

     In 1658, a young Italian boy named Antonio was apprenticed to the great violin maker Nicolas Amati. Legend has it, that like his townsfolk, Antonio loved music. Cremona was a town in which musical ability was highly valued. But poor Antonio was not a very accomplished musician. When he tried singing his friends nicknamed him "squeaky voice". When he tried to learn the violin, he was all thumbs. About the only thing Antonio could do was to whittle on a block of wood with his knife.

One day Antonio sat whittling by the roadside as three of his very musical friends were busking. The air filled with their beautiful playing and singing. One gentleman stopped longer than any of the others and even asked the friends to sing a song again. After they finished he dropped a gold coin into the hand of the singer. Then he moved on down the street.

A gold coin was a princely sum for a street singer. "Who was he?" asked Antonio. "It was Amati," his friends proudly replied. "Nicolo Amati, the greatest violin maker in all of Italy!"  That planted a thought in young Antonio’s mind. The next morning he went to Nicolo Amati’s house and waited for he great master to come out. When Amati opened the door, Antonio bounded up and told him that he wanted to become a violin maker. "I cannot sing and I cannot play, but I can carve." Would Amati take him on as an apprentice?

      Amati agreed and the eleven year old went to work for him. Years later Nicolo died and Antonio took over the business. Antonio’s full name? Antonio Strativari, the greatest violin maker of all time.

   Antonio couldn’t sing, Antonio couldn’t play, but he could carve. That was his gift. 

We may not all be able to sing, we may not all be able to play violin, but like Antonio Strativari, we all have things we can do and all have a lasting impact to make. 

Our text today is found in Ephesians 4:7-12

7However, he has given each one of us a special gift according to the generosity of Christ. 8That is why the Scriptures say,

            “When he ascended to the heights,

            he led a crowd of captives

            and gave gifts to his people.”

9Notice that it says “he ascended.”

This means that Christ first came down to the lowly world in which we live. 10The same one who came down is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that his rule might fill the entire universe.

11He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ, 13until we come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature and full grown in the Lord, measuring up to the full stature of Christ.

As he continues his letter, Paul turns from the unity of the body to the giving of spiritual gifts to the church. Paul does not use the word for “gift” that we find in 1 Corinthians 12 – Charisma. That word Charisma is a word that refers to the “tools” in our spiritual tool kit. Those are the extraordinary powers granted God’s people for ministry.

     He uses the word charis…is God’s undeserved favor that Paul and all the saints had received, that works within the believer to produce that quality in the life of the believer…one aspect of Christ-likeness produced by the Holy Spirit. The emphasis here is that the giving of this grace is to “each one”  His gracious relationship to us all is a relationship also to each individual. This grace, which is in the form of the enabling and empowering of the Holy Spirit, is given to the saint “according to “the measure of the gift of Christ.”

This means that each of us gets the grace which Christ has to give us, and each gets it in the proportion which Christ, the giver, is pleased to bestow it. One has it in a larger measure and another in a smaller measure, but each of us gets it from the same One and for the same purposes. The focus of this gifting, this grace, is in regard to the receiving of and exercise of special gifts for service.  Christ determines how to give them. The Holy Spirit determines how to use that gift in the believer’s service.

But before He gave those gifts to the Church, Paul tells us, that He “led captivity captive when he ascended on high.” This took place following his ascent from the Mt. of Olives when he was surrounded by the Shekinah Glory – the clouds as he ascended through the realm of principalities and powers – the lower atmosphere which is the realm of the demons. These are the principalities and powers that Paul will speak of in chapter 6 of this letter.

   On the Day of Atonement after sacrificing the animal on the Brazen Altar,  the High Priest would pass through the court and the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat, thus completing the atonement.

   When you think of what Jesus did for us on the Cross, you should understand that following his ascension, Jesus was going into the temple in heaven, into the Holy of Holies there to complete the sacrifice for our sin. He was going to present Himself in the Holy of Holies as our High Priest, having shed His blood on the cross, completing the atonement by His presence in the Heavenly Holy of Holies….proof of the fact that He had paid for sin with His own blood (Hebrews 9:11-15,24-28).

  But to go from earth to Heaven, He had to go through the territory of Satan and his demons (Heb. 4:14) i.e., he passed through the heavens. Satan attempted to keep Jesus from the cross. He tried to keep Him in the tomb. Unsuccessful in these attempts, he now tries to keep Jesus from completing the atonement by barring His progress through the air. Colossians 2:15 speaks of this battle. These principalities and powers He triumphs over are the demons of Ephesians 6:12.

Paul tells us that Jesus “disarmed” these rulers and authorities. The words that are translated disarmed are apek duomai which means to strip off oneself for one’s own adavantage, i.e., to strip off that with which one is clothed. What took place was this…As Jesus was on His way to Heaven He was opposed by demons who attempted to keep Him from completing the atonement. He stripped them off and away from Himself as they attempted to cling to Him.

     These he “made a show of”; He led captive a host of captives. The image that Paul uses here is one that was very familiar to the people of his day. Roman generals would return to Rome in triumph following one of their victories. They would lead a parade of captives and booty through the streets of Rome in triumph…in celebration of their triumphal victory over their enemies. Having led these captives away…He gave gifts to men.

Paul identifies these gifts in 4:11.

“He himself gave, Christ Jesus Himself gave gifts to men…and the gifts are gifted men.

Note what Jesus gives to the Church:

            Apostles – The primary sense of this word is the twelve Apostles – the 12 original Apostles less Judas Iscariot and plus Matthias…and in a secondary sense to include all those who proclaim the Word of God today. Some people would include Missionaries in this group.

            Prophets – These are those who expound the Word of God, in a word preachers. While much of the church does not recognize the prophetic ministry as being  valid today, the Prophets would include those to whom God has shown some elements of the future – as He did the prophets of old.

            Evangelists – These are traveling missionaries at home or in foreign lands who have the special ability of sharing the good news and helping people make the decision to become a disciple of Jesus.  One of the best known evangelists of the last 50 years is Billy Graham.

            Pastor-teachers – these are the shepherds of the flock and teachers of God’s Word. This is the work of guarding, guiding and feeding the flock. These words are in a construction in the Greek called Granvill Sharp’s rule that indicates that they refer to one individual. One person has these two gifts. Put it another way, the one who shepherds the flock is also a teacher of the Word of God, having both gifts of shepherding – pastoring and teaching.

Notice also the purpose for the gifts given:

For the equipping of the saints

For the work of service – which is ministering work or the equipping the saints to build up the body of Christ, the Church.

     What we have in view here are gifted people that Christ gives to the Church so that people will be won to Christ, added to the Church, discipled and then equipped to reproduce themselves, to encourage believers and to help get people ready to reach out to others. So the purpose is to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry.

The following illustration is a parable of what takes place in most churches:

The Rainbow

Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel.
All claimed that they were the best.
The most important.
The most useful.
The favorite.

Green said: "Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and of hope. I was chosen for grass, trees and leaves. Without me, all animals would die. Look over the countryside and you will see that I am in the majority."

Blue interrupted: "You only think about the earth, but consider the sky and the sea. It is the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea. The sky gives space and peace and serenity. Without my peace, you would all be nothing."

Yellow chuckled: "You are all so serious. I bring laughter, gaiety, and warmth into the world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow. Every time you look at a sunflower, the whole world starts to smile. Without me there would be no fun."

Orange started next to blow her trumpet: "I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce, but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life. I carry the most important vitamins. Think of carrots, pumpkins, oranges, mangoes, and papayas. I don't hang around all the time, but when I fill the sky at sunrise or sunset, my beauty is so striking that no one gives another thought to any of you."

Red could stand it no longer he shouted out: "I am the ruler of all of you. I am blood - life's blood! I am the colour of danger and of bravery. I am willing to fight for a cause. I bring fire into the blood. Without me, the earth would be as empty as the moon. I am the colour of passion and of love, the red rose, the poinsettia and the poppy."

Purple rose up to his full height. He was very tall and spoke with great pomp: "I am the colour of royalty and power. Kings, chiefs, and bishops have always chosen me for I am the sign of authority and wisdom. People do not question me! They listen and obey."

Finally

Indigo spoke, much more quietly than all the others, but with just as much determination: "Think of me. I am the colour of silence. You hardly notice me, but without me you all become superficial. I represent thought and reflection, twilight and deep water. You need me for balance and contrast, for prayer and inner peace."

And so the colors went on boasting, each convinced of his or her own superiority. Their quarrelling became louder and louder. Suddenly there was a startling flash of bright lightening thunder rolled and boomed. Rain started to pour down relentlessly. The colors crouched down in fear, drawing close to one another for comfort.

In the midst of the clamour, rain began to speak: "You foolish colours, fighting amongst yourselves, each trying to dominate the rest. Don't you know that you were each made for a special purpose, unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to me."

Doing as they were told, the colors united and joined hands.

The rain continued: "From now on, when it rains, each of you will stretch across the sky in a great bow of color as a reminder that you can all live in peace. The Rainbow is a sign of hope for tomorrow." And so, whenever a good rain washes the world, and a Rainbow appears in the sky, let us remember to appreciate one another.

A number of years ago, I was in the same section as an older pastor who had been called to lead a newly planted church. The church was in an ideal location with new homes and families that were moving north out of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. It was a sure bet the church would grow significantly.

After he had been in the church for several years, he came under criticism because the church was not growing, people were not being saved and it was obviously his fault. He was obviously not doing his job very well.

Very quietly he began calling on people in that area. He would make three or four visits a day to people in the community at least five days a week. He continued this for the next year. He made a record of each and every call in a small spiral notebook he kept in his pocket. At the end of the year he took his notebooks to their annual meeting.

When the annual discussion of their failure to grow took place he put the notebooks on the table and explained to the congregation what he had been doing for the last year…over three hundred personal visits to families in the community.

And he said this, “What all this proves is that Shepherds don’t have sheep; sheep have sheep!

Christ has gifted us in a manner that He sees fit. The gifting is His grace shown to us. It is the Holy Spirit who determines how to use the gifts Christ has bestowed upon the Church in the best way to ensure that people are being won to Christ and discipled.

We tend to have the idea that only certain gifts are important or worthy of recognition. But all the gifts are important to the church. The key is that we function as we are gifted and that we do it together.

     The challenge for us today is to consider how Christ has gifted the Church and what we have the responsibility for doing… or being as saints, believers, members of the body of Christ. How would He equip us to do the work of ministry? What does he expect of you? What is Christ doing through the Holy Spirit to get you ready to serve Christ?

     He does not expect that you will merely be a pew sitter. He has a plan for you to serve Him. Find out what that is. Make sure that you are a real disciple, involved in ministry in some manner in the church. It is for His sake that He has gifted you and you and I have stewardship responsibilities with those gifts.