The Gifted Church

through portions of it, and we’ve
even considered this particular chapter in relatively recent
years. This chapter is fascinating in
that it speaks of gifts for the church. And if there’s one common
thing that I’ve seen over the course of my ministry is that
there are really a number of disappointing approaches or responses
to the idea of spiritual gifts. One particular concern that comes
up again and again is a pride that comes with particular gifts,
that somebody has a particular set of gifts in the church, and
so their heart swells with pride because they think that they
are qualitatively better than their brothers and sisters in
Christ in the church. It’s an unreasonable and really
an absurd conclusion because it’s Christ that gives the gift. And if Christ is the giver of
the gift and Christ is sovereign in that, then pride can hardly
be commensurate with those gifts. Well, there’s another tendency
that people have with regards to gifts is almost a sulking,
bitter, sad attitude that if they don’t have a particular
gift or a particular set of gifts, if they’re not gifted to serve
in the church or to speak in the church, to have some kind
of a upfront ministry, if you will, if they’re not given that
set of gifts, then they sink into despair, they sink into
sulking, and they’re discontent with the set of gifts that they’ve
been given, and they really are bitter towards God, but their
bitterness comes out towards others as well. And so I think
that somewhere in here that there is cause for us to routinely
ponder what God has given to us, ponder how we are to utilize
those things, and Ephesians 4 is that particular chapter. Ephesians
4 is the chapter that not only informs us of the gifts, but
it informs us how those two are to be used and even their particular
purpose. So if you would, Ephesians 4,
we’re only going to look at the first 16 verses, but that’s plenty,
and then we’re going to zero in on just a handful. Ephesians
chapter 4, beginning, if you would, in verse 1. I, therefore,
the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy
of the calling with which you have been called with all humility
and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another
in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the
bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit,
just as you were called in one hope of your calling. one Lord,
one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over
all and through all and in all. But to each one of us, grace
was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it
says, when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives
and he gave gifts to men. Now this expression, he ascended,
what does it mean except that he also had descended into the
lower parts of the earth? He who descended is himself also
he who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill
all things. And he gave some as apostles
and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors
and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of
service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we
all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature
which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, We are
no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried
about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness
and deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love,
we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even
Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together
by that which every joint supplies. According to the proper working
of each individual part causes the growth of the body for the
building up of itself in love. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ who
has given the gifts. He is sovereign in to whom he
gives them. He is sovereign in the quantity.
He is sovereign in who he equips and when and where and for how. The Apostle Paul takes an entirely
different perspective than most Christians do, who either elevate
the gift that they’ve been given and elevate their attitude and
become arrogant even in that which Christ has given them.
Or they devalue that gift and look about and see others with
more grand gifts in their own perspective. more plentiful gifts and they become critical critical
of others and even critical of God himself and his sovereignty. These gifts we have to remember
are given by the Lord Jesus Christ. They’re bestowed for use in what
is in God’s eyes an estimation the greatest institution on the
face of the earth. It’s the local church. Perhaps
the simplest definition of the church would be a gathering of
those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. A gathering of
Christians who regularly and formally, for the purpose of
glorifying God, edifying each other, proclaiming Christ, where
they can gather and hear the gifts that God has given. in these particular local churches,
believers who have been given spiritual gifts to be used for
God’s glory in the church and in the world. Here in the church,
these believers have the opportunity to serve. What a glorious privilege
we have. May I gently remind that when
they serve, They don’t serve a building. They don’t serve
a body of believers. Ultimately, they serve their
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Go back to verse one, where just
briefly, I just want to zip through these early verses up through
verse 10, just by way of reminder, really. And then I want to focus
in on verses 11 through 13 this morning. And you’ll know why
as soon as you look at those verses. The church, as God lays
it out to us here in this passage, is a gathering of believers. They are believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ. They’re gathered for one purpose.
And what a powerful motivation verses four through six are for
us as Christians. What a powerful motivation to
walk in Christ, to walk as Christ would have us to walk. From beginning
to end, any one of those things mentioned in verses four through
six, carefully considered, would be more than an adequate incentive
to draw upon God’s grace and to live as he would have us to
live. To live as Christ would have
us to walk in this world unified in service to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Consider each one. There is one
body. We tend to function like we’re
independent spirits, each of us. But God says that the church
is one body. We are to be unified. There is
one spirit. There aren’t multiple holy spirits. There aren’t contradictory spirits. There aren’t multiple hopes,
there aren’t multiple lords, there’s one faith, there’s one
baptism, there’s one God and father of all. All of those individually
and collectively provide us the motivation to do what Paul admonished
us to do, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling. worthy
of the calling of Christ. Well, the church is a gathering
of believers that are not only living to glorify their common
Lord, but they are gifted. They are gifted, each one of
them, to serve in the body of Christ. One of the first things
that we do in our membership application, we ask, how will
you be serving? How do you believe the Lord has
gifted you to serve in our midst? By what means will you help this
local church? Every single believer that has
ever given their life to Christ is endowed with a measure of
gifts. It may be one very great gift,
it may be several very small gifts, but every believer is
gifted to serve. Look at verse 7. To each one
of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. And if you look at it, it’s a
striking transition that Paul makes here. Because the thought
that he articulates in the first six verses is that of unity,
oneness, one body, one spirit, one Lord, one baptism. But the
thought that he articulates here in verse seven is that of individuality or diversity. They’re not incompatible, these
ideas. There is one Lord, there is one baptism, there is one
God. We are to be unified, and yet
we are diverse in our giftedness. He says to each one of us, It’s
general, but it’s comprehensive. He doesn’t say exactly how we’re
gifted, but he does say that every single believer is given
a gift package. It’s all encompassing. Every
single believer in Christ is granted a gift package, sometimes
one gift, sometimes many. But in God’s distribution of
gifts, no Christian is ever overlooked. No one comes away empty handed.
Everyone by God’s grace is made useful to God’s kingdom. Isn’t
that a glorious thought? Look at the passage again. Verse
70. Each one of us. Grace was given grace always. you know this, always points
to the undeserved nature of the gift. That’s what a gift is. It’s not payday. It’s not remuneration
for your noble faith. It’s a gift from God, completely
unearned. It’s a grace gift. It’s a spiritual,
if you will, gift package that is entirely the result of God’s
grace and has nothing to do with you, except you’re the recipient
of it. The spiritual gift is not a natural
skill or talent. It’s a special grace gift. Look at verse seven again. Not
only is it to each one of us has this grace been given, but
it’s according to the measure of Christ’s gift. In other words,
it’s absolutely sovereignly distributed. Christ decides who gets what
gift. Christ decides who gets how many
gifts. Christ, for his own purposes,
is the one who bestows these gifts. And finally, just to round
out our refreshing of this passage, look at verses 8 through 10. It’s a quote of Psalm 68, 18,
and it goes like this, therefore it says, when he ascended on
high, he led captive a host of captives, and he gave gifts to
men. Now this expression, he ascended,
what does it mean that he also descended into the lower part
of the earth? He who descended is himself also
who ascended far above all the things, all the heavens that
he might fill all things. In the psalm, you might recall
that the captives there in the psalm are the enemies of Israel
who were made to parade behind the armies as they marched back
into the city. The scene is of a conquering
king. In Psalm 68, the verse attributes this scene here to
God Almighty. But quoted here in Ephesians,
as Paul does and Paul applies it by the authority of the Holy
Spirit, it attributes the scene here to a conquering savior. The significant difference here
is that Psalm 68 suggests that the king receives the gifts. But here in Ephesians, Christ
is the one distributing the gifts. The whole point of verses 8 through
10 is to identify the king as the one who gives the gifts.
The king is the sovereign. The king is the one who gets
to decide. The king is the one who is in
absolute control of who receives what gifts in the church. And so, Paul, having laid the
groundwork of this very general truth that everybody in the church
will receive a gift, now turns to a very special portion of
this distribution. And it’s the church in its leadership,
if you look at verses 11 and 12 particularly, 11 and 12 say
he gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists,
some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints
for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.
Let’s look for just a few moments this morning at God’s gracious
action. God’s gracious action. Look at verse 11. This is a complete
sentence. And he gave. That is the simple
sentence. And the first thing that I would
call your attention to here may seem exceedingly obvious, but
it’s worth pausing and noting the simple truth He gave. God is a giving God. We’ve seen
it in James. We see it at the end of Romans
11. God is the one who gives all things, and if God does not
give, we do not receive. He gave. And I acknowledge that
that is a simple truth, but it’s worth noting. It’s worth pausing. We should pause and acknowledge
this very emphatic statement. He gave. It is He, it is God that gave
and no other. It is almighty God, the sovereign
God as seen in the Lord Jesus Christ, the God of love, the
giving God who gave. The stress is laid on the action
of Christ in his sovereignty as the head of the church in
concert with the testimony of the entire rest of scripture.
Ephesians 4, 7, which verse we just read, to
each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s
gift. Jesus Christ is the sovereign.
Jesus Christ is the giver of the gifts, but he did give. He gave. He gave. Not only Ephesians 4, 7, but
1 Corinthians 12, 28. God has appointed in the church,
first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, miracles, gifts
of healings, helps, administrations, various tongues. Jesus Christ
is the one who gave. Jesus Christ is the one who appointed. Paul, speaking to the elders
that he had called to himself there on the shore of Miletus, He spoke
to his elders and said, the Holy Spirit has made you overseers
to shepherd the church of God. Ministry, leadership in the church,
according to what Paul says here, is absolutely of divine appointment. It’s he that gives. It’s Jesus
Christ that gave the model for church ministry in a plurality
of elders and it’s he that gives the individual elders. They are
a gift of God’s hand. It’s the Holy Spirit ultimately
who selects and gifts and calls overseers in the church. We are
called in our day. now 2,000 years into Christ’s
church, we are called to perpetuate eldership. And many churches
have a process, all churches have a process, many churches
have a very curious process, but the process according to
Scripture is very simple. Scripture calls us to recognize
who these people are, examine them, and ordain them. Now this whole word ordination
isn’t even a biblical word and yet we have an entire industry
in many churches built up around this idea. I love the way one
described it so simply. Ordination is the process of
godly church leaders affirming the call. The call equipping
and maturity of new leaders. The key word there is affirming.
The church doesn’t bestow anything. The church doesn’t make anybody. The church doesn’t appoint anyone
to service. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job
through the provision of the Lord Jesus Christ in gifting
these individuals to serve. The local church, the elders,
should take a lead role in appointing new leaders, in recognizing what
God has done. And while the church body is
actively involved in that process, even as we’ve discussed in weeks
past, ultimately it’s the Holy Spirit who appoints a man to
ministry. It’s God who ordains. The church
and the elders merely recognize and acknowledge what God has
already worked into a particular individual. Another question
immediately arises, what exactly did God give? Did he merely provide
the structure, a plurality of elders to lead the church? Did he merely give these various
offices that Paul will go on to outline apostles, prophets,
evangelists, pastors, teachers. Did he leave it up to us to fill
in the blanks? To appoint those who we see fit? Or is he the one who actually
gives? I would suggest it’s the latter.
Not only did God provide the structure, the Lord Jesus Christ
provided the offices, but he also provided the men to fill
those particular offices. Pastors don’t appoint themselves.
Elders don’t appoint themselves. Shepherds don’t appoint themselves. I love the way John Calvin lays
this out, and it’s lengthy, but bear with me. The government
of the church is, first of all, to be declared no human contrivance. Did you hear what Calvin says
very simply? Look, I didn’t come up with this,
he says. He excuses himself from the blame.
I didn’t come up with this plan. The government of the church
is first of all declared to be no human contrivance, but a most
sacred ordinance of Christ. This is Christ’s model. The apostles
did not appoint themselves, but were chosen by Christ. At the
present day, true pastors do not rashly thrust themselves
forward by their own judgment, but are raised up by the Lord.
The government of the church is not a contrivance of men,
but an appointment made by the son of God. As his own unalterable
law, it demands our assent. They who reject or despise this
ministry offer insult and rebellion to Christ, its author. It is he himself who gave them. If he does not raise them up,
there will be none. Calvin’s point there is that
not only did Christ give the structure, Christ fills the gaps,
Christ provides the needs. It is a gift of Christ to have
leaders in the church. And we might as well talk about
this now. We have never drifted one bit
from the model of a plurality of godly leaders. That is the
ideal. That is the biblical model. That
is exactly what Christ said in order. But Christ’s word also stipulates
that you can’t grade on a curve. You can’t have a quota. You can’t just push men into
that office only in order to provide a plurality. When you
do, bad things happen. And so we’ve waited, and we’ve
waited a long time, and we’ve waited patiently. I noted to
one that we have been without a plurality for a longer period
in our 21 years than we’ve actually enjoyed a plurality. That’s God’s providence. We have
not eschewed that. We have not wished for that. We have yielded to that. We have
yielded to God’s provision for a plurality for God to provide
certain chosen equipped men to the service of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the function of a plurality. Every single believer in the
church is gifted, and from time to time, men are gifted to serve
in the realm of leadership, most notably the eldership, and as
deacons in the church, that is part of the gift package of Jesus
Christ himself. Look at the verse. Look at verse 11. We’ve looked
at God’s gracious action that God gave. He gave. Jesus Christ
gave. He’s a giving God. But look at the specifics of
God’s gracious action. He gave some as apostles, some
as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors or shepherds
and teachers. Let’s ponder this list just briefly. The apostles were the immediate
messengers sent out by the Lord Jesus Christ. Their job, their
mission was to go and declare Christ, to be a witness of Christ,
to bear his miracles, to preach his gospel, to tell of his resurrection. That was the ministry of the
apostles. And it wasn’t just the 12 as
we knew them, but men like Barnabas and Paul and James and Silvanus. Christian men who had seen the
risen Christ and were called by God to authenticate his gospel
with signs in their preaching of the gospel. They were commissioned by Christ.
They were witnesses to the resurrection. They were placed forth by special
inspiration with supreme authority, preachers of the gospel. But
there’s another group that Paul points to here, some as prophets.
These would be those occasional men who were sent by Christ to
bring a special particular message to his people. They were divinely
inspired. They spoke under the immediate
influence of the Holy Spirit. And I would place such men as
John the Baptist and even to a degree, Paul and Peter and
Stephen, for sure. men who served God in the capacity
of proclaiming his word as he stipulated and dictated. Related
to that are evangelists. Next in the list, and I would
say that it’s best to think of this category as itinerant preachers. They went from town to town preaching
Christ. They had really no other duty,
no other calling. than to preach Christ from town
to town, place to place, city to city. They weren’t tied to
any one locale like shepherds were, but they would move by
the Holy Spirit’s guidance for the salvation of souls. Wherever
they felt led by the Spirit, they wouldn’t get bogged down
in any one location. They would go about from place
to place preaching Christ. And then he comes to this what
I would see one office with a couple of different facets to it. Some
as pastors and teachers. He gave. He gave some as apostles. He gave some as prophets. He
gave some as evangelists. And he gave some as pastors and
teachers. This Word here for pastors literally
is shepherds. You know this if you’ve known
me for Five minutes, you know my opinion on this This is the
only place in all of scripture that it’s translated pastors
Typically speaking anywhere that this word is used as a title
It’s used to speak of the lord. Jesus christ. He is the great
shepherd. He is the good shepherd It’s
applied to the Lord Jesus Christ as the great shepherd of the
flock over and over again in the Gospels. The more general
idea, however, of shepherding in a spiritual sense, not talking
about literal shepherds of sheep, but spiritual shepherds, Paul
applies to the Christian ministry. So the word is given to those
who preach the gospel in a particular local place, and they shepherd
the flock, they oversee the flock in the care of souls. And in
so doing, they are to exercise with great care and watchfulness
over the people committed to them, their flock. As Paul speaks
of it in Acts chapter 20. And yet, at least in the New
American Standard, the only place where this is rendered pastor
is the place in front of us. And that’s why I prefer to join
these two terms as one, pastors or shepherds, and I think that’s
a better translation, shepherds and teachers. That’s their role. They are shepherds and teachers.
What better way is a shepherd going to care for his flock than
to teach them, to patiently pull them aside and to instruct them
in the things of scripture, to instruct them by God’s word?
One faithful shepherd said it this way, pastors and teachers
denote one office. The apostle does not say some
pastors and some teachers. See, teaching is the natural
function of a shepherd. As he comes alongside his flock
in the midst of some difficulty or some sinful tendency, he comes
alongside and patiently teaches. faithfully pointing them back
to the word. It’s a twofold element to this
office, shepherding and teaching. Sometimes you feed with the pure
milk of the word and sometimes you feed with solid meat. But it’s the shepherding of the
flock. Nevertheless, let’s look at the two aspects of this individually. First of all, pastors, or as
I’m already on record, shepherds. The word means and should be
translated, even here, shepherd. The word shepherd, as I said
earlier, is used in the New Testament to refer to Jesus Christ himself,
Matthew 2.6. There shall come forth a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel. It’s used of Christ. In fact,
Christ also used it to restore Peter to ministry. What a powerful
moment this was on the shore there by the lake as Peter had
gone wayward and had gone back to fishing and Jesus called him
to himself and said, shepherd my sheep. You’re an under shepherd,
but you are to shepherd my sheep. My sheep Peter evidently listened
well and he did that lesson of Christ Because in his first epistle
when he speaks to the church in first Peter 5 verse 2 He admonishes
his fellow elders to shepherd the flock of God shepherd the
flock of God That’s what a shepherd does That’s
what a pastor is. And I’m fine if we use that word
as long as we understand the function. A pastor shepherds. That’s his function in the church. The image of the shepherd should
not be lost here. It’s a regular illustration of
the scriptures of a spiritual leader. built upon God himself
as the great shepherd and Christ. Psalm 23, a flock is committed
to his care, tending, feeding by means of the word, caring,
loving. This is exactly what was in Paul’s
mind as he called the Ephesian elders to himself and gave them
this solemn admonition. Acts 20 verse 28. Take a moment
and turn there, would you? We’ll spend a few minutes here.
Acts 20, we’ll start in verse 28. Remember, for all Paul knows,
he may never see these people again. This is a place where
Paul had spent at least four years ministering side by side,
planting churches, building churches, strengthening churches, equipping
churches. And now he’s saying farewell.
He’s saying farewell to these whom he had recognized in it
as appointed by God. These elders, these shepherds
of the churches of Ephesus. This is a solemn moment. Look
at verse 28. Be on guard for yourselves and
for all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you
overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with
his own blood. The church is everything to God. The church is everything to Christ. He bought it with his own blood,
and he’s talking about people. And he says, the most important
thing that you can do is not write a book. The most important
thing that you can do is not have some kind of a hobby. The
most important thing that you can ever do is to shepherd the
church of God. It’s God’s church. And he admonishes these men to
shepherd the church with a constant mindfulness that it is the institution
nearest the heart of Almighty God for which Jesus Christ himself
died, the most glorious, the most precious, the most graced
institution on all the face of the earth. It is the church of
the living God. And it should be in perpetual
view of that truth that elders exercise a watch care, a loving
oversight, a faithful shepherding of God’s flock. Peter, as I already indicated,
said it the same, almost the same thing in 1 Peter 5 to shepherd
the flock of God among you. It’s unfortunate that one of
the older translations has it here, feed the sheep. Because that really limits it.
That really limits it to pastors and those who teach Sunday school.
Pastors and those who teach Sunday school and those who have the
ability to disciple. But shepherding is so much more
than that. Sometimes it’s just coming alongside a brother and
praying or weeping with them in their moment of great grief. Shepherd the flock of God and
I love the way Peter says it here shepherd the flock of God
among you When a man is appointed to the eldership he is not appointed
as an elder for any place that he might ever go He’s appointed
in a local he’s recognized on a local church level and He’s
not a regional shepherd. He’s not a national shepherd. He’s not a global shepherd. His jurisdiction, his ministry
is in a single, solitary place. It’s the local church. Shepherd
the local flock among you. And as such, that shepherd takes
the role much like, I mean, it’s a beautiful image. Much like
that of a, a natural shepherd of sheep, to seek out the lost,
to gather those who are scattered afar, to care for, to watch over,
to guard against thieves, to protect them against robbers
and beasts, and to nourish them, feeding, leading, caring, praying,
judging doctrinal matters, counseling. But look at Acts 20 once again,
because I would say that this is one of the most important
and, by the way, most overlooked duties of an elder. And it’s
overlooked, I would even say that it’s overlooked because
people don’t like this part of what elders do. They don’t like
elders looking at the books that are on their shelf. They don’t
like elders asking questions about where they’ve been. They
don’t like elders scrutinizing their conversation when it is manifestly ungodly. Look at Acts 20 very carefully. Not only will there be troublemakers,
the troublemakers, false teachers, they will be in the church. This is the role of an elder.
I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among
you, not sparing the flock and from your own selves, men will
arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after
them. It’s not enough that that garbage
is out there, but it comes into the church. These savage wolves, they won’t
stop until they gain a following. That is the whole point. They
will not spare the flock. They’re after the flock. They will press and ply until
they gain a foothold, until, as Paul says, they draw away
disciples after themselves. And so the elder, the pastor,
the shepherd has to be on duty. He has to be on watch. The wolves here represent, as
they always do in the New Testament, that rabble of false teachers,
false prophets, those spiritual troublemakers who seek only to
devour the unsuspecting, naive, We know that firsthand here in
this church. There have always been those
that come in. It’s interesting. We didn’t have this so much.
I don’t know that I’ll ever write this book, but I’ve often quipped that if
I were to ever write a book about planting a church, one of the
first chapters in that book would be when you plant a church, you
open your doors to every disgruntled church goer in the whole city
and they come and they bring all their little criticisms and
all their little things and they want to be in on the ground floor
of this deal because they want to plant a church according to
their liking. And we’ve had them. And it was okay, everything was
quiet and fine until we set forth our distinctives. What do we
believe? What do we hold to? Eldership. Leadership by a plurality of
godly elders, challenged over and over again. Believer’s baptism,
challenged over and over again. Doctrines of grace, challenged
over and over again. Some people have been odd. Some
people have been quirky about what they believe. Some people
are easily spotted and very graciously subdued. Others are much more
troublesome, harder to detect, impossible to get rid of, and still others that are exceedingly
evil. In the course of these 21 years,
we have met several at the door and said, you need to keep looking
because you’re not coming in here. That’s the role of an elder. That’s the role of a shepherd. Dear Puritan Pastor John Brown
said this. It is not enough for ministers
to preach. Yea, sacredly and diligently,
but they must besides take a particular oversight of their flock and
looking unto the conversation and behavior and applying themselves
accordingly in admonition, exhortation and comfort. If a shepherd know of any of
his people who is riotous or profane, he must rebuke them.
If any is out of the way, admonish them. He must hearten them that
be in a good course to go on still and must comfort them that
languish under their sins, temptations, and fears. In a word, deal with
everyone as the cause requires. That’s what a shepherd is. That’s
what a shepherd does. He looks at every single individual
and he’s not willing to leave any behind. And so there are those who, after
the apostles and prophets had laid their groundwork and the
evangelists had preached the gospel, there are those that
are left behind to do the perpetual work of ministry in the church,
pastors and teachers. And as I’ve suggested to you,
these are describing one and the same man. Those who labor
in the word to nourish the sheep of their local flock. Theirs is not a national ministry.
And we ought to not make two offices out of these two things,
pastors and teachers. Teachers indicate indicates the
other element of this gift that’s needed for the sustenance and
the progress of the local church. See, it’s not enough just to
observe and to note when there’s trouble. As John Brown said,
we have to come alongside them and nourish, teach. This is the
nourishing function of a shepherd. We have to know and have the
ability to teach. That’s one of the requirements
of the eldership. In fact, that’s really the only
qualification that sets an elder off from a deacon. Elders have
both gifts. But it’s only reasonable to understand
that they process or they possess these gifts in various measures. So all elders will shepherd. Some will teach by way of discipleship. Some will teach by way of a classroom
setting. Some will teach by way of counseling. Some will teach from the pulpit.
There are a variety of applications of these gifts, but they all
shepherd. They shepherd according to their God-given giftedness. Well, we’ve looked at God’s gracious
action and the specifics of God’s gracious action and what he’s
provided. I want to just close with this. Why did the Lord Jesus
Christ give all these gifts to his people, to his church, gathered
under that spiritual umbrella called the church? look at the
purposes given, stated so clearly in verse 12, for the equipping
of the saints for the work of service to the building up of
the body of Christ. The whole reason that he gave,
the whole reason that God gave apostles, the whole reason that
God gave prophets, the whole reason that God gave evangelists,
the whole reason that God gave shepherds and teachers. is to
equip the saints. It’s for you. It’s to equip the
saints for the work of service. This word equipping was used
to describe the furnishing of a house, to make perfect or complete.
The shepherds of a flock, a God-given flock, are to take great pains
in equipping the house by pouring into the saints and equipping
them for the work of service. What a glorious privilege we
have to be part of the ministry that Christ conceived to be part
of the church for which he died to have gifts that he bestowed
for the purpose of glorifying Him and the exercise and service
of His people. As we go before the throne of
grace, let’s be mindful. We’re here this week, this afternoon,
to examine one brother, but I would encourage you to examine your
own heart. We’re gonna examine one brother as to his calling
and giftedness, But I would encourage you to examine your own. To what
has God called you? How equipped are you for the
work of service? How participatory are you in
the building up of the body of Christ? What a great examination point
for each one of us. Let’s pray. Our merciful King,
We humble ourselves before you and we thank you for who you
are and how incredibly generously you have provided the church.
We think of the apostles, the sent ones, the one who first
went out and preached Christ as they did miraculous works
that testified of the validity of their message. We thank Father
of those prophets, those saints that were used by you throughout
the history of your church to proclaim your word exactly as
you verbalized it. Lord God, we thank you for those
loving evangelists who love souls enough to tell them about Christ,
that are willing to go anywhere and everywhere to preach him,
to make him known. And Lord, we thank you for the
gift that you’ve given for the local church. Once those churches
are established, they need to be shepherded. They need to be
cared for. They need to be nourished and
fed. They need to be taught. Lord,
we thank you for the gifts that you’ve given to your church.
We pray each one of us. that we would examine our hearts,
that if we are in Christ, you have given us gifts to be used
for this local church. Lord, we pray that you would
examine us and show us how we might better serve our Savior. It’s in his name that we pray,
amen.