WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.480 You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 00:00:06.980 --> 00:00:10.620 Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:19.940 We are going to continue in Ephesians chapter 4. We'll be in verses 7 through 14 this morning, 00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:26.460 but I'd like for us to start over in chapter 4, not because I want to clarify all the confusion 00:00:26.460 --> 00:00:31.880 that Will caused last week or anything like that, but so we can remember the context of what Paul is 00:00:31.880 --> 00:00:37.439 teaching us in chapter 4. If you'll open to Ephesians chapter 4, remember last week we discussed, 00:00:37.579 --> 00:00:42.719 Will discussed for us, this directional shift that's occurring in the book of Ephesians. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:47.620 For the first three chapters, Paul's been telling us all about the blessings of God, 00:00:48.140 --> 00:00:54.920 the blessings of God in Christ and our salvation and our unity to Him, how God saved us by grace, 00:00:54.920 --> 00:01:01.460 how God has revealed to us His love, His grace in Christ. And now Paul says, 00:01:01.800 --> 00:01:09.099 go therefore and walk as people who have been called by God. Therefore, Jesus changes everything. 00:01:09.719 --> 00:01:16.760 Walk as God's people is what Paul told us earlier in chapter 4. We are unified in the gospel. We will 00:01:16.760 --> 00:01:22.159 consider this morning how we are also diverse in the gospel, how we have diverse gifts and abilities 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:29.719 which God has given us. So let's look together at Ephesians chapter 4. We will focus on 7 through 14, 00:01:29.840 --> 00:01:37.799 but I will start for us in verse 1. Ephesians 1 chapter 4 verse 1, 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:44.079 I, therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:49.819 have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 00:01:50.399 --> 00:01:56.439 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, 00:01:56.620 --> 00:02:03.200 just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:11.400 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:18.120 each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says, when He ascended on high, 00:02:18.219 --> 00:02:24.719 He led a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men. In saying He ascended, what does it mean but that 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:31.099 He had also descended into the lower regions, the earth. He who descended is the one who also ascended 00:02:31.099 --> 00:02:37.099 far above the heavens, that He might fill all things. And He gave the apostles, the prophets, 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:42.079 the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:48.759 for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge 00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:54.159 of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 00:02:54.719 --> 00:03:00.359 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:07.040 wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Will you pray with me? 00:03:08.340 --> 00:03:15.340 Father, the grass withers, the flowers fade, but You tell us that Your Word stands forever. 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:23.520 So might we respond now, believing that truth, that You have offered us Your Word to change us, 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:31.140 to alter our understanding and our perspective. Father, might You do that even now by giving us 00:03:31.140 --> 00:03:37.800 Your Spirit and teaching us these amazing truths of the diversity that You have given us in this one 00:03:37.800 --> 00:03:45.020 unified body. Father, we thank You for Ephesians, for the ministry, the work that it has done in our 00:03:45.020 --> 00:03:51.600 hearts thus far. Might You continue to work even now. We pray these things in Your heavenly Son's name. Amen. 00:03:53.000 --> 00:04:00.700 The summer of 2006, I broke the unfortunate news to my parents that my allegiance had changed. 00:04:00.700 --> 00:04:08.879 My allegiance had changed from being a lifelong, die-hard Atlanta Braves fan to becoming a die-hard, 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:14.900 lifelong St. Louis Cardinals fan. In order to understand this transformation, 00:04:15.780 --> 00:04:19.400 I know the question, it comes from a lot of people. My parents asked the same question, 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:24.340 why? Why have you chosen the Cardinals? Why have you abandoned this team that you were raised in? 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:28.660 This is my testimony, and I use that term like loosely but intentionally. This is my 00:04:28.660 --> 00:04:35.920 testimony of becoming a St. Louis Cardinals fan. In the summer of 2005, Annalise and I moved to St. 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:41.080 Louis, and that was the final year in the old Bush Stadium. It was actually Bush Stadium 2. There's been 00:04:41.079 --> 00:04:47.419 three versions of Bush Stadium, and it was the final season in Bush Stadium 2. We went to a handful of 00:04:47.419 --> 00:04:52.199 games that summer that we moved to St. Louis, particularly at the end of the summer. And I 00:04:52.199 --> 00:04:58.379 remember the final few games that we went to, there was this fan base was really attached to 00:04:58.379 --> 00:05:05.339 their stadium. They were despairing of the situation. They were sad that this stadium was going away. 00:05:05.339 --> 00:05:12.939 It didn't matter what their background was, young, old, women, children, various socioeconomic 00:05:12.939 --> 00:05:18.179 backgrounds. They were all despairing over the fact that this stadium was going away. And I remember 00:05:18.179 --> 00:05:23.339 leaving the stadium one time and telling Annalise, I don't understand. Like, these people are weird. 00:05:23.679 --> 00:05:28.459 They're so attached to this place. They would go on in the fall and the winter after the stadium was 00:05:28.459 --> 00:05:34.239 being demolished and spend thousands of dollars buying old seats from the stadium. And they would 00:05:34.239 --> 00:05:41.259 buy signs and even the bricks that held the stadium up. It didn't make sense to me. I had grown up a 00:05:41.259 --> 00:05:48.339 Braves fan going to games at Fulton County Stadium, Turner Field, and it just didn't compute. It didn't 00:05:48.339 --> 00:05:54.459 match the culture that I was raised in as a Braves fan. Well, in 2006, Annalise and I were given 00:05:54.459 --> 00:05:59.839 tickets to the third game in the new Bush Stadium. And I remember having a perspective change. 00:06:00.259 --> 00:06:07.199 Something supernatural happened that day. And all of a sudden, it clicked. I understood. It's like the 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:12.279 reset button was hit because that stadium was just as new to me as it was to the fans who had been 00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:18.879 going to the old Bush for 30 years. And I got it. I said, Annalise, this is 45,000 family members. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:25.399 It's 45,000 family members who are gathering around this one common cause, and it was the Cardinals. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:35.420 They came from various backgrounds, young, old, rich, poor, white, black. It didn't matter. They all 00:06:35.420 --> 00:06:43.300 came together for this common cause of the Cardinals. Baseball holds a special place in the hearts of 00:06:43.300 --> 00:06:48.620 St. Louisans. They understand baseball's fundamental principles. They understand its beauty, 00:06:48.620 --> 00:06:54.540 its simplicity, but also its complexity. And for someone like me who loves and appreciates those 00:06:54.540 --> 00:07:02.100 same things, it made sense. It fit. They came together as a diverse group of people all gathering 00:07:02.100 --> 00:07:08.959 around, striving, hoping for victory for their team. And they wanted to pass this tradition on to the next 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:15.360 generation. They came together as diverse people but were bonded around this one unifying principle, 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:22.100 and it was this baseball team. The church, particularly the Ephesian church, was meant to 00:07:22.100 --> 00:07:28.920 look a lot like Bush Stadium did to me that year. That day, I saw a group of people who were united over 00:07:28.920 --> 00:07:35.860 this cause but who did so as very different people. Paul has just emphasized for us the importance of 00:07:35.860 --> 00:07:41.759 understanding the unity that we have in the gospel, but he does not want us to lose sight of this unique 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:49.039 calling that we have to display diverse gifts and abilities. God's expression of grace, Paul told us, 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:55.500 united us together in the gospel, but also God expressed his grace so that we might still be unique, 00:07:55.879 --> 00:08:04.420 diverse individuals. God's grace, Paul tells us, was given to us in specific ways, individual, unique ways 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:10.439 so that we might each help to build God's kingdom. But I think for us, this idea of diversity is 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:19.160 uncomfortable. We don't like the idea of being around people who don't act, look, seem the same as us. 00:08:19.980 --> 00:08:25.500 Diversity in the fall of man, I think, became cumbersome. I think it became burdensome. In the fall, 00:08:25.660 --> 00:08:32.539 we now struggle to embrace the differences that God created in each one of us. After the fall, 00:08:32.659 --> 00:08:38.740 it's our tendency to only want to surround ourselves with people who look and act like us. After the fall, 00:08:38.740 --> 00:08:45.000 it's our assumption that we are God's one and only gift to the world, that the world only needs us. 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:52.340 Ephesians 4 will explain to us the beauty of diversity, the beauty of the gifts and the abilities 00:08:52.340 --> 00:08:59.480 that God has given his people. Paul's call is to embrace unity, but to also not forget the differences 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:08.840 that we have as God's beautiful, colorful group of people. God's gift, Paul tells us, are gifts of glory 00:09:08.840 --> 00:09:16.800 and gifts of grace. Gifts of glory and gifts are of grace. We are told that these are gifts of glory 00:09:16.800 --> 00:09:22.180 and gifts of grace in three particular ways. So if you're taking notes, start here. These are gifts of 00:09:22.180 --> 00:09:28.440 glory and grace first in that they are an expression of God's character and his kindness. One of the 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:34.140 fundamental principles that we're taught in Genesis chapter 1 is that God created man unlike the rest of 00:09:34.140 --> 00:09:39.020 creation. How did he create them differently? He created them in his own image, right? They were his image 00:09:39.020 --> 00:09:45.080 bearers in the world. He made unique individuals. When he sewed all of us together in our mother's womb, we were 00:09:45.080 --> 00:09:52.940 created unique and individual. In the same way, Paul's telling us that in chapter 4, our giftings reflect that 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:59.720 same image of God. As we bear the image of God, though, what limits us is our own human capacity. 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:05.440 Paul knows that we cannot bear the image of everything that God is, and so what God chose to 00:10:05.440 --> 00:10:10.700 do is he chose to give some of us certain gifts and other people other gifts so that we might display 00:10:10.700 --> 00:10:17.180 together what is the width, the spectrum, the beauty, this expression of his character. 00:10:17.179 --> 00:10:23.099 We're not going to spend a lot of time discussing some of these specific gifts this morning, but 00:10:23.099 --> 00:10:28.479 consider in verse 11 where Paul talks about apostleship, about prophesying, evangelizing, 00:10:28.679 --> 00:10:34.219 shepherding, and teaching. Each of these gifts are perfectly reflected and performed by God, right? 00:10:35.199 --> 00:10:40.299 He is the great apostle in that he sent out the good news of who he was in his general and his 00:10:40.299 --> 00:10:47.599 specific revelation. He's the great prophet as he speaks his will and calls out sin in small doses 00:10:47.599 --> 00:10:54.479 through the biblical writers. He's the great evangelizer as he sent his very son to tell the 00:10:54.479 --> 00:11:01.879 world of the amazing news of his love. And he's this great, amazing, perfect teacher and shepherd as he 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:07.879 gives us the Holy Spirit to guide and change our hearts. And so contained in God is all of these gifts 00:11:07.879 --> 00:11:12.539 and all of these abilities, but what he did is as he created us, he gave each of us unique expressions 00:11:12.539 --> 00:11:19.480 of his character. In his wisdom, God chose to use his people to show the world the variety of his 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:27.159 kindness, his riches, his love, his mercy, and his grace. Diversity in our gifts and abilities then, 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:33.240 according to this passage, should be an inherent quality of who we are as a church. As God has extended 00:11:33.240 --> 00:11:41.740 salvation to us, this is how he chose to express it, by giving us diverse, varied gifts and abilities. 00:11:42.279 --> 00:11:45.919 So it's an expression of God's character, but it's also an expression of God's kindness 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:53.180 that we have these gifts. Verse 7 begins our passage by telling us that grace was given to each of us. 00:11:53.820 --> 00:12:00.159 Paul goes from describing a grace to all of us, so all together united, to now describing a grace that 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:06.439 was given to each of us. This word that's used for grace that's given to all of us is the Greek word 00:12:06.439 --> 00:12:13.659 charis. Charis is the use of the word grace to describe saving faith. It's by charis that you have 00:12:13.659 --> 00:12:21.799 been saved. It's by and in charis that you are united in one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. But now he uses 00:12:21.799 --> 00:12:30.500 a different form of the word grace. It's charismata. Charismata is the grace of service, a grace of 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:36.120 response. And so these gifts that we are given are the charismata. They're the response of what 00:12:36.120 --> 00:12:41.719 God has done in our hearts and in our lives. But why is that important, you may wonder. You're not here 00:12:41.719 --> 00:12:48.179 just to listen to me talk about Greek words, right? There has been a charismatic movement historically in 00:12:48.179 --> 00:12:53.139 the church, right? We know of the charismatic denomination. That's a group of people that we 00:12:53.139 --> 00:12:57.839 take these gifts. They're really good at these gifts. So we're going to pass those gifts on to 00:12:57.839 --> 00:13:03.399 them. The charismatic movement, the charismata movement. But what Paul's teaching us is that 00:13:03.399 --> 00:13:10.279 actually the church, the whole church, including you here at 1000 Carl T. Jones Drive, you are the 00:13:10.279 --> 00:13:18.159 charismatic movement because you are the church of Christ. The response of God's grace. This serving 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:25.639 grace lived and worked out in your life. The example of a nuclear family fits well as an 00:13:25.639 --> 00:13:31.819 illustration. To be a Townsley means a lot of different things. My sister and my brother and I 00:13:31.819 --> 00:13:38.240 all have a lot of things in common. We resemble each other. We share the same genetic code. We were raised 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:46.079 in the same fashion. There are core values that my parents taught each of us. We walk in their physical 00:13:46.080 --> 00:13:52.100 image, their emotional, and their social image. I have my father's face. I have his eyes. I have his 00:13:52.100 --> 00:13:59.360 mouth. I have his jawline. My brother has my mother's face, though. He has her smile. He has her eyes. 00:13:59.920 --> 00:14:06.440 My sister resembles both my mother and my father. My brother's a critical thinker, a sharp analyzer. 00:14:06.900 --> 00:14:12.860 He chose the right profession by becoming an attorney. I have different gifts and abilities. I think I chose the 00:14:12.860 --> 00:14:19.100 right profession. But these differences in my physical appearances and personalities and giftings, 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:24.840 they don't make me and my brother and my sister any less of siblings, right? We still carry the same 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:31.560 last name. We still have the same parents. There's this beautiful diversity that exists between us, but yet 00:14:31.560 --> 00:14:39.480 we are still unified by the love of our father and our mother. As children, my parents saw the same things 00:14:39.480 --> 00:14:44.360 that many of you have seen as you've raised your children, and that is different gifts and abilities. 00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:50.460 But you know that your goal, what you're supposed to do as a parent, is teach your children two things. 00:14:50.820 --> 00:14:56.960 One, and that is that you will never, ever, ever stop loving them. Because they belong to you, 00:14:57.019 --> 00:15:01.220 because they are your son or your daughter, you will never stop loving them. But you also want them 00:15:01.220 --> 00:15:05.720 to embrace who God's called them to be, right? You don't want to create three children that all look the 00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:10.420 same. Because you know, God creates unique individuals. That's what God has done in His 00:15:10.420 --> 00:15:16.320 church. You are still His son and His daughter. Nothing will ever change that, but He wants you to 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:23.759 be a unique individual to express these diverse gifts and abilities that He's given you. So the expression 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:30.540 of God's grace and His kindness and His character is shown in our gifts and abilities. How else are we 00:15:30.539 --> 00:15:35.980 supposed to celebrate diversity then? How else do we celebrate the gifting that God has given us? Well, 00:15:36.019 --> 00:15:41.819 secondly, we celebrate this gifting as we see that God allows us to participate in His plan of salvation. 00:15:42.379 --> 00:15:47.240 Through these gifts, we're allowed to participate in God's plan of salvation. We're told at the end of 00:15:47.240 --> 00:15:52.279 our passage, we'll get to it in just a second, some of the specific purposes of our gifting. But first, 00:15:52.360 --> 00:15:59.419 we need to understand how this passage begins. Verses 8 and 9 contain this Old Testament quote 00:15:59.419 --> 00:16:04.500 that may seem a little bit obscure to us. There's even a parenthetical statement. Let me tell you, 00:16:04.559 --> 00:16:08.740 in seminary, parenthetical statements scare you because you don't know where they came from. You're 00:16:08.740 --> 00:16:12.899 really worried. Was that like an afterthought of Paul's? Where did it come from? Don't let that scare 00:16:12.899 --> 00:16:17.139 you. I try not to let it scare me. There's this strange group of verses right at the beginning. 00:16:17.959 --> 00:16:22.919 But I don't want us to miss the essence of what Paul's communicating. What he's doing is he's 00:16:22.919 --> 00:16:29.839 communicating Psalm 68. He's quoting it here by telling us that Christ is figured as the one who 00:16:29.839 --> 00:16:35.159 defeated the enemies of God. He says he led a host of captives when he ascended to heaven. 00:16:35.959 --> 00:16:42.279 We're told that Jesus went up to heaven. He ascended into heaven to dwell with his father, and behind 00:16:42.279 --> 00:16:49.579 him was the captives that he took. That was the powers, the principalities of the air, that Jesus 00:16:49.580 --> 00:16:56.220 defeated sin. He defeated all of our enemies, and they stood in submission to him as he ascended into 00:16:56.220 --> 00:17:03.440 heaven. Likewise, verse 9 reminds us that Jesus's ministry was one of dissension. Jesus's ministry was 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:09.360 one where he went from a heavenly dwelling to earth, right? He came to earth to live the life that we 00:17:09.360 --> 00:17:18.340 couldn't live, to die and pay the penalty for our sins that we couldn't pay. He came to be our Savior. 00:17:19.579 --> 00:17:26.279 That same Jesus has established dominion, who's established dominion over heaven and earth is the 00:17:26.279 --> 00:17:31.419 one who, the passage tells us, gave us gifts. So what does that mean? That means we have the perfect 00:17:31.419 --> 00:17:36.759 gift giver, and that he allows us now to participate in this work of salvation that's already been 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:42.439 accomplished. We now get behind him. His captors have already been taken. We now get behind him and 00:17:42.440 --> 00:17:50.580 participate with him as we express our gifts and our abilities. Our gifts are given to us by one who 00:17:50.580 --> 00:17:57.220 has completed all that is necessary for God's victory over sin. Our role then is simply to participate 00:17:57.220 --> 00:18:02.820 in the work of salvation that God is doing. Jesus has already done all that is necessary 00:18:02.820 --> 00:18:10.180 so that man would be saved. We get to just be a part of it. We get to participate in what God is doing. 00:18:10.180 --> 00:18:16.380 What this means is this takes the pressure off of our gifting. You don't have to be anybody's Savior. 00:18:16.880 --> 00:18:23.500 You don't have to perfectly hone and craft this gift and ability. Just go and do it. God saved the 00:18:23.500 --> 00:18:28.500 whole world already. He saved his people. He's conquered it all. Just go and get behind him. 00:18:29.060 --> 00:18:35.500 Participate in what he's doing. He's not looking for you to be a perfect teacher, a perfect leader 00:18:35.500 --> 00:18:42.579 who can get your skill just right in order to cause some change. The result of the work of your 00:18:42.579 --> 00:18:49.579 gifting is not up to you, Paul tells us. It's up to Jesus who's already defeated death, who came to 00:18:49.579 --> 00:18:57.519 earth and lived and died for you. For my daughter's third birthday, she had a strange request. She asked 00:18:57.519 --> 00:19:05.240 for a rake. And so my aunt and uncle granted this request and showed up on her third birthday with, 00:19:05.299 --> 00:19:09.200 I didn't even know they sold these. It was a little gardening set for little kids. And it had 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:15.440 a little plastic rake. It had a plastic shovel and a little gardening hoe. And this past fall, 00:19:16.339 --> 00:19:20.819 when I was raking leaves for the first time, a cute little three-year-old girl came out with her 00:19:20.819 --> 00:19:26.319 plastic rake ready to help her daddy. She joined me out in the front yard. We captured the moment because it 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:32.039 was really cute. And she raked a small little pile and said, Daddy, I'm tired now. I want to go rest. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:36.319 And so she went inside. I think she got some lemonade and sat on the porch and watched me for a while. 00:19:37.379 --> 00:19:42.519 And it was, of course, adorable. But I watched my daughter do that, and I realized, you know what? 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:50.119 She's trusting. She actually understands the gospel. For her age, she was a really gifted little raker, 00:19:50.119 --> 00:19:55.139 but she was trusting. She knew that her dad was going to start and finish the job. 00:19:55.140 --> 00:20:00.820 She knew that I was going to complete the whole thing. She jumped in and gave what she could. It 00:20:00.820 --> 00:20:05.440 wasn't perfect. It wasn't awesome. But she created a little pile, and I moved it under the bag. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:11.100 And what I did afterwards is I told her to come back outside when she was done resting. And when I 00:20:11.100 --> 00:20:16.060 had all the bags lined up, and I said, Baby, look at what we did. Look at all of these leaves that we 00:20:16.060 --> 00:20:22.520 raked. Look at this good work. It was her father who started the work, who completed the work, 00:20:22.519 --> 00:20:28.259 but she got to participate. That's what Paul is telling us. You have a father who has defeated 00:20:28.259 --> 00:20:34.460 death. You have a father who sent a son to die for you so that your gifts might actually mean 00:20:34.460 --> 00:20:39.920 something, so that they now have power, but yet you are participating in my plan of salvation. 00:20:40.500 --> 00:20:45.700 I'm the one moving it forward. I'm the one who has conquered the world. 00:20:45.700 --> 00:20:55.580 The job has been finished, and we are now given gifts, gifts to participate in this work of helping 00:20:55.580 --> 00:21:02.680 others grow in grace. God allows us through our diverse abilities to work with Him. So we've seen 00:21:02.680 --> 00:21:07.819 how our gifts are an expression of God's character and His kindness. Our gifts are an opportunity to 00:21:07.819 --> 00:21:12.740 participate in the work of salvation, which God has done. But there's a final way that we see from our 00:21:12.740 --> 00:21:18.019 passage that our gifts and abilities are beautiful. There's another reason why we should embrace them, 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:25.640 and that is because God uses them, uses us to help others grow in maturity. He uses our gifts and 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:31.579 abilities to help others grow in maturity. Look again at verses 11 through 13. They say this, 00:21:31.579 --> 00:21:36.579 And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and the teachers to equip 00:21:36.579 --> 00:21:42.440 the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the 00:21:42.440 --> 00:21:48.259 unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of 00:21:48.259 --> 00:21:54.759 the fullness of Christ. We're told that there's this two-fold purpose then, this two-fold purpose to 00:21:54.759 --> 00:22:00.220 our gifts. The first is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, and the second is to unite the 00:22:00.220 --> 00:22:06.900 church in Christ. This whole diverse, wide-spanning gifts and abilities, the spectrum of gifts and 00:22:06.900 --> 00:22:12.420 abilities that God has given us, they boil down to two purposes, and that is to equip the saints for 00:22:12.420 --> 00:22:18.700 ministry and to unite the church to Christ. As we participate in the work of God's salvation, we're 00:22:18.700 --> 00:22:26.360 doing so to equip God's saints for the work of kingdom advancement. The use of your gifts, God will 00:22:26.360 --> 00:22:32.660 take them, and He will apply them to what He's doing in the hearts and lives of others. Paul's presenting 00:22:32.660 --> 00:22:38.320 this principle that we cannot forget. It's actually an encouragement, a motivation, and he's saying that 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:45.539 whatever service you do for others, whether it's teaching, shepherding, evangelism, hospitality, leadership, 00:22:46.119 --> 00:22:52.259 sacrificing, giving, supporting, caring, all of it goes towards the work that God is doing to pursue 00:22:52.259 --> 00:23:00.379 people. It goes towards all the work that God's doing to redeem and rescue people. Because of this, Southwood, 00:23:00.460 --> 00:23:08.299 we cannot let our gifts lie dormant and unused. God says, I have grand purposes for it. I'm going to 00:23:08.299 --> 00:23:14.200 equip the saints, and then what does He come back to? And I'm going to use them to unify you. So there's 00:23:14.200 --> 00:23:21.480 this broad span of gifts that all work towards the purpose of unity. He comes back to unity again. 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:27.379 Our gifting, the diversity of those gifts, the conquering of all the world's powers and 00:23:27.379 --> 00:23:35.259 principalities, this plan of salvation is all working towards God uniting Himself to His people again. 00:23:35.259 --> 00:23:47.339 The purpose of our gifts is to unite this fractured and scattered world back to God again, to connect God 00:23:47.339 --> 00:23:54.859 and His people together again. The end goal of these gifts is our full unity and our maturation 00:23:54.859 --> 00:24:03.440 as sons and daughters of Jesus. As it turns out, the diversity which God uses is all for the purpose of 00:24:03.440 --> 00:24:11.299 unifying us again. The ministry of God's Word, the use of our gifts enables us to be united to Christ and to grow 00:24:11.299 --> 00:24:19.180 in grace. Regular exposure of our gifts in each other's lives leads us, pushes us towards the gospel. As we're 00:24:19.180 --> 00:24:26.340 exposed to each other's gifts, our minds, our wills, our desires slowly begin to change because God promises 00:24:26.339 --> 00:24:34.439 to use them. They're used to recalibrate the way that we see the world, to recalibrate our understanding 00:24:34.439 --> 00:24:40.199 of our relationship with the Father so that we might understand His beautiful and glorious will 00:24:40.199 --> 00:24:47.079 and love expressed in Jesus. God ultimately is going to use these gifts, He says, to bring about kingdom 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:54.639 growth, to bring about kingdom glory so that you might come to know Jesus more. Look at what Brian 00:24:54.639 --> 00:25:01.179 Chappell says about our gifting. He says, our gifts are not merely material objects or personality traits, 00:25:01.659 --> 00:25:07.839 but rather they are Christ's sharing of Himself. The gifts given to you and me, we who are the body of 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:14.740 Christ, are the extension of Christ's very heart and being to His people. He is offering Himself in all 00:25:14.740 --> 00:25:20.940 manifold riches of His glory in the various ways that He is gifting the church. Southwood, your gifting, 00:25:21.380 --> 00:25:29.359 my gifting, should never be diminished because Christ died for them. Christ died so that our gifts could mean 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:35.460 something. Go and use them. Be encouraged that when you use your gifts, you are displaying the manifold wisdom, 00:25:35.960 --> 00:25:42.640 the beauty, the love of God the Father. And as we share these gifts, we are sharing in the glory of Christ, 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:50.020 the beauty of God and the riches of God's kingdom. Just a few final reminders then, final points of 00:25:50.020 --> 00:25:57.060 application for us as we close. The value of our gifts means that we must use them. Because of what 00:25:57.060 --> 00:26:04.020 Christ did, because of what Paul promises, we must use our gifts. An implied truth from this passage is 00:26:04.020 --> 00:26:10.160 that the use of our gifts is a necessary part of being a follower of Jesus. So that means you've got 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:15.900 to use the people who God has placed you around to help figure out what those gifts are. Figure out 00:26:15.900 --> 00:26:24.300 where to use them. Find places to serve and advance God's kingdom. Also, we must not despise our gifts. 00:26:25.080 --> 00:26:30.420 Jesus, as you recall, is the perfect gift giver. So that means the gift that you have been given is the 00:26:30.420 --> 00:26:36.400 perfect gift. You don't need someone else's gift. Use what God has given you. In His sovereignty, 00:26:36.400 --> 00:26:45.480 that is what He has decided. Jesus is the perfect gift giver. And also, we must not despise the gifts 00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:50.940 of others. Discontentment with what God has chosen to give us can often lead to jealousy. 00:26:51.560 --> 00:26:57.240 You may want the gifts and the abilities of the person next to you, but remember, Jesus is the perfect 00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:03.480 gift giver. He gave that person exactly what He intended to give that person. So do not despise the 00:27:03.480 --> 00:27:10.299 gifts of others. And then a big gospel reminder for us this morning, okay? Take a deep gospel breath for 00:27:10.299 --> 00:27:17.960 a second because this is a lot. We just graduated a ton of students this past week from different high 00:27:17.960 --> 00:27:23.279 schools, and listening to speeches, hearing about these students, you're reminded again and again of 00:27:23.279 --> 00:27:28.640 all the accolades and achievements that these students have, their gifts and abilities in the 00:27:28.640 --> 00:27:33.900 academic world. And as they go off to college, I think about my experience. Maybe it was like yours, 00:27:34.180 --> 00:27:38.860 where you realize really quickly that you're not the only gifted one. You're surrounded by a bunch 00:27:38.860 --> 00:27:46.000 of really gifted people. My first year especially, I remember one girl who was the salutatorian or 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:51.060 something. She's a lot smarter than I was. Had all kinds of gifts and abilities. She'd even like earned 00:27:51.060 --> 00:27:56.420 awards already in the first semester at Samford. I remember she sat in front of me in one of my classes. 00:27:56.420 --> 00:28:02.500 And I'll never forget the button that was on her backpack because I looked at it every day, 00:28:02.680 --> 00:28:10.539 and it said these words, you are more than your gift. You are more than your gift. I want you, 00:28:10.560 --> 00:28:15.420 if you're taking notes, write that really big at the bottom of your bulletin. You are more than your 00:28:15.420 --> 00:28:23.259 gift. Southwood, you need to remember that your gifts and your giftedness do not define who you are. 00:28:23.259 --> 00:28:30.140 They do not define how the Father feels about you. The way that you express them and your successes 00:28:30.140 --> 00:28:36.299 and failures in expressing them, they do not change how God feels about you. You are more than your gift. 00:28:37.420 --> 00:28:45.059 Your identity as a son or a daughter in Christ is based only on what Jesus has done for you. 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:52.200 You are more. You mean more. You have more value and worth than you could ever imagine or dream of 00:28:52.200 --> 00:28:59.840 because of something that you didn't even do. You mean everything to God the Father because of what 00:28:59.840 --> 00:29:06.740 Jesus did to save you. You are more than your gift, Southwood. Do not get hung up on yourself. 00:29:07.360 --> 00:29:12.980 Get hung up on the gospel. Remember, as you use your gifts in the world, there is something greater 00:29:12.980 --> 00:29:19.160 that defines who you are. There's something greater that gives you value, and there's someone who has 00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:26.680 conquered it all. His name is Jesus. Jesus paid it all. Our relationship with the Father is sealed in 00:29:26.680 --> 00:29:35.099 Jesus's blood so that we might go and be his people freely in the world. We are defined not by our success, 00:29:35.099 --> 00:29:46.879 but by what Jesus did for us. Let's pray. Father, this is not easy for us to wrap our minds around. We 00:29:46.879 --> 00:29:55.059 live in a world where we are defined by what we can do, by what we can offer, and you take that paradigm 00:29:55.059 --> 00:30:01.299 of the world and you turn it upside down with the gospel. You've told us that you've actually chosen to 00:30:01.299 --> 00:30:09.039 pursue and love sinful and broken people, that we have nothing to offer you, but yet you offer us 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:16.039 salvation. So, Father, might that change our hearts? Might that change our perspective so that we could 00:30:16.039 --> 00:30:22.059 go and use these gifts which you have now given us, which you have given to your redeemed and saved 00:30:22.059 --> 00:30:28.599 people? Would you give these your people clarity as they consider where their gifts may lie? Will you 00:30:28.599 --> 00:30:33.179 help them to never forget the gospel and all of it, that you have defeated death, you have conquered 00:30:33.179 --> 00:30:39.619 our greatest enemy, and you now offer us life and hope so that we might go and serve you? Thank you 00:30:39.619 --> 00:30:43.759 for these truths. Thank you for these, your people. Pray these things in your heavenly son's name. Amen. 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:51.000 For more information, visit us online at southwood.org.