Today we have the privilege of working through some of the most complicated verses in the entire book of Ephesians. Before we dive in though, we should remind ourselves of last time's verses. Are we feeling a little rusty, when it comes to Ephesians? Paul, up to this point in the letter, has talked about God's once mysterious plan to bring together all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ, creating one family who will live in peace with God, and with each other.
And the catch to that, we saw last time, was that we have a responsibility in this. God has done his part, in creating one family, one body, in Christ. And our part, is to walk worthily of this calling, by getting along with each other, in love. Let's read Ephesians 4:1-6:
(1) And so then, I encourage you-- I, the prisoner in the Lord -- worthily to walk of the calling with which you were called,
(2) with all humility and meekness/gentleness,
with steadfastness/patience,
putting up with one another in love,
(3) rushing to protect the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,
(4) one body and one Spirit,
just as you also were called with one hope of your calling,
(5) one Lord,
one faith,
one baptism,
(6) one God and Father of all-- The One over/in charge of all, and through all and in all.
So the focus of these verses is on the essential oneness to everything God is, and to everything that God is doing. God is making one single family. One single church. And what does it mean to walk worthily of our calling? It means maintaining that oneness with each other. When we fail at that, and find ourselves bickering, or upset, or hurt, we rush to restore the peace. When things get heated at a church meeting, we stop, and we ask for God's help, and we rush to keep the peace.
So, we are one body, one family. But that doesn't mean that we are all exactly the same, or that we all do the same thing. We all have this shared calling to keep, and protect, the peace. But there is also something unique to each of us. We will see today that each us has a unique calling on our lives, a special ministry that God has given us, to build up the church.
Let's start by reading Ephesians 4:7:
(7) Now, to each one of us was given this grace/ministry, in accordance with the measure of Christ's gift.
The easiest way to hear this rightly, is to turn back to Ephesians 3:8. As I read, listen for this word "grace":
To me, to the least of the least of all the holy ones-- this grace (?????)was given:
to proclaim the good news to the nations of the fathomless riches of Christ,
and to enlighten everyone as to what is the stewardship of the mystery hidden from the ages by God-- by the One who created all things--
In Ephesians 3:8, Paul is describing the "grace" that was given to him-- whether that was by Jesus, or the Father, Paul doesn't here say. And what was this grace, this act of kindness and favor, that was given to him? Paul was given the privilege of telling the good news about Jesus to the Gentiles, and to enlighten churches about God's once hidden, cosmic plan. Normally today, we'd use a different word to describe what Paul did. We'd call it Paul's "ministry." Paul often calls it, his grace. Paul views this thing given to him as a kindness, as a sign of favor.
So let's reread Ephesians 4:7:
(7) Now, to each one of us was given this grace/ministry, in accordance with the measure of Christ's gift.
What this verse means, is that each of us is like Paul. Each of us was given a special ministry. Ministry isn't just a pastor thing, or missionary thing. Each of us has been given the grace of doing something for Jesus. Each of us, has some special calling on our lives.
And this grace was given "in accordance with the measure of Christ's gift."
I think the imagery here, is something like Jesus working as a cook in a kitchen. He's measuring out these gifts, these ministries, as we'd measure out flour, or water, or baking soda.
And I think there's two things we are supposed to catch from this:
(1) This gift is something given by Jesus. It's not something we pick and choose. Jesus picks and chooses our grace, our ministry.
(2) This gift is given unequally. Not everyone receives the same measure.
And I should probably add, that I think there's one thing we shouldn't take from this:
(1) The idea of our ministry being a gift from Jesus, doesn't mean that we don't have any responsibility to grow in our ministry skills.
Just speaking for myself, if Jesus has given me the grace of being a teacher, that doesn't mean that Jesus cracks my head open, and funnels everything I need right through the giant hole on top. I think I'd be okay with that, but it's not how it works. Being given the grace of being a teacher is a privilege, but it's one that comes with expectations, and lot of responsibility. Jesus gives people ministries, but those people then have the responsibility of growing and maturing in their ministry, with the help of God, and the church.
So are you all with me? Each of you has been given a ministry in this church, for this church. There's something Jesus has called you to do, and this calling is a gift. It's a privilege to be asked to serve your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in some particular way.
With this, we come to verse 8, which is one of the most widely discussed and debated verses in all of Paul's letters. Almost every word is debated. There's dozens of possible interpretations, and I guess mine is one of those.
Now, some of those interpretations differ in part because the Greek word can mean more than one thing. It's a debated thing, and it's a nerdy thing. So what I've done, to start us off, is leave two of those choices in the translation. I've underlined, and put first, the one I think right. And if you want to explore other options, I've given you a jump start to them through the footnotes, and you can read those later-- not while I'm preaching, hopefully :) I'll read through verse 10:
(8) Therefore , it says,
"(When) ascending to the height, he led/took captive, captives/captivity,
he gave gifts to people."
(9) Now, the "he rose"-- what could that mean, except only that he also descended to the lower part of the earth?
(10) The one descending-- he is also the one ascending above all the heavens,
in order that he might fill up all things,
In these three verses, there are five things that we can be confident about, that we know for sure are right.
(1) The "he" in these verses, is Jesus. All of this is about something Jesus did.
(2) Jesus went down, to "the lower part of the earth."
(3) After that, Jesus went up.
(4) Jesus then gave gifts.
(5) Jesus is pictured here as a conquering hero. Wherever Jesus went, exactly, he went as a warrior, who battled some foe, and emerged triumphant. There was a massive amount of loot, and Jesus took that loot with him when he went back up. In these verses, Jesus sounds like a successful Vikings raider, who goes out pillaging, and goes back home rich.
Those five things are all true. But those five things are also all a bit unclear. At this point, it's like we're looking at the text through a pair of someone else's glasses, and we can make out some stuff, but the details, and specifics, are lost.
This is the part where I say again, I might be wrong. This is what I think Paul is saying. Ready?
I think the "lower parts of the earth" are a way of talking about the underworld, about Sheol. Jesus descended from heaven to the underworld. I think Jesus, when he was there, defeated humanity's worst enemies-- Satan, Sin, and Death. Those are the enemies who held humanity as captives (Ephesians 1:21; Ephesians 2:1-3). We were slaves to Satan and Sin and Death. Jesus emerged victorious over all those things, and Jesus rose up, triumphant, and ascended to God's right hand in the heavens (Ephesians 1:20). And when Jesus ascended, he brought us with him. We are Jesus' loot, freed from the clutches of Satan, Sin, and Death. And Jesus brought us with him, so that, in Christ, we are seated with Jesus at God's hand (Ephesians 2:6).
At that point, Jesus then gave gifts to people. What are those gifts?
Verse 11 tells us, what Jesus gave:
(11) and he gave, on the one hand, apostles,
on the other hand, prophets,
on the other hand, evangelists,
on the other hand, pastors and teachers
The gifts that Jesus gave, were people. Jesus gave apostles, and prophets, and evangelists, and pastors and teachers, to the church.
To what end?
Verse 12:
(12) for (p??? ) the equipping /training/edifying/completing/fixing of the holy ones,
(1) for (e?? ) the work of service/ministry,
(2) for (e?? ) the building of the body of Christ
The idea in verse 12 is that apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, all have the job of equipping the church for ministry. You all are supposed to be the ones who do the ministry, and who build up the church. Each of you was given a ministry, right? That's verse 7. Each of you is given the grace of serving Jesus in some way.
And the job of pastors, teachers, evangelists, prophets, and apostles, is to prepare you, and equip you, and train you, for that. That verb there, "to equip," is a super interesting one, and I want to chase that rabbit trail for a minute.
All of us have had times in life where we have this task in front of us, and we aren't capable of doing it. Every time something different breaks around my house, or on one of my vehicles, I find myself thinking, "I can't fix it. I'm not equipped for this." I turn to Youtube for help, and I can usually find someone who will patiently walk me through the process. In every youtube fix it video, there's always the one part where there's the "most replayed" section. 9 times out 10, that's me, pausing it, backing the video up, over and over. These are the moments that seem to define men. Who will rise up to the challenge, and work at it, and figure it out? And who will simply give up, and pay someone else?
But there are times when we just aren't up to the task at hand. There are two reasons why this happens, and the verb is used to describe both these things.
Sometimes, our problem is that we lack training. We never learned how to fix something. How do you change the oil? How do pull a stripped out screw from a wall? How do you fix a door, where the wood's been stripped out? Or sometimes, we buy a whole cow from our nearby rancher, and we end up with cuts of meat in the freezer that we have no idea what to do with. How do you cook it? What do you do with it? We sometimes lack the know-how to do something. We lack training.
The second reason we might find ourselves struggling, and unable to do the task at hand, is because we are a little broken. This same verb is used in Mark 1:19 to describe the process of mending fishing nets. Imagine that you're a fisherman for a living, and you get to fish with nets. For you, there's no messing around with fishing poles, and bait. Here's some great advice for you: if you're going to go net-fishing, you have to make sure the nets don't have huge holes. If there are big holes, the big fish will swim through them. So fishermen mend the nets. They fix the nets, so that they can do the job they were made to do.
So the idea with this verb, is that what apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers, and shepherds do, is bring us to a place of being fully competent and adequate for the job Jesus gave us to do. Sometimes, we are like a net with holes, and we can't do what God created us in Christ to do. We can't catch the fish. Or we're like a broken down car, and we just can't run the way we need to.
Other times, we are like a firefighter, who hasn't been equipped to put out fires. We lack the gear. We lack the training. For one reason or another, we sometimes find that we can't do the good works God planned for us ahead of time (Eph. 2:10). Pastors and teachers are like mechanics who fix us, and equip us, so that we are fully qualified to serve Jesus in our own particular way.
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Louw-Nida:
75.5 ??a?t???b; ?ata?t???a; ?at??t?s??, e?? f; ?ata?t?sµ??, ?? m: to make someone completely adequate or sufficient for something—‘to make adequate, to furnish completely, to cause to be fully qualified, adequacy.’
??a?t???b: p??? p?? ????? ??a??? ????t?sµ???? ‘completely qualified for every good deed’ 2 Tm 3:17.
?ata?t???a: ?at??t?sµ???? d? p?? ?sta? ?? ? d?d?s?a??? a?t?? ‘everyone who is thoroughly qualified will be like his teacher’ Lk 6:40. In this context, however, it may be useful to translate ?at??t?sµ???? as ‘one who has been fully trained.’
?at??t?s??: t??t? ?a? e???µe?a, t?? ?µ?? ?at??t?s?? ‘and for this we pray, namely, your becoming fully qualified’ 2 Cor 13:9.
?ata?t?sµ??: p??? t?? ?ata?t?sµ?? t?? ????? e?? ????? d?a????a? ‘in order to make God’s people fully qualified for work in (his) service’ or ‘… for (this) work of service’ Eph 4:12.
In 1 Thess. 3:10, Paul writes, "Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith."
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How exactly does this group of people fix us, and equip us, so that we can do the job Jesus gives us? What makes these people gifts? Let's just work through the list, of apostles, prophets, shepherds, teachers, and evangelists.
In NT thought, arguably, apostles aren't just the 12. The word apostle sometimes seems to mean something like "church planter." So apostles are the gift from Jesus, who got you going. They planted the church; they started you off; they got you going in the right direction.
The idea with prophets, is that they are gift from Jesus in a different way. Prophets hear God's voice in a special way. Sometimes, prophets know things about you that you'd rather keep hidden. They see your secret sins. They see hardness of heart, in particular areas. Or maybe they simply see areas where you are a work in process. They see areas of immaturity, where you need to grow. Prophets see inside of you in slightly uncomfortable ways, and they can speak God's word into your life in very practical ways. Maybe they can even you give you direction, when you're not sure what's next. Prophets are a gift.
Shepherds means something like pastor. They are the ones who encourage you when life gets hard. They tend to be ones who bury your loved ones, and comfort you in hard times. Shepherds can also be the ones who say tough things to you, that you don't always want to hear. When you go to your pastor, and you say, "I feel like God wants me to leave my spouse, and marry someone else. I feel like my marriage is dead," the shepherd stops you and says, "God hates divorce, except in a few special situations. Go through with this divorce, and God won't bless it. Your children might turn on you, and hate you. Life won't be better." Shepherds are the ones who sometimes tell us the tough things we don't want to hear, in a very loving way.
Teachers are sometimes also shepherds. There can be overlap between teachers and shepherds (and there's a hint of that in the Greek, I think). Teachers are gifts, because they're the ones who open the Bible up to you in new ways, and fresh ways, so that it hits you the way it should. It's not that teachers always teach something new. Sometimes, the job of a teacher is simply to remind you of what you already know, and encourage you to do, what you already know is right. Teachers explain to you all of the blessings you have in Christ, and encourage you to receive those blessings, and live in them, and live worthily of your calling. And if you're a little broken because you struggle with unforgiveness, or greed, or envy, or hatred, a teacher can fix you by encouraging you to turn from those sins, and commit more fully to Jesus.
Are evangelists gifts, sent from Jesus to equip the church? That's maybe tough, because we tend to struggle with the idea of telling other people the good news about Jesus. We might struggle, because we're not actually sure what the good news is. What did Jesus do, exactly? Or we might struggle, because we're worried we will lose friendships, or business opportunities, or something, if talk about Jesus. There's a cost to evangelism.
Evangelists are a gift from Jesus, because they help you in your struggles. They can encourage you to be brave. They can help you practice sharing the gospel. And they can teach you how to share the gospel in a way that's respectful, and effective.
So all these people are gifts, who in their own ways, equip all of you to do the ministry Jesus gave you to do. And the end goal? What are we aiming toward?
Verse 13-15:
(13) until we all reach
for the unity of faith(fulness) and the knowledge of the son of God,
for a perfect/mature man,
for the measure of the maturity of the fullness of Christ,
(14) in order that no longer we would be infants,
being tossed by waves
and being carried by every wind of teaching
by the trickery of people,
by cunning, with reference to deceitful scheming.
(15) Now, speaking the truth in love, we must grow, toward him, all things,
who is the head-- Christ--
from whom the whole body,
being joined together,
and being held together through every supporting ligament,
in accordance with the working by measure of each part,
produces the growth of the body, for the building up of itself in love.
The end goal, is a church where all of us are equipped to do the job Jesus gave us to do, so that the church can grow into something beautiful, and perfect. We can be united in our faithfulness. We can have a rock solid foundation, so that we aren't vulnerable to deceitful teaching. We can work together, grow together, toward Jesus.
Each of you has been given the grace, by Jesus, of serving him in some way. And that service is closely connected to the church, in some way. For some of you, that service might be done in very quiet ways, that people hardly even notice, except when you miss a week. With others, that service is done very publicly. For some of you, your area of service happens mostly within these four walls. With others, your service is done in the community. You have lots of friends. You know everyone in town. You have the freedom, with time and energy to chase that. You're the ones who are in a perfect position to tell people the good news about Jesus, to make that your primary focus.
Some of you know exactly what Jesus has called you to do, and you do it well. For others, maybe, this is a struggle. If that's the position you find yourself in, what's the solution? What keeps you from doing the grace, the ministry, given to you?
I think there's probably two main things.
The first, would be that you're not sure what you're supposed to do. What exactly does Jesus want you do? What's the gift, that he measured out to you? How do you find out?
You can ask God, if you're not sure. You could talk to God about it, and see if He reveals the answer to you. You could ask a trusted mature Christian, who knows you well. They might laugh, and say the answer is obvious.
If that doesn't seem to work, I'd say there are other ways to find out.
(1) The ministry Jesus gave you tends to be thing that you feel pulled to do, by the Holy Spirit. Something inside of you draws to a particular ministry.
(2) The ministry tends to be thing you find yourself stepping up to do, immediately, whenever someone is needed.
(3) The ministry tends to be the thing that feels like a privilege, when you get to do it. It feels like a grace, a kindness, on Jesus' part, when you do it.
(4) The ministry tends to be the thing that seems more important to you, than it does to anyone else. For my wife, music, and worship, are at the heart of church. It's really important to her that it be done well, in a key that people find comfortable singing, with songs that have good lyrics, at a volume that people find comfortable to sing with. For someone else, it might be nursery. It's super important to you that when a young mom enters the church, towing little ones behind her, that there's someone there to watch her kids if she wants. For someone else, it might making sure the sidewalk has been scraped and salted. You're worried that someone will slip and fall, and it's a really big deal to you. In the summer, you're the one who worries that the lawn is embarrassing. The weeds need to be sprayed. The lawn needs to be mowed. When something is a big deal to you, that can be a signal that this is the ministry Jesus gave you.
(5) It tends to be the thing you spend a lot of time thinking about. I wake up in the morning, and find myself having bits and pieces of sermons floating through my head, even before my coffee is ready. I wrestle with what the Bible means, constantly. If you're ministry is evangelism, the constant thought in your head, is how can we do a better job reaching our community. You look at how many people go to church in town, and how many don't, and how many people aren't Christians, and you think, "Something has to be done. How can we fix this? How can we equip the church, to be motivated, and trained, to tell people about Jesus?" And you look at this church every Sunday morning, and you wrestle with this question: "How can we turn this church body, these Christians, into a group of spiritual warriors, who go out every week, proclaiming the good news about Jesus?"
So all of those things, I think, are ways that you can tell what grace Jesus has given you, to build up the church. Hopefully, that will help you figure it out.
So the first thing that keeps you from doing your ministry, is that you haven't figured out what it is. You don't know what Jesus has called you, specifically, to do. The other reason some of us, maybe, struggle to do the ministry Jesus gave us to do, is because we're not equipped. There's something broken about us, or ill-prepared, that keeps us from serving.
Maybe you're caught in bondage to some sin, and you know, you're not in a position to do much of anything for Jesus. You need a shepherd, who will gently, lovingly, tell you tough truths, and encourage you get out of it. There's a way out of bitterness, and complaining, and unforgiveness. There's a better path you can take, that lets you do the good works God prepared in advance for you to do.
Or, maybe Jesus wants you to be a teacher, but you feel horribly inadequate to the job. You need someone who can steer you in the right direction, toward helpful resources, and who will be an encouragement and a mentor to you, as you press in to it.
Maybe you have a huge heart for the community. You find yourself surrounded by lost and hurting people, and it breaks your heart, but you don't know how to tell them about Jesus. The words don't seem to want to come out.
If we are soldiers in Jesus' army-- each of us in our way-- then we need to be equipped. And we need to not be shy about reaching out to the people in this church, who Jesus has given as gifts, to equip the church to do the work of ministry.
Let me close with just one last practical bit of advice, I guess. Pastor Jordan's primary calling, is not to do the work of ministry in the church. You don't pay him to do the job Jesus gave you to do. I should pause probably, and say that there are people for whom that is maybe the main ministry Jesus gave them-- to give super generously to God, and to the church. But the idea isn't that we are spectators, or consumers. We are called to grow the body into Jesus, to build up the church, to do the work of ministry. Jesus knows we need help to do that, and so he gave gifts to the church. Jesus gives apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers, to equip the church, to do the job Jesus gave us to do. Jesus gave you Pastor Jordan, and probably a few other people in the church I don't know about, to equip you, and train you, to serve Jesus.
So as you leave today, think about this question: What has Jesus called you to do, to build up his church?
Translation:
(7) Now, to each one of us was given this grace/ministry, in accordance with the measure of Christ's gift.
(8) Therefore , it says,
"(When) ascending to the height, he led/took captive, captives/captivity,
he gave gifts to people."
(9) Now, the "he rose"-- what could that mean, except only that he also descended to the lower part of the earth?
(10) The one descending-- he is also the one ascending above all the heavens,
in order that he might fill up all things,
(11) and he gave, on the one hand, apostles,
on the other hand, prophets,
on the other hand, evangelists,
on the other hand, pastors and teachers
(12) for the equipping /training/edifying/completing of the holy ones,
(1) for the work of service/ministry,
(2) for the building of the body of Christ
(13) until we all reach
for the unity of faith(fulness) and the knowledge of the son of God,
for a perfect/mature man,
for the measure of the maturity of the fullness of Christ,
(14) in order that no longer we would be infants,
being tossed by waves
and being carried by every wind of teaching
by the trickery of people,
by cunning, with reference to deceitful scheming.
(15) Now, speaking the truth in love, we must grow, toward him, all things,
who is the head-- Christ--
from whom the whole body,
being joined together,
and being held together through every supporting ligament,
in accordance with the working by measure of each part,
produces the growth of the body, for the building up of itself in love.
