Transcript

A concert violinist had a brother who was a bricklayer. One day a woman began talking to the bricklayer about how wonderful it was for him to be in the same family as the noted musician.

But then not wanting to insult the bricklayer she added, “Of course, we don’t all have the same talents, and even in the same family some just seem to have more ability than others.”

The bricklayer replied, “You’re telling me! That violinist brother of mine doesn’t know a thing about laying bricks. And if he wasn’t able to make some money playing that fiddle of his, he couldn’t hire a guy with know-how like mine to build his house. If he had to build a house himself, he’d be ruined.”

If you want to build a house, you don’t look up “violinist” on the internet. And if you need someone to play the violin in an orchestra, don’t hire a bricklayer.

No two of us are exactly alike, and no one possesses every gift. In that way, houses get built and music gets played.

In the church, God has gifted us in different ways too. Our responsibility is to know and exercise the spiritual gifts that He has given us. When we do, we build each other up in the faith, and the Body of Christ is enabled to serve and reach out more effectively.

Ephesians 4:7 reads, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”

At Christmas and on birthdays we give gifts to our family and loved ones. Think of Christmas morning. We all do not receive the same gifts. One gets a football, one a video game, another receives clothes, someone gets a book, and another a power tool.

Yet, although we each do not receive the same gifts as the others, the intent is for the gifts to be enjoyed and used.

Here we learn that Christ has given gifts to His Church. And the same is true of the gifts Christ gives to us. We do not all have the same gift, but the Lord intends for us to our gift for the good of all in God’s family.

The apostle Paul had been speaking of the Church as a whole and “all” the Body as you can see in verse 6. Then in verse 7, he turns to focus on the individuals in the Body. He moves from the “all” to the components of the “all” which is “every one [or each one] of us.”

In doing, so the apostle moves from the unity of the Church to its diversity. There is a unity in the Body of Christ that entails and is made up of variety.

As believers, we are one in Christ, but we also differ from one another, having differing gifts and callings. The diversity does not destroy the unity and conversely, the unity does not do away with the diversity. Unity and diversity coexist in the one Body.

To “every one of us” in the Body, has been given “grace.” The Gospel for today, this current dispensation, and the Christian life are all wrapped up in the word “grace.”

God is the God of all grace. Grace is an expression of what God does and gives and what we freely receive. Grace by definition is an act of giving. “Unto every one of us is GIVEN grace according to the measure of the GIFT.” God in His grace gives. What He gives is unmerited, unearned and undeserved and free as a gift is.

Ephesians 2:8 states clearly that salvation is by grace and is the “gift of God.” Here we learn that there is something else that God gives freely to us by grace: spiritual gifts.

They are called “gifts” because they are a gift given to us by grace from Him. Being in Christ, you gain many blessings from God: such as heaven, eternal life, the Holy Spirit, all spiritual blessings, and as we see here, spiritual gifts.

Pastor Don Webb gives these gifts the following definition, they are: “a ministry, talent, or ability given by God through the indwelling Holy Spirit for the building up of the Body of Christ.’ These callings, abilities, talents are by grace and thus undeserved, unmerited, unearned.”

Paul says, “Unto every one of us.” There’s no believer that’s left out. There is no such thing as a non-gifted believer. Each believer has received a gift, a divine enablement, a divine endowment, a divine capacity to minister to the Church.

We each have some God-given spiritual enablement with which to serve the Lord. We each have a ministry from God and a purpose to fulfill in the Church.

Paul recognized his own gift and calling a few verses earlier in chapter 3: “Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power” (3:7).

This refers to the grace of God that called Paul into his ministry as the apostle of the Gentiles. It was by grace, God’s undeserved favor, that took Paul from being a persecutor and made him a minister. And Paul says that this same grace has been extended to “each one of us” in our individual ministries and service to God.

As such, like salvation “by grace” leaves no room for boasting, so the spiritual gifts, which are by God’s grace leave no room for boasting.

As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:7: “For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”

Everything we have has been given to us by the Lord. That being the case, how can we be proud or puffed up? Our gifts are not the result of our own efforts; they are by God’s grace.

Paul adds in Ephesians 4:7 that we are each “given grace according to the MEASURE of the gift of Christ.” In other words, these gifts are not unlimited and without rule or measure. Each one of us has a measured-out, defined gift.

And Christ’s grace, which enables us to use our gifts, is measured out in exact proportion to and according to the gift He has given, that we might use our gifts to their fullest extent for the glory of Christ.

As Paul spoke of his gift as an apostle, he stated that he carried it out “by the effectual working of His power.” And that is how our gifts are carried out, by God’s power. We use these gifts by grace through faith in God, relying on His strength to serve Him.

Romans 12:6 states that we have “gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.”

One author put it well that “We are gifted according to God’s plan, His purpose and measure. We do not determine or deserve our gift. God has His own individualized plan for each of us and has individually gifted us accordingly. Every believer is…strategic in God’s plan, with his own unique skills, position, and responsibilities.”

God is a God of distinction and diversity. We see that clearly in creation with the incredible variety we see on an everyday basis.

And, likewise, the members of His Church are all different. We each have our own unique combination of gifts, strengths, personalities, and backgrounds. We each are a unique member of the Body.

When it comes to His Church, God does not just stamp out a whole bunch of carbon copies. Though the legalist thinks we should be, we are not cookie-cutter Christians. There are no two believers the same.

Just like your fingerprint is like no other fingerprint of anyone in the world, you are 100% unique within the Body of Christ.

Each member has a particular role assigned by Christ, the Head of the Body of Christ. No two members are alike.

You bring your own perspective, personality, and strengths to each gift, making it and you unique, making you absolutely necessary and strategic to the Body of Christ.

Christ’s wisdom in the gifts for each individual believer of His Body teaches us that the Church cannot fully function the way it was meant to function without you.

No one person has all the gifts that the body needs. It is a cooperative effort through which the body ministers to one another, reaches out to the world, and maintains its unity and growth.

Nobody brings what you bring to the table in the church. We need you and what you bring to the church because there’s nobody else in the whole Body of Christ like you.

The beauty of the church is seen in Christ gracing His people with differing gifts, who each are necessary and unique and who need each other. The Body of Christ is a team and it needs everyone to do their part and pull together.

As Christ’s gifts are used by faith, the diversity in the Body makes the Church a force in this world as a witness for Him.

And the gift, the enablement, that has been given to you is “the gift OF CHRIST.” We are being taught something by these gifts being the “gift of Christ.” This is God’s Word putting a gentle pressure on us by grace to do something with it.

It shows He sees you as different, as individually unique. Christ sees you like He sees nobody else in this whole universe. Giving you your spiritual gift shows He knows you. In His wisdom, He knows you could live out His gift to you powerfully by faith.

Ephesians 4:8-10 says, “Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things).”

Christ has given gifts to each member of His Body, and here we see the apostle drawing a conclusion based on the truth of this section of why Christ had the right to give gifts.

Paul wanted the Church to know that although the gift given to us is free, there was a great cost that had to be paid to make this bestowal of grace available.

Paul quotes from Psalm 68 which reads, “…this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever…Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men…”

Psalm 68 is a Messianic Psalm that will be fulfilled at Christ’s second coming, when after He returns and defeats Israel’s enemies, He then ascends Mount Zion to establish His kingdom and to reign over all the earth from Jerusalem.

The picture in that prophecy is how, in the past, when a king of Israel would go to war, following a victorious campaign, he would return and he would ride in and ascend the hill of Mount Zion or Jerusalem.

And the king would have all of the spoils and all of the captives with him in a triumphal procession. At that time, he would receive gifts from men for his victory on their behalf.

And the king would lead “captivity captive.” And this means he would lead the recaptured captives. Many times, other nations had Israelites in prison, or their soldiers were taken as prisoners of war.

So when a king of Israel conquered that nation, he would free those captives and bring them back to their own land and parade them before those in Jerusalem. Because it was a great honor to bring these captives home and release them.

This is a future prophecy, of the Messiah as a conquering warrior. It refers to when He will be victorious over Israel’s enemy, the Anti-Christ.

And He will have the spoils of victory on the one hand, and He will also have His own people who were held prisoner around the world at that time that He has released and will then set free into the kingdom. And in that great day, He will receive gifts of gratitude from Israel as He establishes their kingdom from Mount Zion.

Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, used this Old Testament passage and adapted it to the truth he was expounding on. He teaches us a couple of truths about Christ’s ascension to heaven in verse 8.

Instead of ascending Mount Zion to establish His kingdom, Paul used this passage from Psalms to speak of when Christ gloriously ascended up on high to heaven, taking His place at God’s right hand where He now rules and reigns in His heavenly ministry.

Paul had referred to that earlier in Ephesians “Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion…” (1:20-21)

To understand “led captivity captive” we need to remember that before the Cross, both the lost and saved when they died went to Hades in the center of the earth.

Luke 16:19-31 describes Hades as being divided between a place of paradise, called Abraham’s Bosom, and a place of torment, with a great gulf fixed between.

Now when Abraham died, he is said to have been “gathered to his people,” AND NOT UNTO THE LORD. You find that also with Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Aaron. They were gathered to their people in paradise in the center of the earth.

And in Luke 16 we find Abraham in Hades in the place of paradise, named after himself!

And when the beggar Lazarus died, he too was gathered to his people: “…the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died and was buried; And in hell [hades] he lift up his eyes, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom” (16:22,23).

You will recall that the Lord told the thief on the cross, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Paradise then was in the center of the earth.

We further know this because the Lord said in Matthew 12:40, “For as Jonas was 3 days and 3 nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be 3 days and 3 nights IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH.”

And also, as Paul says here in Ephesians 4:9, when the Lord died, He “descended first into THE LOWER PARTS OF THE EARTH” into hades and was in paradise or Abraham’s bosom between His death and resurrection.

Our Lord spent three days and three nights in paradise “in the heart of the earth,” in “the lower parts of the earth.”

After His victorious cross and resurrection, when Christ ascended to heaven Paul says “He led captivity captive.” Like in Psalm 68, when the captives will be those who belong to Christ to be set free into His kingdom, the captives here that Christ took to heaven with Him at His ascension were His own.

It was the Old Testament, prophetic saints, taking those in Abraham’s bosom with Him to heaven at His ascension.

This explains why Paul wrote that paradise is now “up” when it used to be in the lower parts of the earth. In 2 Corinthians 12:3-4, we read, “And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) how that he was caught UP into PARADISE, and heard unspeakable words…”

This is also why the martyrs of the future Tribulation go to heaven and not to paradise in the center of the earth when they die.

At our Lord’s ascension, now with Christ’s blood having been shed they were able to reside in and were now welcome in God’s presence in heaven. They could not be taken into God’s heaven until Christ had paid for their sins at the cross.

But with Christ’s victorious, all-sufficient, finished work now a reality, and with their sins paid for and washed away by His blood, Christ “led captivity captive.”

And these saints received a surprise of grace, as the Old Testament saints were taken from Abraham’s bosom and led in victory to heaven by Christ at His ascension.

Christ flung open the doors of Abraham’s bosom and released and freed those godly captives confined to the center of the earth taking them directly into God’s presence.

In Christ’s ascension up on high to heaven there was a triumphal procession to glory. Christ came to earth to do battle with our enemies of sin, death, and Satan and his demonic hosts. Our Lord completely vanquished our enemies and won that battle by His finished work. After His resurrection, Christ ascended to heaven in victory leading captivity captive.

And Colossians 2:15 says, “Having spoiled [demonic] principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”

But when it is time for the Second Coming “after the tribulation” (Matt. 24:29), when Christ comes to fight for Israel and vanquish the Anti-Christ and his army at Armageddon, these prophetic kingdom saints in heaven will come with the Lord to the earth.

Jude 1:14 speaks of Christ at His Second coming and says, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands [myriads] of His saints…” Revelation 19:14 also refers to these saints, “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”

The hope of the prophetic saints is the kingdom of heaven ON EARTH. They will come with Him and take their place in His eternal kingdom on earth at His 2nd Coming. But the Body of Christ will remain in heaven, because that is our eternal hope and calling.

Now unlike Psalm 68, where Christ “received” gifts of thanksgiving from men on His triumphal parade to Mount Zion at His Second Coming, Paul wrote, by inspiration, that under grace having “ascended up on high, He…GAVE gifts unto men.”

These are the spiritual gifts He has given to “every one of us” in the Church in His exaltation and ministry in heaven as the Head of the Body of Christ.

Christ, having ascended to heaven, after having conquered His foes and leading captivity captive to heaven, now, by His grace, gave and gives spiritual gifts to His Church in His exaltation at God’s right hand.

Before Paul goes on to speak of some of these gifts, he digresses. Verses 9 and 10 are a parenthesis. You can see that in your Bible.

Paul wrote about how the ascension presupposes and implies a descension, and Christ, he said, descended first even to “the lower parts of the earth.”

The descension down speaks to us of His incarnation, death, burial, and the three days He spent in the heart of the earth. His ascension up speaks to us of His resurrection, life, catching up to heaven, and exaltation in heaven.

Paul demonstrates by all this how Christ received the right and authority to bestow gifts to His Church. And in doing so, Paul gives us a striking contrast. He gives the extreme range of our Lord’s condescension and exaltation.

In His condescension, He came to the earth and became a man, but even beyond this He humbled Himself and was obedient unto death even the death of the Cross, and descended even to paradise in “the lower parts of the earth” during His three days in the tomb.

But in His resurrection and ascension, He was rightly raised up high, to the highest heaven, and to highest of heights in His exaltation in heaven.

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name” Philippians 2:9 says.

And as Paul says here, “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens.” Ephesians 1:20-23 says that at God’s right hand, the Father “hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over…the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.”

So He has every right, therefore, to “fill all things” as Ephesians 4:10 tells us, to fill “all” the Body with His life and power and in all ways and give His gifts according to His perfect will.

In His exaltation and by His victory over sin and death on our behalf, He has the right to rule His church and He has the authority to give gifts to it as He wills.

So the One who cared enough for you and me to descend from heaven to this earth, even to the lower parts of the earth, is the same One who cares deeply for the Church’s well-being, and thus He has given gifts to each one of us to equip the Church for its good, its service, its unity, and its growth.

We are taught in all this that we cannot treat the spiritual gift that we have lightly. We are challenged to know and use the spiritual gift He gave me to serve Him because He died and rose again which gave Him the right to give me my gift.

You see grace by His descension, victory, and ascension, and it’s by that grace, that Christ has given you a gift, a gift that He wants you to know, develop, and serve Him by.

When we stop to think of all Christ has given, that He has given me this gift and enabled me to serve Him based on His sacrifice for me, then my obedience to Him is not something that’s about following a rule, it is something that springs out of a heart filled with gratitude.

And today, it is God’s grace that motivates us to obey, transforms us, and drives us to want to do more for Him.

As one person said, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me.’”

One time the show “Ripley’s Believe It or Not” showed a plain bar of iron worth a mere $5. It was shown that this same bar of iron if made into horse shoes would be worth $50. If it were made into needles, it would be worth $5,000.

If it were made into balance springs for fine Swiss watches, it would be worth $500,000. The raw material is not as important as how it’s developed.

We each have spiritual gifts, but their worth to the Church will be dependent on how and if they are developed.

In our own hand, our gift is a plain bar of iron. But just imagine the value of that gift to the Body of Christ, and what could happen, if you discover your spiritual gift, turn it and your life over to Christ, and allow Him to develop it in you!