Jesus
The
Gift that keeps on Giving
Ephesians 4:7-13 NIV
7But to each one of us
grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8This is why it says:
"When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men." 9(What
does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended to the lower,
earthly regions? 10He who descended is the very one who ascended
higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11It
was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be
evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's
people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until
we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and
become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
1)
Introduction It’s not about us It’s
about us
Good morning. I trust that this series has helped you go a little deeper in your relationship with God as we have reflected on the longing God has placed in us as well as the depth to which Christ emptied Himself by taking the very nature of a servant. This week we are going to un-wrap some gifts together in light of the Incarnation. Next week you will be meeting together with the Alliance Church. Then on New Years day, Pastor Jim will return for five weeks in January and I will return in February – and then Lord willing, God will have provided your new Pastor.
Christmas is almost upon us. This is a season, from the world’s perspective, that is not just about presents and gift buying. But the culture at large frequently emphasizes that it is time to think about others and a time of peace. I guess you could summarize that with the phrase – Christmas is not about me – it’s about others.
This is a great truth and maybe you have even heard a sermon or two on the topic of developing the attitude that “its not about me.” We have been taught and are learning not to be so self centered – It’s not all about me.
And that’s a good thing – because by nature we are so self centered and we wrongly think that the world revolves around us. I remember, as a kid, seriously thinking that it was possible that everyone around me was play-acting for my benefit. That everyone was really watching me – and making their choices all based around me. That the whole universe revolved around me. Kind of a real world Truman Show. It was such a selfish and self centered attitude that I had never even mentioned these thoughts to anyone until the Truman Show came out.
And to combat that self-centered view point, practicing the spiritual discipline of continuously adopting the attitude that “Is not about me” is a very good thing and really fits in with the cultures view of Christmas.
But the Christmas story really is all about us. God so loved us that He sent His only begotten son.[1] Can you imagine God becoming a man – if it was all about Him? No, it was God’s love for us that caused Jesus to leave His throne and become a man. To empty Himself. To become nothing. Remember when the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds?
Fear not,
for behold I bring you good
tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day in the city
of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you
2)
The
incredible uniqueness of you
So its okay during this time of reflection on the coming of Christ to talk a little bit about you.
I don’t know about you, but I marvel at the beauty of creation. How many of you have ever seen a magnified view of a snowflake? I want you to pass these around and take a look at the beauty and intricacies of these throw-away works of art.
Every year, 1024 snowflake crystals fall on the earth. That’s one followed by 24 zeros. To give you an idea of how many that is, if each snow flake was a penny and you covered the United States with 1024, the pennies would be stacked 200 miles high. And each one is unique. In the life time of the universe, none of these will be the same.[2] Yet these throw-away works of art disappear moments after the hit the ground.
Isn’t that incredible? (http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/photos/photos.htm ) God made that beauty – that delicacy – just to be there. Most of these snowflake crystals are never seen. When Jesus wanted us to know how unique and important we are, Jesus calls us to reflect upon the beauty of nature. If you can imagine how these tiny snowflake crystals are unique – imagine how unique we are.
Did you know that each of you began life as winners? Your particular DNA and genetic makeup was competing against more than 100 million others on the day your were conceived. Each sperm that potentially could fertilize the egg in your mother’s womb was unique – and there were more than 100 million of them! Against unbelievable odds, the unique you came into being. If the universe was to continue on for another 4 billion years, there would never be another you.
And you are more beautiful than the throw-away art that we call snow. God chose you as one out of trillions and trillions of possibilities and made you.
3)
Christ
the Gift Giver
Our passage this morning really is a Christmas passage – Paul quotes from the messianic prophecy in Psalm 68. He tells us that the Messiah / God could not ascend unless he first descended to the lower earthly regions. We celebrate that as the Incarnation. We cannot have Easter without the Incarnation. Jesus has descended. The very one who ascended.
Jesus – the gift giver But I want to look at Paul’s emphasis on Jesus as the gift giver. “To each one of us grace has been given.” This week, during at work we studied this passage. And one of the men asked: “Why does Paul use the word grace here when the passage is about gifts?” Great question. The simple answer is that all gifts from God are really God’s grace and Paul is showing us that they are inseparable. From the context, it would be better to translate this “To each on of us gracious gifts have been given.”
Each of us has been given gifts. Not just one gift – but gifts. And in what measure have these gifts been given? The NIV has a very insipid translation here which differs from all other translations. The NIV makes it sound like a capricious act of the Son of God to apportion gifts willy-nilly. The NASB and all other translations capture the idea that we are all given grace-filled gifts according to the measure of Christ’s gift. In proportion to the great gift that He is, He has given us gifts.
7in proportion to the measure of Christ's
[rich and bounteous] gift.[3]
Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift.[4]
We have all been given gifts by Jesus – not just doled out by some cosmic Scrooge – but given by the very one who gave everything – out of that kind of generosity – we have received. If the throw-away art of the snowflake crystals are gifts from God, think about what it means to receive gifts from this generous Creator God.
But there is an important distinction here. We don’t all receive the same gifts. Paul goes on to say that Jesus gave some this gift and some that gift. Although the gifts are bounteous – we must understand that they are different.
I don’t know about most of you, but I grew up with the American Dream built into the very fabric of my being. At home, at school, in the media, I was taught that “you can do anything you put your mind to.” And “You can be anything if you work hard enough.” This was a truth etched in stone.
And as a insecure, gangly and uncoordinated teenager, I desperately wanted to be an athlete My first love was baseball – but no matter how hard I practiced, I was lousy. So because of my height I tried basketball. I spent hours playing and practicing – Again – lousy. Then I found that I had some skill at running long distances so I began to train for that. With great discipline and intensity I ran and I ran and I ran. I spent many hours each week training.
In my senior year in High School I became good enough to become captain of our Cross Country team – but we had a sophomore teammate who was unbelievable. He ran like the wind. And he never practiced! And he smoked. When we would be running up and down hills behind the school during practice, he would lay at the top of the hill mocking us. Yet he far outdistanced me in skill. This was an incredible eye opener. That year I learned an important lesson – that with hard work and discipline I could not do anything I wanted or become what I wanted.
The truth is that we have each been apportioned gifts – gifts that differ. And we need to discover what those gifts are and apply ourselves to those areas – to apply the hard work and discipline. God gave you those gifts for a reason. They still need to be developed. My friend never achieved greatness or set any records in High School – because he didn’t know the gift that he had and did not apply himself to it. He later joined the Marines (and if you haven’t noticed – that discipline is important in the Marines) and set the Marine record for the three mile run in combat boots and a thirty-five pound back pack.
But it is very important for us to discover what gifts Jesus has given us. There are a lot of tools out there and books to help you with this. I will have them in the sermon notes on the web site if you are interested.[5] But you can start very simply by asking those who know you well. “What areas do you see that I am gifted?” For the most part we are afraid to ask others for fear that we have no gifts or put our gifts in a negative light. Last night at our company Christmas one of the men said: “Bob’s gift is telling other people that they’re wrong.” Which does capture my gift of exhortation – but not expressed the way I like it. For the most part, even those of us who appear most secure, are pretty sensitive about this – because our gifting speaks about the very core of who we are. But do that – ask some who is honest and knows you well to tell you what your gifts are.
One of the biggest lies that the enemy tells us is that You don’t have any gifts. Sometimes before these sermons, I hear the voice of the whisperer – No one wants to listen to you you old wind bag. But I know that God has given me a gift of Teacher. It’s a gift from Him. But even though I have seen this gift in operation many times, I am still sensitive.
Christ has apportioned gifts to his body – Part of His vision for the church is that
“he has given some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers.” These are Christ’s gifts. Don’t be dismayed if you don’t find yourself in this list. These are just examples. Paul gives us some other examples of gifts in Romans 12:6
6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If
a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If
it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if
it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of
others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern
diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
See how grace plays into this – Paul says that we all have different gifts (plural) and they are according to grace – each of us have different quantities and levels of gifts.
4)
It’s
not all about us
Finally, in our passage this morning, we come back to the fact that even though Christmas is all about us, when it comes to our gifts, it’s not all about us. When Christ came to earth / descended into the womb / emptied himself and subsequently ascended to the highest place, he gave gifts to men and women. But he gave them for a purpose.
To build the body of Christ / To build His church. It is our job to recognize that fact and unwrap them.
There was a Pastor in Texas who sent his parents a microwave for Christmas. His parents couldn’t figure out how to use it. His mom explained to a friend, that she didn’t need better directions, “I just need my son to come along with the gift.” God has not left us alone with these gifts. He has sent His son along with the gift to help us use them.