How often do you look in the mirror and recognize the gift that you are to everyone around you? Listen, I get it, seeing yourself as a gift probably feels a little awkward. You might even be concerned, that to see yourself as a gift could be prideful. But the opposite of that could be equally prideful, especially if God says that you are a gift.

The real problem for us is that we need to learn to listen to the Word of God more than the voice of the enemy. We need to learn to listen through the filter of God’s Word so that we can identify and destroy the words of the enemy as he attempts to twist the Word of God to deceive us. Paul’s message to the Ephesian church is aimed at helping us to remain firmly seated in our perfect identity in Christ, to motivate us to walk like Jeus in holiness, and to help us to stand firm like Jesus against the forces of hell in this present darkness.

We are called to walk in a manner that is worthy of the calling to which we have been called (Eph. 4:1). Part of walking that out – part of walking out the calling to which we have been called – is to become so familiar with what God has revealed about himself to us and how he relates to us in his Word, so that we no longer give the enemy a foothold in our lives.

The closer you get to God’s Word, the closer you get to God himself, so long as you learn to see Christ in every word of the Bible. Draw close to Christ as he is revealed in every word of the Bible and you will be a serious force to be reconned with at the gates of hell. The Bible is your offensive weapon; it is a sword that is best wielded through large chunks of study coupled with face down in the dirt prayer.

Let that Bible gather dust on your shelf, get lazy with your devotion to God, keep hiding out in the darkness instead of bringing yourself into the light of community with other believers on the regular, and your life will be just fine because you won’t be a threat to the kingdom of hell, there will be no target on your back and you certainly won’t be a healthy member of a church family. You’ll be a product consumer at best instead of the gift you were designed to be.

Let me remind you that we are in week five of this series focusing on what it means to be the church family, what it looks like to become a healthy church and what God has called us to accomplish as we wage war against the kingdom of hell. When God saved you, he didn’t save you to sit back in some kind of comfortable life of ease, enjoying all God’s blessings for yourself.

God’s salvation of you was never primarily about you; it was about God’s extension of his kingdom, his self-revelation, to a lost and broken world full of other sinners in need of salvation. This is one way that God brings glory to himself. No where in the Bible does God instruct us to get saved and then find some comfy church that meets all our spiritual needs by giving us a great group of friends, programs that serve every age group, and opportunities to fill our heads with more information than our barely regenerated hearts can handle.

God doesn’t call us to be consumers; he calls us to be fully equipped contributors to the advancement of his kingdom in opposition to the kingdom of hell. The Scriptures continuously paint the picture of a church family who is storming the gates of hell as they makes disciples who make more disciples, who are devoted to God to the death, who outshine the world with their generosity, and are united in one heart and one mind as they worship the God who rescued them from darkness and then turned around and launched them back into that darkness to rescue others.

This is our picture of the church family so far in our study of God’s Word and it’s got me all jacked up! And you better believe that the kingdom of hell is probably getting stirred up over what we are talking about here. The last thing the kingdom of hell wants is for you and I to make disciples, to be step up our devotion to God, to become radically generous, to become truly united, or to see ourselves as gifts that have been designed with a unique wiring to contribute to the advancement of the gospel to the ends of the earth. You are a gift to the kingdom of heaven, and you have been given gifts, talents, passions, and experiences that are designed to strengthen the church and to wage war against the enemy as the lost get saved and sent on mission.

The kingdom of hell wants you in shackles so that you are rendered useless on the battlefield. The enemy wants you subdued under the demonic influences of things like anger, confusion, lust, unforgiveness, division, depression, pride, etc. But the big problem for the kingdom of hell is that there is a crucified, risen, and returning King! The biggest problem for the enemy is a church like ours that rests its entire existence upon knowing the crucified, risen, and returning King of kings and the Lord of lords and making him known to the ends of the earth.

Jesus is gentle and humble. Jesus is truth personified. Jesus satisfies every longing of our hearts. Jesus wipes our slates clean on the daily. Jesus unites us to himself in his perfection as he tosses our filthy sins an infinite distance from us. Jesus gives us joy amidst our suffering as we envision him running to the cross for the joy that was set before him. Jesus left that cross bloody but empty, he left that tomb in full victory over Satan, Sin, and Death, and he’s now seated at the right of God in heaven as he prepares a place for our eternal dwelling in fulfillment of his promise to all who’ve been rescued by him. This is our reigning King!

Let the kingdom of hell be put on notice… Christ, our crucified, risen, and returning King is the greatest gift of all time, and he is the one who fills his church family with gifted individuals like you and I so that we can wage war against an already defeated enemy. The game is rigged. The outcome has been determined. The war has been won by that bloody cross and that empty tomb and that promise of Christ’s return.

We wage this war so that others can be brought into the kingdom of heaven through the local church. This is what I mean when I say that you are a gift. This is what I mean when I say that God designed you uniquely to be the gift that advances the kingdom of heaven against the kingdom of hell. Do you struggle with seeing yourself as a gift? If so, maybe the enemy has a foothold in your life. My job today is to preach the truth of God’s Word about your giftedness so that you can begin to walk in victory. Every time you look in the mirror, you should remind yourself that you are a gift to the kingdom of God. Look at the text with me…

7But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” 9(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

#1: THE MEASURE OF CHRIST’S GIFT (VV. 7 – 10)

You and I are gifts to the kingdom of God in accordance with the measure of Christ’s gift. Think about the measure of Christ’s gift in the context of verses 7 – 10 of our text today. In these verses, Paul reminds us that “grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, it says, ‘When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’ (In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)” This is a beautiful proclamation of the heights and the depths of the measure of Christ’s gift.

So much could be said here that we could literally spend weeks digging into the truths of these four verses. Let me attempt to cover some of the highlights briefly for us. Grace comes first in verse 7. I said last week that grace is what destroys division in the church. This is true, simply because when we grasp an understanding of God’s grace towards us in the cross of Christ, we lay hold of the truth that we deserve nothing but punishment for our sin and our rebellion. Grace literally kicks the legs out from under the seat of our entitlement. We have been given what we do not deserve in God’s gift of salvation.

Grace also reminds us that Christ has been victorious at the cross and the empty tomb. God’s grace in the victory of the cross and the empty tomb is simply immeasurable. That is the measure of Christ’s gift – it’s measure is immeasurable; it is endless and without limit. There is no limit to what God, in Christ Jesus can do through a Spirit filled believer. Your past, present, and future sins do not define who you are, and they certainly don’t define the limits of the immeasurable measure of Christ’s gift.

In light of that grace – that immeasurable, limitless grace, that has been given to each of us who have called upon the name of the Lord Jesus for salvation – in light of that grace, Paul describes the condescension – the coming down from heaven – of our Lord Jesus Christ. We know that Christ ascended to heaven after the resurrection but in knowing that we must also recognize that he condescended or descended – as Paul states in verse 9 – to the earth and became human among us. Jesus literally took on the limitations of human flesh without sin so that he could be victorious over Satan, Sin, and Death in his crucifixion and resurrection as he “led a host of captives, and gave gifts to men” (v. 8).

This is the meaning of the measure of Christ’s gift. He did all of this so that he could then fill you (v. 10) with the gift of his very own Spirit, so that you could become a gift that storms the gates of hell. Once again, God did not save you to become a consumer of spiritual experiences; he saved you so that you could become a gift that causes the kingdom of hell to shake in fear as you walk through this dark and perverse world.

The reality is this, you are a unique gift to the body of Christ – the church; there is no one who is exactly like you. There may be others who are similar to you but you are uniquely designed and uniquely called to a specific place of ministry in the church.

#2: THE GIFTS CHRIST GAVE (V. 11)

This leads us to think about the gifts that Christ gave in verse 11. Verse 11 teaches us that God “gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers” to the church, each with their own unique wiring and calling for the purpose of equipping the members of the church to build up the body of Christ in maturity, according to verses 12 – 14, which we will cover in a moment.

For now, I want you to think about the gifts that Christ gave to the church – the five overarching gifts that Paul lists here in verse 11. Everyone who has been saved by Jesus has become a gift to the body of Christ, and this so-called five-fold set of gifts is a simple way of remembering what kind of gift you have been wired to be by the grace of God.

Apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers – five overarching gifts to the church. While Romans 12, 1 Corinthains 12, and 1 Peter 4 give us a more fully detailed picture of the spiritual gifts God gives to us, this list of five overarching gifts in Ephesianshelps us to see categories for the other gifts to work through. Now, it is important to understand that apostles and prophets do not exist today as they did in the Bible – as offices or official foundational leaders – but they do exist in a different form.

An apostle today is best understood according to the meaning of the word “apostles” in the Greek which is “Apostolos”, which literally translated means “sent ones” or those who have been sent by God for missionary work to establish ministries that previously did not exist. Church planters, and missionaries to other continents are uniquely gifted as apostles, though we do not call them that today – largely because of the abuse of that title in certain spiritual movements in the West. Do you have a desire to start new ministries or to be a missionary? If so, you are a gift to the church.

A prophet is best understood not for the ability to foretell future events that may or may not happen but are instead used by God today to forth-tell or to proclaim the truth of God’s Word. In this sense, modern day preachers and teachers operate in a kind of prophetic gifting. Do you find yourself being compelled to boldly communicate the truth of God’s Word to people around you? If so, you are a gift to the church.

Evangelists are obviously those people who have a unique talent and passion for proclaiming the gospel to the lost in ways that are faithful to the historic message while being sensitive to making the message understandable to a specific group of people. This does not take away from the command for all of us to be sharing the gospel with the lost, but it does mean that there are people with a special gift for this in the church and they are helpful in training us to share our faith and they are fruitful in winning souls to Jesus.2 If this is you, then you are a gift to the church.

Shepherds are pastors whose main calling is to know the flock, lead the flock, feed the flock, and protect the flock as they stand on the truths of God’s Word. A true pastor/shepherd will devote his life to the preaching of God’s Word and prayer. From that foundation, a true shepherd will provide spiritual care as an under shepherd to the Chief Shepherd who is Jesus. Do you find yourself thinking about how to know the flock, how to feed the flock, how to lead the flock, and how to protect the flock? If so, you are a gift to the church.

Lastly, we have the teachers. While missionaries, prophets, evangelists and pastors must be able to teach, there are those in the body of Christ who have been uniquely gifted as teachers. These people are passionate about studying God’s Word and applying it to their own lives and then to the lives others around them. If this is you, you are a gift to then church.

Again, these five broad brush gifts are given to the church for the purpose of equipping other believers to help the church to grow in maturity. Some of you hearing this message have been given these talents and passions and experiences by the grace of God so that you can be used as his gift to those around you so that we all grow up into the perfect image of Christ. 

#3: THE REASON CHRIST GAVE GIFTS (VV. 12 – 14)

This is exactly what the last three verses (vv. 12 – 14) of our passage teach us when Paul says that our spiritual gifts have been given to us “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes”. The reason Christ gave gifts to his people is so that they can become gifts that are designed to help the church grow in maturity as we wage war against the enemy together.

Notice how he says in verse 12 that the primary reason for giving these gifts is “to equip the saints for the work of ministry”. The work of ministry is something that is shared among the members of the church. It is not the job of the paid professionals to do the work of the ministry. It is the job of every believing member in the church. We are to be about the business of equipping one another to minister to each other and to the dying world around us.

We are called to walk this out together – to build up the body of Christ until, as verse 13states, we “all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God”which is what “mature manhood” and womanhood looks like. Maturity in the faith looks like us becoming more and more unified in our faith as become more like Jesus on the daily in the context of biblical community. Regular Christian community is where disciples are made and leaders are equipped.

God does not desire that we should behave like little children, running from one place to the next, only showing up when it suits us best, or only participating in the life of the church when our lives get unhinged. That is the picture of children in verse 14 being “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine” that suits our itching ears and our out-of-control earthly desires.

Instead, we are called to grow up, to become mature, to do the work of ministry together, as the gifted individuals we are so that false doctrine is refuted, so that demonic philosophy is put to death, so that the deceitful schemes of the enemy are overcome. Can you see why I believe that each of you – if you have been rescued by Jesus – is a gift that has been designed to wage war against the kingdom of hell?

Can you see why I believe that a church full of benchwarmers is impotent against the gates of hell? Can you see why I believe that every member is called to be on the battlefield being wrung out for the glory of God and the salvation of mankind? God is calling us to grow up and to get the sailboats of our lives anchored to this most basic doctrine of being the gifts we were designed to be in community with other brothers and sisters in Christ.

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion, if you are a Christian, especially if you call this your church home, God has a plan for your life that is not designed around you getting your best life now, your better group of friends now, your life’s problems all figured out now, or your head so full of information that you can win every social media argument you can jump into now.

There is an enemy prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, seeking to steal, to kill and to destroy the image of God in you and in those that you come into contact with every day. He is a liar and he is the father of all lies. He wants you sitting passively in your seat. He wants you staying home on Sundays. He wants you skipping out on midweek Bible study.

He wants you ignoring the waiter or the waitress whom you could share Christ with. He wants you running around causing division, jumping from church to church every couple of years, talking more about what you disagree with instead of proclaiming the gospel, and generally living like a child who can’t decide which ice cream he likes better, who changes his mind every couple of minutes.3 This is what the enemy wants for you because it will render you useless; like a Christmas gift that was never received because it got lost in the attic.

The enemy will do anything he can to incapacitate you and to render you worthless in a world that is full of lost people, full of empty churches, and full of demonic presence. I ain’t saying you ain’t saved if you don’t see the gift that you are and begin to utilize the gifts that God has given you. I ain’t saying that you ain’t saved if you don’t devote yourself to being a regular gift, given away in community on the weekly.

But I am saying that you might be the one whom God has chosen and gifted to share the gospel with someone in your pathway. You might be the perfect person to help someone else in the church grow up. You might be the one to teach someone else some of the truths of God’s Word. You might be the one who speaks bold truth into the life of a brother or sister in a Bible study. You might be the one who is called to know the flock, feed the flock, lead the flock, and protect the flock.

But, obviously, you can’t do any of that if you aren’t present and if you don’t see yourself as a gifted individual who has been designed to be a gift from God to others. Can you imagine, Jesus not seeing himself as a gift that was meant to be given away on behalf the family of God? That is unimaginable, isn’t it? When you and I show up week in and week out to church gatherings, when we keep pursing those conversations with the lost, when we intentionally make ourselves available to those in our lives, we are simply modeling Jesus and his commitment to that cross.

Jesus knew the gift that he was and there was no pride inside of him. Jesus knew that his love for you and I would cost him his life, and he knew that he wouldn’t get anything in return (in a consumeristic sense) for his sacrifice. But he also knew that because of his sacrifice, and because he left that tomb empty, that an entire army would be filled with his Spirit and unleashed against the kingdom of hell.

He knew that, according to the immeasurable measure of his gift of grace at that cross and that empty tomb, that those whom he would rescue from the kingdom of darkness would turn around and do the same thing to the ends of the earth. This is the church my friends! This is the gifted church! Equipped to do the work of ministry as gifted gifts of grace from the Father above! 

When you show up to church gatherings, I pray that you start to see yourself as the gift that you really are – spiritually endowed with the Spirit of Christ, to give yourself away on behalf of our crucified, risen, and returning Savior, to wage war against the enemy and to push back this present darkness that we are navigating our way through.

A beacon on a hill, a flashlight in the darkness, a lamp post lighting the way, a refuge for lost sinners, a hospital for broken people, a training ground for disciple makers, a missionary equipping center, a church full of gifted gifts who are making it hard to go to hell in Hastings. This is who we are called to be. This is how we are called to walk… as a gifted church that wages war against the enemy. – Amen!!!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).

2 R., Kent, Hughes, Ephesians: The Mystery of the Body of Christ, Preaching the Word Commentary, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 1990), 131.

3 Ibid., 133.