Anytime you want to get a project done, you have to figure out what tools you’re going to need for the job.

    Gardening, you might need a shovel, a hoe, a tiller.

    Building a house: wood, nails, nailers, saws, concrete tools.

    Painting: brushes, pans, drop cloths, tape.

    Every project calls for tools to get it done, even if it is just our hands.

    God has a project going on, called the church.

    He’s in the process of building it up, person by person, into a house for God.

    Not a physical house like a building, but in houses of people.

    He has designed tools for the job. These tools are in the form of people.

    We can start our understanding of these people tools in Eph. 4.

    I. The Origin of Gifts. 4:7-10

                                                2.

        A. Time. 7-10

            1. In order to understand the tools that Christ has                                  designed for the building of the church, we have                                       to go back to his death and resurrection.

                a. We know the facts: that he died on the cross,                                    was placed in the tomb secured by Joseph of                                             Arimathea, and on the morning of the third day                                     rose again.

                b. That is what the witnesses saw with their eyes.

                c. But Paul tells us more about what happened                                      when he rose up from the dead and went back                                          to heaven.

                    i. v. 8 is a quote of various bits of Ps. 68,                                               saying that he led captive a host of captives.

                    ii. Since we have to keep moving, we will not                                        stay here and look at it in detail.

                    iii. So here’s the bottom line:

                        (a) When Jesus died and was laid in the                                                     grave, he descended into the earth.

                        (b) When he rose and went to heaven to be                                           with the Father again, he ascended on                                                    high.

                        © When he did that, he redeemed a group of                                         people who had been held captive to sin,                                                   and now they are claimed by him. 

                d. All of this is done by Christ himself, referred                                     to as he or himself 9 times in 4 verses.

                                                3.

                    i. He didn’t need the help of men to bring him                                       back to life.

                    ii. Instead, he did it himself, going far beyond                                        the heavens, so that he might fill all things.                                                In short, he went and took his throne in                                                         authority over the entire universe, and took a                                            bunch of people with him.

        B. Source. 7-10

            1. So we have the timing of the gifting of men: he                                 gave gifts to men when he ascended and                                        reclaimed his throne in heaven.

            2. Before we go on, we need to discuss what a                                      spiritual gift is.

                a. It is an ability that is given to us by the Holy                                      Spirit, an ability given to us so that we can                                        serve and strengthen the whole church body.

                b. It may have something to do with a natural                                        talent, but in most cases it may not.

                c. For instance, a guy might be a mechanic in real                                 life, but his gift might be administration in                                         serving the body.

                d. Or a person might be a businessman in the                                         world, but in the church body he could have                                     the gift of helps, serving others by doing things                                 with his hands.

                e. You probably have a gift if God has put                                             something in your heart to do something, if

                                                4.

                you love to do something specific, and if people                                ask you to do it.

            2. So we see here that he is the source of the                                         gifts in the church. Let’s make some                                              observations:

                a. First, see in v. 7 that each one of us is given                                      grace.

                    i. This is important to understand; the church                                        does not just have a few people who are                                                gifted.

                    ii. This is also discussed in 1 Cor. 12, which                                           we will get to eventually.

                    iii. We have a tendency to say we don’t have                                        the people skills or the teaching skills of                                                people, so we’re not gifted.

                    iv. Each one of us given grace.

                b. Second, see that this grace is according to the                                   measure of Christ’s gift.

                    i. That is, each believer is given a measure, or                                       portion, of giftedness from Christ.

                    ii. God is the one who decides who gets the                                           gifts, but we also have the ability to acquire                                              gifts and to sharpen what we have.

                c. And he gives gifts for a purpose. Next few                                         verses. 

    II. The Equipping Gifts. 4:11-12

        A. Gifted People. 11

                                                5.

            1. In v. 11, Jesus deliberately gives 4 people as gifts                          to the church. Let’s look at them one at a time.

            2. First, he gives apostles.

                a. The word is apostolos, which means somebody                                 who is sent to go do or say something.

                b. Jesus chose 12 of them.

                    i. One of them went down in flames, as an                                             unbeliever.

                    ii. That left 11.

                    iii. They chose a guy to replace him, making                                          12 again. Paul made 13.

                    iv. The first to die among them was James, the                                      brother of John, who was executed by                                                       Herod.

                    v. They didn’t replace him, nor is there any                                           indication that they replaced any other                                                      apostle upon their death.

                c. The apostles, according to Eph. 2:20, make up                                  the foundation of the church. You only need to                                         put down one foundation.

                d. The apostles preached the gospel, led people to                                 faith in Christ, taught doctrine to the new                                                  believers, and went out to start new churches.

                e. Apostles are a gift from Christ to the church.

            3. Second, he gives prophets as gifts to the church.

                a. The word is prophetas.

                                                6.

                b. We think of prophets as telling the future. That                                 is only a fraction of their ministry.

                c. The prophetic ministry is also just to tell                                            people the word of God.

                d. According to 1 Cor. 11, it was a ministry that                                    both men and women could do, though women                                 were supposed to keep silence in the                                                      gatherings of the people. So if they did                                                  prophesy, it was apparently in a context                                                outside of the gathering.

                e. The writing down of the scripture gave the                                        people the written word of God, so prophecy                                            as a spiritual gift purely born along by the                                          Spirit receded in its use.

                f. Notice that the word prophets is plural. There                                    were more than one, and there are none listed                                           or mentioned as the president of the worldwide                                     church.

                g. If you’re thinking that there was just one                                           prophet who ran the entire New Testament                                       church, there is no evidence to suggest it.

                h. Having said that, the word prophets is a good                                    word.

            4. Third, Jesus gave evangelists to the church.

                a. The word means good message.

                b. The evangelist is someone who tells the good                                    news of the gospel.

                                                7.

                c. In our western culture we have defined the                                        word narrowly to describe a guy who has mass                                 crusades like Billy Graham. The phenomenon                                           of mass crusades is actually more of a recent                                             thing.

                d. Evangelists, or tellers of good news, are just                                      people who have the God-given ability and                                       desire to share the word with people.                                                             Sometimes it’s with lots of people, but more                                          often with just one person at a time.

                e. For your reading I recommend John Bunyan’s                                   book The Pilgrim’s Progress, in which the man                                 evangelist plays a major part in the salvation                                         and sanctification of the Christian in the story.

                f. We came to faith in Christ through the telling                                    of the word of God, most likely from the                                                   mouth of a believer. Such a person was an                                             evangelist. But here, they are called gifts from                                      Jesus.

            5. Fourth, Pastor teachers are gifts from Jesus.

                a. The last two roles are actually better combined                                     than separate from each other.

                b. The word pastor is poimenas, which means                                       shepherd.

                    i. In our thinking we assign the term to                                                   someone who is the teacher/leader in the                                               local church.

                                                8.

                    ii. While it is okay to use the word that way,                                         that isn’t the exclusive way that the word                                              can be applied. It is a word that generally                                              means someone who feeds and cares for the                                                  sheep.

                    iii. The word poimene actually should say                                          something about the function of the person                                               rather than the title of the person.

                        (a) Looking out for the needs of the people.

                        (b) Keeping the people out of danger.

                        © Feeding the people.

                        (d) Providing a vision for where the flock                                              ought to be headed to align itself with the                                                  design of God.

                c. The word teacher means to teach information                                   or facts.

                    i. It is not limited to facts, though.

                    ii. It can be counsel, advice, wisdom, rebuke,                                        exhortation, admonition.

                    iii. The teacher is required to teach the entirety                                         of the word of God, doctrine, prophecy,                                                gospel, practical advice, everything.

                d. While it may not be obvious to the people in                                     the church that these people are gifts from                                        Christ, they are nonetheless, because they have                                        a function in the body.

                                                9.

        B. The Function of the Gifts. 12

            1. Now we come to a part of scripture that might                                  come as a surprise if you’ve not seen this before.

            2. The function of the 4 gifts in v. 11 is one word:                                 equipping.

                a. The word means to fully outfit, to perfect, to                                     bring to completion.

                b. It’s like outfitting a mountain climber.

                    i. Ropes.

                    ii. Crampons.

                    iii. Spiky shoes.

                    iv. Tent.

                    v. Food.

                    vi. Cookstove, etc.

                c. The gifted leaders mentioned are to be very                                       purposefully about the business of outfitting                                      the people.

            3. And exactly what is it that the people are being                                 outfitted for? The work of the ministry.

                a. Exactly. The people of God are the ones who                                    are designed by God to do the work of the                                         ministry.

                b. We think that it is the preacher’s job to do all                                    of the work while the people watch, but that is                                          not the design at all.

                c. The words work of service is ergon diakonos.

                                            10.

                    i. We get our word ergonomic from the first                                          word, as in being useful, or efficient in                                                       working.

                    ii. The word diakonos is the same as the word                                       deacon, an office in the church. It means                                               slave, or servant.

            4. So the gifted leaders are to be about the business                              of getting the people ready to do the work, and                                     notice what the people are supposed to be doing                                       in their work of ministry.

                a. The people of God are supposed to be building                                  up the body of Christ.

                b. Literally, making it bigger and better,                                                 continuously, ongoing, never quitting the                                                   process.

                c. The building up process includes adding                                            wisdom among the people, confronting sin,                                       counseling, doing physical work for people,                                           teaching, worshiping, spending time together,                                        and 1000 other things.

    So here’s the deal.

    We need to be expecting some things out of each other in our church body, and we need to be expecting things out of ourselves in the church body.

                                                11.

    First, you should be expecting your pastor and leadership team to be equipping you for the work of the ministry. You should expect out of me, us, and the next pastors who come along to be about the business of getting you ready to do the work.

    It should be up to the leadership in a church to help the people to ascertain their spiritual gifts, train to be ready to use them, and then to encourage the people to go after it.

    Second, you should be expecting yourself to be getting equipped for the work of the ministry. In short, there must be a change of thinking from being the spectator of an event to a player getting ready to go onto the field of play.

    If you have not figured out where you fit in doing the work of ministry, then I urge you to know that right away and get going in outfitting yourself for the work. 

    Third, all of us as a body should be expecting of ourselves to be actively doing the work of the ministry, building up the body of Christ.

    Our thinking is that if we attend church and put our body in a chair and sing the songs and listen, we have done what scripture requires of us.

    Scrap that thinking.

    Attendance in itself just gets our bodies in the building, where we are supposed to be, so that we can be about the business of prepping to serve the people of God and to be doing that work.

                                                12.

    Some of us will be doing the work of building up the body on Sunday. But there are 6 other days to also do the work, and the greater part of that ministry can and should be done during the 6 days that aren’t Sunday.

    We have done what scripture requires of us when all of us have an active hand in the work of the ministry, being diligent to guard the unity of the Spirit, and building up the body of Christ.

    Each of us is going to do that in our own individual way, but we are all doing it for the whole body.

    I’ve been really struck by this passage, that I need to be an equipper.

    I have always known that this verse is here and what it says, but I understood it to mean that I was supposed to be equipping the men for leadership.

    That is true, but that is too narrow. This verse is for all of the people in the church body.

    So from now on, I am committing to equipping the people, in any way I can. I will take it upon myself to get you ready to work. I hope that I can remember that this commitment is for the rest of my life.

    I will assume, in light of that, that you will be joining me in obeying v. 12 also. That you will take it upon yourself to be equipped so that you will do the work of the ministry.

                                                13.

    I’m excited. Over 80 people doing the work of the ministry. Our work in the years ahead will be so much more effective, with so many hands helping.

    You are here to obey v. 12, aren’t you?

    Great, then let’s get to it.