Grace for Ministry

By Pastor Matt Black

09 September 2007
Lord's Day morning
Ephesians 4:7-10

Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians 4.  The title of this morning’s message is “Grace for Ministry”.  Once you’ve found Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, let’s stand out of awe and reverence for God’s amazing grace that comes from His amazing Word.

Let’s read Ephesians 4:7-12, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8  Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9  (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”

We are going to get to our text in verse 7, but I have a somewhat lengthy introduction.

I want you right now to take a journey in your mind with me outside the four walls of this church building.  Imagine you could see all the people within a 20 mile radius and you could see their spiritual state without Christ.  You see hundreds of thousands of people who live all around here and know nothing of the grace and love of Jesus Christ.  Does that concern you?  It concerns me.

This year 58 million people in the world will die.  We will all die.  This year in Illinois over 100,000 people will die.  That does not include about 50,000 more infants who will die in Illinois alone because their mother decided to end their life. 

Within a 20 mile radius of our church, there is a population of well over 500,000 people.  500,000 people!  The vast majority of those people are without Jesus Christ.  Do you think God has forgotten about them?  I think we certainly have.  Most of the time our lives revolve around our earthly responsibilities to feed and clothe ourselves and our families.  But there is a higher calling in this life than just survival of the fittest!  We’re called to do the work of the ministry:

The last thing Jesus said before He ascended was: “Go…into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).

The Lord tells us in Luke 14:23, “Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled”.

The theme in our text in Ephesians 4 is to fulfill the work of the ministry that Jesus left us to do.  His work is to redeem a people for His Name.  We are His Body—His hands, His feet, and His mouth.  We need to go into Hanover Park and Streamwood and Carol Stream and Elgin and West Chicago and Bartlett and compel them to come!  That’s the work of the ministry.  It’s reaching people and mentoring them in the way, the Truth, and the life of Jesus Christ.

But you might say “I can’t do it!  I’ve got responsibilities.  I’m too busy working and feeding myself and my family.  I just can’t do it.”  And while you’re busy making excuses, your friends and neighbors and going to a place of eternal torment.  It’s as if you have the cure to a terminal disease and every single one of those 500,000 people surrounding us is going to die from it, but you are keeping that cure to yourself because you’re too comfortable to reprioritize your life to distribute it.  You say “I just can’t do it”.  The truth of the matter is that you can do what you want to do.   And an even greater truth is that you can do whatever God wants you to do and calls you to do.

That brings us to Ephesians 4.  The main text we have is in verse 7 today, but I want you first look at verse 1.

Verse 1 says, “walk worthy of your calling”.  How do we do that?  Verses 1 through 16 tell us how to do that within the church.  Verses 17 and following tell us how to do that outside the church. 

Initially, we are to walk worthy of our calling by maintaining the unity of the Spirit (verse 1-6).

Verse 6 says that part of this calling is that God is “in you”.  God is in you doing something in you and through you. 

Verse 12 tells us what God is up to in: to “do the work of the ministry”

But the main message today comes from verse 7, which says that “every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ” to do the work of that ministry!

When you look at the work of the ministry before us, and the massive work God calls us to—that of mentoring the 500,000 people within a 20 mile radius of our church to follow Christ, it seems impossible.  God would have numbers of them saved!  Jesus said, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest” (John 4:35).

The problem’s not the harvest: “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few” (Matthew 9:37).  The problem is not that people won’t get saved—God says the fields are ready.  He’s ready to give the increase.  But he lacks laborers.

We’ve got a bunch of laborers today that say “I can’t go.  I’m not capable.  I can’t do it.”  God does not seek our capability, he seeks our availability.   

This message has one purpose.  If you are one of those people who say, “I can’t do it”.  My goal today with this message is to prove you wrong!!

Nick Vujicic (voy-a-chich)

Let me tell you one story before we dive into our text.  On December 4, 1982, Nick Vujicic (voy-a-chich) came into this world.  He was born without limbs.  When he was placed next to his mother, she was so devastated that she asked that he be taken away.  But Nick’s parents were believers.  And they came to see that God actually designed this tragedy for His glory.

Today Nick says that he may not have limbs, but with God he has no limits.  Nick Vujicic today is an evangelist.  People cannot help but stare at him.  And so he has used that to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people all around the world.  Nick right now is on an international preaching tour through Africa and Asia.  Nick is getting into places that have been closed to Christians, but because of his amazing story, God is opening doors.  Just recently he preached to over 70,000 of people in Indonesia who were mostly Muslim and gave them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   

The point of the matter is that Nick has a million more limitations than you or I do, but He has the same grace!  What about you?  Are you going to say “I can’t do it”.  Last week we talked about all the people that Johnny Farese was reaching.  If you weren’t here, Johnny Farese has a congenital disease that leaves him completely paralyzed from the neck down.  Friends, on Judgment Day you and I are going to be standing next to Johnny Farese and Nick Vujicic in their new glorified bodies.  And when God asks you, why didn’t you serve me, you’re not going to have any excuses.  You say, “I just can’t do it!” 

That’s not an excuse.  That brings us to our text in Ephesians 4:7. 

I. I want you to see first our Preparation for Successful Ministry.

A. Our natural Shortage of Grace. You say “I can’t do it”.  That’s right.  Without God’s grace you cannot do what Christ calls you to do. 

You see, this text tells us that the measure of grace we need to serve God is not found in us, in God.  In other words, if you are available, God will make you capable.  That’s what verse 7 says, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ”.  God gives you a measured amount of grace to serve Him.  How much of His grace does He measure out to you?  Exactly how much you need to do His will!   

1. Outside of the grace of God, we are completely incapable of pleasing Him.  Jesus said, “Without me ye can do NOTHING.”  Outside of God doing something in you and through you, you’re simply spinning your wheels.  Methods and mission statements are fine.  But nothing replaces the power and presence of God.    

Who is it that does anything?  Who gives you the power to live and breath?  Who gives you the grace to speak and walk and talk?  It is our God and our Lord. 

Outside of that measure of grace, it is futile to try and serve God.  Now according to Ephesians 2 and verse 1, what are you outside of the grace of God? “You hath he quickened, who were dead…”  DEAD!  Write it down.  Outside of the grace of God you are dead, good for NOTHING.

Now check this out.  Remember last time we were in verse 6.  Let’s read verse 6, There’s “One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” 

2. With God’s grace you have everything you need to do His will.

If you are in Christ, where is God?  He is IN YOU!  Is God dead?  No!  So if you are inside the grace of God you are not dead.  Then what are you?  “You hath he quickened, who were dead…”  We are ALIVE!

You are alive now in Christ.  God dwells in you.  What is God’s purpose in taking residence up in your life?  Skip down to verse 12.  Underline these words: “for the work of the ministry”.  You have a purpose!  What is it?  The work of the ministry!  It’s what you were created for.  You were created to do God’s will on this earth.  We call that ministry.  You do what God says. 

Now pastors and teachers equip you—they build you up in the Word of God for the work, but it is God, not the pastor who does the work of the ministry through you. 

B. The Stewardship of Grace.

Now back in verse 7, the Bible says that the God who is in us has given every one of us something awesome to help us accomplish the work of the ministry.  What is it that He’s given to every one of us believers?   Let’s read verse 7, “But unto every one of us is given…” what?  Here it is: “grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.”

In other words, you CAN do what ever God WANTS you to do! 

God has given every one of us believers a measure of grace to do the work of the ministry.  Now God’s grace benefits who?  Of course, first of all it benefits you.  We learned that all the way back in Ephesians 2:8, “By grace are ye saved…”  That’s a pretty big benefit.  But verse 12 reveals why we were given grace.  Why were we given grace?  Not for you, but to benefit others!  “For the work of the ministry”.  In fact you are to minister God’s grace everywhere to everyone.  God says “Go”.  God says “the fields are white unto harvest”.  God says “go into the highways and byways and compel them to come.”

It says we were given grace “according to the measure of the gift of Christ”.  So everyone of us were given a certain measure of grace to dole out to people.  You are to administrate it. 

Now there are differences in gifts, and we’ll get into that in another message.  Some people have ministry gifts, some people have speaking and teaching gifts, some people have both.  Verse 16 says though, we all need to be working.  Look at it, “according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” 

You are a steward of the grace God has given you!  Dole out that grace!  Paul says this in several other places, but let’s look at just one place—1 Peter 4:10, “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.”  You are a steward of God’s grace!  You are to use it to serve Him and reach others in the work of the ministry.

So we’ve seen our equipping for ministry.  God’s given you everything you need to do what he’s called you to do.  But you say, I just can’t because there’s too much opposition.

II. I want you to see then our Probability for Successful Ministry. There is a 0% chance that Christ will fail in building His church and accomplishing the salvation of a people for His name.  Verse 8 tells us he’s already won the victory!!  Verse 8, “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”

A. Jesus is the Conqueror. He's already conquered His enemies.  He's already redeemed His elect children.  He's already shared with them the spoils of His victory, and He's given them their marching orders.  Now get that in your mind.  The King has already come.  He's conquered the enemies that He had on the cross.  And by the cross He redeemed, paid for, and purchased, a Bride. 

Now look at verse 8 of our text.  Verse 8 is a quote of a Messianic psalm, a psalm about the Savior, Jesus.  And the reference Paul quotes is from Psalm 68:18.  Look at it in verse 8, “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men”.  This is speaking of the victory that David had with the Ark of the Covenant.  Those that kept God’s people in captivity were taken captive, and David made an open show of some of them after coming back from war.  He took the spoils of that war and gave them to the people.

B. Jesus Led Captivity Captive.

Now the first part of verse 8, he says, " he ascended up on high".  That phrase "He ascended" pictures the victorious king ascending to the throne after a mighty victory over His foe.  Then he said an interesting phrase there.  "he led captivity captive."  What does that mean? This image is from the ancient military world.  When a king of an the empire put down a rebellion within the kingdom, he would take the rebels captive, and usually the kings and generals and commanders of the rebellious nations would be put in chains.  The Romans especially would march them through Rome and be a Roman triumphal entry into Rome.  And they would come captive in chains showing that they had been conquered.  So Paul takes that picture, pulls it out of the Old Testament, and applies to Christ. 

Christ led captivity captive.  What were we in captivity by before we were saved?  Sin, death, and hell.  What are all these people around our church in captivity to?  Sin death and hell.  Listen Jesus Christ is the victorious King, and he has taken that which held us captive (sin, death, and hell) into captivity.  “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?...thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).

That host of captives are Satan and his conquered allies: sin, death and hell.  In Colossians 2:14-15, it says that Christ in his cross blotted out our death sentence that the Law brought against us and made an open display of the demonic principalities that stand against us, accusing us of sin!  He nailed it all to His cross as the Victor!!  Christ has conquered sin, death, and hell.  There is now therefore no condemnation!!

C. Jesus gave gifts unto men. Verse 8, “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.”  Using the illustration again, those who conquered took the spoils of the rebels and gave them out freely to the people.  Now that Jesus has conquered he gives us spiritual gifts   In weeks to come we are going to talk about those spiritual gifts.   You have everything you need to do Christ’s ministry.  You need to be serving, using the gifts that Christ gave his life to obtain.  You have gifts that are manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

III. Finally, I want you to see the Place for where Christ’s ministry will succeed!

Ephesians 4:9-10, “But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8  Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9  (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10  He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)”

Christ ascended verse 9 says, but he first “descended first into the lower parts of the earth”.  What does that mean?  Catholics at one time said this means limbo or pergatory.  It’s not hell, etc.  That’s not true. Actually all this is a Hebrew colloquialism.  To see this look at Psalm 139:15.  This is a Psalm that says we are fearfully and wonderfully made.  And in verse 15 we read, “My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.”

This is talking about the womb.  So when Christ went to the lowest parts of the earth, it is talking about his birth into humanity.  He’s been as low as anyone can go and as high as any one could ascend, and He rules over all! 

He has fully journeyed through, searched out, and conquered all things.  He is the head over all things.  He rules over all the regions of heaven and all the regions of earth.  He's not just the Christ of heaven.  He's the Christ of heaven and earth.  He's covered all the dimensions.  He's ascended up to the highest heavens.   He’s done this so that as verse 9 says, “he might fill all things”.

Now you are part of that ministry.  Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of kings!  We need to dole out that grace that sinners might come under His dominion!

Conclusion:  But you say, I don’t know what God wants me to do for Him.  Can I tell you something?  While you’re sitting around waiting, mothers and fathers are leaving each other. There are some children that will wake up today, and their dad will be gone, and they will never see him again.  Today some mother in this world will get a call from a police officer that their son or daughter just committed suicide.  And you don’t know what God wants you to do for Him? 

Closing Hymn:  530 Rescue the Perishing