Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Well, happy Sunday. Christ Church. It's good to see you.
[00:00:09] Can we get a little bit of. Oh, come on, let's go.
[00:00:16] National championship, here we come.
[00:00:20] See the all is right in the world.
[00:00:23] The Lord is good. It's so good to see you. Today we are going to continue our sermon series that we've been in. We're talking about who first and then what. But just before we get into this, would you bow your head in prayer with me?
[00:00:39] Father, we love you. Thank you for this time. To be together, to learn and to grow. And Lord, I pray that you would teach us what it means to be your church. Help us to see the gifts that you've given to us. Help us to use them, Lord, so that we can grow, but so that others can as well. And all that you want to do through our church would be done and your name would be glorified. So bless us as we think about these things. And I ask this in Jesus good name, Amen.
[00:01:14] Well, I had a little phase where I was reading a lot of these books by Stephen Ambrose.
[00:01:21] And he's a great writer and he writes all about World War II history. In fact, any Band of Brothers fans, he wrote the book. Yeah, if you probably the greatest TV show of all time, it's so good. But he did a tremendous amount of research on all the various aspects of World War II. But he spent a lot of time with veterans that were still alive. You know, this was probably 20, 25 years ago. And so he got all these firsthand accounts, and then he would write different books about different parts. And they're so good. If you're interested In World War II history at all, you gotta check out Stephen Ambrose. And he didn't pay me to say that. He doesn't know who I am, but anyway. But one of the books that he wrote was called Citizen Soldiers. And it is the perspective not of the great generals and the people who were very high up making big decisions in World War II, but it's the perspective of just sort of the ordinary soldier, you know, didn't have a lot of rank or influence, but they were in the heat of the battle. And basically what the book says is that the Allies won World War II because of the everyday soldier, because they were able to be resilient. And because the way that they grew up in America, they were natural problem solvers and they could fix things and they didn't need everything detailed out. And because of all these virtues that came with growing up the way they came, they ended up becoming great. And effective soldiers. And he says that it was just the everyday person that ultimately made the war won. And I think that's a pretty cool idea. How about. Yeah, I'm kind of inspired by that. I have one of my good buddies, he's a Navy seal. And I love talking to him because I always just feel cooler, you know, talking to him.
[00:03:32] And he tells stories about the cool stuff he does, you know, like jumping out of airplanes and stuff. And I tell them stories about the cool stuff I do. I'm like, hey, I did a Bible study the other day.
[00:03:44] I wrote a sermon, you know, And I think we can all agree that that's way cooler. Amen.
[00:03:52] But he was telling me the other day, he said, ohio makes great seals. I was like, amen, baby, Amen. I don't know if that's true, but I'm gonna go with it.
[00:04:03] But I really. I think that's a powerful idea. You know, so many times you're looking to the big names and the people in power to bring change to the world. But one of the great things that we see through the pages of Scripture is that God uses normal people.
[00:04:24] God uses people without titles, without position, without all the accolades that we might look to. And so today, I want to talk about who first. But I want to talk about who in the sense of you.
[00:04:41] And I want to talk about what God has put in you. Because I believe God does want to do good things in this world that honor his name and serve people. But you know what? I want you to realize today that you are God's plan for that.
[00:05:00] That you are. You might be thinking, well, Lord, you know, it should be the people that know more and do more and have more power and position. But God is looking at us and he's saying, no, you are my church. You are my A team. You are varsity. You are Division One. Do I gotta keep going on this?
[00:05:23] You are who I have given gifts to to make this world and our lives different. So that's what we're going to talk about today. And we're going to pick up at Ephesians, chapter four. And last week, we started this. And I'm going to pick up right where we left off at verse seven. Now, I'm going to read this big section to you, but just stay focused. You feeling awake this morning? Yeah. Okay, that's a real mixed reaction here. I don't know how to take that. Just kind of shake the hibernation off.
[00:05:57] But listen closely to what's said here. These verses are so powerful, but here's what it says. Verse 7. But Grace was given to each one of us. Say that with me. Each one of us. Grace was given to each one of us according to. 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. And saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he 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.
[00:06:40] And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain the unity of faith, knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. You still with me? You still dialed in? Amen. So that we may no longer just gotta make sure be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and disketful schemes. Rather speaking the truth, in love, we're to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ, from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped. When each part's working properly makes the body grow, so it builds itself up in love. Now, just to put real simply, these verses are saying, this is the type of community God wants to build.
[00:07:39] God is building a team, if you will, and you're on it. And God looks at each of us and he says, hey, if you know me, if you're a follower of me, then you have a role to play on this team. That's what these verses are saying. And they're saying that ultimately your role matters. And that when you and I, when we play our role, we're not just growing ourselves, we are growing as we use the giftedness God gives us, but we also are creating an environment for everyone to grow. And so when we think about Christianity, you have to think about that it only works in community, that it's a team sport, that we can only win or lose together.
[00:08:29] And what Paul is saying is that what makes a church great and healthy is not one or two people, it's not a handful of people, but what Paul says. It's when every person is engaged and when we're using what God has given us to serve each other. Paul says that's what makes a great church. Now, this is the reason why we always emphasize serving. And I don't Believe in guilt, tripping people into serving. I don't believe in manipulating people into serving, but I believe in the power of serving and getting involved because of this passage, because of these ideas here. Because this is how the Scriptures say. This is what the body of Christ is meant to do and meant to look like. And it requires all of us.
[00:09:27] And this is such a powerful picture to me. Now, Paul begins this part and he says that Christ, he has that language of ascended and descended. You remember that? It's kind of a little bit confusing, but if I could explain it, what he's ultimately saying is that when Jesus Christ died, he died and he gave you a gift.
[00:09:53] When we read the Gospels, we see Jesus going to the cross and dying. And the gift that he gives each of us is he completely forgives our sin.
[00:10:05] All those chapters of your life that you'd love to rip out those pages because you're ashamed, you're embarrassed. Well, guess what? Christ has you covered.
[00:10:15] That's his gift. You don't ever have to return to it. You don't have to ever worry about it being held against you. And if you're an honest person, that's really good news because we all would love to just go and erase some things. Well, Christ does one better. He forgives it. It's done.
[00:10:34] And he gives this grace in the cross and his death. But then what Paul's saying, but that's not all that Christ has to offer you.
[00:10:44] He says that when Christ ascended, when he came out and he came out victoriously, that he brought gifts of victory to give each and every one of us. You ever go to some victorious celebration? Sometimes you get a gift, you get a trinky go to, you get. You go to a wedding. I have in our house, I have about a million Mason jars with couples names on them.
[00:11:17] And many of you in this room. I got your Mason jar. I drink water. I think, oh, man, what a beautiful day that was.
[00:11:23] And it's sort of a gift of victory. It's a gift of celebration. And what Paul is saying is that in this victory of God, Christ has given each of us a gift of victory, a gift of celebration, a gift that it's not from us, but it's in us.
[00:11:46] And it's something that he wants us to use. Now this is really, really cool. Now, part of our commitment to you as a church is we believe this heart and soul.
[00:11:59] We believe that in every follower of Christ, God has put something in you. It's not of you, it's of him, but it's in you. And our commitment as a church is to help you discern and figure out what that is. Tina mentioned our Connect class. And in our Connect class, that's a big part of what we do in that class is just try to discern and say, all right, what has we believe Christ has given? No one left the party without a mason jug. You know what I'm saying?
[00:12:31] Everybody got one. And so what is that? And sometimes it's hard to see it in yourself. It's hard to discern it in yourself. And it's often best discerned with others. And so a big part of our Connect class is helping you figure that out. And if you're here and you're like, all right, Chet, I'm with you so far on this, then I encourage you sign up for that. And that can be your beginning point of this journey. So Paul says he's given us these gifts. And these gifts are meant to build and to equip. They're meant to add value and to strengthen God's family as we use them.
[00:13:19] Now, I was thinking about this when Teddy was born. My son Teddy is just over a year, year and a couple months. And when he was about to be born, I knew that Allie was going to be like, all her attention was on Teddy. Because, you know, this was my third kid now, you know, I wasn't a rookie anymore.
[00:13:41] I knew a little bit. Still not much, but a little bit about how this all works. And so I knew her attention was there. But then I have two older daughters, Emory and Abby, and I knew I was gonna have to be completely focused on them. And that's when I started to get a little nervous about it all, you know? But I thought, I'm gonna get them a gift that's gonna help.
[00:14:07] And here's what I did. I went on Amazon.
[00:14:10] You know, where else would I go?
[00:14:14] And I found the cheapest bounce house I could find.
[00:14:20] And, you know, pretty small one. And I bought it, and it came, and I put it up in the living room.
[00:14:29] And they had a ball. They loved it. And I was like, you know what this is? Whenever they start acting up, go to the bounce house and get all that energy out. Because Dad's patience is not Mom's patience here. And Mom's out of the mix right now. And we set it up in the living room. That was the first and last day we did it there.
[00:14:52] Cause mom was not cool with that. But it's lived in our basement ever since. And it's been an amazing gift. That has strengthened our family.
[00:15:04] It has worked pretty well.
[00:15:07] And what Paul is saying is that God has a gift that is meant to bless the family. It's given to each of us, and when we use it, it strengthens things, it builds things, it makes things better. And just let me emphasize again, in the body of Christ, there are no spare parts.
[00:15:29] And so if you're thinking like, well, that may be true of others, but it's not true of me, Paul would say, wrong.
[00:15:39] There is something in you of God, by God and for God.
[00:15:45] A couple years ago, again, I made another Amazon purchase and I had this little cool stand up Jet Ski that I had bought off some guy, but it didn't have a trailer with it. And so I was looking to find a trailer, and because it's very little, kind of a different deal, I couldn't find any. But turns out they sold them on Amazon. Why not?
[00:16:12] And so I ordered it and it came in a box, but I had to put it together.
[00:16:20] Yeah. And you know, and I did, I put it together. But those of you who know me know, like, that's a sketchy scenario right there. You know, this thing flying down the freeway that I put together, there could be some problems. And so the first day that I actually used it, I was like terrified because I was like, all right, man, I hope that I did not miss a little screw here or a little bolt there. I'm just in my mind, I'm picturing going 60 down 90 and then just boom, it blows apart and all that sort of thing. You know what I'm saying?
[00:17:04] You've never had that fear. You haven't lived life until you've done it.
[00:17:10] But if you put something together like that and you leave a couple pieces out, it's not gonna be a good day.
[00:17:18] And here's what Paul is saying. Every one of us matters.
[00:17:24] You can't leave a couple pieces out and expect to fly down the freeway unless you want a disaster on your hands. That all of us, God's put something, and it's all necessary and it all matters and each of us has something different to bring to the table. And then Paul just, he gives us a little bit of a list here. And this is a shorter list. We see some different lists in the New Testament that's connected to this idea of gifts. But I think this list is sort of your basic foundational thing, that for the church to be healthy, you have to at least have these basic components. And God has put these in each of us. So let me just talk through them real quick. The first one he lists is apostles.
[00:18:14] And this means that there are some people that God puts in this drive to act, this drive to start something, this drive to look and say, oh, we as God's people, we need to go take this hill. See, when we see the apostles in the New Testament, they're always looking at the world and they're saying, where can we bring the good news of Jesus? And they're active and they're risk takers and they're willing to step into what is uncomfortable. And they're kind of saying, all right, everybody, I know you're a little bit afraid, but come with me. This is going to be worth it. And they're wired that way. You know, people like that, like, they just have more tolerance for risk.
[00:19:04] They're just more willing to take some steps. They know the dangers of inaction in life. We always think about the dangers of actions. What if I do it? But we never think about the danger of inaction. What if I don't do it? Well, these people are wired that way. And a healthy church needs people that says, all right, we're too comfortable, we're too complacent, we're too inward focused and we need to go and get after it. That makes sense to you. And God wires some people that way. Here's the second one he lists. These are prophets. Now, again, when you read these, these sound maybe super intimidating and fascinating and even maybe overwhelming. But these ideas are actually more simple. And Paul says, believe it or not, they're in you. Now, don't go around calling yourself an apostle or a prophet, all right? He's not. Don't do that.
[00:20:04] I've met people that do. And that's like, end of conversation, you know what I'm saying? But these are directions. These are wirings. These are gifts God's given us. And what a prophet. At their core, what they do is they discern.
[00:20:21] And they look at situations and say, all right, where is God at work in this? They kind of look beyond the surface and they look at the deeper spiritual realities.
[00:20:37] These are people who can kind of look at something and say, all right, here's where I think the pulse of God is in this situation. And they help us to see things that we might not see on our own. You with me on this? And we need people in the church who have that. They're aware of God, they're sensitive to God's leadership, and they're always kind of looking and keen in on that. Here's the next one. He lists is evangelists. And what do they do? They bring life to a church.
[00:21:09] These are people that it's easy and natural for them to invite. And they invite and other people come and are interested.
[00:21:20] Many of you know, Pastor Jovan, I think this guy Jovan talks and people start believing in Jesus. Like he's talking about the guardians. And people are like, I wanna give my life to Jesus. I'm like, he didn't even mention his name. How did you know?
[00:21:37] But he's just got that gifted. People just are drawn and attracted, but they're not just drawn to him, they're drawn to God in him.
[00:21:45] And that's that giftedness in the church, man. Many of you, you're here because someone invited you and this maybe was at work in their life. This giftedness and the way they speak about God, the way they live their life, it draws others into a relationship with Christ.
[00:22:06] I just had lunch with a high school friend that I hadn't seen in, I don't know, probably a decade or something. And we were talking and we were talking about faith. And he said, he said, I tell everybody that you argued me into Christianity.
[00:22:22] And I said, can you stop telling people that? Because I actually tell people not to do that. So I want that gift. Church. I'm just not sure I got it.
[00:22:32] Evangelist. The next one is shepherds. These are people that are focused on the needs of others.
[00:22:42] These are people that are looking and saying, man, is everybody okay? What's happening in their life?
[00:22:49] Do they need a meal? God bless you. People that bring meals and visit in the hospital and pray and are just constantly just trying to meet that's shepherded, just caring for everybody. And the last one is teachers. And they wanna make things clear, make things understandable, bring ultimately insight. When I think about my own life, I think that's my core. Giftedness is just teaching. I want to learn, I want to share, I want to explain. But there's many ways to express that gift right? For me, I have the privilege to do it up here and to torture you on a weekly basis.
[00:23:32] But many people in our church, they have this gift too. And they use it in our kids rooms, they use it in our high school, they use it in a life group setting. See, all of these can be used in very, very different ways. But here's what Paul is saying is that all of them matter.
[00:23:53] And Christ has given each of us one of these. And when we use it, it makes a difference. And as we go into this year, man, our church is in such an Exciting time as we're gonna. God's given us the opportunity to move out of this place, to build a new facility, to take these big steps as a church. But when I think about this, remember, the church, it's not this building, and the church is not the next building. You with me? Buildings are great, and I'm thankful for them. I don't wanna do church outside today.
[00:24:33] I'm grateful for that. But that's not what makes a great church. That's not what makes a healthy church. That's a tool. And I want the best tools that we can have, and I want the right tools. But ultimately, what Paul is saying here, this is what makes it. When I say, all right, what has been given to me by Christ, and how can I use it for the people around me, for the people that aren't even here yet, but God's gonna send them here one time, and that's what matters. And as we go into this year, that's what I want to build in our church.
[00:25:10] If you're not involved yet, but God's, like, knocking on your heart, I want you to take that step this year. I want you to just try. And sometimes you gotta take the step. You gotta try. You've gotta do some different things before you find your sweet spot. And that's okay. That's part of the journey. It's worth it, and it's necessary.
[00:25:33] Next week is our better together. And we're gonna have a lot of opportunities that we'll kind of explain and put out there. Say, hey, here's how you can get involved. Here's a good starting point.
[00:25:46] And if you haven't taken that step, my challenge to you this year is to take it. Because you have something from God in you. And what you have matters, and we need it. I don't want the tire falling off you with me.
[00:26:01] We need it. It matters. And God's glorified. Because here's what Paul says, and just. I'm just gonna hit these. I could talk for a long time about these, but I'm trying to preach shorter sermons, you know?
[00:26:15] But here's. Just. Look at all these things. Here's what Paul says. Here's what happens when we take this serious. He says, the body of Christ is built up. We're strengthened. It says, until we all attain a unity of faith, our faith is unified.
[00:26:35] It's built up together. See, sometimes the challenge of our faith is that we're just doing it alone.
[00:26:45] And because we're doing it alone, we only grow so much.
[00:26:51] And this is where Paul's saying, it's in relationship, it's in serving, it's in building relationships through that that actually unifies and strengthens our faith. But then he says this. But we also are built up in the knowledge of the Son of God.
[00:27:07] Each one of us has something to teach the other about who God is.
[00:27:14] That's so profound to me. You cannot just learn about God through your own mind, through reading and thinking and philosophizing and theologizing. You can't just learn God that way.
[00:27:30] You have to learn God through other people, too. That's what Paul that we each learn in bringing our lives together. We gain more knowledge of who God is. And then he says, to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. See, many, many followers of Jesus, they plateau in their walk with God because they say, I've received the grace of forgiveness. I've received the grace of sonship and daughtership. I've received the grace of reconciliation to God. It's like, that's awesome. But Paul says, but that's not all that Christ has to give you.
[00:28:14] He gives you the grace of giftedness.
[00:28:19] And until I use it, I will stunt my own growth until I put it to work in relationship, in community, I won't reach the full measure of the fullness of Christ. You with me on this? That's what. That's part of God's maturing strategy for our lives. And then verse 14. There's so many benefits to this. And this is what all these verses about. He says, so we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by crafting. So he says, when you are engaged in the life of the church, it protects you from latching on to every empty fad that there is. And I'll tell you, in our world, there are all kinds of spiritual fads. Have you ever been on YouTube before?
[00:29:17] Anybody can get on there, they make a slick video, they say some interesting stuff, and you're like, oh, wow, maybe all that stuff's true.
[00:29:26] Maybe it is all aliens here.
[00:29:30] And the next thing hours down this rabbit hole and you're rethinking your whole spiritual life. And you're like, oh, maybe Christianity is a sham, because after all, this guy's got 200 views on here, 2 million views on here, whatever. But it doesn't mean there's actually any real substance behind it. And in our day and age, anyone can have a platform, but it doesn't mean there's any real.
[00:29:58] And that is something you have to be aware of. I am so thankful that this guy named Wes Huff was just on the Joe Rogan podcast, and he is a legit Bible scholar, and he was able to just put out some real, basic, solid information to, like, all the tens of millions of people that listen. I'm like, thank God.
[00:30:24] I'm so thankful because there's just so much noise and so much, frankly, church kind of garbage out there. And Paul says, healthy community helps us to discern and to distinguish from that. And then he says, last part, he says, speaking the truth in love, we're to grow up into every way into him who is ahead. Now, this part's really, really fascinating to me. But what Paul is saying is that when we learn to be God's community, we learn to have better relationships. In every other area of my life, here's what I really believe at my heart of hearts, that being part of the church makes me a better husband to Allie. I learn things that I bring home.
[00:31:16] Serving God's people, it makes me able to actually serve my kids better.
[00:31:22] And it goes the other way, too. But Paul's saying we learn how to relate to each other in really, really healthy ways. And that's where he has this phrase, speaking the truth and love. We build each other up. Now he's saying that's the outcome of all this is the outcome. And you might think, like, wow, that's a weird place to go with it. But just think about this for a second. This is really, really profound. Speaking the truth in love. We grow. Now, one of the absolute keys to life is learning to speak the truth in love to each other. Have you ever known someone that you wanted to speak the truth to love because you knew they needed it, but it was just so difficult to do it?
[00:32:13] Or have you ever had someone speak into your life and maybe they said some true things, but they were so abrasive or confrontational that you couldn't hear any of it?
[00:32:27] And then have you ever met other people that like the conversation? Just you beat around the bush too much that actually he never was like, okay, what were we actually saying here?
[00:32:37] And the key to healthy relationships is being able to have both. Speaking I need truth in my life because I can't see everything I need to see. I need other people to help me see. But I need you to speak it in a loving way so I can hear it. You with me. These are difficult conversations, and all of us have probably faced them at some point, avoided Them at others, dance around them, maybe come off too harsh in others. But here's why all this is important. The quality of our relationships is directly connected to the quality of our conversation.
[00:33:21] If I can't have a real conversation with someone, I can't have a real relationship with them. You with me.
[00:33:28] If I can't have truth and love, there's always gonna be a significant deficit in that relationship.
[00:33:41] There's probably people in all of our lives yet we can have a lot of fun with, but we can't be real with them. Just the relationship won't go there. And then maybe there's people you can be real with, but there's no love there. So you're like, I'm out, right? And that doesn't work either. But what Paul's saying is that the church is God's place where we learn how to have these real relationships and we learn how to do it with each other. But then it changes all the relationships in our lives, because one meaningful conversation can change your life.
[00:34:21] And maybe you can think about a time where you did you had a real conversation, but it was in love, it was in grace, and it was a turning point in our lives. And so what Paul is saying here is that as we learn to love each other, we're actually able to bring that into every area of our life.
[00:34:44] There's so much good behind all of this, and we all need it. And so, as we think about this year, I want you to realize you and I, we are God too. I think God wants to do something special this year. I think he wants to do something special in our church. I look at all the journey that we've been on as a church family to be here. And God has brought us to this point. And God is preparing us for the next phase and for the next journey. And the way he's preparing us is bringing us together into the game and putting to work what he has put what he has gifted each of us with. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you so much, Lord, for all the different grace that you bring to our life. I thank you so much for the grace of forgiveness.
[00:35:46] I thank you for the grace of mercy.
[00:35:50] I thank you for the grace of wisdom and power. And Lord, I thank you for the grace of gifts. And Lord, I think so often in our spiritual journey, that can be a grace that we never fully lean into.
[00:36:08] And yet, Lord, that's so key to our continued growth.
[00:36:15] It's so key for what you want to do, not just in our life, but in the lives of each other.
[00:36:27] And so today, Lord, I pray that you would just stir that up within us.
[00:36:33] I pray we could have a deep sense of what you've given to us.
[00:36:40] And Lord, I pray that you would just prepare us for where you're leading us for this next season of our church's life. And I pray, Lord, we could grow, we could strengthen, we could be unified, we could mature in all these ways. And I pray all of it would honor you. And I ask this in Jesus name, amen.
