#DailyDevotion God Gives Us Gifts But For Whose Benefit?

Eph. 4:7-16 ⁷ But each of us has been given the gift measured out by Christ Who gave it. ⁸So it says: “He went up on high, took prisoners, and gave gifts to people”. Now what can “He went up” mean but that He had gone down to the lower parts of the earth? 10He Who went down also “went up” above all the heavens to fill everything. ¹¹And He gave us some men to be apostles, some to speak the Word, some to tell the good news, some to be pastors and teachers. ¹²His purpose was to equip His holy people for service as workers to build up the body of Christ ¹³until all of us get to be one as we believe and know God’s Son, reach a mature manhood, and grow to the full height of Christ. ¹⁴We shouldn’t be babies any longer, tossed and driven by every windy thing that is taught, by the trickery of men and their clever scheming in error. ¹⁵Let us tell the truth with love and in every way grow up into Him Who is the Head – Christ. ¹⁶He makes the whole body fit together, unites it by every contact with its support, and to the extent that each and every part is doing its job, He makes the body grow and builds it up in love.

One thing we can say about our God is that he is a giving God. He gives us daily bread. He gives us a savior, Jesus Christ. He gives us spiritual gifts as well. Paul here says, “each of us has been given the gift measured out by Christ Who gave it.” Now I could jump to verse 11 but I want to hold back on that for a minute. So Paul says something similar in Romans 12, ⁶ “We have gifts that are different according to what His grace gave us. If you can speak God’s Word, do it according to the faith. ⁷If you can serve, then serve. If you can teach, teach. ⁸If you can encourage, encourage. If you share, be generous. If you manage anything, do it eagerly. If you help people in need, do it cheerfully.” Some of these apply to everyone in some fashion, others only to the holy ministry. cf. 1 Peter 4:1-,11

So God equips the people of Christ’s body the Church with different gifts and not everyone receives the same gifts. Some look like normal talents, though on loan from God, others possibly more miraculous at times. Yet in everything we are to use them humbly in service to one another, not for our own gain but for the edification of the body of Christ, the Church.

So then we pick up at verse 11, and here we see Paul affirming the holy ministry. We see here different applications of the same office Christ instituted in Matt. 28 and John 20 in particular: apostles, prophets, evangelist, pastors and teachers. It should be noted teachers here are called and ordained and most probably Paul speaking in parallel i.e. pastors and teachers. Yet, if they are different, the teacher would most likely be like Origen in the early church who was a catechist. These vocations and the men in them are gifts to the Church from Christ Jesus. We might note, names for vocations in the Holy Ministry were pretty fluid even in Paul’s pen.

This office of the Holy Ministry is for the edification of the members of Christ’s church so they may become mature Christians not following every new teaching. Of course you have to come to Church and go to Bible Study for them to do their work. And as each of us uses the gift God has given them, whether lay or ordained, Christ uses us to grow and build his body in love. Love meaning selfless sacrifice of ourselves on behalf of the others.

Heavenly Father, grant that we may give thanks for the gifts of the ministry and for the gifts you use in us for serving your Church and building the Church. May we use them in loving service to one another. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.