Your Gifts

Ephesians 4:7-8,11-13

The Diversity of Gifts

Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it is said,

"When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; He gave gifts to His people."

The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

Notes on the Scripture

The line, "When He ascended on high He made captivity itself a captive", is a little difficult to understand. Picture a playground bully bossing around smaller children. Jesus is bigger than the bully, and tells the children that they can choose to be with Him instead of the bully. Then he takes the bully by the shoulder and tells him, "The ones who are with me -- Leave them alone". Evil and death have ensnared us and hold us in captivity, but Christ is more powerful. He has captured and dis-empowered evil and death; He defeated death through His resurrection.

To those who choose Him, He has given gifts so that they might help the group whom He has saved from captivity. We know how different people are. Some people are good at speaking and persuading others, while some are shy or embarrassed when they speak. Some of us can sing, while some of us are tone deaf. Some of us have the gift of humility and can find joy in sweeping a floor in Christ's service.

The point is, you DO have a gift to use in the service of Christ. We cannot complain about the gifts that we lack. Nobody is perfect. We must find what gifts we do have and rejoice in them, being convinced that the only important thing in our work for Christ is the glory of God, not how much we impress others or how rare our gift may be.