Ephesians 4:7-16 Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
Ascension May 13, 2018 “The Ascended Lord Has Given Us Gifts”
Forty days. In some ways, that seems like a long time. You really can get a lot done in forty days. It’s over a month. It just so happens that I have a six-year-old daughter who has a birthday coming up 39, just shy of forty, 39 days from today. Maybe you can guess how easy it will be for her to wait that long to celebrate. It can seem like a very long time. On the other hand, in other ways forty days doesn’t seem long at all. No, life just keeps rolling along, and events come and go. And sometimes we need to stop and step back to realize just how quickly time has gone by and how much we have been through. Today is actually 43 days after Easter, and maybe it seems for you, as it does for me, that the time has simply flown by. This past Thursday, then, was forty days after Easter. That is significant because forty days after Easter was the time that Jesus spent appearing to his disciples, teaching them all sorts of important things, and making sure that they understood that he was really alive even though he had died. Those forty days must have flown by for the disciples. They certainly were overwhelmed with happiness and joy. After all, they had Jesus back from the dead! There were so many things happening. Jesus was visiting, and he was teaching, and he was promising special things for them. And then those forty days and all that was taking place came to a rather sudden stop. Jesus was teaching his disciples, and he was blessing them, and then he left. We heard in today’s Gospel how he was taken up into heaven. The book of Acts shares a little more detail. It talks about the disciples staring up into the sky after they could no longer see Jesus. They kept looking up until angels stood next to them and reassured them. “He’s going to come back,” they said, “just like you have seen him go.” The Apostle Paul was not with the disciples during those 40 days, but God revealed to him also the importance of Christ’s ascension. In turn, Paul assured the Ephesians and us about the fact that Jesus ascended into heaven and what that means for us. In the verses before us from the book of Ephesians, Paul describes the ascension and explains that our ascended Lord has given us gifts. Jesus has done so according to his gracious plan. It’s not that we deserved any gifts from him, but he gives so very generously even to those who deserve nothing. Of course, these verses allude to the big gift that Jesus has given, the gift of salvation. Jesus descended, that is, he came down to earth from heaven in order to accomplish our salvation. That was the very reason for what he did. And when that task was done completely, Jesus ascended into heaven. He made it very clear that the work was done. And he’s done even more. Our verses start: “But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.” We have received from him additional gifts of grace. The word grace reminds us that these are, like salvation itself, undeserved. In fact, in an honest assessment we would have to admit that we don’t deserve even the slightest or smallest gift. Our sins against God have been so consistent and persistent and overwhelming that God ought to do nothing but punish them. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t punish us because he punished Jesus instead. He gives us salvation along will all sorts of gifts of grace. Just think of what he has given us: gifts of intellect and minds, hearts and attitudes, time and talents and treasures. But not everyone is the same. That’s what our verses mean by “as Christ apportioned it.” We have different spiritual gifts and different skills and talents and abilities. We have these things in different types and different quantities, and different ratios. Other passages in Scripture go into more detail about how this is like the body being made up of many parts. They all have unique functions and unique capabilities, but they work together for the good of the whole body. That’s why our Lord has apportioned his gifts of grace differently to different people. Together, they work and support and help each other.
And the fact is that the followers of Jesus are going to need these gifts. As we look at Christ’s ascension, some might speak of it in terms of Jesus leaving his disciples. There is obviously a kernel of truth in that. But Jesus wasn’t really leaving his disciples, nor was he leaving them alone. But he was changing the way that he would be with them. It may be better to describe it as his visible presence was gone from them. Sure, that meant that the disciples wouldn’t see him. They wouldn’t be able to rely on him directing their actions in the same way. He wouldn’t be there to tell them what to do about the situations or opportunities that arose. But he still wasn’t gone. After all, he promised that he would never leave them. Today’s verse of the Day included that promise: “I will be with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). How could he say that and then leave? See, after Jesus ascended, he was with his disciples, just in a different way. We could call it a better way. No longer limited by the same confines of an average human body, but making use of his glorified body. He could be with the disciples, and with other followers, and with future followers, and with us across time and across the world. As our verses put it, Jesus “ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.” As a gift to us, he is still with us, even though we don’t see it or always realize it. He is, as we confess, seated at the right hand of God, being in a position of power and authority, and using his power for the good of his people. He is at work blessing us. And one of the ways that he blesses us is by giving us gifts that we can use to serve others. So in thankfulness to him, we will make use of those gifts. We will look for ways to serve others. The goal in using all of these gifts, and one very important reason for God to give them, is to build up his people. And so these verses mention some very special roles that God uses to do that. They speak about apostles and evangelists and others, including what we would think of today as pastors and teachers. One of the ways he gives them to us is by providing people with the needed skills and talent and abilities to serve in such roles. But their roles are not meant to acquire power or fame or fortune. They are meant to help and assist God’s people. They are to equip and build up the people they serve. And that work has blessed results. There are at least three results for us to consider. First is that by growing in faith we will be able to withstand and avoid false teaching. These verses invite us to think about a boat being tossed up and down by waves, back and forth, back and forth. That’s what it can be like for a Christian who does not pay close attention to God’s Word, who is not growing in faith and understanding. This false teaching sounds interesting. That one seems logical. We get bounced around until we don’t know what the truth is or where we need to be heading. And that is a very dangerous thing. As we are equipped with God’s Word and as we grow in faith, we reach the second result: a level of spiritual maturity. We grow to be more and more like Christ. We speak the truth in love. We grow from being infant Christians into being more adult and mature Christians. And that leaves the third and ultimate result: our salvation. False teachings threaten our faith. They could result in our destruction. But God gives us gifts, and he builds us up with this in mind: that one day we see him in heaven. Just as Jesus’ visible presence was once with his disciples, so we will see him in his power and glory, face to face. It will no longer be a matter of faith that he is with us. We will see it and know it. What a valuable reminder it is that our ascended Lord has given us these precious gifts. He has given each of us unique skills and talents and opportunities. He has given some to be pastors and teachers and to work in these particular ways. He has allowed us all to serve each other and to build each other up. And his ascension itself tells us that our salvation is secure. He finished his work and will return to take us to be with him. And until he does, we will serve and love each other in his name.
The Text: Ephesians 4:7–16 (NIV) 7 But
to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says: “When he ascended on high, he took many captives and gave gifts to his people.” 9 (What
does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower, earthly regions? 10 He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe.) 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 14 Then
we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.