Regifting God's Good Gifts

​We have all heard of the concept of regifting something. You have been given something that you either already had or doesn’t quite fit your life right now, so you turn around and give it to someone else. Sometimes regifting can be seen as a negative thing to the person who gave the gift in the first place, but in this passage, regifting is encouraged, even expected. God is good, and He has given His church gifts in the form of people who use those gifts for the equipping of the church. Here we see a vision for how the church is intended to function, and everyone gets to be a part of it! The Church is more than me, for it encompasses all of you as well. We all have a role to play here with no one just sitting around with no purpose. To that end, we are going to be looking at two points: God gives us the gifts we need and We give these gifts to each other. 

God gives us the gifts we need

The earlier passage we looked at last week showed us how we are all to be united, but that doesn’t mean total uniformity. What do I mean by that? I mean that God has put us on the same team, but we are not all the same people. God has made us all different (hence the difficulty in being unified sometimes), and that is a strength. God has gifted us all differently so that we would need each other. No one is able to do church or even the Christian life alone. 

So let’s see how God has set this up. Paul says that grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. One scholar points out that the word “grace” was the same word that Paul used of God gifting him for ministry (Thielman, 263). We must never forget that these gifts God gives us are indeed that, gifts. It may not always be easy to deploy these, but it is always a privilege to do so. 

These gifts come from Christ, as Paul mentions in Psalm 68. Now, an eagle eyed reader of the Bible may notice something interesting. If you look at the verse that Paul is quoting from in Psalm 68:18, you’ll notice that there is a different word there. Not just a different one, the opposite one! Instead of giving gifts to men, God is portrayed as receiving gifts from men. There are a few different explanations to it, but I think the best one comes from my old seminary professor. Thielman notes that Paul is quoting and explaining this verse here (262). He goes on to say that Paul is still in line with the overall thrust of Psalm 68, so He is adapting the verse to explain what it means in its context (267-8). Namely, Christ has conquered and is generous to His people. There are other ways of looking at it, but I think that makes the most sense. 

As we get into the next verse, we have yet another interpretive conundrum. Paul is talking about Jesus descending, and the controversy comes from is Jesus merely descending to the Earth, or is Jesus descending below the Earth. If you take the first approach, there is nothing more to say about it, it simply is talking about Jesus’ incarnation. If you take the second approach, you have to then ask what that means as well. I take the second. I think, again, along with my old professor and other scholars as well, that this is Jesus going below the Earth, and I think that this is referring to the underworld, the realm of the dead. As Thielman notes, the people’s culture at that time saw the realm of the dead as being in the lower parts of the Earth, so for Paul to say it this way (remember, they would be listening rather than reading this letter), it is hard to imagine the people taking it any other way. 

So what was Jesus doing? Well, a lot of scholars point to 1 Peter 3:19 which references Jesus preaching to the spirits of the underworld. This wouldn’t be Jesus giving demons a second chance, but rather this is Jesus proclaiming His victory, which I think fits the overall context here of the victorious Jesus rising up from the grave, into heaven, and taking His seat as Lord over all! 

So what difference does this make to your life? Well, this reminds us that we are serving a glorious and conquering King. We are not following a champion, we are following the champion of all. There is not a place in heaven, Earth, or under the Earth, that is outside of Jesus’ purview and control; He’s conquered it all. (Thielman, 272). You don’t have to fear death. Jesus can walk you through that because He has been there and back. You don’t have to fear demons, because He has risen through the heavens! Do you ever have pests or other problems that show up in your house? I do, and when you find a good repair person who does a walk-through of the house correcting all the issues that were there, you find a sense of relief, don’t you? It’s like Mom and Dad checking for monsters under the bed. There is relief there that someone powerful has gone through your world and conquered the issues. That’s what Jesus has done. He has gone through all spheres of the world and has said, “I rule here,” and He does. Nothing is outside His control. One day, He will return and deal with all of our problems in the same way that He has dealt with our spiritual issues. 
More than that, though, He has given the Church gifts. What are those gifts? Well, there are a few different lists of gifts that are in the Bible (you can find them in Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 28-30, and 1 Peter 4:10-11), 20 spiritual gifts, in fact. As a quick definition, a spiritual gift is something that is given to you by God for the building up of the church as found in those lists. In the passage before us, Paul’s is focusing on a particular category of gifts, those of teaching. We as a whole church benefit from these, so let’s jump into them. 

Paul first mentions the apostles and prophets. The apostles were those who had personal interactions with Jesus and witnessed His resurrection. These were the original guys and as sun possessed an authority that no one else  has. Jesus had specifically commissioned them to bring God’s Word to us in the form that we see today in the New Testament. Now, this gift doesn’t exist anymore. No one else has the right to write additional books to the New Testament. God has spoken, and His Word is complete. In the same way, we don’t see the office of prophet anymore. The passage here is referring to New Testament prophets (Merckle, 74). These folks were able to receive direction from God, which we see a handful of times in the book of Acts. Bear in mind that this was during the time of a incomplete Bible, so it wasn’t like one could just open up the Bible to get direction. Now that we have the Bible, it is sufficient for all we need to live the life God calls us to live. 

So what is the gift of evangelist? It is something of a rare word in the New Testament, but as near as we can tell, this is the gifting of someone who preaches the gospel while traveling around to lots of different places (Thielman, 274) I know someone by the name of Paul golden who does exactly this. This doesn’t mean that those of us who don’t have this specific calling to travel are excused from sharing our faith. The great commission at the end of Matthew includes everyone. If it only applied to the disciples, then the message would have gone no further than their generation. 
Next we have shepherds and teachers, or pastors and teachers, if you prefer the more modern word for my role. These two terms are grouped together because oftentimes these two roles overlap. All pastors are teachers, but not all teachers are pastors, as the pastor also has more of an administrative role as well. (Merckle, 74). 

We give these gifts to each other.

Now, why are these people gifts to the church? Is it because people who teach have better personalities or are more important people? Are they gifts to the church because they are the ones who do the work of the church on behalf of the rest of the people? Contrary to popular practice in this country, that is not how it is supposed to work. The text says that the four gifts listed above are supposed to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, or the work of service. My job here is to pass on the teachings of the Apostles, prophets, and evangelists to you so that you may be equipped to go out into the world. There has been a lot of debate on whether that is the right reading of this text, but I think, along with other scholars, that the context of this passage is talking about the gifts that Jesus gives to everyone, thus there is an expectation that everyone would be involved in the work of the church. My job, as one who has been given the gift of pastoring, is to show you all how you use your own unique gifts for the building up of the body. I don’t have all the gifts, and even if I did (which is impossible), I wouldn’t have them to the same degree that you all would. No one is omnicompetent, good at everything. Some of you major at serving. Others of you major in mercy. Still others major in teaching. This is one of the things I love about our session and diaconate. Each man brings something different to the table, and we need all of that. It’s like if we were building a garden. You need people to come in and build the garden boxes, put up the trellis, and install a watering system. And then you need other people who will pick out the plants, tend to the weeds, and nurture the vines up those trellis. No one is more important than the other, and both are needed. We will be coming to a time soon of officer nominations, so be thinking and praying about who might fit in those categories to help build up the church. 

So what happens when the saints are equipped? The church is guarded and grows in maturity. What does this look like? Well, this looks like being united in the truth so we won’t be so easily deceived by error. It can be hard to see the importance of that sometimes. We tend to think that theologically mature people are those who read these massive, stuffy volumes written by old dead guys that has very little relevance to daily life. This is a huge, and dangerous, misunderstanding. Knowing what you believe and why is very important because what you believe controls your life. It is not what you say you believe, but what you actually believe. You will go through hardship in your life very differently if you have a strong grasp of the sovereignty of God. But if you haven’t come to a strong conviction on that, you won’t be anchored and the boat of your life will be tossed around by every passing wind. You will be subjected to the predations of other people. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that will use theology wrongly to abuse people and especially to bilk people out of money. Be grounded in what the Bible says, and you won’t be as easily dissuaded from the truth. 

Finally, the church is going to grow. Maybe numerically, but more importantly the church will grow to be more like Jesus. He promises to use the people and the gifts that He has given to them, but in the end, it is always Jesus who is the one building up the truth (Merckle, 76). 
So what implications does this passage give to us? 

Well for one thing, none of us do anything in isolation. When each person has been given a gift (and this tells us that everyone’s got one), the expectation is that you will use it. The church will not grow in maturity as well as it could if you aren’t getting in the game. We need you. We don’t just say that to make people feel needed, we really do. God says we do, even if we both don’t realize that. Your relationship with God affects the rest of the church. When one person is striving after God, it motivates the rest of us to follow suit. Your life has an impact. 

Now you may say, “Ha! I’m at the end of my life. I’m lucky to even be here today, how can I serve in this way.” By exactly doing that. Being here. Whatever you are able to do, even if that is being confined to a bed. As John Piper once said something to the effect, if you are 100 years old and confined to a bed, your challenge and display of faith is not cursing God. Remaining steadfast in your love for God when everything hurts, when no one visits, when friends have passed on long ago, yet you still cling to your Savior, that’s hugely helpful to us who are younger. That shines the way on how to live the later years well. 

Others on the opposite side of the spectrum may say, “Well, I’m just a kid. How can I do something that will help grownups?” You can do that by loving God right now. Start learning as much as you can. Ask questions in Sunday School, be curious about the things of God. Start getting serious now. That motivates adults. When we see kids memorizing the Bible, we think, “Goodness, if the kids are doing that, how much more should I?” You kids can be unbelievable servants of God. 

Maybe you are somewhere in the middle. You’re the one taking care of the kids. Invest in them. Equip them as you have been equipped. Don’t wait for the Sunday School teacher to do it, they are there as a needed supplement. No, you do not have time to attend every small group and church function. Martin Loyd Jones said once to a group of medical students, “You have time to study the Bible. The only one who doesn’t have the time or emotional energy to deeply study the Bible is a mother of young children.” So Moms, when you have opportunity dive into God’s Word, do it, but don’t feel bad that you’re not at every single Church function. Raise your children to love and fear the Lord, and you are doing the best work you could possibly do for the church. No one will impact your children like you will.  Maybe you are retired here today. Use this beautiful ratio of wisdom, energy, and choice of schedule for the church. People do still need you. 
And if you think, “Man, I don’t even know if I’ve been given a gift.” Come make an appointment with me, and we’ll figure it out together. That’s my God-given job! We’ll start by making sure that you have committed your life to Him in surrender and trust. 

And if you have done that but you feel that you’ve been on the sidelines for a while, then may I, along with JC Ryle, encourage you not to linger there like Lot did at Sodom. Staying immature benefits no one around you. Strive for the holiness and maturity that is yours already in Christ. 


Works Cited 
Thielman, Frank, Ephesians 
Merckle, Benjamin, Ephesians

​Image by Yvette Fang