Sermon: Christ's gift

... each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Ephesians 4.13

Some years ago my brother attended a charismatic rally, where he heard the preacher say, I want all the men to stand up, for it is men who were called to the leadership in the church of Christ. They are called to be the head of their household. They are to rule their families according to the word of God. They are to bring up their children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. It is to men that this calling is given.

Then, as the preacher waited for a response, a voice was heard somewhere in the hall, Stand up, George, he means you.

It is interesting to read Ephesians 4 in the light of Isaiah 44. This chapter is part of that section of the book of Isaiah which addresses the people of Israel as they are about to be released from Exile in Babylon. God is assuring his people that they have nothing to fear. What is more, he will vindicate them for all that they had suffered at the hands of the Babylonians. At the same time, he will declare himself to be the one the true God, who alone can tell the end from the beginning. He will re-establish their identity as his people, and in doing so vindicate his own identity as their God.

Chapter 4 of the letter to the Ephesians is concerned to establish an ethic of maturity upon the basis of the teaching that has been developed in the previous three chapters. Reconciliation has been brought about by God's action in Jesus Christ, and the people are being called to live reconciled lives. Ephesians 4 holds out the prospect of a human maturity which nothing less than the full stature of the risen and glorified Christ.

So Ephesians talks about ascension, about gifts and about maturity, and there is a particular point to be made about each of them.

First, the point to be made about ascension is that there is a move from nationalist cult to a global vision.

Ephesians bases what it says about the ascension of Jesus on a text from Psalm 68. This Psalm may be quite early in Israel's history, and it is not easy to interpret. But v.18 has, When you ascended on high you led captivity captive and received gifts among men. The image is of God ascending a holy mountain after a battle - maybe after one of those tribal battles around the time of the conquest of Canaan. God goes with his people up a holy mountain to divide the spoils which he has gained from battling with his own and his people's enemies.

Now you may have noticed that the text of Ephesians says, When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people. Does he give them, or does he receive them? The context of battle maybe helps us to see what is happening here: God has received gifts, or tribute, from those whom he has defeated, and these spoils of war are divided among his soldiers; in other words, he receives the gifts in order to give them to others.

So here the resurrection of Jesus is regarded as a victory over the forces of evil. And in dividing the spoils - if this not to stretch the metaphor too far - what God gives to his people are gifts, not for death and defeat, but for life, for growth and for the building of the human race as it stands before God as it is incorporated into the risen body of Jesus Christ. So the 'captivity' threatened by God's enemies is itself 'taken captive' by the power of the grace of God; and it is changed into freedom, freedom to develop the gifts necessary for growth.

Second, the point to be made about gifts is that there is a difference in emphasis between function and identity. St Paul talks in 1 Corinthians of the gifts of the Spirit, and he speaks first of apostles, second prophets, third teachers; and then he moves away from people to functions: then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.

But Ephesians talks about apostles, ... prophets, ... evangelists, ... pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. So there is less emphasis on what people do and more on what they are.

I observed last week that Matthew tells in three verses at the end of his Gospel what Luke spins out over two chapters: the ascension of the Lord and the gift of the Spirit are the concomitants of the resurrection. In other words, he goes away in order to give us presents, gifts.

Gifts are complex symbols of presence and absence. Sometimes we receive gifts when we our loved ones come back from holiday; sometimes we receive them for some celebration when they cannot be there; and sometimes they bring them with them when they come to a party. This friend, Jesus Christ, gives gifts in order to help us realize that we do not have him materially, physically or historically present - except to the extent that we embody him. So his is a particular kind of presence, because he is present in the gifts; so to acknowledge them is to acknowledge him. He gives gifts at his departure, so that we may become him.

We are who we are to the extent that we are involved in him. And he is who he is to the extent that he incorporates us. Just as the God of Israel in the scriptures is his people's God to the extent that he involves himself in the vindication of their captivity and suffering.

So, thirdly and finally, the point to be made about maturity is that there is a move from infancy to maturity. That maturity does not diminish our individuality; rather it enhances it, and it places it in the context of the maturity of our neighbours: 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.

And this is the work of the Spirit. The word spirit means 'breath', and it has to do with all that is life-giving, and with liveliness; and it is fleeting, evanescent and invisibility; in the Hebrew language the word is associated also with the wind. So the same breath which gives life and liveliness, which flees like a shadow, and of which the Lord himself observes, The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes - the same breath is that which whips up the sands of the desert, blinding the eye and parching the throat.

This is breath with passion and fire. It has nothing to do with being bullied like children to fulfil someone else's expectations: it is to do with being loved by God into using the gifts we have been given in order to become who we are. The ascension of Jesus Christ signifies the greatest human dignity.

So the only question is, What have you been given? And how will you use it to become yourself, to co-operate in the purposes of God in ending to captivity, and to bring about human reconciliation?

... to each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.