"Spiritual gifts#1: Foundation & purpose" by Rod Bayley, 11 May 2008, Ephesians 2:19-22; 4:7-16

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At the end of 1999, Christine and I spent some time in Europe on a
holiday. We visited Italy during the trip, and although there are a
number of classic tourist destinations in Italy, the leaning tower of
Pisa is still one which is very popular. While you can have fun
posing in photos, either pretending to hold it up or alternatively
push it over as we did, there are obviously some major structural
problems associated with the building. When we were there you were
not allowed to climb the tower, and several large cables ran from the
building to various fixed points to stabilise the famous white
marble. It leans at an angle of nearly 4 degrees, which means that
the top of the tower is 3.9 metres from where it would stand if the
tower were perfectly vertical. The problem was not due to it being
built in three stages over about 177 years, or the fact that they
began work on August 9, 1173. The tower began to sink soon after
construction progressed to the third floor in 1178, because they only
constructed a mere three metre foundation, set in weak, unstable
subsoil. The design was flawed from the beginning. The most important
part of a building is always the foundation - nothing can be
effectively built on top of it, unless the foundation is right.

As we commence our four week series on spiritual gifts and the church,
it is important to firstly remind ourselves of the foundation of the
church, which we are using our gifts to build upon. The apostle Paul
has some important words on this point in Ephesians 2:19-22:
“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow
citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, 20built on
the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself
as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined
together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him
you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God
lives by his Spirit.”

Considering the foundation of the church, the first point which must
be made is that Jesus Christ is the “chief cornerstone.” This means
that the Gentile readers of this letter who have become Christians
have been founded on Christ - their faith is built upon him. It is
clear throughout the preceding verses in chapter two that this refers
to his death and resurrection which pays for our sin, our rebellion
against God’s rule over our life. His death has reconciled us to God
in verse 16, who we had been alienated from. We receive forgiveness
simply through faith in what Jesus has done for us on the Cross. God
is gracious and merciful, he saves us through Jesus when there was
nothing we could do to save ourselves. And so if we take hold of this
free gift, we are adopted into his family, we become part of his
household in verse 19, part of the growing building of God’s people in
verse 20. And so Jesus is the crucial foundation block of God’s
people, and as the chief cornerstone, the rest of the growing building
must take its alignment from him - the position of all the other
stones is determined by Him.

Secondly, the rest of the foundation, which presents people as the
building blocks if you like, is comprised of the apostles and
prophets. The apostles were those specially commissioned and sent by
the Lord Jesus. This includes the Twelve and the apostle Paul
himself. They provided the essential link with their master, and so
their role was a foundational one. They received the revelation of
God through the Spirit, and had the task of proclaiming the gospel,
both verbally and through their writings. The prophets are NT
prophets, not those of the OT. Together with the apostles, the
prophets were the first to receive and proclaim God’s revelation in
Jesus, the gospel message. What this phrase means then, is that the
new non-Jewish believers were members of God’s people (his household
or building), on the basis of the teaching of the gospel. They have
the right foundation - no one can question their membership in God’s
new community. In summary, the church is built upon Jesus’ death and
resurrection, and the proclaiming of that good news by the apostles
and the prophets. So, before we talk of any growth of Christ’s
church, and the role of spiritual gifts in that, we must understand
the foundation of the church, which will give shape to that growth.
There is certainly growth alluded to in verses 21 and 22, as we see
that the building is rising and being built together. However, the
nature of that growth, and the role of gifts is addressed in detail in
chapter four of this letter.

So, turning to our second passage in Ephesians 4, let’s come to our
second point, ‘the gifts of Christ to his church.’ Notice what verse
7 states:
“But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.”
Not only is Jesus the cornerstone of the building, but the continued
growth of this building will be dependent upon God’s people using
their spiritual gifts, which Christ has distributed to them. The
gifts of grace refer to various spiritual gifts, some of which will be
noted further down in verse 11. If you like, Jesus lays the
foundation and also ensures the continued growth of the building, or
his church. He gives gifts to every believer - “to each one of us.”
So, no Christian can say that they are unable to contribute to the
life of the Christian community as expressed in the local
congregation. Neither can we be envious of others gifts or critical
of our own, as Christ has distributed them in accordance with his
perfect will - God doesn’t make mistakes. We all play a part in God’s
purposes for his church. No-one has all the gifts, and it is also
true that no member of the body is without some spiritual task and the
spiritual gift for it. Here we have diversity. Although we are
called to be unified as Christ’s church, and work together as part of
the one building, we are not all the same. In this way we have unity
with diversity, not uniformity - we complement each other.

Verses 8 to 10 are an aside in the argument - Paul goes on a tangent
for a moment to explain why Christ has the authority to bestow these
gifts of grace, before he gets back to talking about some particular
gifts in verse 11. Using Psalm 68:18, Paul points out that Jesus has
also conquered his enemies through the cross and his resurrection, and
returned to His Father’s throne in heaven in triumph - and he can now
bestow gifts on His people.

In verse 11, Paul returns to his direct discussion of these gifts of
grace, where he lists just four particular gifts that he now wants to
focus on. Notice that verse 11 states:
“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to
be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers.”

Pastors and teachers are linked in the original Greek - this is only
one gift or function. The four gifts listed are not the only
spiritual gifts. Several others are listed elsewhere in 1 Corinthians
12, in Romans 12 and 1 Peter 4. What he is focussing on here are
gifts of leadership, which although given to individuals, are gifts to
the whole church, as they have a particular role in helping the body
grow. Notice the first phrase of verse 11: “it was he who gave
some.” This refers again to the point made in verse 7, that it is
Christ who has chosen to give certain gifts to people. For example,
we owe it to Christ that we have evangelists. The gifts given to such
leaders are not for themselves - it should not puff them up with
pride. Rather, they are to realise the great responsibility to use
their gifts for others, as they have been given for the sake of the
body. Sam Chan who spoke last week is an example.

Briefly considering the four particular gifts noted here by Paul, it
should be stated that only the latter two of evangelists and pastor-
teachers have a significant ongoing role in the life of the church
today. While the role of the apostles and prophets was foundational
to the beginning of the church (Eph 2:20), the ongoing growth of the
now established church is dependent on itinerant evangelists (Philip -
Acts 21:8, & Timothy - 2 Tim.4:5), and pastor-teachers at local
churches, who are responsible for the day-to-day building up of the
church.

But if the purpose of spiritual gifts is to see the building rise, or
help the body grow - another metaphor which the writer Paul loves - it
leads us to another question. How will the body of Christ be built up
by these gifts? This is our third point on the ‘purpose of spiritual
gifts.’ Paul turns to this question in verses 12 to 16, as he
describes how the gifts Christ has given will lead to growth and
unity.

Notice firstly in verse 12, that we are told the purpose of the
spiritual gifts just discussed - they are “to prepare God’s people,
for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
The first way that the body is built up through the gifts of grace, is
by “preparing God’s people” or ‘equipping the saints.’ The idea here
is the perfecting of what is lacking. This equipping or perfecting is
aimed at preparing Christians “for works of service.” So the idea of
this first part of the verse is the bringing of Christians to a
condition of readiness for the use of their gifts within the body.
And secondly, the purpose of this equipping is that we all may be
offering works of service. The Christians within a church should
always be serving, and being prepared for further service.

The why of all this equipping and serving, the goal of this process is
given in the second half of verse 12 - “so that the body of Christ may
be built up.” What is done for Christians, in terms of leaders
equipping them, and what is done by Christians in serving others, is
for the ‘edifying’ or building up of the church. The church grows in
quality or becomes stronger, as Christians use their God-given gifts
in spiritual service of fellow-Christians, and those outside the
church. It doesn’t grow by people not contributing, or by everyone
just focussing on their one area of interest to the detriment of
others. Church, if you like, is a team sport, where we can’t have
most people sitting on the benches, while a few are in the game, or
with everyone in the game but not working together, not playing as a
team.

Soccer is one of many team sports which just doesn’t work, or
certainly a team does not function well, unless they work as a team.
Although people have different skills and play different roles or
positions in the team, if everyone in a soccer team plays for
themselves, it produces chaos, and is very ineffective. You see this
in under 7s or 8s games often. I remember when I was playing under
10s, I thought we played so well as a team in comparison to my
brother’s under 7s team. I remember watching one of their games where
the soccer ball was like the bee hive, and all the players like bees
just charged around in one big swarm all chasing the ball and just
wanting to kick it themselves, with just the goal keeper at either end
actually staying in position. It was very messy, and rarely saw any
goals scored anyway - I mean, who can kick a ball through a swarm of
19 other players. With no clear teamwork or serving each other, not
much progress is made. And you lose sight of the goal.

Unfortunately, many people think church has no goal, or if it does,
they have no purpose in reaching it. They easily find other
attractive things to do on a Sunday morning or evening, or have more
purpose at work or in some sport or hobby they pursue. We have to
realise, that we come to church to be equipped to serve, and that
everyone has been gifted to serve in some way. And without our
commitment, the church won’t grow as it should.

Well, what is the nature of this building up - how do we know if the
church is effectively working as a team and growing up? We know when
a soccer team is working well, the opposition are repelled, and goals
are scored. What are our goals or markers - what will it look like?
Paul addresses this in verse 13 when he states that we are built up
“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.” Firstly, it is “unity in the faith.” The
‘faith’ here is shorthand for the vital truths concerning Jesus and
his work and purpose. When the gospel is clearly taught, a variety of
people from different backgrounds, and with different gifts and levels
of knowledge who make up the local church, come into a growing
understanding of their salvation. This will bring increasing unity in
the body.

Secondly, not only will we be unified, but we will become “mature” or
reach the “whole measure” or ‘stature’ of Christ. The idea behind
‘becoming mature’ in the original language, is to move from childhood
to adulthood. It’s not that we reach a level where we are perfect, or
have everything together as individuals, or collectively as a church,
but we have moved on from being immature in our faith.

This last part about maturity requires further explanation, and Paul
goes on to provide this in verse 14. In fact, the last paragraph of
verses 14 to 16 really just expands on the purpose of God’s pattern of
equipping and service. Notice that verse 14 states what our maturity
won’t involve, and that is following every new teaching that comes
along - “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 men in their deceitful scheming.”
Maturity involves being sound in doctrine - not changing our biblical
beliefs based on someone’s latest man-made teaching. The immature
Christian and church, will simply be tossed about on the surge of the
sea or driven by the wind. Churches that follow the latest teaching
fad, are simply blown around like a rudderless ship, and can seek to
harness the congregation’s gifts in a way that just produces
confusion, rather than growth.

An example of the never ending fads was the ‘Toronto blessing.’ You
may have heard of this teaching which began in January 1994, so-called
because it started in a church in Toronto, Canada. It involved people
being ‘slain in the spirit’ or falling down when people prayed for
them, sometimes convulsing on the ground as well, and often laughing.
It became known as the ‘laughing revival’ as a result, and appeared to
be a spectacular use of gifts. That ‘movement’ or teaching, like many
others before it, was exported around the world, so that even Baptist
churches in Sydney embraced it. I went with two other friends in 1995
to a Baptist church in Sydney which had ‘caught’ the Toronto
blessing. By the end of the night there were bodies strewn all over
the floor after they had fallen down, and someone, as it turned out,
was not laughing, but had collapsed and passed out, and an ambulance
had been called. You should have seen the paramedics faces when they
came in - it was like ‘who are we supposed to be picking up out of
this collection of bodies?’

You might wonder how people are drawn in by such teachings, but it was
easy to see the attraction. It promised what many Christians crave -
a feeling of being closer to God. The claim was that God gave you a
special buzz as you got ‘zapped’ as they would say, or ‘slain in the
spirit.’ You came back each week to get it again, so you would always
feel on a spiritual high. It seemed so good - how could it not be the
latest thing from God to bring our churches real growth. But it faded
away after about 2 years. If we are immature in our faith we will
grasp each new teaching and just end up confused, as the spiritual
high fails to deliver. Sadly, this can leave people disillusioned
with God. This is not mature growth.

In verse 15, Paul further defines what maturity and true growth will
look like when he states what the right response to wrong teaching is:
“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up
into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” Here Paul states that
maturity and growth will see the truth of God’s word upheld, and false
teaching rebuked or corrected - not in a humiliating, aggressive
manner which tears people down, but “speaking the truth in love.” All
Christians, have a responsibility to speak the truth in love. Notice
in verse 16, that in Christ, the body of the church “grows and builds
itself up in love, as each part does its work.” We need to show love
to one another for this mature growth to occur.

Well, as we reflect on our church, we need to ask the question: “Am I
being built up in Christ?” On what grounds can you properly assess
that? I think from this passage we need to realise that growth
individually and of the body that we are a part, is determined by our
equipping and service. Verse 12 is the key. So: ‘Are you being
equipped through the teaching of the bible this year, whether here in
church or in bible studies, etc?’ If so, that is good. Keep learning
and being equipped - we never stop being prepared. But the harder
second question may be: “Are you offering works of service as a
result?” Are you playing your part in the body, using your gifts,
because we all have a role. Indeed, we all have to be serving and
contributing, or else the whole body will suffer. We grow as “each
part does its work” Paul says in verse 16. So, get active. There are
so many ways in which you can serve here at church, or further
afield. Lets aim to serve and so see the church built up!