Tonight, we're turning in the Bible to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, I have that as 1243 in the Pew Bible for the page number. And we'll be looking at verses 7. We'll read all the way through verse 16. Ephesians 4, 7 through 16. Let's hear God's Word tonight. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine by human cunning by craftiness and deceitful schemes rather speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head into Christ from whom the whole body joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped when each part is working properly makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word tonight. After Jesus had commissioned his disciples to take the gospel to the ends of the earth in the Great Commission, after we see all of this happen, and then of course in Acts chapter 1, there was an amazing event that took place. While they stood there and watched, we read, he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight. and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up behold two men stood by them in white apparel who also said men of galilee why do you stand gazing up into heaven this same jesus who has taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven that is a very important moment this is a very important thing to consider tonight the ascension of christ and they were instructed if you remember uh the disciples to wait there until pentecost to wait at jerusalem and we consider this tonight we open it up saying well what happened to jesus what did this all mean why is this thing that we call the ascension of christ so important for the life of the church and so important for us to consider tonight these are questions are important because the way that we understand them the way that we appreciate them really gives us some kind of insight into what jesus meant when he said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore when he went up into heaven something new had been inaugurated something beautiful was happening and tonight i want to consider with you the ascension of christ um here as we look at this in in in the scriptures and how paul applies this in ephesians chapter four uh as we see in acts the the redemption program go out as a witness to all the nations of the earth uh here we're looking tonight at the importance of this in the life of the body of christ and we emphasize a lot uh in our confessions and what we believe that the ministry is to be a word and a sacrament ministry you've heard that a lot you've heard your pastors over the history say that a lot to you but i want to look at tonight what are the consequences of that sometimes i think as pastors it's easy to talk a lot about that without really getting into as much the importance of what should be happening as a result from that and that's how paul applies the ascension of christ uh in ephesians chapter 4 using the words of our confession did you notice tonight our catechism that every member is obligated to use as gifts that christ ascended on high and poured out gifts from heaven upon his members through the spirit this is a beautiful section here in ephesians that describes the whole body working together for a purpose and what that purpose is and why we're here and what we're doing this is contrary to being hearers of the word and not doers of the word so i want us tonight to answer that question what what bearing does the ascension of christ have upon me as a member of the body of christ and a member of the church and even more specifically a member of locally the escondido united reform church notice in verse 7 what he says in ephesians chapter 4 but grace was given to each one of us grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of christ's gifts so every believer has been given grace and you might stand back and say well what kind of shape what kind of way does that grace what does it look like what does that mean for us it flows really from what he already said the prevailing theme being unity here in the first section the unity of the body and desiring that we maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and now paul is applying this and showing we often don't think about how that unity we're kind of all backwards on unity today you know what is unity and how is that achieved and we have our ideas of what unity should be and what it should look like and usually our ideas run into conflict with the biblical way that unity is described in this particular case tonight unity is described and unity is developed through how paul is applying the ascension of christ and the benefit for you as the church and notice what he says here notice how he applies this here that christ has been raised from the dead he has been seated this is what he already said in chapter one that there is this abundance of power that is now made available to you and that since he is seated at the right hand in the heavenly places everything is being put under his feet and so that he is given to him over all things to the church which is his body the fullness of him who fills all in all so so this is an intriguing way that he begins the epistle and notice how he starts here as he's going to apply the ascension he starts with grace he starts with mentioning and reaffirming what he's been developing in the first three chapters the wonderful grace of god that has been given to you and i sat back and i thought well why does he again raise this issue paul's going to talk about our responsibility now paul's going to talk about our responsibility as christians to live and be who we are paul's applying the doctrines of the christian faith now very practically and the problem is is that you never can start there and really get people working it doesn't work you don't really motivate and get people to action until they've really been taken with the grace message and that's why we've been plowing through romans for so long to get to romans chapter 12 after we've understood and looked at all these wonderful doctrines of grace we get to romans 12 and then after all of that grace he's finally saying now therefore present your bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to god well that's the same structure is ephesians the first three chapters he talks about predestination all of the wonderful working of christ for you forgiving you loving you by grace you've been saved he's not talking about doing he's overwhelmed us with his grace all assuring us that he has been seated and raised and that he is triumphed over death in the grave for us but now in chapter four he's motivating us to obedience and i just say that you never will really begin to put to practice the christian life until the grace message has overtaken you this doesn't happen and when it does these things occur and so here's what we have here in ephesians chapter 4 he starts and he says now he's specifically showing how purposeful this grace has been toward you that we would use our gifts and that we would use our gifts for the furtherance of his kingdom and the glory of his name and he wants to make it known that these gifts are not just given to some individuals in the life of the church these gifts are not given just to the leaders of the church christ's ascension has a great bearing upon every single member of his body and so he noticed how he says it notice how he says it in verse 7 but grace was given to each one of us that is a direct appeal to you you you can put your name there grace was given to me christ didn't go through all of this to leave one of his sheep idle christ didn't go through all of this to leave one of his sheep bearing a talent christ didn't suffer through the death of the cross so that we would bear the characterization as we sometimes hear frozen chosen it's not what he did and so notice how he motivates us tonight to think through the glorious work of christ he says in verse 8 therefore he says when he ascended on high he led a host of captives and gave gifts to men it's the ascension that motivates this it's the ascension of christ that drives this and notice how he said it he rose he's ruling and you'll notice there the importance of this because it's offset and lo and behold he is quoting psalm 68 now i'd test your memories here a little bit but see how much you remember of psalm 68 not too long ago that was a wonderful psalm wasn't it and if you remember that psalm that was a whole victory triumph psalm of the Lord coming down from heaven and remember what he did he he came and he delivered his people out of the bondage in Egypt and he marched through the wilderness with them and the cloud was with them and and all the way through he plundered it was a victory march right on into the promised land and the imagery that that psalm 68 picked up on was this was a great victory by our king he delivered israel he saved them and that whole host of captives in egypt were now brought into his train and so if you can imagine the imagery just imagine now all of those captives he led captivity captive and he took all of those captives and he made them his captives and so imagine them all chained to his chariot going to the promised land not a captivity of bondage but a captivity of freedom and that's how the psalm um pictures it and describes it verse 4 sing to god this is psalm 68 sing to his praises extol him who rides on the clouds by his name yah and rejoice before him oh god when you went before your people when you marched through the wilderness the earth shook the heavens dropped rain at the presence of god sinai itself was moved and then it describes this great work of the lord the chariots of god are 20 000 even thousands of thousands the lord is among them in sinai and then this verse comes out you have ascended on high you have led captivity captive and you received gifts from men now any really close reader caught something psalm 68 says he received gifts what does ephesians 4 say he gave gifts now i can't believe paul did that i'm shocked paul did that as i understand it the holy spirit paul saw and understood in that text that the gifts that were given were the captives and the lord is so bounteous that this king lavish gifts back on them and that's how he applies this here and he looks at this in here and he's applying psalm 68 to jesus what did jesus do just like the exodus jesus came down from heaven he plundered us it plundered us and brought us out of our captivity to our sin and we're now brought into his kingdom we're his subjects we're his army we're his people and this is stunningly powerful because paul quotes psalm 68 to say here's where you see the ultimate fulfillment of psalm 68 it was jesus who descended from the glory that he had in the heavenly zion he heard our cries in spiritual bondage and he went down to egypt himself and he came out of there he passed through the sea as the true israelite and what did he do for us paul's moved by this in verse 9 what does he say this is ephesians 4 verse 9 now this he ascended what does it mean but that he also first descended talking about christ into the lower parts of the earth he who descended is the one who ascended far above the heavens that he might fill all things so he just took psalm 68 applied it to christ showed us that the fulfillment of it is in christ jesus came from there and he went all the way down here and then he went back up there that's what he just said and now what does he say to us he's taken a whole host of people into his kingdom by doing that and he's gathered out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. And He's saved. And this is a glorious, glorious victory. This is not bondage. You know what He's done for you? You're not hammering away with bricks trying to work your way for salvation. He's freed you. And you belong to Him. I mean, this is the New Testament. It constantly says you're bought by Him. You're purchased. Your body's not even yours anymore. everything about you is his that he received you that was his reward and now what is he doing with you he's lavishing it back down upon you a gift paul says he gave gifts to men now this is really beautiful do you see the whole picture here tonight what the lord wants you to understand is that this grace is for the present it's now for you and every member has a part every member does its share the lord has blessed you and given you a gift the lord has thought specifically about you he knows he formed you he made you he knows everything about you he knows the way he's equipped you and he's given you a particular gift and we're not called to sit idle with it and so we must realize that there is this specific grace given and you've all been given it it's a beautiful passage isn't it and that is the calling every member recognize that he's done this now he outlines a few of those gifts in verse 11 doesn't he this is really interesting in verse 11 and he himself gave some to be apostles um he gave the apostles the prophets the evangelists the shepherds and the teachers now he outlined some gifts that are absolutely important for the ministry doesn't he for the advancement of the kingdom but why did he do that why did he do that what's the purpose of that you know today i think the mentality is that everything falls in the hands of the clergy everything falls in the hands of the pastors and the leaders and you know i've already quoted a few times that it's true that they say you know that the going rate is the going rule is is that 10 of the people do 90 of the work and i i attended a little church in college and i'll never forget that it was the pastor who was cleaning the toilets now that's maybe that's not a bad thing okay um i'm thankful i'm not doing that but i think the important point here you know as john stott once said and this is a striking comment by john stott what does the layman want the regular churchgoer he wants a building that looks like a church the clergy dressed in the way he approves the services that he's used to and to be left alone. Thus do laymen abandon the God-given tasks and the professional clergy pick them up to the church's impoverishment. Now, I don't know if that makes you angry. I don't know how you feel about that. But I think John Stott really hits the nail on the head in something very important we have to consider. We depend a lot on the pastors. And I understand my calling and I understand that the Lord has equipped me with a certain gift to preach His gospel and to minister to the needs of the saints. He's equipped the elders for leading and shepherding and loving and praying. He's equipped the deacons to do the work of service among us. And He has equipped them in many beautiful ways. But it's not that the rest of the body sits on the sidelines. And that's where I think the ascension tonight is really beautiful to consider. Paul gives in one sentence It's the entire mission statement for the church. And we're always wanting goals and mission statements, and every church is always looking for a mission statement. And I say, here it is, right here. This is the mission statement for the church. Look at verse 12. He gave all of these gifts, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, for what? For the equipping. To equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Now, the old King James puts a comma in there and it's a crucial comma. I don't agree with the comma. But it's a crucial comma. And I want you to listen to how the old King James reads this. And you tell me what it does to the sentence when this comma is put there. He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers for what? For the equipping of the saints, O King James, comma. For the work of the ministry, comma. For the edifying of the body of Christ. What did that just do? He gave all of these people to do, number one, for the equipping of the saints, comma. For the work of the ministry, comma. The whole thing, when you read it with the commas, Puts it on the clergy. And I don't believe that's correct. There's no comma there. In fact, there's no definite article for ministry here. You have the ministry, which is the preaching ministry. But notice how our translation has it, which I believe is absolutely correct. Notice what he says in verse 12. To equip the saints for the work of ministry. What are we doing? Why are we giving? We're equipping you for work of the ministry. Not the official, the preaching ministry. We're not all pastors. But for the work of ministry, serving. That's why we're set apart to help you, to equip you, to encourage you to be about this. And my work and Pastor Donovan's work and the elders and the deacons' work is to equip you to labor and to serve. that you would be building up the body of Christ. And I think that's a beautiful thing. That's a very beautiful thing. And I know that in some Reformed circles, they're nervous to say this because they're so afraid of giving too much back to the people. And I say, I wish that all of you would prophesy, as Moses said. I wish that every one of you could stand up and preach the Gospel. I would love that. But I know what Paul's saying here and that he has specifically equipped you so that he gives us servants to encourage you to be about the work. And a church that's doing that is flourishing. A church that's committed to that is a flourishing church. I've seen the opposite. So the ascension is about that. It's a beautiful thing. And everyone has that responsibility tonight. to use that gift. One of the questions I've asked in membership interviews is what gifts do you have? Do you know that's the single greatest, most difficult question anyone has to deal with and no one can answer it? I think, well, then we need to go to the Lord in prayer. And we need to ask Him, Lord, what have you equipped me with to be about if I don't know? So this is what He's given. This is what He's done. And can you imagine if every last member in the body of Christ had the mentality that Christ descended and then ascended and took them in His train, that they would be a servant with the same kind of servant mentality doing the work of ministry, serving tables. Can you imagine what verse 13, if this were lived out in the life of the church, that by using gifts for the work of ministry, we would come to what? The unity of the faith. You know, typically what you'll find is that the complainers and the divisive people are the ones doing nothing. And those are the ones you want to get working. So tonight this calls us to realize the glory of Christ's ascension and to recognize the gifts He's given to us for the growth of the body, for the benefit of the body. Speaking the truth in love may grow up in all things and to Him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together. Notice this. This is why I believe he's talking to everyone. By what every joint supplies, he says, according to the effective working by which every part does its share. If you're not doing your share, you're bearing your talent, and Jesus didn't have a good message for people doing that. One pastor tells of a church who had a really bad reputation in the community. History of conflicts, history of fighting, history of splits. Everyone knew it, too, in the community. Nothing but problems in that church. This is what the pastor described that happened in that church. Many in the church were sick of the strife and responded to the Spirit under the preaching of the gospel. As a body, they began to act and look more like Christ. Gossip died down. The gifts of the Spirit began to flourish. The deacons faithfully sent flowers to the hospitalized and sick in the community. Hot meals were taken to chronically ill persons. A spirit of prayer and intercession began to come at the prayer meetings. Visitors were impressed by a new attentiveness in the Sunday worship services. One of them remarked, Before when I visited, everyone read their bulletins and just looked around. There was no engagement. The youth were totally disconnected. But now they listen like hungry people. The change is so mysterious, it's frightening. And what a challenge for us tonight. What do we demonstrate when people walk in? Do we demonstrate that there's a Lord reigning? Do we believe that? And they see it in our worship, in our actions, in our attitude, in our service? It's an important question, isn't it? Paul says this. I love also what Peter says. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Now I could apply this a lot more tonight. And there's a lot more ways I'm sure we'll get at in the future together about using our gifts, even the principle of the older instructing the younger. Older women instructing younger women. Older men instructing younger men. We're not doing that. And that's what the Lord is calling us to use our gifts to do. The point is, tonight, you all have a glorious part in this. It's not just Pastor Gord. It's not just Pastor Don. It's not just the elders. It's you. We're here for you. That's why we serve. And Christ descended and ascended for you and brought you into His kingdom. And so I want you to think about tonight. Are we willing servants, is Psalm 110. We just sung out Psalm 110. Are we willing servants in the day of His power? That was the day that the Old Testament looked for. A bunch of willing servants who would be about the Lord's work in joyful harmony, serving and glorifying Him. That's a beautiful thing on the face of this earth. Let's praise Him tonight that He is raised and ascended on high. O Lord our God, we thank You. We thank You for instructing us. What a glorious, glorious doctrine. What a glorious truth that our Lord Jesus Christ arose victorious from the dead and ascended far above all principalities, was seated on the throne and is ruling. And we don't come slavishly just giving gifts back in some kind of drudging way, in some kind of bondage way. We're free. And your reign is so gracious, Lord, and so kind and loving that you lavish upon us gifts. And for that, we thank you. And so encourage this body tonight to be about that. Thank you that you care to instruct us in this. And may, Lord, this way, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace be maintained in the Escondido United Reformed Church. In Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.