"He... GAVE gifts TO men" (Ephesians 4:7-16). That He might RECEIVE (acceptable) gifts FROM men" (Psalms 68:18).
I love how Paul, in his Spirit inspired letter to the church at Ephesus, gave commentary on "the how" of Psalm 68:18. As mentioned above, Psalms 68:18 prophetically reveals that Jesus would ascend to heaven and receive gifts from men. So, how would Jesus "receive acceptable gifts FROM men?"
Paul gives insight and illuminates for us that He would have to first sacrificially descend and graciously give gifts of TO men, that those He called, redeemed and gifted could faithfully return, unto Him, what He equipped them to do.
What does this all mean? Jesus would graciously equip the equippers with a gift — that the equippers could gift the servers — so the servers could gift the body — that the body could gift each part of the body, with the rich gifts of His grace, truth and love — so each part in the body could fulfill the mission of the body.
The purpose of the gift is to equip the body to effectively fulfill its mission to reach people for Jesus, teach believers about Jesus, equip the brethren to serve Jesus and mobilize the missionaries to go with Jesus — in an unending cycle that He may receive acceptable gifts from men, even among the nations of the world (Romans 15:13-20).
Yes, to each one of us, in the body, grace was given out, in proportion to our calling and specific assignment, with the specific purpose of building up His body, for His glory and our good, that we as His body can offer Him acceptable service and people for His kingdom (Ephesians 4).
Featuring a sermon puts it on the front page of the site and is the most effective way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands including all mobile platforms + newsletter.
Text-Featuring a sermon is a less expensive way to bring this sermon to the attention of thousands on the right bar with optional newsletter inclusion. As low as $30/day.
