Ephesians 4:1-16 Devotional (All the Gifts)
First published in The Living Church Daily Devotional
A Reading from Ephesians 4:1-16
1 I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: 4 there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it is said,
“When he ascended on high, he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.”
9 (When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) 11 He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 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. 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
Devotional
As the church in Ephesus has grown, so has division between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. Paul speaks into that division with a celebration of the diversity of spiritual gifts among believers and the need for unity across that diversity.
We each have different giftings and callings. We will be tempted to see ourselves as above others (or below others) because of our gifts. But Paul urges us to remember that we are all part of the body of Christ, we all have the same Holy Spirit, and we were all given the same gift of faith through the same baptism. None of us deserved heaven or eternal life on our own merits, yet we have been given an undeserved gift of salvation by which we are being united with God. While the specific strengths and opportunities that comprise each of our gifts are different, they are all given to serve God and to build up the body of Christ.
Furthermore, we don’t develop or engage these gifts in isolation. We cannot grow without the body of Christ, and the body of Christ cannot grow without each of us. We need each others’ giftings to grow and to come to full “knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” We must be knit together “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” And importantly, by “speaking the truth in love.” Otherwise, when we try to do it alone, when we don't have all of the gifts and parts that others offer, we are easily blown about and deceived by false teaching.
