"Christ Ascended = the Church's Provision" Part 6

Let's begin with a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, you know our frame. You know that we are but dust, but you have breathed the breath of life into our bodies. You have given us life in your image, according to your likeness.

You have given us your Son, Jesus Christ, so that even while we were yet enemies in our sin, when Christ died for us, you would reconcile us to yourself. You have not left us orphans, but in the ascension of Christ, you have given us your Holy Spirit, that we would live powerful, genuine union with you, that we would say what an amazing love this is, that we would be called your children.

So in this time now, Father, we ask for what we need. You are spirit and you seek worshipers that will worship you in spirit and in truth. We are as ever dependent on you for these graces. Lead us to worship you.

Do your will in our hearts and your way. I pray especially today that you would spark our gratitude for all that you have provided to us because of your Son and through your spirit for your own glory.

And we would look at these gifts to the church from our hearts, give an amen. Lord, we ask all these things in the name for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well-pleased. Amen. Ephesians chapter four, verses seven through 16.

Christ Ascended and the Church's Provision from Ephesians 4:7-16

We began on Ascension Sunday thinking about this passage that speaks to Christ ascended in all of the most essential factors for the church. Why is it important that Christ is at the right hand? We are told this in Ephesians four, seven through 16.

We've identified nine characteristics of Christ's gift. In verse seven it says, but to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. What is this gift? It is an individual, undeserved, immeasurable, personal, completed, victorious, mediated, sacrificial, and glorious gift.

We see this in verses seven through 10. This morning we'll begin to look at the grace that is given, the grace that is given to the church, to each one of us, and how this matters for our everyday lives.

We do reverence to Christ by standing with me this morning as we give our attention to Ephesians four, seven through 16 and Christ revealed here. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore it says, when he ascended on high, he led captive a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. Now this expression, he ascended, what does it mean? Except that he also had descended into the lower parts of the earth.

He who descended is himself also who ascended far above all the heavens so that he might fill all things. And he gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to 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 a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth and love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body being fitted and held together by whatever joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. Fire had fallen on Mount Carmel. Fire from heaven on Mount Carmel. Blackened earth, scorched air. The sacrifice, the 12 jars of water, the 12 stones completely consumed.

What was the lesson? The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. The people arrested the 850 false prophets of Baal and Asherah. They hauled them down the mountain, down to this dusty, dried out creek bed called Kidron, and there Elijah slaughtered every last one of them with the sword.

Pile of bodies, a pool of blood. What is the lesson? The Lord, he is God. The Lord, he is God. And soon we find this mighty man of the Lord, Elijah, on the run. He had conquered the false prophets and he had put himself as the mediator for the people interceding for rain to finally fall out of the brass sky onto the bronze earth.

When rain came, it seemed that something changed in Elijah and he was afraid of the threats of a certain witch by the name of Jezebel. He was fed by a certain theophany named Christ with food that supplied him for 40 days and 40 nights and he ran till he hid in a cave.

And there the Lord spoke to his frightened prophet, but not in the fire and not in the earthquake and not in the whirlwind, but in the soft, gentle blowing, God speaks to Elijah and he comes to the entrance of the cave and he has wrapped his face with his mantle.

Why? No one may look upon the Lord and live. He wraps his face in the mantle and he hears what God has to say. God tells him to go anoint a new king of Aram, a new king of Israel and then to choose his successor, Elisha.

Elijah travels till he finds Elisha and as he's walking past the field where Elisha is plowing up with oxen, plowing up the dirt, Elijah throws his mantle on the shoulders of Elisha, a signal, come follow me.

Do what I do. And Elisha agrees, he gives the mantle back, but he agrees to follow Elijah. And on the day of Elijah's ascension, when God was ready for Elijah to come home, Elijah turns to Elisha and he says, what shall I do for you before I am taken from you?

And Elisha says, please let a double portion of your spirit be given to me. Elijah says, that's a very difficult thing to ask, but if you see me as God takes me, your wish will be granted. And in fact, he does see Elijah ascend and Elijah's mantle falls from his shoulders down to the ground to Elisha, who then puts on the mantle.

And when he encounters the prophets from the school of the prophets, what do they say? The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And as we read, we find Elijah in his ministry is credited with five major miracles, but Elisha with 10.

It appears to be a double portion of Elijah's spirit. How is this analogy helpful? How is this illustration helpful for us as we think about Christ's ascension? The idea of the spirit resting upon Elisha, the spirit of Elijah upon Elisha, the mantle itself that he wore, the mantle, a Hebrew word, which also can be translated as glory.

How is this a helpful analogy and illustration for us? The spirit of Christ rests upon the church. The glory of Christ rests upon the church. Jesus told his disciples in John 14, it was good for him to ascend back to the father.

It was actually good for them that he would send to them another comforter, the Holy Spirit. And incredibly, he tells them in verse 12, truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do, and greater works than these he will do because I go to the father.

Jesus says, precisely because I ascend to the father, meaning I will, because I ascend to the father and will give the Holy Spirit, those who believe in me will do the works that I do, but even greater works than what I do.

Christ's glory, Christ's spirit, his mantle rests on the church. He fills us with his Holy Spirit so that the works that we do as his church will transcend the three-year ministry in Palestine of Christ to a multi-millennium mission to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

And all of it still is to the glory of Christ who reigns on high and gives to us all that we need to do the work he has called us to do. According to the measure of Christ's glorious gift, grace is given to each one of us.

As we've been saying repeatedly, the church's provision flows from Christ ascended. The church's provision flows from Christ ascended. So grace is given. Grace is given in what way? The very first way we're gonna look at this morning is this, that Christ gives servants to his church.

He knows what we need. He's our shepherd, he is our leader, he is our savior. He knows exactly who we are, he knows exactly what we need, and so he has given, through the Holy Spirit, certain servants for his church.

Why? Because it's his intention and his ascension to fill all things, to do so by the gift of his Holy Spirit and in working through the church in this world today. So he's given us servants for the task.

Who are these folks? And why did Christ give them to the church? I'm really glad you asked. Those are good questions. The why is in verse 12. For the equipping of the saints. For the equipping of the saints to the work of the ministry, to the building up of the body of Christ.

Let's just work on the who right now. Who are these people? The first we see is apostles. He gave some as apostles. What is an apostle? An apostle, in the very basic sense, is one sent out with a message.

But these apostles were specially authorized by Christ, specially endowed by the Holy Spirit to continue the work of Christ upon the earth in his name, through his power, by his authority. The miracles of the apostles give testimony to this.

And in fact, when you look at the miracles of the apostles, they appear to be a bit of a double portion of Christ's own miracles as you read the book of Acts. You remember Jesus having crossed over the Sea of Galilee and they had heard about his healing power from the demoniac that he had delivered from the legion of demons.

And so when he arrives, everybody knows who he is. And so they bring every single sick, lame, blind, oppressed person they could find and they lay them all out over the ground and Jesus just walks among them and they reach out and they grab the hem of his garment and they're healed and they're healed and they're healed and they're healed.

When you read in the book of Acts, we have stories about Paul and his handkerchief being passed about from house to house. He's not even there, from house to house and they touch the handkerchief and the lame and the blind and the mute are all healed.

And then Peter walking about, his shadow cast upon the lame and the sick and they are healed. These signs are important to signify that the apostles indeed have been given a special appointment, a special commission by Jesus Christ as his eyewitnesses who bring his authority to bear on the world.

It's very important that we understand these apostles as significant, as set apart, as a special breed. They're the ones who gave the proper interpretation of the Old Testament as they wrote and completed the New Testament so that the church and the world would know who Christ is.

What does it mean to be saved? These apostles and their associates, of course, wrote the New Testament from the lectures of Peter in Rome that John Mark transcribed to the last scratch of the read on papyrus that John the apostle made on the Isle of Patmos.

There are few greater adventures that capture my imagination than the completion of the inerrant New Testament in 50 years. That is an amazing story. And it was written by the apostles and their associates to speak the truth of Christ.

We should be grateful that Christ in his ascension gave his Holy Spirit to those he commissioned as apostles. We should be grateful that these servants stabilized and spread the church, that they wrote us the New Testament.

We should be grateful that these were specially called eyewitnesses of the resurrected ascended Christ like Elisha, they had watched their master ascend and they had received his mantle. They received his authority.

They received his Holy Spirit. Where are the apostles today? You might ask. Well, they're absent from the body, present with the Lord. Rejoicing in his promises, awaiting their resurrection. That's where they are today.

There are no successors to the apostles. You remember that Judas Iscariot was a traitor, that he was false, but he was never an apostle. He was obviously one who had betrayed Christ. And so the early church, before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, did what you would find in the Old Testament.

They cast lots for every, with a lot is cast into the lap, but every decision is from the Lord. And so Matthias was selected to replace Judas Iscariot. So there was 12 of them. This wasn't much succession as it was replacing the one who had betrayed Christ.

And Paul says he was born out of time, but one who was the least of the apostles, but nonetheless chosen by the ascendant risen Christ. But we know that there's no succession of the apostles for one simple reason.

James was slaughtered by Herod early on in the life of the church and no replacement, no successor was ever named by the church. They were in a sense irreplaceable. So there's no apostles today. Anybody who claims to be the recipients of their ecclesiastical authority, that they are the direct descendants of the apostles, that they are false.

Whether it's the Pope of the West, the Patriarch of the East, or Billy Bob Hooker, who just paid $2 ,000 to Jip Bilker to get his online apostleship accreditation. There are no apostles today. Well, not only apostles, but Christ also gave prophets.

Christ also gave prophets to the church. And the prophets that we encounter in the New Testament are very much like their Old Testament counterparts. And remember that all believers are called to prophesy the truth of the scriptures as a matter of exhortation, but not all believers in the early church were given the gift of predictive prophecy or continual special revelation from God.

We do encounter a few, the prophet Agabus for one. But like the apostles, the prophets received and spread special revelation, even though they were not specially commissioned eyewitnesses of Christ. Their work, however, was no less indispensable to the church for in Ephesians 2 .20, Paul said, this himself being the cornerstone.

Let's hear that again. The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. In other words, while the apostles were writing the New Testament, in those places and in the early church where the special written revelation of God had not yet arrived in full form, where there was lacking special revelation, the prophets prophesied.

Christ gave prophets to the church to tell them his words. The fullness of the mystery of Christ needed revealing and needed expounding. Ephesians 3 .5 says that this mystery, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men has now been revealed to Christ's holy apostles and prophets in the spirit.

In other words, the Holy Spirit took the words from Christ, put them in the mouths of the New Testament prophets in exactly the same way as it worked in the Old Testament. You can read about that in 1 Peter 1 .11.

Now, what's significant about the apostles and the prophets is that they transcended the local church. They were given especially for the universal church. Their authority and revelations came from Christ through the spirit for the good of this spreading church and still awaiting the completion and publication of the holy scriptures.

Remember what Paul says. The foundation of the church, the apostles and the prophets with Christ as the cornerstone. So Christ is the cornerstone. He is the one who defines the shape of the building. He's the one who defines the shape of everything that's going to take place in his church.

And the apostles and the prophets build off of Christ and are oriented at Christ. And that's the foundation of the church. Well, their ministry is completed. So that's why we don't need apostles today.

That's why we don't need these prophets today because their foundation has been laid. And now things are being built upon that foundation. There are many who call themselves prophets today. They still receive revelations today that they eagerly desire to share with the church.

But Jesus Christ himself told us that that would be the case that many false prophets would arise and mislead many. He said that would occur. And we are told in the New Testament to test the spirits that are in this world according to the truth of God because the apostle John says many false prophets have gone out into the world.

Peter and Jude said they infiltrate the church with destructive heresies. The apostles knew this. The early church knew this. They knew they lived in the last days. We know we live in the last days. And it's clear with all this deception about.

Yet Christ knows what we need. And so he has given past tense in a completed fashion, given us the apostles and the prophets as the foundation for the church. And many people today are so weary of the foundation.

They want something new, something fresh, something different. What about these evangelists? Who are the evangelists? Well, to be an evangelist, you need at least 12 well-honed sermons, a winsome personality and a class ARV.

No, that's not what this means. To be an evangelist means that you're an open air preacher handing out tracts and defending the faith in the public square. I hope some of us do those things and I've done those things, but that's not really what an evangelist is or an evangelist does according to the Bible.

Think about those called evangelists in the New Testament. Think of Philip who was a deacon, but he's also called Philip the evangelist. Think about Timothy who was commissioned to do the work of an evangelist.

The things that Timothy did, so also did Titus and Epaphras and so on. Who are these evangelists? Well, these evangelists seem to be consistently led by Christ through the movement of the spirit to preach the gospel in new areas to new people groups.

So it appears to be Philip preaching to the Samaritans and then preaching to the Ethiopians and this is preparatory work for the church to come behind them and finish this and to establish churches. Timothy and Titus and Epaphras, all these men would either come before the apostles or behind the apostles to help establish the church in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So do we have evangelists today? I think we do. Do we call them missionaries? And all missionaries in a foreign field are sent out by local churches and they are to plant new churches in a cross-cultural context.

But even today, people sent out by local churches plant churches in places that are just right around us, okay? So I think we still have evangelists today and Christ gives these gospelizers to his church.

About pastors and teachers. Let's think of it this way. Christ gave apostles and prophets for the foundation of his church. He gave evangelists for the expansion of his church and he gave pastors and teachers for the strengthening of his church.

Isn't he a good shepherd? He knows our needs, he takes care of us in this way. Pastors and teachers are put together. Pastors certainly are teachers, but they are definitely more than teachers. The translation pastor only occurs here in all of the New Testament, though the word beneath the translation occurs many times, it simply means shepherd.

And of course, all the other instances in the New Testament where we hear about a shepherd is about Jesus Christ or related to his birth. So it's all focused on who Christ is as our shepherd, but pastors are those specially called by God, gifted by the Holy Spirit to shepherd the local church, which is a portion of Christ's flock.

Christ is the great shepherd, which is that's why this is here to remind us. Christ is the great shepherd. Whoever stands in this pulpit and preaches should understand themselves as an under shepherd, under the authority of Christ, in agreement with Christ, doing Christ's work on his behalf, okay?

So these pastors are often called in the New Testament, elders or bishops, which means overseers. We have six elders here in our flock. The qualifications for pastors or elders or overseers are very high, but these are not some sort of accreditation to achieve, they are marks of those whom Christ has given.

And we must not allow these marks to be compromised as we are concerned about the integrity of the church. It's a good thing that we're called pastors, elders and overseers are called pastors because this means that we are to both provide for and protect the flock.

So we're called to do, to provide and protect the flock. So it says Acts 20. And how do pastors, elders, overseers protect the flock and provide for the flock in the model of Christ? It's the same means in both cases, it's the word of God.

It's the word of God. How else do we protect against deception? How else do we protect against sin? How else do we provide and nurture and feed the flock other than by the scriptures? Now, obviously pastors are teachers and teachers, not all teachers are pastors, but though they are put together, it reminds us that the teachers are there to support the pastors of a local church.

They're there as an extension of that teaching ministry, that nurturing ministry. I can't disciple everybody here. I can't teach everybody here, not all on my own. And so we have a plurality of elders, which is very important.

If it's just one person that everyone's listening to that gets unbalanced, unhealthy and ungodly in a very quick way. But there needs to be a group of pastors and elders. And then additionally, we're blessed by many teachers who expand that teaching ministry and want to nurture those in their lives and to strengthen them in the word of God.

So we can thank Christ for the teachers we have in this church. I think of many of you here who are teachers and you're teaching little children or you're teaching adults. And I thank God for you. You're a gift from Christ.

On this Father's Day, our gratitude ought to be stirred by a reflection on how great a love the Father has bestowed on us. We're called the children of God and such we are. He made those who were his enemies, his children by the gift of his only begotten son.

And here's our great confidence. If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? What a good father.

Remember the picture of the throne. Remember the picture of the throne, Revelation 22. There's the throne and the father and the son we see on the throne. We can't see the father for he, God's spirit does not have a body like man.

We can see a lamb because Christ is our lamb who was slain and yet has risen. And so the father and son occupy the throne and there's a road going toward the throne. How is it that we can ever make it to God because Christ has gone ahead of us and he has ascended to the right hand.

And so he is there for us in our place and for our sake so that we would come all the way to God. But how do we make this journey all the way to God? There's a river flowing down the middle of this street, the river of water of life, the Holy Spirit who empowers us and gives us new life and draws us on to God.

In other words, let's think about what Christ came to do. He is the way, he is the truth and he is the life and that he is the way and he has paved that golden street with his own blood to take us all the way to God.

And he is our authority, he is the truth and he has given us life by his Holy Spirit. He is, our provision flows. Our provision flows from Christ ascended. He has given us apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.

How to Respond to Christ's Gifts with Faith and Gratitude

How shall we respond? Here's some helpful questions. First of all, I think the first question we gotta ask is are you on the gift list? He has given us apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers.

What wonderful gifts, but they do you no good unless you're on the gift list. Who has he given them to? He has given them to his church, he has given them to his people, those who are alive in Christ, those who are born again.

You know, the apostles and the prophets of 2000 years ago, they'll do you no good if you're not on this list. Evangelists today are calling you to be on that list as well as pastors and teachers, but they're going to do you no good unless you're on the list.

Only Christ can do sinners good. Only Christ. It's worth thinking about if this sermon, if this verse has seemed utterly irrelevant to you in your life, you might wonder or not whether you're on the list.

If you're on the list, these are special blessings. If you're off the list, this makes no sense and who cares? Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven has come. The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of heaven has come.

Repent and believe in the gospel. Turn away from your sins, turn away from those sins that you think are who you are. Make a pile of all of your bad deeds, make a pile of all of your good deeds. Forsake them all and come to Christ.

Trust in his gospel that he is the one in whom God is well pleased. And on that basis alone, you will find fellowship with God and know the blessings of his gifts. Second question, are you a gift? Now here today, we have pastors and we have teachers given by Christ in his ascension to his church through his spirit.

If you're a teacher in this church, if you're an elder in this church or another church, you are a gift of Christ. Which means you and I are no big deal. Means you and I are no big deal. First Corinthians 3, five through seven says, what then is Apollos and what is Paul?

Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted Apollos water but God was causing the growth so then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth.

Put it another way, when Christ is properly exalted, airspace in the church becomes very limited and there's no more room for fatheads. Now this question can also be asked in terms of those who have not yet answered the call to shepherd or to teach.

See Christ gives some as evangelists and that might be you. Christ gives some as pastors and that might be you. Christ gives some as teachers and it could be you. Has God been working in your life to call you as one of these gifts to his church?

Are you tomorrow's evangelist starting new gospel works in hard to reach places? Are you tomorrow's pastor working with other men and shepherding a local church? Are you a teacher, someone called to take up the scriptures and faithfully dividing the word, give the truths of Christ to a group of people?

You could be. Let's not throw out the question, let's not throw out the possibility. So you might be a gift. Some of you are gonna be missionaries in coming years, some of you are gonna be elders in coming years, some of you are gonna be teachers in coming years.

Final question is this, are you grateful? Are you grateful for these gifts? We're gonna need a fuller look as the Lord wills next week at verse 12 to better understand and appreciate these gifts from Christ to the church.

I mean, after all, the majority of the folks in a local church that they're not pastors and evangelists and teachers. In fact, James says, let not many of you become teachers. So the question for everybody in the church is this, do we appreciate the gifts that Christ has given to his church?

Ingratitude is fairly obvious. Ingratitude for the gifts that Christ has given is found in those who abandon the church. And even those who maybe listen to sermons but never allow themselves to be pastored or those who read Christian literature but seek no accountability among those who are entrusted to defend the faith once for all handed down to all the saints.

And they may participate in church services or warm church pews or feast at church meals, but they take none of the leader's unction into their daily function. They have no ministry of their own so that there's nothing, there's the equipping of the saint, but then the saint is not doing ministry.

The saint is not building up the body of Christ around them. But if we're grateful for the gifts, then we'll use them. If we're grateful for the gifts, then we'll take full advantage of them. Hebrews 13, 17 says, obey your leaders and submit to them for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.

Let them do this with joy, not with grief. That would be unprofitable for you. On this Father's Day, in addition to honoring our fathers that God has given us, do we not also honor and remember with love those men who have acted as our fathers in our lives?

There have been many men who, in addition to my own father, sought to guide and protect and provide for me. Can we then understand Elisha's own anguish when he sees Elijah ascending? 2 Kings 2, 12 through 14, Elisha saw it and cried out, my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen.

And he saw Elijah no more. He took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and returned and stood by the bank of the Jordan. He took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and struck the waters and said, where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?

When he had also struck the waters, they were divided here and there, and Elisha crossed over. These last days, we need the provision of Christ ascended. Without him, verse 14 says, we are infants in a typhoon of lies.

False Christ and false prophets arise. They show signs and wonders seeking to lead astray, if possible, the elect. Yet Christ will fill all things. He will fill all things from far above all the heavens, and he has chosen us for this work.

He has given us apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, so that his truth will never be silenced. There are many barriers in front of us. There are many challenges ahead of us. Mountains will need to be moved.

Rivers will need to be parted. And when we feel the crushing weight of these obstacles, let us remember that Christ's glory has fallen upon us, that his Holy Spirit truly rests on us, and in faith, let us cry out, where is the Lord, the God of Jesus Christ?

Where is the God who gave sight to the blind and healed the lame and stilled the storm and sent demons running and raised the dead back to life? Because we need this God to lead us and protect us and provide for us.

And precisely because of Christ's ascension, we do have this God. He has fallen upon us, the Holy Spirit, very God of very God, the third person of the trinity. And through the spirit Christ gave to the church, all we need to continue his work on this earth, we have apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers.

And as the gospel is preached throughout history and throughout the world, the blind see and the lame walk and storms dissipate and demons retreat and the dead come to life. The gospel foundationally preached by the apostles and prophets lights the trailblazing efforts of the evangelists planting new gospel churches that are strengthened and matured by pastors and teachers with the same gospel truth.

So let us proceed in confidence. Do we need a river parted? Do we need a mountain moved? The Father has enthroned Christ on high, who by his spirit promises to build his church no matter the flailing death spasms of a defeated foe, the gates of hell will not prevail.

Let's pray. Father, you are good. You have shown us that you are good in an undeniable fashion as you have given us your son, Jesus Christ. And as you have given the spirit to him, he would give the spirit to us.

All we need, you've given us all we need. And what you ask us to do is to trust you, to trust you. No matter what the situation looks like, no matter what the world looks like, to trust you, you've given us all we need.

Please keep our focus on Christ. May we always look to him for our provision. We pray these things in his name.