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On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. What is the goal of the spiritual gift? Look at Ephesians 4-12. For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, here it is to the building up of the body of Christ. That's what spiritual gifts are meant to do to increase the spiritual strength of the church.
Well, how do we do that? How do we build up the body of Christ? Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. A healthy body requires every part to function properly, and the same principle applies to Christ's body, the church.
So, how can we be sure that each member is working together effectively? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress describes the power of spiritual gifts and their role in building a thriving church. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Vacations are common, but Christian vacations, the kind that refresh your soul, are rare. For that reason, I'd love for you to join me on a vacation with a purpose. I'm referring to the 2025 Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. The dates are May 5th through 16th. I guarantee you'll return home after 12 days physically relaxed and spiritually renewed. Plus, you'll be stopping in world-class destinations like Mykonos, Greece, and Rome, Italy. So, please stop by our website, ptv.org, and make plans to join us.
September has been set aside for one of the most practical series I've ever presented on Pathway to Victory. It's called Holy Living in an Unholy World. This first century letter from Paul feels like one that could have been written about our lives in 2024.
You see, Ephesus was a prosperous city with all the temptations afforded by wealth. To help you navigate our times, I'd like to send you my brand new book, Holy Living in an Unholy World. It's a study of the book of Ephesians.
Ask for a copy when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. And now it's time to consider one of these practical topics addressed in the book of Ephesians. Most Christians don't realize that we have a special superpower given by God himself. And that superpower is a person, the Holy Spirit of God. So today, we're going to discover the spiritual gifts that make every believer an essential part of Christ's body.
I titled today's message, Bodybuilding. Ira Yates was a sheep herder in West Texas toward the turn of the 20th century. He was very concerned that he wasn't going to be able to make his mortgage payments on the ranch.
Not only that, he was concerned about even placing food on the table for his family. So one day, he took a risk and engaged a geologist to see if there just might be some of that black gold. Texas tea. Oil, that is.
If some of that might be running underneath. And so on October the 28th, 1926, they drilled their first well. They called it Yates 1A. And at 992 feet, they hit a gusher, producing 450 barrels of oil each day.
So they thought they'd try again. A couple of months later, they drilled Yates 2A. And that well produced 3,400 barrels a day of oil. Two years later, they drilled Yates 30A. It produced, get this, I had to write it down, 8,528 barrels of oil an hour. 204,000 barrels a day.
By 1929, the Yates field had produced 41 million barrels of oil. You know, Ira Yates made the mistake of thinking the value of his land was limited to what was visible, what was on the top, the grass, to feed his sheep. But his real wealth was that endless reserve of wealth that was underneath the ground. You know, Christians are like that when you think about it. Most of us think we're limited in life to what we can do for ourselves, what's visible.
We try to scratch out an existence, if you will, until we die and go to heaven. We live our lives unaware of the tremendous spiritual wealth that God has given to us. We might not realize that wealth, but the apostle Paul did. And that's why he wrote the letter to the Christians at Ephesus, to remind them of their great spiritual wealth. And remember, in the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul gives an inventory of the spiritual wealth you and I have if we're Christians.
And that's what chapters four through six are about in Ephesians. Paul is going to discuss four areas that our spiritual wealth ought to impact in our everyday life. Interestingly, Paul talks first of all about our walk with other Christians, our walk in the church. Now, why in the world would he start talking about the church? Isn't the family more important, or our work life, or our moral life? Why the church?
And we saw the lesson last week. We saw why the church. The church is, first of all, God's representation in the world. You know, the fact is most people, especially unbelievers, can't see Jesus. The only Jesus they see is the body of Christ called the church. And many people's opinions are formed about Christ by what they see in the church.
Is it any wonder that people are turned off to Christ today when they see so many churches fussing and fighting and bickering? God is very intent that we be diligent, as Paul said, to preserve the unity of spirit and the bond of peace. But the church is also the Christian source of power. We need the power that comes from being in a united body of believers.
We can't make it on our own. We need to be connected to the church. And so that's why Paul is very diligent about talking about the unity of spirit and the bond of peace. Ephesians 4, 1 says, let us walk in a way worthy, literally, of equal weight with who we are in Christ.
First of all, in the church. Now, after talking about unity, beginning in verse 7, Paul's going to make sure we don't misunderstand. Unity, now listen to this, unity does not mean uniformity. To be unified doesn't mean we all have to be the same. There is diversity in the church. There's diversity among Christians. And diversity is a good thing in the church.
In fact, the only way we can truly be unified is if we understand the diversity in the body of Christ, just like there is in the physical body. And that's what Paul's going to talk about beginning in verse 7 of Ephesians 4. We are different, meaning we have different spiritual gifts.
What is a spiritual gift? Let's look beginning at verse 7. Paul talks about the reality of spiritual gifts, and we're going to look at a definition of spiritual gifts. Verse 7, but to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. Now, Paul loves the word grace.
Remember he said in chapter 2, verses 8 and 9, for by what? Grace, you have been saved through faith. In that context, grace is God's undeserved favor. We are saved by grace. But also, beginning in verse 7 here, grace has a different meaning. It's about God's undeserved enablement. Let me explain it this way. There is an inseparable link between God's grace that saved us and our spiritual gift.
It's the same word basically. Grace is the Greek word charis, C-H-A-R-I-S, charis. The word for gift is charismaton.
It has charis and a maton at the end. Why is there a link between grace and our spiritual gift? Listen to this. When you were born into this world physically, you were born with certain natural abilities, certain interests. But when you were born again into the family of God, when you became a Christian, God's grace brought you not only the gift of the Holy Spirit, but a spiritual gift as well to use in spreading God's message to other people. There's an inseparable link between God's gift and our grace. And this leads to a definition of a spiritual gift.
A spiritual gift is the unique desire and the power God gives you to share his message to other people. It's, first of all, a desire. It's something you enjoy doing.
It's something you're drawn to do. But it's also a divine enablement. It's something when you do, God uniquely blesses. Now that's the reality of spiritual gifts. Let's look at the disbursement of spiritual gifts.
When were our gifts given to us? Well, from our vantage point, it happened at the time of our salvation. But God has a different perspective.
It happened much earlier. And Paul alludes to that, beginning in Ephesians 4-8. Therefore, it says, and then he quotes Psalm 68, verse 18, When he ascended on high, he led captive, a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.
And then in parenthesis, verses 9 and 10, here's Paul chasing his rabbit again. Now this expression, he ascended, what does it mean except that he also descended into the lower parts of the earth? For he who descended is in himself also he who ascended far above all heavens so that he might fill all things. I think he's simply talking about here is when Christ died for our sins and was raised again from the dead, he was like a conquering hero. And he took those of us who were being held captive by Satan, and rescued us and took us to be with him, and he dispersed some of the spoils which are spiritual gifts. That's what he's talking about here.
But that's not the main part of what he's saying. He's saying we have all received a gift. Now, let's look at a description of the gifts beginning in verse 11. Remember, these are ministries that God may open the door of opportunity for you to use your gift.
It's not an exhaustive list of ministries, it's just some of the offices in the church. And he gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and others as evangelists, and some as pastor-teachers. But the point is, there are many different ways for Christians to use their spiritual gifts. Now, what is the goal of the spiritual gift?
We've talked about the reality. Look at Ephesians 4-12, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service. The reason he gave pastors, evangelists, prophets, and teachers was to equip the saints for the work of service. Here it is, to the building up of the body of Christ.
That's the ultimate aim of spiritual gifts. To build up, oikatome in Greek refers to the building of a house. We're to build up the spiritual house of the Lord. What does that mean, to build it up? Well, he's talking about, first of all, growing larger. Did you know in 1 Peter chapter 2, Peter describes Christians as building a holy temple to God?
How is it built? A spiritual temple, not by bricks, not by stones, but by individual lives. God wants this temple, this spiritual temple, to get larger. He wants more people to be a part of this spiritual temple. God is interested in numbers, but he's also referring to growing stronger.
He wants to build up, to strengthen this body. To have a strong building, you have to have the right foundation. And at First Baptist Dallas, the foundation is the living Word of God, Jesus Christ, and the written Word of God, the Bible.
He wants to make sure that the pieces of this temple, the stones, the bricks, are connected together through the right mortar. We've got to be connected. We're not 16,000 individual people at First Baptist Church. We are connected.
We are cemented together. That's what spiritual gifts are meant to do, to increase the size of the church and increase the spiritual strength of the church. Well, how do we do that? How do we build up the body of Christ? Well, you know what some churches do?
They say, well, we'll go out and hire the best staff, the best pastor we can, and we'll pay them to do the work of ministry. I'm reminded of Bud Wilkinson, who for years served as the chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness. He was a well-known professional football player before Kennedy appointed him. And a reporter asked him one day, Mr. Wilkinson, what contribution has professional football made to the health of the American people?
And Wilkinson said, absolutely none. Just think about it, he said, in a football game, you've got 22 men on the field desperately in need of rest, being cheered on by 50,000 spectators in those stands, desperately in need of exercise. You know, that's a great picture of many churches, too many churches. Too many churches hire a pastor and a staff, and they're out there on the field with a few dedicated laymen. And if the team's doing well, if the church is succeeding, the spectators in the crowd yell, go team, go. Keep on going. We're for you.
We're behind you. But if the church isn't doing so well, they yell out, call in the second string. Now that may make for exciting football, but that's a lousy way to run a church.
God never meant the paid professionals to do it. And to say those who are apostles and prophets and music ministers and evangelists and whatever else in the church, our job is to do what? To equip the saints. That would be you for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.
That word, kartartitzo, refers to the equipping, the loading up of a ship with supplies before it goes out on a long journey. Did you know that's the reason we come together once a week? Besides worship, we come to get equipped to go out and do the work of ministry. You know, occasionally and thankfully we have people who are saved in our service, but you'll never have that many people saved in the service.
You know why? It's real simple. Unbelievers, by and large, don't come to church. A lot of believers don't come to church, but a lot of unbelievers don't come to church. If you're going to reach them, it's not going to be in the pew of a church. You reach them out there where they are, and that's why we have you here. To give you the tools you need to go out and share the good news of Jesus Christ. Equipping the saints for the work of service.
And by the way, when everybody's on the field and playing the game, when everybody's out blocking and tackling and sharing the gospel, it creates a much healthier attitude in the church. My old mentor, Howard Hendricks, had a dad who was in the military, was unsaved for most of his life. Dr. Hendricks says one day his dad said to him, Son, remember this, you can always tell where your troops are by what they're complaining about. If they're complaining about warm beer, you'll know they're nowhere near the front lines. But if they're complaining about a lack of ammunition, then you know they're right in the heat of battle. What are you complaining about?
Hopefully not warm beer, but something maybe just as ludicrous. I don't like the sound. I don't like the music. I don't like the ties the pastor wears. I don't like the way my Sunday school teacher teaches.
I don't like the temperature of the auditorium. When people start complaining about that, you know they are nowhere near the front lines of spiritual battle. But when they're complaining about, so to speak, Man, I need more meat. I need more food.
I need more business cards to pass out to invite people to come. You know they're right in the heat of spiritual battle. God's plan for the church is to equip the saints. That is to equip you for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ. We talked about the reality of spiritual gifts, the goal of spiritual gifts, building up the body. What's the measurement of spiritual gifts? How do we know if we're succeeding?
I'm going to do this very quickly. One word is maturity. Look at verse 13.
Until we all attain to the unity of faith and to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. You know everybody loves a baby. Babies are cute and cuddly when they're about five or six months old. But there's nothing cute about a 40 or 50 year old who acts like a six month old. In fact, when we see that happen, we think it's tragic.
We call such a person mentally challenged. It's the same way in the body of Christ. We enter as babies, spiritual babies, but God doesn't intend for us to stay that way. He wants us to grow up in all aspects. And the measure of our spiritual maturity is the fullness of Christ. Second word, stability.
As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried away by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. You know what characterizes a child? They're highly volatile in their emotions up and down. They're extremely self-centered.
They've got to have it their way. And they're easily led astray, which is why we tell them to beware of strangers. Same way with spiritual babies. One way you know that somebody is immature spiritually is they're always giving in to their emotions. Their emotions rule their life. And they're easily carried away by false doctrine that make promises they can never fulfill.
Don't be that way. He said when we're mature in Christ, there is stability. Finally, there's activity. One way you know is if your body of believers, your church is healthy, there's activity. Look at verse 16. From whom the whole body being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies. The church is the body of Christ. It means every part, every joint has to be supplying what it's supposed to supply. Remember I said if a cell in your body starts taking nourishment from other cells but never gives anything in return, causes cancer. It's the same way in the body of Christ. When you have members taking and taking and taking and not giving, the result is cancer, spiritual cancer.
Now what does he mean? What is it that every body, every part of the body supplies? You know if I wanted to, I could make a shameless stewardship appeal right now. You need to supply. Reach into your pockets. Give your money. That's what the body needs, your supplies.
Now I could do that, but I'm not going to do that because that really wouldn't be faithful to the text. Yes, we're to give of our financial resources. But he tells us what he means by supplies. He says, according to the proper working, the working of each individual part. You know how you can know if your body is healthy? Every body part is present and each one is functioning as it's supposed to.
It's the same way in this body of believers, First Baptist Dallas. How many of you have ever done a jigsaw puzzle before? If you have, you know the frustration of getting toward the completion of the project and realizing one or two pieces is missing.
What a bummer. I mean the funny thing is you can have all the pieces put together and be missing one, two, or three. Where does your attention go to? The missing part. It's the same way in the church. Every part is essential.
And every part has to be correctly connected to the other parts. And if it is, and if they are, then a beautiful picture of Jesus emerges for the world to see. That's God's way.
That's God's method for building a strong body. Friends, you are an essential part of God's plan for His church. Simply put, the body of Christ is incomplete without you. And I hope today's Pathway to Victory has inspired you to invest your personal time and resources in a local church where God's Word is held high. If you're involved in a small group Bible study or a Sunday school class, did you know that Pathway to Victory has prepared a group study guide on this topic?
David will explain in a moment how you can request the CDs and DVDs along with the study guide. Many churches are losing their power because they're trying to blend in with the culture. But our Christian faith is rooted in countercultural behavior. In fact, to make a difference in our world, our churches need to become beacons of light, not lens of darkness. To help you understand God's plan for your church and to help you embrace the power He's made available to you, I'd like you to read my brand new book, Holy Living in an Unholy World. In fact, I'm prepared to send you a copy along with my thanks when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.
In closing today, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who partner with Pathway to Victory. Your faithful support doesn't just keep us on radio. It also allows us to share God's Word on television stations all across our nation and even in the digital realm as well. Remember, every time you hear us on the radio, see us on television, or find us on the web, you play an important role in making that happen. Together, we are piercing the darkness with the light of God's Word.
David. Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. When you contact Pathway to Victory and give a generous gift, we'll send you Holy Living in an Unholy World. That's the brand new book by Dr. Robert Jeffress based on our study from Ephesians. Call us toll free at 866-999-2965 or give online at ptv.org. And when your gift is $75 or more, you'll also receive the Holy Living in an Unholy World teaching series on both DVD video and MP3 format audio discs.
Plus, we're going to send along a companion study guide to aid in personal or group study. Again, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. If you'd prefer to write to us, here's our mailing address, P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. That's P.O.
Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Next time, we'll look at what the Apostle Paul says about dressing for spiritual success. How can we put off old ungodly behaviors and put on new ones that reflect our status as followers of Christ? That's coming up Friday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
