PT-1 "The Gifts of Christ to Individual Believers" (Eph. 4:7)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/10/2019 8:42 PM

My Worship Time                              Focus:  PT-1"The Gifts of Christ to Individual Believers”



Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 4:7



            Message of the verse:  “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”



            I find it interesting that this verse, and sentence begins with the word “but.”  This word is used here as an adversative, rather than as a simple conjunction according to John MacArthur.  He states that the beginning of this verse could begin with “in spite of that” or “on the other hand,” as this would contrast the previous subject matter with what is about to be said.



            In verses 3-6 the theme echoed unity and this parallel emphasis of diversity, which is the theme verses 7-11.  It will set the individual (each one) over against the “all” that is in verse six in regard to unity in the Body of Christ.  MacArthur then goes on to write “The reading of but as adversative is and is perfectly consistent with diversity of gifts.  God’s gracious relation of ‘all’ is also a personal relation to ‘each one’ (cf. 1 Cor. 12:7, 11) and a personal ministry through ‘each one.’  Thus Paul moves from the unity of believers to the uniqueness of believers.”



            What do you think of when you think of the word “grace?”  When we look back at Ephesians 2:8 we read “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;” and so what we see in this verse according to the word grace is the definition of the gospel, for the gospel is the good news of God’s grace to sinful mankind, so a one word definition of the gospel is the word “grace.”  It would be fair to say that the nature of grace is giving, and when we study the Bible we see that it speaks much more about giving than getting, and that is because God’s nature is to give, and what a wonderful nature that is.  Unfortunately we as human beings are very selfish and many times do not think of giving, but getting.  God’s grace has nothing to do with anything we have done or have failed to do; it can only be received. 



            The reason that God is gracious is because that is who He is as it is one of His attributes.  God is not gracious because of who or what we are, as He has always been gracious and always will be because that is who He is and He is immutable,(never changing).  God’s grace is therefore unmerited, unearned, and undeserved.  It depends totally on the One who gives it, not on those who are receiving it.  Grace is God’s self-motivated, self-generated, sovereign act of giving.  These statements kind of or should make us want to dwell on them for a while, as they take us out of the picture as far as receiving any favor from God by our own efforts, as it only comes from God. 



This is Sunday and Sunday’s are hard on me (in a good way) but still hard on me as when one teaches the Word of God it takes a lot out of you.



The verse that goes along with the quotation from Benjamin Franklin comes from Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

3/10/2019 9:10 PM