The Empowered Church - Ephesians: Born for War

Hey, I'm Steve Holt, the senior pastor of the Road at Chapel Hills.

This is the Road Podcast.

Thanks for joining us.

My heart is to empower you to change the world.

I hope this message impacts you.

Hey guys, if you got your Bible with you, would you turn to Ephesians 4.

We are in Ephesians 4, and we're going through Ephesians.

And at the road, we go through books of the Bible, and one of my favorites is the book of Ephesians.

And let me give you a title.

My title for this would be The Empowered Church.

The Empowered Church.

My subtitle would be A People Who Know Their God-Given Gifting and Walk in It.

That know their God gifting and walk in it.

God has gifted you.

And in that title, I would probably say God given gifting.

Because I believe we're so gifted.

And Paul is writing to the Ephesians and he is challenging them.

He's challenging them to bring forth all the giftings that are within that body.

And there's no admonitions in Ephesians of negativity.

So this is a loving letter written by a founding pastor to Timothy, who's now his protege and his son in the faith, where we have 1st and 2 Timothy.

But he's writing to him because, and he's writing to the church because he wants to encourage them.

They're an awesome church.

They're an incredible church.

And so the last three chapters, so if you're new to the road, you're coming to the last three chapters.

The best chapters in a way because it's very, very practical.

And so let's read Ephesians 4.

I just want to read 7 through 10 this morning.

But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

Therefore, he says, He led, he ascended on high, and he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.

Parenthetically, verse 9, now this, he ascended.

What does it mean?

But that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth.

He who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens that he might fill all things.

Very kind of a controversial set of verses to some.

I don't think it's controversial at all.

I think it's actually very, very straightforward.

How many of you grew up saying the Apostles' Creed?

Okay, so many of you.

One of the things that you said was that he descended into hell.

And I think this, I was going to do it this week, but when I looked at all the stuff we had going on, I'll probably do it next week.

But I think from time to time, it's a good idea from a non-creedal church perspective that we say the Apostles' Creed together.

Because that's what we believe.

We believe all the elements of the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed.

And I've said this often that it's my conviction that any believer from any church tradition that can hold to the Apostles' Creed is someone we should have fellowship with.

And so I'm so much for unity.

I'm so much for synergy of the body of Christ and working together, whatever ways worship.

Some people raise their hands, some people stay seated, some people sing from a hymnal, some people say creeds.

And we've been a very communion or Eucharistic type church in the sense that before COVID, we were taking communion every Sunday.

And we're going to get back to that.

But I just feel like we're kind of gradually moving back into some form of normalcy.

But you can be a Eucharistic word and spirit church.

You can be a church that has a belief in belief, what we call believers' baptism, which is where we do baptisms, we actually dunk them.

I mean, we put them under the water as a picture of Romans 6, of dying to the old self and rising to the new self.

But we also believe in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

So this is a really, really important set of verses.

It's very important theologically and practically.

So we're going to dive in, but let's pray, and then we'll dive into what I think Paul is saying to us.

Father, I want to thank you so much for this church.

I want to thank you, Lord, so much for the men and women who sacrificed.

Sleep, sacrifice their time to come out and pray and seek your face.

And I just thank you for that anointing.

I thank you for that empowerment that's a part of so many of his church.

God, I thank you for every single person here.

I thank you for our children's ministry right now.

God, right now, those kids are hearing things.

As Liz was talking about John Newton, that are going to get embedded into their heart and they're never going to forget what they're hearing.

And parents, I bless these parents, so many moms and dads that read the word, that pray together, that worship together.

God, I'm so thankful for them.

Now, God, would you open up our eyes and our heart?

Give us ears to hear what you have for us this morning.

Give us eyes to see what you want to do in our lives.

Thank you for the word.

In your name we pray.

Amen.

Verse 7.

So to each one, grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gifts.

So here's my first point: Christ has gifted every believer.

Every believer is gifted.

You're in the gifted class in God's school.

You may not have been in the gifted class when you were in elementary and high school.

I know I wasn't.

Teachers moved me through the grades because they did not want to see my face again.

Okay, I was troubled with a capital T.

And yet, Christ has gifted every one of you.

Isn't that exciting?

Every one of you were born with talents naturally.

And when you got born again, spiritual gifts, supernatural.

And then as you've grown, you've also developed acquired skills.

So there's kind of three areas to gifting as I see it.

There's acquired skills.

That'd be like education and classes and training and getting yourself in higher education or getting yourself in seminars where you can grow.

Natural talents that you were born with.

And then supernaturally gifting that was given to you when you were born again.

So when you got saved, there was a gifting that came.

And I think a lot of times the acquired skills, the natural talents, and the spiritual gifts coming together complement each other.

It's amazing how different some of them can be, but they work together.

And one of the goals I think all of us should have in our life is convergence.

That as we grow older, we might come to that place of convergence.

Actually, so few people ever get there.

But it's the converging of acquired skills and natural talents and spiritual gifts coming together with maturity.

And so when you see the character of Christ working through the giftings given by Christ, you're a powerhouse.

I mean, you're a powerhouse.

And if we had a church that was passionate about being empowered that way, oh my goodness, we'd change the world.

I think we are that.

But we're not there yet.

We're embryonic in that.

But that gifting comes from Christ.

He has given gifts, and he's given, listen, you guys, he's given certain levels of grace for certain people.

So Billy Graham, if you remember him, I was talking to some young people the other day, and they said, Who is he?

I'm serious.

I mean, this is like, this was like uh 18 to 22 year olds.

They didn't know Billy Graham was.

Okay, these are Christians, too.

It's amazing.

But Billy Graham was a capital E evangelist, but the scriptures say, do the work of an evangelist.

So all of us have an evangelistic gift, but it's a small E.

Most of us are a small E.

Some of us are mid-size E, but that definitely with Billy Graham, there was grace given to him, even on a dairy farm as a young kid working in North Carolina with his dad, that he was going to be a capital E evangelist.

Some of you have a capital P prophetic gifting, but most of us have a small P prophetic gifting.

Some of you in this room have a capital T teaching gift, and some of us have a small T T g.

You're always teaching them.

If you're a parent, especially, you're always teaching them.

There's always elements of teaching.

But what he's saying here, to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure.

According to the measure of Christ's gift.

Isn't that exciting?

So you don't compare yourself.

You know, don't compare yourself as a maybe a small evangelist, somebody like, their E's a little bit higher than me.

May it prod you onto good works, but don't compare yourself.

God's given a measure of grace to each person.

I think it's that's actually really exciting.

And so with a whole heart advanced, for example, that is a boot camp just for men for three days where we're dialing in who you are.

We want to help bring out your heart.

We want to help heal your heart.

We want to set your heart free to discover who Christ made you to be.

So if you could imagine, everybody look up here like an eight, think of an eight sideways.

So it's like this.

Okay?

I want you to just draw that.

A lot of you are taking notes.

Just write that down.

Take an eight, do it sideways, like this.

And I want you on the left side to put being, and on the right side put doing.

So on the left side, put being, the right side put doing.

Now, there is a character being part of who you are, and then there's a gifting doing part of who you are.

Does that make sense?

Now, from time to time, especially when you're young in the faith, your being part is really small.

So it's kind of like this, and then maybe your doing part is really big.

And what you're and what you're trying to do as you grow in Christ is, I think, make the being side of you bigger than the doing side.

Especially when trouble comes.

I've been in conflicts many times with very anointed people.

I mean, other pastors, other leaders, we've had conflicts at different times where maybe I've called out something or they've called out something.

And when you're in conflicted relationships, that's when you find out about the being of that person.

If they're lashing out constantly with anger, I can promise you, it's a very, very small side of who they are.

They're headed for big time trouble.

Listen, church, a lot of times in any setting, you're going to be hired for your doing and you're going to be fired for your being.

Okay?

And so work on your character, work on who you are.

That's what the whole heart advanced is about.

It's about developing you to be Christ-like.

Not just getting the job done, but getting, letting God get the job done in you.

Because you're only as strong on your output as your heart is on the input of what you've allowed Christ to work into you.

And so he breaks us.

We suffer.

Because the greatest virtue is always humility.

The greatest virtue is humility, and humility is earned through hard knocks.

It's learned through difficult times.

But you're all gifted, and there's a measure to that.

Verse 8.

Therefore he says, and now he's explaining why verse 7 is true.

And how it came to be that you're gifted by Christ.

Verse 8.

Therefore he says, when he ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.

Number two, Christ secured your giftings at Calvary.

So Christ secured your giftings at Calvary.

Notice that I said giftings, the pluralism of the gifts that God's given you.

Something happened, church.

Something happened when he ascended on high.

There's more to the resurrection than just the conquering of sin, as important as that is.

There's more to the resurrection than the freedom we have in Christ.

It says here, he ascended on high and he led captivity captive.

So the picture here is of a conquering general in medieval times.

They still did this, but ancient times, the time of Christ, with the Romans especially and the Greeks before that, of bringing their captives with them.

So the captive army, they were chained, they were roped up, and they were led in a train behind the general and his army to bring praise and glory to that army and to that general for conquering his enemy and bringing captives.

Well, Christ did that at Calvary.

He captured captivity.

And what that means, and it's so important to understand that you've been held captive by the enemy since the day you were born.

There has been work by the enemy to keep you captive, to keep you insular, to keep you isolated from who you really are.

And Christ has come and at Calvary, he died at Calvary and was resurrected to take the captivity meant, the chains meant for you.

He took them away from Satan.

He took your captivity away.

He took your shame away.

He took your betrayal away.

And he triumphed at the cross.

So look, just hold your finger in Ephesians, turn to the right, just flip through the right, you're going to come to Philippians.

Then after Philippians, you're going to find Colossians.

Look at Colossians chapter 2.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

And here's the image.

This is the image.

Paul is also writing Colossians, verse 11.

In him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands.

He's not about literal circumcision, but by putting off the body of the sin of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.

So Christ has circumcised our hearts, is what he's saying.

Verse 12, buried with him in baptism, in which you also are raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead.

And look at this.

It's really important.

Verse 13.

You being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all your trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against you, which was contrary to you, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

So Christ came and he stripped Satan of his power by what he had done at the cross, and those principalities and powers are rendered inoperative in our lives.

That freedom that came was not because of us, it's because of what Christ did at Calvary.

Isn't that amazing?

Isn't that exciting?

I mean, that's what it's all about.

And I think that the reality is, is that for many of us in our lives, because we've been deceived by the work of the enemy, we've lost touch with who we really are.

Or you've never discovered who you really are.

He's saying here that he's led captivity captive and he's given gifts to men.

And so those gifts that you may have never discovered are available to you.

Now look what he says next.

This is where there has been some controversy about this.

Verse 9.

Now, this.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

Be put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit.

Listen to this, verse 19.

By whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient when once the divine long-suffering waited in the days of Noah, and then explained.

So this is what I believe.

I believe that Christ, when he expired on the cross, went down into hell.

Now, hell at that time was divided up into two parts.

And the reason to know this is you know the story of the Lazarus and the rich man.

In the Lazarus and the rich man's story, Lazarus is a beggar.

He dies.

It says he went to Abraham's bosom, or what we call paradise.

And the rich man went into Hades.

And they can communicate with each other with this great gulf in between.

And that's found in Luke 16.

So you might look at it later.

Luke 16, 21 through 31 talks about Lazarus and the rich man.

Matter of fact, we're doing great on time.

So look at Luke 16.

I won't explain it to you.

Let's just look at it, and it'll be, it'll make much more sense.

So turn to the left till you've come to Luke.

Luke 16.

Verse 19.

There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and buried sumptuously every day.

But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.

Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sword.

So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.

The rich man also died and was buried.

So both died.

And being in torment in Hades, so we some have classified this section of Hades as torment, he lifted up his eyes and he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.

So he's in paradise.

Then he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame.

But Abraham said, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and you are tormented.

And besides all this, between us and you there's a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.

And then he said, I beg you therefore, Father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.

Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.

And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if one goat, and this is Really important because this is actually prophetic.

Jesus saying this before his resurrection.

And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.

But he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded through one who rises from the dead.

So in Hades, there is a place of torment, and there was a place, I don't believe this is true right now, but this is before the resurrection of Christ.

Torments and paradise.

I believe in the three days, Christ went and he preached the gospel.

He preached victory to all of those in paradise and in Hades.

And he took the keys, Revelation says he took the keys away from Satan, the keys of death away from Satan.

He now has those keys and he set you free.

So when Christ died on the cross, if you recall the story, it's really cryptic.

It says that there was a what?

An earthquake.

So as soon as Christ died, there was an earthquake.

That's the type of power that Christ brought into Hades when he came.

It shook the whole fourth and three-dimensional world like an earthquake.

I don't imagine that Satan, yet, oh, here's the keys.

So when Christ came, he spoke victory, and he probably had to rip them out of his hand or rip them out of whatever clutches that he had.

It might be claws for all we know.

But he ripped it out, and there was like an earthquake.

And remember what it says?

Many saints from old were resurrected.

Many saints from old, Old Testament times, were resurrected and were seen in Jerusalem.

So those righteous saints that had, as Hebrews talked about, who saw, who saw the celestial kingdom from afar, and they had faith in Christ, even though they didn't know Christ, they were raised from the dead.

What do you think about that?

That's pretty crazy, man.

You've been hearing about your great grandfather for your whole life.

Man, he was a great guy.

He used to come together and he'd lead us in prayer and he'd read the Torah.

And we just love it.

His name was Isaiah, you know, and he heard those stories.

And then he shows up.

Isaiah's here.

Dude, you've been dead for a hundred years.

I'm here, man.

Let's go.

Jesus, that guy that you just crucified, he's the Messiah.

He's the real deal.

So I don't know what happened.

You know, maybe they preached the gospel.

They've been hanging out.

In paradise and Hades, they can see, even with this great gap, they can see what's going on down there.

And now they get raised up to live maybe for just a few days or maybe for longer.

I don't know.

But isn't that exciting?

So God set you free, you guys.

He's taking the keys, he's taking your bondage away.

There's a new freedom that you have because of what Christ has done.

And so Christ rising from the grave through his resurrection has ripped you out of the grave with a new resurrection.

And he did that.

So listen, you guys, there is no power and authority that can hold back what God wants to do in your life.

We hold it back, don't we?

See, that's why I love Wholeheart Advance.

That's why I love community groups.

Is because in both cases, but especially, okay, one's ongoing and one's an intensive.

So the wholeheart advance is an intensive to begin to break that power over your life for three days.

The community group is a place where we get to practice and learn and grow in the giftings that we have.

And some of you have no idea, but you're going to discover this year who you are and the giftings that God has placed in you.

And there are giftings in you that can't be discovered any other way.

And you know, that's part of what we do here at The Road, and this is what I do in having this Road Podcast is to empower people to change their world.

My passion and desire is that you would take God's word through the power of the Holy Spirit and make that relevant for your life.

You know, the reality is that God has placed your life here on this earth to make a difference.

And if you'd like more information about how to grow in Christ, if you need prayer, if you want more equipping in different areas of your life, go to the road.org.

God bless you.