Pauls earlier appeal to the believers in Ephesus was that they should live worthy of the calling that

they have received (v.1), by way of unity.Whats the fuss anyway about unity? An overview of Eph 1-3 would give proper context. Paul wrote about the inheritance that has been given to us by God the Father through and in Jesus. He also spoke about our vertical separation (God) and how God saved us through Jesus. It is also through Jesus that we are also reconciled to each other which was our horizontal separation with each other. Now, were citizens together with the Jews and become the place where Gods Spirit dwells; the church which isthe wisdom of God bearing witness to the world (Eph. 3:10). Basically, in a nutshell, Paul is stating that God in Jesus had gone through great lengths securing these benefits and we can't just mess it up. Therefore, the exhortation to unity in Eph. 4:1-6.

1.

Each one of us is gifted (v.7) Paul talks in ph. 4:4-6 on the things that we should concentrate to unite us. Then he goes on to talk about our diversity, v.7 "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it."In our unity there is diversity. The perspective here is gifts, "grace has been given." What we know here: Each one of us has spiritual gifts. All operate in gifts. We are not static believers. Jesus is the distributor of the gifts. Unfortunately there are some general fears of gifts which may be; a) not familiar; b) they had bad experiences and; c) people have faulty understanding of gifts. Gifts are given not for personal gain but for edification and ministry. Are we to let fear dominate our bad experiences or faulty understand that we chuck out any mention of gifts? This should not be the case because gifts were meant for the good of the church. The criterion of operating in gifts that Paul gives is under the influence of love 1 Cor.13.

2.

Christ is the giver of Gifts- has the authority to give gifts- for good purposes (v.8-10) Jesus is the one who has the right to give and distribute gifts to his followers. This comes to light in Pauls explanation about ascended and descended.

The idea of v.8 comes from of Psalm 68:18 it talks about a kings emphatic victory and that he gave the spoils of his victory.

Paul stretches this idea in Jesus' work- descent (incarnation and death) and ascend (resurrection). See: Colossians 2:15 Jesus has right to give gifts because he had disarmed the forces of evil.

3.

Gifts of ministries in terms of function and their overall purpose (v.11-16) APEST (Apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, teacher- These ministries can also be understood in terms of their function. (visit http://www.theforgottenways.org/apest/ ) What can we notice about the function of APEST: a) Equip- disciple, train, teach, prepare (Matthew 28:18-20) teach the word; b)People centric/ people focused.The purpose of their ministry- people reach maturity; the fullness of Christ. In the gifts, there is a Christocentric purpose. Jesus centered purpose, that we attain the fullness of Christ. From what we have learned in this passage: All of us have gifts. We're not meant to be static Christians- we were designed for good works (Eph. 2:10). Jesus is the one that give gifts to us because he has all authority and is please to give gifts to us. Jesus gave those who operate functionally as APEST to help the body be equipped, built up, and attain maturity in Christ. Spiritual gifts and ministerial gifts are meant for good- that we minister with power and purpose, that we attain maturity in Christ Jesus which benefits our unity as a body and with that idea operate differently for one purpose following the head. The Challenge for us is that we should be risk takers. The church has become risk averse: An organization that is opposed to risk. Lets be open to spiritual gifts and how people operate and function in them. Gifts help us operate as the body of Christ.