In considering something more from Sunday’s text on 5.12.23, as we home in on Ephesians 4:7, the apostle moves from discussing the church as a whole to focusing on the individuals who make up the whole and yet have the responsibility to guard the unity of the Spirit. He says, “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.” What this communicates is that those who share in the heritage of the faith while having the responsibility to guard the unity of the Spirit have personalities, callings and especially gifting which are not alike so that God establishes and preserves unity among us even in diversity.

Paul goes on to discuss this diverse gifting in and through the leadership that he has provided to the church. However, in Rom 12 and 1 Cor 12 (it may be helpful to review these) he discusses the various gifts for all the people of God. We see in 1 Cor 12:14, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;” that this is with very nearly the same object as in Ephesians 4:1-7. Again, the Lord makes it clear that this diversity of gifting promotes and strengthens, the harmony of believers. So, with this in mind we must ask ourselves a few questions. Are we using the gifts he has given to us?  Do we even know and understand how God has gifted us?  Or perhaps, is it possible that we desire a certain gift that has not been given to us?  Bryan Chappell shares an insightful story in his commentary on Ephesians that touches on this last question and may be of help.

Mr. Holland’s Opus is a movie about a dedicated music teacher who dreams of becoming a famous composer. He does not have those gifts and, instead, makes an impact he does not fully appreciate in the lives of a generation of students in his high school music program. Mr. Holland never writes the musical opus that will make him famous but pours himself into the young people before him: a redheaded girl with pigtails who struggles to play the clarinet, a football player who cannot keep rhythm but needs a band credit to keep his game eligibility, a street kid who is mad at the world but who discovers the beauty of his own soul in music. As the movie concludes, Mr. Holland is fighting budget cuts for the survival of the high school’s music program. He loses. And he retires. The last day of school he cleans out his desk and, with shoulders slumped down, walks the school hall for the last time. He is a picture of dejection, reminding us of a life spent without a dream fulfilled. But as Mr. Holland walks, he hears noise in the auditorium. He goes in to see what is happening and faces a packed auditorium of students and alumni thundering an ovation and chanting his name. The little girl with pigtails is now the governor of the state, and she addresses Mr. Holland from the podium. “Mr. Holland, we know that you never became the famous composer you dreamed of being. But don’t you see it today? Your great composition is what you did with us, your students. Mr. Holland, look around you. We are your great opus. We are the music of your life.”

Chappell continues, “Each of us is the music—the great opus—of those who have used their gifts to equip us. And I pray that we will know the joy and fulfillment that comes from knowing that we have used our gifts for the equipping of others for their works of service in the kingdom of God. We may not become famous before men, but we fulfill the purposes of heaven when we use what God has given us for the purposes he has designed for us in equipping others for the work of ministry and the building up of the church. A couple whose marriage is healed, a young man in a distant nation brought to faith, a grieving mother next to an empty cradle brought comfort, a preacher boldly proclaiming the word—all these are the works of service that we are equipping others to fulfill as we minister with the gifts that Christ has given. Together we are the transforming power of the church, Christ’s great opus.”

What a good reminder of how the Lord lovingly uses us for one another. Be encouraged and as one theologian used to say, “Grow where God has planted you!” 

Patrick