But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,

 “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,

     and he gave gifts to men.”…

 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Ephesians 4:7-8, 11-14

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:7

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Romans 12:4-5

Part of the reason for the incarnation was for Jesus to reveal the Father. He told Philip, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Luke opens his gospel with a statement of purpose. Theophilus could have certainty about the things he had been taught. In his second volume, the book of Acts, Luke refers to the thing Jesus began to do and teach and illustrates that through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Jesus will continue to minister to the world and his people through the church, his body. 

Jesus was blessed with the Spirit in his life “without measure.” (John 3:34) He had the absolute maximum empowerment in his humanity by the Spirit without measure. So, Jesus, in his daily life of obedience, perfectly revealed the Father and the Spirit.

But now he is gone. He died, was buried, was resurrected, and then ascended to heaven. He is not here in bodily form. He is, of course, omnipresent as the second person of the godhead. But no one can see him since his resurrected, and glorified body is in heaven.

 So, how does Jesus continue his ministry on the earth today? He does it through the various gifts he has given to his people.

He gave gifts to continue the ministry he began on earth, which continues under his Lordship until he declares otherwise.

If we deny the gifts that Jesus has given, we deny the ministry of Jesus. This is not a sideline issue. It is an issue of whether or not Jesus continues to minister to humanity on earth. Every gift mentioned is a slice of the ministry of Jesus, such as his being the Apostle and high priest of our confession, the greater prophet like Moses that was to come, the consummate teller of the good news, the good shepherd, and the ultimate teacher. These are the dimensions of Jesus’ ministry, which he distributes as his ascension gifts intended to lead us to the fullness of Christ. Without all of these dimensions of Jesus, we do not have the fullness of Christ.

The manifestations of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12 are the same manifestations that Jesus expressed as the one who has the Spirit without measure.

The motivational gifts of Romans 12 display different characteristics of the Father. He is the ultimate prophet, server, teacher, exhorter, giver, leader, and a shower of mercy. And, he assigns a measure of faith to each member of the body of Christ to show forth one or more of these characteristics of the Father.

In the beginning, God created us in his image and his likeness. Then we polluted that image by Adams sin. We fell. And I believe we fell much farther than any of us realize because we were living at greater heights than we can imagine. I don’t think we have the slightest appreciation for how far we fell from the wonderful place of the pinnacle of God’s creation to people who became dead in sin and trespass.

Jesus came to make all things new; we are to be a new creation. We are in the process of being that new creation. Our moment of salvation is punctiliar; it happened at a point in time and will continue into eternity. It is also a process known theologically as sanctification. We are continually being changed from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord. Giving various gifts is part of the change from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. We are looking more and more like Jesus along the way.

I have to write this, gifts alone to do not show the perfections of God. People can be very gifted and be very poor representations of Jesus if they do not also demonstrate the character of God as identified in the fruit of the Spirit. But, the fruit of the Spirit is not controversial. Everybody agrees that the fruit of the Spirit are extant and are needed to demonstrate the life and love of Jesus.

My point today is that God has given gifts. There is a reason for these gifts. Part of that reason is demonstrating the new creation in all its power and glory, so the church can demonstrate the resurrected and ascended Jesus.

All of the gifts are necessary to accomplish all of God’s purpose in Christ through his church.