How Geeks Can Recover From Jealousy (In Search Of Truth, Ephesians 4:7-10)

Ephesians 4:7-10
7 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.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)


The Ephesian church was made up of people with very different cultural backgrounds. In that context, Paul has been emphasizing the unity and common ground we all have as believers in Jesus. In these verses he continues that theme, identifying the common source of the unique and varied gifts we each have within the unified body of believers.

v. 7

Undeserved favor ("grace") is portioned out to ALL believers, but in various forms and amounts determined by Christ.

v. 8

A quick detour regarding an issue of the text that may trouble some readers. Paul is quoting Psalm 68:18 here, although "referencing" might be a better word for it. Quotation marks did not exist in ancient Greek, and quotation itself was not expected to always be word for word in ancient writing like this. The Expositor's Bible Commentary (Zondervan Publishing) reflects a number of views on this particular quotation, with the two most likely views being described as follows:

"under the inspiration of the Spirit, Paul felt free to amplify the meaning of the Psalm, since the giving is implicit in the receiving for. But it seems more probable that the apostle was drawing on an ancient oral tradition reflected in the Aramaic Targum on the Psalter and the Syriac Peshitta version, both of which read, "Thou hast given gifts to men." Early rabbinical comments applied the verse to Moses when he received the Law on Sinai so as to bring it to the people."

In the original Psalm, the ESV translation says "receiving gifts among men" rather than "he gave gifts to men" as Paul quotes it here. But it's worth noting that among the uses of the original Hebrew word used here for "receiving" is the idea of taking something to or for a person. In other words, receiving something in order to give it to someone else.

So despite potentially drawing inspiration from an arguably less reliable oral tradition, Paul isn't changing the original meaning or text of the Psalm, but seems instead to be bringing out (in this Greek language letter) one specific layer of its meaning (as it originally read in Hebrew) which applies to the point he is making here.

Psalm 68 is a song of praise to God for his role as a divine warrior who vindicates, protects and restores his people. Verses 12-13 describe how he provides victory and the spoils of battle for his people. Verse 18 allows for a secondary mention of God distributing spoils among his people when we consider the uses of the Hebrew word for "receiving".

What Paul seems to be getting at is that Jesus is the "Lord/Adonai" of Psalm 68:18, who came and exercised authority over all things on earth, even those things that others consider their own property. He is God over all and distributes the things of the created world to his people in the way he sees fit. In the same way, Jesus orchestrates the events of our lives, our genetic makeup and any other relevant factors, to result in a distribution of God-empowered gifts to all believers. The gifts are different in nature and strength, but they are all distributed by the same authority, Jesus himself.

v.9-10

Paul is using Psalm 68 to illustrate a truth about Jesus. There is some difference in thought among scholars regarding the interpretation of verses 9-10 and the specific parallel Paul is bringing out of the Psalm. Some see it as referring to the incarnation of Jesus, culminating in his resurrection and ascension, which leads to him "filling all things", or as the Greek implies "fulfilling or making complete" all things. Some see this as referring to Christ's descent into Sheol after his death and before his resurrection, an idea that is not agreed upon universally by Bible scholars, despite being included in some forms of The Apostles Creed.

While I lean toward the first interpretation, both drive home the point that Jesus is in fact the God of Psalm 68, continuing in his bodily ministry the same kind of work Yahweh has always done: Rescuing, rewarding and equipping humanity to serve him. In fact the idea of equipping God's people is the subject of the verses that we'll get to next time.


SO WHAT'S IN ALL THIS FOR GEEKS?

Something common to many geeks is the feeling that we are being treated unfairly. Whether that feeling is justified or not has to be tackled on a case by case basis, but the feeling is certainly common among many geeks who feel under appreciated, devalued or neglected by others.This feeling can carry over into our Christian communities as well, maybe even becoming resentment toward God and his people for a sort of "cosmic unfairness" we feel. At times I've thought to myself, "Why couldn't I have had the same spiritual benefits that so-and-so had when they were growing up?"

Our church is in the process of slowly transferring leadership from our founding senior pastor (who is retiring), to his son Kyle, who is about 10 years younger than me, I think. He and I both grew up in Christian homes, becoming believers very early in life. And my parents were wonderful examples of faith who I wouldn't trade in a million years. But the evidence of the uniquely spirit-filled home that Kyle grew up in is obvious to me, whether he's teaching up front or having burgers at my house. And I would have loved to have had the same advantages growing up. But that's just not where God placed me, and my genetic make-up is different, too.

I can remember times in my life where I would kind of recoil when meeting someone with more spiritual maturity or giftedness than me. Jealousy would take hold before I even knew it was jealousy I was feeling. Internally I would label them in some way that made me feel more secure in my own status or gifting by comparison.

I can also just get down on myself when stacked next to uniquely gifted people. A year or so ago, in the green room before helping to lead worship in one of our services, those of us on the worship team had a conversation about the books we like to read purely for fun. Our current senior pastor was there and when it came to his turn, he said "This will probably sound boring, but I just like reading and studying the Bible. I don't read any fiction. Reading the Bible is my idea of fun." I immediately felt embarrassed and ashamed for talking about Brent Weeks and The Night Angel Trilogy. I said, "Man, I wish I was like that! When I relax I like to read a bunch of dumb stories about magic and laser guns." Pastor Bob was quick to shake his head insistently and say, "No, don't feel that way. It suits your calling. Just like my love for reading the Bible suits mine."

Now I DO believe we're all being called into an increasingly deeper life with God and his word. But we're not made complete yet, and we're each in different places with unique equipping for where we're at. So we should be content with that as we pursue growth, instead of resentful.

I'd love for God to equip me and energize my work in a way that would make Christian Geek Central a much more widely used resource and community. But God hasn't done that, and he may never do that, even as I watch other Christian geek ministries gain much greater followings and influence. And although I'm repeatedly looking for ways to be more effective and reach more people, I'm increasingly okay with the limits of my gifting and my impact, and care increasingly less when I see someone else reaching more people than I am.

I think that's the peace we need to grow in as we look at other Christians and see their giftedness and how God uses them. Or as we look at other creative types and see their work having greater quality or popularity. That's a peace we can grow in as we remember that Jesus is calling the shots. The spoils of the world, all its resources, belong to him. And with possessions, genetics, events, or whatever he chooses, he gifts, equips and empowers whoever he wants, however he wants, to whatever degree he wants, for whatever reasons he may have that aren't clear to us. And he's a good king, so we can trust him with that responsibility.

Finally, beyond feeling peace about all that we can also seek out unity with other Christians more gifted than we are, knowing that we all enjoy our individual portions of blessing not because we're more valuable than someone else, but because of the undeserved favor of Jesus.




Resources typically used to prepare this study include:
"Expositor's Bible Commentary", Frank E. Gaebelein General Editor (Zondervan Publishing House)
"The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament", by Dr. Craig S. Keener (InterVarsity Press)
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
Blueletterbible.org (primarily for search functionality)