The Gift of Grace
The Gift of Grace: Understanding Our Place in God's Purpose
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson received an extraordinary gift—a massive wheel of cheese weighing 1,235 pounds, measuring four feet across and seventeen inches thick. Made from the milk of 900 cows by the citizens of Cheshire, Massachusetts, this enormous block sat in the White House East Room for over a year before reportedly being thrown into the Potomac River. Three decades later, President Andrew Jackson received an even larger cheese—1,400 pounds—but he had a better strategy. He opened the White House doors to 10,000 people on George Washington's birthday, and the cheese disappeared in two hours.
While these historical anecdotes might seem amusing, they point to a profound spiritual truth: the nature of gifts, their purpose, and how they're meant to be shared rather than hoarded.
Grace Given to Each One
The book of Ephesians presents a remarkable truth in chapter 4, verses 7-10: "But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." That small word "but" marks a significant shift. The preceding verses emphasize the unity of believers—one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. The unity is established and beautiful. But now comes the contrast: within this unity, there is diversity.
Grace—God's unmerited favor toward the unworthy—has been distributed uniquely to each believer. This isn't a vague, ethereal concept. Grace is God's benevolence extended to those who don't deserve it, His loving-kindness poured out on the spiritually destitute, the blind, the unclean, and the dead. We were once in that condition. Spiritually bankrupt. Unable to save ourselves. Yet grace came.
The Cost of the Gift
Grace is a gift, and like all true gifts, nothing is owed in return. The recipient pays no cost. But make no mistake—grace was extraordinarily costly to the Giver. The Father gave His Son. Jesus gave Himself willingly. The cross was the price tag of our salvation.
Scripture repeatedly emphasizes this gift nature of salvation:
Grace includes salvation, yes, but it also includes enablement—the power to live the Christian life. Without God's grace, we cannot understand His will or walk in the good works He prepared for us before the foundation of the world. Grace gives us the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and spiritual gifts to function as part of Christ's body.
Gifts According to His Measure
Here's where it gets personal: grace was given "to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." Every believer receives grace. Every Christian has been given gifts from the Holy Spirit—measured out, portioned, and distributed by Christ Himself according to His perfect wisdom.
The gifts are varied. Scripture mentions somewhere between 18 and 21 spiritual gifts, depending on how they're counted. Some have the gift of teaching, others of serving, giving, mercy, administration, encouragement, or hospitality. Just as a human body has many different parts—each essential, each serving the others—so the body of Christ functions through diverse gifts working in harmony.
Consider your elbow. It's not particularly attractive—knobbly skin, awkward angles. But without it, you couldn't feed yourself. That seemingly insignificant joint serves the entire body. In the same way, every believer's gift, no matter how "minor" it may seem, is essential for the body's health and growth.
First Peter 4:10 makes this clear: "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace." The gifts aren't for personal glory or private enjoyment. They're for service. For building up others. For the common good.
The Victory of the King
Ephesians 4:8 quotes Psalm 68: "When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." This imagery draws from ancient victory celebrations. When a king returned from battle, he would process up to his city with freed captives, spoils of war, and great fanfare. The people would celebrate, and the victorious king would distribute gifts.
But notice the shift from Psalm 68. The original psalm speaks of the king "receiving gifts among men," but Ephesians says Christ "gave gifts to men." This isn't a contradiction—it's a revelation of Christ's character. He is the victorious King who doesn't hoard His victory spoils but generously distributes them to His people.
Jesus descended—humbling Himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming obedient to death on a cross. He entered the lowest places of human existence. But then He ascended—raised from the dead, seated at the Father's right hand, exalted far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. He descended and ascended so that He might "fill all things"—ruling from the lowest depths to the highest heavens, uniting all things in Himself.
From Passive to Active
The question confronting every believer is this: Have you embraced the grace gift God has given you? Do you know what your spiritual gift is? Are you using it to serve others?
Too often, we approach church as passive consumers rather than active ministers. We come to receive but not to give. We sit and listen but don't engage and serve. Yet God's design is different. He's given each of us gifts specifically so we can build up the body of Christ, serve one another in love, and bring glory to His name.
Discovering your spiritual gift may take time. It requires prayer, self-examination, and engagement with the body. Sometimes the best way to discover your gifting is simply to start serving wherever there's a need and see where God opens doors and provides joy and effectiveness.
The point isn't to achieve personal fulfillment (though serving in your gifting often brings great satisfaction). The point is stewardship. We are stewards of God's varied grace, entrusted with gifts that aren't ours to keep but ours to invest in others.
A Life Offered
Consider the hymn "Take My Life and Let It Be"—a song of complete offering. Every aspect of our being—hands, voice, time, intellect, will, heart, love, wealth—surrendered to God's purposes. This is the natural response to understanding grace. We are not our own. We've been bought with a price—the precious blood of Jesus.
When we truly grasp that grace has been given to each of us, that Christ the victorious King has personally measured out gifts for our use, that we've been placed in His body for the specific purpose of serving one another, everything changes. Church isn't a weekly obligation. It's a family gathering. Service isn't a burden. It's a privilege. Using our gifts isn't exhausting. It's energizing.
The grace given to you is meant to flow through you to others. Like that cheese at Andrew Jackson's White House, it's meant to be shared, distributed, enjoyed by many. Not hoarded or wasted, but generously given away.
What gift has Christ given you? How will you use it today?
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson received an extraordinary gift—a massive wheel of cheese weighing 1,235 pounds, measuring four feet across and seventeen inches thick. Made from the milk of 900 cows by the citizens of Cheshire, Massachusetts, this enormous block sat in the White House East Room for over a year before reportedly being thrown into the Potomac River. Three decades later, President Andrew Jackson received an even larger cheese—1,400 pounds—but he had a better strategy. He opened the White House doors to 10,000 people on George Washington's birthday, and the cheese disappeared in two hours.
While these historical anecdotes might seem amusing, they point to a profound spiritual truth: the nature of gifts, their purpose, and how they're meant to be shared rather than hoarded.
Grace Given to Each One
The book of Ephesians presents a remarkable truth in chapter 4, verses 7-10: "But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." That small word "but" marks a significant shift. The preceding verses emphasize the unity of believers—one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all. The unity is established and beautiful. But now comes the contrast: within this unity, there is diversity.
Grace—God's unmerited favor toward the unworthy—has been distributed uniquely to each believer. This isn't a vague, ethereal concept. Grace is God's benevolence extended to those who don't deserve it, His loving-kindness poured out on the spiritually destitute, the blind, the unclean, and the dead. We were once in that condition. Spiritually bankrupt. Unable to save ourselves. Yet grace came.
The Cost of the Gift
Grace is a gift, and like all true gifts, nothing is owed in return. The recipient pays no cost. But make no mistake—grace was extraordinarily costly to the Giver. The Father gave His Son. Jesus gave Himself willingly. The cross was the price tag of our salvation.
Scripture repeatedly emphasizes this gift nature of salvation:
- "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." (John 3:16)
- "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23)
- "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Grace includes salvation, yes, but it also includes enablement—the power to live the Christian life. Without God's grace, we cannot understand His will or walk in the good works He prepared for us before the foundation of the world. Grace gives us the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, and spiritual gifts to function as part of Christ's body.
Gifts According to His Measure
Here's where it gets personal: grace was given "to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." Every believer receives grace. Every Christian has been given gifts from the Holy Spirit—measured out, portioned, and distributed by Christ Himself according to His perfect wisdom.
The gifts are varied. Scripture mentions somewhere between 18 and 21 spiritual gifts, depending on how they're counted. Some have the gift of teaching, others of serving, giving, mercy, administration, encouragement, or hospitality. Just as a human body has many different parts—each essential, each serving the others—so the body of Christ functions through diverse gifts working in harmony.
Consider your elbow. It's not particularly attractive—knobbly skin, awkward angles. But without it, you couldn't feed yourself. That seemingly insignificant joint serves the entire body. In the same way, every believer's gift, no matter how "minor" it may seem, is essential for the body's health and growth.
First Peter 4:10 makes this clear: "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace." The gifts aren't for personal glory or private enjoyment. They're for service. For building up others. For the common good.
The Victory of the King
Ephesians 4:8 quotes Psalm 68: "When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." This imagery draws from ancient victory celebrations. When a king returned from battle, he would process up to his city with freed captives, spoils of war, and great fanfare. The people would celebrate, and the victorious king would distribute gifts.
But notice the shift from Psalm 68. The original psalm speaks of the king "receiving gifts among men," but Ephesians says Christ "gave gifts to men." This isn't a contradiction—it's a revelation of Christ's character. He is the victorious King who doesn't hoard His victory spoils but generously distributes them to His people.
Jesus descended—humbling Himself, taking the form of a servant, becoming obedient to death on a cross. He entered the lowest places of human existence. But then He ascended—raised from the dead, seated at the Father's right hand, exalted far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. He descended and ascended so that He might "fill all things"—ruling from the lowest depths to the highest heavens, uniting all things in Himself.
From Passive to Active
The question confronting every believer is this: Have you embraced the grace gift God has given you? Do you know what your spiritual gift is? Are you using it to serve others?
Too often, we approach church as passive consumers rather than active ministers. We come to receive but not to give. We sit and listen but don't engage and serve. Yet God's design is different. He's given each of us gifts specifically so we can build up the body of Christ, serve one another in love, and bring glory to His name.
Discovering your spiritual gift may take time. It requires prayer, self-examination, and engagement with the body. Sometimes the best way to discover your gifting is simply to start serving wherever there's a need and see where God opens doors and provides joy and effectiveness.
The point isn't to achieve personal fulfillment (though serving in your gifting often brings great satisfaction). The point is stewardship. We are stewards of God's varied grace, entrusted with gifts that aren't ours to keep but ours to invest in others.
A Life Offered
Consider the hymn "Take My Life and Let It Be"—a song of complete offering. Every aspect of our being—hands, voice, time, intellect, will, heart, love, wealth—surrendered to God's purposes. This is the natural response to understanding grace. We are not our own. We've been bought with a price—the precious blood of Jesus.
When we truly grasp that grace has been given to each of us, that Christ the victorious King has personally measured out gifts for our use, that we've been placed in His body for the specific purpose of serving one another, everything changes. Church isn't a weekly obligation. It's a family gathering. Service isn't a burden. It's a privilege. Using our gifts isn't exhausting. It's energizing.
The grace given to you is meant to flow through you to others. Like that cheese at Andrew Jackson's White House, it's meant to be shared, distributed, enjoyed by many. Not hoarded or wasted, but generously given away.
What gift has Christ given you? How will you use it today?
Posted in Book of Ephesians