Let's open our Bibles this morning to Ezra 8, verses 24-30. Ezra 8, verses 24-30. Hear now the word of the Lord. Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, Cherubiah, Hashebiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them. And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel their present had offered. I weighed out into their hands six hundred fifty talents of silver, and silver vessels worth two hundred talents, and one hundred talents of gold, twenty bowls of gold worth one thousand derricks, and two vessels of fine, bright bronze, as precious as gold. And I said to them, You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of the fathers' houses in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of the Lord. So the priests and the Levites took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God. Let's pray. Our Father, teach us this morning from your word. Not simply to increase our knowledge, but God, to increase our obedience. Not simply to make us more confident in you, but to draw us closer to you, which is in the final analysis, all the confidence we need. We need to be near you. We need to be close to you. And I pray that the words that are spoken this morning would honor you and glorify you and would implant in each one of our hearts the scripture that you have given us that can change us from the image of this world every day into the image of Jesus Christ. For it is in His powerful name We pray, Amen. Today we continue to look at this passage describing the arrangements made in Ezra's congregation for the safe transport of the offerings they had been entrusted with. And although it has no bearing on the point of the sermon today, you get a freebie this morning. Because I feel like I would be remiss if I didn't mention this. About 450 years after the events that we read about this morning, another caravan began roughly from the same location, traveled the same route, headed for the same destination, carrying riches and treasure for a newborn king. including the valuables of gold and frankincense and myrrh. As I said, we're not going to be exploring those parallels today, but I did want to share that with you as it occurred to me this week in my study. When we met together two weeks ago, we began to look at this passage specifically with reference to the holy trust that God has given. And we looked at the measures Ezra and by extension these 24 priests and Levites took to safeguard this treasure until it could be delivered complete to the temple in Jerusalem. In fact, you can easily understand this trust is not just for Ezra only and not even just for the 24 men who have been set apart. It was a trust to be held by the entire congregation along the way. Every member of this caravan that was returning to Jerusalem had an interest in its safe arrival in Jerusalem. And so in looking at the meaning for us today, We took to heart Ezra's charge to these 24 men when he told them in verse 28, You are holy to the Lord. You are set apart to the Lord. And these vessels are holy. And the silver and gold are a free will offering. They have been set apart to the Lord, the God of your fathers. And you'll recall that in that study, we found instruction for ourselves who carry the treasure of the gospel of Jesus Christ in our very lives. And then last week, we took the time to celebrate God's own revelation of Himself as the one who gives gifts out of His own mercy and out of His own grace. And He has chosen those who are undeserving to receive His greatest gift. salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ, and eternal life with Him. And so this week, I would like to return to this passage once again to explore how God accomplishes His work through us. Because everything that we've talked about up to this point has been preliminary to looking at how God works in His people. In effect, we'll combine the truths of the last two weeks to help us understand more of how God works through us. Specifically, we will look at how He distributes gifts among His people. Now, I want to make it clear how I'm using the word distribute today. In our language, it's very often understood as a synonym for give. We gave you a bulletin today. We distributed a bulletin to you today. But that's not the meaning that I want to use. That's not the shade of understanding that we want to get to today. Because last week we looked at the God who gives gifts. The meaning for distribute that I want you to keep in mind today and that I want to use in explaining this is the idea of spreading something to a lot of different people, like distributing toys to needy children. Even in its giving connotation, that's the meaning behind the word. We look at the idea of distributing as someone who divides something and gives a portion to each person of many people. And so we take one thing and we give each a portion. That's exactly what Ezra did with these offerings and these gifts that had been made to God. He distributed them, he divided them to the 24 priests and Levites, giving each one a share. Now notice I didn't say an equal share. because the Scripture doesn't say an equal share. It merely indicates the great wealth that was being transported to Jerusalem was split into the care of these 24 men. They were the ones who, based on God's ordained position, were set apart, made holy to carry this particular gift among themselves. And so today I'd like to look at the parallels between the distribution of God's holy trust in Ezra and the distribution of God's gifts to His church all the way to this day. Now, I don't know of a clearer exposition of God's distribution of His treasure among His people than the 12th chapter of the book of 1 Corinthians. I would recommend that you kind of put a finger there, throw a bookmark there. 1 Corinthians 12 this morning, because this chapter is basically one single thought examined and explained as the Apostle Paul was enabled to do by God. And that single thought is how God distributes gifts among His people. It begins with His premise in verse 1, where He says, Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. Now, in some of your translations, if you're looking at it in your Bible, the word gifts is in italics. Some don't do it, but many do. And you know what that means, right? It means that the word gifts was not in the original language. It was added there by translators for clarity, but it was not found in the original Greek text. And while I think the word is probably correct in general, it has generated more than its share of confusion in the area that we know as spiritual gifts. A more accurate translation, an exact translation, and what I would argue is a better understanding of Paul's intent here in this first verse, would be to translate it, now concerning spiritual matters, now concerning spiritual stuff, or even now concerning the spiritual. It doesn't ring as easily in English But that is exactly the words Paul is using here. And the reason I'm saying that is because he gets to gifts down in verses 4 through 6. He says, Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities, but is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. And the reason I say that the word gifts probably should not be in that first verse is because we narrow down the discussion to just spiritual gifts when Paul is talking about three complete areas. Varieties of gifts, varieties of service, and varieties of activities or varieties of work. In our modern church, We have in many parts an unhealthy fascination with what we call spiritual gifts. Some would make evidence of one of the enumerated biblical gifts tantamount to salvation itself. For example, there are some who call themselves believers who would declare to you that unless you have spoken by the Holy Spirit in a foreign tongue, you are not a Christian. I've had people tell me that. Let me just set the record straight. That is a dangerous heresy. The only thing that makes you a Christian is the application of the redemption of Jesus Christ. Nothing else. And the way you will know you are a Christian from the Scripture, it tells us that that evidence will be repentance from sin and a new life in Christ, not the fact that you say something you don't understand. But even in churches that don't go that far, I have been encouraged in other churches to take a test. A spiritual inventory to discover my spiritual gift or my spiritual gifts. Those inventories do not even take into account what Paul is talking about here. That there are not just a variety of gifts, but there are a variety of service, and that there are a variety of activities. There are a variety of things that the Spirit calls us to do here and now in our church. Not just a propensity in our lives. It is possible to spend too much time exploring your spiritual gift and too little time using it. Just like you could consider an opportunity for service so long that you let it pass by while you're considering doing it. Just like you could miss the opportunity to serve Christ faithfully while you're waiting to be led. It does not require a personality test to tell you if you have a disposition toward prayer, or toward generosity, or toward teaching. or toward quietly enabling others to use their talents in the service of the gospel. It doesn't require a spiritual inventory to tell you you can help others and build them up. What Paul is telling us when he talks about spiritual gifts is to don't spend so much time worrying about what they are. Use them. God has given them to you. And it may be that you have a great desire to do something. And if God has given you that desire, then that can be developed into someone who uses that gift mightily for God. In the second epistle of Timothy, as Paul was recalling the fears and the tears of Timothy related to his concerns about his ability to do the role that Paul had given him. In the very first chapter of this second letter to Timothy, Paul tells him, "...for this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and of self-control." That's verses 6 and 7. He remembered how concerned, how worried Timothy was that he was up to the task and Paul says, I know you and I know the gift that God has put in you. Fan it into flame. You are not now what you one day will be. God will bring you up. Even as Moses stood before the burning bush and said, I cannot speak, we find him speaking quite eloquently by the end of Deuteronomy. That entire epistle of 2 Timothy can be understood as an encouragement for Timothy to continue developing his gifts that were in him and to remain faithful to Jesus Christ and to His church forever. And so with all that said, I'd like to move on to the parallels between our passage in Ezra today, this distribution of the gifts that God had for His temple, and the distribution of God's gifts and callings among His people today. But please understand, when I use the word gifts, I am not speaking specifically about those things that you have been told are gifts in the past. Those gifts are the things that God has endowed you with, the opportunities that He has given you uniquely for such a time as this. These gifts should be thought of as gifts and opportunities and activities that God grants to His people through His grace. And so let's take a look at the first parallel. that no one person has all the gifts. That's the first thing that is obvious in verse 25 of Ezra 8. What he says there is, I weighed out to them. I divided to them those gifts. He apportioned the gifts of God to each of these men and made them responsible for their portion. Likewise, in the church, after Paul has listed the examples of the way God has provided gifts to His people in His church, we're told in 1 Corinthians 12, 11, that all these gifts, all these areas of service, all these opportunities are empowered by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as He wills. One Christian will not look like another Christian. We are not cookie cutters. He is going to give you talents. He is going to give you abilities. He is going to give you opportunities that no one else in this congregation will ever have. You have been given a portion of the Spirit. You have been given a portion of the gifts that the Spirit pours out on this church. And God doesn't distribute it just because He doesn't want to put all His eggs into a single basket. It is because God has ordained the church that each one of us is vital to its mission. There is no one here who is not vital to the mission of this church. Let me say that again. There is no one here who is not vital to the mission of this church. He is placed on you. If you're a follower of His, a gift, a mission, an opportunity that is unique to you. And Paul emphasizes that fact, that each and every believer has a role in the proclamation of the gospel by the church when he says in verse 14 of 1 Corinthians 12, For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. The body is made up of many different members. And he goes into great detail how a hand is not an eye. that an ear is not a foot. Each one of us has a role in this congregation, in this church that is being built up, in this body of Christ that is sitting right here in Alex City. We all have different strengths. We have different roles. There are not many times I try to pick things up with my earlobes. That's not their task. But the one thing I will tell you is that God does not bring a single person into His kingdom to simply sit in a chair for an hour on Sunday and enjoy the show. If you are in Him, He has a gift, He has a calling, He has a purpose for you to accomplish for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's the first parallel. That God distributes those gifts. The second parallel is this. Without all the gifts, the work is incomplete. Each person is not only endowed, they are necessary, even vital, to completing God's task here. Ezra warned his trustees that these gifts that had been distributed to them would receive a full accounting when they were reunited at the temple in Jerusalem. Failure on the part of a single individual would mean failure for the entire group. Every single person, even those who were not personally responsible for those treasures, was responsible to accomplish the mission to safely transport this treasure to God's temple. In a like manner, in verses 26 and 27 of 1 Corinthians 12, Paul continues to describe our dependence on one another in the analogy of the body. He says, if one member suffers, all suffer. the word together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. You all are the body of Christ. Each one of you are members individually of it. We are dependent on the work of each other to accomplish the work of Jesus Christ here. And this is the fact, this is the reason He tells us in verse 25, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. When one member of my body hurts, the other members come to its aid. When a member of this body hurts, we are together in coming to our aid. In the Hall of Faith chapter, Hebrews 11, the writer of Hebrews makes an astounding statement to summarize that chapter. He's just recounted the faithfulness of God's saints down through the ages. Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, and others. But then he says this. He says, All these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Apart from us, the work of Abraham is not complete, is not perfect. Apart from our work in our generation, among our people, with our gifts given by God for the sake of His gospel, their work is not complete. Those are the great cloud of witnesses, we are told, that encompass us as we run our race. They are relying on us to run our race so that their work is complete in us. And if God has so designed the church that it is the body of Christ, how can we possibly believe that being part of a congregation of believers is an optional part of being in Christ. Some claim to believe that though, don't they? They believe that they can keep a private religion, that they can follow God without all the trappings of church. The only problem is that that belief is a lie. I defy you to show me a single instance in Scripture where a person was brought to Christ but not brought into His church. Now there are some we may lose track of because we're not told specifically they went and joined the church at Antioch. But nowhere I know of are we told that a person was saved by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ only to be set apart alone and isolated from the church of Jesus Christ. The very assumption of the writers of Scripture is that these converts would be immediately joined to a congregation even if it is one that they themselves must plant, like the Ethiopian eunuch. And so in carrying this holy trust that God has distributed to us as believers, we rely on each other to support and to encourage us, to challenge us, and to exhort us, to care for us when we're weak, and to allow us to care for them when we are strong. The church is not me and you. The church is us at every point. We are together. And everyone in the church is vital. The third and final parallel we'll look at today, I have alluded to over the past couple of weeks, none of the gifts are intended for the personal enrichment of the trustee. For Ezra's trustees, not a penny of what was entrusted to them belonged to them. When they reached their destination, every cent would be turned over to God because it was His in the first place. And so for us, in the use of the gifts that God has given us, we must be very careful not to consider them something that we glory in. These gifts of grace are not for our glory. These gifts of grace are given to us for God's glory and God's glory alone. In Ephesians 4, verses 12 and 13, Paul explains in detail why God gives these gifts to us. He says it is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain 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. That's a mouthful. Let's break it down just a second. These gifts are not merely about making ourselves grow. It's not about making our reputations. They are given to us for helping each other grow in respect to the gospel. The work of ministry. The work of service. The unity of the faith, he says. That means the proper doctrine and belief. We're here to teach each other the truths about Jesus Christ. The knowledge of the Son of God. That is experiential knowledge. Walking with Him and understanding Him as more real than anything we can see, feel, hear, or touch. to the ultimate goal to be mature as measured by our closeness to the fullness of Christ. We don't get to set our own standards. The standards for our behavior, the standards for our life is Jesus Christ alone. And so the gifts and the callings that He gives us are not intended to make a name for themselves. They are intended to make much of His name. If when I die people consider me the most eloquent preacher on earth, I will say it's not very likely. But even if they did, I shall have utterly failed in my mission. Because I must decrease and He must increase. Now I'm going to strive to do my best in preaching and in preparation for proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. But if I ever do it for my own sake or my own name, I will have failed in my mission that God gave me. I do pray that my preaching would help you to come to a greater understanding, a greater love, a greater obedience to Jesus Christ our Lord, but that God only would receive the glory from it. I am just a bondservant, a slave to Jesus Christ. I am only doing what I have been called to do, what I've been told to do. I am doing the will of my Master. And so any praise goes to Him. And I pray that God would keep me aware of that truth, even as the enemy may at various times try to discourage me from my task or try to puff me up in it. And so likewise, as you utilize your gifts on behalf of others, strive solely for the glory of God. not for your own glory, not to make a name for yourself, not to have people look up to you, point them at Jesus Christ, and not to your own wisdom. I say that because not one cent of that glory belongs to you or to me. Not one cent of that treasure is ours. The commendation we will receive is when we stand before His throne and He says, well done, my good and faithful servant. That is the commendation that we work for as servants of the Most High. Servants of Jesus Christ our Lord. Our Father, it seems if we're not being knocked down, we're being puffed up. The enemy never gives us a rest. Our egos or our insecurities seem to always be in front of our eyes. But God, let us have eyes for only You. And the use of the gifts that You have given Those gifts of grace, let us use them for your gospel and your kingdom and your glory alone. Let us never look to someone to affirm us in what we say or what we do. And let us always strive to be faithful servants. We love you. We want to be closer to You. We pray for Your return. We echo with the faithful down through the ages. Come, Lord Jesus. Maranatha. Come quickly. For it is in His holy name we pray. Amen.