Living Stones – Tuesday, October 24, 2017
The Christian Infant
Ephesians 4:14
“… we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting …”
The Apostle Paul, writing here to the Ephesian Christians about Christian growth, uses the idea of a ship at sea that is unable to control its path because the winds and the waves are more powerful than it and twart the attempt to chart a specific and particular course to a desired destination. This is the example and imagery he uses to bring our attention to focus on the challenges of living as a Christian and maturing in the faith.
Starting in verse 11 of this chapter he makes the point that ministers, under Christ, must provide teaching and training in the doctrines of the faith to the members of the church, and that all believers must submit to this teaching and training so that there may be unity, progress and growth.
Getting to verse 14 which we quote above, he challenged Christians not to be “children.” The NIV1984 uses the word “infants.” A Christian infant is one who has not presented themselves to receive the teaching being provided by the doctrinal ministers.
Every day as I meet people in the various circumstances to which we are called to help, one of the first and most obvious problems to surface is that they do not know the Bible. And those who know it a bit do not know how to interpret it or how to apply it to their lives and the circumstances around them.
The warning in this passage is that Christians, who remain infants, run the risk of having their lives, homes and family shipwrecked by others.
Those who seek to draw the young Christian, or the immature Christian, away are not people who do not understand what they are doing, rather they are, more often than not, “deliberately deceitful and evil” 1 Timothy 4:1-2. They include heretics who spin off Christian cults, and they also include false religions.
In this verse the Apostle address the deceitful scheming of cunning and crafty people. These come in various forms. There are the charlatans among the people of God who want to take advantage of the weak and so spin their own interpretations to deceive and beguile and to abuse. Often these schemes relate to sex, money, and power.
One of the biggest contemporary challenges for doctrine in the church is over the philosophical position that I have rights that trump righteousness. I must be free to live as I like. The righteous requirements of the scripture must not be a violation of my rights. So, people today want to be Christian and live as they please especially where it relates to the big moral issues of the day like on issues of sexual purity, and marital fidelity, and termination of pregnancy.
For example, just over the last few weeks we saw Austria elect the cohabiting 31 year old Sebastian Kurz as Chancellor and New Zealand elected the cohabiting 37 year old Jacinda Ardern and Prime Minister. Ardern was raised as a member of a church “but left the church in 2005 because it conflicted with her personal views…” This is a remarkable development in that it redefines the relationship we have with the doctrines of our faith. Traditionally, the doctrine determined our beliefs and behavior. Today our preferred beliefs and behavior will determine doctrine, and where they are incompatible we leave the church.
Elsewhere, in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 Paul advised that “… the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.
This time may well be the time to which Paul referred. This is definitely not the first time that the doctrines of the faith are being challenged, but the intensity of the war on sound doctrine on every front has never been like this. If you want to survive in this environment you have to grow up and grow up fast. Those of us who are called to teach must “speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine” and others must be prepared to heed those whose job it is to “equip the saints” and bring them to maturity.
Think on these things:
- Are your beliefs and behavior based on the teaching on the scriptures that you have received?
- Have you been exposed to much doctrinal preaching and teaching in church?
- Based on today’s meditation would you say that you are experiencing Christian maturity?
Prayer focus:
Let us pray today that we would be careful to pay attention to sound doctrine and work on Christian maturity.
In His Grace
Pastor Alex