"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 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, 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. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."
We need to be mature Christians because not everyone who stands up and reads the Bible is actually delivering a message of God to us. Remember, when Satan tempted Jesus in Luke 4, he used (misused) Scripture to try and convince Him to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the temple. This requires that we be in the Word and be shrewd discerners of the men claiming to be called by God to preach.
False teachers will use new doctrines based on misused passages from the Bible. They will draw men away through sharp wit and cunning. They will be crafty and deceitful, concealing their lies beneath the cloak of God's Word, twisting and using it however they please. To combat these men from destroying His body, Christ gave men to lead them in ministry. We are all in ministry. The body of Christ is one and has one mind and one goal--leading men to Christ and establishing His Kingdom. Those ordained as the leaders of the body are responsible to equip and hold accountable those entrusted to their keep.
We cannot be satisfied with reviewing the basic Gospel principles day after day and week after week. Hear God's words from Hebrews 5:11-14: "We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." If we are no growing, we are dying. Paul makes clear in Ephesians 4 that the goal Christ has ordained for His body is to grow. We are to grow in love and we must grow in knowledge in order to do so. We must grow as a body in Christ. He holds us together and commands us to abide in His love (John 15). We must grow in faith in Christ and knowledge of Him. We ought to strive for the fulness of Christ. We must not be satisfied with the elementary principles of Christ but must strive to learn the depth, breadth, length, and height his love is.
The other option is to be like a helpless ship lost at sea, bouncing around wherever it takes us. Each waves knocks us this way and that, believing whatever enters our ears. We must not be like impressionable children who will believe whatever anyone says. We must be instructed by God through the faithful reading and preaching of His Word and grow into mature manhood. We are not a ship on the ocean; we are being built in a building the foundation of which is Christ and the Apostles. We must attend to these things or else we will forever be able to take only milk.
We need to be mature Christians because not everyone who stands up and reads the Bible is actually delivering a message of God to us. Remember, when Satan tempted Jesus in Luke 4, he used (misused) Scripture to try and convince Him to throw Himself from the pinnacle of the temple. This requires that we be in the Word and be shrewd discerners of the men claiming to be called by God to preach.
False teachers will use new doctrines based on misused passages from the Bible. They will draw men away through sharp wit and cunning. They will be crafty and deceitful, concealing their lies beneath the cloak of God's Word, twisting and using it however they please. To combat these men from destroying His body, Christ gave men to lead them in ministry. We are all in ministry. The body of Christ is one and has one mind and one goal--leading men to Christ and establishing His Kingdom. Those ordained as the leaders of the body are responsible to equip and hold accountable those entrusted to their keep.
We cannot be satisfied with reviewing the basic Gospel principles day after day and week after week. Hear God's words from Hebrews 5:11-14: "We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." If we are no growing, we are dying. Paul makes clear in Ephesians 4 that the goal Christ has ordained for His body is to grow. We are to grow in love and we must grow in knowledge in order to do so. We must grow as a body in Christ. He holds us together and commands us to abide in His love (John 15). We must grow in faith in Christ and knowledge of Him. We ought to strive for the fulness of Christ. We must not be satisfied with the elementary principles of Christ but must strive to learn the depth, breadth, length, and height his love is.
The other option is to be like a helpless ship lost at sea, bouncing around wherever it takes us. Each waves knocks us this way and that, believing whatever enters our ears. We must not be like impressionable children who will believe whatever anyone says. We must be instructed by God through the faithful reading and preaching of His Word and grow into mature manhood. We are not a ship on the ocean; we are being built in a building the foundation of which is Christ and the Apostles. We must attend to these things or else we will forever be able to take only milk.
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