Mature vs Immature

¹¹ And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; ¹² For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: ¹³ Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: ¹⁴ That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

-Ephesians 4:11-14 (KJV)

Yesterday, I wrote a post asking if your faith is useless. I challenged you to put your faith into practice. To do what God has called you to do. Did you ever stop and ask yourself why your Pastor became a Pastor? Or why people who are called to be an Evangelist became a Evangelist? I was thinking about that the other day. Is your Pastor a Pastor because he likes to preach the Word? Maybe. Or how about that Evangelist who spent a week in your town holding nightly revival services. Do he leave his family and home because he likes traveling the world? Maybe. But there is a lot of responsibility on these men who proclaim the Word of God to us. 

Paul writes in Ephesians 4:11 "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;" Paul is writing about some of the ministries that God has called people to. Why would God call people into ministries like evangelists, pastors and teachers? The answer is found in verses 12-13, "For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:" Wow! Look at the work of the evangelist, pastor and teacher. Their calling is to proclaim the Word of God. As a result of their proclaiming the Word of God, we will become perfect, ready to work in the ministry, and will build up the body of Christ. As a result of them proclaiming he Word of God, we will all come in unity, as one, in our faith, unity, as one, in our knowledge of the Son of God. This happens when those who are called perform their calling and proclaim the true Word of God. 

Look at verse 14, "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness they lie in wait to deceive;" The qualities of verses 12-13 are also signals of mature Christians, who have grown up in their faith, who are living their lives in accordance with the Word of God. Verse 14, shows the immature Christian who is not growing in their faith. The question is this, are you growing up in your faith? Or are you still childlike, carried about by each and every teaching you hear, without knowledge of the true Word? Think About It.