No Longer Children
No Longer Children. In this section of Ephesians 4, the Apostle Paul answers the why and how questions of being a servant of the Lord.
14 that 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, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
Ephesians 4:14-16, NKJV
No Longer Children
You will remember that our previous devotion concerned the first half of a very long sentence in Ephesians 4:11-16. In this devotion we will consider the second half of that sentence. Reviewing our previous devotion, we remember that God has ordained all of our professions for the building up of His kingdom. Some people have been ordained to minister in the church as pastors and teachers, etc. All of us, however, have a ministry to reach those we see each day.
In this section of Ephesians 4, Paul answers the why and how questions of being a servant of the Lord. First, we are to grow and be educated so that we are no longer children in the faith. Second, we understand that God has ordained the church ministry to grow and strengthen His people.
We understand the need to no longer be children forever. Even in the secular world we have little patience with children who just seem to refuse to grow up. Long after they should have taken on the mantle of responsibility, they seem to prefer to live like children by letting others provide for their basic needs. As a matter of fact, some people never do seem to grow up.
Does that happen in the church as well? Yes, it does. Through the ministry of the church we grow and are strengthened in the faith. Supplementary to that, we have the responsibility to read and study God's Word and spend time in prayer and fellowship with God. What is the danger of not doing that? The Devil is prowling about the entire world seeking those he can devour. If he cannot keep us from becoming a true believer, then he will divert us with worldliness and false doctrines.
Do we see evidence of that in God's church today? Oh, yes! We are not to mindlessly partake of the ministry of a church without continually questioning the ministry of our pastors and teachers. Everything they tell us needs to be compared with Scripture. The Bible is true, but all men, even the most Godly can be led away by false teaching and false ideas of God.
We certainly have Biblical illustrations of this in the lives of David, Solomon, and King Asa, to just name a few. Let us not become so comfortable in our faith that we think we are free from the temptations to fall away from the Lord. Let us be zealous every single day of our lives--even into old age!
How do we avoid this? We speak the truth in love, understanding that Christ is the head of the church. Christ is all. We are not to depend upon ourselves or others--we are to depend completely upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
Asa served God most of the days of his kingship. God blessed him and helped him conquer even an army of over one million people. But, in his latter years when he sought the help of the king of Syria instead of depending upon God, his failure brought disastrous results to him, personally, and to the land of Judah as well.
No longer children! God has ordained the
church to grow His people, and He has given us the completed Word of
God, the Bible, to help us maintain His truth. Let us turn away from the
flattery and temptations of this world, and seek to love and obey the
Lord Jesus Christ above all!
This world is not our home. Our home is with Christ!
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