Equipping the Saints for Spiritual Maturity and Unity

He gave some apostles some prophets some evangelists some shepherds and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to this double experience of unity unity of believing and unity of knowing truth understood and truth embraced together to a mature man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. [00:19:46]

All of this the apostolic prophetic deposit which we have in the new testament the evangelization of the world that brings people into the kingdom including us shepherds and teachers in the church equipping all the saints to do all their different kinds of ministry for the building up in faith and knowledge of the body of Christ until we attain this is the goal attain a great unified faith and a great unified knowledge and we are corporately becoming the mature manifestation of Christ in the world. [00:78:32]

There's the great goal don't be children anymore be part of this mature man why what's wrong with being a child I mean Jesus says unless you turn and become like a child you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven so clearly there are things about children to be imitated the simplicity and purity of their willingness to trust their parents for example and things about children to be avoided namely their vulnerability to deceit they're not mature enough to be discerning that's what he cares about here. [00:130:87]

So we may no longer be children what marks the children they are tossed to and fro by the waves carried about by every to stop there carried about so tossed to and fro by waves so you're you're floating along in a place you want to be shining under the sun right enjoying the day and suddenly a wave throws you where you don't want to be and carried about means it just keeps bearing you along so that's the picture of this instability of children they're just paddling around on their little boards and a wave can take them where they don't want to go. [00:171:36]

The waves the the waves of influence which tosses them and then carries them what are those waves those waves are influences in our lives created by wind all right if there was no wind there'd be no waves at least not any problem waves like I was out deep sea fishing one time and it started to rain like crazy and I asked the captain are we in trouble and he said oh the rain is not a problem just pray that there be no wind so winds are the problem for semen they make really big waves and those waves can throw you off from where you want to be and carry you where you don't want to go and that's the mark of immaturity in the Christian life. [00:230:48]

They are teachings they are the the alternative to what we're supposed to be getting from our pastors shepherds teach so that children don't fall for false teaching this is the great goal in this text is shepherds use your teaching to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry to build up the body so they're not vulnerable like children to all kinds of teachings that come along we don't want to be children first Corinthians 14 20 brothers do not be children in your thinking in your understanding of the bible and culture be infants and evil oh yes be inexperienced you don't have to play around with evil to become an expert in evil to know how to avoid it but in your thinking be mature. [00:284:00]

The teaching here is pictured three times as deceitful or trickery craftiness by human cunning by craftiness in deceitful schemes now the reason that puzzles me is because when I think about the winds that are blowing today and really when I think about the winds that Paul faced of false teaching most of them today and as far as I can see significant ones of them in Paul's day were advocated these teachings were advocated by people who really believed them they didn't see themselves as practicing cunning or craftiness or deceit any more than I do they really believed that you had to be circumcised in order to be justified they weren't trying to trick anybody that's what they really really believed. [00:352:24]

These humans when they do the false teaching might not be aware that they are in the grip of error they just believe error and therefore they might not be thinking in terms of tricking you but persuading you to what they believe honestly but Paul says behind that is the cunning and craftiness and deceitfulness of the devil so that actually as a matter of fact things that these people are saying are tricky by virtue of the devil's trickery and the reason I'm even open to suggesting that is because in chapter six 11 of Ephesians it says put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil and that word schemes of the devil is this word right here same word. [00:504:87]

So when Paul says deceitful schemes here it's pretty easy to think oh Paul really does think that behind the human maybe honest error they really believe heresy is true the devil knows it's not true and he's tricking people through these humans and all of their argumentation here's another pointer in that direction in second Corinthians 11 3 I am afraid that as the serpent that's the devil in the garden deceived Eve by the cunning there's that other word the cut his cunning your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ and that cunning which is called the devil's cunning is being brought through humans in Corinth and so this word cunning here is rooted in demonic influence Paul would say. [00:566:08]

Everything we have seen up to this point all of the apostolic and prophetic truth all the work of evangelism all the work of the shepherds the pastors and their teaching all of the equipping of the saints and the saints work of the ministry and the building up of the body of Christ and the pursuit of this unity of faith and knowledge growing into a mature man reaching the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ all of that amazing church based work oh get into a good teaching church with lots of true knowledge so that you won't fall prey here all of that is designed to keep us from being children. [00:649:60]

Pastors please realize your job primarily in preaching is to teach the people so that they will have knowledge so that they will be mature so that they will not be children and won't fall prey to false teaching but will glorify the son of God in the truth. [00:706:56]