As I’m preparing today’s program I’m looking out my office window watching the trees blown to and fro by a rather strong wind. It reminds me of what Paul says happens to those who are mere infants in the faith when faced with conflicting messages given by false teachers.
Listen to Ephesians 4:14, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” God has given the Church gifted men and women to equip believers “for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13).
It’s important to see faith and knowledge go hand in hand. The knowledge referred to here is an experiential knowledge of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. It also includes the idea of “a full, precise and correct knowledge.” In the Expositors commentary it says: “The state at which unity is lacking is the stage of immaturity; the stage in which oneness in faith and knowledge is reached, is the state of mature manhood in Christ.”
A mature faith is rooted in a clear, experiential knowledge of who Jesus Christ is and who I am in Christ. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to get the message found in God’s Word, the Bible. And that’s why I encourage you regularly to learn how to study the Bible for yourself.
You can download my booklet on Bible Study Methods by clicking on the link on the home page of this website.
