My oldest girl is about to turn 3, and she’s just beginning to dip her toes into the “why, Daddy?” stage, I think. You know what I’m talking about: the smallest question has an endless series of follow-ups: “but why, Daddy?” She doesn’t know it, but a lot of the time, she asks incredibly good questions. She doesn’t know how good they are, though, because the complexity of the answer is obviously more than a 3-year-old’s brain is quite ready for. But I have to come up with something, don’t I? Because you know if I don’t answer, she’ll find an answer somewhere.
What if I wasn’t there to ask? What if she was left to just come up with all the answers on her own? This is what Paul is addressing in Ephesians 4:11-14.
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.
God’s stated goal for the Church is that it grow up – equipped, unified and mature. He didn’t leave us to get there on our own – among the many gifts He gave to each believer, He gave some the gifts and calling to guide the Church. He calls them “shepherds,” and that’s probably appropriate – because just like a shepherd watches over the sheep as the grow from lambs to healthy adults, those He called and gifted to shepherd the Church also must watch over the saints in their “flock.” Because in both cases, there are wolves sneaking around, waiting for a lamb to go wandering off on their own. So it is evidence of God’s great grace that He’s given us teachers and pastors.
Ultimately, my goal for my curious three year old is not for her to rely on me for all the answers. I want her to grow up – still curious – but trained and able to discern good answers from bad ones, to recognize truth on her own. You know she’s going to get some bad answers – will she have learned to recognize when someone isn’t giving her a good answer?
Some questions:
When it comes to the Bible, are you naturally curious? Why or why not?
In Acts 17:10-11, Paul came across some Jews who were well on their way to this kind of maturity. It’s obviously pretty easy to come up with an idea and then rattle off a chain of verses to support it. There are some very rich and popular preachers on TV (to say nothing of the less-well-known ones) that make a living off giving wrong answers. How do you determine which answers are trustworthy?
At Pin Oaks, we are all trying to grow, so that this church will be equipped, unified and mature. What things do you do on a regular basis – maybe even daily – that help you to grow spiritually into a mature believer, able to discern right answers from wrong ones? Knowing the truth more fully obviously should result in conforming our lives to live in accordance with what is true. Name some specific things you do now that are the result of knowing God better that you feel mark your progress in becoming a mature believer.
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