Younger Christians Getting Tossed To and Fro

I was planning to continue my study of Ecclesiastes. However, I believe that I’m still recovering from sickness as I’m having some minor cough, I had a cold, and fortunately, I’m vaccinated with a booster shot of COVID-19. I encourage people to get vaccinated ASAP except if they’re not allowed for medical reasons. I decided to do a short study on Ephesians 4:14. The context has the purpose of the offices of the apostles, prophets, shepherds (pastors), and teachers. Though, every pastor is a teacher but not every teacher is a pastor.

The verse I felt like reflecting on is the following as I remembered was verse 14. Though, I wanted to put more context into the verse to avoid taking verses out of their context:

¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ 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, ¹⁴ 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. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The issue is that no Christian is on their own. It’s never that God saves the sinner and then leaves the sinner on their own. If so, that’s not very loving of God to say, “Look, I saved you. Now get sanctified on your own.” Instead, Ephesians 2:10 and Titus 2:11-14 teaches us that Christians are saved from sin and are dependent on God’s grace to continue living a holy and righteous life. Hebrews 10:25 calls to never forsake the assembly or not to dismiss fellowship. That’s why this COVID-19–we still need some virtual services for as long as necessary. So, God created various offices to help in the maturity of the Christian. We read of apostles and prophets. Now, both apostles and prophets are now in Heaven. The only offices that remain are evangelists (missionaries), pastors, and teachers. Pastors have a heavy responsibility to be family men of outstanding moral conduct (1 Timothy 3:1-7). It’s because they have the sacred duty to help rear Christians.

I remembered the time I got saved. There were many things that I got tossed to and fro about. Some issues were touchy. Others weren’t. Regardless, a Christian can’t expect instant maturity. Here are some issues about being tossed to and fro about:

• Whether or not Roman Catholics are my brothers and sisters in Christ or not. More than 70% of students in Bethany Christian School were from Roman Catholic backgrounds. Sadly, some of the alumni are still not saved. I guess it really explains many are called but only a few are chosen. This one also happened a lot while I read the toxic material of Chick Publications and nearly dated obvious unbelievers because of it.
• Conspiracy theories were another thing. I remembered reading Chick Publications (and even believed the half-truths of the Alberto series), read Jesus-is-Savior a lot (and nearly became an anti-vaxxer and gave in to all of David J. Stewart’s conspiracies), and there was also the KJV Only controversy. Sadly, the KJV Only controversy is usually built on conspiracy theories. Thankfully, some KJV Onlyists like David W. Cloud reject the late Peter Ruckman and Gail Ripplinger as valid sources.
• I had an issue with the permanence of salvation. While I never believed that you could lose your salvation every time you sin (like Dan Corner did)–I had a hard time understanding eternal security. I once felt that a person could renounce their faith in Christ, return to a life of sin, and never return. Yet, 1 John 2:19 makes it clear that such people weren’t saved, to begin with. I tend to think that such a person was never saved at one point than another that a person was once saved, leaving, and isn’t returning. That is I believed once a person loses salvation–such people are impossible to restore, unlike the backslider whom God will chastise back to the flock.
• Some old habits just die hard or it’s easy to lapse back into old habits before salvation. I still struggle with dishonesty, temper issues, inattentiveness, etc., and almost everything that I wish I no longer struggled with. Romans 7 also talks of Paul’s daily struggles with sin. A Christian may not live like the rest of the world. However, the struggle with sin is still there, especially among immature Christians. Jacob was a believer but he certainly lied to his father, he deceived his brother Esau, and he deceived his Uncle Laban. Jacob had to be severely chastised by God. In fact, I believe that sometimes the worst schemer is my old nature or myself. That’s why I just can’t do it alone with God’s help to be a better person than when He first picked me up.

What we need to see is that getting tossed to and fro is very normal. However, it’s not the Christian calling. The Christian is called to be vigilant, not inattentive. The Christian is called to grow up not remain an infant in the faith. That’s why God allows suffering in the Christian life. Romans 5:3-5 says suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. 1 Peter 1:7 says that the trial of one’s faith produces things better than silver and gold. James 1:2-4 says to count it all joy to encounter trials. It’s because these trials can keep a Christian from getting tossed to and fro one way or another.

The trials of life keep Christians from getting tossed to and fro. Yet, God in His wisdom allows them to get tossed to and fro for a reason. God wants Christians who are hardworking and dependent on His grace. Just because one’s hardworking doesn’t kick God out of the picture. Instead, God should be in the picture all the more so more hard work can be completed. God gets the glory, in the end, of the Christian from being turned from bad to good to becoming good to better and better to best.