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,
The following words describe the instability of an immature Christian.
tossed to and fro
“Tossed to and fro” is a nautical concept of being tossed by waves. Characteristic of immaturity is that it is unstable. False doctrine or human viewpoint can influence Christians without stability of soul because they lack understanding of biblical truth. Countervailing beliefs that assault true Christianity leave immature believers susceptible to their error because they do not moor themselves to truth. They are like a rudderless ship that has no stability of truth. This is at the heart of their problem.
and carried about with every wind of doctrine,
“Carried about” is literally to carry around. The idea is that baby Christians go around in circles without reaching their goal of stability of truth; they remain spiritual babies.
He 13: 9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them.
False doctrine billows against the church. This will make many unstable Christians, if gifted men do not teach them properly. Immature Christians drift at sea, tossed with turbulent doctrinal winds. Church leaders have a grave task to keep the church in line doctrinally. False teaching can unsettle the church.
PRINCIPLE:
Immature Christians and churches are susceptible to deception.
APPLICATION:
Immature Christians are both unstable and easily deceived. They readily fall prey to cultic scheming. Ignorant and inexperienced believers lie at the mercy of religious manipulators. The greater level of immaturity, the more vulnerable they become to what seems plausible to them.
False teaching destabilizes and unsettles many churches. A church in immaturity will fall prey to ideas that will lead it astray.
Ja 1: 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
Today’s church is at the mercy of doctrinal winds that blow wildly all around. Churches that imbibe false teaching become unsettled and destabilized. These churches do not have the stability of sound teaching to direct their values. They step out of the truth of Christianity into human viewpoint. They fall for personality, charisma, and superficial teaching. They become susceptible to teachers who will do almost anything to take unfair advantage of those who will listen to them.
The church today is immature and gullible to every wind of ideas that comes along. They have itching ears to hear some new truth, new way, or new method for believing things. Evangelical Christians financially support and give their allegiance to many heretical groups today. One of the reasons for this is that pastors do not teach enough content for Christians to grow to maturity. They offer experience at the expense of truth.
