Ephesians 4:14

God wants His children to be childlike but He does not want His children to be childish. You see spiritual immaturity is a real problem in the Church. This is why Paul writes concerning spiritual immaturity in Ephesians 4:14, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive.” We should be childlike but not childish. He’s talking here about spiritual maturity. Now you must keep this in context. In verses 1 through 6 of Ephesians 4 his theme is unity. Then in 7 through 13 his theme is diversity. The two need each other. Unity without diversity is uniformity and that’s dead. Diversity without unity is anarchy and you don’t want that.

What keeps unity from destroying diversity? What keeps diversity from destroying unity? The answer, says Paul, is maturity. What keeps our bodies together? Maturity. We eat, we grow, we exercise. Your body is a perfect illustration of unity, diversity and maturity. The child has to grow. If the child does not grow and mature, he’s not going to be able to accomplish all that God wants him to accomplish. Well, what are children like? They’re unstable. They’re easily tossed to and fro. They’re like tumbleweeds without roots. They’re blown about by every wind of doctrine. An immature Christian believes everything. An immature Christian lacks discernment. An immature Christian is easily fooled and deceived by religious counterfeits. And of course the only answer is to grow up.

And we grow up unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And we grow up as we fellowship in the church with God’s people for the church fellowship is a place of edifying for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry unto the building up of the body of Christ. Yes, it is a good thing to be childlike, but it’s not a good thing to be childish.