Deception

By the trickery of men…Ephesians 4:16

The context of this statement is why Christ gave the church pastors and teachers, Verse 11. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. For this reason, we continue to teach sound doctrine. It is unsound—false—doctrine that leads people astray: 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, Verse 16.

This is the condition of the world. The world has fallen prey to the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. This has caused all of us to be suspicious, weary, cautious, circumspect… This has caused us to wonder “what is really going on?” While watching the news, we often ask ourselves, “what is really going on?” If they are willing to tell us this, then what is really going on behind the scenes? The constant chaos is making us wonder if this chaos is, in fact, orchestrated. How much of the chaos has been scripted, cast, and directed, like a horrible movie?

For this reason, Jesus Himself, has given the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. These have been hand-picked by Jesus to equip the saints for the work of ministry; for the edifying of the body of Christ; until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God; to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ…Verses 12 and 13 of Ephesians, chapter 4.

The church should not have to beg people to teach our children. Jesus has personally chosen those who are to teach. But our need for teachers exceeds the needs of our children. They are those who are being carried about by every whim of the world. How can our children become equipped if they are not taught by Spirit-led teachers? They can’t.