Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

Ephesians 4:14

This week I heard a sermon where a passage of Scripture was taken out of context to make an unrelated point. It sounded appropriate in the moment, but when considering the context of Paul’ls writings, the pastor was off target whether it was intentional or not. And so we are again today because it seems to me, in addition to the charge made to the leaders in our churches, we also have a responsibility for our own spiritual health.

Paul, in the verse above, and the writer of Hebrews, in the passage below stress the need to grow deeper in the faith.

In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

Hebrews 5:12-14

How do we grow? The secret is found in the Scripture. We must know the true Gospel in order to be unflappable when facing the dangers of bad doctrine.

Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

Acts 17:11

It’s a message I written many times, but we are challenged to be like the Bereans and exhibit that kind of noble character.