Children Constrained by Christ

Ephesians 4:14b

Sermon Transcript by Rev. Ernest O’Neill

The verse today is Ephesians 4:14. Verse 13 goes, “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
fulness of Christ.” Then verse 14 is, “So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful
wiles.” Some of the commentaries make some obvious comments, which I’ll cite. Then I’ll go on to
what I feel God wants us to hear from it.

Barnes says, “’That we henceforth be no more children.’ In some respects, Christians are to be like
children.” Jesus said, “Unless you become a little child you will nowise enter the kingdom.

“They are to be docile, gentle, mild, and free from ambition, pride, and haughtiness. But children
have other characteristics besides simplicity and docility. They are often changeable.”

That’s that piece you may have not noticed. I just noticed it because I looked it up with the
reference here where somebody says to him, “We piped and you did not dance.” Barnes says, “They are
often changeable. They change with whatever the atmosphere happens to be. They are credulous” —
that is, they believe things foolishly and believe wrong things, often on too little ground — “and
are influenced easily by others and led astray. In these respects Paul exhorts the Ephesians to be
no longer children, but urges them to put on the characteristics of manhood, and especially to put
on the firmness in religious opinion which become maturity of life.”

So that’s what the commentary says. Then it deals with the word, “kludwniðzomai” which is used of
waves. It says there in 4:14, “So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine.”

It just comes to me now as I sail the boat — how at the mercy of wind a sailboat is. Especially on
a slightly bigger boat, you have a great deal of sail up there. You could think about it like when
you are riding the bike, or even when it’s just a windy day here, and you realize your feet are
planted firmly on the ground. But when you have a boat that is in the water, and the water doesn’t
present any resistance to it and it is a huge sail up, it’s utterly at the mercy of that wind.

Actually, the way you get it going forward is really more like a toothpaste tube. You squeeze it so
that it can only go forward. So you actually squeeze it with the keel of the boat that can’t move
against the water — and the wind is pushing on this side so it’s squeezing it. Really it’s
squeezing it right that way but you squeeze it forward with the set of the sail. So you actually
squeeze it between the wind and the sail and it edges forward.

A boat doesn’t really go forward — it’s squeezed between the wind and the lateral resistance of the
water. So what a sailor does is, he makes it go forward — it really isn’t going forward. The wind
isn’t pushing it forward. The wind is pushing it sideways most of the time but he makes it go
forward the way he sets the sails. But especially in the hurricanes that we’ve observed in Florida,
you realize a boat out there just goes where the wind blows it.

It can’t do anything else. It just can’t resist the strength of the wind. That’s what he’s talking
about here. Don’t be like waves of the ocean that are just tossed to and fro, or like a boat on
those waves that is just tossed to and fro with every wind that blows.

Of course, it’s very appropriate in our present society, because so many things are driven by what
the majority think. Celebrity life is what is worshiped now, and of course celebrities are people
that are looked up to by everybody.

I was reading a paragraph just yesterday, and of course I don’t know the lady. But I saw Christie
Brinkley I think her name is, and it says, “Supermodel.” I think, “A supermodel? Not just a model,
but a supermodel.” And everything today is judged by how many people are in favor of it or against
it. So it is very easy to regard that as normal life, and to be blown this way and that way,
especially in the religious sphere.

It’s so easy, really not to cease to be conformed to the image of this world, but become conformed
to the image of this religious world. So it’s what so-and-so says you should do, or it’s the “Left
Behind” theory – “Are you going to be left behind when the rapture comes?”

Then of course we saw how ridiculous it has become with abortion, abortion, abortion. You realize
that it almost makes Christianity seem antiabortion above everything else. That’s the chief mark of
Christianity. Or, same sex marriage, or politics. You can see how easy it is to blow with that
wind.

That’s part of what the commentators say: “The idea is that of a vessel on the restless ocean, that
is tossed about with every varying wind, and that has no settled line of sailing. So many persons
are in regard to religious doctrines. They have no fixed views and principles. They hold no
doctrines that are settled in their minds by careful and patient examination; and the consequence
is, that they yield to every new opinion, and submit to the guidance of every new teacher.”

“The doctrine taught here is, that we should have settled religious opinions. We should carefully
examine what is truth, and having found it, should adhere to it, and not yield on the coming of
every new teacher. We should not, indeed, close our minds against conviction. We should be open to
argument, and be willing to follow the truth wherever it will lead us. But this state of mind is
not inconsistent with having settled opinions, and being firm in holding them until we are convinced
that we are wrong. No man can be useful who has not settled principles.” So it is important for us
to be clear what we believe and not to move this way and that.

It hit me with a lady that Colleen told me about, that she certainly at one time respected greatly.
I don’t know what her name was, but she speaks a lot, and is thought to be somewhat of a guide in
the Holy Spirit. I think I listened to her once, and it seemed good. But then I caught her on
television several months ago, and there was hardness in her that was just very managing. She’s
become kind of a guru now, and she advises on this, and that, and the other. But it was more an
attitude. It wasn’t the gentle attitude of the Holy Spirit.

I think one of her phrases was, “I couldn’t get through today without a good dab of the Holy
Spirit.” Well, I know you can see it’s just an image, but it’s not the gentleness of Jesus’ Spirit.
It’s not the beauty, the winsomeness of it. I thought, you have to watch even people that have
been good or that were right. It seems always dangerous to yield to just man or woman in
leadership. It’s very important to listen to the Holy Spirit.

I think often they say the life is in the blood, and I suppose it’s not strictly true. But I often
think of the Holy Spirit as Jesus’ blood, as his life. And it’s someone who is precious, and
gentle, and has dignity, and who we’re to love in a kindly and sensitive way. It’s not something we
can bandy around.

So, I think there are a lot of movements and currents that can wash you off your feet if you give
attention to those. That’s what I see about the abortion thing — Jesus is lost sight of. Can you
ever imagine somebody killing a doctor because they were in an abortion clinic? I mean, it’s
unthinkable. It’s so far from what Christ’s attitude to people who are misguided are about. But it
seems to me great portions of Christendom have lost their way in all kinds of errors and it is
important to remain solid.

Now, what I concentrated on {as I prepared this talk} therefore was — but how do we avoid that? I
have three verses that I think help to express it. One is 2 Corinthians 5:14: “For the love of
Christ controls us,” or you remember the King James Version says, “For the love of Christ constrains
us,” or, “We are constrained by the love of Christ.”

I think that’s the first help or the first guide for us — to be concerned above everything else
with Jesus and with your love of him and his love of you. And, to do everything if possible with a
warm sense of his own approval and interest in you and his love of you, and of your love for him.
To have that above everything else. To live your life out of love to him — and I really mean, a
bit like: there are certain things you would not dream of saying if Jesus was right beside you. I
always get lost when I say that, because I think, it’s so stupid — the dear Savior is here. But
really to live our lives in his presence.

It was interesting to me when Karl Barth said, “Talk about God in the presence of God.” It seemed
to me so right, to do everything knowing that the Savior is beside you, is actually in you. Feeling
that when you stretch out your hand to do this thing, you’re making him stretch out his hand. To do
things out of love for Jesus, and because of his love for you, and always with him in mind. And it
seems to me if you live like that, the Holy Spirit keeps you from error. He keeps you from error
and he enables you to see when this spirit is harsh or hard, or when this is a spirit that is true
and pure. So if you always live in his presence, it’s very difficult not to be able to spot a
deceptive spirit or an erroneous spirit.

But it does mean living our lives in that spirit all the time in doing everything. You catch what I
mean: not in the sense of – what would Christ do? “Now let me think what would Christ do?” — which
kind of makes it a concept, or a logical syllogism of some kind — “Now, what would Christ do? Oh
yes, he would do that. So that’s what I must do,” — and him standing beside you saying, “Do you
want to know what I would do? I’m here. Do you want to know what I would do?” So, not in that
kind of logical cerebral attitude, what would Christ do in this situation? But, “Lord Jesus, what
do you want to do here? What do you want to do through my lips, or through my hands?”

It seems to me that having that spirit allows the Holy Spirit to keep you clear of error. So really
it’s what dear old Watchman Nee said. He came back, you remember, around some towns where he had
preached. He came to this guy who had Jehovah Witness books on his shelves. He said to him, “Oh I
see you have some new books,” and the little Chinese man said, “Yes, yes, but I didn’t read them.
The boss inside wouldn’t let me.” I think that’s it — that even stupid little people, even fools
like us are kept from error by the Holy Spirit, if we have that love of Jesus in our daily lives.

Then 2 Timothy 3:16 goes, “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”

I think that’s it. That’s a reason for a daily Bible study, and I think the Bible does help to keep
you in the main stream of God’s word and God’s will. I think that’s one of the big reasons for
reading daily the Bible and asking, through God’s Spirit, to bring to you what he wants you to
understand of the Bible that you’re ready for. So that even you’re reading something that doesn’t
seem to be connected with this other subject, and yet God through his Spirit links it up, and you
can see how the whole thing fits together in God’s heart and God’s principles.

But I think if you don’t live in the atmosphere of the Bible, and your mind doesn’t move in the
atmosphere of the Bible, I think you open yourself to all kinds of misconceptions, gross
misunderstandings, and just downright error. And I think it is true that the verse is very strong
in Ephesians 4:14 — because it implies an active desire to deceive that is in the world: “So that
we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by
the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles.”

So the implication there is that there are people that are out to deceive you, to lead you astray,
and to mislead you. “By the cunning of men.” That’s a deliberate cunning. That’s a desire to
mislead you, a desire to distract you. “By their craftiness in deceitful wiles.” Those are very
strong words and they’re even stronger in the Greek. The Greek word “methodeia” is part of it — a
method. The words imply that there is a method of deceit that they use. That’s what we translate
“deceitful wiles.” There are deceitful tricks that they play to distract you.

So it is silly to be naïve about it, and to think, “Oh yeah, you’re talking just of my own errors.”
No — talking also of deliberate desire by other people to distract you and to get you to
misunderstand slightly the truth.

Error is never just error. Error is a mixture of truth plus a little error to lead you away from
Christ. So there’s always some truth. That’s important to see. There’s almost always some truth
in the kind of error that God is talking about here. There’s always some part of truth. You might
say, “Yes. Well, that’s true. After all, that’s what got Eve. Yes, you’re right. God did say, you
may eat of any tree of the garden except one. But he did say, ‘eat of any tree,’ and she laid
emphasis on that together with Satan.”

So that’s the way Satan approaches us. He says, “But isn’t this true?” Yes, and go another little
step and then you’re into error. But I do think that if Jesus’ love and your love for him are
paramount in your life, then I think there’s a little warning signal that comes up at that point,
and you know where you’re in danger of erring. But the Bible always is feeding you with truth.

Then last verse of the three I wanted to mention is Hebrews 10:25: “Not neglecting to meet
together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day
drawing near.” There is a reason for a prayer time every Saturday — and thanks, that you’ve rarely
missed prayer while I’ve been here. But the prayer times together and the service times — “Not
neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.” It really is invaluable. It’s invaluable to
be able to be together before God regularly.

The world knows nothing of that — nothing of that kind of refreshing and that reaffirmation that

you engage in, and that opportunity to see something new in things that you already know. So it’s
invaluable what we have here, with our morning and evening service, and with our Saturday prayer
times. Really we have to be careful how easy we become in what we do through the week. You need to
be wise about it. It will be wonderful really when we get to the point where we’re half on the road
{selling in our jobs as salesmen and women} and half at home. It will be great. It would be great
to have Morning Prayer here in the chapel every day. It would be great, and it’s important for you
to maintain the prayer times now in the offices.

It seems to me that meeting together with other people of like minds enables God’s Spirit to correct
you and confirm you through each other. And poor little souls who are on their own — I think they
have an uphill battle.

It’s alright saying, “Oh well, we’re individualist.” None of us are absolutely safe on our own. God
has planned us for fellowship. He has created us for fellowship, and we operate best and safest
when we’re in fellowship.

If you say to me, “Yeah, we don’t need a kind of reinforcement society?” No, no, we don’t. We
don’t meet together just to reinforce each other. We meet together to look together at Jesus, and
to see him, and to help – and to see him through others’ eyes. So, we’re not depending on each
other. We’re listening and waiting for him to come to us directly himself through his Holy Spirit,
and at times through other people — and sometimes we’re so sunk and so mislead that we do need a
human being to tap us on the shoulder and say this or that.

So, those it seems to me are three of the obvious ways that God can keep us from error, and keep us
in the center of his love and his heart. Let us pray.