Ephesians 4:11-14 English Standard Version

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 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 fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Until stands out in these verses because they are in large and bold print. Wouldn’t it be nice if God would show us what is important this way? There would be no mystery in a verse to show us what is important for us in the scriptures.

Until indicates that something is yet to happen. No matter how long we have been with the Lord and no matter what we have experienced there is more to come.

But more of what?

The subject at hand is the unity of faith and knowledge, maturity and stature.

What is going on that has kept us from having that unity of faith and knowledge of Christ?

Heavy waves make a boat unstable created by the winds of doctrine because of human cunning and deceitfulness.

The until part here is a clear indication that it continues even today. The only way to observe its effect is to search it out by the Spirit of Truth.

1 Timothy 6:2-4 English Standard Version

2 Those who have believing masters must not be disrespectful on the ground that they are brothers; rather they must serve all the better since those who benefit by their good service are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things. 3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions,

Who is easy to quarrel with these days?

2 Timothy 3:2-5 English Standard Version

2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.

That is a rather long list of character traits to avoid. Perhaps today we can look at just one of them which does not stand out quite as noticeable as some of the others.

Unappeasable, not able to be pacified, placated, or satisfied. The definition adds three parts of personality traits that differ slightly.

Pacifiers are given to babies. The implication is a lack of maturity.

Placated has to do with haggling, coming to agreeable terms. They are unreasonable.

Satisfaction is the most common of emotions and revolves itself around self-interest. Some people just have to “have it my way”.

We might find this true of a Christian who is not yet matured and is still struggling to catch their footing. This trait by itself does not indicate a person is not a true Christian. So how can we decide just which traits are contained with certain personalities that should be avoided?

It is likely that these personalities contain more than one of the character flaws but the real clincher is in denial of the Holy Spirit’s power to change them. They will hide behind the facade of godly behavior. Fellowship in the spirit is beyond their capability. There is no unity of faith.

Ephesians 4:11-14 English Standard Version

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 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 fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.