Ephesians 4:13 says, “Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” This means that we should enable the saints to know the Son of God to such an extent that the church may reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We need to pay attention to the full knowledge of the Son of God and to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ in the church. This is the goal of God’s eternal plan and the purpose of His work. Once His will is accomplished, God’s purpose in the universe will be achieved. Hence, we should not pass by this point quickly. The full knowledge of the Son of God and arriving at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ in the church are great and high matters. We need to see this in our service to God in the church. This is the goal that God wants to attain in His creation and in the church from eternity to eternity.
In Ephesians 4:14 many distracting things are present, including Satan’s craftiness, Satan’s sleights, and Satan’s system. Those who have the experience of spiritual warfare know the subtlety of Satan. In this verse, those who fall into Satan’s craftiness are little children, those who are immature in life. If we are immature in the church, we will be deceived at some point in time. Satan’s teaching is “in the sleight of men.” Here men is used symbolically; in fact, the emphasis here is not on men but on God’s adversary—Satan.
Verses 12 and 13 show how the Holy Spirit works through the gifts so that we can arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ to fulfill God’s eternal purpose, and verse 14 shows the nullifying work of Satan in the church. On one hand, there is God’s building work; on the other hand, there is Satan’s nullifying work. God is causing the stature of Christ to grow to its full measure in the church through the perfecting of the saints by the gifts, but Satan also has a system and scheme, and he is doing a nullifying work in the church. The purpose of his work is to bring people into a system of error. Thus, we should not consider the expressions in verse 14, including sleight, craftiness, and system of error, in a light way. Rather, we must give them much consideration. Only when we spend time to study these verses will we understand the meaning that the Holy Spirit intends to convey.
The work of Satan in the church comes from the system, arrangement, and purpose in his plot, which is to bring man into a system of error by sleight and craftiness. He carries out his evil plot by the winds of teaching. We must understand that winds of teaching have been greatly utilized by Satan in the church; this is a serious matter. Ephesians 4:12-13 reveals that God’s work in the church is for man to know His Son and for the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ to increase in the church; this is God’s eternal goal. However, verse 14 shows that the crafty one, Satan, brings man into a system of error by craftiness and sleight through the winds of teaching. We must all see this point.
Christ is God’s goal, the center of God’s work. God desires to work Christ into man, and this kind of work is carried out through the cross. By God’s grace, we have been doing this work. We must confess that this is not out of man’s imagination or preference; instead, this is the Spirit’s motivation among us.
Our burden is to show the saints that the perfecting of the saints in Ephesians 4:12 is for God’s children to know Christ, the Son of God, and for the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ to increase in the church. However, while we are serving in the churches, we may speak messages out from ourselves. This is the work of the evil one, the crafty one, according to his scheme and system. He puts many appealing messages into our mind so that even though the messages are interesting, inspiring, and captivating, they do not have Christ as the center and the life of the Son of God as the content. These messages are winds of teaching raised up by the sleight of Satan, which carry the saints away from Christ. In this way, the work of God can be completely nullified.
The greatest tool that Satan uses for his nullifying work in the church is the winds of teaching. Hence, we need to stand and guard against any wind of teaching. What is a wind of teaching? Any preaching that does not take Christ as the center and the Son of God as the content is a wind of teaching. Regardless of the verses that someone quotes in his preaching and even the scriptural basis for his teaching, if his preaching does not take Christ as the center and the Son of God as the content, it is a wind of teaching. The content of the Bible is Christ; Christ is the center of the Bible. If we remove Christ from the Bible, the Bible becomes empty. Today many people take a verse or a portion from the Bible and give message after message, but they have not taken the Bible as the content. They select material from the Bible, but they do not take the Bible as the content. Hence, they preach from the Bible in name but not in reality. Any preaching of the word that is genuinely from the Bible must take Christ as the center and the Son of God as the content. Otherwise, thousands of messages which claim to be scriptural will not be scriptural but in fact will be winds of teaching.
Any message that does not take Christ as the center, that does not take the Son of God as the content, that cannot bring man into Christ, and that cannot bring Christ into man is a wind of teaching. Ephesians 4:14 speaks of Satan’s craftiness and sleight; he uses the winds of teaching as his tool. Everything that is done in craftiness is done in a fine and detailed way. Appealing messages in Christianity often are produced by Satan after a long period of consideration in order to fulfill his purpose. Satan fulfills his purpose by his system of error.
If we have seen this, we will not regard eloquence as the criterion when we listen to a message, and we will not admire attractive expressions, beautiful utterances, and inspiring power, because even though it may be an appealing message, it can be a trick used by Satan to deceive us. When we listen to a message or a testimony from the brothers and sisters, we need to take Christ as the center and the Son of God as the content and check whether the message or testimony causes us to touch Christ and be filled with Christ inwardly. If this is not the case, we should be aware that the appealing message is but the craftiness and sleight of Satan. If we can exercise such discernment, we are no longer little children.