Don't Be Naive

In the closing of Paul’s letter to the Roman church, he gives them a final instruction about people who cause division.  He states, “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.” (Romans 16:17) He tells them to avoid such people. Anyone who may be divisive by nature. Or people who seek to stir up controversy about the things of God. Plus, you are also to avoid anyone who could trip you up on the things of God.

This is sound advice. A principle that must be taught and learned in the church. Sometimes we are so loving and gracious that we keep the people around that the Bible commands us to stay away from. God actually gives us the OK to not have close contact with certain types of people. Having made this clear, this is not what I want to focus on with this verse. What I want to highlight is the reason why Paul says to avoid them.  He continues in the next verse, “For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.” (Romans 16:18). This is important to realize: that naivety can be destructive. That being naive in the things of God can lead to your downfall. There will be people in your life who are no good, but it won't be obvious. Because of this, they can lead you away from God. And how? Because of their smooth talk and your immaturity. Naivety can be damaging to our souls. Paul makes it very plain that if we are spiritually ignorant, we can easily be led astray. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived. No matter how much we think we would never be fooled, we must heed the warning and realize that being spiritually naive could be a problem. Proverbs warns us that “The simple believes everything…” and so we must work to not be simple-minded.

Because this is so important, we must work hard at building up our faith. Spiritual immaturity is understandable for new Christians. But as we continue in the faith, we should be increasing in our knowledge of the things of God. Our faith is living, and so it needs to be fed. It needs to grow. Too many Christians do not look at it in such stark terms. Is your heart malnourished? How long do you go without spiritually eating? We always talk about laziness being a sin in the church. But we only think of it in terms of physical work. You can be spiritually lazy as well. This should never be for the Christian. We must work and work hard at growing our faith. No excuses. You don’t need a degree or to understand Greek or Hebrew. You already have all that you need in the Holy Spirit. He is your spiritual helper and will help you grow if you just apply yourself!  Or the alternative is being misled.

Paul warns us, “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” (1 Corinthians 14:20). Jesus told us, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16) My friends, we need to diligent in growing up. It would actually show you are naive to think that just going to church and reading some nice verses here and there would be enough for your faith. This is why so many churches believe and practice ungodly things. Some Christians praise and promote downright sinful things! And why? Because there were those in their lives who were charismatic and smooth in their delivery, and misled them into thinking that what they were doing was godly. This is why you see so many Christians affirming liberal and ungodly ideologies and think that they are just being loving. Because they are immature, they think that by affirming sinful behavior, they are showing the love of God! Or by standing idly by ungodly practices, they think this is being a good Christian because they are not being “judgmental”. By being immature, they are doing things against the bible while thinking they are obedient. This is why we must work hard at maturing our faith. There is no plateauing in the Christian walk. We must press on and expand our thinking and understanding of God and His word, or else how would you even know if what you believe and are practicing is the right thing to do?

This is one of the goals of the church. God has assigned pastors and elders to lead the people of God. “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 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, 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. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:11–16) Church is not there for you to be entertained. But to be pressed and stretched in your thinking to grow your faith. Simply put, if you don’t grow up…you will be deceived. And what is even scarier is that, because of your naivety, you won't even realize it.

So apply yourself! Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Study the bible, don’t just read it. Have pen and paper to make notes, ask questions, highlight, underline, pray, cry, read good Christian books, investigate, pursue, and grow. This will help you see the error in what the ungodly tell you. This will help prevent you from being deceived. I think Sproul said it best when he said, “Here then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy.” Being spiritually simple is not a good thing. It is the first step of spiritual failure.