1 Corinthians Bible Study Message 8 Complications W/ Carnality1
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1 Cor. 3:1-4
1 Cor. 3:1-4
1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
We continue tonight in our study of 1 Corinthians. You remember that our last time together we continued in our discussion of wisdom. We discussed the fact that the mature Paul refers to is defined by someone who is a believer. For the non believer, the things of God seem as foolishness. Furthermore, Paul addressed that our wisdom is not rooted in ourselves, but of the Holy Spirit.
Tonight, Paul addresses a battle we all face in holding us back from being all we can be in Christ Jesus. Paul helps us understand the complications presented when we operate with carnality. Let’s face it. Everyone one of us at some time or another will be more in the court of carnality than we would desire.
When Paul uses the word “carnality”, what is he referring to?
Notice what Paul is not referring to.
"And I, brethren”-Again, Paul is communicating with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. They have in fact had a true conversion experience. They are struggling with being drawn back to the desires of the flesh. They are struggling with a carnal mindset that is placing them at enmity with God. Two questions should come about from that statement:
Define carnal-
A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (4561. σάρξ)
4561. σάρξ sarx, sarx; (as stripped of the skin), i.e. (strictly) the meat of an animal (as food), or (by extens.) the body (as opposed to the soul [or spirit], or as the symbol of what is external, or as the means of kindred), or (by impl.) human nature (with its frailties [phys. or mor.] and passions), or (spec.) a human being (as such):—carnal (-ly, + -ly minded), flesh ([-ly]).
This refers to the flesh as opposed to the pneúma, “spirit,” and denotes, in an ethical sense, mere human nature, the lower side of man as apart from the Divine influence, and therefore estranged from God and prone to sin; whatever in the soul is weak and tends toward ungodliness
I was watching a few moments last evening about a movie that was titled “Sniper.” We know that a sniper is a sharpshooter for the military. They are called to task with difficult decisions regarding taking shots. Intel is all about him feeding him information along with his optics to see close and personal scenes that are life/death scenes for the other parties at the other end of his barrel.
Every sniper encounters a moment when they are to take the shot and they do not, they hesitate and its critical to the mission. A sniper was looking intently on a 10 year old boy who came on the scene of allies with a bomb and he is in a battle between the spirit and the flesh. Whether to shoot or not.
Operating in the carnal or the flesh means with animal type instincts where conscience is not a factor.
Christians may be carnal (sarkinos 1 Cor 3:1; sarkikós, 1 Cor 3:3); the lower side of their being is dominant and not the spirit, hence they fall into sins of envy and strife
We are discussing tonight the mere mortal, human, fleshly desire side. An insatiable appetite that we keep in check only by the power of the Holy Spirit in us and the strengthening through His Word, prayer, and the encouragement of God’s people to keep us in check.
Obviously, everything we just described sounds as struggle, but let’s look specifically tonight at the complications that come with carnality. Firstly, Paul reflects that carnality creates a hindrance in communication.
Hindrance with Communication with a spirit of Carnality V. 1
Read verse 1 with me:
1 Corinthians 3:1 “1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.”
We see the ideal that Paul states. His desire is to communicate to them as spiritual people, but the reality is that their carnality blocks the ability to speak to the depth Paul would desire. Now Brother Luke, I thought you said from our last time together that there is no higher levels of wisdom within the believer. There is not, but there are times that our carnality invades our ability to have true spiritual depth because I remind you God has no part with sin. When we are living a life of carnality, fleshly thinking, thinking on the things that are not in conformance with the things of God, the Holy Spirit’s presence is suppressed in our lives. Carnality for many can be more subtle in its ways. It can be innocently overly inward in focus. My desires, my wants, my needs, my finances, my time needed, my away time, my travel, my vehicle, our land, our health, our children, aside from real fleshly desires for lust, sexual sin, greed, etc.
Romans 8:7 “7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”
King David in the Psalms supports this thinking in our sin-fleshly carnal thinking.
Who can tell the story in short fashion about King David’s wayward period in the Bible?
Psalm 51:1–4 “1 Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is always before me. 4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.”
Immaturity
“As to babes in Christ”
He further defines by forming a picture as to how you treat babies. You feed them milk rather than meat. Their spiritual digestive tracts are not at the same level of maturity. They do not absorb the things of God in the same manner.
How many of you have grandchildren or children and you take them to eat and they eat about one third of what they ordered?
Notice that the maturity goes beyond just biblical maturity, but maturity in the overall spiritual disciplines. Immaturity, lack of knowing the Word, prayer, worship attendance, evangelism, serving, stewardship, and the list goes on. Their use of their time, talents, and tithes and overall service is either in existent or rusty to say the least. There is a lack of consistency, stability, and structure to their spiritual pilgrimage.
Ill. Go back with me a few years to high school. Some of you attended South Montgomery Academy. Maybe others Dunbar or whatever was the name of the high school in this area. I attended Jeff Davis. This is an issue today just as it was an issue then.
Let’s look into a typical classroom. Let’s assume we are in some higher level mathematics class. For example, your trigonometry or your geometry class are builder classes. If you do not get the formulas early on as the class progresses, you might as well be listening to Chinese. Do you remember those kids that sat toward the front rows that leaned over and listened intently and quickly raised their hands to the teacher’s questions? Do you remember the other students that did not have sharps in any fashion, whether it related to their dress, they slouched in the desk, they were zoned out. Teachers then as teachers today work hard to bring the entire class along. Where would the class have been had it not been for the 3-4 class clowns and flunkies that just did not have a clue at what the teacher was attempting to accomplish?
Do you believe that happens in church life? Isn’t it interesting for example that starting three months ago we had a 31-4 week average, two months ago-33-4 week average, and this last month-we had a 37-4 week average. To God be the glory! Amen.
Of those numbers there are for conversation sake possibly 20% of the 37 average that fulfill some form of lay service fulfilling a job within the needs of the church to meet the ministry demands. Greeting, Life Group Leader, Deacon, buildings & grounds, secretarial, finance, etc. Those leaders and servants can be counted on every service, rain, hail, sleet or snow. We are averaging 37 people per week at present where 20% of the people are pillar mature Christians in their service to the Lord. And understand something important here. Whether mature is defined as 20, 25, or 30% is the point. What is the point? Where would the church be in growth if the figure was 30, 40 or 50% of the body were mature on meat in their spiritual walk? How would that affect the kingdom at Mt Zion? How many people would we reach for Christ? Would we be averaging 60, 80 or 100 people?
Dearly beloved, this is not picking on anyone tonight because every believer will face times of carnality.
Peter faced a time of carnality.
We remember a scene in the Bible when Peter was accused of responding to Jesus in carnal fashion.
21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
So, how does it hinder the growth of the kingdom through God’s church. There is a delay in growth because you have baby believers who hold God’s church back. The issue-spiritual immaturity.
2. Difference in Communication with a spirit of Carnality V. 2
1 Corinthians 3:2 “2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;”
Ill. Girl’s softball team going for State Championship. The Right Fielder is in love. Not staying for additional practices. Not going to her individual coaching clinics. She is not meshing with the team and has become isolated. How does that affect the team?
And so goes the church. God has an assignment for His church. There is a mission. God has clearly provided His church through the people a strategy and to put feet to the strategy, every horse will need to pull. And yet, there is 2-3 horses that are not spiritually fit. They are not engaged enough to see the vision. They lack an awareness of where God is working and getting there.
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. 19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
Think of the mission here as a team and we are a team with different roles just as the high school girl’s softball team I just described. Every role is important and just as we consider a softball team without a short stop or catcher or pitcher, the church suffers when one does not fulfill the role they are assigned.
Carnality is a direct barrier to the koinonia of the church. And the word Koinonia is the word fellowship. Carnality stifles the unity and creates strife, divisions, and conflict. Carnality makes me more me focused rather than we and Him focused.
3. Divisions and Conflict with a spirit of Carnality VV. 3-4
1 Corinthians 3:3–4 “3 for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?”
Do you want to know whether you are in a good spiritual state or you are in a carnal state? Are you envious of others? Are you creating strife? Do you communicate a critical spirit within the fold of church or within the fold of your home that is part of the church? Do you have a divisive spirit?
I address a critical spirit because that is the birthing of the envy, strife, and divisions. a critical spirit, a comparison and contrast mindset is the origin, but that is originated in carnal thinking. He ends again with this Paul vs. Apollos difference and honing in on the personalities.
Let’s pick on me for a second. Carnal mindedness would begin to see the good in Brother Larry Davidson, Brother Trevor Perry, Brother Matthew Hosher, and Brother Jim Allen or going way on back there to Dr. Forest Hicks and possibly seeing the faults in me. When our minds are spiritual and stayed on the things of God in communion with Him and His people, you would see that we all are different leaders and find the positive and accentuate the good in each leader.
1 Corinthians 1:11 “11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.”
1 Corinthians 11:18 “18 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.”
How bad can a carnal mind affect your walk?
James 3:14 “14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.”
You lose a sense of truth.
James 3:16 “16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.”
Evil even in the church will expose itself.
We’ve talked in great detail to this point as what we do not do, is to be carnal.
Then how do we live spiritually mature?
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Walk in the Spirit
How do we walk in the Spirit?
2. Life and liberality are found in he Spirit
Would anyone want to share how their life was changed from following fleshly desires to the experience of salvation and freedom from sin and what life is like after salvation?
3. Set our minds on the Spirit-it produces life and peace.
What are some practices you do to set your mind on the Spirit?