Intro story-Carnal man
- When he didn’t get what he thought he deserved he left the church
- Shortly thereafter he divorced his wife
- All of this was because he had a sense of spirituality in his mind
- But was actually carnally minded
- 1 Corinthians 3:1-4
- 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 [a]behaving like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?
- Tonight we I will be talking about carnality in the believer
- I want to remind you that Paul addressed the Corinthians as brethren
- This was a letter to the church, not just a few individuals
- In chapter 1 Paul made it very clear that that the Christians in Corinth would stand blameless before God
- He addressed that they had been given the gifts of the Spirit
- That they hade received knowledge from God
- And that the testimony of Christ was confirmed in them
- They were by all means saved, they were Christians
- Even though they are saved Paul is saying the fact they are saved does not mean they can call themselves spiritual
- They were stuck living by the flesh
- They weren’t actually living like Christians that are spiritual
- He even relates them as babies that can only handle milk
- When I read Corinthians I just think, Paul is savagely bold
- The reason why is because in this correction he hits them were it hurts the most
- Their pride of knowledge
- The Corinthians by no means were dumb people
- They pride themselves about the knowledge that they have
- They were very well learned people
- So for paul to say 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
- That is a huge knock to their ego and pride
- You are babies that need milk
- The Corinthian church by now should have matured
- It was around 4-6 years old
- There should have at least been some growth
- It was a problem
- Illustration-baby that doesn’t grow
- Everyone would be very concerned
- Because its not natural to not grow
- Even in your spiritual life
- If you’ve been saved for that long we shouldn’t have to still change your diapers and clean up your mess
- But that’s what the Corinthians still needed
- The reason for this is because they were still carnal
- Which really translates to fleshly
- They still desired the things of the world
- They still acted like the world
- I want to remind you that the culture of Corinth was very corrupt
- The church still allowed the culture influence them and it showed
- It was really a sense of dualism
- They believed they can live in the world and still behave like the world
- But it was corrupting their church
- They still had foolish arguments, pride, envy, and strife
- Even though they were Christians, Paul says, you act like merely humans
- Even to the point of arguing of who is better Paul or apollos
- Which we wont be discussing. Pastor jay has a another great sermon about it next time he preaches
- The Corinthians placed a higher stance on worldly things than they did with their relationship with Christ
- My question to you tonight?
- Are you a Corinthian in your relationship with Christ
- Are you more humanistic than spiritual?
- Are you just another baby that needs a baba and good pat on the back?
- I want you to understand that carnality is not a good thing
- Romans 8:6-7
- For to be [a]carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the [b]carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
- When you have a carnal mind you are giving into sin nature
- Godly things don’t seem to be as important as they used to
- Really the beginning of carnality is lust
- Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life
- 1 john 2:15-16
- Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
- It is possible for Christian to fall into a carnal mind if you aren’t guarding your heart
- When you start caring more about the world or self
- If you allow lust to grip your heart it will take root and before you know it lust of the world will control your life
- It will fully consume you
- Being in ministry I’ve seen it too many times
- Story-about Jesse
- This man was saved
- He even heard from the Lord
- A strong believer, a great business man
- But the pride of life got a hold of him
- He cared more about the world then spiritual things
- Until he never returned, at least for the many years that I was there
- This can happen to anyone
- All satan needs is a foothold
- If you give him a little, he’s going to go for all of it
- Often times people don’t even realize they are becoming carnal
- Because the process is so subtle that they will make excuses on why they do what they do
- But before long they go full carnal
- It is sad when someone goes from Christ to carnal
- Nobody wants to see that
- But it happens
- So what does it look like to slip into carnality?
- Im going to give some areas to evaluate in your life
- Are you more concerned with yourself more than anything else
- The society we live in has turned into a place of self love and self promotion
- The world is pushing us and especially the younger generation toward love of self
- Look at all the social media out there
- Its disgusting what goes on
- Everything on tv and movies points to love yourself
- Be you
- Who cares about anyone else
- You are the star of the show
- When people buy into it they begin to care more about themselves than anything else
- They want to be on the next trend
- Or they have to look a certain way, act a certain way, and ultimately become someone they aren’t
- The world teaches be yourself and it sounds good on the outside
- But in reality
- One thing is happening, satan is gripping their mind
- That’s his goal
- Whoever he can separate from Christ he will
- And plenty of Christians and churches are buying into it
- Give satan no ground in this area
- Do not stay more concerned about yourself than anything else
- It’s a trap
- Another area to look out for is if you never feel satisfied
- You believe you deserve more than you have
- You should get more because you deserve it
- Look how hard you work
- You are something special, so how come no one notices
- This feeling of never being satisfied with what you have is greed and idolatry
- You are more concerned with what you don’t have
- Instead of placing your hope in Christ
- When you have feelings like this, what you are really doing is saying
- “God, I know you’ve given this to me, but its not good enough.”
- This is not a good place to be
- Grumbling about the provision that the Lord has already given you
- He is God and He is in control
- Stop focusing on what everyone else has and what you don’t have
- One area that really gets people is pride
- When you think you are more than what you are
- Romans 12:3
- For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
- Pride is often subtly creeps in
- It is a huge warning sign of carnality
- Satan fell from grace because of pride
- He wants to entice you to do the same
- Most people who are prideful will actually never admit it
- Its like a defense mechanism if you call them out
- Its always, I’m not prideful
- The they get angry and yell at you
- Trying to point out all the areas that you are prideful
- If someone tells you that you may be prideful
- Take it into account
- Evaluate the areas that they told you
- Most of the time they are probably right
- And if not at least still give God the time to search your heart in this area
- And if you are repent
- Being unforgiving is another sign of carnality
- As Christians we should always be the most forgiving
- We should all know what we’ve been saved from
- None of us deserve grace
- But God gives it to us
- Stop being angry with how someone wronged you
- The Lord forgave you
- And you really didn’t deserve it
- It is a bad place to be if you are in a place of unforgiveness
- If you aren’t willing to forgive then God wont forgive you
- Don’t believe me?
- Mark 11:25-26
- And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 [a]But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
- If you are falling victim to unforgiveness in your heart, this should scare you
- I want to be forgiven, I need to be forgiven, daily
- Don’t allow unforgiveness to set in
- Give it no foothold
- In fact if someone does you wrong forgive them right away and be done with it
- Don’t give the offense time to take root
- Another sign of carnality is this
- Pay attention to this one
- If you think the church is here to just serve you
- If you think church should be all about you and what you can get you are carnal
- Too many times I’ve seen people leave churches because the church didn’t do enough
- It is an arrogant and carnal mindset
- How important do you think you are
- The church is for the Lord
- Its His bride not yours
- Stop with the preconceived notion of how you think it should be ran
- Saying things like “well if I ran worship this is what I would do”
- First of all it doesn’t matter, because you don’t and the Lord knows your heart
- That’s probably why you don’t lead a team
- Stop talking badly about ministries or their leaders
- Don’t grumble
- Its not for you nor is the church a social club
- The biggest thing that I dislike about attitudes like this is it always comes back to the senior pastor when these people leave
- The pastor didn’t do enough for me or my family
- SO let me get this straight
- You’re mad at the pastor because he took the time to meet with you
- Tried helping you get out of the mess of a life you created
- Once again not listening to his sound advice and now you’re mad
- Because after all the Pastor is the root of your problems, not you
- Let me tell you a secret
- This may come as a surprise to you
- But a pastors primary job isn’t to fix your life or problems
- It is to study the scriptures to teach you sound doctrine
- Making sure he stays true to the scriptures
- But people don’t want that
- I don’t want to discuss theology with you pastor
- Even though that’s your job
- I want you to fix my problems
- Listen we get it life is hard
- But you have access to the same God, holy spirit, and bible that we do
- If you are finding areas to grumble I suggest you repent and seek God
- There are so many more areas to look for when it comes to carnality
- But we would be here all day
- These were the areas that I see take Christians out the most and they creep in subtly
- Protect your heart in these areas
- And don’t think that cant happen to you
- Stay guarded
- SO how do we make sure we don’t fall into a carnal mindset?
- The answer is simple
- Matthew 22:37
- Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
- As a Christian this should be your primary goal
- If we are putting God first in every area of our life we can avoid carnality
- Remind yourself that God is and always will be number one
- In your mind, your job, when you are alone, when you are in public, while speaking with people
- At church, in ministry, in your family, and in your finances
- If you completely surrender in all aspects the likelihood to fall into carnality is very low
- I constantly evaluate my life
- Because I’m human and I know I’m flawed
- I have myself seen carnality slip in over the years
- Because satan knows what to look for
- He knows what he can use against you
- But making God first quickly deals with the issue
- He knows what is best for you
- If you have fallen into even a little bit of a carnal mind
- Then just repent
- Ask the Lord to forgive your wretched heart
- He will hear you
- Have Him guide you and direct you
- In my life I always want God to be first, and hopefully you do too
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