It was October of 1962. I was a strapping youth of 12 years old, with my entire life before me, living in constant fear of a nuclear bomb blowing us all away. An Air Force reconnaissance plane had taken pictures of Russian built missile silos sitting inside the island of Cuba just off the coast of Florida. These missiles had nuclear warheads capable of reaching strategic areas in the United States.
President John F. Kennedy sent a clear message to the Premier Nikata Khrushchev that these missiles were to be dismantled and returned to Russia. The President also ordered an immediate naval and air blockade of Cuba, stopping any Russian ships or aircraft from entering Cuban airspace or shoreline.
At the time I was in the sixth grade. We begin watching films on the effects of fallout from a nuclear blast. We discovered the horrors of a nuclear winter where the sun would be blocked out for months. We did fallout drills where we curl up into a ball and hide under our desks. It was a frightening time for a child.
At the end of October Khrushchev decided to test the resolve of the United States. He sent ships armed with weaponry intended for Cuba to break the blockade that the United States had set. It became a deadly war of “chicken” to see who would back down first.
The Russian ships came within a hundred yards of U.S. warships. Warships that had been ordered to stop the Russian ships at all cost. Within feet to spare, the Russian ships turned and proceeded back to Russia. Eventually, the missiles would be dismantled and nuclear war would be averted.
The church in Corinth was facing a spiritual crisis much like the crisis we just discussed. They were in the midst of an immoral society that was infiltrating the church. It had led to questions and confusion, so Paul decided to erect a blockade of truth in a letter written to them around 55 AD. And in that letter he described four types of individuals found in the fellowship.
Let’s read 1 Corinthians 2:13-14 “When we tell you these things, we do not use words that come from human wisdom. Instead, we speak words given to us by the Spirit, using the Spirit’s words to explain spiritual truths. But people who aren’t spiritual can’t receive these truths from God’s Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can’t understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means.”
The first group of people is the non-spiritual. They may attend church occasionally but they cannot grasp the truth of what is being taught. The idea of God in flesh becoming his own Son and dying when everyone knows that God can’t die is foolishness to them. Praying prayers to an unseen force that may or may not answer those prayers is in comprehensible to them.
Isaiah 40: 12 asks the question “Who else has held the
oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale? Those that are spiritual understand that only God can make that claim. However the non-spiritual would answer “No one.”
The non- spiritual is just that. They do not have the spirit living in them. They are not a Christian. But they do not deserve to be condemned.
Think about things in your life you don’t understand and cannot do. I can read books and watch videos on how to repair a car engine for example. But I do not have the dexterity or skills to accomplish the task. The only ones who would want to condemn me for that would be those who could. Those who are like me would understand.
The same is true with unbelievers. Rather than be handled as those who do not understand, they are cornered and often feel berated. This is why the non-spiritual is driven to hang out with other non-spiritual. It’s our job to love them and share Jesus with them when they are willing. It’s the Holy Spirits job to conform them.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are these individuals.
1 Corinthians 2:15-16 “Those who are spiritual can evaluate all things, but they themselves cannot be evaluated by others. For, ‘Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?’ But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”
This group of people is the mature Christians. They are not perfect but everything they do is done with a desire to do so from God’s perspective. They evaluate their actions in all they do. They are not concerned with how others observe them. Their concern is how God observes them.
Mature Christians not only are concerned with their daily activities but also with future investments. They are constantly evaluating how their present decisions may have eternal consequences. Like purchasing stock on the stock market, they look beyond present profits and prepare for long range benefits from their stock.
Mature Christians have spiritual insight into the thoughts of God due to the Holy Spirit residing in them. The greatest student a teacher can have is one who can teach in his absence. The mature Christian is constantly striving to learn more each day so that they can teach others with the mind of Christ.
A mature Christian will not be prideful or forceful in their teaching. Rather, they will teach with humility and gentleness. They will recognize that the non-believer cannot comprehend all of the teachings. They will remember that “Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.” and will treat them as a blind person would need to be treated.
No one would scream at a blind man to see. No one would take a blind man to a movie and expect them to understand the plot fully. So, the mature Christian would always be there with understand and compassion to those who are lost.
In between these two groups are our next individuals
1 Corinthians 3:1 “Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ.”
These are the immature Christians. Think about your own little child. How many of you had children that had a full vocabulary at birth? I venture to say “None.” Were you frustrated with them? Did you demand that they let their needs be known in some other way besides crying?
Or did you patiently teach them certain words? Did you keep their first words simplistic? Did you notice that their exposure to others opened up new words, some you may not have approved of?
Eventually you were able to associate words to objects and people. Your child began to understand nose, mouth, ears, and so on, and where they were located on their face. They began to understand that “Mama” was their mommy and “Dada” was their daddy.
Now, suppose your child never began to speak or never associated words with objects. You would seek a specialist, right?
Paul is addressing the issue here as a specialist. He understood his first time with them was as infants in Christ. He spoke to them as if they were babies, keeping the gospel simple. But some had never matured beyond that infant level. They still behaved as infants, crying when things were not to their desires. Making self-centered demands on others. He is addressing the need for maturity among these people because they are at a cross-road. Either they will become mature Christians or find themselves in this last group.
1 Corinthians 3:2-3 “I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?”
These individuals exist between infants and mature Christians. They exist with one foot in the church and one foot in the world. They believe in Jesus, that He is real, that He died on the cross, and that He rose again. They are in every sense of the word Christians. But that want to enjoy the pleasures of the world. They desire to satisfy their wants over the commands of God for their lives. They are called “carnal” Christians in church lingo. They allow their sinful nature to overrule the Holy Spirit living within them. They choose to ignore God’s warning through his Word that “the sinful nature is always hostile to God” and
“letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.”
What type of relationship would someone have if they decided to try and convince their spouse to allow their lover to move in with them? The person making the proposition is fine with it. The lover seems to be fine with it. But I think the spouse, the one that has been given a pledge of commitment, might have a huge problem with it. It would seem hostile to that person and could become deadly.
God feels that same way. He is a jealous God and not willing to share any of us with the world. I think of how society has changed in the last 50 years. Things that were once taboo are now natural. Premarital sex is expected. Homosexuality is the normal. Divorce is a solution. Abortion is a right. And all of these actions are committed by “carnal” Christians.
Paul speaks of this in 1 Corinthians 3:15 “But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.”
Paul began his letter to the Corinthians with this statement, “I am writing to God’s church in Corinth, to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus---”
Therefore, setting aside the non-believers, the mature Christian, the immature Christian, and the “carnal” Christian all existed in this one body. So Paul begins to tell them to examine themselves. And we need to examine ourselves.
Do we neglect what Jesus has done for us?
Hebrews 2:3 “So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?”
How do we ignore our salvation? By living a life disinterested in what his sacrifice meant. It’s not planning on sinning. Rather its falling into a routine of not praying, not reading the Bible, not spending time in worship. It’s taking for granted our salvation. If you take your spouse for granted it will wear on your relationship. The same is true with God.
Have we become “hardened” in our hearts?
Hebrews 3:13 “You must warn each other every day, while it is still ‘today,’ so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.”
I am sure you have heard of hardening of the arteries. It is when the artery becomes narrowed due to the amount of fat that builds up on the artery walls over a period of time. These fat deposits become hardened and restrict blood flow to the affected organ. It may eventually become severely blocked, causing death of the organ. It can be fatal, for example blood to the heart.
We are warned about spiritual hardening. Like fat building up on an artery, we must guard against allowing sin to build up in our lives. It doesn’t happen overnight. Becoming hardened against God is a process where sin is less and less bothersome. Where disobedience to God’s instruction becomes easier to rationalize.
Have we neglected to attend church regularly?
Hebrews 10:25 “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”
Going to church does not make us a Christian. Not going to church does not make us a lost person. Church is not mandatory for anyone’s salvation. But church is necessary for spiritual growth. We will never be personally encouraged by a pastor on TV or on the radio. As Proverbs 27:17 states “As iron sharpens iron,
so a friend sharpens a friend.”
Without the fellowship of other believers our spiritual weaponry remains dull.
Have we rejected our faith?
Hebrews 10:26 “Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.”
Staying on the carnal road can lead to some dire consequences. The writer of Hebrew lays it out there really clear. He writes “Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us.” And he writes “It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
As for Paul, he would never build a mega-church like we see today. His reaction to the carnal Christian was strong. For example, concerning a believer in the church caught up in sexual immorality he wrote, “---you must throw this man out and hand him over to Satan ---”. That would be well received in today’s church. Paul in writing to Timothy made this statement, “For some people have deliberately violated their consciences; as a result, their faith has been shipwrecked. --- (so) I threw them out and handed them over to Satan so they might learn not to blaspheme God.”
Paul’s concern was not about church growth but rather church purity. Some of you here today have seen signs of carnality in your own lives. Unlike Paul, I certainly would not send you away. But I will ask that you examine yourself and if found lacking, repent.
