1 Corinthians 3:1-9
The church is really a voluntary community. It is quite different from a country. A citizen of a country normally is born a citizen. He becomes a citizen involuntarily. Not so in the true church! To be a member of the church requires a choice. During the Reformation Period, the Reformers agreed between themselves that whoever was born in a Roman Catholic country would automatically be a Roman Catholic. Whoever was born in a Lutheran country would be a Lutheran. But that is not the biblical pattern.
Life in the church has requirements. The first requirement is acceptance of Jesus Christ as one’s personal Saviour. This results in a born-again experience, which is called the new birth or to be born from heaven.
The second requirement is a new life living in obedience to the Lord. In fact, the new birth spiritually results in new life.
The third requirement is a new relationship with others. There is a bonding, a relationship, a union in the body. The church, in fact, is referred to as a “called out” community. That is really the meaning of the word ekklesia as it is found in the Greek New Testament.
Yet some members of the church seem to be nothing more than bench warmers. They could be called “do nothing” Christians. In I Corinthians 3:1-9, the apostle Paul called them babes in Christ. They might be characterized as bottle-fed or spoon-fed babies. Paul further defines babes in Christ as carnal. Well, what does the word carnal mean? It means “living after the flesh, fleshly Christians.” These are Christians who have not moved on in the spiritual dimension of their experience.
I will discuss the CALAMITY OF CARNALITY from I Corinthians 3:1-9:
1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men.
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
The apostle Paul teaches us the tragic ACTIVITIES that result from the Calamity of Carnality.
The first activity is:
CARNALITY FRUSTRATES PROGRESS
1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.
Some may wonder, Is it possible that there are carnal Christians? Yes, Christians can be carnal. They are babes in Christ who should be growing, but whose progress has been frustrated. They are unable to digest nourishing food; they are incapable of taking in the truth. They are stunted, incapable of progress. Carnality, I say, frustrates progress. It is like standing on a treadmill motion but no direction.
Carnal Christians are of no practical use in the church. Here is what someone else said about it:
As babes, they are of no practical use in the church. They cannot be relied upon for service; they are not fitted for real work. In spiritual things they are weaklings. They draw upon the resources of the church rather than add to them. They are encumbrances sources of weakness rather than of strength. They require much looking after. Yet withal they often have a very high opinion of their own powers, and sometimes are exceedingly anxious to take up a great work as anxious as they soon become to put it down again. Childish instability of purpose, as well as lack of spiritual power, prevents them from being useful. And the work that is done is done after so carnal a manner that often it had better have been left undone. It is a child’s work, having in it more marring than making.
So it is obvious that carnality frustrates progress. Carnal Christians can be quite vocal, but they simply frustrate progress. They are what we can call dead weight. They do not carry their share of the load.
The second activity is:
CARNALITY GENERATES THE PARTY SPIRIT
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men.
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
Rivalry seems to be a part of the agenda of carnal Christians. In some congregations, people have brought in the corporate thought process. Corporation people lie and fight to get ahead, to climb the ladder of “success.” They are insensitive to whom they push over or walk on, just so they make progress. Unfortunately, some people in the church have adopted the corporate ladder syndrome, characterized by envy, strife, and division. Notice verse 3, where the apostle Paul says, “There is among you envying, and strife, and divisions.” That is the evidence of being carnal.
People are like magnets, drawing the disgruntled. They find their pleasure in generating the party spirit. “Now what do you think of pastor so and so?” But that does not promote growth. Carnality frustrates progress and generates the party spirit.
Again, another has stated it well:
It is never the best people in a Christian community who are the cause of strife. Contention and controversy are only interesting to those who are not really growing in likeness to and nearness to Christ. Schism and strife are sure signs of carnality. Men who get soul visions of the truth never can want to contend over words. It would seem that St. Paul recognized signs of remaining carnality in the regenerate members of the church, and found this to be a principal hindrance to the advance of his teaching. Such signs of the “carnal mind” are still observed by Christian pastors and are the occasions of their deepest depression and constant grief.
It seems every church has some carnal members generating the party spirit. That is what carnality does.
The third activity is:
CARNALITY OBLITERATES PURPOSE
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.
9 For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
Attachment to leaders obliterates the central purpose of the church. The apostle referred to himself and to Apollos in 1:12. He also brought in Peter.
Internal bickering dissipates energy to reach out. So the apostle asked, “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?” Then he pointed out the purpose of God in these leaders. “I have planted,” Paul said. “Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.” The planting and the watering were as essential then as they are today. But the most essential part is not the planter or the waterer but the One who gives the increase. God gives the increase. This must always be kept in mind.
Further, we notice that unity brings rewards to each. Paul said that the planter and the waterer are one. And so being one working according to the purpose of God, each receives his reward according to his own labor. Unity brings rewards to each. Finally, Paul said, “We are laborers together with God.”
Carnality obliterates purpose. But when we see the whole function as it truly is, then we see that by laboring together horizontally we labor with God. The product is God’s husbandry, God’s garden, or God’s building. Everyone who labors in this way labors with God.
Again, I bring you to the words of another.
It is “God that giveth the increase.” In the spiritual sphere, as in the natural, the life-giving power is Divine; but in both cases, this power usually works through human ministries. It is only in connection with diligent planting and watering that we can expect the increase.
Each minister has his own peculiar reward. All are one, inasmuch as all are servants of one Lord and engaged about the same work. Hence they are not to be set against each other as rivals. Their work is one, yet diverse; and so is their reward. No faithful servant shall go without recompense at his Master’s hand; but each shall receive his own, alike in kind and in degree. The principle that determines this is “according to his own labor.” It is not according to the fruit or result of our labor, but simply according to the measure of our labor. What reversals of human opinion are in store for us. Men applaud success; God praises fidelity. Many an obscure but faithful worker shall receive a greater reward than he who has been less faithful but more prominent and successful.
Yes, the result of carnality is the obliteration of purpose.
My friend, take careful account of yourself. I’m talking to church members as such. Assess your condition. Remember what results from carnality, from the Calamity of Carnality.
CARNALITY FRUSTRATES PROGRESS
It leads to dead weight.
CARNALITY GENERATES PARTY SPIRIT
It fosters rivalry.
CARNALITY OBLITERATES PURPOSE
It ignores God’s will.
Find deliverance through an intimate relationship with Jesus. Amen.