From Immaturity to Maturity: Embracing Spiritual Growth

"Paul revisits his initial grievances as you remember in chapter number one Paul addressed the Corinthians based on a report that he had received from the house of Cl that there were divisions in the church at Corinth now many observers of this letter uh say that division was the primary concern but I want you to listen closely division is just a symptom of a deeper issue it's like a cough a cough is not what's wrong wrong with you it may be the flu the cough is a symptom of the flu right and so division it was not the root cause it wasn't what was wrong with them it was a symptom of a deeper and larger issue you say preacher what was the issue with Corinth the real issue was that they were spiritually immature they were spiritually immature they were operating just like their culture did in terms of philosophers and philosophy and they were using names of teachers to distinguish thems or exalt themsel you remember in Corinthians they said some said that I'm of Paul some said that I of Apollos some said that I'm of sephus and some said that I of Christ and so they're using these names of teachers to distinguish them M themselves or to exalt thems but I believe that if you read this letter carefully it doesn't seem like there are four or five factions but it seems like there's probably just two because we come to chapter number three the discussion has been narrowed down to two individuals those individuals are who Paul and Apollos now who was Apollos apoll was a man who followed Paul in Corinth in his work and it seems like what Paul is dealing with is that he has a group of people who will no longer listen to him they're using apollis as a reason to not listen to Paul and in the latter part of this book you'll find that Paul urges apalus to go back to Corinth but but apollis doesn't want to he he doesn't want to but because he wants to make it clear that number one he stands with Paul but also he doesn't want to be a tool for the devil to use to divide the church Paul goes on to illustrate the Folly of human wisdom in contrasting that with God's wisdom he highlights the conflict between the two forms of wisdom and he discusses the absolute absurdity that Jesus would die on the cross and he calls this the foolishness of the Gospel or the foolishness of the preaching of the Cross he also emphasizes how God chose the foolish things of this world to confound the wise and also reflects on his own preaching he tells them when he came to him he he came weak he came afraid he was emotionally drained yet Paul was committed to share the gospel with the Corinth people in a spirit of humility he then delves into the distinction between the two types of wisdom foolish wisdom of the world and then God's wisdom and then two categories of people the two categories of people were spiritual people and also natural people the spirit man is the man that has been saved he's the man that's been born again he's the man that has the Holy Spirit living inside then the natural man is just that he's natural he is just the way he was from birth there's been no reg regeneration there's been no salvation he is a lost man and through all of this that Paul has talked about up until this point he's he's trying to come to the overarching uh question that he asks the church is can you recognize what's wrong with you now that we've talked about the foolish of man and the foolishness of wisdom man's Wisdom we've talked about the wisdom of God we've talked about the natural man the spiritual man do you now know what's wrong with you can you recognize why you have divisions in the church you're a spiritual people but you're not living like it why have you come to the judgments you've come to why have you closed your heart to me why am I having to write this letter why am I hearing reports of your division why am I the object of your judgments and criticism why are you where you are so Paul has used all that to try to wake up the Minds if you would of the Corinthian people and in verse number 1 through3 Paul revisits those discussions with the intentions of applying those Concepts now we look in the Corinthian the the letter to the Corinthians I I believe there there are three overarching uh just realities that are going on behind the scenes that I think we need to take note of it's not only in First Corinthians but you'll also see it take place in 2 Corinthians and and those three are this number one Paul's Ministry is not what the Corinthian Church currently Desires in their mind there's something more desirable something more so they they want somebody more sophisticated they want somebody wiser than Paul Paul was good for them at the start but now they're ready to move on to other teachers Paul's Ministry is not what they're currently Desiring number two they criticize Paul they don't consider his ministry to be up to their standards they compare Paul with Apollos and surely in the book of Acts chapter 18 the Bible tells us that Apollos was an astute man in the scripture and paus might have been eloquent but his ministry was the same as Paul's the only division between Paul and apollis was the division that was in the mind of the Corinthians but thirdly their mindset was a result of Pride they their their pride was their examine their true condition they're suffering from a mindset that is more informed by human wisdom than than God's truth and let me say this if your way of measuring things is based on human wisdom it won't be accurate if your measurements are off your judgments will be off too and so one of the specific criticisms as we come to our text of Paul in his teachings is that they represented milk what that means is they seem to be Elementary they felt that his teachings were not fit for a spiritual group like they were they wanted something deeper they wanted something more profound than what Paul represented so after dealing with these two kinds of wisdom and two kinds of people in chapter two he takes this on in chapter three and he explains to them what the true condition is and why their judgments are what they are I'm going to give three things will'll be done number one Paul explains his past Ministry his past Ministry look in verse number one he said and I Brethren what's the next two words could not speak unto you as unto spiritual he's not saying I I am not or I will not or can not he's saying that I could not what that does is that indicates a past Ministry that Paul Paul had with the Corinthians and as we have all noted Paul founded this church 18 months prior to this letter so he's referring to a past Ministry he said I could not speaking to you as spiritual but as in carnal even as the babes of Christ he said I fed you with milk and not with meat for hither to you were not able to Bear it neither yet now are you able and so Paul here is comparing two things now number one he's he's comparing with his teaching meat versus milk the meat of the word versus the milk of the word and I believe that just by a couple of General thoughts we'll we'll get a little bit of understanding of this first of all as a pertains to meat versus milk I want you to look at the teaching perspective the teaching perspective many times you and I when we think about milk versus meat we think about it as it relates to a subject matter well if if this guy's is preaching on some Evangelistic stuff and it it must be it must be milk but if he dives into Revelation and he gets into end times and eschatology then he must be referring to the meat of the word but I would submit to you this morning that the difference between milk and meat is not subject matter but it is the depth in which you dive into that subject what do you mean every biblical Doctrine has a milk aspect to it and has a meat aspect to it it's not a subject matter every Doctrine across the board every doctrine of God that you find in your Bible has a meat aspect and a milk aspect it just depends on how deep you dive into it so one possibility of the situation in Corinth is that when Paul was with them he purposely gave them milk or the elementary stuff because he judged that they were not able to receive it or they didn't want to receive anything more than that I'm going to make you mad here this morning but there's two classes of people when it comes to preaching the word of God that you have three I would say you have some that want it you have some that came this morning and you were ready to hear the preached word of God because you knew the power of the word of God and you knew what it could do in your life when its seed was implanted in your heart there are some of you this morning that are not able to get it but you try you're not able to get it you're not able to receive it and there's some who don't want to receive it there's some this morning that came to church because you were expected to be at church there are some of you that came to church this morning because you were checking off a spiritual box there there was some of you that came to church this morning because you were looking more for entertainment than anything else and it's not that you're not able to receive it it's that you don't want to receive it there's nothing in the word of God that's appetizing to you you see we live in a generation that's got a bad attit a bad appetite for preaching we we we'd be all right just hearing somebody that that hits all the pews and and shouts and hollers and swings from the chandeliers and and I ain't say anything bad about that but but I'm just saying that that's a lot of what our appetite is for preaching nowadays we don't want to receive Bradley anything deeper than that if it challenges our hearts or our minds to think differently than what we've always thought we're not ready or we're not willing to receive it and Paul came to the to the Corinthian people and he deemed that they were not ready for milk some of them were not able to receive it but there's some who simply did not want to receive the the the meat of God's word they were just wanting the basic stuff preacher if you just come in and preach about the cross every Sunday and preach about the blood every Sunday and and preach about the goodness of God every Sunday and preach about those those really Elementary things that then I'll know that I came to church and I heard something and and I'll be okay on my week Paul here recognizing they couldn't handle me or they're not able to receive or they didn't want to receive it he gave them milk so there's the teaching perspective but then also there's the listening perspective did you know that you can have Rich teaching that is lost on some hearers because they're not spiritually enough to receive it just as physical children would not be able to digest certain foods so so some Christians cannot digest spiritual meat and as a result the meat of God's word is confusing it's boring or it's not needful to them a preacher a teacher may be giving meat but people only receive a milk element of the word it's because they're not where they need to be to receive the meat element of God's word in fact people that are spiritually immature in faith May judge meat to be milk and milk to be meat I have heard some people say some wild things about preaching that I wouldn't walk across the street to here and especially anytime somebody tells me how how good of a word they heard on TBN I pump the brakes as soon as you say preacher I was listening TBN I'm GNA be honest with you I love you I appreciate you we can hug it out we can be buddies we can go Fellowship but as soon as you tell me you heard some on TBN there's a red flag goes up in my mind we talk about how deep it was and how wonderful it was and we judge meat as milk and then at the same time we hear somebody preaching and and we we think Man this ain't good at all that I can't really get involved in this I I can't get on the same page when that right there is meat and so one of the biggest problems that Paul faced was he faced an audience that defined meat as milk and milk as meat they accused Paul of being a minister of milk he didn't address them as the spiritual people they were Paul was giving them meat but because of their spirit spiritual condition they received it as milk how many of you witnessed that firsthand in your life I have I have there's some Christians there's some people brother Greg when they come into church and they hear the word of God they're like man that is that is like cool water to a thirsty soul and they talk about how much it blessed them and how much it engaged them and how much it challenged them and how much encouraged them and how deep it was missel but sitting in the same congregation there are others who were like God I didn't get anything out of it at all you know what I'm talking about I I don't know I don't know what in the world he's talking about I I I couldn't follow him I couldn't understand it was boring and I'm not getting fed you know why because they're judging meat is milk and milk is meat it's because of a deeper issue and the deeper issue is spiritual immaturity spiritual immaturity because people act more fleshly than they do spiritual and that's the main point so Paul said I could not speak to you as spiritual why did he bring up the past I believe it's because they criticized Paul's Ministry so Paul explains to them why it was the way it was he talks about meat versus milk from the teacher perspective from the listener's perspective but not only does he does he does he talk number one about the the past Ministry he had with them but number two he talks about the present assessment that he has look what he says in verse number two he said I have fed you with milk and not with meat for hitherto you were not able to bury it and now are you not able to Bear it either think about this Corinth people man they feel like they're the Hot Shots man they want more they need something more sophisticated they need something wiser they need something better they need something deeper they feel like they're beyond Paul's teaching Paul tells them this he's like I wasn't able to feed you with meet and here we are 18 months later and I'm still not able to feed you with meat because you're still carnal because you're still babies because you're still fleshly and you're still immature I want to give you a couple things about this I want you to notice something about the Corinth people I want you to notice something about their Brotherhood look what Paul says in verse number one he said and I Brethren could not speak unto you as spiritual but as into carnal even as into babes the there there were some there are some who question if Christians can be carnal the word carnal here is the Greek word Saros which literally means the fleshly the Christian is supposed to be spiritual because he has the Holy Spirit right but while these people were saved and they were brothers of Christ to Paul they acted like lost men who were fleshly and can I say that the number number one problem in churches today in receiving the word of God in applying the word of God and being a better Christian because you heard the word of God is because there's a lot of people in the church house that are carnal they are fleshly they have been saved but they act like a man that's fleshly or a man that's lost Paul said he called them Brethren yet he had to add he had to address them as lost people they they were saved but with their mind they thought fleshly they were saved but with their actions they acted fleshly they were saved but with their speech they they spoke fleshly it was because of spiritual immaturity in that church now the key thing to understand is that while a Christian can be for a Time carnal a true Christian cannot remain carnal for his whole life there may be times Jim to where you slip into carnality you slip into a fleshly mode but if you're born again you will not stay there now I can't judge people as saved or lost but I've been place for eight years before and it seemed like all I saw was fleshly carnality that's that's not a problem of all I'll change that's a problem of you need to be born again amen cuz the Bible tells us in the word of God in James 2 and Ephesians 2:10 that genuine faith will result in Good Works can a Christian in time be have a time of failure or Rebellion or appear carnal yes but will a true Christian remain carnal no Paul's comment of Brethren suggests that he believes in their genuine conversion but he expects that there'll be a return to spirituality so he talks about their Brotherhood but then he talks about their burden what was their burden this church has believers who are at a point that in which they they should be further than what they are let me say this it's acceptable when a baby acts like a baby it's acceptable when a 10-year-old acts like a 10-year-old but it ain't acceptable when a 30y old 40 year old 50y old 60 year old 70 year old acts like a baby or acts like a 10y old amen that's not acceptable at all and there comes a time where you have to take your faith seriously there Comes A Time to where you have to begin to listen when you come to church why do you come to church if you're not going to listen why do you come to church if you're not going to allow God to change your heart and change your life while you're here do you just come because you want to be entertained do you just come because you want to see other people there has to come to a time where you take things seriously there has to come a time to where you receive a little depth to the preaching and apply it listen I I'm I'm all about the stuff we can shout and and holler and and Lord knows I do it sometimes but there's got to come to a point in time in everybody's life who where somebody says you know what I appreciate that but I come to grow but I come to mature in my faith I come because I want to know Jesus more and I want to know his word more and I want his word to come alive in my life and in my heart and there's some times where we don't swing from the chandelier Chanel but we open up the word of God and let God's word teach us and if we're interested in anything more than that Bradley we're carnal and we're spiritually immature because we're seeking things of the world and fleshly behavior and not the word of God just being honest and you know what here's another thing you ain't going to like this you ain't going like this there comes the point to where not only you learn the word of God you apply the word of God you get deeper in the word of God but check it out there comes the point where you could start teaching the word of God that that mean there comes a point Nick where you become more than just a spectator on a Pew soaking up the word of God there comes the point where you get the word of God yourself and you start teaching others right you know what the greatest burden on the church is today is because the preacher is the sole teacher and nobody else will can I get a witness in the back Bubba can I get a witness right there I mean you can't find Sunday school teachers anymore well I'm just going to clear off space and preach right now is that all right because we're not even faithful to Sunday school because we don't even come for Bible study because either number one we deem it that it's below us or we deem it's not necessary so we don't come to Sunday school we don't have teachers any we don't have teachers that'll teach why number one they don't come to C go but number two they're not ready to teach and they can't teach because they're still in the milk of the word they're not able to receive it they don't want to receive it what about vacation bible school right man every year isn't it harder to find teachers to do just simple stuff like teach children the word of God why because Paul told the book of Hebrews he said in a time in which you ought to have been teachers you're wanting to go back to the elementary stuff of the word of God and have people teach you if my existence in church Bradley was just me sitting on a Pew and somebody giving me milk every Sunday man that's not any existence at all but if I start getting on something a little bit heavier something a little meaty then I can take that and I can give it to somebody else right the burden of the spiritually immature the burden of the carnal once again it's a sad commentary but many are satisfied of just being fed with milk and that's the reason why their appetite is the way it is so we saw what we first saw Paul's past Ministry then we saw Paul's present assessment but thirdly and I'm about to be done we see Paul's proof of their immaturity what's his proof he said in verse number three for you're yet carnal for why for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions there's problematic Behavior that's proof that you're spiritually immature these are actions of babies and not mature people it was evident that these Christ these Corinthians and there that were Corinth were still influenced by the world rather than led by the spirit why he said number one there was envyings among them you you know what that means the Corinth church was divided into factions people were aligning themselves with different leaders like Paul and Apollos it was leading to jealousy in the church and competition among members who wanted to be recognized or praised above others it wasn't about Paul and it wasn't about Apollos it was about their personal clout position and glory and can I say that those type of Christians still exist today carnal Christians still exist today and carnal Christians today still drip with jealousy I don't know about in the singing Ministry brother Greg but I do know in the preaching Ministry there's a spirit of jealousy among God's men that shouldn't be there I'm going to be honest with you and maybe I'm going to speak some truth to you this morning Co changed a lot of stuff y'all it changed a lot of stuff because let me tell you what happened and this is just my Maybe I'm Wrong about this Bradley but here's what happened after after Co hit people left the church they didn't come back like we thought they'd come back and what it started was an allout freefor all between churches to get people pastors talking about pastors preachers cutting down preachers I have in my life not seen more jealousy among preachers on social media than I have the past three or four years they talk about the way man does something they talk about the way people are coming to a man's Church why the church is growing the way it's growing and it's all boils down to just one simple word and it's it's you ready for this it's jealousy you want to know why because not only is there carnal people in the Pew but unfortunately we live in a day where there's carnal people behind the pool pit fleshly people jealousy and folks it happens in the church as well when people are jealous of other people about where they are about their positions about where they how they serve they are jealous about relationships well uh they're they're they they they're just their own they they he's trying to brownnose the preacher can I get a witness right there hey help me somebody somebody just help me out a little bit he's trying to brownnose the preacher he's trying to pay the preacher's lunch because he's wanting to try to uh get in close he's W to uh get get cuddle up with the choir director Maybe he can get a song Su maybe he can do a special uh oh y'all look at me that way y'all look at me I'm telling the truth or we try to get up to I don't know one of the deacons and and really tell them what we think we ought to do in the church house or how we ought to get things done and and what it all boils down to is we're jealous because we don't have the same what we think is clout as other people have amen Bradley you could go out and you could be my buddy and you could pay for my meals right we could be in the same car together on Cleveland Highway somebody see us and that say well there's Bradley suck up brown noser wonder what he's wanting when the reality of it is Nick he may just want to be a friend and if that's the case you have the same access as he does ain't no ain't no sense in being jealous over anything Greg i'm G to take you out for lunch maybe you'll give me a solo if you do if I do will you we it means you'll give me a solo now I don't want to be a Dei hire okay it's got to be Merit based if I stink at singing don't give me a song just cuz I bought you blunch but you know what I'm saying is the truth we draw our hearts our minds to conclusions that are just not true would become jealous over people's relationships we become jealous over somebody's position well he's he's the pastor he can he can get anything done he why don't you just step into my shoes for a little while and let's see how you do it big boy and I'll sit in your spot and I'll complain and I'll grip and I'll gossip behind your back and I'll talk behind your back and I'll tell everybody else why I'm ticked off about and I'll tell and I'll come in like I've lost my best friend and and let's just see for a little while let's just reverse the roles and see how good you do it in those shoes it's because there's a spirit of jealousy well I could lead the youth better than Nick why don't you do it amen just do it anybody that has the spotlight will trade the spotlight for about 10 minutes with other people cuz they know how how how big of a place and how much of a response place it is but there's envy and there's there's jealousy jealousy over positions jealousy over relationships jealousy jealousy over what else what else did I put down here jealousy over the spotlight right there's envyings and he said because of envyings were present among you he said that was proof of your carnality there was Strife this group of Corinthians was ready to throw down they were ready to fight I can imagine it started over Pride or maybe a holier than thou mentality and then it continued with gossip can I tell you that gossip in a church all it does is it hurts other people and it reveals how spiritually immature you really are it reveals how carnal you are and and let me just say this well we're getting in a quick this morning you come to tr church and talk about people and gossip about people and then all of a sudden turn a light switch when the songs are being sung and raise your hands up in the air and put on a show it ain't real y'all listen I I I love you but but it ain't real because your worship is just as fleshly as your gossip well we're having a Time aren't we Bradley talking about other people until there was contentious Spirits until there was bitterness towards one another and when Strife occurs among Believers the church's testimony is tarnished and Christ is Dishonored proverbs 20: three it's an honor for a man to cease from Strife but every fool will be meddling and their Strife in the Church of Corinth was because they were spiritually immature but then there were divisions they formed factions among themselves with different leaders such as Paul and Apollos which led to rivalry and Discord there are people in church that like Division and Foster it there are people in church who will pit two individuals against each other amen they'll play both ends against the middle they'll try to get this one mad at that one and that one mad at this one and cause division in the church house they'll try to pick who their favorite is oh I'm a Paul though I I'm of apollis but it's carnality mature Christians rejoice in the total Unity of the church they do everything they can do to strive for Unity they don't ever start little groups to disagree with somebody else they don't ever polarize around one person or another group polarizes around another one they're totally involved in what the Lord wants and what the Lord wants is Unity Paul here is trying to explain to these men because of the way they accept the word of God how how how some are on milk because they're carnal because they're fleshly and he said what's the the fruit of that the proof of that is the way you act your divisions your Strife your envying Paul says this in verse three are you not carnal and walk as men he said are you not fleshly are you not are you not acting like a lost man and walk as a natural man Greg if you'll come the instrument I want to give you seven principles right quick or observations that I want to give you I want you to write these down I'm going to be done from this passage of scripture number one spiritual people can think and act like fleshly people number two our view of a sermon or a message can be affected by our spiritual condition when a message doesn't affect us why is it always on the preacher am I right you ever notice that it's always the preacher's fault when a sermon doesn't hit us the way we think it ought to hit us could it be that you're not ready for it or prepared to receive it number three you ain't going to like this one our ministry from others can be affected by our spiritual condition these Corinthians were restrained by their own affection they likeed to polish more and because they like to poish more they would not listen to Paul I'm about to get you folks this is the" [00:41:41]