This post is not easy to write, because it can offend us if we are truly desiring to grow up into the full stature of Christ or become full grown sons of God. I have had to reflect on my own life to ask the Holy Spirit to show me where I truly am in Him in my spiritual growth with him.
We must love God's word more than our own opinions of ourselves, or even others opinion of us to the good or bad. The Holy Spirit of God is the only one who can truly make a true measurement of our lives, and He does so by using the Word of God.
1st Corinthians 3:1 Paul writes, "and I brethren, could not speak unto you as spiritual, but as unto carnal. It is here Paul speaks of two stage of Christian life, two different classes of Christians. He says I can speak to you as spiritual, but as unto carnal, mere infants in Christ.
How do we discern if are still infants and carnal, or spiritual and mature? That is what I pray the Holy Spirit will reveal to all of us, and if we are found to still be infants and carnal, we will desire to truly grow in the life of the Holy Spirit now while we still have time.
Paul writes, verse 2, "I fed you with milk, and not with meat, for up this time you were not able to bear it (eat it) neither are you now able, for you are still carnal." Then he gives us the proof and evidence that marks the carnal life:
Verse 3: For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?
Verse 4: For while one saith, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are ye not carnal?
Beloved 4 times in three verses Paul uses the word carnal. Paul receives the "wisdom of God through the Holy Spirit" of the true spiritual condition of the church here at Corinth. This church was one of the most Holy Spirit filled churches concerning the gifts of the spirit in operation. In Chapters 12-14 Paul speaks about tongues, gifts, and their holy gatherings and the Spirit's operation amongst them.
Yet these same gifted Holy Spirit believers operating in great power had as their Christian life and character of mere infants in Christ. Oh this is so, in the church of the Lord today in our nation as well, even perhaps in our own lives.
How God uses you, or how much of his gifts operate in your life is not a sign of spiritual maturity. Gifts are just what they are called, gifts! They are from God given to you use, but they are not a mark of maturity.
Here is an example of this: A man buys a brand new Corvette for his 16 year old son. His son is grateful for the gift and he gives all his friends a ride home every day so they don't have to walk. He even takes his mom shopping in it, but when He is alone on back roads he pushes the car up to 110 mph. One day while driving 100 a police does radar on him and he gets arrested for wreck-less driving and his license removed.
Though this young man used his car as a gift to give other people rides, when he was alone his character was lacking of maturity. If he were mature he would never had taken the car to that speed knowing he could injure himself or others, but his immaturity had him to act one way when he was with people and then another alone.
The young man's apprehending by the police was God's love to show him his real spiritual and mental state and where he was in his maturity. This is what the Apostle Paul is saying to the church at Corinth.
Beloved's are we mature to use the Corvette with the mature heart that shows we have the character along with the gift of the car, or do we act like the young 16 year old when getting a taste of freedom away from everyone, does as he wants in his heart to do, his own will!
In our Christian walk we can find ourselves in two different stages of growth, carnal or spiritual. So many Christians have lived many years as believers, and yet have remained spiritual babes in Christ. Others grow into full grown sons, spiritual mature men and women of God.
The mature ones of the Lord have given their lives full over to the Lord, to His will. They understand and embrace His power of the Holy Spirit in them to do that work. They have given themselves up to His power working the spiritual life in them and have surrendered their lives into His hands fully. Let us contrast the marking of the mature with the markings of carnal "infant" stages of spiritual growth
The markings of the mature ones in Christ are the following:
1. They are living their lives entirely dependent upon the power of the Holy Spirit to lead them, guide them, speak through them, give them His thoughts and desires.
2. They know that God has given them the Holy Spirit power to will it in their lives to live a life of complete obedience to Christ in everything. They are full of the Spirit and full of faith.
3. They also have received His power to do it in them. The fruit of their live demonstrate the beauty of His Holiness. They are living each moment dependent upon God in true faith and love.
4. They bear the fruit of the Spirit of God in everything they do and say, and His righteousness, peace and joy are seen in them no matter whether they abase or abound, suffer or blessed, the life and character of Jesus flows through them.
5. It is evident they are not their own, they have purchased with a price. They are in the world, but not of the world. The power of God is seen not only working through them to others, but in them in divine fruit that drips with the love of God.
6. They are ready for the Masters use to pour out their lives as broken bread and poured out wine for Him and His people. They are willing to die for Christ and have been crucified with Christ, yet they live! They are true living sacrifices first to God and then given to God's people to bring them to him and make them disciples of the Lord.
The marking of the carnal (infant) life are the following:
Let us contrast that life with a life of a spiritual infant in Christ.
1.The first mark is : It is a life of prolonged infancy in character. This means day after day, week after week, month after month, or year after year, there is little to no spiritual growth in their character reflecting the character of Jesus.
They are saved, they believe God forgave their sins, they begin to work for God and even do a ministry, but there is little growth spiritually bringing forth evidence of the true fruit of the Spirit of God. Little to none of the total surrender to God, His will fully in their lives is evident.
They are content with being saved and living for their own will everyday. They may even be faithful workers in the church or ministry, but the evidence of a complete and obedient life to Christ and His will, displaying His Character are not seen.
The beauty of His holiness is not seen upon them or within them. They still have a disposition that has not been changed by Christ love. By the time they should be teachers, they still need the very foundation of Christ laid in their hearts to grow as a believer.
2. The second mark is :A carnal or infant Christian cannot help himself, but is always occupied keeping others serving them. In an infant life, even a toddlers life, their needs scream to their parents. Feed me, change me, give me my toy, hold me until I fall a sleep and that is expected of a new born or infant and toddler.
But if they were to stay in that state and be 4-5 years old, or a teenager or an adult, what you thought was cute at 6 months would now be a deadly disease in that child because they can't grow up into maturity because there is something physically wrong with them.
It is the same thing in the spiritual life. Something is spiritually wrong with their growth because people have to tend to them continually as "mere babes in the faith." God made us to grow because we should be able to minister to God's need first, be poured out for men's needs and are needs are not even spoken of or pursued.
God made man to care for others, but a baby was made to be cared for and helped. So Christians in this stage of growth are always needed to be helped. Even after walking 10-20 years of professing their walk with Christ. They often go to conferences, gatherings, services, prayer meetings, always wanting to be helped. They are mere infants in Christ.
3. The third mark is: He can do nothing to help his fellow man as a living sacrifice of Christ. Since we are a body of Christ each individual part to supply what the other needs, the infant never develops His spiritual life to be able to give what God has made them to be to others.
They are always needing to receive and not give. They come to meetings always to get something from God, and not truly able to give anything back to God or his fellow man. The babe in Christ can not see others needs and have anything to offer others because they are consumed with their self life.
A baby crying in the middle of a restaurant disturbing others can not apprehend they are doing that, they just want to get out of their high chair and are not concerned about anyone or anything else but their own need. This is what an "infant life is in Christ" They seek God only to come and help them, fill them, answer their prayers for their own need.
This is quite acceptable to God when we first come to know Him. Just like a mom accepts the babies cry to be fed and drops everything she is doing to feed them, so the Lord does that for us, but he like the mom doesn't expect that infant to be fed like that when the child is 20 years old.
4. The fourth mark: The carnal and infant life is marked by continued sin and failure. Paul writes, there is still strife, division, and jealousy amongst you. You act like mere unchanged men who the flesh predominates as mere infants in Christ. In Galatians 5:18-22 we are told what the works of the flesh are:
"The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."
How often in our churches, mission works or in just laboring together, do we see these fruits manifested in life of Christian workers? When we give in to temper, gossip, division, accusations and criticisms, and judgments of others, what fruit are we producing? Is this life of the spiritual mature? Paul says it is not! Why is the fruit of pure holy love not seen even in Christian work or in churches that stops the manifest the glory of God from coming?
In the carnal or infant state of growth, you may see the disposition you have, your continued failures on how to change. You may pray and fast for God to change you. You see the ugly fruit of the self life and it abhors you to see it. You cry out earnestly to change, but you don't and you can't, so many give up and stay their in those sins. Why is that beloved of the Lord?
How much worldliness, competition exist between ministers and churches, how much pride is rooted in what "we or our church does for God" that makes itself look better than others? How much pride that says, "why am I not an elder?
"Why didn't the Pastor pick me, I have been here longer and been more faithful? Why so many church splits? Why so many broken relationship in the Body of Christ? Why so much division over "right doctrine"interpreted by men and not by God? All because we have chosen to remain infants.
So how do we get out of this infancy or carnality to grow into spiritual maturity? If any man be my disciple let him "deny himself" pick up his cross and follow me. Paul writes, "I have been crucifed with Christ nevertheless I live, but not I, but Christ lives in me.
Beloved it is not enough to see the fruit of a carnal infant life, but we must identify the root cause of it. The root cause is our self life. A life of living for own needs and desires in everything. I know often times I cried out to God to remove some areas of my life not pleasing to God in my character only to see them remain and remain. Have you had that same experience?
The reason those sins and flaws remain is that in my heart somewhere I wanted the "ugly" things out of me, while I could keep the rest of the good things of my self life for me. I could keep eating anything I wanted and over eat and indulge in 3 plates of spaghetti with no consciousness of the sin of gluttony.
I could think things about people in my mind, never say them, but beat them up of what they had done to me, with never truly forgiving them. As long as I didn't say what I thought I was OK in my mind.
I was impatient with drivers and thought and spoke not nice things about them, but that was OK for me to do, because I was "right." They were wrong in the way they were driving so I could be justified in saying and thinking things about them that were not the Kingdom of God or His love.
To truly get out of the carnal life, I would encourage you to read Romans 7 well. Read it slow and ask the Holy Spirit to make the truth of the self life and carnal life as presented real in you and through you. The way out of the carnal into the spiritual is to experience: "Oh wretched man that I am, who can save my body from this shackle of death."Romans 7:24
Paul writes in 21 -23: Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good.
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Beloved we must have this revelation in us that cries out for true deliverance, "who can save my body from these shackles of death?
Until we are truly ready to crucify the "self-life" entirely we can never grow and be free.
Beloved, you say I tried to do it, but keep failing. I know it well myself, Romans 7 is not a cry for us to do it. It is a cry that WE CAN NOT NOW OR EVER PUT THE SELF LIFE TO DEATH IN OUR OWN POWER OR STRENGTH. WE NEED JESUS! WE NEED THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO FREE US FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH!
Will you not at once, fall upon your face like Isaiah and say, I am undone? Will you beloved readers understand we can never do it and change ourselves, only GOD CAN DO IT IN US? Will we fall upon our face in simple child-like faith and say,"Lord not I, but Christ works in me?
Can you believe that the law of the Spirit of life has set us free from sinning ever again, and the same Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is alive in you to bring you that freedom from the self life now and forever?
Can we dare believe today in the power of the Holy Spirit to do this in us. Can we declare what is impossible with man is possible with God?
Hear God's promise blessed reader? 3 For it is God who worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Look at what God has done for us in sending us the Holy Spirit. He came to work in us, both to will the death of our self life once and for all, and to do it in us for His good pleasure.
Now you can begin to understand the power of God who spoke to Zachariah and said, "So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty. Zachariah 4:6
Can we dare believe Jesus has won this complete victory over our self life and carnal life so we can grow into spiritual maturity? Here God's word to you and His promise: Romans 8:3
For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice].
Let us at once accept this sacrifice of Jesus complete victory over our carnal infant life and over the power of sin ruling us. Let us in simple faith trust in His power and ability to do it in us. Let's pray
Heavenly Father, Oh God I have nothing! I am that wretched man. Who will save my body from these shackles of death? Who will set me free from my self life and my carnality? Oh thank God you will.
Father, I trust in the work of your Son Jesus Christ who died for me and now sets me free from the power of sin and death in my life. I accept your sacrifice and I now ask you to fill me with the power of your Holy Spirit.
Holy Spirit I trust you. You are the one that raised Jesus from the dead, work in me now as you have been sent to. I can not now or ever crucify my self life. I surrender to your power to work the "will to do it" in me, and I accept your power now 'to do it in me" for your good pleasure.
I can't do it, Lord I am empty and powerless and helpless, but I trust you now to do it in me. I don't have to see it, feel it or anything else. I just accept it as done in me by faith in you and your words. Thank you for now making the evidence real in my life and I trust you to cause me to grow to full grown maturity in Christ. In Jesus name.
No comments:
Post a Comment