Carnal Christians

"But I, brothers, could not address you as a spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,  for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?" 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

Have you ever heard the term "Carnal Christian?" It, basically, refers to a Christian who sins. Given the fact that everybody sins, Christian or otherwise, this doesn't seem to be that big a deal, much less needing to create an identity out of it. However, some will say that "the key thing to understand is that while a Christian can be, for a time, carnal, a true Christian will not remain carnal for a lifetime." This gives the impression that Christians can eventually reach a point of sinlessness. This is absurd, to say the least, but it misses out on something else completely. This term seems to be only directed at somebody who is indulging their flesh. As Galatians 5:19-21 puts it, "The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like." Nobody disagrees that these are sinful and should be avoided. However, I believe a "Carnal Christian" is something totally different. There are also "Carnal Christians" who focus on their flesh by spending their entire lives trying to restrain themselves from sinning. Whether you are indulging the flesh through the commission of sin or trying to restrain the flesh through a lifestyle of obedience and repentance to laws designed to modify your behavior, you are still being carnal. The Bible tells us that, "The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so (Romans 8:7)." Is your mind not "governed by the flesh" if it is focused on restraining it? Of course, it is. Now, don't get me wrong, sin is terrible and should be avoided at all costs, but focusing on ways to modify your behavior is not going to achieve that which people believe it will in the battle against sin. The Bible is clear that "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law (1 Corinthians 15:56)" and "For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:14)." If you are trying to restrain your flesh through living a life under the law, you are only giving into the power of sin and allowing it to be your master! That doesn't sound like something designed to give you victory over sin, but rather to guarantee defeat and giving into carnality. In fact, the Apostle Paul said, "Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died (Romans 7:9)." Whatever law, rule, tenet, sacrament, ritual, or code you subject yourself to in order to achieve victory over sin, will only lead to more sin in your life.

Therefore, with that in mind, you can get a better picture of what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 3. One of the byproducts of living a life under the law is comparison. We often treat others the way in which we believe God is treating us. Therefore, if we are under the law and believe that we must overcome sin through obedience to it, then we will lord over each other trying to keep each other "accountable" to it. What does that lead to? It leads to jealousy and strife among each other because the only thing being focused on is behavior; i.e. the flesh. That is why he referred to them as infants in Christ. After all, isn't it infants that are constantly being instructed how to behave,  being condemned for disobedience, and disciplined by the consequences of their behavior? Are not infants the ones needing to have some form of law in their life because they aren't mature enough to know right from wrong? Is it not infants who are always quarreling with each other, fighting with each other, and telling on each other in an effort to get on the good side of their parents? And, finally, isn't it infants who need milk and not solid food? Infants are the ones that need outside influence to teach them how to live. It is only when a person is mature that they are able to live in such a way that they no longer need the constant influence of laws and are able to eat solid food. This is an example of the presence and influence of the Holy Spirit in a Christian's life. When a person is living in a trusting and dependent relationship with the Holy Spirit, the outside influence of laws are no longer necessary. This is why the Bible tells us that it is the grace of God that "teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age (Titus 2:11)." Grace is focusing on Jesus Christ and who you are in Him, what you have received as an inheritance of your faith, and resting in His finished work as the Holy Spirit teaches you to love others with the love you have received from God. That is why the Bible also says that "Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:10)." Love diminishes sin in your life. Love does not cause jealousy and strife among believers. Love focuses on the Spirit of God, not on the flesh. Love leads you to behave in a spiritual way, not a human way. Love sets you free, it doesn't enslave you. Love means God is your master, not sin. Love makes you spiritual, not carnal. Love focuses on Jesus, not on your flesh. Love focuses on grace, not on the law.

Come, take me deeper, Lord

"In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food (Hebrews 5:12)!"

It is a fact of life; if you don't know the basics and put them into practice you will not experience growth. If you don't know how to add, subtract, divide and multiply, how do you expect to do geometry, trigonometry or calculus? If you don't understand the fundamentals of a particular sport then how will you excel at playing that sport? The old adage, "You must learn to crawl before you can walk" applies here as well. There is no difference when it comes to the things of the Lord. Have you ever prayed for the Lord to "take you deeper" in your understanding of Him? Sometimes you may hear a Christian quote the scriptures when they say, "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33)." This is often used as encouragement to pursue a "deeper" understanding of the Lord. Although, instructions on how to do this or how to measure your progress are rarely given. A pastor once said, "How do we expect God to teach us the deeper things when we don't understand the things He has already revealed?" I have heard stories of pastors answering their own altar calls. I once read an account of a man who had been a Christian nearly 60 years and still thought God was holding a sin he committed decades ago against him. And there are countless stories of Christians who have lost the joy of their salvation because they feel God has abandoned them in some way or that God no longer loves them for one reason or another. Therefore, they suffer in silence; afraid to tell anyone their struggles. Often times the decisions they make in life are a byproduct of this lack of understanding and their struggles are compounded. Unfortunately, they cannot go to their churches or other Christians because it is through them that they learned these beliefs in the first place.  I truly believe that these issues can be traced back to a person not knowing or not understanding the basics of the Christian faith.

The basics of the faith start with an understanding of the Gospel. How many Christians can answer the question, "What is the Gospel?" To put it more directly, how many Christians can define what the problem is between man and God (Hint: it is not sin.) Why is Jesus Christ the only means of salvation? What is the true meaning of the death of Jesus Christ? What is the importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ? I have told this story before, but it bears repeating. I once asked a Christian friend of mine, "Can you explain to me what the Gospel is?" I did not ask it to make them feel bad or exalt myself in some way. This person was struggling with their faith and I wanted to try and get to the root of the problem. When they attempted to answer me all they could muster was a shrug of the shoulders as if to say, "I don't know." Therefore, I asked them, "If you do not know what the Gospel is, what did you accept to become a Christian?" Also, "What do you proclaim to others?" I know of a story where a person responded to that question by saying, "It [the Gospel] is something in your heart that you can't put into words." The person asking the question responded with, "It makes you wonder how it ever got out of Jerusalem." So as not to leave you hanging, in short, the Gospel is sin, death, forgiveness and the restoration of life. Adam sinned and God removed His life from Adam. Therefore Adam died spiritually. All mankind is born in the image of Adam; physically alive to the world, but spiritually dead to God. Jesus, God in the flesh, was the only man with a life to give that would satisfy God as payment for our sins. Therefore, God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, can offer His life as a free gift to all who accept Jesus Christ by faith. That life is an eternal life because there is no sin that can cause God to remove His life again because of the eternal forgiveness available through the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross. Those, in a nutshell, are the basics of the Christian faith. Many people claim to believe them, but because of other things they believe in addition to that, their growth is stunted and they remain babies in Christ most of their lives; needing spiritual milk (the basics) instead of being able to eat solid food and go deeper in their relationship with the Lord.