The Dangers of Being a Carnal Christian
1 Corinthians: Order in the Church • Sermon • Submitted
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A carnal minded church is a divided church
Paul continues his attack on the divisions within Corinth
Chapter 1 - we see division because of man worship
Chapter 2- There was division because of a misunderstanding regarding the gospel
All of this, Paul shows us, is because the Corinthians placed emphasis on human wisdom over God’s
Chapter three Paul introduces...
3 Types of People
3 Types of People
Natural Man
Unsaved person
1 Cor. 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Spiritual Man
Saved person
1 Cor. 2:15 “But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.”
Carnal man
The worldly Christian
See our text
The Three Dangers of Being a Carnal Christian
This lesson offers some practical advice on recognizing and avoiding these dangers!
The first danger is...
The Danger of Immaturity vv. 1-2
The Danger of Immaturity vv. 1-2
Make no mistake, a carnal Christian is an immature Christian!
There is a sharp contrast between a carnal Christian and a spiritual one
The term spiritual Christians = mature or maturing Christian
The term carnal Christian = fleshly or worldly Christian
This believer, while still a believer, is immature or a “babe in Christ” as Paul says
Those “babes in Christ” are unable to bear or understand the “Meat” that God would have Paul give them
Rather, they are still on the “spiritual bottle”
These Christians at Corinth were still on the milk of the bottle!
How many believers in churches today are spiritual babies?
There are Different Types of Carnal Christians:
There are Different Types of Carnal Christians:
The one that comes to church and hears the Bible, but never reads or studies on their own.
The one that reads the Bible daily, but feels no need or desire to come to church.
The one who comes to church, reads their Bible, but they live like the world!
I have another name for Carnal Christians: Camouflage Christians. They blend into the world around them!
God has called us to stand out from the world! To be different!
First danger of being a carnal believer: The danger of immaturity. Second danger...
The Danger of Instability vv. 3-5
The Danger of Instability vv. 3-5
Look at the accusation:
“For ye are yet carnal”
The tense of the verb is even stronger: “Even yet, still are ye carnal”
Wow!
How many of God’s people are happy with simply being saved, when God desires so much more from us!
We’re still in the portion dealing with divisions within the church, Paul was showing them that their carnality was one of the main causes of their division.
Notice the Three Ways Carnality Leads to Instability:
Notice the Three Ways Carnality Leads to Instability:
Envying - desiring something another has
(Just wait until we get to chapters 12-14!)
Spiritually mature believers are content with what they have
Strife - quarreling, fighting among themselves (what a shame when a church acts this way)
Divisions - here the word means disunion (verse 4)
There is the danger of immaturity, the danger of instability, and lastly
The Danger of Missing the Increase vv. 5-9
The Danger of Missing the Increase vv. 5-9
Divisions in Corinth caused them to miss the bigger picture
They had elevated certain teachers to a position they did not deserve
This led to envy and strife within the church
These last verses are basically Paul saying, “HEY! You got it all wrong!”
But Who is the Better Teacher?
But Who is the Better Teacher?
No one!
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
Paul, Apollos, Peter…they were only ministers God sent to share the gospel in Corinth!
Paul takes no special credit for anything, look at 1 Cor. 3:6
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
Paul, the missionary evangelist first preached the gospel and planted the church.
Apollos came later and merely watered the seed planted by Paul
It was God who blessed the faithfulness of His ministers!
God is not calling you to be the next Apostle Paul, He is simply calling you to be faithful right here, right now!
Don’t Miss This!
Don’t Miss This!
The last three verses Paul teaches a very simple truth we need to learn today:
We are all in this together!
God has equipped us each with unique and gifts and abilities to accomplish His purpose!
Verse 5 teaches that no one is better than anyone else
Verse 7 reminds us that God is the only one who can accomplish anything
Verse 8 All Christians are on the same team, working for the same cause, yet we will all be rewarded as individuals concerning how well we have done our part!
Verses 9 drives the nail home!
For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
Remember:
Remember:
It wasn’t Paul or Apollos acting on their own, they were doing the work of God
The Corinthian church was not their because of Paul’s preaching or Apollos’ teaching, but because of the faithfulness of these two men!
How Can we Avoid the Danger of Carnality?
How Can we Avoid the Danger of Carnality?
To avoid this danger we must ensure we are:
Growing in Christ.
We must move on from spiritual milk to meat (and potatoes!)
A believer who has been saved for 30 years and boats of being a babe in Christ, is not a babe, but a dwarf!
Focus on stability.
A Church that is divided is a carnal church
A divided church is an unstable church
Realize we all have a part in God’s plan.
This is not a one-man show, we’re all in this together
We all have our part to play, its a good idea we play our part and trust God for the results!