Babes in Christ

1 Corinthians 3:1-4

Paul spent his ministry trying to elevate the believer into a knowledge of who they were in Christ. When he tells the Philippian church to, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” (Philippians 2:5, 6), he was prompting them to think of themselves as Jesus thought of Himself. It is a seemingly endless task to try and bring believers to this place, due to the conflicting reports that the enemy is sending into their minds.

When Paul dealt with the Corinthian church, he was dealing with a people who were saved in the midst of the most hedonistic city in the world. Within this church, Paul had to deal with incest (5:1), legal disputes (6:1), prostitution (6:16) and drunkenness (11:21), and all of this from the believers! When he refers to them, he does not call them sinners or backsliders, but rather he says that they are “carnal”, “babes in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1).

The word “carnal” in Greek means “fleshly” or “governed by the human nature”. Every believer wishes to be governed by the “divine nature” which Peter spoke that we have (2 Peter 1:4), but oftentimes we find ourselves doing some of the same things that we did when we were unbelievers. Paul not only called this carnal but also said, “are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” (verse 3).

Paul felt that when a believer lives with strife and divisions (or any other sin), he is walking beneath their status as children of God. Rather than being “spiritual”, they are being carnal (verse 1). He repeats the thought in Ephesians when he says, “Walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind” (Ephesians 4:17). For Paul to see believers living in the manner of sinners, it was not a warning that they were going to suddenly becomes sinners again, but that they were so spiritually immature that they could handle nothing more of the things of God than the milk.

He compares the carnal believer to a sinner, living after their human impulses; and to their development as babies, unable to swallow solid food. Many times in the church, we preachers must go back over the most elementary of foundations for believers because so many of them are unable to go much deeper into the word, due to a Christian life spent in carnality. They are not thinking like believers, thus they are not living like believers.

To experience spiritual growth, and live spiritual and not carnal, you must feed on the Lord Jesus Christ every day. This is more than just reading the Bible. Many people read their Bible and feed on the cold stone of the law, finding no hope in it. Feast on Christ and His finished work and let the living water and the daily bread feed your soul. Concentrate on what Christ did for you, taking your sin and giving you His righteousness. See yourself as forgiven and accepted, and as you begin to believe it, you will see it live out in your life.

You are not carnal, you are spiritual. Walk as mature saints not babes in Christ. Go in Him and grow in Him in Jesus’ lovely name.

New Food for the New Place

Joshua 5:11, 12

Every day of a believer’s life, they are to find their spiritual nourishment in the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. When the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan and entered the land of Canaan, they “did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the Passover” (Joshua 5:11). The “old corn” was the standing corn in Canaan, while the manna that they had grown accustomed to “ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more” (verse 12). Once they had food readily available, there was no need for the heavenly manna to continue to fall.

The difference between the old corn and the manna is a type of two periods in the life of Christ. The manna is representative of Jesus giving His flesh for mankind. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). This points to Christ’s life on earth, better called a “wilderness experience”. The manna was a necessity in the wilderness, but the believer is no longer a wanderer.

This is why the old corn represents something greater. You and I are eating from the standing corn, that which is a finished work. Food that befits our new place can be comprehended not in the lifestyle of Jesus, but in the final period of His life, His resurrection. “For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you” (2 Corinthians 13:4).

As recipients of the New Covenant, you and I have new food for a new place. The old corn is Christ as risen and glorified of the Father, seated forever at God’s right hand. There is no need for a new revelation every day of our lives, though it is good to eat every day. Christ’s finished work is complete and the believer need only rest in it each day.

The Apostle Paul spoke of people in the church as being at different levels in their ability to consume spiritual food. He said that some were drinking “milk” when they ought to be eating “meat”. The manna would be considered the “milk”. In these individuals, they need something emotional and enormous everyday in order to function. There is a lack of spiritual development in them, and there is very little rest.

Other saints, of whom I hope you claim to be, are eating the “meat” of the covenant. They comprehend Christ’s finished work and revel in the power of the resurrected life. They do not need an emotional experience each and every day, for they rest even in the midst of storms.

You are in a new place today believer, so consume a new food. Knowing what Jesus would do in a situation is helpful, but there is more to living this life than knowing Jesus’ actions. Swallow by faith the meat of His resurrection, and let His life-giving power carry you as you grow in Him.

Spiritual Heartburn

Luke 24:32

On the day of Christ’s resurrection, He appeared to two disciples while they walked the 7 miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Their eyes were withheld by God from knowing who Jesus was (Luke 24:16), so they spoke to Him as if He were any ordinary stranger making the journey. As they told Him of the events of the past three days, they revealed their doubts about the rumors of resurrection that they had heard and they appeared as if they were ready to abandon all hope. Christ speaks to them, and in doing so, shows each of us how we too can see Him now that He is alive forevermore.

Jesus could have simply revealed themselves to Him by speaking to them as old friends and by showing them His hands and His feet, but this gives you and me no help in having our own personal revelation of Jesus Christ. To reveal Himself, He begins at Moses and all the prophets and “He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). This means that Jesus opened the Old Testament up to them as a way of finding Christ. Hidden in the codes of the Law and the symbolism of the Tabernacle and the prose of the Psalms was the Savior of the world.

If this is how Jesus preached in a post-resurrection world, perhaps we should take note! He ministered of Himself in all of the Old Testament, giving us a preaching template. We should shine the light on the hidden mysteries of the Bible, finding Jesus in every possible place. This journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus would have taken several hours by foot, so one can imagine all of the fascinating things that Jesus brought out of the scriptures in this amount of time.

Still blind to the fact that they were walking and talking with Jesus Himself, the two disciples beg Him to abide with them for dinner. They do not ask because they think He is Jesus; they are not yet aware of this, but they desire to be around Him because He has revealed Christ to them through the scriptures. This method of winning men still works. Show men Jesus in the Bible and they will want to be around you; saints and sinners alike. People love to have Christ revealed to them when He is “altogether lovely” (Song of Solomon 5:16).

As soon as Jesus breaks bread with them “their eyes were opened, and they knew Him” (Luke 24:31). When Jesus body is broken before our spiritual eyes, they are opened to great revelations of His love and grace. As we present a crucified Jesus; broken for the sins and sicknesses of man, we provide people with the opportunity for powerful revelations of Jesus Christ. When we feast on this type of bread (revelation) we too will say as these disciples, “Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32)

Spiritual heartburn is the only kind of heartburn that you never want to get rid of! When you eat of His grace and glory, your heart burns with the warmth of His love for you. As you feast on the crucified Lamb, your spirit man longs for more and more of His saving knowledge. This is a longing that is the ultimate paradox in the universe: it provides you with absolute satisfaction while never leaving you satisfied.

As you feast on His goodness today, see Jesus in every little corner of your life. Notice the burn down in your heart as you have fresh revelations of His love and favor. Savor this moment, for Jesus paid a great price for that burn.

The Carnal Mind vs. the Spiritual Mind

Romans 8:6

To be of a carnal mind brings on death; while life and peace are found in being spiritually minded. In light of the end results that each mindset brings, it would be a wise thing to understand what it means to be carnally minded and to be spiritually minded.

Carnality is often viewed as things that are sinful. People declare certain movies or music to be carnal or dressing inappropriately or cursing to be things of a “carnal nature”. If this definition is correct then carnal minded must be sinful thinking. What would constitute sinful thinking? That is a little tougher to answer than it is to ask. Thank God the Bible tells us what carnality is so that all of this is cleared up.

Paul addressed the church at Corinth with some heavy instruction due to some of the things that they were doing. This church had an incestuous fornicator in their midst (5:1); they were getting drunk on communion wine (11:21); they were suing one another in court (6:1); they were sleeping with temple harlots (6:16) and they were abusing the gifts of the Spirit in worship services (chapter 14). In light of all of this, Paul never evoked the power of the Law to get them to live right, but rather reminded them of their righteousness in Christ and said, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not” (1 Corinthians 15:34).

Before any of these other things were mentioned, Paul called the Corinthian church “carnal”, but it was for none of these sins that he referred to them this way. Their carnality was wrapped up in their identification. “For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” (1 Corinthians 3:4). It was for identifying themselves through any other means than as God’s righteousness that Paul called them carnal. He never said it over their lawsuits, their fornication or their drunkenness, but he said it over their divisions.

For the believer to see themselves through any other lens than the finished work of Jesus Christ is to be carnally minded. To face your trials and troubles and your sins and failures as if the cross never happened is to be carnally minded. To lean upon the arm of the flesh, trusting in your reading, praying, fasting, giving and going to bring you life and peace is to be carnally minded. Carnal minded Christians are never at peace, because they never have a sense of fulfillment that is found only through the cross of Christ.

To think with a carnal mind is to ignore the finished work of Jesus and place yourself under the judgment of God. This way of thinking is an enemy of God (Romans 8:7), incapable of producing righteousness. To walk in this way of thinking is to live according to your talents and abilities, with little or no regard as to who you really are in Christ. It is impossible to be pleasing to God in this state, and you will see no “life and peace”.

This does not mean that you are backslidden from God and that you are going to go to hell because you have leaned on the arm of the flesh. You do not lose relationship with God, even though you go about your Christian walk by your works. You DO however hinder fellowship with God when you trust your works for righteousness. He loves you just the same, but thinking that you have to earn His love will only lead to frustration and separation, neither of which are God’s will for your life. Jesus has paid for you to have no condemnation. Think this way and live in life and peace!

New Food for the New Place

Joshua 5:11, 12

Every day of a believer’s life, they are to find their spiritual nourishment in the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. When the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan and entered the land of Canaan, they “did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the Passover” (Joshua 5:11). The “old corn” was the standing corn in Canaan, while the manna that they had grown accustomed to “ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more” (verse 12). Once they had food readily available, there was no need for the heavenly manna to continue to fall.

The difference between the old corn and the manna is a type of two periods in the life of Christ. The manna is representative of Jesus giving His flesh for mankind. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). This points to Christ’s life on earth, better called a “wilderness experience”. The manna was a necessity in the wilderness, but the believer is no longer a wanderer.

This is why the old corn represents something greater. You and I are eating from the standing corn, that which is a finished work. Food that befits our new place can be comprehended not in the lifestyle of Jesus, but in the final period of His life, His resurrection. “For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you” (2 Corinthians 13:4).

As recipients of the New Covenant, you and I have new food for a new place. The old corn is Christ as risen and glorified of the Father, seated forever at God’s right hand. There is no need for a new revelation every day of our lives, though it is good to eat every day. Christ’s finished work is complete and the believer need only rest in it each day.

The Apostle Paul spoke of people in the church as being at different levels in their ability to consume spiritual food. He said that some were drinking “milk” when they ought to be eating “meat”. The manna would be considered the “milk”. In these individuals, they need something emotional and enormous everyday in order to function. There is a lack of spiritual development in them, and there is very little rest.

Other saints, of whom I hope you claim to be, are eating the “meat” of the covenant. They comprehend Christ’s finished work and revel in the power of the resurrected life. They do not need an emotional experience each and every day, for they rest even in the midst of storms.

You are in a new place today believer, so consume a new food. Knowing what Jesus would do in a situation is helpful, but there is more to living this life than knowing Jesus’ actions. Swallow by faith the meat of His resurrection, and let His life-giving power carry you as you grow in Him.

Spiritual Heartburn

Luke 24:32

On the day of Christ’s resurrection, He appeared to two disciples while they walked the 7 miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Their eyes were withheld by God from knowing who Jesus was (Luke 24:16), so they spoke to Him as if He were any ordinary stranger making the journey. As they told Him of the events of the past three days, they revealed their doubts about the rumors of resurrection that they had heard and they appeared as if they were ready to abandon all hope. Christ speaks to them, and in doing so, shows each of us how we too can see Him now that He is alive forevermore.

Jesus could have simply revealed themselves to Him by speaking to them as old friends and by showing them His hands and His feet, but this gives you and me no help in having our own personal revelation of Jesus Christ. To reveal Himself, He begins at Moses and all the prophets and “He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). This means that Jesus opened the Old Testament up to them as a way of finding Christ. Hidden in the codes of the Law and the symbolism of the Tabernacle and the prose of the Psalms was the Savior of the world.

If this is how Jesus preached in a post-resurrection world, perhaps we should take note! He ministered of Himself in all of the Old Testament, giving us a preaching template. We should shine the light on the hidden mysteries of the Bible, finding Jesus in every possible place. This journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus would have taken several hours by foot, so one can imagine all of the fascinating things that Jesus brought out of the scriptures in this amount of time.

Still blind to the fact that they were walking and talking with Jesus Himself, the two disciples beg Him to abide with them for dinner. They do not ask because they think He is Jesus; they are not yet aware of this, but they desire to be around Him because He has revealed Christ to them through the scriptures. This method of winning men still works. Show men Jesus in the Bible and they will want to be around you; saints and sinners alike. People love to have Christ revealed to them when He is “altogether lovely” (Song of Solomon 5:16).

As soon as Jesus breaks bread with them “their eyes were opened, and they knew Him” (Luke 24:31). When Jesus body is broken before our spiritual eyes, they are opened to great revelations of His love and grace. As we present a crucified Jesus; broken for the sins and sicknesses of man, we provide people with the opportunity for powerful revelations of Jesus Christ. When we feast on this type of bread (revelation) we too will say as these disciples, “Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32)

Spiritual heartburn is the only kind of heartburn that you never want to get rid of! When you eat of His grace and glory, your heart burns with the warmth of His love for you. As you feast on the crucified Lamb, your spirit man longs for more and more of His saving knowledge. This is a longing that is the ultimate paradox in the universe: it provides you with absolute satisfaction while never leaving you satisfied.

As you feast on His goodness today, see Jesus in every little corner of your life. Notice the burn down in your heart as you have fresh revelations of His love and favor. Savor this moment, for Jesus paid a great price for that burn.

The Carnal Mind vs. the Spiritual Mind

Romans 8:6

To be of a carnal mind brings on death; while life and peace are found in being spiritually minded. In light of the end results that each mindset brings, it would be a wise thing to understand what it means to be carnally minded and to be spiritually minded.

Carnality is often viewed as things that are sinful. People declare certain movies or music to be carnal or dressing inappropriately or cursing to be things of a “carnal nature”. If this definition is correct then carnal minded must be sinful thinking. What would constitute sinful thinking? That is a little tougher to answer than it is to ask. Thank God the Bible tells us what carnality is so that all of this is cleared up.

Paul addressed the church at Corinth with some heavy instruction due to some of the things that they were doing. This church had an incestuous fornicator in their midst (5:1); they were getting drunk on communion wine (11:21); they were suing one another in court (6:1); they were sleeping with temple harlots (6:16) and they were abusing the gifts of the Spirit in worship services (chapter 14). In light of all of this, Paul never evoked the power of the Law to get them to live right, but rather reminded them of their righteousness in Christ and said, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not” (1 Corinthians 15:34).

Before any of these other things were mentioned, Paul called the Corinthian church “carnal”, but it was for none of these sins that he referred to them this way. Their carnality was wrapped up in their identification. “For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?” (1 Corinthians 3:4). It was for identifying themselves through any other means than as God’s righteousness that Paul called them carnal. He never said it over their lawsuits, their fornication or their drunkenness, but he said it over their divisions.

For the believer to see themselves through any other lens than the finished work of Jesus Christ is to be carnally minded. To face your trials and troubles and your sins and failures as if the cross never happened is to be carnally minded. To lean upon the arm of the flesh, trusting in your reading, praying, fasting, giving and going to bring you life and peace is to be carnally minded. Carnal minded Christians are never at peace, because they never have a sense of fulfillment that is found only through the cross of Christ.

To think with a carnal mind is to ignore the finished work of Jesus and place yourself under the judgment of God. This way of thinking is an enemy of God (Romans 8:7), incapable of producing righteousness. To walk in this way of thinking is to live according to your talents and abilities, with little or no regard as to who you really are in Christ. It is impossible to be pleasing to God in this state, and you will see no “life and peace”.

This does not mean that you are backslidden from God and that you are going to go to hell because you have leaned on the arm of the flesh. You do not lose relationship with God, even though you go about your Christian walk by your works. You DO however hinder fellowship with God when you trust your works for righteousness. He loves you just the same, but thinking that you have to earn His love will only lead to frustration and separation, neither of which are God’s will for your life. Jesus has paid for you to have no condemnation. Think this way and live in life and peace!

Babes in Christ

1 Corinthians 3:1-4

Paul spent his ministry trying to elevate the believer into a knowledge of who they were in Christ. When he tells the Philippian church to, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God” (Philippians 2:5, 6), he was prompting them to think of themselves as Jesus thought of Himself. It is a seemingly endless task to try and bring believers to this place, due to the conflicting reports that the enemy is sending into their minds.

When Paul dealt with the Corinthian church, he was dealing with a people who were saved in the midst of the most hedonistic city in the world. Within this church, Paul had to deal with incest (5:1), legal disputes (6:1), prostitution (6:16) and drunkenness (11:21), and all of this from the believers! When he refers to them, he does not call them sinners or backsliders, but rather he says that they are “carnal”, “babes in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1).

The word “carnal” in Greek means “fleshly” or “governed by the human nature”. Every believer wishes to be governed by the “divine nature” which Peter spoke that we have (2 Peter 1:4), but oftentimes we find ourselves doing some of the same things that we did when we were unbelievers. Paul not only called this carnal but also said, “are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” (verse 3).

Paul felt that when a believer lives with strife and divisions (or any other sin), he is walking beneath their status as children of God. Rather than being “spiritual”, they are being carnal (verse 1). He repeats the thought in Ephesians when he says, “Walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind” (Ephesians 4:17). For Paul to see believers living in the manner of sinners, it was not a warning that they were going to suddenly becomes sinners again, but that they were so spiritually immature that they could handle nothing more of the things of God than the milk.

He compares the carnal believer to a sinner, living after their human impulses; and to their development as babies, unable to swallow solid food. Many times in the church, we preachers must go back over the most elementary of foundations for believers because so many of them are unable to go much deeper into the word, due to a Christian life spent in carnality. They are not thinking like believers, thus they are not living like believers.

To experience spiritual growth, and live spiritual and not carnal, you must feed on the Lord Jesus Christ every day. This is more than just reading the Bible. Many people read their Bible and feed on the cold stone of the law, finding no hope in it. Feast on Christ and His finished work and let the living water and the daily bread feed your soul. Concentrate on what Christ did for you, taking your sin and giving you His righteousness. See yourself as forgiven and accepted, and as you begin to believe it, you will see it live out in your life.

You are not carnal, you are spiritual. Walk as mature saints not babes in Christ. Go in Him and grow in Him in Jesus’ lovely name.

New Food for the New Place

Joshua 5:11, 12

Every day of a believer’s life, they are to find their spiritual nourishment in the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. When the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan and entered the land of Canaan, they “did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the Passover” (Joshua 5:11). The “old corn” was the standing corn in Canaan, while the manna that they had grown accustomed to “ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more” (verse 12). Once they had food readily available, there was no need for the heavenly manna to continue to fall.

The difference between the old corn and the manna is a type of two periods in the life of Christ. The manna is representative of Jesus giving His flesh for mankind. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). This points to Christ’s life on earth, better called a “wilderness experience”. The manna was a necessity in the wilderness, but the believer is no longer a wanderer.

This is why the old corn represents something greater. You and I are eating from the standing corn, that which is a finished work. Food that befits our new place can be comprehended not in the lifestyle of Jesus, but in the final period of His life, His resurrection. “For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you” (2 Corinthians 13:4).

As recipients of the New Covenant, you and I have new food for a new place. The old corn is Christ as risen and glorified of the Father, seated forever at God’s right hand. There is no need for a new revelation every day of our lives, though it is good to eat every day. Christ’s finished work is complete and the believer need only rest in it each day.

The Apostle Paul spoke of people in the church as being at different levels in their ability to consume spiritual food. He said that some were drinking “milk” when they ought to be eating “meat”. The manna would be considered the “milk”. In these individuals, they need something emotional and enormous everyday in order to function. There is a lack of spiritual development in them, and there is very little rest.

Other saints, of whom I hope you claim to be, are eating the “meat” of the covenant. They comprehend Christ’s finished work and revel in the power of the resurrected life. They do not need an emotional experience each and every day, for they rest even in the midst of storms.

You are in a new place today believer, so consume a new food. Knowing what Jesus would do in a situation is helpful, but there is more to living this life than knowing Jesus’ actions. Swallow by faith the meat of His resurrection, and let His life-giving power carry you as you grow in Him.