Baby Talk

If you would, I’d like you to
turn back again this morning, if you can find it, to 1 Corinthians. And as you’re doing that, 1 Corinthians,
I’ll take a moment to thank you for your patience as we had a
little bit of a hiatus from this study in Corinthians. Of course,
this goes all the way back to December. We had Christmas and
New Year to attend to with special messages for both of those. And then we had several others
that provided me a couple of weeks break, both while I was
here and while I was away. And then I also took opportunity
to do what we now call a flyover through the Book of Titus. These
have become tremendously popular ways of revisiting books through
which I’ve preached in the past, but where it doesn’t require
a headlong, full-on commitment to revisiting and re-preaching
them. And then in concert with our
annual meeting and things pertaining to our annual meeting, we also
revisited some additional passages from which we’ve profited in
the past. And then finally, as we rounded
the corner into Resurrection Day, we felt compelled to fix
our attention on both the crucifixion and the resurrection. Quite a
break. 17 weeks in all we’ve been away
from Corinthians. And so now at long last, we want
to get back to this great epistle. The roots of the passage that
we’ll consider this morning, chapter 3, verses 1 through 4,
the roots go all the way back down into chapter 1. And so if
you would, please turn to chapter 1 and verse 10. This will have
to be a relatively brief review. That particular passage, 1 Corinthians
1.10, I told you was, is instrumental in my life because it cuts directly
against this idea that’s so overplayed, let’s agree to disagree, because
it calls us to step up and enjoy the opportunity
to dialogue and discuss and wrestle with doctrinal and theological
issues. There in chapter one, verse 10,
Paul really uses that to begin his address of the Corinthians
by admonishing them. If you’re there in chapter one,
verse 10, Paul just says, Now I exhort you, brethren, by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there
be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in
the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed
concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there
are quarrels among you. Now, I mean this, that each one
of you is saying, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I of
Cephas, and I of Christ. Well, the acknowledgement of
that news from Chloe, or better, from Chloe’s people, whether
her servants or her family members, the news had to have pained Paul
greatly. To think that this vital little
church, so young, the Corinthian church, which he had had the
privilege of establishing only a few years earlier, to think
that that church was now dividing and dividing in part over him,
it must have torn at his heart to hear this news. And so Paul
not only recognizes a threat, to the spirit-wrought unity of
that church, he immediately begins to counter that threat with several
different arguments. In verses 13 through 19 of chapter
1, he counters with the argument from baptism. It’s a simple argument. Just as there was only one Savior
and there is only one Christian baptism. How foolish the creation
of factions or the cultivation of factions or the participation
in factions around the idea of baptism. Who baptized who? There’s one Savior, one baptism. There cannot be multiple parties
within Christ’s church. Next, though, Paul moves to the
argument against divisions in the church with an argument from
wisdom. In verses 20 through 31 of chapter
1, his argument is overwhelming, even if it’s simple. In verses
20 and 21, Paul speaks of the humiliation of divine wisdom. And here they were seeking to
implement the wisdom of the world God’s wisdom withers the so-called
wisdom of the world because the wisdom of the world saves nobody. In verses 22 through 25, Paul
holds forth the power of divine wisdom. Christ crucified the
power and the wisdom of God. And then Paul moves quickly to
the proof of divine wisdom in verses 26 through 29. And it’s as if he says, look
around, take a look around you. God’s saving power in saving
sinners is all around you. And he says, consider your calling,
that there were not many wise, not many noble, but rather the
weak and the base and the despised things God has chosen. that God
alone should be glorified. And then finally, to close out
chapter two, Paul finishes with the graces of divine wisdom that
by his doing, that is by his sovereign hand, he has placed
us in Christ Jesus. where we find infinite supplies
of his grace, verse 30, of wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. No wonder he concludes this lengthy
discussion, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. In chapter
two, Paul begins to defend his own ministry. Since the division
there in Corinth centered in part around him with criticisms
of his ministry and a greater affinity for Apollos, Paul takes
a masterful approach to eliminating any grounds for division between
these two preachers of the gospel. There was no reason to divide
over them. Paul and Apollos were not in competition. In chapter
2 verses 1 through 5, Paul explains that his ministry was one of
spirit imparted words and divinely imparted wisdom, which ultimately
produced spirit enlightened minds. Paul, you will remember, is correcting
the Corinthians for their worldly attitude, which of which earthly
personality to follow, even creating little factions within the church. Those dissensions made it very
clear that their thinking was worldly. They did not get such
ideas from either Paul or Apollos. Instead, Paul and Apollos, as
I said, delivered spirit-empowered words in verses 1 through 5,
which provided divinely imparted wisdom, verses 6 through 11,
ultimately which resulted in spirit-enlightened minds, verses
12 through 16. And that brings us to chapter
3, where Paul is still addressing the same concerns expressed in
those first two chapters, the worldly divisions of the Corinthians. against the backdrop of the Spirit’s
work, the Spirit’s work of salvation through his servants, Paul and
Apollos. These teachers had a God-given
role, but it was not to cultivate a personal following. Instead, they were to preach
the gospel and watch God save lives. But the destructive nature
of the Corinthians’ behavior meant that Paul was going to
have to alter his approach. If you would, let’s read chapter
three. Chapter three, beginning in verse
one. And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual
men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave
you milk to drink, not solid food, for you are not yet able
to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not
able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and
strife among you, are you not fleshly? And are you not walking
like mere men? For when one says, I am of Paul,
and another, I am of Apollos, are you not mere men? What then
is Apollos, and what is Paul? servants, through whom you believed,
even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted a polis
water, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one
who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who causes
the growth. Now he who plants and he who
waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according
to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God,
which was given to me like a wise master builder, I laid a foundation
and another is building on it. But each man must be careful
how he builds on it, for no man can lay a foundation other than
the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man builds on the
foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
each man’s work will become evident, for the day will show it, because
it will be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test
the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has
built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s
work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be
saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are
a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy,
and that is what you are. Let no man deceive himself. If
any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must
become foolish so that he might become wise. For the wisdom of
this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, he is
the one who catches the wise in their craftiness. And again,
the Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.
So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you,
whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death
or things present or things to come, all things belong to you. And you belong to Christ and
Christ belongs to God. Paul picks up. on the strain
of his argument begun all the way back in chapter 1, verse
10, and he refreshes and reinvigorates that argument in chapter 2, as
we’ve seen, that the division in the party spirit in which
the Corinthians were engaged was a dangerous and disappointing
sign. Paul and Apollos were servants,
nothing more. But in their immaturity, the
Corinthians had elevated them and divided over them, forgetting
their God-ordained function as well as their own. The realization
for Paul changed everything. Paul would have to alter his
entire approach to this church. He would have to revert again
to the basics, the simple truths, in essence, children’s lessons. As we begin this morning in what
I’ve entitled Baby Talk, what we’re looking at is how spiritual
childishness hinders mature instruction. Spiritual childishness hinders
mature instruction. You can’t teach a child the way
that you would a group of adults. And Paul basically says that
the Corinthian church wasn’t behaving like adults and he couldn’t
teach them as such. And so he presents to us causes
of a simplified lesson plan that he had to essentially dumb it
down. Causes of a simplified lesson plan, first of which is
the problem observed, the need for a curtailed instruction,
look at verse one. And I, brethren, could not speak
to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants
in Christ.” Paul noticed a problem. And for a teacher and a preacher
of the gospel, it was a big problem. Back in chapter 2, Paul had spoken
so hopefully of his ministry of preaching the gospel, that
his message was so far beyond that of Greek wisdom. Glance
back at chapter two, if you would, just for a second. Chapter two,
verse six. There he says that we do speak
wisdom, but it’s a different kind of wisdom than that of the
philosophical Greeks. His is a wisdom not of this age,
and he declares his wisdom to those who are mature. Back to chapter three. But here
he articulates a problem in verse one, and he states it here in
chapter three so bluntly. Look at verse one. It’s not like
he says, I may have to change the way I do some things. But he says, brethren, I could
not speak to you as to spiritual men. Not maybe, not that I might
not be able, but I could not. I cannot speak to you as I ought
to be able.” In that passage, the one that we just peeked at
a moment ago, 1 Corinthians 2.15, Paul clearly identifies what
a spiritual man is, what he’s like. A spiritual man, he says,
appraises all things. He’s indwelled, he’s enlightened
by the Holy Spirit himself, he’s taught by him, and the spiritual
man is able to appraise or discern so as to understand what Paul
says, all things. The Corinthian, to whom he writes,
these were saved people. He even calls them brethren in
this verse. In the opening words of this
book, chapter 1, verse 2, Paul articulated their standing very
clearly. He writes to those who have been
sanctified in Christ saints by calling. In verse 4 of that same
opening chapter, Paul thanked God profusely for the grace of
God which was given you in Christ Jesus. And at the very end of
this verse, Even though he does call them babies, essentially,
no doubt a rebuke. They, after all, are infants
in Christ. They are Christians to whom he’s
speaking. Paul here isn’t saying that they’re
not believers, just that he could not speak to them as such. All Christians are spiritual
in the sense that they are saved, but not all are spiritual in
the sense of practical maturity. He speaks here of an inability
to interact with them on that level. But this inability is
not on his part, it’s on the Corinthians’ part. The inability
was their inability to learn, not his ability to teach. And
that’s a problem. Because it meant that he was
going to have to modify his approach just for these Corinthian believers. In a sense, he was going to have
to choose a different curriculum. He was going to have to soften
his approach with them. He was going to have to simplify
his teaching method. Whatever it was that he noticed.
He realized that his standard approach, his typical style and
message would not work. Teaching in the manner to which
he was accustomed simply was not possible. Look, if you will,
at what he observed in these people. I could not speak to
you as spiritual men. I could not. I could not even
teach you in the same manner that I would any other local
congregation, like any other body of spiritual people. It’s
vital to note here that he does not speak of them as natural
men. Those who are completely outside
of Christ, just as he had spoken of the world’s unbelievers, Paul
had only just said in the immediately preceding chapter, Chapter 2,
verse 14, that a natural man does not accept the things of
the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot
understand them because they are spiritually appraised. You
say, well, that sounds very much like the concern that he’s addressing
here with the Corinthians. But it’s not the same. He didn’t
think of them or identify them as natural men. as men outside
of faith in Christ. Rather, he speaks of the Corinthians
as men of flesh. Rather than enjoying the ability
to talk to them as spiritual people, which in a sense they
were and very much ought to have been, instead Paul found the
need to talk to them as men of flesh. He acknowledged many times
over that they are saved, sanctified brethren in Christ, but they
were very far from fully mature. And in that sense, they were
more fleshly than spiritual. There are two related words that
I want to call your attention here to in this passage. The first occurs here in verse
one. It’s the word translated men
of flesh. And in the Greek, the word is
sarkinos. But momentarily down in verse
three, Paul’s going to use a very similar word. That word is sarkikos. The difference in those words
is subtle. Did you hear it? Sarkinos and sarkikos. Well, the first of those two
words, sarkinos, refers to a thing as it is, as it exists. In this case, flesh, a man, flesh
and blood. He’s composed of flesh. We’ll look at the meaning of
that second word in a moment, but note that Paul had to speak
to them like they were in the flesh, not because they were
in the flesh. He had to speak to them as if
they were natural men, not because they were natural men. The Corinthians
were believers. They were no longer natural men,
but the sad thing was they were still behaving as if they were.
Paul had only just explained, as I said in chapter two, verse
14, a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God.
And so Paul had to talk to them in that manner, like men who
don’t even know God. Because of this, Paul’s ultimate
assessment was that his Corinthians were like so many babies, infants
in Christ. Let’s pause here to make sure
that we’re clear still on this one thing. These people are Christians. And Paul says it right here,
they’re infants, that is, and that presents a problem, but
they’re infants in Christ. Whatever the Corinthians problem
was, at least they were in Christ. Paul is still balancing off of
what he had said earlier. Remember in chapter two, verse
six, he told them of speaking wisdom among those who were mature. This is the opposite. There, his point was that the
gospel and the things of the gospel are taken in and they
are appropriated by those who are spiritually mature. These
Corinthians are immature babies. And they must be addressed and
taught differently. This is crucial to acknowledge
that someone can be in Christ and still be a spiritual baby. And that’s why we cannot take
the word fleshly above to think that these Corinthian believers
as being in the flesh are natural men in an absolute sense, as
if they’re unbelievers. These Corinthians are Christians,
even if baby Christians, but that the fact that they’re infants
in Christ necessitated that Paul adopt a completely different
approach with them. What about us? How’s your thinking? Are you
maturing in your thinking or are you still petty and childish
about petty and childish things? Paul says in Ephesians 4, we
are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves
carried about by every wind of doctrine, by trickery of men,
by craftiness and deceitful scheming. How is your steadfastness in
the things of the Lord? Are you growing in grace as the
writer of Hebrews uses this same image to challenge that we ought
by now to be teachers of these things? Or are we still as so
many babies that need still the milk? Are you imbibing and favoring
and implementing worldly ideas and priorities into your life,
even ideas that run counter to scripture? Are you stunting your
own spiritual growth by the foolish decisions you’re making? Well, let’s look at what adjustments
Paul had to make to his approach. As we look at the causes of a
simplified lesson plan, we see the problem that Paul was going
to have to dial back his instruction, and Paul’s consequential response,
baby food. I gotta go back and feed you
baby food, milk. Verse two, I gave you milk to
drink, not solid food. The transition of an infant from
milk to solid food is such a well-known and understandable image used
not only by Paul here, but also by the writer of Hebrews. From
the sweet and gentle side of a nursing child to the introduction
of solid foods, mashed bananas, mashed squash, mashed up Brussels
sprouts. Yes, we did that. mashed anything, and yet they’re
called solids, if you can call such solids. It’s fun, if not
messy. It’s a beautiful and important
step in a child’s life, but it must be carefully done. Wives, be careful if your husband
reads the King James. Because in the old King James
translation it says, I have fed you with milk and not with meat. If that’s the translation your
husband reads, you might not want to leave the baby with him. They translate that word meat
and not the more general solid food because when that translation
was published, meat meant food. And that needs to be clarified.
This is one of the reasons why dads have to be introduced slowly
to the feeding schedule of a young child. Because if left to ourselves,
we’re going out to the back patio to grill up a steak and cut it
in tiny pieces. Here you go, junior. And that
won’t work. But in order to thrive, a child
must transition to solids, from the most basic nourishment,
milk. That’s Paul’s simple illustration.
And whereas he would have begun such transition already with
the Corinthians, on to the deeper things, on a much deeper level,
he was unable. and he had to modify their diet.
You may remember that when we interacted with this same basic
illustration as used by the writer of Hebrews, he said, you have
come to need milk and not solid foods. Same exact illustration. In our diligent Bible study material,
we dealt with it again in our devotion and consideration of
Jonathan Edwards’ sermon on that same passage. It’s a straightforward
illustration. Milk, not meat. Paul says, I
had to modify your spiritual nourishment to that of milk,
baby food. Neither Paul nor the writer of
Hebrews is disparaging milk in any way. Milk is given by God
and necessary for proper nourishment. But there’s a time for solid
food. And that too is a gift of God. And just as different
periods of our lives, we need different kinds of nourishment.
So in the spiritual realm, We need different kinds of instruction. There’s a time for spiritual
milk and there’s a time for spiritual solids. And Paul’s whole point
was here to challenge the Corinthian believers in their lack of maturity. We might say it this way. Let
a person be fully nourished by the basics of milk. before they
transition to solids. They can’t thrive on that diet
of milk forever. Yet both milk and solid food
are spiritual nourishment. I love the way that Charles Hodge
explained this incredible truth. The same truth is in one form,
milk, in another form, strong meat. Every doctrine which can
be taught to theologians is taught to children. The difference between
milk and strong meat is simply the difference between the more
or less perfect development in the things taught. It’s not as
rigid, it’s not as deep. The important truth is that there
are not two sets of doctrine, one higher, one lower. There’s no part of the gospel
which we are authorized to keep back from the people. Paul’s point here is simple.
These readers had been to the basic diet, they had drunk
their milk, they’d been instructed in the basics, and they were
fully prepared for the next levels of education, but Paul had to
hold back. And he adjusts his metaphor here
to food, but his point is basically the same. I had to adjust my curriculum.
I had to continue to provide you spiritual milk, simple lessons,
because you were unable to handle the weightier things of God,
solids. Why would Paul, why would Paul
have such a strong assessment of this otherwise good church? Because Paul was the one feeding
them. And just as an infant wouldn’t know what to do with a hamburger,
even if he could pick it up, Paul could look and see that
there was a problem in the Corinthian church. The third cause of a simplified
lesson plan, not only the problem identified and Paul’s consequential
response, but thirdly, the reason for the baby food was their hampered
ability to learn. Paul’s not being harsh here.
When he says that you were not able to receive it Even now you
are not able for you are still fleshly Paul’s not being harsh
here He’s the one seeking to spiritually nourish these saints
But since he’s the one feeding him it had become painfully obvious
that they could not handle what he’s trying to provide Most dads
know this scene It’s as if they cannot chew and swallow. They
can’t digest what he has to feed them. This is nothing new, he
says. Look at it. They were not yet
able to receive it. This has been going on for some
time. And it’s not remedied because even now they are not able. This
has been going on for far too long. Again, it was their inability
to learn, not Paul’s inability to teach. but what he had was
too much for them. They were not able to receive
it. And the reason they were not able, they were fleshly.
Do you recall a moment ago when I said there are two related
words? Similar sounding words, the first
occurred in verse one, the word translated men of flesh, sarkinos. But here in verse three, Paul
uses that second similar word, Sarkikos. As we saw, that first word, sarkinos,
refers to a thing as it exists, in this case, flesh, a man. But
the second word, the word used here in verse 3, refers not to
the actual thing, but to the character or to the quality of
a thing. And in that sense, Paul is referring
to individuals who were not in the flesh, they weren’t actually
mere men, but they’re being ruled and influenced by the flesh so
heavily that Paul says, you’re fleshly. In other words, Paul is talking
about people who were not in the flesh as natural men, but
in their thinking and behaving themselves and conducting themselves
as such, they were like natural men. I love the way one faithful
man of God put it, they were imperfectly sanctified. Did you
get that? They were imperfectly sanctified. God had indeed begun the work
of sanctification in their lives, but thus far it was incomplete
and therefore imperfect. And that is in no way God’s fault. These are people who regardless
of whether they may be in Christ, Christians, They live as though
they were still men of the world. They think and live like the
godless heathens. How would Paul, or better, why
would Paul say such a thing? Even if it were true that they’re
still fleshly, well, We’re looking at the causes of a simplified
lesson plan, not only the reason for the baby food and the fact
of their hampered ability to learn, but look fourthly at the
cause of their inability. In the continuing of verse three,
it was their sinful behavior that stood in the way. Paul says,
you are still fleshly for since there is jealousy and strife
among you, are you not fleshly? And are you not walking like
mere men? Paul says that the clear indication
that they were living like the men of the world, living fleshly
lives, was that there was jealousy and strife among them. Paul doesn’t
suggest that such behavior was a possibility. He says since. Since there is jealousy and strife. Paul knew it well. Paul knew
it to be so from the report that he received from Chloe, remember?
And these are two very ugly character qualities of any body of believers,
especially in a church where Christ’s likeness is supposed
to prevail. We’ve come across this word jealousy
many times, most recently in our study of James. Remember
the illustration of the hurricane forecast? I’ll come back to that
in a moment. James 3.14 uses this word. The
word translated jealousy could well be translated more innocently
as zeal. It’s not a bad word. Doesn’t
necessarily have a bad connotation. The context is key. But here
in this particular context, it points to something so ugly that
it alters the way that the apostle has to approach the instruction
of a beloved church. And since the word is paired
with the word strife, it is an extremely ugly word, and it has
to be translated as jealousy. And in that sense, it refers
to an overzealousness an ungodly, unchecked zeal, a boiling over,
a passionate vehemence.” This was quite a group. In his examination
of true versus worldly wisdom, here’s how James used the word
in chapter 3, verse 14. If you have bitter jealousy and
selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie
against the truth. That’s not from God. The word strife, as bad as jealousy
is, strife is worse. Strife is the eventual outcome
of jealousy. This is the contentious, wrangling,
argumentative, hostile spirit that destroys the delicate fabric
of a Christian fellowship. This was the worst news of the
report that Paul received from Chloe. The bottom line was that
there was disunity in the church at Corinth and it was evidently
so bad that some people associated with this mysterious Chloe believed
that they had to inform the planter of this church. Factions were
forming, lines were being drawn. This news of strife was heartbreaking
news to Paul. And it describes one of the saddest,
most destructive scenarios in all of scripture. It’s the beginning
of an end for a local church. Wrangling, contention, bitter
discord. It’s that unloving demeanor that
produces unproductive quarrels. So if you were with us, remember
the hurricane forecast? We looked at several passages
where a number of these unseemly terms kind of are gathered together. A few of them together present
to us what I suggested are no more than a tropical storm. Philippians
mentions envy and strife, and then Paul moves on. Probably
no more than a tropical storm, but as the terms accumulate,
you have a much worse situation. Paul mentions it in Galatians
5.19, the deeds of the flesh are evident, immorality, impurity,
sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, outbursts
of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions. That’s an ugly situation. That’s a full category five hurricane
destroying everything in its path. But one of the other key
places where this frightening accumulation of terms occurs
is 2 Corinthians 12 20. Just listen. Strife, jealousy,
angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance. Yeah, that’s
bad. That is a big, nasty storm. One of the worst ever forecasted
in scripture. And so we look at this passage
with its paltry two little ugly features, jealousy and strife. What’s the big deal? Here’s what the big deal is.
That passage, 2 Corinthians 12, 20, was a situation so bad that
it made Paul not even want to go there to Corinth. That was
the church of Corinth, this church. And what I believe that we see
here in chapter three is these few wispy, puffy white clouds
ambling across the otherwise blue sky. The things in Corinth didn’t
get better. They got worse, much worse. And so Paul’s point is that jealousy
and strife, these two seemingly harmless qualities, they cannot
be ignored except to great peril of the church. It’s bad enough
for the innocent bystanders who are affected by the jealousy
and strife, but to those who are engaged, they actually have
it worse. because it stunts their ability
to hear the sweet and favorable things of God. Paul uses a familiar
metaphor here at the end of verse three. He just calls it walking. He uses such language often not
to speak of actual ambulation by foot, but rather to the metaphor of conducting ourselves
in a particular manner. He uses it all the time. The
metaphorical idea of walking or conducting ourselves in the
world is inevitable. We’re all going to walk in this
world as long as we’re alive. But to walk as men of the world
guided by their affections, their priorities, their principles.
This is a very dishonoring, evil thing to walk like the men of
the world. And Paul says that to practice
jealousy and envy is to walk like mere men, like the unbelieving
men of the world and no better. When did the Corinthians ever
behave like this? Look at verse four where Paul
gives our fifth cause of a simplified lesson plan, the proof of sinful
behavior. For when one says, I am of Paul
and another, I am of Apollos, are you not mere men? And with
that, Paul brings us right back where we started. Not only where
he started his argument, but where we began this morning.
I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, I am of Christ.
There was this ongoing developing and now worsening divide, these
personality cults. Not only did divisions exist,
these people had banners and names for their groups. It was
so abhorrent to Paul that he should be associated with it,
that he exposes this evil once again. To align ourselves under
this man or this person or this movement or this ism is to succumb
to the thinking of the world and to begin to act like mere
men. It’s not the Lord Jesus Christ
that we’re following in such a case, and if it’s not the Lord
Jesus Christ that we’re following, and exclusively, then we are
adopting the world’s thinking. We cannot, at the same time,
be spiritually minded people and embrace the thinking and
the standards of the world. So may I ask, with whom are you
aligned? Which movement, whether political
or social or religious? Which personality are you following? Which ideology do you embrace? Look, this doesn’t mean that
you can’t have your favorite Christian preacher or godly author
or that you can’t be a member of a political party or passionately
believe in some ethical or financial principle. But in what or in whom do you
place your hope, your eternal hope? If it is not exclusively
the Lord Jesus Christ, you may already be walking as mere men. You may already be fleshly, Worldly
minded believers who are living like spiritual infants, even
if you are in Christ. To the degree that that is true,
you are stunting your growth. You are inhibiting your ability
to grow and flourish and mature as a Christian. You don’t even
know it. But your choices and your affections
and your inclinations are inhibiting your ability to take in the rich,
beneficial nutrients of the deep truths of God’s Word. A sadder scenario Paul could
not even have imagined. Would you humble yourselves before
our Savior? Our merciful King, we come before you and we would
love that this were not true of us, this problem that Paul
brings. But we know that in every day
and every age, this problem has planted seeds. and that there
are very likely seeds among us where we are holding or clinging
to something other than Christ. Lord, we pray that you would
grant us the grace to lay it down, whether it is a occult
personality or our favorite idea or ideology, someone, something. Lord, we pray, we plead with
you to spare our church of this hurricane that comes from jealousy
and strife. Lord God, we plead with you for
your grace to make us to be mature men and women in Christ who look
to your word and feast on the deep things of God because you’ve
granted us the ability to do so. Lord, we thank you. We pray that if there are any
who do not know Christ. That they would turn in faith
to Jesus Christ, placing their. Their full hope. Not hedging,
not holding back. Not playing the odds. Placing
their full hope and faith in Jesus Christ alone. Pray these
things in Jesus’ name, amen.