“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?”
I Corinthians 3:1-3 NKJV
Spiritual = spirit governed
Carnal = flesh governed
The term carnal can speak of two different types of believers
- New converts
- People who have been saved and not matured spiritually.
- Being controlled by your flesh is the default mode of your life.
• IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE CARNAL AND FLOW IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE MANIFESTATION OF THE GIFTS IS NOT A SIGN OF MATURITY
We said that when you’re Carnal your worldview (who God is, who you are in relationship to Him, who Satan is, how to treat people, how to respond to problems, etc.) is the same as the worlds.
We saw in I Thessalonians 5:23
- You ARE a spirit, You HAVE a soul, You LIVE in a body.
- When the outward man is stronger than the inward man you’re carnal and immature, likewise if the inward is stronger than the outward you are spiritual.
- The prosperity of the outer man is dependent on the inner man.
We saw in Luke 1:80 that John grew strong in spirit.
We saw in Luke 2:40 that Jesus grew strong in spirit.
“So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.”
Luke 1:80 NKJV
• If they can, then we can
• The same principles of growth apply to spirit soul and body
1. A strong body isn’t developed by accident
2. A body must be fed properly in order to grow strong
3. It takes exercise to build a strong body.
The same three principles apply to growing up spiritually.
In order to grow spiritually you must understand we all start on the same plane = babyhood = carnal.
“as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,”
I Peter 2:2 NKJV
The food that the spirit needs to grow is Bible formed beliefs.
Walk in the word / walk in the spirit.
Beliefs can be formed by
1. Traditions of men
2. Experience
3. Family
4. False doctrine
In order to grow up spiritually you need to:
1. Form
2. Strengthen Bible based belief
The Bible has more to say about a o dined belief than unbelief.
We saw that we walk by faith and not sight, and that circumstance is not the rider of your life. Those things are temporary.
Let’s pick up in Galatians:
“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Galatians 5:16-18 NKJV
We are not talking about the law. We are talking about you being in a relationship with God through his grace, where your spirit is becoming strong enough to tell your flesh what to do.
“Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”Galatians 5:19-21 NKJV
“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.”
Galatians 5:19-21 MSG
Practice and inherit Future active tense. While you are practicing such things you will Will not be inheriting:
Swallowing vs. breathing and receiving different things.
Inherit the kingdom – Galatians 5
Inherit the promises – Hebrews 6
“that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
Hebrews 6:12
Present active sense. “Are inheriting”.
Parallel passages, same author
Galatians speaking to Gentiles about going back to hedonism
Hebrews: Jews going back to legalism
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.”
Ephesians 1:3-14 NKJV