CARNAL
CARNAL
(espa?ol below)
I Corinthians 3:1-3 "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? "
The first step in our spiritual journey is locating exactly where we are. Last week we talked about the 1rst of the 3 phases of true spirituality. The 1rst was the Natural man (someone who doesn't believe), The next phase (which we will talk about today) is the Carnal man (a baby in Christ, not necessarily a new believer). Sadly, most Christians never leave the carnal man phase. The best phase is the Spiritual man. A believer who has an intimate relationship with God is the spiritual man, my ultimate goal on this earth.
The carnal man is a believer, on his way to heaven. Acts 16:31“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved". The only way you can believe on the Lord (count on Him) is by the Holy Spirit guiding you. Paul wrote to these carnal people in Corinthians that although they were saved, and babies in Christ, that they were not newly born again people. He said that they should have been way beyond where they were in their spiritual development. Paul had already said that they had the Holy Spirit, they had everything. 1 Corinthians 1:7 ..'ye come behind in no gift.' They had the faith, the grace of salvation, and all spiritual gifts that any spiritually mature Christian has. The carnal man just doesn't have the power (authority) to really tap into those things. Most Christians today fall into this category. Carnal Christians usually are just like anyone else, sometimes worse. But I believe they are saved because of Jesus's sacrifice. Their lives are just powerless until they fully surrender and trust the goodness of God.
2 Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:
There are 2 types of Carnal Christians. Those who think they've arrived and are content where they are, (I feel sorry for them). Then there are those who have been kicked in the teeth and made painfully aware of their depravity and how short they fall in the will of God. They yearn for the full power of God in their lives (which is an integral part of becoming the spiritual man). That's a good place to be.
Just having Faith, Grace and Spiritual gifts doesn't make you a full grown (spiritual man) Christian. Spirituality comes only from exercising faith in Jesus. These Corinthians were carnal babies. They were probably proud of the little spiritual things they did. Do you know that Jesus never took credit for His miracles or His teachings? He gave all the glory to God. Faith in God is the end result, and is the mark of a completely spiritual Christian. Being sure and certain about God means you have faith in Him. As your faith grows, your power and authority grows. You are in more control of yourself, and you are more confident in what you say and in your prayers.
Faith is a muscle, you have to exercise it to make it grow. You have to step out in faith, and your spiritual gifts will have more power (authority) as you grow in faith. You can fake spiritual gifts, and many people do, up until this very day. You can't fake true faith, because you are the only one who sees it, or not. Faith is internal.. God's power lies dormant in a carnal Christian until true faith is exercised. Only you can do that.
Carnal, worldy Christians have the Holy Spirit. They have access to the power (authority) of the Spirit, but they have to tap into it with faith. If they don't have faith, their ability to use their spiritual gifts are limited. We know that they still had the Holy Spirit and AVAILABLE power that comes with it, because they believed.
Paul started in his letter to the church of Corinthians by saying they were heaven bound. Paul was a good pastor, as many pastors that I know are. They are kind and gentle. He didn't beat them up. He fed them with milk, knowing that they couldn't deal with the real meat of the Gospel. He babied them. He loved them. He gave them grace, so they could build up their faith. He didn't take anything from this struggling church. He built them up, although they were acting as 'mere'(natural) men. There was basically no difference between them and the rest of the fallen world (by physical observation). Unfortunately, much like the church today. Paul saw them the way God saw them, as the finished work in the resurrected state. Paul placed the finished work in the hands of God because he had faith in God, not in his own pastoral abilities. People that have faith in God are the definition of the spiritual man. Unlike the carnal man, the spiritual man doesn't get flustered. He is stable. He doesn't offend, nor get offended. Through faith, Paul he saw end results in the future. He talked to the carnal as the believers they were already, so they would grow spiritually.
I remember when I bought the land and built the WEGO orphanage down here. We had a banana plantation on the property, as a form of sustainability. The problem was that the bananas kept on being stolen at night. I spoke to the banana thief daily, talking to him and his family as if they were already saved. I suspect they were already believers, the carnal man type. Most Nicaraguans are. Nicaragua is completely evangelized, but most are not spiritually mature, same problem as in america. I called him brother, and never roughed him up about stealing from me. I knew that he and his family were really suffering with hunger and poverty. So I made the banana thief my first trusted security guard at the orphanage. He guarded the bananas. I paid him a wage (per government regs) AND gave him a bunch a bananas every week. I never lost one more banana due to theft again. He's still serving the Lord to the this day.
Don't beat anyone over the head. Feed them. Love them. Speak life into them. Find somewhere you can connect to them. Don't fight other denominations, works, churches and other believers. Don't take anything away from anybody, give to them instead. Put something into them.
Let's look at what Paul said in his letter to Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Like me and every other christian, we all need to have more faith in God,
Dean Peters
Pure Heart Children's Fund, a non-profit organization serving at-risk children
Joyfully serving the 'least of these' in Nicaragua for the glory of God
Facebook = Dean andWinnie Peters
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CARNAL (espa?ol)
1 Corintios 3: 1-3 "Y yo, hermanos, no podía hablarles a ustedes como espirituales, sino como carnales, incluso como bebés en Cristo. Los he alimentado con leche y no con carne: porque hasta ahora estaban no eres capaz de soportarlo, ni tampoco ahora eres capaz. Porque todavía eres carnal: porque mientras hay entre ustedes envidias, y contiendas, y divisiones, ?no sois carnales, y caminas como hombres?
El primer paso en nuestro viaje espiritual es localizar exactamente dónde estamos. La semana pasada hablamos sobre las 3 fases de la verdadera espiritualidad. El hombre natural (alguien que no cree), el hombre carnal (un bebé en Cristo, no es necesariamente un nuevo creyente). Tristemente, la mayoría de los cristianos nunca salgan de la fase del hombrecarnal. Me temo que todavía estoy en esta categoría, pero yo, como así como muchos otros, anhelan la siguiente fase: El Hombre Espiritual. Un creyente que tiene una relación íntima con Dios.
El hombre carnal es un creyente, en su camino al cielo. Hechos 16:31 “Cree en el Se?or Jesucristo, y serás salvo," - Pablo escribió a estas personas carnales en Corintios. Aunque fueron salvos, y bebés en Cristo, que no eran personas recién nacidas. Dijo que deberían haber ido mucho más allá de donde estaban en su desarrollo espiritual. Pablo ya había dicho que tenían el Espíritu Santo, que lo tenían todo. 1 Corintios 1: 7 ... vengan sin faltar ningún don. Tenían la fe, la gracia de la salvación y todos los dones espirituales.
La fe, la gracia y los dones espirituales no te hacen un cristiano (hombre espiritual) maduro. La espiritualidad proviene del ejercicio de la fe en Dios, no en el ejercicio de tus dones espirituales. Estos corintios eran bebés carnales. Creo que vieron los dones espirituales como resultado final, pero no lo eran. La fe en Dios es el resultado final. Estar seguro acerca de Dios significa que tienes fe en él. La fe es un músculo, tienes que ejercitarlo para que crezca. Tienes que tomar un paso con fe, los dones espirituales tendrán más poder (autoridad) a medida que crezcas en fe. Mucha gente finge dones espirituales hasta el día de hoy. Los cristianos carnales y mundanos tienen el Espíritu Santo. Tienen acceso al poder (autoridad) del Espíritu, pero pueden aprovecharlo con fe.
Sabemos que todavía tenían el Espíritu Santo y el poder DISPONIBLE que viene con él, porque si el Espíritu Santo los dejó cuando pecaron. (envidia, conflictos y divisiones SON pecados) habrían perdido su salvación, pero no lo hicieron. . Pablo comenzó diciendo que estaban salvos, yendo al cielo.
Pablo fue un buen pastor. No los golpeó. Los alimentó con leche, sabiendo que no podían aguantar con la verdadera carne del Evangelio. Los cuidó. El los amaba. él les dio gracia, para que pudieran mejorar en la fe. No tomó nada de esta iglesia. Los edefico, aunque ellos actuaban como hombres 'simples' (naturales). No había diferencia entre ellos y el resto del mundo caído (por observación física) pero él los vio como Dios los vio, en el estado resucitado. Paul confió en el trabajo terminado y vio resultados. él les habló como creyentes maduros, por lo que crecieron espiritualmente.
Recuerdo cuando compré el terreno y construí el orfanato WEGO aquí. Teníamos una plantación de banano en la propiedad, como una forma sostenible. El problema es que las bananas seguían siendo robadas por la noche. Hablaba con el ladron de bananas diariamente, hablando con él y su familia como si ya estuvieran salvados. Solo estaba hablando con fe. Lo llamé hermano y nunca lo maldecí por robarme. Sabía que él y su familia estaban realmente sufrieron de
hambre y pobreza. Así que hice el ladron plátano mi primer guardia de seguridad allí. Guardó bien las bananas. Le pagué y le di un mano de bananas cada semana. Nunca perdí un plátano más debido al robo. él está sirviendo al Se?or hasta el día de hoy, lo último que escuché.
No golpees a nadie. Alimentalos. Encuentra un lugar donde puedas conectarte con ellos. No pelees con otras obras, iglesias y otros creyentes. No le quites nada a nadie, Denles algo. Pongan algo en ellos. Veamos nuevamente lo que Pablo les dijo en la última parte de ese tercer capítulo:" Por lo tanto, nadie se gloríe en los hombres. Porque todas las cosas son tuyas ... Y vosotros sois de Cristo; y Cristo es de Dios" (I Corintios 3: 21-23). En su carta a Romanos, dijo que NADA cambiará eso.
Romanos 8: 38-39 Porque estoy convencido de que ni la muerte, ni lavida, ni los ángeles, ni los principados, ni los poderes, ni las cosas presentes, ni las cosas por venir, ni la altura, ni la profundidad, ni ninguna otra criatura, podrán para separarnos del amor de Dios, que es en Cristo Jesús nuestro Se?or.