Calvary Road Baptist Church
“THE CONSEQUENCES OF CARNALITY” Part One
First Corinthians 3.3-9
We are three weeks away from PayCheck Sunday, so let me bring a message to you from God’s Word related to spiritual unity, a unity produced by love that we Church members must possess for each other to effectively serve God and exalt Christ, John 13.34; 15,12, 17; Romans 13.8; First Thessalonians 4.9; First Peter 1.22; First John 3.11, 23; 4.7, 11, 12; Second John 1.5.
My text is First Corinthians 3.3-9. In a few moments, I’ll want you to stand to read God’s Word with me, but first, a few observations.
Have you ever noticed how Satan tries to blind people to the consequences of their sinful behavior and tries to divert our attention to the right now and to self so we will not be mindful of the future consequences of sin or its impact on our loved ones? Let me give you some examples of this pattern:
#1 AIDS. Acquired Immunity Deficiency Syndrome. Remember when everyone was terrified of AIDS? AIDS is a malady involving the breakdown of a person’s immune system and the body’s ability to fight disease. Thus, even a cold can cause complications conceivably leading to death. And although it’s now so widespread among the general population that it is not unusual to see advertisements for HIV-suppressing prescriptions, the virus associated with the syndrome is widely thought to have come into the human family from African monkeys through the wicked sin of bestiality. And the primary way this dreaded malady spread so fast was through the multiple and perverse sexual contacts of homosexuals. But do you think the average homosexual gives much thought about the consequences of his perverse behavior as he engages in his sin? In a book written just as AIDS was being recognized by scientists, when it was still known as GRIDS, Gay Related Immunodeficiency Syndrome, the author polled 1000 homosexuals and asked them what they would do if they found out they had this dreaded syndrome. An overwhelming percentage of those polled said they would give it to as many people as possible, no doubt motivated by a perverse sense of revenge.[1] They gave little attention to the long-term consequences of sin.
#2 DIVORCE. Every pastor in America will acknowledge that an almost universal given among husbands and wives who seek marital counseling is this: Before they were married, they committed fornication. Do you suppose two young people who are out on a date alone think of the fact that their sexual adventurism may result in a pregnancy, or may result in an STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease), or will almost inevitably cause problems in their marriage down the road, should they get married, even if they do not marry each other? Of course not! It never dawns on them that their sin before marriage plants the seed which may result in divorce after marriage. They never even consider that marriage depends on respect and that when two unmarried people commit sexual sins with and against each other, the respect they might have had for each other is eroded. When respect for your mate diminishes, your marriage is in deep trouble, contributing to the huge divorce rate in the United States. In a book published forty years ago, the author reported that a study of the children of divorce showed huge numbers of kids carried into adulthood decades later the tragic consequences of their parent’s divorces. Consequences of sin committed, even when those sins were later forgiven.
#3 JUVENILE DELINQUENCY AND REBELLION BY CHILDREN. This is usually the consequence of improper parenting, at least in two-parent families. I think most cases of juvenile delinquency and teen rebellion start with sin and ungodliness by parents. Do they go to Church and outwardly seem to be oh, so spiritual? A close look may reveal a father who’s spiritually anemic and refuses to wield authority properly, refuses to discipline correctly or firmly enough, or refuses to live a consistent Christian life in front of his kids. Or, if the father seems to be spiritually shipshape, the mom can ruin the child-rearing process by scheming behind her husband’s back, or she can “protect her baby from her evil husband,” thereby enabling the child to justify his rebellion against his father. Mom can even refuse to believe that her child is as wicked as the kid is declared in Scripture, thus allowing the depravity to fester and strengthen in early childhood when it should be vigorously restrained by a mother’s strong hand.
These are only three of thousands of possible illustrations that there are always consequences for sin. Some consequences come to light rather quickly, while others are a long time in coming, perhaps not showing up in a marriage or with a child for ten or more years.[2] Some consequences are easy to spot, while others are more difficult.
But one thing we can be sure of is: Sin has consequences in this lifetime. We know from physics there is an equal and opposite reaction to every action. However, in the spiritual realm, the consequence is magnified, referred to as the law of sowing and reaping, so the consequence of wrongdoing is always multiplied by a significant factor.[3]
The Corinthians already knew one consequence of being carnal, being what most people think of as spiritual backsliders. It was disunity and division within the Church, the body of Christ, the Corinthian congregation. It is like soldiers in an Army platoon without the willingness to fight the enemy cohesively by relying on each other. The results are catastrophic.
These are carnal Christians Paul was dealing with. So, Paul understood, as do we, that they only cared about what they wanted. Carnal Christians typically couldn’t care less how their sin affects the spiritual health of their families, loved ones, or Church. “Do my attitudes and actions adversely affect the spread of the Gospel? Who cares?”
The same is true in our day. You are a Christian passing through a period of carnality if you only care about yourself. If you don’t care about your kids as you should. If you don’t care about your spouse as you should. If you don’t care about other Church members. If you only care about yourself.
Isn’t that true, folks? Of course, it’s true. I’ve just described every lost person’s pattern of behavior. And the frightening thing about being a temporarily carnal Christian is that, for a time, such a child of God acts just like lost people do every day. We begin to see the importance of our spiritual unity regarding our Church’s efforts to serve God and how it will be reflected in our upcoming PayCheck Sunday offering, demonstrating our commitment to a unified and effective ministry as it does.
So, how did Paul reach the carnal Christians of Corinth with the truth? He focused on that which they were most concerned about ... themselves. He showed them how their unspiritual behavior and attitudes, which caused such great harm to their Church’s unity, affected them personally.
Part of Paul’s urgency, of course, was related to what he mentioned in First Corinthians 16.1-4, the special offering he was gathering, with the Corinthian’s unity being vital to collecting a successful offering:
1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.
2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
3 And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.
4 And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me.
With these things in mind, let’s stand to read together First Corinthians 3.3-9:
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that 0 giveth the increase.
8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
In our text, Paul dealt with only two of the many consequences of the temporary unspirituality that any Christian Church member can slide into, focusing on those two general consequences that most affect Church unity. This morning, we will consider the first of those consequences:
THE FIRST CONSEQUENCE OF CARNALITY IS WITH OTHER CREATURES
That is to say, consequences with other people. This is crucial because we are in this together. God created us to live with other human beings without sin. But sin entered, and humanity fell, leaving us a wicked and helpless race. Then God gave His children the grace to live with each other in unity, despite sin, to accomplish important things for Him. That’s why God’s children can and should live in harmony with each other, while the unsaved either constantly fight and squabble with each other, or completely retreat from any meaningful contact whatsoever.
We have important things to do. Carnality in a Christian, temporarily unspiritual behavior in the believer, does not use God’s grace and accomplishes nothing. This is especially true for Church members, God’s plan for every believer.[4] Carnality ignores God’s provisions, be they fellowship, prayer, the ministry of the Word, the assembly, or other means of grace.
Let’s discover what the life of a carnal Christian temporarily living in sin is like, how Paul saw the carnal Church member’s life with other Christians in the Church. Verse 3:
“For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”
How can the Spirit of God accomplish anything in a congregation with such issues? Three things to notice in this verse:
First, notice the problem of being a carnal Church member. It’s not uncommon for a carnal believer to think or say, “I don’t have a problem.” But we see in verse 3 that Paul had to inform the carnal members of the Corinth congregation that they were carnal. That suggests that they didn’t think they had a problem. Not a serious one anyway, or they wouldn’t have needed to be told they were unspiritual and at the moment walking like men, living like the unsaved. But if you’re a carnal Church member and you don’t grasp the reality of your own carnality, you actually have two problems: Carnality and stupidity. Please, don’t be angry with me for using the words. Just listen for a moment, and you’ll see that the subject warrants using these strong words. Being an unspiritual member, being carnal, backsliding, or whatever you want to call it when the Spirit of God’s influence in a Church member’s life is ignored is a severe problem because God’s Word says it is. But if, on top of that, a member refuses to acknowledge that the problem exists, the bad situation is just compounded. And isn’t it stupid to deny the reality of a serious spiritual problem affecting other people? Of course, it is. Especially when everyone around us can see it, especially our kids and lost family members. I am sorry, but euphemisms are not called for here.
Next, notice the particulars of being a carnal Church member. Being carnal, not availing yourself of the grace of God to live a Spirit-filled life as a Church member, leaves you powerless in the face of the temptations and sinful habits which every member must deal with and overcome. So, when not availing yourself of the grace that God provides Church members to live right, envying, strife and divisions will inevitably occur. The result? You start crabbing with people, sabotaging your relationships, getting offended over the smallest slight, and forming subgroups and cliques, and the fire that burns in your belly for the things of God will begin to cool. Congregational teamwork can only suffer. Envying, zήlos, refers to the intense negative feelings over another person’s achievements.[5] Strife, ἔris, is engaging in a rivalry, especially regarding a position taken over some issue.[6] And divisions, dichastάsia, refers to creating factions, cliques, and little groups in the congregation.[7] This comes perilously close to Paul’s warning to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20.29-30:
29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
How is such behavior justified in a congregation? Isn’t the cause of Christ far too important for this nonsense to be tolerated? And when stuff like this happens, you must ask yourself, “Isn’t this one of the things I was once thankful that God delivered me from?” Weren’t you once thankful that communion with God made communion with other Church members possible, real, and fulfilling? But when a coldness comes toward the people of God and the things of God, it affects our relationships with other members, and our overall effectiveness in the Great Commission suffers.
The problem and the particulars of being carnal. Now notice the picture of being carnal. When Church members are carnal, when we are not spiritual and in submission to God the way we ought to be, we can no longer live with each other the way God wants us to. We’ve established that. We start living an elbows-out lifestyle. That’s not good. Bickering and sniping and fussing and envying, just the way unsaved people do, just the way we used to be before we trusted Christ. Like young David did, should we not ask, “Is there not a cause?”[8] If you are carnal, Paul indicates you walk like men. He says that when a Church member is carnal, he acts like ordinary people ... lost people. That’s not good. What Christian wants to hang around people who act like they are lost or want his kids to? And just how do lost people live amongst each other? Selfishly. Caring only about themselves. Not their spouses. Not their kids. Not their friends. Not the cause of Christ. Only self. Carnal dads won’t put it to their families, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”[9] Carnal wives won’t honor their husbands as Sarah honored Abraham, calling him Lord.[10] The house of God is forsaken.[11] The Bible gathers dust.[12] God’s tithe is robbed.[13] His praises are no longer sung.[14] And our bonds of love with other Christians weaken and cool. All of these things are the consequences of carnality among God’s creatures, our fellow Church members. We don’t really want to live that way, do we? Yet it happens when we are carnal.
We’ve looked at only one of two consequences of carnality this morning. But it is a consequence directly related to Paul’s concern for Church unity.
It is the consequence carnality causes with the creature, other Church members, believers who are not members, and the unsaved around us. Then there are consequences carnality causes with the Creator, that I will address next week, Lord willing.
Isn’t it bad enough that carnal behavior disrupts one’s ability to get along with other Church members? Envying, strife, and divisions make getting along with those around you impossible. But, of course, in the mind of the carnal, it’s the fault of other people, not oneself.
That’s sad when you reflect on the reality that Church members are some of the people you will spend eternity with, while carnal Christians sometimes prefer the company of unsaved family members and friends to those in the family of God with them. Thus, Christ is not central to their preferred circle of people.
Consider some implications of carnality. Because a carnal Christian has problems with the other Church members, there will be some members the carnal Christian won’t get along with properly.
Oh, if only the carnal Christian would humble himself or herself before God and both be a blessing to other members and allow other members to be a blessing.
Friend, are you carnal? Are these consequences, first with other people, and then with what we will see next week with God, in your life? If they are, why don’t you deal with the problem now?
Let’s be careful to watch these things. When things start going sour with others, humble yourself before the Lord. Ask God what the problem is ... really.
Address the problem so our Church can enjoy the blessing of spiritual unity. Why not address the problem now? Deal with this issue that Paul identifies as carnality.
I’ll bet that some of you, carnal though you believe yourself to be, aren’t carnal at all. You’re not a backslidden Christian in any sense. You’re just lost. And you need Christ.
__________
[1] Enrique Rueda, The Homosexual Network: Private Lives and Public Policy, (Old Greenwich, Connecticut: The Devin Adair Company, 1982)
[2] Abram’s lies before Isaac was born, Genesis 12.13-19 and 20.2-9, were replicated in Isaac, Genesis 26.6-10.
[3] Job 4.8; Proverbs 11.18; 22.8; Hosea 8.7; 10.12; Romans 8.13; Galatians 6.7-8; James 3.18
[4] See Peter Masters, Church Membership In The Bible, (London: The Wakeman Trust, 2008).
[5] Bauer, Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 2000), page 427.
[6] Ibid., page 392.
[7] Ibid., pages 252-253.
[8] 1 Samuel 17.29
[9] Joshua 24.15
[10] First Peter 3.6
[11] Hebrews 10.25
[12] Psalm 119.11
[13] Malachi 3.8
[14] Exodus 15.1, 21; 2 Samuel 22.50; 1 Chronicles 16.23; Psalm 7.17; 9.2, 11; 13.6; 18.49; 21.13; 27.6
Question? Comment?
Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Fill out the form below to send him an email. Thank you.