"14 But 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. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ."
1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3 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? 4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?
I Corinthians 2:14-3:4
Good Morning Beloved,
We're so glad you're here
Welcome to worship!
When you think about the word "division" you most often find that is a damaging and devastating situation. Divisiveness, a tactic of the adversary, leads to anger, fights, divorce, murder, and war.
As Christians, we are going against the grain of this fallen world. We are trying to breathe in an atmosphere where pure air doesn't exist, it's suffocating. We are constantly battling the spiritual forces of this world, therefore, in a sense we are against the world itself. While everything else is floating downstream, we’re fighting upstream, resisting the current. Satan has two things that he works on in the life of a Christian: the world, that’s the external; the flesh, that’s the internal.
And though, after salvation, the Spirit of God is living in us, we continue to struggle against our sinful nature, resisting the temptation to indulge its urges. It is all, very difficult, to say the least.
One of the answers to solving this division problem is to see ourselves as God sees us. When God looks at a person, He sees that person on one of three classifications:
The natural man, the spiritual man, or the carnal, worldly man.
Paul talks about each of these in today’s passage.
First, let's bow our heads in prayer.
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for Your Word for us today. We pray that You will bind it to our hearts.
We are so grateful for those of us You have gathered together, may it all be for Your glory.
Help us to walk in Your truth, in obedience. Lord, we pray that Your Spirit would govern our lives, our thoughts and behaviors, that our lives would be made pleasing to You.
Father, we pray that if be any spirit of division within us, that You would heal that disease of division, so that we might live consistent with who we are in Jesus Christ, Your perfect Son, our Savior and our example. That there might be a true restoration of unity and a refocusing on You and Your Word.
In Christs' name we pray
Amen
As we continue our study in the rich epistle from Paul, we come to the end of chapter 2. Open with me your Bibles to I Corinthians 2:14-3:4, we'll examine this instructional portion of Scripture and find out what the apostle Paul have to say. Allow me to read to you as you follow along.
"But 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. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.
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 were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet 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?"
So Paul says in verse 14, "But 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."
This is such an important verse when it comes to us witnessing to someone, in trying to win them over for Christ. You might read Scripture to them to try to convince them but we need to remember that if they are not spiritual, the Scripture is foolishness to them. They don’t understand a word you are saying, you may as well be speaking a foreign language.
Therefore, Paul begins this fifth answer by talking about the natural person. The person without the Holy Spirit, who is the natural man. That means that person has natural life. The natural man is a living soul. He’s a living creature, however, that is all that he is. He is living daily in the flesh only. He has never progressed to the higher level of spiritualness. The natural man is the Adamic man. That is, the natural fallen man, a man of depravity, he is sinful, corrupt, aging deteriorating, dying. He is an eternally doomed man. His spirit is dead to God.
So, that being said, Paul says that the natural man doesn’t accept the things of the Spirit of God. Spiritual things are of little concern to the natural man. Their heart is closed to God. It’s not that you’re not explaining the Scripture correctly. It’s that they simply cannot comprehend the things of God. So the natural man considers the things of God foolishness.
Another thing that needs to be said is that the natural man cannot know spiritual things. It’s more than he will not or does not know spiritual things. He is unable to know them. Why can’t he? Paul says that it’s because the things of God are only spiritually discerned.
"But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ."
Now Paul talks about the spiritual person. The spiritual person is one in whom the Holy Spirit dwells. A Person becomes spiritual because they have received the Spirit of God and is living under the influence of the Spirit of God. When a person receives Christ as his Savior, Scripture says:
That he is born again by the Spirit of God.
That he sets his mind on the things of God, not of the flesh.
That he is in the Spirit and that the Spirit lives in him.
That the Spirit imparts life to him.
That the Spirit quickens, gives life to, his mortal body.
That he can kill the sinful deeds of his body only by the Spirit.
That the presence of the Spirit’s leadership in the man’s life proves that he is a child of God.
Three things are said about the spiritual man.
The spiritual man judges or discerns all things. The person who believes in Jesus Christ has the Spirit of God within his body converting his body into a holy temple for God’s presence. That person takes on the divine nature of God and becomes a new creature, a new person.
The point is this: the person who is truly spiritual lives under the control of God’s Spirit. So it is the Holy Spirit of God who actually reveals the spiritual things to man. So we need to know if you have been blessed with the spiritual gift of discernment, the ability to discern is not that person’s ability but instead it is the Spirit of God within that person doing the discerning. So there’s no room for super-spirituality in God’s church because all that we have is of God; it is not of us.
The natural man doesn’t understand the spiritual man. "Any man" in verse 15 is speaking of the natural man. The natural man has no concern or knowledge of Christ and God so there’s no human way he can understand the spiritual person. Natural man only knows what he experiences and studies and he sees the study of the things that are not of this world as foolishness.
The natural man might argue that a little thought about spiritual things is acceptable, but not the focusing of a person’s whole life.
The third thing said about the spiritual man is that the spiritual man has the mind of the Lord. That’s why the believer can discern spiritual things. He has the mind of the Lord. It doesn’t mean that the spiritual man knows all there is to know about Christ, but it means that his mind is focused upon God and the things of God just as the mind of Christ was. The Spirit of God stirs the minds of the genuine believer to spiritual things.
Paul ends this portion of his answer talking about the carnal or the worldly man. He says three things about the carnal man.
"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 were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet 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?"
The carnal or worldly man is not spiritually mature. He is a babe in Christ. He IS a true believer, but he is just a babe in Christ that is kind of deformed. He should be more mature and be developing more quickly but he hasn’t grown in Christ. His mind is not focused on Christ like it should be. HE has been a believer for even years and yet knows little about Christ and God.
The carnal man has to be fed with the milk and not the meat of the Word. This doesn’t mean there are two sets of teachings for God’s Word. It’s the same gospel. But some have paid attention. They have studied, prayed and served Christ more than others. So they are naturally more mature in Christ. They know and experience more of the depth of spiritual things than the carnal believer. So the carnal believer has to be fed the very basics and not the depths of God’s Word.
This is true for any profession. The more a person studies a field, the more he knows his field. God’s Word does not come naturally. It needs to be read and studied. And slowly, that person will find themselves going deeper in the Word of God. They hunger for more depth, and not just the easy milk of the basics.
Paul says that the carnal man is characterized by division. Now I'd like you to think about this with me when talking about a division in the church. Are we on the same track? Division is proof that a person or a group of people are carnal or worldly, whether the division is in a church or in a family.
You see this carnality in envy and strife. Envy leads to jealousy, and jealousy leads to division. When people become jealous of one another, they become divided and begin to strive or argue with one another. Paul says this is carnal behavior. Remembering, what I had mentioned earlier where there is division, there too is the devil!
Carnality is seen when believers begin to walk and act like people of the world. People of the world live for the world, so they want and struggle for all they can get for the least amount of effort, the best position, the most money, the highest honor, or equal recognition.
So now, Paul gets specific. He plainly states that carnality is clearly seen when people follow other people and form cliques. People usually don’t leave a church by themselves. They have attached themselves to other people so strongly that they literally begin to leave God out of any decision they make.
So you have people following people instead of people following God. Sound familiar? In the case of the Corinthian church, Paul says when someone says "I follow Paul," and "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
Now, some of you might say, "So, what’s so bad about that? What is so bad about being a devoted friend to someone?” There’s nothing bad about that unless the focus is being taken off God! Then one goes from being spiritual to being carnal or worldly.
In Closing...
Beloved, allow me to speak boldly here, there is not one friend that you have on this earth, that can ever get you into heaven. Remember that!
So Paul gives the Corinthian church, and us, something to think about. Are we the natural person, the spiritual person, or the carnal person? There is only unity in the spiritual. Division can only occur where there is carnality. Carnal, immature people split over personalities, hero worship. You don’t want to fix your eyes on personalities, you want to keep your eyes fixed upon God!
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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