δουλογος: 1 Corinthians 3:1-3

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Name:Daniel
Home: Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
About Me: I used to believe that evolution was reasonable, that homosexuality was genetic, and that people became Christians because they couldn't deal with the 'reality' that this life was all there was. I used to believe, that if there was a heaven - I could get there by being good - and I used to think I was more or less a good person. I was wrong on all counts. One day I finally had my eyes opened and I saw that I was not going to go to heaven, but that I was certainly going to suffer the wrath of God for all my sin. I saw myself as a treasonous rebel at heart - I hated God for creating me just to send me to Hell - and I was wretched beyond my own comprehension. Into this spiritual vacuum Jesus Christ came and he opened my understanding - delivering me from God's wrath into God's grace. I was "saved" as an adult, and now my life is hid in Christ. I am by no means sinless, but by God's grace I am a repenting believer - a born again Christian.
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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

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? - 1 Corinthianns 3:1-3 [NASB]

When Paul calls these Christians infants in Christ, he is not saying that they are young in the faith (as in new converts), he is saying that they are spiritually immature. How does Paul mark spiritual immaturity? He describes spiritual immaturity in terms of the flesh: these believers were still allowing themselves to be governed by those appetites that are aroused daily by their mortal frame. To use another Pauline expression - these Corinthians were walking in the flesh.

The problem we run into is the problem of the tares and the wheat. Immature believers live an awful lot like illegitimate believers. Both immature and the illegitimate believers consistently give into (ie. are ruled by) their own goals and desires, yet the tares are acting in accord with who they are in the world, where the wheat are acting in opposition to Christ who is within them. We cannot know for sure which is which if both the tare and the wheat share a common profession of faith. Even the angels do not possess sufficient discernment to know for sure.

So rather than use this understanding concerning spiritual immaturity to give us fodder for picking and choosing which ones among us are *really* saved, we should use such knowledge to examine our own selves. Am -I- governed by my own selfish desires? Do I surrender myself to God's desires? Which is it, am I spiritually immature or spiritually mature?

This is serious stuff, especially for those who aspire to the pulpit. With a heavey heart, I cannot help but imagine that more than half the pastors in today's pulpits are not qualified (spiritually) to be there (and don't even get me started on the rampant biblical illiteracy!)

So today's post is about the reality of spiritual immaturity, how to identify it; how to apply what you have learned to yourself (instead of to others), and how to know for certain if you are presently disqualified for ministry as a pastor..

Labels: how to be a Christian, pastoring

posted by Daniel @ 2:35 PM

4 Comments:

At 1:27 PM, February 25, 2011, donsands said…

"Which is it, am I spiritually immature or spiritually mature?"

I'm both. I can be weak in some ways, and strong in other ways. And I have my brothers and sisters to prop me up when my "drooping hands and weak knees" have me downcast.

Hopefully I'm losing my weakness, (though they will never not be with me), little by little, and becoming more established in my grace given strengths.

have a wonderful Lord's day Daniel. Your a gift to your church.
At 1:31 PM, February 25, 2011, Daniel said…

Don,

I accept your kind words knowing that, in truth, every one of us who is in Christ is a gift to our local body, and again, to the church universal.

The weaker I get, the less I trust in me, the stronger I truly am. My old pastor used to say that in Christianity it takes a long time to learn that up is down.
At 6:33 PM, February 25, 2011, donsands said…

Good words Daniel. I agree we are all gifts in a sense.
But you are a biblical gift as well, for Jesus gave "gifts" unto the church, pastor-teachers.
I appreciate our Great Shepherd giving us shepherds to feed us.
Of course he receives all honor and glory.
I have many pastors in my life, and I so appreciate them all. The ones I am locally joined with are most appreciated, but I also appreciate pastors like yourself Daniel.
Keep up the good work brother.
At 7:58 AM, February 26, 2011, Anonymous said…

I appreciate this in particular, Daniel: "how to apply what you have learned to yourself (instead of to others)"

May I share with you what I'm learning now, along those same lines?: http://ourdailythread.blogspot.com/

It's a hard road sometimes, but the more I take my eyes off myself and focus my gaze and heart on Him, I don't even see or feel the bumps in the road. Or if felt, they're just... bumps. In fact, the more I lean on Him, the more I'm grateful for those bumps, because He carries me, and they are opportunities to press harder into Him.