Alright now, Paul, the tremendous Apostle that he was, had problems teaching people, too. Go back with me to I Corinthians chapter 3. The Corinthian Church was the congregation with the most problems. They were the most none-spiritual, because they were believers that were so fleshly minded. They had not, as Hebrews says, gone on into the deeper things. The meeter things of Christ and of God. They too, were guilty of not even understanding the principles of the Word of God. So, if Paul had that problem, don’t feel bad if we do too. It’s not easy to overcome some of these obstacles but we just keep repeating and repeating and repeating and finally it starts soaking in.
I Corinthians 3:1
"And I brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, (or fleshly, earthly not even practical) even as unto (what?) babes (or babies) in Christ."
Now they were professed believers and they had been believers for quite some time but they were still in their infancy, they were still in the corral of learning under the Holy Spirit's training, so far as spiritual things were concerned. What were their problems? They were too hung up on tongues, prophecies, healings, the Law, going to law of pagan courts against each other. They were too busy arguing between themselves who was the greatest, Jesus or Peter or Apollos or Paul. See? And what was that? Carnality. That’s carnal thinking and so he says, "even after all these years I have to treat you as babes in Christ." Now verse 2:
I Corinthians 3:2a
"I have fed you with milk,…" He understood when they were new believers fresh out of paganism that they needed the milk of the Word and so that’s what he gave them. And so he says:
I Corinthians 3:2
"I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: (or the deeper things) for hitherto you were not able to bear it, (that was understandable. But, what does the rest of the verse say?) neither yet now are ye able."
He says "and you still can’t!" Isn’t that something? He says, "I understood that at the beginning when you were new believers that you had to be treated like babes in Christ, but, you haven’t grown a bit and I’m still having to treat you like babes in Christ." Alright, now verse 3, what was their problem?
I Corinthians 3:3a
"For ye are yet carnal:…"
You are more hung up on the external and material things than you are on spiritual. Does that ring a bell? This is where the churches are hung up even today....They follow all kinds of fails doctrines of men and thereby make light of God's Gospel and the cross and Blood of Christ. Here it comes now; We’ve already repeated it.
I Corinthians 3:3b
"…for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men?"
In other words, you walk like the unsaved world, and we’ve already referred to this. Some in the Corinthians Church would argue who they would follow. Some would say, "Well, we follow Apollos, or we think Paul’s the greatest." Others thought it was Peter, and then we had all their other problems. In fact we remind people constantly, that this Corinthian letter was written to confront problems.
The Book of I Corinthians does not admonish spirituality and position like Ephesians and Philippians do. So Paul had to deal with problems in that Church because they weren’t growing. Oh, they were saved - he refers to that. They were believers but they were more concerned with fleshly and material things than they were the spiritual. And that's where our churches are still, there's more unbelievers in them than there are believers. For they don't know what it is that they're to believe even for their salvation. Many think that they're one and the samething but they are not they are two separate events. The first is designed to bring us through trials and tribulations for the perfecting of our trusting into faith and obedience. While under the leadership of the Holy Spirit who reveals to us Truth and Grace. But, Paul was absolutely right in starting them out on the milk of the Word and we're going to take you all the way back to Peter’s little Epistle and see what he says about this.
As you are turning to 1Peter chapter 2 verse 2.
I Peter 2:2a
"As new born babes, (see the illustration? Just like a newly born infant, a human infant.) desire the sincere milk of the word,…"
Now goodness sakes, we imagine every last one of you have been around newborn babes. Usually when they cry, what do they want? They want milk. They’re hungry! And that little body is just crying out for nourishment or changing. Well that’s the way a believer should be - so hungry.
And that’s what thrills us when people are hungry for the Word. They’ve been in these dead churches for so long and when all of sudden they taste of the Word of God they can’t get enough of it, HIM. The people just blew us away with their knowledge and they had never had any of this before in their life. Boy, we mean they just laid it out, one item after another. And we said, "You’ve learned all this just in the last few months?" They said, "They’d never heard it before!" So it’s possible to learn a lot in a short time if you’re hungry.
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