Carnality vs. Spirituality in relationships (1) — Scott MacLeod

That was very enjoyable, William. That was really a lot of theory, but very well presented, kind of the incentive, and I would like to look at the practical outworking of that. So what would you see if you witnessed someone who was living for the kingdom?

The Natural and Spiritual Person in 1 Corinthians

How would that practically be seen in my life? So let's start in 1 Corinthians, please. Chapter two, because we as believers do have a choice whether to live for this world or for the world that's coming, and there's a contrast that is made in 1 Corinthians, and it's summarized under two statements, words.

Look at chapter two, 1 Corinthians chapter two, and verse number, read verse number 14. This is the unsaved individual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God. Now what our brother has given us is what has come from the spirit of God, and it's that future coming kingdom.

For they are foolishness unto him. So if you had a group of people out here that are playing soccer, sit in here and listen to what we just listened to, they would say, what a waste of time. You're nice-looking people, you're pretty up, pretty well, but you're crazy, there's something not right.

Well, we're coming to the word of God. Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. That's what happened when we became born-again believers. The life of God was given to us. It's just not the fact that we're living eternal life.

Life from another world was taken, placed right inside of me. That's why maybe as you were sitting here, listening, there was a little bit of excitement. Yes, I would love to live that way for that. That is possible, we can.

We've been given the life, but we've been given the spirit of God and the word of God. So this is not something that is just for the elite. This is something that's open to all believers. Marvelous thing.

Now, verse 15, here's the first one. "'But he that is spiritual.'". How does a person get to this state of being spiritual? "'Judges all things, "'yea, he himself is judged of no man.'". In the context with the word of God, we're able to allow the word of God to filter into the brain.

And as we look at things that are in front of us, we're able to judge properly and assess things properly. Just keep that in mind. And there's no man that can counter that because you've got the word of God as the foundation that's directing you.

Verse 16, "'For who hath known the mind of the Lord "'that he may instruct him?''. Once you have the mind of the Lord, there's nobody that can come on top of you and tell you you're wrong. There's a lovely reference here to Isaiah 40, but we'll leave that for now.

"'But we have the mind of Christ.'". Look at chapter three, verse one. "'And I, brethren, could not speak unto you "'as unto spiritual, "'but as unto carnal, "'even as unto babes in Christ.'". All right, for the younger folk, what does it mean to be carnal?

In the setting, in the context. We read, we started out with a verse that talked about the natural man, unregenerated. That's the way we were born into this world. That is what you and I were before we became a Christian, found out that Christ died for us.

What is God's intention for you and I with the word of God and the life of God? To be spiritual, to be into the word of God, to allow the word of God to affect us in such a way that we become Christ-like, and therefore it starts to affect our relationships, our interactions, our words, our everything.

God wants to be seen in every part of our lives. What does it mean to be carnal? I don't read like I used to read. I don't go to meeting like I used to go to meeting. My actions start to mimic the behavior of the world.

Oh, I'm saved. I'm gonna be in heaven, but I'm just not enjoying the eternal life that God has given me. I'm like a Samson. I got one foot in the world, one foot in spiritual things, and I find myself playing with them.

That's really what Samson did. He played with the gift and the ability that God had given him, and it wasn't being always used in the proper way to bring glory to God. So what am I today? Would you classify yourself as a spiritual believer?

Or a carnal believer? Now, let's just get a little more detail on that. I mentioned this in Kansas City, but we're going in a different direction with it. We got two ears. I want you to think, between this ear and this ear, I want you to think of a band that stretches a bar from one ear to the other ear.

And in that band, there's a marker, and that marker is able to float to the right or to the left. Now, let's just assume, just a silly little thing, over here stands the world with all of its voices. And over here stands the spirit of God and the word of God.

Coming in here, God is speaking to me. The world, I'm hearing it. What am I giving myself to? If I start to spend more time listening to the world, you know what happens to that marker? It starts to push this way, and it's pushing out the word of God.

And as that marker moves to the right, there's a word that appears in the bar, carnality. And the more I listen to the world, the more I push out, not pay attention to the word of God, that carnality builds in me.

What's the opposite? I veil myself of the word of God. I'm reading, I'm praying, sin is confessed, I'm attending the meetings, I'm just enjoying the life that God has given me. This ear is being filled.

I don't have a lot of time for this. I'm enjoying this, and that marker is moving this way. What's the word that appears? Spiritual. So bring that example to you, to yourself. I'll do it. Am I spending more time in the word of God now than a year ago?

Am I spending more time in Facebook than I did a year ago? And you can start mentioning all the social media things. Sports. Is the sporting world bigger, demanding more time? I all know we need to keep in shape.

I don't like big fat preachers either, so I like to, I do a little workout every day. I wanna be healthy on the way to heaven, all right? I don't wanna be going around with a whole thing of pills. Vitamins, okay, but not pills, not prescription.

I understand that. Balance is so important. Now, here's the other thing that we gotta add into that equation. Voices, voices, the thing is moving. Inside of me, there's something called the flesh, and it will encourage.

Listen to the world. Start thinking like the world, acting like the world. Then on this side, I've got the spirit of God in me, and it's encouraging. Listen to God. Live like Christ. So there's not only this fight out here, what I'm gonna listen to.

There's this struggle inside. Which way am I going to go? Do you find that fight? You find that when you, do you ever find your conscience gets a little smitten? Maybe you have watched two movies from Hollywood, and they certainly don't leave you feeling fairly good, and there's something in there that says, you should stop this.

This is really not benefiting you whatsoever, and you're just a couch potato at this time. So drained. That's all Hollywood does. Do you find it hard to start to study the Bible? Oh, it's so boring. Well, you just don't go from not studying the Bible to all of a sudden, I'm gonna make myself study the whole weekend.

You'll fail. What happens if you start giving yourself to it just a little bit more? Do you know what will happen? The spirit of God will encourage it. You'll start to enjoy it. I'm just talking about very practical, simple things.

The more you get into this book, the more your mind will be lifted above the world. The more you'll start to see that these things in the world are not worth living for. But I wanna move in a different direction.

Spirituality and Generational Relationships

I wanna look now at some very simple things when it comes to being spiritual. Now, this is going to develop just a little bit more later, but I want you to turn to Acts chapter four because we're gonna follow an individual through the book of the Acts.

The first couple of verses we're gonna read are tremendous. Now, you know that we live in a world where there's quite a generational divide. This is ultimately where my mind is going. A mark of spirituality in a young believer and an old believer is how you and I get along.

What do you have out in the world? We don't need you old people. You're just, you're holding us back. And sometimes then on the opposite side, the younger, the older people can look down, they'll be able to say, you always wanna change things.

We don't need you. That's the world. But when I come to my Bible, that's not being spiritual. Okay? Now, I have been impressed with something for a while. I have been impressed with Paul, the older man, how gentle he was with Timothy, the younger man.

And it's amazing that relationship all through Acts and the number of epistles. And I'm wondering, did Paul experience something that affected him now as an older man? I believe he did. We're gonna start to look at the life of Barnabas.

He was the older man. And eventually Paul comes into the picture, the younger man. Barnabas didn't handle it right. I'm gonna show you that. Now, let's just read a few things. The man started out tremendous.

Acts chapter five, we have this tremendous selling. Sorry, chapter four. This is Acts five, follows that of course. The church is just new, it's coming together. And a lot of persecution and people don't have a lot.

So look at what we have in verse number 34. Neither was there yet any among them that lacked. Sorry, Acts four, verse 34. For as many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

And Joses, now that's his original name, Barnabas. Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas. Listen to the meaning, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, exhortation, a Levite. And of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and bought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet.

This man, what a spiritual mark in his life. Willing to sell this great possession. And he just brings the whole lot of it. And he puts it out for the distribution of the believers. There's a man that's kingdom-minded.

He's wanting to help the people of God. And so impressed are the apostles that they rename him. You're gonna be known as the son of consolation. The one that's able to bring comfort, wonderful. Now, let's go to Acts chapter 11.

Let's find out more what's said about this man. And I would covet any one of these statements, if not all of them. Acts 11 brings us 300 plus miles outside of Jerusalem. And we're in a place called Antioch, up in the north.

That's gonna become the Gentile center going out into the world, where Jerusalem is more the Jewish context, flavor. Look at what you read in Acts chapter 11, and verse number 20. Acts 11 and verse number 20.

And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they would come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them. And a great number believed and turned on to the Lord.

What a wonderful thing. God's grace moving through the Gentile world. Then toddies of these things came onto the ears of the church who was at Jerusalem, over 300 miles to the north, to the south, sorry.

And they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch, who when he was come and had seen the grace of God, was glad and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart, they should cleave unto the Lord.

Notice, for he was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. Wow, son of consolation. Good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. Dear child of God, this is a believer that's in touch with heaven.

This is a believer that is literally putty in the hands of God. Great things can be accomplished if he would just stay this way. Therefore, he will end up with a tremendous position in the kingdom. Not that that's what he was looking for, but he's just trying to honor God.

All right, look at this now. Verse number 25. As a result, verse 24, the assembly is formed, there's a large number of people added unto the Lord and so on and so forth. 25, then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul.

That's over 150 miles further to the north and toward the west. Notice, and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch and it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people.

Do you know what Barnabas recognized? I need someone who can teach. I remember Paul. He saw something in the young boy, Paul. Acts 9. He was the one that recommended Paul to the believers in Jerusalem.

And he saw ability, gift. I'm gonna go find that man. Oh, this is good, Barnabas. This is great. You're not self-centered. It's not all about Mr. Barnabas. Isn't that wonderful? When brethren can work with other brothers, it's a mark of spirituality.

Carnality is the opposite. No, it's just me. I'm gonna do this myself. I'm gonna be the main teacher here, not Barnabas. He's full of the Holy Ghost. He's full of faith. He's a good man. And off he goes and he finds Saul and he brings him to Antioch.

And over a year, they're teaching the word of God. Wonderful. Well, let's go to chapter nine. Acts chapter nine. I think I referenced this already. Chapter 27. This is where, this will give you the full picture where Paul goes off into where Barnabas finds him.

Acts chapter nine. I just referenced this quickly, but I'll give you the reference. Verse 27, he's trying to join himself to the church in Jerusalem. Paul, Saul. Verse 27, but Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared unto him how he had seen the Lord in the way.

That was a number of years ago. Come down to verse number 20, 30. Which when the brother knew, they brought him, Paul, down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus. And that's where we picked up the story.

In Acts chapter 11, Paul goes off into Tarsus for two to three years and he learns God's ways, develops as a believer. And then finally, unbeknown to him, Barnabas comes into the picture and takes him over here to the work in Antioch.

Let's go back to chapter 11. Obviously, there's testimony building. I want you to notice a job, a mission, if you want to call it that way, is given to them. Look at chapter 11, verse 29. You have this famine and it affects the believers in Jerusalem.

Verse 29 of chapter 11. They've been over a year here in Antioch. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea, which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of, please notice the order, Barnabas and Saul.

The older man taking the lead, Saul is following and learning. So let's just pause for a minute. Let me address the younger people for just a minute. Do you have a willingness to learn? To be taught? To be led?

Because that world will not teach you that. It's my way or the highway. No one's going to tell me what to do. I want to encourage you today. You don't know everything. I once thought I knew everything.

Arrogant little pup. I did. And I thought a Bible study, another opportunity to show my knowledge. Carnality, raw, wicked flesh. I'm telling on myself. Did not honor God. If an older person tried to come along and, just a second now.

That's carnality. Now, dear older saint, is there a willingness in you to try to put your hand on a younger believer? No, they're not going to listen anyway. Carnality. That's what that is. So-and-so has tried.

No, no, no, don't just write them off right away. Don't do that. Don't do that. I love a verse in Romans. God is able to make them stand. I discovered that as I get older. I believe, if I don't believe this, I should get off this platform.

As I look over this audience, I have to have confidence in God that God is able to make every one of you stand. No matter what your age is, no matter what difficulty you're presently going through, no matter what you're fighting with in your family.

Maybe they go different places and everything else. Every single one of us had to, at one point, by truth, we had to get to the word of God and find out why we're doing what we're doing. And we gotta get it into perspective to the coming kingdom.

And I have to be able to stand on my own two feet, not always depending on people around me. So dear older saint, be patient with us. With us. I said that to make myself feel better. I was in a store at home.

Man, I had a rough year. I walked into the car parts and the young pup behind the counter said, hey old timer, what? It caught me so quick off guard. I went, well, that's a great way to start the day.

And then I'm in the grocery store. Would you like the seniors discount? No, I don't want the seniors discount. Well, I am over 55. And then I was speaking to a younger believer and I said, you know, I love working with older men.

And you know what he said to me? You are the older man. Stop. Maybe you think differently as you get older. Sure you do. Young people, we need you, but we don't need you with attitude. We need you. Older folks, we're not gonna be here forever.

None of us are. You know, I've a little tiny bit over the last number of years comes to come to grips with. I am only a little tiny cog in the massive kingdom of God. And God has given me just a short little time just to do a little tiny work.

And guess what? Somebody's coming behind me. Now here's the test. What if they got more gift than you and me? That can't be possible. Nobody can speak like I can speak. Nobody can preach the gospel like I can preach.

Nobody can visit like I can visit. Nobody can be a shepherd like I can be a shepherd. Are you the sum total of the kingdom of God? No. God is wisdom has distributed it so that none of us will get lifted up with pride thinking it began with me and it ends with me.

Humility, Giftedness, and the Continuation of Ministry

Look at what Paul had to say to these believers in Corinth. I wish I could speak to you as spiritual, but I can't. You're carnal. What does he say further in Corinthians? Did the word of God come out from you?

Are you the source of it? No, you're not the source of it. It'd be a wonderful thing if you and I, if I could just grab a hold the privilege of just being linked with the kingdom of God, what he's doing, and this little tiny part.

God wants me to encourage those coming along. Do you want the kingdom of God to continue after you're dead? I do. So why wouldn't I encourage someone who's able to pick up the, what's it called, battalion.

Did I get that right? I don't watch sports, so I don't really know these things. And carry it. And why can't we enjoy it? My father at 94, 92, know what he said to me? My father took a big part in the local assembly, an elder for 50 years.

He says, God, I can't take part like I used to. My brain just doesn't work fast enough. The words just don't come clear enough. He says, you know what I love? I love listening to the young and the middle-aged carrying it on.

There's a man that's spiritual, and he says I'm praying for them. Not jealous, not envious, not bitter that I can't do it again, I can't keep doing it. You might say, why are you going over all that? Because here's what I want you to see from the word of God, it's marvelous.

Barnabas and Saul: From Shared Ministry to Changing Leadership

You're gonna see this just in a second. This man, Barnabas, he had such good things said about him. And the actions are seen, and he takes this man, Paul, and he brings him into the mix. And then they see this development, and all of a sudden now the church at Antioch feels confident that we can put this large sum of money into their hands, and here it is carried up to Jerusalem, and it's delivered to the saints in Jerusalem, and we find that they come back.

And then there's more teaching that goes on in Antioch. You know the sad thing that you start to read to in the book of the Acts? There came a point where the contention was so great between Paul and Barnabas that they just divided.

I don't like reading to that point. That's sad. Isn't it nice just the way we end at chapter 11? Look at these two brethren, look at the older and the younger, look at them going together in the work of God, united, going to help the believers in the south in Jerusalem, wonderful.

I wish it could always be that way. Am I speaking to someone here and you've had a bit of a falling out with older? Am I speaking to some older and you had some falling out with younger? Can I encourage you to fix it?

Well, I'm not gonna do anything until he comes first. What would the spiritual person do? He'd go first. Hard, isn't it? Oh, it's easy to preach the stuff. I find it's easy to explain every word, all the grammar in a Bible study, but to try to get it into these feet, man, that's the test.

What am I listening to? Where's the marker? Maybe I've come to this conference and I didn't realize how carnal I was. But you can change it, we can all change. We got the spirit of God, we got the word of God, all that God's looking for is the desire.

That's all. All right, let's look at chapter 12 quickly, five minutes. Look at chapter 12, verse number 24. As a result, harmony, unity, marvelous. But the word of God grew and multiplied. And Barnabas, notice Barnabas is first, and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and took with them John, whose surname was Mark.

Now, look at what happens in chapter 13. I want you to notice the list of preachers and teachers in Antioch. It starts with Barnabas. And there's a whole bunch of names mentioned. Notice who's at the end, Saul.

That's nice. The older man is taking the lead. I see the younger man, Saul, I see a lovely spirit here. He's at the end. Oh, he's teaching too, but he's learning, do a lot of learning, wonderful. Then look what happens in verse number two.

As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, separate me, Barnabas, notice Barnabas is first, and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them. So here we're just getting more development, more maturity, and God has greater things.

Now it's gonna go at a much wider, the first missionary journey, gonna be a much wider scope. Look at verse number four. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed, and so on. Come down to verse number six.

And when they had gone through the isle onto Patmos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bargesus, which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for, knows the order, Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.

And then you got this sorcerer comes into the mix. All of a sudden, verse nine, Paul takes the lead. Then Saul, and his name is changed, who is called Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and he actually performs a miracle.

The sorcerer becomes blind. I want you to notice what happened now, verse 13. Now when, who's first? Paul and his company. Barnabas' name is not even mentioned. You ever watch an eclipse? Uh-oh, this is the first time it changes.

Up until this point, Barnabas, Saul, Barnabas, Saul, Barnabas, Saul, Barnabas, Saul, Barnabas, Saul, Barnabas, Saul, Saul, and his company. Uh-oh. I remember what Sandy Higgins said once, and it stayed with me till this day.

Here's what he said. We all have great respect for Mr. Higgins. He said, I had no trouble encouraging younger men when they were beneath me, rising up. But he said, the minute they started to surpass me, the compliments dried up.

Ooh, that's an honest statement. Do you know why? Because we all have it. But Lord, I don't want someone bigger and brighter than me. I am the end all, be all. No, I'm not. No, you're not. Remember the little cog.

And we're just in a series of little cogs. And it's all underneath the umbrella of the mighty work of God. Isn't that wonderful? It will help you to properly find your place. And when I get a hold of where this ultimately is going, as our brother introduced us to, then it starts to filter into my life.

And here's a request of mine. I'll just let you into a little bit of my private praying to my Lord in heaven. Lord, when I stand before you at the judgment seat, I want you to be able to tell me, Scott, thanks for encouraging the younger brother or sister that I gifted.

You weren't threatened by it. You weren't jealous of it. You genuinely tried to help them. Which one of us would be here if it wasn't for help from older folks in the past? I stand here as a tremendous benefit of an older generation that helped me, gave me correction when I needed it, but gave me lots of encouragement when I needed it.

Now we're gonna, if I get a chance to speak again, we'll keep following the story. Because what you'll notice is from this point, Paul, Barnabas, Paul, Barnabas, Paul. And it seems that Paul just keeps rising and rising.

And I'm wondering if there was a little bit of a storm inside of Barnabas that was building. And all of a sudden there's a point where they, may the Lord preserve us. The devil doesn't like unity. Doesn't like young and old getting along.

So may the Lord help us to honor God and look after one another. Thank you.