Carnality vs. Spirituality in relationships (2) — Scott MacLeod

Carnality and Spirituality in Christian Character

So, let's go back to Acts 13 for a minute, just before our dinner, we'll try to finish what we had upon our minds, kind of flows nicely with what we have heard about the reality of living what we profess to believe.

That is what speaks the loudest to, I think, a world that's full of unreality. So, there's such a thing as Christian character. Sometimes we make excuses for a person's bad character, oh, you know, that's just the way they are.

But when it comes to having the life of God in us, and the spirit of God, and the word of God, and all of the teaching that we have, I believe there should be an outliving of that knowledge. And I believe you have to see that in order for there to be life.

So, this is what we're practically looking at, the flesh and the spirit, carnality, spirituality. Verse number 13 of Acts 13, this is where everything changed. Prior to this, it's Barnabas and Saul, Barnabas and Saul, the older with the younger.

Then we find there's this miracle done by Paul, and then we read verse 13 of Acts 13. Now, when Paul and his company, for the first time now, Barnabas is underneath the umbrella of Paul, which is quite a significant thing.

Now, turn over to verse quickly, end of verse 13, notice this again. There's a lot more preaching going on. Verse number 43, now, when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas.

Verse 46, then Paul and Barnabas. Verse 50, same, Paul and Barnabas. You can see how the changeover is staying consistent. Come into chapter 14, you'll find verse number 9, Paul speaks. Verse 11, the people saw what Paul had done.

Notice what they do. Verse 12, they call Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius because he was the chief speaker. Now, dear brother, how do you handle someone who speaks more than you in the assembly when you think you have the better gift?

See where that's going? That's carnality. When I can't rejoice in another brother exercising God-given gift, there's something wrong with me, not him. Okay? Now, we're touching back to our brother Gary's comment, message yesterday on the body, the human body.

And we just... I find it amazing how the Lord Jesus, the Spirit of God gives us things that we just get used to every single day. Like there's no jealousy in any, inward, outward, whatever. The whole thing is living and existing for the whole.

You say, I understand that, that's just logic, right? But now we're dealing with the human. And this is where I think it has to start, where we have to, as spiritual brothers and sisters coming to the Word of God, letting the Word of God search us, we have to allow it to show what's on the inside.

I have a very wicked heart called the flesh. It's always, coming back to my example yesterday, it's always pushing that bar, filling up carnality. That's what it's doing all the time. And if I'm not offsetting it with the Word of God that's trying to bring the spiritual side in, and the Spirit of God is encouraging that.

Cultivating Encouragement Instead of Jealousy

I was taught by my father years ago as a young believer. He says, Scott, you develop a habit of complimenting people. Do it when you're young, because if you don't, you won't do it when you're older. If you enjoy a person's ministry, gospel, prayer, worship, you go tell them.

Don't be afraid that they're going to get a rung up on you. Sometimes that's what holds back compliments, is the fear they just might outdo me. And then you hear the justification for not doing it. Well, they'll get a big head.

Well, we got to guard against getting a big head, but there's all kinds of critical pins out there, I find. And sometimes people, we do get used to one another, and sometimes we can say things glibly, like just off the cuff, and they really hurt.

We need to be careful. This body would never... I mean, if all of a sudden, you're sitting there watching me preach, and all of a sudden, I took my fist and went, bang, you'd probably just jump. That's not normal.

There's something wrong with that man. Bang, hit myself again. We can get so used to tearing one another apart. What's at the base of it? Carnality. Now, this dear man, Barnabas, I do not want to be critical of him.

Barnabas Tested Through Family and Ministry

I just want to give you what the Word of God gives us. I love the way the man started. So many positive statements. I covet each one of them. You and I will be tested. We're always being tested. But here's what I learned from Barnabas.

Here's what I learned from Moses. We don't normally think we're going to be tested in our strong points because we kind of think we don't need help there. So we're more watching our weaker points. Barnabas is going to be tested in what he was noted for, consolation.

Can you bring peace into the situation? You're going to find out that he can't. Now, did you notice when they returned from Jerusalem, who did they pick up? Mark. Now, if we start to follow Mark's little journey, we're going to discover that on the first missionary journey, when Paul and Barnabas are sent out here, you're going to find out that Mark is going to turn back at a certain point.

When the gospel now is moving fully into the Gentile side of things, it almost seems like Mark can't take it, being such a true bred Jew. And he turns back and he goes back to Jerusalem. You know what you find out in the word of God?

Barnabas is related to Mark. He's a nephew. Barnabas' sister's son. You might think, why would the word of God throw that in? You watch out that your blood connection doesn't cause you to act carnal. It's called, it'll test your spiritual oomph, right?

I have witnessed too many elders stand firm on things, talking doctrine, brethren, not issues, doctrine. And the minute their kids start going in a different direction, they switch. That's carnality. It's not spiritual.

We have to be able to take this Bible and always remind ourselves that it trumps everything. It trumps relationship. It trumps interactions. I've gotta let it be the governor of my life. That is what the spirit of God would encourage.

Gideon’s Courage Against Idolatry

So I love that dear man getting so much in the word of God, even though he didn't end very well. But the first thing that God wanted him to do, you tear down your father's idol. Tear it down. It was an idol to Baal.

And we might get all critical that he did it at night. Fine, I don't care when he did it, just the very fact that he did it tells me a lot about the man. And he was able to stand against dad's idol and dad's religion.

I think God honored him because the father then ends up, no, let Baal defend himself. So sometimes we can be afraid, but brother and sister, God is bigger. So here's this dear man. Now, let's just keep, let's read the sad account.

Okay, so let's just move a little bit further now. You will notice, this is interesting. I find this interesting, verse number 14 of chapter 14 before we leave. Which when the apostles, now these people are coming out thanking their gods and they're renaming them and they're giving them gifts.

It's interesting that it switches to the older man. I think it shows us the wisdom of the older man. Verse 14, which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, all of a sudden it just reverses. Maybe it should have been Paul the first one to speak out.

No, don't give us gifts. No, we're just men. Maybe Paul, the younger man, maybe he liked the attention. That's something we ought to watch out for. I'm speaking to you with a little bit of experience.

It's sad to have to tell on myself. There was a time in my life when I would have went to a conference as a preacher, and I wanted to have the better word. Pride, sin, carnality. I'm just being honest with you.

See, what amazes me is even in a spirit like that, God can still use you. But it's not the ideal. It's not what God ultimately wants. So maybe there's a bit of a showing through of Barnabas, and just, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, this is not right.

The Jerusalem Controversy Over Law and Grace

Okay, good, wonderful. Now, then look at verse number 19. Of course, they stone Paul, and then he departs with Barnabas. Now, come over to chapter 15. Now, the reason I brought up Mark, chapter 15 happens.

You have verse number two. Therefore, Paul and Barnabas had no small... Notice the reversal, Paul and Barnabas. Look at verse number two again. They determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others should go up to Jerusalem.

What happened in Antioch? There were these Jewish teachers supposedly claimed that they came from Jerusalem with authority from James, and they come up to these Gentile believers. We find out from Galatians chapter two that Peter was there, and Peter, prior to that event, a Jew, he was eating with the Gentiles.

And all of a sudden, into the assembly comes these Jewish people, and they're saying, oh, you got to keep law. What does Peter do? He withdraws from the Gentiles. I'm going to stop eating what you eat.

He's really putting himself back under law. Do you know what you find out in Galatians? Barnabas was taken into a two. Paul was the one that stood strong against it. It almost would seem now that Paul's got the better insight into the situation.

This, there's a greater thing going on here. You're trying, what you're eventually going to do if you allow, as our brother William said about loopholes, what Paul saw was this by the spirit of God. You allow this to continue, and you're going to divide the Gentile work and the Jew work.

Compassionate Preaching Without Compromising Hell

Now, I'll just pick up, I agree 100 with what my brother just said heartily. We can start to divide the gospel work by that type of preaching. These people that mention hell are too hard. We don't want them.

We just like these people. It's polished. It's soft. Now, just because I have truth doesn't mean I can be arrogant, hard, rude in your face. There should be compassion, just a care, a concern, because hell is real.

We know that. So therefore, that reality, I was impressed my nephew, he would go at home on the island, he would go to a Bible chapel, and definitely a saved man. And we have wonderful talks about the word of God.

He's a young man digging into the word of God. And where my mother-in-law was in an old age home, he exercised. He would come in, and he's very good with music. And he would sing some hymns, and then have a little word, and sing some more hymns, and have a little word.

Now, get this, right next to the room where my mother-in-law was, here is a devout Roman Catholic older person. And after a little bit of time, she went and saw this thing. And here's what she said to my wife.

That man really believes what he's saying. He's so sincere. It's real. I'm going to add him to my prayer list. Well, OK. Whether the woman's saved, I don't know. Whether it's just a part of the beat, I don't know.

But I was impressed with this woman. Just never met him before, but just saw the reality of what he was saying. Now, that's a little bit of a diversion. So what we end up here in chapter 15 is, then they go up to Jerusalem.

And the whole thing is straightened out. And then they come back. Go to the end of chapter 15 quickly. Verse number 36, and some days after, Paul, notice, taking the lead, said unto Barnabas, let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do.

And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. Now, he had previously left the work. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work.

And the contention, Barnabas is noted for constellation, and the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder, one from the other. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed on to Cyprus.

And Paul chose Silas and departed. I find this interesting, being recommended. Paul and Silas being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. Now, there's where it ends with Barnabas. That's it.

Spirituality Seen in Restoration

That's how he leaves scripture. Now, I would say, to Barnabas's credit, he didn't seem to poison Mark against Paul, because as we move ahead in time, here now is Paul near the end. And he says, take Mark.

He's profitable to the ministry. Take him. So Paul is a man that believed in restoration. Now, you see, brothers and sisters, that's another mark of spirituality. Are you able to forgive, forget, and a person can be restored to God?

Or do you always hold them in suspicion? Better not give them too much responsibility. They might fail again. I'm glad that Paul is the spiritual one. Mark, you take him. He's profitable to the ministry.

I have heard individuals say, elders, once a person has been excommunicated, they'll never come back into this hall. You're bringing carnality into it. That's not the purpose of discipline. Discipline is always to restore and to recover.

But I could take you to that story and show you the blood connection. There was a big hurt. The person was being tested. I can tell you of an individual who was disciplined, put out of the assembly. They're back in the assembly.

Thank God. It hurt me personally. I believe in full restoration to God and to the local assembly. I believe that God is able. You know what I notice as the older I'm getting? When I meet people that are critical like that, you're not into your Bible allowing the Bible to be critical on you.

Examining Motives and Rejecting Self-Glory

When I see or hear of someone that falls into sin, first thing I do is I look inward here. Oh, Lord, preserve me. I'm capable. Then the very next question I ask is this. Did I do something? Did I say something that might have caused this?

Instead of just putting the blame on them. I don't think we realize how much we're being tested. I don't think we realize how much carnality is in the very everything that we do. I could ask every single person here today that took part in worship.

Why did you worship? Is it because your friend worshipped? I heard a bunch of young people. You went out to the skateboard park and you did a little preaching. And then you went a little bit and you sang.

Marvelous, wonderful, praise the Lord. Why did you do it? To be seen? Because no one else is doing it? Self-glory? It's good to analyze. Why do we do what we do? Dear young child, be careful of YouTube.

This is what bothers me. I'm all for street preaching. But when you start to take videos of your street preaching and you're panning the audience and you're putting it up for everybody to notice, do it without the video.

No one needs to know. We are so into, that's the world that we're in. Show everybody everything. I think if I could just get occupied with the eyes of God upon me, it would cause me to not even bother going beyond that to your eyes.

I just love to think of the Lord Jesus. I love to think of the 100 purity of everything he did. Just one thing, the glory of the Father. What a wonderful... And as our brother said, these things are written, we can do that.

God hasn't given us this unreachable standard of being like his son. Why would he give us that if we can't do it? We can. I believe it's what's expected of us. So here's this dear man, and then there's where it ends.

Paul’s Gentleness Toward Timothy

I just find that sad. You know, older, younger, this is where I feel now Paul is going to deal with a Timothy, and he's the younger man. You ever marvel, I said this yesterday, you ever marvel at the gentleness and the care that Paul has for this young man, Timothy?

And I wonder where it came from. Now, you know I'm a very big fan of... I love the dear man. He's been very, very kind to me. I'm just telling you my own personal conviction. I know he's not perfect. I'm not perfect.

I've determined before the Lord, and I've asked the Lord to give me help, never to fall it with him. I don't care what he says to me. I just don't care. I find it so sad when you have younger and older, and at one point, they were together, glorifying God.

And there it is. See, if we could just get a hold of the big picture, I think it would make a wonderful change. Now, we've got a few minutes left. I want to show a few other things. Romans 16, quickly.

Recognizing the Authority of Elders

I've been noticing these as I go through the Word of God. Things that I notice about Paul, and I can't get too deep into this because the grammar is a little complicated, but I'll just give you what it means, and if you want to search it out, that's fine.

This very first one is this. Do you know what a mark of spirituality is? It's if you know your place. You know what a mark of carnality is? You're always stepping out of your place. Now, notice this, chapter 16, verse 1.

I commend unto you, Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church, which is at Caesarea, that ye receive her in the Lord, as become as saints. Now, the grammar, that you receive her. In contrast to chapters 14 and 15, it's a different word.

Grammar is different. Chapter 14, 15, that you receive, it's a command. But when you're in chapter 16, it's not a command. Do you know what Paul is doing? Paul is only requesting that the receiving elders receive her.

He's not commanding them to do it. Do you know what Paul is recognizing? Paul is recognizing the authority of elders. Do you recognize the authority of elders? Or are you always fighting with them? It's a mark of carnality if you're always fighting with them.

I could tell you, coming to preachers for a minute, we should beat up on them a little bit. I don't come from Canada as a lone star here to Ankeny and just, I'll just do what I want. I recognize the God-given oversight that's here in Ankeny.

If you tell me to preach on this side of the podium, I will stand here and preach. Just that simple. That's how I view it now. There was a time in my life when I fought, didn't understand. I was out of place, wrong.

Marvelous thing to just to learn from the apostle Paul. Let's give you another one. 1 Corinthians chapter 8. This brings us into the assembly because this affects so much. We have to end here. 12 .30 was our dinner.

Christian Liberty and Bearing With the Weak

I'll have to end with this. There's so many of these, but we'll just leave you with this here. This is something that I think we're missing today. I wish my young people get a hold of this. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 13.

Actually, Brother Gary mentioned this yesterday. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh, while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. Do you think you're a strong Christian?

Do you know what Romans chapter 15 tells me a strong Christian is? If you're able to bear one another's weaknesses, liberty, what would we call them, scruples. We live in a world today where it's all about entitlement, it's all about me.

And then we can come into the assembly, and you know what it's like? I don't care if what I say or does offend you, I'm gonna do it. That's a mark of carnality. If I could just get a hold of how valuable you are to God.

If I'm willing just to, I've said it many times, I'll make it simple so we all get it. I wear a wedding band, that's pretty obvious. If just one person walked up to me at dinner and said, Scott, that offends me.

I'll pull it off right in front of you and I'll put it in my pocket. It's a liberty. I'm not in bondage to it. It doesn't add anything to me or take anything away from me. It's a liberty. What's the big deal?

What's more important is you. These are simple things. I hope you can see as I come to an end how subtle the flesh is in carnality. And then we almost start to look at it and we're like, it's really spirituality.

No, it's not. It's rank human wicked flesh. May the Lord help us. Let me end with this. John chapter four, read it. Wonderful. First couple of verses. There's a rumor being spread that the Lord Jesus baptizing more disciples than John.

You know what the spirit of God does? Adds in this. Jesus baptized none. What's the next verse? The Lord left. How do you handle rumors? Stand and defend my character. Why didn't the Lord do that? He just walked away.

Just left it to God. There's a mark of spirituality. Don't fight. Leave it with God. So dear child of God, I trust that these things will be a help to us so we can, we can search our own heart and go, look at that, Lord, give me help.