Friday, September 15, 2017

Milk or Meat?


1 Corinthians 3:1-3 “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?”

Is passage of Holy Scripture has always challenged me to put a “stake in the ground” to determine where I am in my spiritual walk with the Lord, and measure my maturing experiences, to be aware of my current position, and develop plans to correct to deficiencies in my growth, while celebrating, perfecting, improving successes along the road of life on this journey and continuing to add new ideas, skills and experiences in line with the will of God that push and expand the boundaries for the kingdom of Heaven. It is so easy to get a glass of milk (the general principles of Christianity and foundational truths of God and the Gospel) and sit back on auto-pilot or cruise-control in this life, but progress not the work of the kingdom doesn’t work that way. There is no “easy street” in the development of Christian fieldworkers or soldiers and the vocation labors of the true Child of God. The Bible passage above states that at this point in their spiritual lives, the Corinthian Christians should be consuming meat (having grown deeply in study and experience, and matured stronger and further in the faith), but instead they are only drinking milk (immature and superficial in their walk with the Lord). They were babes in Christ, So, where do I stand as far as milk or meat is the question?

Galatians 5:13-25 “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” 

The Latin word for “flesh” is Carné, where we get our word “carnality”, meaning the (contrary to the Spirit) sinful desires of the flesh nature of humans.  I read a truth in Christian growth article explaining that it is God’s eternal intention for every one of us that we grow in the Spirit and to maturity in Jesus Christ. There is no place for fig trees or grape vines without fruit; that is not their purpose. Likewise, the whole process of “Sanctification” is a life-long growing process into the likeness of the Lord Jesus and being fruitful in life. How do we do that? Pastor Kennedy states, first of all, through the Word of God. One of the ways you can tell if you are “born anew” from above by the Holy Spirit is that as a newborn babe in Christ, you desire the sincere milk of the Word of God in the Holy Scriptures of the Bible. We are not talking about a feeling. We are talking about the knowledge that we are in need of the living Word.  

John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”

Kennedy requests, may I ask you how much time did you spend in the Word of God this week? Do you study the Word of God? Do you hide, keep and treasure the Word of God in your heart? Do you meditate upon that Word of God in the slow and dark night seasons? That is absolutely essential. Without abiding in it, you cannot live. Deprive your newborn baby of milk, and that child will die. Our spiritual life desperately needs the nourishing milk of the Word of God that we may grow thereby, and as we grow stronger, we can then feed upon the meat. We should be taking deeper bites into the Holy Word to continually increase in disciple experience and biblical knowledge that leads to godly wisdom for living and witnessing for Christ.


Lord, give me the strength to desire Your Word more and more. Help me to abide in Christ to grow and mature in You. You are the One that causes growth and new leaves and fruit. We praise your holy name.

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