{"id":23173,"date":"2022-04-19T07:05:32","date_gmt":"2022-04-19T12:05:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/?p=23173"},"modified":"2022-04-19T07:05:57","modified_gmt":"2022-04-19T12:05:57","slug":"what-those-in-the-flesh-resent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/what-those-in-the-flesh-resent\/","title":{"rendered":"What those in the flesh resent"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFor the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not subject itself to the things of God, for it is not even able to do so\u201d (Romans 8:7).<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0not <\/em>just that believers and unbelievers think<\/em> in different ways.\u00a0 Rather, it\u2019s that spiritually-minded Christians and carnally-minded church members (let\u2019s assume they are believers, but it\u2019s hard to know) also act and value in opposite ways.<\/p>\n

Let the church take notice.<\/p>\n

In an article on sacrificial giving, I made a statement that attracted drew a lot of attention: Those who are in the flesh resent being told they are in the flesh.<\/em><\/p>\n

More than one reader reacted to that in anger.\u00a0 (Thus proving the point, some might conclude.)<\/p>\n

God\u2019s shepherds (i.e., pastors of all varieties) can appreciate the strong division Scripture makes between being spiritually minded and carnally minded.\u00a0 The Lord\u2019s Word does not allow a blurring of that line, but draws a stark contrast between the two.\u00a0 \u201cThe mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace\u201d (Romans 8:6).<\/p>\n

The reality of the dichotomy, the reasons for it, and the results that follow are vastly different. (No, that is not a sermon outline, although it might work. One hopes, however, that every preacher knows \u201calliteration doth not a sermon make.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Two passages of Scripture deal with this division, the opposing operations of \u201cthe mind set on the spirit\u201d and \u201cthe mind set on the flesh.\u201d\u00a0 Romans 8 (here) and also First Corinthians chapters 2 and 3.<\/p>\n

Now, we know the spiritually-minded are redeemed Christ-followers. They are saved. But are the carnally-minded saved?<\/em>\u00a0 Answer: They may be either. Unsaved people are, of course, \u201cin the flesh\u201d since they have not been \u201cborn of the Spirit.\u201d\u00a0 However, immature believers may look and act, walk and think, \u201cin the flesh\u201d also, thus confusing the issue.\u00a0 This is one reason we preachers must be careful in assuming everyone who does not act like Christ is lost and needs to \u201cget saved.\u201d They could simply be immature, untaught, and in need of a friend in Christ.<\/p>\n

Our primary concern here is with church members who are carnal.\u00a0 They may look just like lost people, but based on First Corinthians 3:1-4, we conclude they are immature believers who are not walking or thinking \u201cin the Spirit.\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When a firefighter arriving on the scene prepares to enter a burning building, the colleague who has just come from the fire shouts out instructions and warnings based on what he has learned: \u201cWatch out for that stairway\u2013it\u2019s about to fall.\u00a0 The roof is next to come.\u00a0 Stay to your left. The children\u2019s room is just ahead. If the heat is too intense, get out of there.\u201d\u00a0 That sort of thing.<\/p>\n

To the Lord\u2019s faithful workers, Romans 8 was given.\u00a0 The caution early in the chapter about the competition between the flesh and the spirit are essential truths for God\u2019s people. A quick scan of verses 4 through 9\u2026.<\/p>\n

Verse 4<\/strong> \u2014 God\u2019s law will not be fulfilled by walking in the flesh but walking according to the Spirit. (Something inside sinful man wants to believe otherwise, that all that counts is sitting in church an hour a week, giving some money, uttering a few memorized prayers.\u00a0 Not even close.)<\/p>\n

Verse 5<\/strong> \u2014 Those who live according to the flesh (\u201cthe carnally minded\u201d) are identified by the way they \u201cset their mind\u201d on the\u00a0things of the flesh.<\/em>\u00a0 And what might those things be?\u00a0 Answer: The things which are seen (see 2 Corinthians 4:18).\u00a0 Tangible things. That might include the money we have in the bank, the vote for\/against a situation, and all the obstacles preventing a certain course of action.\u00a0 The invisible things\u2013these would include faith, love, hope, and the Holy Spirit Himself!\u2013are of lesser value to such a one.<\/p>\n

Verse 5<\/strong> \u2014 Those who live according to the Spirit are identified by the way they \u201cset their mind\u201d on the things of the Spirit.\u00a0 And what are the\u00a0\u201cthings of the Spirit\u201d?<\/em>\u00a0Start with God the Father Himself (He is Spirit, according to John 4:24), and then go to love, faith, hope, humility, service, and such.\u00a0 Spirit-filled Christ-followers place a high value on these; the fleshly among us not so much.<\/p>\n

Verse 6<\/strong> \u2014 The road marked \u201ccarnal\u201d leads to a dead end, to death.\u00a0 The path marked \u201cspirit\u201d leads to life and peace.\u00a0 No contrast could be more stark.\u00a0 Wise people choose a path by where it leads; the lost will take anything available.<\/p>\n

Verse 7<\/strong> \u2014 The carnal mind hates God.\u00a0 It is hostile to Him.\u00a0 It refuses to yield to His instruction, which it may see as foolish, irrelevant, outdated, not applicable to this situation, and impractical. No church should ever put a carnal-minded person in a place of leadership.\u00a0 Do so and you are asking for big trouble.<\/p>\n

Verse 8<\/strong> \u2014 The carnally minded, in short, cannot please God.\u00a0 No amount of striving \u201caccording to the flesh\u201d with good works and impressive projects will win the favor of the Father. \u201cWithout faith it is impossible to please God\u201d (Hebrews 11:6).\u00a0 \u201cWe walk by faith and not by sight\u201d (2 Corinthians 5:7).\u00a0 \u201cThe just shall live by faith\u201d (Habakkuk 2:4 and Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11).<\/p>\n

Verse 9<\/strong> \u2014 Paul then says, \u201cBut you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s the question, whether the Lord\u2019s Spirit lives in us.\u00a0 And lest any one split hairs and insist that a person might have Jesus but not the Spirit, or the contrary, Paul says, \u201cIf anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is alive because of righteousness\u201d (v. 10).\u00a0 Plain enough? It is for me.<\/p>\n

All right. Let\u2019s get to it.\u00a0 Here are some statements we believe to be bankable about the fleshly among us.<\/p>\n

Those who are in the flesh are going to resent\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

1) Being told they are in the flesh.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They are high in their own estimation and \u201centitled.\u201d\u00a0 When leaders are chosen\u2013deacons, chairs of this committee or members of that board\u2013they often feel slighted if passed over.\u00a0 (Church member: Never ever place someone in a position of leadership who would get mad if overlooked. They do not qualify.)<\/p>\n

2) Being asked to act in the Spirit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tithe when they cannot see how their bills will be paid? Not hardly. Witness to a neighbor who is an angry drunk? Not in this lifetime.\u00a0 Follow a pastor whom they do not like? You\u2019re asking too much.\u00a0 Not knowing how to submit and thinking carnally, they see doing so as caving in to the enemy and \u201cviolating who I am.\u201d The stories I could tell you!!<\/p>\n

3) Being called upon to do anything by faith.\u00a0 \u201cUnreasonable!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

A banker who was our church treasurer\u2013through no decision of mine!\u2013admitted that when I spoke of the church doing things by faith, he interpreted that as the pastor having his head in the clouds. Such is the carnal mind.<\/p>\n

4) Being called on to do something difficult now with a delayed payoff out in the future.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our Lord instructed His people to take care of the poor and needy among us.\u00a0 Do this, He said, and \u201cYou will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous\u201d (Luke 14:14). The carnal-minded will have none of that.\u00a0 Some will criticize the pastor for a revival that cost big bucks but brought in no new members.\u00a0 A waste, they say. They place no value on seed-sowing, on encouragement, on edifying in the faith.<\/p>\n

5) Being told the unvarnished truth.\u00a0 They like the truth in broad generalities and easy doses.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The carnal do not mind sin being preached to so long as the preacher doesn\u2019t get too specific, but if you call out the very infractions of which they are guilty, they react in anger.<\/p>\n

6) Being reminded of eternity, of judgment, and of hell.<\/strong><\/p>\n

No one was more \u2018in the flesh\u201d than the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus\u2019 day, which perhaps prompted so many of His warnings of hell.\u00a0 These people, of course, were enraged.\u00a0 If anyone was entitled to Heaven, it was they. I think of a gospel song from my childhood, \u201cIf anyone makes it, precious Lord, then surely I will.\u201d The hubris of that is staggering. The quickest way out of town is for the pastor to tell these people they stand in danger of hell fire.<\/p>\n

7) Being asked to submit to spiritual authority.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The carnal mind will insist he is glad to submit to the pastor \u201cas long as he\u2019s in the right. But if I think he\u2019s wrong, it would be sinful for me to follow him.\u201d\u00a0 Submission has no meaning for such a one.\u00a0 (See Ephesians 5:21 and Hebrews 13:17).\u00a0 Submission means to give in even when you think you are right. Otherwise, it\u2019s a meaningless concept.\u00a0 (Do not miss this.\u00a0 To say, \u201cI will submit to you when I agree with you,\u201d is to say \u201cI will accompany you if I was already going that way.\u201d\u00a0 And that is pointless. Submission is only submission when we humble ourselves, give up something we wanted, and agree to \u201cdo it your way.\u201d That is the key to Christian unity, and the very reason some churches have none.\u00a0 Carnal leaders do not know how to submit and cannot model it for others.)<\/p>\n

The carnal guy reasons, \u201cThat preacher thinks because he has a seminary education, he ought to lord it over us.\u00a0 I was running a business when he was still in grade school.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not the pastor\u2019s education that makes him the overseer of the church, but the call of God upon his life (see Acts 20:28). It\u2019s the Lord\u2019s church and He chooses whom He pleases to put in leadership.<\/p>\n

8) The carnal resent hearing from Christians who desire a deeper walk and greater intimacy with Christ.\u00a0 The contrast with their own emptiness pains them and they strike back.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cGoody two-shoes!\u201d they sometimes say of those hungering a deeper walk.\u00a0 \u201cThey think they\u2019re so much more spiritual just because they pray an hour a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

9) They resent being told their good works are inadequate to get them to Heaven.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It truly is offensive to the carnal to learn that the money they have contributed, the times they have helped the needy, all those years of church attendance, has earned them absolutely nothing when they stand before God. The concept of grace eludes them.<\/p>\n

10) Being told they are being disobedient.<\/strong><\/p>\n

To the carnal, preachers are expected to soften their preaching and not get too specific about sins.\u00a0 Generalities are acceptable, but the pastor is never to mention merchants who sell liquor, landlords who rent slums, or business owners who cut corners on safety regulations, when those big shots sit among the congregation. Doing so is the quickest way out of town for the preacher.<\/p>\n

Pray for the pastor\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pity the pastor sentenced to lead a church with a high concentration of carnal leaders.\u00a0 They will make his life miserable if he preaches the Word and calls the church to prayer and obedience.<\/p>\n

My observation is the Lord sends only the best and strongest to such churches. If you are in one, friend, take it as the ultimate compliment from the Savior.<\/p>\n

Carnal leaders want to do nothing by faith, everything for appearance sake, and anything that will make them look good in the eyes of outsiders and other churches.<\/p>\n

Carnal church members resent demands being made on their personal and private life.<\/p>\n

One of their favorite phrases is \u201cDon\u2019t judge me; you don\u2019t know my heart.\u201d\u00a0 My friend Iris, a pastor\u2019s widow, suggested this and added, \u201cGuess what\u2013your actions lay your heart open for all the world to see!\u201d<\/p>\n

Most spiritually minded believers reading this article will realize something that needs to be admitted here: It\u2019s possible for the mature to act immaturely.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible for the spiritual to act carnally at times. Not everyone gets it right all the time.<\/p>\n

Church members must stay on guard in choosing leaders and insist that only the spiritually minded rise to prominence.\u00a0 That is not to say that spirituality trumps knowledge about finances or administration or personnel, or that no consideration should be given to one\u2019s experience and competence in these matters.\u00a0 Pastor Adrian Rogers said to me once, \u201cAll things considered, I\u2019d prefer that the pilot of my plane also know Jesus. But given a choice between a born-again believer who cannot fly and an unbeliever who knows how to get this aircraft off the ground and to my destination, I\u2019ll take the lost guy every time!\u201d<\/p>\n

May the Lord guide His church.\u00a0 May His church seek His will and settle for nothing less.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFor the mind set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not subject itself to the things of God, for it is not even able to do so\u201d (Romans 8:7). It\u2019s\u00a0not just that believers and unbelievers think … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,10,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holy-spirit","category-romans","category-spiritual-maturity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23173"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23455,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23173\/revisions\/23455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joemckeever.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}