Take your Bibles with me and turn to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians 3. Tonight we're looking at what it means to be a growing Christian and how that ties into our life together as a church.

Let's go ahead and read the first 4 verses of 1 Corinthians 3.

[!bible] 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 - KJV

1. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4. For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Now, I have a bunch of children. 5 Children. You all know this and you know them well. (By the way, we just got back from Home School Conference, the only place on earth where I've ever felt compelled to say "I only have five kids.")

Part of having kids is taking them to their annual check ups, and at these check ups, one of the things the doctor is trying to figure out is if they are growing as they should be. How is their height and weight relative to their peers? How is their vocabulary? Are they eating the right foods?

If they aren't growing like they should - that probably shows a problem. Something may be off with their nature - they may have a disease. Or something may be off with their nurture - they may not be properly taken care of. That checkup is a place for the doctors to catch that so adjustments can be made and kids can get back on track.

Remember that Paul is writing this letter to the church in Corinth, and it is a letter of correction. They are not a very strong church - they have all kinds of problems and so Paul is addressing those problems in this book.

In our passage today, the apostle Paul is giving the church at Corinth a kind of spiritual check up. He's checking their growth - and (spoiler alert) they are way behind on thier growth chart. They aren't where they should be.

And so, just like in a check up, Dr. Paul is going to address what should be happening, why it isn't happening and along the way we are going to learn a lot about what it means to be a growing Christian and how pastors are supposed to help with that.

Let's start by looking at

1. A harsh diagnosis

When you take a 3 year old in for their annual checkup - the doctor is looking to see if they have three years of growth and maturity.

• Are they talking in sentences?
• Can they calm themselves down at night?
• Are they potty training?
• Are they eating normal food instead of just milk and baby food?
• Are they the same general size as other three year olds?

If a three year old is way behind in one of these areas - then that is a cause for concern for the doctors and should be for the parents.

Just like a child is supposed to grow up and mature - Christians are supposed to grow up and mature in their faith. A man who has been saved for 40 years should be more spiritually mature than a man who was saved last week.

If a woman has been a Christian for years, but she is still acting like a spiritual baby, then that is problem. That is exactly what Paul discovered was going on with this church.

In the Corinthians church - they had a bunch of people who were way behind their growth curve. They were not maturing spiritually and Paul had to come out and say (basically) "You guys think you are spiritual giants - but you are actually a bunch of spiritual babies. You have not matured the way you ought to."

Now, anyone can make that accusation. Insults without evidence don't really change anyone's mind.

I could stand up here and say to these teenagers: "You are a bunch of weaklings" and that may or may not be true, but I say "You guys are a bunch of weaklings because you cannot even pickup two chairs." That's more useful. It's not just an insult, it's a diagnosis.

If a doctor tells me "Your son is way behind in school." I might get defensive and feel insulted. But if he says "This is where he should be, and we've tested him, and he's 30 points behind the curve." That's a little harder to take personally and a little more actionable.

So what evidence did Paul present for his diagnosis? He gave them two clear symptoms that proved their spiritual immaturity.

The first symptom is:

1. A Stunted Appetite

Look at verse 2 again:

[!bible] 1 Corinthians 3:2 - KJV 2. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

Paul's first piece of evidence that they are acting like spiritual babies is their appetite. They cannot handle meat - big kid food - they can only handle milk - baby food.

Now, I want to make something clear. I do not think Paul was indicating that there are two different types of doctrine - one for the immature and one for the mature. They are not different in kind, they are different in degree.

Put another way, there isn't a different gospel for the new believer than the seasoned believer. It is the same gospel - but as you mature, you should be able to understand more of it.

Think of it like this: the math Audrey (my 16 year old) is learning is not a different math than what Darci (my 4 year old) is learning. They are both learning the same math. What Darci is learning is the foundation of what Audrey is learning. But hopefully, Audrey's learning that same math at a much higher degree of understanding than Darci is.

We do not move on from the gospel to some higher form of doctrine. We grow in our understanding of the gospel. We learn to apply the gospel to the difficult situations of life, we learn the deeper implications of the gospel, we learn God's purpose in all of it.

Let me make this very practical for you. Let me put a really fine point on this: A church shows that it is spiritually immature when they are more interested in being entertained than edified. When they are more into having their ears tickled than being taught.

When we teach the young ones, we have to water it down and we have to make it entertaining. They get about 5 minutes of content and 25 minutes of entertainment.

But if what you are looking for in a preacher is 5 minutes of Bible dropped into a 25 minute comedy sketch - that is a deep sign of Christian immaturity. You appetite is showing you are still a baby.

And that is fine - if you are a baby Christian. But if you have been saved since the 1970s and you still want to be entertained - then that is a sign something is not right.

Paul didn't just identify a stunted appetite. There is a second thing Paul pointed out in this "spiritual checkup":

2. Suspicious Attitudes

Look at verses 3-4:

[!bible] 1 Corinthians 3:3-4 - KJV 3. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4. For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

That word "carnal" there could be literally translated "fleshly."

As Christians, we are supposed to have a spiritual nature. We also retain our flesh. We have both natures inside of us. But what is supposed to happen is our spiritual nature is supposed to take over more and more and our carnal nature is supposed to get smaller and smaller.

But the thing Paul noticed in this "check up" is that that wasn't happening. Their fleshly natures were obviously in control and were governing how they were thinking about pastors and teachers. They were walking as men - that is fleshly men - men without spiritual natures. And not as mature Christian men.

Now, Paul gets very specific about what this carnal attitude looked like. Look at what he says in verse 3: "there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions."

These aren't just personality conflicts. This is spiritual immaturity showing itself in very practical ways.

Envying - they were jealous of each other. They were comparing themselves to other believers and feeling resentful about what others had.

Strife - they were constantly arguing and fighting. There was conflict everywhere you looked in this church.

Divisions - they were splitting into factions and cliques. Instead of unity, there was fragmentation.

And then Paul gives us the ultimate example of their carnality in verse 4: "while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos."

They had turned their pastors and teachers into celebrities. They were forming fan clubs around different preachers. "I follow Paul!" "Well, I follow Apollos!" "Paul is so much better than Apollos!" "No way, Apollos is way more gifted than Paul!"

Does this sound familiar? How many churches have split because one group loved Pastor A and another group loved Pastor B? How many Christians have you met who spend more time talking about their favorite preacher than they do talking about Jesus?

This celebrity pastor worship was the clearest sign of their spiritual immaturity. Mature Christians don't do this. Mature Christians know that pastors and teachers are just servants - they're not the stars of the show.

But these Corinthians were acting like teenage girls at a boy band concert. They were picking favorites, forming teams, and competing with each other over who had the better preacher.

Paul says, "Are you kidding me? This is exactly what carnal, fleshly people do. This is how people without the Spirit act. You're supposed to be spiritual, but you're acting just like the world!"

You see, when your flesh is in control instead of your spirit, you start thinking about church the way the world thinks about everything else - it becomes about competition, about who's the best, about picking sides and defending your team.

But that's not how mature Christians think. That's not how people who are walking in the Spirit operate.

So Paul has given them - and us - a spiritual checkup. And frankly, it's not good news. These Corinthians were spiritually stunted. They had the appetite of babies and the attitude of babies.

Now, here's the thing about medical checkups - they're not meant to just diagnose problems and send you home depressed. The whole point is to catch problems early so you can fix them before they get worse.

So if Dr. Paul has just given us this diagnosis, what's the prescription? How do we avoid spiritual immaturity? How do we make sure we're growing the way we should be?

I want to give you three practical ways to avoid the spiritual immaturity that plagued the Corinthians:

How to avoid spiritual immaturity:

1. Expect Spiritual Growth

This might sound obvious, but hear me out. Too many Christians are perfectly content staying right where they are spiritually. They got saved, they show up to church, they figure they're good to go.

But that's not how it works with physical growth, and it's not how it works with spiritual growth either.

Are you growing in Christ year after year? Can you honestly say you understand the Bible better than you did five years ago? Are you handling trials better? Are you more patient with your family? Are you more generous with your resources?

If you can't point to specific ways you've grown spiritually in the last year, that should concern you. Just like a parent would be concerned if their child hadn't grown physically in a year.

Here's what I want you to do: Schedule regular spiritual checkups for yourself. Maybe it's every six months, maybe it's every year. But sit down and honestly evaluate: Am I more mature in Christ than I was before? Where am I still acting like a spiritual baby?

Because if you don't expect growth, you won't pursue it. And if you don't pursue it, it won't happen.

2. Don't get addicted to junk food

Just like physical junk food can stunt a child's growth, spiritual junk food can stunt a Christian's growth.

Are you feeding yourself regularly on God's Word, or are you just having spiritual "snacks?" Are you more excited about being entertained, or are you looking for real Christian education?

Look, I get it. Sometimes you want something light and easy. Sometimes you need a spiritual snack. But if that's all you ever want - if you never crave anything deeper - then you've got a problem.

What are you feeding your soul during the week? Is it mostly social media, Netflix, and YouTube? Or are you regularly reading your Bible, listening to solid teaching, reading good Christian books?

Here's a test: When you come to church, what are you hoping for? Are you hoping to laugh and feel good? Or are you hoping to be challenged, convicted, and changed by God's Word?

If all you want is to be entertained, your appetite is showing that you're still a spiritual baby.

A mature Christian hungers for God's Word even when it's difficult, even when it convicts them, even when it challenges their lifestyle. They want meat, not just milk.

3. Feed the right nature

Remember what Paul said - these Corinthians were walking as men, not as spiritual people. Their fleshly nature was in control instead of their spiritual nature.

That old story about the Native American who came to Christ and said "I feel like there are two dogs in me - a mean dog and a nice dog, and they are always fighting for control." Someone asked him, "Which one wins?" His answer: "The one I feed."

That's exactly what Paul is talking about here. You have two natures inside you as a Christian - your flesh and your spirit. The one that controls your life is the one you feed.

When you feed your flesh - with worldly entertainment, with gossip, with materialism, with pride - your flesh gets stronger and your spiritual life gets weaker.

But when you feed your spirit - with prayer, with God's Word, with fellowship with other believers, with serving others - your spiritual life gets stronger and your flesh gets weaker.

So ask yourself: What am I feeding more - my flesh or my spirit? What's getting the most attention in my life?

If you're struggling with envy like the Corinthians were, if you're dealing with strife and divisions, if you find yourself constantly comparing and competing - that's your flesh in control. You've been feeding the wrong nature.

But here's the good news: it's never too late to start feeding the right one.

Conclusion

You've just had a spiritual checkup tonight. Dr. Paul has given us his diagnosis of what spiritual immaturity looks like, and frankly, it's not pretty.

But the question now is: What are you going to do with this diagnosis?

Are you going to ignore it and keep living the same way? Or are you going to take it seriously and start making some changes?

If you've realized tonight that you're spiritually immature - that you've been craving entertainment over education, that you've been feeding your flesh more than your spirit - then praise God for showing you that. Because you can't fix a problem you don't know you have.

The goal isn't to feel bad about where you are. The goal is to start growing from where you are.

Spiritual maturity doesn't happen overnight. Just like physical growth takes time, spiritual growth takes time. But it should be happening. It should be measurable. It should be obvious to the people around you.

So let me ask you: A year from now, what do you want your spiritual checkup to look like? What kind of appetite do you want to have? What kind of attitude do you want to display?

Because the choice is yours. You can stay a spiritual baby, content with milk and entertainment. Or you can grow up, develop an appetite for meat, and start walking in the Spirit instead of the flesh.

What's it going to be?

Let's pray.