CARNAL CHRISTIANS

We have all seen it. Some pompous jerk, condemning people for doing "whatever" and then here comes the news the jerk is doing "whatever" himself! Big surprise, and then people say "Some Christian he was. That's why I could never be a Christian"

What does that mean? We know that a believer in Jesus cannot loose his salvation because Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. But does that mean we never sin and always act properly? Unfortunately no.

Romans 7:14 "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin."

This is a hard thing to understand. There are both spiritual and carnal Christians. How do I know? Well, I'm one of them! At least sometimes. Alas, sometimes I sin. That's the way it is. The Aposal Paul had the same problem I have!

Romans 7:19-25 "or the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."

But there is hope for me.

1John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Now one of the reasons I bring this up is this. Some people think that God choose to save Christians because they are somehow better then anyone else. If you think this you have it backward. You need to think of it this way. Jesus is so POWERFUL that he can even save a slimy old Christian!

This kind of goes against the grain for a lot of people. Those people seems to think God has called them and they are very proud of that. They tend to forget that God calls everyone. Jesus said in John 6:44 "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."

So basically we are ALL "Called". It's just that some of us don't hear so well! There is one other thing too. We are each called by God to do something different. Ephesians 4:11-12 tells us "And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" We are each given one or more gifts. These gifts are to be used for the edifying of the body of Christ which is the church. I don't mean the church building. The body of Christ is each and every believer in Christ.

We are to use our gifts to help others. Some of us are called to be leaders and some followers. Each is different and each is important. You can't lead unless you have followers. You can't follow unless you have a leader. You can't teach unless you have students and you can't learn unless you have a teacher. It is the same with every gift. You have to use it to edify others. All people are equally important. In fact Jesus tells us "Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:25-28)

In other words, if you want to lead, serve others. I guess a lot of church leaders seem to forget this. Which brings us back to carnel Christians. If you truly believe in Jesus, you are saved, but you can still act like a pig. This is a hard concept to accept but it is true. Once you learn this the actions of a lot of Christians becomes not acceptable but at least understandable. If we realize that we do it ourselves, perhaps it can even be forgivable.

"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven."
(Matthew 18:21-22)