Love this world?

1 Corinthians 2: 1-4

1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?


As we continue through this book we see Paul telling the readers that he could not address them as spiritual, but as worldly, he compared them to infants in Christ. He fed them milk, not solid food, because they were not ready for it.

Unlike our human bodies our spiritual lives do not automatically mature. We are not born into Christ, and then 30 years down the road find ourselves mature, stable, and righteous. Many people are caught in infancy their whole lives. They know of Christ, they know of the good news of his sacrifice, and our salvation, yet they never seem to advance much beyond that. Do not be mistaken there are plenty of people that have been on the front row every Sunday for 30 plus years, yet the fella’ that came in last week for the first time has more spiritual maturity!

For us to mature in Christ we must start to look beyond ourselves. We have to start to move beyond the point of I live like a Christian on Sunday, but come Monday it is business as usual! We have to start looking for the meaning on the other side of that salvation coin. Christ died for the world, yet even today a large part of the world fully misses all that comes with that sacrifice.

As Paul points out, and it still holds true today, we still quarrel, we are still jealous of each other. We are still worldly. It is one of the most important things that we all should work on when it comes to developing our spiritual lives. In john chapter 12 Christ tells a group in Bethany: “25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

People read that today and still wonder what He meant. Paul is laying it out there as plainly as possible in this passage. Worldly people will in fact lose their lives. Each one of us that calls ourselves a Christian have to make it a point to shed our love for a worldly life.

Anytime someone talks about giving up worldly things the first reaction in typically “oh great here we go again, another preacher talking about not buying the second house, or the sports car” Or it is usually viewed as a lead in to preaching about giving to the church.

This is not the issue that Paul is bringing up. He is talking about how we treat each other. He is talking about our motives when it comes to our fellow man. Paul is using examples of fighting, and jealousy as things that tie us to this world.

How do you view others? Do you feel that just because you go to church, or give more to the offering plate you somehow are better than others? Do you find yourself bickering over trivial matters, or issues that have no fruitful outcome? How do you treat others, are they there for your use, and disposal? How much do you love this life? When you start to answer those questions, and can see the importance in them, that is when you start thinking about setting the milk down, and looking for meat.

Peace,
Rev. Thetford