Failure To Thrive<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pastor Don Carpenter<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Beautiful Mess \/ 1 Corinthians 3:1\u20134<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is a tragic condition that some children suffer with called \u201cFailure to Thrive.\u201d The following is taken from the Johns Hopkins web site:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is failure to thrive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children are diagnosed with failure to thrive when their weight or rate of weight gain is significantly below that of other children of similar age and sex. Infants or children that fail to thrive seem to be dramatically smaller or shorter than other children the same age. Teenagers may have short stature or appear to lack the usual changes that occur at puberty. However, there is a wide variation in what is considered normal growth and development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Symptoms<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In general, the rate of change in weight and height may be more important than the actual measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Infants or children who fail to thrive have a height, weight and head circumference that do not match standard growth charts. The person’s weight falls lower than the third percentile (as outlined in standard growth charts) or 20 percent below the ideal weight for their height. Growing may have slowed or stopped after a previously established growth curve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following are delayed or slow to develop:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Physical skills, such as rolling over, sitting, standing and walking<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mental and social skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
_____<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we continue to study Paul\u2019s letter to the \u201cBeautiful Mess\u201d that was the Church at Corinth, we come upon a section where the Apostle really turns up the heat in his rebuke of these believers. He spent chapter 2 explaining how silly it is to have divisions when whatever we have learned is spiritually imparted, and not the result of our own intellectual prowess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Three: Be Wise about \u2026 the Local Church (1 Corinthians 3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul already explained that there are two kinds of people in the world\u2014natural (unsaved) and spiritual (saved). But now he explained that there are two kinds of saved people: mature and immature (carnal). A Christian matures by allowing the Spirit to teach him and direct him by feeding on the Word. The immature Christian lives for the things of the flesh (carnal means \u201cflesh\u201d) and has little interest in the things of the Spirit. Of course, some believers are immature because they have been saved only a short time, but that is not what Paul is discussing here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul was the \u201cspiritual father\u201d who brought this family into being (1 Cor. 4:15). During the eighteen months he ministered in Corinth, Paul had tried to feed his spiritual children and help them mature in the faith. Just as in a human family, everybody helps the new baby grow and mature, so in the family of God we must encourage spiritual maturity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What are the marks of maturity? For one thing, you can tell the mature person by his diet. As I write this chapter, we are watching our grandson and our granddaughter grow up. Becky is still being nursed by her mother, but Jonathan now sits at the table and uses his little cup and (with varying degrees of success) his tableware. As children grow, they learn to eat different food. They graduate (to use Paul\u2019s words) from milk to meat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tonight we are going to look at a spiritual tragedy that happens when Believers cannot stomach anything other than the milk of the Word, and therefore are spiritually malnourished. They can be seen as having the Spiritual condition of Failure To Thrive.. a danger of Carnality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still Babes In Christ<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 3:1\u20132<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Carnality Stunts Growth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In verse 1, he calls them sarkinoi. This word comes from sarx, which means ?esh\u2014a word that is so common in Paul. Now, all Greek adjectives ending in -inos mean made of something or other. So, Paul begins by saying that the Corinthians are made of ?esh. That was not in itself a rebuke; human beings by their very nature are made of ?esh, but they must not stay that way. The trouble was that the Corinthians were not only sarkinoi, they were sarkikoi, which means not only made of ?esh but dominated by the ?esh. To Paul, the ?esh is much more than merely a physical thing. It means human nature apart from God, that part of men and women, both mental and physical, which provides a point of entry for sin. So, the fault that Paul ?nds with the Corinthians is not that they are made of ?esh\u2014all human beings are\u2014but that they have allowed this lower side of their nature to dominate all their outlook and all their actions.1<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., pp. 35\u201336). Westminster John Knox Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCarnal\u201d (3:1, 3).\u2014This is a harsher word than its Greek equivalent, for we apply it only to an excessive dominance of the bodily appetites. In Paul it seems to refer to the whole tendency of life and thought, as governed by lower impulses and worldly motives rather than by the spirit. Thus in the present passage \u201cjealousy and strife\u201d prove the existence of a carnal temper, for these subserve no higher than earthly ends, and are impossible to genuine spirituality.1<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Drummond, J. (1899). The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, Romans and Philippians (O. Cone, G. L. Cary, & H. P. Forbes, Eds.; p. 73). G. P. Putnam\u2019s Sons; The Knickerbocker Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spiritual Life But Failing to Thrive.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Peter 2:2<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Matthew 4:4<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hebrews 5:14<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Psalm 119:103<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Word of God is our spiritual food: milk (1 Peter 2:2), bread (Matt. 4:4), meat (Heb. 5:11\u201314), and even honey (Ps. 119:103). Just as the physical man needs a balanced diet if his body is to be healthy, so the inner man needs a balanced diet of spiritual food. The baby begins with milk, but as he grows and his teeth develop, he needs solid food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not difficult to determine a believer\u2019s spiritual maturity, or immaturity, if you discover what kind of \u201cdiet\u201d he enjoys. The immature believer knows little about the present ministry of Christ in heaven. He knows the facts about our Lord\u2019s life and ministry on earth, but not the truths about His present ministry in heaven. He lives on \u201cBible stories\u201d and not Bible doctrines. He has no understanding of 1 Corinthians 2:6\u20137.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 2:6\u20137<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Milk = Christ\u2019s Earthly Ministry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Meat = Christ\u2019s Current Heavenly High Priestly Ministry.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bible Exposition Commentary Chapter Three: Be Wise about \u2026 the Local Church (1 Corinthians 3)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The usual answer is that \u201cmilk\u201d represents the easy things in the Word, while \u201cmeat\u201d represents the hard doctrines. But I disagree with that traditional explanation, and my proof is Hebrews 5:10\u201314. That passage seems to teach that \u201cmilk\u201d represents what Jesus Christ did on earth, while \u201cmeat\u201d concerns what He is doing now in heaven. The writer of Hebrews wanted to teach his readers about the present heavenly priesthood of Jesus Christ, but his readers were so immature, he could not do it (note Heb. 6:1\u20134).<\/p>\n\n\n\n WIERSBE<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hebrews 5:10\u201314<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Symptoms of Carnality<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 3:3\u20134<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n James 3:13\u201316<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 2 Corinthians 12:20<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not: lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes, backbitings, whisperings, swellings, tumults:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What is it about their life and conduct that makes Paul level such a rebuke at them? It is their partisan attitude, their strife and their factions. This is extremely signi?cant because it means that you can tell what a person\u2019s relationship with God is by looking at the way that person relates to others. If someone is at variance with others and is a quarrelsome, argumentative, troublemaking type, that person may be a diligent church-attender, even a church of?ce-bearer, but not a child of God. But if someone is at one with others, and has relationships that are marked by love and unity and concord, then that person is on the way to being one of God\u2019s children.1<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Barclay, W. (2002). The Letters to the Corinthians (3rd ed., p. 36). Westminster John Knox Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greek culture sometimes divinized heroes into gods; some scholars have also claimed that initiates to some mystery cults were said to become gods. Later traditions divinized philosophers, and philosophers often claimed that people could be divinized by virtue, because they considered the soul a divine part within each person. Although some Jewish writers in the Greek world adopted the language of deification, the principle of one God generally kept Jews and Christians from following this concept that far (Gen 3:5). Here Paul says: If you follow humans, then you are not only not divine; you are not even following the Spirit of God.1<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Keener, C. S. (1993). The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament (1 Co 3:4). InterVarsity Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is another way to determine maturity: the mature Christian practices love and seeks to get along with others. Children like to disagree and fuss. And children like to identify with heroes, whether sports heroes or Hollywood heroes. The \u201cbabes\u201d in Corinth were fighting over which preacher was the greatest\u2014Paul, Apollos, or Peter. It sounded like children on the playground: \u201cMy father can fight better than your father! My father makes more money than your father!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When immature Christians, without spiritual discernment, get into places of leadership in the church, the results will be disastrous. More than one brokenhearted pastor has phoned me, or written me, asking what to do with church officers who talk big but live small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 578). Victor Books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carnality is the condition that exists when we allow our flesh to rule in spite of the fact that Jesus\u2019 blood has broken sin\u2019s chains around our souls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Romans 6:1\u20132<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The message of the Gospel gives us hope and assurance that we no longer need to cower under the controlling arm of our flesh. Jesus\u2019 blood has made us free! We simply need to recon or count these things to be so. Rom 6.12-13<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romans 6:12\u201313<\/em> KJV<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Recognize the symptoms of Carnality that cause the Spiritual Condition of Failure to Thrive. Confess it, forsake it, and live in the Grace God has provide in the Gospel to live free and grow as we were designed to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exported from Logos Bible Software, 8:58 PM February 19, 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Failure To Thrive Pastor Don Carpenter A Beautiful Mess \/ 1 Corinthians 3:1\u20134 There is a tragic condition that some children suffer with called \u201cFailure to Thrive.\u201d The following is taken from the Johns Hopkins web site: What is failure to thrive? Children are diagnosed with failure to thrive when their weight or rate of weight … Continue reading Failure To Thrive<\/span>