The Carnal Christian
Last week we learned that Carnal Christians embrace relative truths. We learned they call themselves Christian but aren’t defined by it. This week we look at some of their behaviors and what they believe. I’ll highlight a major characteristic of the Carnal Christian and one key for spiritual growth.
A look in the Mirror
Imagine worldviews are pieces of clothing inside a closet. Your outerwear represents personal preferences. You mix and match depending on the season of life. As time marches on you adopt a comprehensive style that makes sense and surround yourself with people that dress similarly. Your connections are one, two — maybe even three layers deep.
You wear a professional worldview with work friends. You sport health and fitness around active friends. When you engage academics you put on a layer of intellectualism. You dawn a robe of moral superiority when discussing politics. Your outward appearance helps you navigate the world, but what about your underwear?
If outerwear represents preferences worn on the sleeve, then underwear illustrates taboo. Beliefs about God and the universe. Beliefs about death and the afterlife. These beliefs are personal. Much like underwear, you don’t just show anyone. What does your belief look like? Is it comprehensive or did you cherry-pick supernatural concepts to fashion a deity?
Carnal Christians take pieces of the Gospel and sew them together to form a worldview of God, Jesus Christ, and salvation. They claim Christianity but disregard biblical truths that offend their preferences. When you possess saving faith in Christ, you become a new creation! God gives you a new heart and adorns it with love! He gives you a comprehensive makeover!
Getting Into It
I must be careful here. Only God can judge the heart. As a finite being, I can only assess the appearance, but with the spirit of discernment can evaluate the fruit. The law of the farm is a universal principle. What you reap you will sow. What you plant it will grow! For decades our culture watered a diluted definition of Christian. Here’s what sprouted.
These Christians have a vague understanding of God. More than likely, they were semi-regular church attendees growing up. Their parents or grandparents coerced their participation. Tragically, a lot of parents push their children into church, but rarely make sure they get something out of the church. As a result, they have Christian information but lack a spiritual foundation.
They subscribe to the popular Christian ethic of Love — they even love their neighbor if it’s reciprocated. At best, the commitment to love is sustained by goodwill. At worst, the commitment to love is sustained by willpower. Either way, after the power is depleted they’re left with no good reason to love anyone and a compelling reason to justify selfish behavior.
This Christian may appeal to God’s authority to intervene, but their belief is speculative. They don’t appeal out of love or genuine faith. In most cases, they appeal on the off chance that He’s “up there”. This Christian gives God thanks, but only as a formality. Their praise is empty. The definition of lip service. This Christian knows “God so loved the world.”
They heard about His Son. You might even catch them sliding into pews during church holidays like Christmas or Easter, but they most likely don’t believe salvation comes from Jesus Christ alone. They know about the bible…maybe they can name a couple of books, but they’ll say it’s irrational to believe every word.
Here is the defining characteristic of a Carnal Christian — They believe in God, but not in the Word of God.
Characteristic: They Reject The Word Of God
The Bible is a small library of books that emerged from the people of Israel. It begins with a five-book foundation story and continues with a collection of historical narratives, books of wisdom, poetry, and spiritual revelation. Altogether the text tells an epic story of how God is working to bring order and beauty out of a world of chaos.
Carnal Christians do not believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. They sift through for confirmation bias and offer shallow critiques for truths they don’t wish to understand. Carnal Christians have trouble accepting three biblical truths: (1) Exclusive salvation through Jesus Christ (2) Sin Nature and (3) Eternal separation from God
How You Can Grow: True Repentance
Imagine if no one bathed you as an infant and you progressed through adolescence without a bath and then continued into adulthood neglecting showers. Your body would no doubt become infected with nasty sores! Your skin would become unbearable to be in. Not to mention the stench would be unfathomable. This is an example of your spiritual condition.
When sin is not washed away it attracts nasty sores like unforgiveness, envy, and sadness. Your life is infected with anxiety or hopelessness and becomes insufferable. You start to reek of bitterness or arrogance and people push you away. You find company with like-minded people, but so does misery. Instead of coming clean, you insist everything is fine.
In this example, true repentance would be like showering for the first time. Can you imagine that feeling of freedom? Finally, having joy and fulfillment? True repentance is like being washed clean of all your pain. God only asks you to acknowledge your condition of sin and recognize Jesus as your savior. True repentance happens when you’re humbled by the Holy Spirit and He changes your mind about Jesus Christ, the nature of sin, and how to attain salvation. The natural result of true repentance is a change in disposition. You will think differently about God and his will for your life. Habitual sin can no longer be neutral because it brings condemnation.
In the first stage of spiritual development, repentance is recognizing sin in your life and turning to Jesus Christ to be saved. Repentance is a pivotal step closer to God and demonstrates spiritual growth. True repentance is the mark of a Christ Follower. If you feel moved by the Holy Spirit, I encourage you to investigate true repentance and give your life to God.
1 John 1:8–9 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
Thanks For Reading!
As you discover more about your new life in Christ, you’ll realize that true
repentance is a reoccurring action during every stage of spiritual development. What happens after I repent and accept Jesus Christ as my savior? Can I habitually sin and still be saved? We’ll answer these questions next week when we dive into what it means to be Christ Follower.
In the meantime get involved on the Kingdom Wired Facebook Page and Discipleship Group. Be sure to like, follow, and share! We have exciting developments to come! Do me a favor and leave a comment. I’d to hear your feedback on this post. Thanks for reading!
