That was a “MEATY” sermon, or was it? (Part 1)

Have you ever heard this expression after a service? It generally refers to the ‘deep’ revelations, or a really challenging word that was spoken. It comes from the passage in Hebrews 5 about milk being for babes in Christ and meat for more mature believers. Surprise! Surprise! There is no such thing as a ‘meaty’ sermon. I will even go as far as saying you won’t find any meat in the Bible. There is nothing meaty in it. You cannot preach a meaty sermon and you cannot read a meaty book. But please don’t take my word for it, let’s look at scripture.

Heb 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. (NKJV)

If you are in need of teaching, you are in need of milk. All teaching on the Word is milk. That is why you can’t preach a meaty sermon or read a meaty passage out of the Bible. You go to church to be taught, so because teaching is always only milk, you cannot get meat listening to a sermon. I know you might not be convinced yet, so please read on.

1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, (NKJV)

Peter refers to the Word as pure milk. Babes need it to grow. Just like in the natural, a baby lives on milk for the first stage of life and only starts taking solid food after having grown a bit. So again, the Word is at best only milk.

1 Cor 3:1-3 and I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. (NKJV)

The Corinthian church was renowned for two things. The gifts of the Spirit and their sin. There was no other church in that time that operated in the gifts at the level of the Corinthians. They were also renowned for the utter decadence of their sin and it is recorded that there was sin amongst them that was not even found amongst the pagans. (1 Cor 5:1)

In the passage above, Paul calls them carnal, immature and babes in Christ. Yet these carnal immature babes were operating in the gifts very powerfully, better than any other church. This shows that your maturity is not something God looks at in order of Him to work through you. Secondly it shows that sin, no matter how vile, doesn’t stop the operation of the gifts or the Power of God in your life. God will use you with sin in your life, and He will help while you have sin in your life. Paul also said that he gave them milk before and that he did not give them solid food because they couldn’t receive it. Then he says that even now they are still not able to take in solid food. If they are still not able to take in meat, do you think Paul is going to give them any meat? He just said they can’t handle it yet, so why would he give it to them? If the rest of the letter is only milk, it is interesting that 9 chapters later we read about the gifts of the Spirit, their use and proper operation. All of that is just milk.

Before I tell you about what meat really is, I want to stress the importance of milk. Just like in the natural, we need milk to build our skeletons and keep them strong. Your skeleton forms your frame. The milk of the Word forms your foundation. Jesus is the rock we are built on and He is the Word. A solid dose of milk on a regular basis helps to keep your frame or your foundation intact. But if you feed a person too much milk, they throw up. You have to get meat eventually to continue growing. I am not against milk, my whole website is just milk. But if you only ever get milk, you have a problem because you are not growing more.

Milk is essential for mind renewal, revelation and receiving faith, so get as much as you can. But don’t only live on milk. People who just live on milk develop severe vitamin and nutritional deficiencies. If you only live on spiritual milk, your might find you have developed a few deficiencies already. And just like the Corinthians, you stay immature if you only ever get milk. If you are searching for more of the kingdom in power, you need to make the transition from milk only to milk & meat, with far more meat than milk actually. In the next teaching I will explain more about what meat is and how to go about getting it!

Who wants to say grace before we eat?

Cornel

Click here to read a preview of Cornel’s new book, “So You Think Your Mind Is Renewed?” If you’re tired of religion, legalism and the traditions of man, this book will be a great starting block for you to starting living the life you were destined to live in Christ!