Ok . . . scratch that one from the list of excuses available to me. No more “Give me a break! I’m only human!” I might be a sinner saved by grace . . . I might be a jar of clay . . . I might be a work in progress . . . but I can’t hide behind being “merely human.” At least not according to Paul this morning.

“But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?” (1Corinthians 3:1-4 ESV)

Being merely human . . . acting like mere men (NIV, NASB) . . . carnal (NKJV) . . . living after the flesh . . . navigating life according to the horizontal . . . settling for 3-D when 4-D or even maybe 5-D is available. That’s what the Corinthians were doing . . . and you sense it kind of frustrates Paul. Here they were, the people of God . . . the local testimony of the power of heavenly love and divine grace . . . and they were being mere humans. Bickering. Strife and jealousy running as an undercurrent in their midst. Some wearing “I Haul for Paul” baseball caps while others sported “I Follows Apollos” t-shirts. And Paul says, “I can’t even talk to you!”

Through faith in Christ they had become “new creations,” the old had passed away and the new had come (2Cor. 5:17). They were born again (1Peter 1:3). Sure, after a birth you have a baby . . . but babies are intended to grow up. So are “born agains.” But that wasn’t happening in the Corinth church. Spiritual people who were still being “merely human” . . . still behaving like babies in Christ. People who had been “in the program” for awhile but were still rookies. Acting just like they did before the were brought out of darkness and into marvelous light. Paul wanted to feed them some solid food . . . some meat from the Word . . . but they weren’t ready for it. They were still on milk and pablum. And Paul’s phrase, “Are you not being merely human?” is challenging me.

Now, I know I’m not to think of myself more highly than I should . . . but I’m also to think with sober judgment (Rom. 12:3) . . . to appropriately recognize who I am in Christ and conduct myself in a manner consistent with that. And, if I’m picking up what Paul is laying down, then I ain’t no mere human. I’m not super human . . . by no stretch of the imagination . . . but I am more than just a “natural man” subject to the “natural ways” of my “natural being.” I, according to the word of God, am “spiritual people.”

When I, by faith, acknowledged Jesus as Lord and Savior and received His death on the cross as the atoning sacrifice for my sin, I got re-wired. When I believed that Jesus rose from the dead, is alive, and wants to live in me, I underwent an “extreme makeover.” My spiritual DNA went from being twisted in sin to being tuned to the kingdom of heaven. The cloud that enveloped my brain was replaced with the mind of Christ. I underwent a heart transplant, my old heart of stone replaced with a “heart of flesh”, capable of being soft and supple to the things of God. The “old man” was given the boot and the Holy Spirit of God moved in, took up residence, and offered to take control. None of this was my doing . . . all of it God’s doing. Mine however, is to grow up . . . to live in a manner worthy of my calling . . . to stop being “merely human.”

By the grace of God given me, I am to build on the foundation of Jesus Christ laid within at my re-birth (1Cor. 3:10-11). No more “I’m only human” (though I am so aware of my human-ness), but I’m to live as a child of light who grows up to become a mature believer. I’m to feed on the Word that I might develop a “digestive system”, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit in me, that is able to feast on the deep things of God and the high and lofty things of the kingdom of heaven. And this, not that I would boast . . . no bragging to be done, it is the work of Christ in me . . . but that I might, by His grace, be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29) . . . no longer being “merely human” . . . but living as “spiritual people” . . . for His glory alone! Amen?