Christ Church Memphis
Christ Church Memphis
The Prodigal Church Pt. 1: Three Significant Matters for the Prodigal Church | Rev. Paul
What happens when a gifted church forgets who it's really following? This reflection on 1 Corinthians 1:1–9 confronts three deep issues facing the modern prodigal church and the path back to Christ-centered living.
[0:18] So we're going to dive into a new teaching series today. I've titled it The Prodigal Church. We're going to journey through the book of 1 Corinthians. Now, this journey that we're launching today, it will be a journey that we'll be teaching 1 Corinthians throughout the summer, into the fall, probably break for a Christmas series, and then we may have to finish it in 2025. Some of you are hearing that and you're going, oh my gosh, that's, but let me, let me encourage you in this way. I want to explain, I'm actually in my sweet spot now.
[0:56] We've taught series on little books of the Bible, small books of the Bible. We've done a core value series, a missions series, our vision series, lots of those kinds of things. But this is actually Pastor Paul's sweet spot. I think God has gifted us all differently. We'll look at that in this book, but I'm wired to teach books of the Bible. And I would share with you that I think it's better to teach books of the Bible because if I just teach topical sermons, what happens in that is you actually pull scriptures from different places. Often they're cherry-picked and they're not in their context. But when you teach through the books of the Bible, you're teaching the scripture, equipping the saints in the context of the Word of God.
[1:45] Some of you have done Church World long enough where you're familiar with something called the lectionary, where randomly you teach different scriptures all over the Bible, but you don't hear the Bible in its context. And so this is why I teach books of the Bible. The other thing I would submit to you is that you may go, well, aren't there some topics we need to cover? I would say, and you will find out, that when you teach through books of the Bible, you pretty much cover every topic—marriage, family, how to relate to business issues.
[2:18] It's all over the Bible. In fact, much of that's in 1 Corinthians as well. So I want to invite you, if you have a Bible with you, open it to chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians. I'll read the.
[2:34] Called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother, Sosthenes, this is pronounced different ways by different scholars, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to be sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
[3:21] God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now, Father, I ask that in the midst of human weakness, that you would magnify your glory and your strength and bring the revelation of God over all of our lives as we worship you now through your word. In Jesus' name, amen.
[3:47] Now, let me tell you a little bit about Corinth, since we're going to be here a little while. Well, Corinth was a very wealthy city, a very cultured city. It's kind of situated in the crossroads of the Roman Empire. And it made, or the city made a lot of money out of trade and commerce as trade passed through the city. It was a beautiful place. It was a resort city. It was a place people went to vacation, but it was also a city characterized by darkness and depravity. So it was also, as it was an economic center, it was also a place where a temple, a pagan temple...
[4:27] Rested up on a hill. It was a temple dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite, which is the goddess of lust.
[4:35] And every evening, male and female prostitutes would come down off the hill and ply their trade throughout the city. And so even though it was a very strong city economically, very beautiful city,
[4:49] it was a city of very dark and widespread immorality. And so here we are, Paul opens this book to a church that has been planted at Corinth, and it's had some years of health and vitality. But now we enter an era where Paul is doing some course corrections as God gives him guidance to speak into the church. And so verse one, Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother sauce things, or they can be pronounced different ways. Just so you know, that gentleman that he's referring to was actually a former Jewish synagogue leader who had been converted to Christianity. So he's a Messianic Jew, and as he's been converted, he's now journeying alongside Paul and helping propagate the gospel and establish the church. So, in the words of one pastor theologian, there's something we need to note here because Paul starts this letter off in a different way than he does his other 13 letters.
[5:59] He begins this letter by talking about who he is in relation to God, and he always moves into who everyone else is in relation to God. But what's different here is that the way Paul is establishing his identity in relation to God, and that's very relevant for us. Let me explain why.
[6:21] Every time you see a car commercial or a truck commercial, it's always framed in a way that your life is defined by the things you have. Every time you watch a beer commercial, it's always defined or there's defining going on about your life being made up of the people you hang out with. Every time you see a life insurance commercial, you always see this defining of life in the context of relation to your family, to touching memories out of childhood, graduation.
[6:57] Marriage, your first home, or your first child. Every time you see an advertisement that's selling soaps or deodorants or shampoos or foods, it's mostly sold as it relates to defining you by your body. Now, church, the relentless testimony of God's word, you'll see this all over the scripture, is this. You're not defined by those things. You were defined by your existence in relation to God. And so while the Bible is relentless, as it calls us back again, not to deny things like the practicality of cars and friends and families and bodies, but it calls us to give these things true meaning in relation to God. The Bible defines everything in relation to God. Everything has its true significance or insignificance in relation to God. So note, and it's easy to miss, in verse 1, where Paul is defining himself in relation to God. Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. And if you'll think for a moment, just think and reflect deeply.
[8:14] You can come to love the solidity and the strength and the definition and the clarity that comes in Paul's understanding of himself. He knows who he is. He knows why he is here to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, an ambassador, a spokesman of inspired authority from God. And he knows how he got here by the will of God Almighty. He's defining himself in relation to God. He knows where he comes from, from God, who was sovereign and all-powerful, and in whom all things in history will be summed up in. He knows where he's going to speak the truth of the King of kings and Lord of lords, and he knows it's predicated upon the lordship of Christ and the gospel that reached him and transformed his life. Paul knows who he is with his thorn in the flesh, with his Roman seven struggles, with his call up to the third heaven, receiving revelations that he was not allowed to write about, with his persecutions and his sleepless nights.
[9:23] With his undaunted faith in the son of God who gave himself for the apostle Paul and all of humanity. And loved ones, I would graciously submit to you that I believe that God wants all of his children to have that kind of solid, strong, clear self-understanding. So if you would, take a moment and put yourself in verse 1. Put your name there.
[9:51] Jonathan, called by God to be a financial planner for the glory of Jesus Christ. Sally, called by the will of God to be an attorney for the glory of Jesus Christ. Judy, called by the will of God to be a professor or a teacher for the glory of Jesus Christ. Ruth, called by the will of God to be a nurse for the glory of Jesus Christ. Melissa, called by the will of God to be a homemaker for the glory of Jesus Christ. Dave, called by the will of God to be a banker for the glory of Jesus Christ. Church, I submit to you that there is freedom in being defined in relation to God. A tremendous stability comes into your life when you let God and his inspired word, what he says about you, define you rather than letting the world define who you are in relation to things and groups and people's opinions and your body. Particularly in an era of social media and all of its influences and all of the subtle lies that are communicated. Listen, loved ones, I too have social media accounts just like you. I thought about, on occasion, I thought, what would it be like if I got up in the morning before I brushed my hair and brushed my teeth and I'm still wearing t-shirt and shorts and I just posted that?
[11:12] Just to remind people, this is normal, rather than the highlight reels of my life, just like all of us post, but in a way that you can get so accustomed to looking at everybody else living their best life, to use a term from—I won't get into all that right now, but it distorts reality. And what we recognize is that what Paul's modeling for us and what he's really teaching us, to know where you come from in relation to God, where you're heading in relation to God, where you stand now in relation to God, who you are in relation to God, sets you free. You will not be the stepchild of things or opinions or your body. You won't be a slave of fads or trends. You won't crumble in the insecurity and dissatisfaction and covetousness that this life shifts like the direction of the wind, but you will stand on your one and only life as it's meant to be lived and thrived and flourished in in relation to God.
[12:20] So we've covered verse one. But where we want to journey, loved ones, is looking at how the apostle Paul lays the groundwork for this book, and he does that in these nine verses. And so what we'll do together for these next few minutes is I want to look, we just want to take a moment to, this is foundational as we begin the series, and look at the three categories that Paul, he just mentions to set the tone for where he's going. And so he begins as he addresses this prodigal church, first with the significance of living into their sanctification. Look with me at these verses, verses two and three. to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus. Called, catch that word. If your Bible's open, I would even circle it. Called to be saints together. There's a calling on the church to grow into who you are.
[13:22] To grow into who you really are and whose you are. With all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours, grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, again, notice how Paul refers to the Corinthians, describes them as sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints. In almost all of Paul's other letters, Paul begins with greetings based not on sanctification, but based on justification. Now, these two words are theological terms. We've taught on them before, but let me just refresh you for just a moment. Because he's telling or sharing with the Corinthians, this is what you're to rise into. And that's part of the problem in the church. Justification is the description of the change that God makes with an individual when they come to know Jesus Christ. It means an inward change of their nature, a deep fundamental shift in how they see life and light and their attitude and perspective changes from deep within. I've often referred to justification also as being made right with God. Sanctification, on the other hand, is the visible result of justification in the behavior of a believer, a follower of Jesus.
[14:46] All of this change is working in the heart of a believer in a way where you can see that that sister or brother is different. We're going to get to a section in 1 Corinthians later where Paul talks about what you were before you came to know Christ. And that's a part of what he's driving at here is that in coming to know Jesus Christ and you live into your sanctification, there's a transformation that should become apparent. And so this is what he's addressing with the Corinthians. Because their behavior is what's in question. And so he sends this letter, and the text says, who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is who the letter sent to. That means this letter is not only to the Corinthians, but that means this letter is to us.
[15:34] Everywhere where there's belief upon the person of Jesus Christ. And so what was happening at Corinth is there were people who were professing faith in Jesus, but were not living under the authority of Jesus. They were following the opinions of people. Now, I'm going to give you an oversimplified version of what that looks like. The scripture would say black and white, this, but we would get in fellowship with others, and fellowship and hanging out together would contradict what was very clear right here. Now, we'll get into the specific examples of that as we move through the book. And so they're turning away from the authority of Jesus, even though their outward profession is very orthodox.
[16:21] Divisions also crept into the church, and the Apostle Paul reflects his deep concern beginning in the very next verse, verse 10, that we didn't read a minute ago. But the issue is that their outward expression is not matching their inward profession.
[16:37] And so there's significance to their living into their sanctification. That's the first issue. Second issue is the significance of their spiritual wealth. Now, that may sound confusing because here we have a group of people who aren't living into their profession. But at the same time, Paul, as you're going to see in the text in a minute, tells them they're spiritually wealthy. Let's look at the text. Verses 4 through 6. Paul says, I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him.
[17:15] In all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed among you. Now, the interesting thing, church family, about this letter is different from the other letters Paul writes, because he's not correcting the church because they've become legalistic. They're not into legalism. He's not correcting this church because they're caught up in wrong rituals, like the church at Colossae. He's not correcting them because they're having controversy over circumcision like they did in the book of Galatians. He's not correcting them like at Philippi, where when he writes to the church at Philippi, that they're all bound up in dead works. We're aware that there's a uniqueness to the problem at Corinth. Here it is. You ready?
[18:01] License. License. In other words, they had accepted the grace of God, professed faith in Jesus Christ, But it didn't make any difference in how they were living. And that was causing all the problems that we're going to see emerge throughout 1 Corinthians. In other words, they had a root problem. The apostle Paul, as he's writing this section, admits that they have an understanding of the grace of God. They're not raising any questions around the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, substitutionary atonement of Jesus, or the incarnation of Jesus. They all understand that they've been set free from their sins by the gift of God through the person of Jesus Christ. Paul affirms that in this section. Their entrance, therefore, they understand is purely based upon the grace of God. They understand that. Furthermore, the apostle Paul even says about them, you are enriched.
[18:59] In fact, verse 5, in every way you're enriched by him with all speech and knowledge. Verse 7, check this out. So you're not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. The word enriched out of the Greek is where we get the English word plutocrat. In other words, they were plutocrats spiritually. They had a wealth of enrichment. And Paul points that it was found in two particular areas, in word and knowledge, because the word speech here is the Greek word logos, where we get the word of God. In other words, this is his first admission to them that they were recognized as being avid Bible students. They studied the word, even though they did not have the New Testament, wasn't all written at that time as we have it today, but yet they had access to all New Testament prophets and priests and teachers and apostles who taught very clearly. They were highly knowledgeable. They were spiritually rich. So they're not living into their sanctification, although they've got lots of Bible knowledge. They understand very orthodox things, which brings us to our third point,
[20:11] where Paul takes us when he says, essentially, the third area of significance. And it's the significance of their giftedness, and we'll explain this, and the lack of Jesus' presence.
[20:27] So he says this, verse 7 and 9, you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. You hear all this orthodoxy in here. God is faithful, but note this, church. God is faithful by whom you were called into fellowship. Amen. Now, we're going to circle back to that in a moment. You were called into fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. So, Paul, let's do this. Paul first says you're not lacking any spiritual gift. Now, if you read 1 Corinthians, you will find that there were 20-plus gifts in operation at the church at Corinth. They had gifts of miracles, gifts of healings, gifts of teachings, gifts of tongues and interpretation of tongues, gifts of knowledge, gifts of leadership. There was not a single one of these gifts that was lacking in the church. Now, here's a question for you. Can you imagine the type of fascinating meetings they must have had when they came together?
[21:40] Nobody wanted to miss church at Corinth because of what may happen. Whether you never knew when somebody might be healed or some miracle might be demonstrated or some remarkable prophetic utterance was given or somebody spoke in an unknown language and then someone interpreted and brought a revelation of God. But that's not all. I mean, not only was their entrance into the kingdom orthodox, but their gifting was extraordinary. We see that outlined in the whole book. And their expectation was also right because Paul writes they were waiting for the revealing of the Lord Jesus Christ. They understood when he would appear that he would set all things right on earth. This is amazing. They're really a church that on the surface, just reading this section, you're going, man, they've got it together. They were not self-reliant followers of Jesus in every way because they weren't creating self-reliant schemes to advance the kingdom. They understood that it was Christ that would sustain them to the end and that it was he who would present them blameless before the Lord one day. And Paul acknowledges that all of this is true about them. And then...
[22:56] We get to verse nine. And this is a verse of shift. Very important to pay attention because suddenly Paul changes the subject and rather abruptly, he begins to diagnose the key verse in the book of 1 Corinthians. Scholars call this the key verse for the book. Verse 9 reads, God is faithful by whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ. And the rest of the letter centers around this issue that's being raised right here. Because what's happening here is that this is the reason for all the problems at the church at Corinth. They're professing all the right things outwardly. But what's happened is they've lost a sense of presence of Jesus.
[24:00] Fellowship, koinonia, we covered that recently. Koinonia with Jesus, intimacy with the person of Jesus. And the result of that rippled in many directions. They didn't understand the implications of their calling and their relationship with Jesus. Personally, individually with Jesus Christ. And because of this, Paul is addressing all kinds of outward behavior that he'll cover in the chapters to come. Tech team, would you put that list up here? This is what he begins to cover throughout the book, that sexual immorality is prevalent within the church. That sounds so heavy, I know. But when you get to the fifth chapter, it unfolds right before you. We'll get there in a few months. Lawsuits that there were believers that were both business people, and they would have a disagreement, which in a fallen world is inevitable at times. And rather than working it out among themselves or even bringing a pool of wisdom together. They were taking disagreements to the secular courts to settle disputes between Christian business people. This is, again, why I share with you, if you go through the books of the Bible, all kinds of relevant matters emerge.
[25:28] Drunkenness, there's a context for it, but the buzz drinking that was going on in association with church gatherings, and there's a context we'll get to later clicks, where we fail to see one another as members of his body. And what can happen is that it's just my people.
[25:57] And we need to guard against that. We'll get to that. Then you see the topic of class wars. And what was happening at Corinth is that there were people of all socioeconomic backgrounds in the church. And in a healthy church, it should be that way. People, all kinds of cross-sections of culture and society. But what was happening is those who were wealthy, the church was giving them additional privilege and just wasn't treating people fairly. And so what Paul is saying as these issues are prevalent, and he's saying that the root system is you've lost fellowship with Jesus and your conduct should match your calling. You should what you're professing inwardly should be manifested outwardly and so they had all this ability to do mighty things.
[26:54] But church, what was happening at Corinth is that Corinth was doing a better job of converting the church than the church was doing of converting Corinth. And instead of the church changing the city, the city was influencing the church. And that was one of the symptoms that emerged out of a minimization and loss of fellowship with Jesus. Despite all this mighty provision, there's no manifestation of the power of God. Now you may, if you're thinking, you may go, Pastor Paul, wait a minute. You talked about gifts of healing. You talked about tongues and interpretation of tongues. You talked about prophetic utterances as spiritual giftings are in operation. And you're now saying there's no manifestation of the presence and power of God. We'll explain that a little bit more when we get into the depth of the text in the months to come. But here's what I want you to know, what's important for all of us to know. When God gives spiritual gifts, gifts can operate in the flesh.
[28:03] And that's the problem at Corinth. The gifts of God are irrevocable. That's what Paul teaches. And God's giftings can be in operation, even though a man or a woman can be operating in their old nature. That's the problem at Corinth. Some of you studied the book and you already know that. And we're going to get that as soon as chapter three, that's going to really begin to emerge. And so what was happening at Corinth, well, there's a lack of understanding of valuing the presence of Jesus among them. They've lost the sense of Jesus as their first love and staying in love with Jesus. And they're no longer living with that awareness and excitement of staying in
[28:47] intimate relationship with Jesus. And so this letter is written to call the Corinthian church back again.
[28:55] And you know, church, it's written to call us back, too.
[29:02] There's a lady out of Dallas, Texas. She was 33 years old. She got up one morning and was driving to be away from her family one night on a business trip. And when she woke up in the hotel room the following morning, she experienced a very rare medical condition. In fact, this medical condition only affects two-tenths of one percent of the world's population. She woke up, and she didn't know where she was. She woke up and looked at the purse sitting in a chair, didn't recognize the purse. Whose purse is that? Saw clothes laying over a nightstand, did not recognize the clothing. Stood up, looked in the mirror, and she doesn't know who she is. She doesn't recognize herself. It's a rare form of amnesia that just creeps up on a person. She can't remember who she is. And church, that's what's happened to the church at Corinth. She has spiritual amnesia, and she's lost sight of fellowship with Jesus. And as your pastor has said to you many times, if it can happen to them, you know where I'm going. It can happen to you. If it can happen to them, it can happen to me. If it can happen to them, it can happen to us.
[30:30] And I lovingly remind you this morning that the Son of God hung on a cross to bear your sins, to forgive you, to give you a new life in resurrection power, not just so you would live forever. One of the things we want to guard against in Christianity is making a relationship with Jesus transactional. You know, yeah, I'm a Christian. I put my faith in Jesus. I'm safe. My soul's safe. And just reduce it to a transactional relationship. It's deeper and richer and more life-giving than that. That not only are our sins forgiven, we've been reconciled to him to be in fellowship and relationship with Jesus.
[31:22] Imagine in a marriage if a couple began to keep a scorecard. And if you'll do this, I'll do that. If you'll clean the living room, then I might clean the kitchen. You just make the relationship completely transactional. You do this for me, I'll do this for you. And that's how the whole relationship works. Be careful that we don't do that to Jesus. Jesus, thank you for bleeding and dying for me. I'm good.
[31:52] Because he's offering you so much more. You're designed for more. You're designed for fellowship with Him. And that's what the church at Corinth missed. And may we, by the grace of God, live into the gift of what we have in the Son so that we don't make the same mistake. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. Let's pray for just a moment.
[32:29] So, Jesus, we pause before you, both individually and as the body, and in places where we recognize that our first love of Christ has been compromised, first we confess that to you. And we express, Jesus, don't leave us here. We don't want to be here. And so, as we've heard your word today, we pray, work in our hearts. Move the needle of our heart in a way that we forsake other loves that we may have placed upon the throne of our heart and set those aside and we enthrone you, Jesus. Help us to do that. Restore individually, restore us corporately. Our first love of you, Jesus, awaken as we confess with our heart and our mouths that you are Lord. You're risen from the dead. All things will be summed up in you. You are the ultimate point of our lives. And we pray it in the name and power of Jesus. Amen. I'm trying to say something without coming across as being cheesy. Maybe some of us have a relationship with Jesus that's full of short circuits.
[33:55] And if I could encourage you, your first step toward Jesus to make it, just to uncomplicate it, is surrender. It's always your first step. Just surrender. He'll show up. But if you'll surrender to him, the short-circuiting will stop.