Christ Methodist Church Memphis
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Christ Methodist Church Memphis
What Plane Are You On? | Rev. Paul Lawler
The Prodigal Church #6:
Still drinking spiritual milk? Paul Lawler’s sermon from 1 Corinthians 3 challenges us to break patterns of immaturity and grow into the Spirit-filled life we’re meant for.
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Many believers live spiritually stunted lives—not because they’ve rejected Christ, but because they’ve settled for milk when God offers solid food. Preaching from 1 Corinthians 3:1–9, Pastor Paul Lawler lays out three challenges: Will we live on a spiritual plane or a natural one? Will we mature in Christ or remain infants? And will we live as merely human, or be transformed into Spirit-empowered people of God? Drawing from real stories of mission and ministry, this sermon presses believers to break the patterns of fear, control, and complacency that keep us in the flesh. Instead, we are invited to cultivate hearts ready for God’s growth, step into supernatural life in Christ, and live lives that glorify not the one who plants or waters, but the God who gives the growth.
[0:18] Today's scripture reading comes from 1 Corinthians 3, 1-9.
[0:23] 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 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? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. This is the word of God for the people of God.
[1:36] Amen and amen. I greet you this morning in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My name is Paul Lawler. I have the honor of serving as the lead pastor of Christ Methodist Church. We welcome you this morning, particularly if you're a guest, delighted that you're here. So, moment of personal indulgence just for a moment before we teach. First of all, the Global Methodist Church just hosted a major conference on our campus for the Mississippi West Tennessee Conference. I want to take a moment to thank Perry Redfern, our organist and choir leader, traditional worship leader, our choir as well, for what they gave in being a part of the ordination service Friday night. And I want to thank all of the church staff and volunteers in our church family that helped make this gathering dynamic. God moved in some really rich ways through equipping and worship, and we're excited because we believe the church is on the move. So thank you for that. Bless you, Christchurch family, staff, and all for what God has done. This is Ascension Sunday. This is the Sunday where we also affirm that in light of the Christian calendar, Jesus not only rose from the dead, he ascended into heaven, and that has much great implications for you because the scripture teaches that Christ is at the right hand of the Father.
[3:05] Question, what is he doing there? One of the things that the Bible teaches is that he's interceding for you. The word in the Greek for intercession, he's closed the gap between heaven and earth, closed the gap between your life and the life that is found in God. There's one mediator between God and men, the person of Jesus Christ. This has great implications for your life. Also, the scripture says.
[3:32] You, as a believer, you're in Christ. The Scripture, in light of you being in Christ, declares in the book of Ephesians that you are seated with Christ in the heavenly places, meaning that as you're in Christ, He is in you, that you're not just here physically, but in the Spirit. There's mystery here. In the Spirit, that you are in Him as He is present with the Father, and He is in you as He is present with the Father. Let me affirm this as we dive into the teaching this morning. The implications of the ascension is that you have access to Jesus. You have access to a greater source that is not known on earth that makes what we're about to talk about today possible and real and available to you. Hear this quote from A.W. Tozer. The church is made up of real people, and when they come together, we have church. Whatever the people are who make up the church, that is the kind of church it is. No worse and no better, no wiser, no holier, no more ardent and no more worshipful. To improve or change the church, you must begin with individuals.
[4:45] As we move through the text that Olivia read this morning, there are some challenges here. I would submit to you today that this probably is going to be a text that challenges you in some way. And so we're going to dive in by asking three questions.
[5:03] That are rooted in why Paul wrote this letter. He wrote it because he's concerned about the immaturity of the Corinthian church, and he's encouraging them to move on to maturity. And so in light of that, we're going to ask three questions regarding our spiritual maturity. Here it is. Here's the first one. Will I live on a spiritual plane or a natural plane? Will I live on a plane of existence. Listen to the plane that Paul's challenging us to in 1 Corinthians 3.1. But I, brothers, could not address you as a spiritual people, but as a people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. Now, remember, as we've covered the last several weeks, that the Corinthians have been criticizing Paul because his style of preaching is simple. It doesn't measure up to the oratory skills that you find with all of the philosophers of the day. And so they think you need to be the Corinthians. You need to be impressive and powerful with oratory skills.
[6:17] In other words, as the apostle Paul teaches them that if he were to come with that kind of spirit, It would undercut the power of Jesus Christ that Jesus is desiring to demonstrate. And so Paul says to them, this is very sobering, but he declares to them, I couldn't speak to you as if you were spiritual Christians because you aren't.
[6:44] And so he opens up from chapters 1, 2, and 3, and he describes three categories of people. And here they are, the natural person. He refers to that in chapter 2, verse 14. The natural person. Secondly, he refers to the spiritual person. He refers to that in chapter 2, verse 6, chapter 2, verse 15. And then the third category that we're going to deal with a little bit today, the Christian who's fleshy, carnal, or a babe in Christ, living out of their old nature rather than the new nature. So to say a little bit more about that, the natural person is the person who has no spiritual life, who can't recognize anything compelling about the gospel. They're still natural. They haven't been regenerated. And so secondly, the spiritual person is the person who is deeply influenced by the Holy Spirit, the way of God through Scripture, and can receive and delights in receiving biblical truth. Then you have this third person that we just referenced, the fleshy Christian, the babe in Christ, not living out of the influence of the Holy Spirit. Some of your Bibles accurately translate that as the carnal believer, carnal Christian living out of their old nature, even though they've come to know Jesus Christ.
[8:13] Reminds me of an excerpt from Wilbur Reese in his book, $3 Worth of God. Let me share a quote from that. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of God to make me love someone of a different race or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy $3 worth of God, please.
[8:52] That would be a picture of the perspective of a carnal Christian, an infant in Christ. Many of you have watched hockey games. You probably have been to a hockey game at some point in your life, and you're aware that if a hockey player gets out of line, the referee will put them in what's called the penalty box. And in the penalty box, the player has no fun. The player's not engaged in the game. They don't enjoy the privileges of playing the sport. They're still on the team, but they're not enjoying all the privileges that have been open to them by being a team member. That is a picture of a carnal Christian, that a carnal Christian knows what's true. The carnal Christian has come to know Christ, but they're not enjoying the privileges of being developed and growing in Christ because they're living out of their old nature. Paul gives these Christians very straightforward advice and says to them, I couldn't speak to you as if you're spiritual Christians because you aren't.
[10:10] Now think with me, if you go to a doctor, he or she gives you a diagnosis of the ailment that is affecting you and then prescribes a treatment for you. And as that prescription is given to you, you go take responsibility. You take the prescription.
[10:31] You go to the pharmacist. You drive there. You get out of your car. You go in. You hand the prescription to the pharmacist. The pharmacist fills the prescription, and you know that in order for you to work it out, you not only need to take hold of the prescription, you need to go home, get some water or drink, and take the prescription in order to benefit from the expertise of the doctor. And the same is true in light of the revelation of God, that in order to take the prescription of the great physician, we must apply what we understand. This is why Billy Sunday said, if you are strangers to prayer, you are strangers to God's power. This is why if we're a stranger to God's word and integrating it into our life, then we're a stranger to the way of God. And so the question begins as Paul opens these verses, what plane will I live on? What plane of existence Am I choosing to be responsive to as a follower of Jesus? Will I live on a spiritual plane or will I live out of my old nature?
[11:45] And so secondly, here's the question that we begin moving toward as we unpack these verses. The second question, which rides upon the response to the first question, will, and as I'm being developed, will I feed on milk and remain an infant in Christ, or will I feed on solid food and mature in Christ?
[12:13] I would lovingly remind you that when you came to know Jesus, that was not an arrival.
[12:20] When you made a profession of faith, when you joined the church and you made a profession of your faith in the person of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, renouncing spiritual forces of wickedness, that was not the day of your arrival. That was the day of a new beginning. And this is why Paul is advocating with the Corinthian church to move on into everything God's opened up for you. Listen to these verses in verse 2 and 3. I fed you with milk. He's been pouring into them, scholars tell us, between three to five years. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For where there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? Now, if we could just go common sense for a moment, which is always a good thing to do, an infant lives on milk for many months in its early life. I know, write that down. It's not as if you didn't know that, but it's milk for breakfast, milk for lunch, milk for dinner, and milk everywhere in between. The infant can't handle anything else because the infant's just a baby. We all understand that. The infant not only does not have teeth that have been developed, the infant doesn't have a digestive system that has been developed for the sake of taking on solid food.
[13:49] There's nothing wrong with giving milk to a baby. But now, as we just validated, Paul and others have been pouring into the Corinthian church between three and five years after the church was planted, and they still need milk.
[14:07] They are still babies. They are not growing. And the question is, why are they not growing? And the Apostle Paul goes on to explain why. He says these words, for you are still of the flesh. Now, I want you to know every time you see the word flesh in Scripture, it's never a good reference. You study that word sarx in the original language. You study that word. God doesn't have anything good to say about our flesh. So Paul says, you're still of the flesh. What does that mean? Well, the scriptures answer that question because the scriptures describe what our old fleshy nature looks like in Galatians 5, 19 and following. Let me read that to you. Now, the works of the flesh are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity. Now we get into a couple of things that are popping up already in the text today, strife and jealousy. All of these pop up at the Corinthian church. We'll get to that later. Fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like are things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not—sobering words will not.
[15:35] Inherit the kingdom of God. So we recognize in verse 3 that Paul's already said there's jealousy and strife among you. And what that tells us is the Corinthian church is in the flesh. They are in the flesh. Because of that, they are spiritually stunted. Now, I want you to notice something. Notice that as we're reading the text and as we're learning what it looks like to be an infant in Christ, God examines our behavior as an indicator of our spiritual condition, not our knowledge.
[16:16] Note that. We have two natures, the Bible says, the flesh and the spirit. And you can't operate out of both natures at the same time. And a good barometer for maturing on solid food is this, that is, which desires in my life, which behaviors in my life are growing stronger and which behaviors and desires are growing weaker? And the problem at Corinth is that they are in the flesh, and because they are in the flesh, they are spiritually stunted. You can't live out of both natures at the same time. Does It doesn't mean that we're not aware of both natures. It doesn't mean that we don't feel a tension between the two natures. But Paul says to the Corinthians, essentially, you have chosen the flesh over the spirit, and because of that, you are stunted in your growth. Now, I know of a woman who not long ago went to Walmart, bought a book, read the book, and then went back to the customer counter and wanted her money back and got it.
[17:26] Now, we all know that the publisher of that book made it available in good faith, running a company and corporation, trusting that people would operate ethically. And we're aware that she's playing a game with the establishment when she returns the book, even after it's being read. Loved ones, we can't play a game with the establishment of the kingdom. Becoming a Christian is not like auditing a class in college where I glean the information, but I don't want any responsibility. And Paul is challenging the Corinthian church, and he's challenging us, will I feed on milk and remain an infant in Christ, or will I feed on solid food and understand that the message of Christ, after I come to know him, is to grow in Christ and to be developed by the revelation of his word, the power and the presence of his Holy Spirit, and cultivating patterns of his life in my life for his glory. Then thirdly, and this is a little bit of an awkward question, not that the two previous aren't necessarily questions we ask every day, But this third question, let me explain it because it will sound a little awkward.
[18:54] Will I function as a mere human? Now, let me stop right there. I know probably on the screen you see the rest, but you see, the Christian life is a supernatural life.
[19:08] You're not designed to function just on the natural plane as we made the point in point one. Will I function as a mere human or will I allow God to cultivate my life? We'll explain that in a moment because it's found in the text. So Paul is sharing verse 4.
[19:30] When one says, I follow Paul, another I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human? And what he's pointing out is because the Greek philosophers all had a following, what's happening out of the flesh nature at the Corinthian church is that they're in the paradigm or mindset that they need to be loyal and develop a following. Around Paul and a following around Apollos. And Paul goes on to say, hey, look, it's deeper than that. It's not about having a favorite teacher. It's deeper. He goes on to say in verse 5, what then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believe, as the Lord assigned to each, I planted Apollos water. In other words, God's using both of us, but it is God that gave the growth, the development in you. In other words, it transcends human teachers. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God gives the growth so that, and even though this isn't in the text, but so that God gets the glory. So that it's not, oh, wow, Paul. No, it's, oh, wow, God. And so God gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor for we are God's fellow workers you are God's field you are God's building now common sense.
[20:54] When Paul declares you're God's building, remember, buildings are built sequentially, one steel beam at a time, one carpenter nailing here, finish work going on as buildings progress. But that's the picture Paul wants you to see, is that you're being built, you're being developed, you're moving beyond being an infant in Christ. But he also says you're God's field, which is why your pastor chose to use the word of moving forth and having a cultivated heart. Because a cultivated heart, as Paul uses agrarian terminology, we are aware that when a farmer plants a field, first the farmer plows the ground. The ground is cultivated. The ground is broken up. The ground is moved into a new pattern so that the new thing that's been organically embedded can come to life and be fruitful.
[21:52] And Paul is using this analogy to encourage believers to be mindful that you can get in a rut. You can get into a pattern in which even in the Corinthian church, they're only feeding on milk. They're not being developed. And Paul is reminding them of the imagery of being cultivated. Break up the pattern that you're in so that you can launch into a new pattern, living on a spiritual plane and not merely a natural plane, feeding one's spirit and mind in a new way through prayer and the understanding of the Word of God, the patterns of God to be integrated into your life.
[22:35] One of my best friends in high school was a friend named Doug McMinn. We made a lot of memories together in Guntersville, Alabama, and at the University of Alabama.
[22:47] I had not seen Doug since the time of my conversion, and when I came to know Christ, I've shared with many of you that through circumstances, I left the University of Alabama.
[23:02] And then went to Asbury University, and that was a good shift for me. But I had not seen Doug in years, and Doug started attending the church that I pastored, and I had only known Doug in my BC years. Does that make sense to you? And so I said to the church, in light of my relationship with Doug, only in my BC years when he started attending, I said to the church, you are not allowed to talk with Doug, interview Doug, cross-examine Doug. You may make eye contact with him and smile, and even though COVID is behind us, social distance yourself from Doug. Now, that's tongue-in-cheek, but when we were growing up, both our families had boats on Lake Guntersville, and we made a lot of memories on the lake. And what I'm going to share with you today, children who are present, teenagers, do not do what I'm about to share. And please understand, Pastor Paul is not standing up here sharing an example. I'm sharing a story of when I was foolish. But one of the things that Doug and I and some of our buddies would do, and I don't even know what got into us. I don't understand. Looking back, I know my cerebral vortex was not fully formed.
[24:20] But we would open the runabout up go just go full and take turns jumping out of the boat no life jacket just jump out and trust that our buddies would come back and get us foolish, foolish i remember my stepdad what are you doing i don't know why did you do that because we could I mean, foolish.
[24:48] Let me tell you about another man that got out of the boat. His name was Peter. And he saw Jesus walking on the water. And he said, Lord, let me come walk on the water. In fact, the word says, bid me to come out. Invite me.
[25:10] And Jesus grants his wish. and Peter steps out of the boat and he walks on water.
[25:22] As long as his eyes and his heart were focused on Jesus. But when the scripture says, when Peter began to look at the wind and the waves, his eyes and his heart suddenly began to move in fear. What happened? He began to sink. What do you think Jesus wanted Peter to learn from that episode? What do you think God wants you to learn from that episode? To live on a spiritual plane or a natural plane?
[26:12] His name was Ben Baxter. He was one of the student ministers that served on our staff at one point, not here at Christ Church in a previous environment. And as he served on our student ministry, God kept impressing upon his heart that there are two to three billion people with no access to the gospel on the planet. Ben got married to a lovely young lady named Jenny. And they both began praying together, and they sensed God's leading to move to the Middle East. And they served Jesus in the closed country of Oman for a number of years, sharing the gospel with Muslims in a country where it's illegal to do so.
[27:08] I remember the night that Ben and Jeannie, when we commissioned them as a church family, had a party for them. And I remember that there were many tears. The tears were not because Ben and Jeannie were leaving us. The tears were because we could sense the heart of Jesus in them and the heart of Jesus moving in the church. And we knew that as we were sending them, that we were close to the heart of Jesus. We were walking on a spiritual plane, not a natural plane.
[27:48] I think about this church family, our church family. I think about David and Kelly Montague and their daughter, whom I will leave unnamed because she's serving as a missionary on the edge of the Middle East where it's not legal to do everything that they're doing in terms of propagating the gospel.
[28:13] And I think about the fact that right out of our church family, this young lady and her husband living on a spiritual plane, not a natural plane, and a church that sends them out of a heart for Jesus, living on a spiritual plane, not a natural plane. I think about Brian Parks, who grew up in this church, whose name I can say as he serves the cause of Christ also in the Middle East. Said Missy and I sat next to his parents at dinner just a week ago. And I think about the reality of him serving on a spiritual plane, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ among Muslims and expats in the Middle East. I think about what some of you may be thinking right now, which could be I could never do that.
[29:19] And I would lovingly submit to you that it may not be that God's calling you to the Middle East.
[29:25] He may be, but God is calling you to live on a spiritual plane and not a natural one.
[29:34] And it's possible for you. I think about a young lady who grew up in this church named Ashley Borland, who's now Ashley Collins, who lives in Decatur, Alabama. Can we put her picture up there, Tech Team? Who lives in Decatur, Alabama.
[29:51] And since the year 2015, as she's lived on a spiritual plane, the Lord led her to begin going into jails in Decatur, Alabama, and to share the gospel and to teach Bible studies among women who are incarcerated. And I think about the stories of fruitfulness that God has exhibited through her life and through the ministry of the least of these among prisoners in Decatur, Alabama. Or I think about one of our Wesleyan fellows in Natalie Allen and her husband, Andy. We could put that next picture up there. Some of you may have seen Natalie and Andy around campus, who about a year ago, she initiated, get this, leading a ministry in a men's prison. And she began going in alone with others. Well, that doesn't make sense, alone with others, but with a team, but with her initiation with Andy's support and help and planting churches, house churches within the prison as people are hearing the gospel, these precious men who are hearing the gospel and responding and being discipled for the glory of God.
[31:14] Spiritual plane or a natural plane? And once again, church family, the point is not to move into living on a spiritual plane, go to the Middle East or go serve in the prisons. I'm not saying don't do that. I'm just saying look at the examples among us, loved ones.
[31:36] What I'm about to say is opinion, and as I often say, it doesn't mean I'm right, but it's what I believe and I believe I'm right. I believe that a part of the problem at the Corinthian church is that they're also wounded. They're a wounded church. Why do I say that? Because when people operate in the flesh, people get wounded. I think later this is why Paul spends an entire chapter in 1 Corinthians 13 on love, because he knows they've got to relearn, break up fallow ground, and learn how to love not only God, but how to love each other deeply. You see, when a man or woman operates in the flesh, it always creates wounding. You've all heard the cliche, hurt people hurt people. And there's wounding there. I believe that. And with wounding, what happens is fear begins to take control. I'm afraid of being vulnerable. I'm afraid of forgiving. I'm afraid of letting go of control.
[32:44] We want to remember, we're challenging this passage to break up the patterns that can be rooted in our fear. Remember that the gospel is not only good news, that God in Christ has taken your sin on a cross. But remember in Luke chapter 4, when Jesus declares this good news the first time, and he quotes Isaiah 64, he shares the power of how this good news gets into your life as you're forgiven, how God binds up broken hearts, how God sets captives free. And one of the ways that that happens is when we get secure in Christ, in his love, in his presence, living on the plane of existence that's in the spirit, we're secure. As we've been forgiven, we're freed up to forgive of others. We're reminded that God has not given us a spirit of fear. God hasn't given us a spirit of timidity.
[33:43] God has given us a spirit of love, power, and sound mind. And the apostle Paul reminded young Timothy that there are occasions in your life, Timothy, where you need to fan into flame these things that are true. Now think about that imagery, church family. When you fan something into flame, you recognize that there are these embers that are already ignited. And that's what God did when he saved you. This is what God did when you were justified by faith. This is what God did when you profess faith in the son of God who took your sins at the cross. Your embers are ignited. But what Paul reminds us is that these embers at times need to be fanned. They need to be fanned into a flame so that the blaze of God's presence takes us to a different plane, a plane of being a spirit-empowered, spirit-controlled, spirit-influenced follower of Jesus Christ. Fan it into flame. How do you do that? You fan it into flame. Through surrender. You fan it into flame in prayer. You fan it into flame by awakening and recognizing I break up the fallow ground of my heart so that, God, I might move with a sensitivity to your word.
[35:06] So, church, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to give an invitation this morning, but it's not to the altar, not this altar. Oh, you can come to the altar anytime you wish, but I just want you to know that's not what I'm doing. What I want to invite you to do for just a few minutes is simply make an altar of where you're sitting.
[35:23] And what we want to do for just a moment, in light of the revelation of God that we've talked about for a few minutes, I don't know about you, I don't like surprises. So there's no surprise here. I'm going to tell you exactly what we're going to do. No fear and love. We're going to be quiet in the sanctuary just for a few minutes, just before the Lord. Just be still before the Lord. And as we're still, we're just going to say, God, speak to us. Speak to me. What are you saying to me? And just listen with your spirit.
[35:57] And there may be some things that he puts on your heart that he's saying, I want you to adjust this. I want you to repent of that. I want you to receive my love here. I want you to receive my forgiveness. I want to remind you he's merciful. And the Bible says there's a new mercy for you today. So there's no condemnation in Jesus Christ. If I wanted to be cheesy, I would say, look at your neighbor and say, there's no condemnation in Jesus Christ, but I don't want you to do that. That's cheesy. But I do want you to believe it. God wants you to believe him.
[36:36] So let's just be still for a moment. And then what I'm going to do after the stillness is I'm just going to lead in a series of what I call first-person prayers that might apply to some of us, might not, but just so that we meet with God in prayer for a few minutes before we sing
[36:55] our closing hymn, and then we're going to pray over some people as we close. Let's be still before the Lord and just go before Him in silence.
[37:53] The Scripture says in Colossians, forgive as the Lord has forgiven you. So I invite you to do business with God in regard to those you need to forgive. It may have been a spouse. It might have been one of your pastors in the past. It may have been someone that betrayed you in a business deal, and Jesus would remind you this morning that he knows what it's like to be betrayed, but Jesus wants to free you, so that you don't move in fear but you move in the spirit of Jesus you move in love.
[38:50] There may even be some among us that an individual struck you physically and it's wounded you deeply and you've carried that deep wound, you've carried that deep wound for some time, and the Lord is inviting you to get free this morning and to forgive. God hasn't given you a spirit of fear. Trust him. He wants to set you free. God has given you a spirit of love. He's given you a spirit of power and he's given you a spirit that is sound. It's a sound mind, clear thinking, the mind of Christ.
[39:41] Lord, I pray for wounds that are deep They just come out of family of origin They come out of our circumstances Sometimes the way we misunderstand others And misunderstand ourselves.
[39:59] God, we pray that through your gospel Of forgiving our sin and reconciling us to you Lord, open doors of healing. Go deep, set captives free, bind up wounds, and fill with your Spirit all over the sanctuary, Lord. Fill these precious ones with the fullness of your Holy Spirit. This we pray in the name and power of Jesus. Amen. You.