Beeson Podcast, Episode #607 Reverend Paul Lawler June 21, 2022 >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University. Now your hosts, Doug Sweeney and Kristen Padilla. >>Doug Sweeney: Welcome to the Beeson Podcast. I’m your host, Doug Sweeney. We hope you’re enjoying this summer sermon series thus far. Today we have another excellent sermon to play for you. But before we do, let me remind you that today through Friday we are at the PCA General Assembly here in Birmingham, Alabama. In a few weeks some of us will also be at the EK Bailey Preaching Conference – that’s July 11-13. Please say “hello” if you are at either or both of these meetings. Also, don’t forget that tickets are already on sale for our Beauty of God Conference: Preaching, Worship, and the Arts. This conference is being co-sponsored by our Robert Smith Jr. Preaching Institute and Samford’s Center for Worship and the Arts. Guests include Matt Papa, Debra Dean Murphy, Kevin Twit, Tyshawn Gardner, Cliff Duren, John Witvliet, and others. This conference will focus on the how the beauty of God’s love is manifested through the ministries of preaching, worship, and the arts – and how the arts may support ministries of preaching and worship. More fundamentally this conference aims to give a more profound awareness of how such practices are rooted in the beauty and glory of the triune God. Find more information and purchase tickets at www.BeesonDivinity.com/events. The sermon we’re going to play for you this week was given by the Reverend Paul Lawler at Beeson during our Fall 2021 chapel series called, “Tokens of the Providence of God in Times of Trouble.” His sermon was called, “The Richness of Redemption,” and was based on 1 Corinthians 11:17-34. The Reverend Lawler has served as the Pastor of Christ Church, United Methodist Church, here in Birmingham, for 15 years. And next month he will begin a new pastorate in Christ Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Reverend Lawler serves on Beeson’s Wesleyan Certificate Advisory Board and has been a good friend to us at Beeson for many years. He’s also involved with The New Global Methodist Church. In case you missed it, go back and listen to a conversation we had with him about these things on November 23, 2021. Now we invite you to Hodges Chapel to hear a wonderful message on 1 Corinthians 11 called, “The Richness of Redemption,” by the Reverend Paul Lawler. >>Reverend Lawler: Father, there are clearly times when we recognize we are in the midst of transcendence. Your presence is made known among us and as we’ve adored you in liturgy and song and through this word through song we are mindful that you are speaking. So, we don’t want to just casually move to the next thing. We just pause. We honor you. We pray you would tenderize out hearts and our ears as we shift now to worship you through your Word. We ask that you would continue to open Heaven above us. Dwell among us, O God. Revelate over us. Shift what needs to be shifted. Shake what needs to be shaken. Form what needs to be formed. For the sake of the glory of Christ formed in us, the hope of our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. So, before we begin to preach here this morning – and I say “we” because there’s a sense in which as I present we’re all in this together for a few moments. I would be remiss if I did not pause and thank you, Beeson Community, thank you, Dr. Sweeney, for the invitation to come and be among you. I am deeply honored to have this privilege and if you’ll allow me just for a moment to thank Dr. Sweeney for his leadership in this hour as we ... things we cultivate as a nation, I’m going to comment on that in just a bit, but also I want to thank Dr. JD Payne and Dr. Mike Pasquarello for their investment in the local church that I serve in this city. And the way they have made an impact in our local congregation. Dr. David Parks, I want to thank you for your friendship. And then even though I don’t know the entire faculty here, I have the privilege of serving and pastoring students that are either presently enrolled here or have graduated from Beeson and we are all indebted to you. The church is healthier and more vibrant because of the leadership of the faculty of Beeson. And even though I don’t personally know each of you, thank you. Your labor in the Lord is not in vain as it says in 1 Corinthians 15:58. COVID has affected all of us in different ways. Certainly it has affected the church. It’s affected the church I serve. It’s affected the churches that you serve in or are presently serving, or you attend. But I started noticing something about a year ago. I noticed some things that people say from time to time. I noticed that people say, “Pastor, I can’t wait until things are like they were.” Maybe you’ve heard some of this, too. And then on the other hand I hear a lot of people within church say things like, “Oh, man, I can’t wait until we get beyond this and get in the future.” And I get that. I certainly, as a Christian, am a person of hope just like you are a person of hope. I mean, after all, what’s the alternative? Whether you’re in Christ or not. But we certainly want to have hope about the future. But there’s something subtle that can happen in our lives in being the Church when we’re thinking about yesterday and we’re thinking about tomorrow rather than today. I think you all are well aware that Jesus is resurrected. He’s alive. He’s at the right hand of the Father. He is not only our mediator, but he dwells in us. And we’re aware that in this hour we’re confronted with great challenges, not only as a church but a church seeking to be salt and light in a culture. We’re aware that when the scripture was read this morning that we’re hearing a text in the context of a church that’s also in crisis for different reasons. And we’re aware that of all the churches in the New Testament that Paul wrote to there was no church that had the kind of complex problems that the Corinthian church had. There was no church that was as sinful as the Corinthian church. None that was as misguided as the Corinthian church. None that had fell so badly as the Corinthian church. And so here we are in the text this morning. The church is coming to the Lord’s Table, Holy Communion, in the wrong spirit. Here’s a church where as you listen to the text there’s the vision, there’s elitism even, drunkenness, in coming to the Lord’s Table. And you see in the text. You heard the word. Some of you may have it open. There are divisions among you. Verse 17-22. “There are factions among you. One goes ahead with his own meal, one goes hungry, another gets drunk.” I mean, really, there’s a prideful root in the Corinthian church and its manifested itself not only in what we read in this segment of scripture but what we read throughout the letter. There’s sexual immorality. Not only is there sexual immorality, the church is enabling it. The church operates in a greater fear of what people think than what God thinks. And they enable this kind of behavior. They’re afraid to confront. It dishonors God. I was doing a spiritual renewal conference a number of years ago at a church. And we were in day two. Listen, some of you, you have a gift of discernment, some of you have that particular spiritual gift and you said, “Something is not right.” We’re in day two. And in my spirit I said, “Something is wrong.” And so I sat down with the pastor. I said, “Can you tell me what’s wrong?” I began to open up a little bit and said, “I sense something is not aligned here. Can you address that?” And then he says these words to me across his desk. He goes, “Oh, did somebody talk to you?” I said, “No, sir. Nobody’s talked to me. Can you help me?” He said, “Oh, there’s a man and a woman in the choir. They’re having an affair. Everybody knows it.” And I said, gently, he was an older man, I know the scripture says, “Speak to an older believer as if they’re your own father.” So, I spoke to him in a very respectful, yet tender, but truthful way, “Sir, have you considered confronting this? It’s grieving the person of the Holy Spirit and what God wants to do here. He’s jealous for his people.” We see this in the Corinthian church. Some of the Corinthians were even excusing sexual sin by saying, “Well, it happens outside the body.” There are Christians suing one another. Christians being misguided about singleness and marriage. Christians being insensitive to one another. Affluent Christians thinking they’re better than less affluent Christians. Misuse of spiritual gifts. Some Corinthians were even denying that there would be a resurrection of believers one day. Ha! That’s real theological, write that down: Ha! But so we recognize in the broader context of what’s going on in the Corinthian church the levity, the weight of when Paul writes these words. “If anyone eats and drinks without discerning the body, they eat and drink judgment upon themselves. That’s why many of you are weak and you’re ill. Some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly,” verses 27-32, “we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord we are disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.” Now, what I’m about to say is not in the text. So, I want to validate that. You can look at your neighbor and go, “At least he’s self aware.” Okay? But there’s lots of research, this is a simple Google search. Please don’t do this right now. But there’s a simple Google search. At the base of your brain you have a pituitary gland. That pituitary gland secretes hormones for your body. It regulates mood and feel, it even regulates a sense of intuitiveness. Your pituitary gland, when it is engineered by our creator, when a person crosses a moral boundary, it regulates a hormone that actually can bring on the blues or depression. It’s kind of God’s way of forming our physiology in a way that we have a warning light that something is wrong. And what it reminds us of is the reality that we’re not designed for sin. And when your pituitary gland regulates this hormone that brings on the blues, the blahs, maybe even a sense of – I’m not talking about clinical depression in this context – but a sense of depression, if you will. Researchers tell us that in the midst of that your immune system is not as effective as it is normally. We’re reminded we’re just not designed for sin. Sin inhibits human flourishing. But obviously there’s a deeper context that Paul writes about here because he’s writing about the judgment of God in light of just enabling sin in our own lives and in the life of the church. And it’s rooted, note this, it’s rooted in his love. Because you can hear the love of God so that ... If you have a bible open I would say in my church, “Circle the phrase ‘so that.’” So that we may not be condemned along with the world. We’re reminded out of the Book of Hebrews he chastens those whom he loves. He’s a loving God who is jealous for his people and their development in Christ’s likeness. And Paul is declaring that in your sin, in the Corinthian context it’s not only against a holy God but you’re bringing harm to your own body individually and the body of Christ corporately. The Corinthian believers were in real trouble. And between I & II Corinthians most of us in this room are keenly aware that there are no less than 29 chapters devoted to this church. More than any other church in the New Testament in light of the complexities of what was going on in this particular church. And what complicates matters is now the spirit in which they’re coming to the Lord’s table, which is the wrong spirit. It’s almost like they’re valuing the what over the who. Like they’re valuing the pattern of outwardly being the church without honoring the person who founded the church. Which reminds us of this. It’s not just what we do. It’s the spirit in which we do what we do. It’s not just that you serve the poor. It’s the spirit in which you serve the poor. It’s not, and this was beautiful, and there was transcendence in what you guys brought in this offering of this Psalm. But it’s not just that you hit your note, it’s why you hit your note. It’s not that you write a blog, it’s why you write a blog. It’s not that you just partake of the Lord’s Supper, it’s why you partake of the Lord’s Supper. The Corinthians were actually harboring the divisions that were among them by doing ... They were actually denying the very reality that the Lord’s Supper communicates our common need for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his death, burial, resurrection, our common salvation. That Jesus, that in his sacrifice, his substitutionary atoning death, his resurrection, his ascension, all providing for our salvation, our redemption, our rescue, that Jesus, Lamb of God, our highest common denominator as a people, is being minimized. And their behavior actually contradicts the reality that the Lord’s Supper represents. And rather than proclaiming Christ’s sacrificial death through the Lord’s Supper, they’re coming to the Lord’s Supper proclaiming their social distinctions, their pride, their divisions, and drunkenness. And the Corinthians were at an elementary level of being more caught up in who they are rather than who he is. And you know Paul, he quotes Jesus in these passages. And I’m not going to read all of them, but you know the bottom lines of what he says when he quotes Jesus. “This is my body, which is for you. This is the cup of the covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it. Remember me. For as often as you eat the bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again.” Now the Lord’s Supper, when entered into in the right spirit is powerful for many reasons. This is rich for the glory of God. Rich in redemption. John Wesley referred to the Lord’s Supper as a means of grace. I would define grace in this way. All of God for all my need. Not my wants, but all my need. All of God for all my need. If you ever do a word study on the word “grace” you find that grace is forgiveness but, oh, it’s much more than that. It’s the empowerment of God to live the Christian life, to follow Jesus in an empowered manner. And I’m simply saying the Lord’s Supper is powerful for many reasons, but because of all the riches of God’s grace that are rooted in its reality and what it represents. John Wesley witnessed people healed in services of Holy Communion. We planted a church, or Jesus planted a church through our lives. I guess I would phrase it that way. In Huntsville a number of years ago. We were in the midst of a communion service and a lady sitting about on the third row of church ... Suddenly I looked up as we were serving communion and she began to weep. And she was scheduled for knee surgery on Wednesday after Sunday. She was weeping. I knew something was happening. I didn’t know. At first I didn’t know if it was a good weeping or a bad weeping. She came up after we finished serving everyone communion. And first it shocked me that she came up, because she came up without her crutches. And she said, “Pastor Paul, I can’t explain this. The presence of God has just overwhelmed me and I felt a warmth, particularly around my knee. Pastor Paul I can move my knee perfectly. I feel fine. His presence ...” She’s still weeping. And please understand that I’m not trying to say things like that happen in Holy Communion all the time. They don’t. I’m referring to something that happened 17 years ago, church family. Or excuse me, Beeson family. Pardon me, I’m a creature of habit. But what I am saying to you is that this Lord’s Supper, when we enter into his presence in the right spirit, is powerful. But it’s most powerful because the Lord’s Supper lifts up the gospel, which is central. Which declares that we are all in desperate need of salvation and that we all receive salvation the same way, through the person of Jesus Christ. Can somebody say, “Amen?” Because that’s true, loved ones. Now, this is also why ... If I could be a fly on the wall for a moment ... why I treasure the Beeson community. And I don’t say this because I’m a guest here today. And I’m not saying this to flatter out of some sense of superficial graciousness. I say what I’m about to say because I believe that there is a special unique deposit of what I would call spiritual DNA in this seminary that you’re a part of. Because it represents healthy unity in the midst of diversity. There are Baptists studying here. There are Anglicans studying here. There are Presbyterians and Methodists and more ... forgive me if I left your tribe out. But in light of the polarization that we see in the culture around us, in a culture that racism has raised its head again in ways that we need to be aware of and sensitive to with those types of polarizations happening around us, you’re bringing witness to something deeper and richer for the glory of God. And as you’re studying here and your nose is down in Greek and Hebrew and Christian doctrine and you, at times maybe, when you’re tired or going, “Is this really worth it? Am I going to persevere? Am I going to make it?” I want to encourage you not only are you on track and being faithful with the giftings that God has placed in your life and preparing for full time Christian service in your future. I want to encourage you not to take for granted the deposit that you’re experiencing while you’re here. The Corinthians missed it and by God’s grace let us now. And Paul goes on to write, verse 27, “Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself.” And so we recognize in light of coming to the Lord’s table that we all should examine ourselves, particularly in light of the text. A part of that is around divisions in the church. But also to examine ourselves in the context of the passage. And that is around the fact that there are no distinctions in the body of Christ. Red and yellow, black and white, they are ... And regardless of what social background we’ve come from, the ground is level. And we are to discern the body. I could ask this question sometime. Pastor Paul, in that line, discern the body, is it referring to our body? Jesus’ body? Or Jesus, the body of Christ? And I just simply say, “Yes. Yes.” Contextually, yes. Because the Apostle Paul said the spirit of the living God dwells in the temple that is your body, loved one, believer. And the scripture has affirmed in 1 Corinthians 12 that we are the body of Christ. Yes. Yes. Discern the body so then, verse 33, “My brothers and sisters when you come together to eat, wait for one another.” In other words, honor one another as better than yourselves. Make a mad dash to the end of the line. Esteem one another. Build one another up in love. Serve one another. Spur one another one to good works. When Dr. Sweeney was kind enough to extend an invitation to come this morning, one of the things I was informed is that there is a theme this fall which is the subtitle of what’s taking place in chapel is tokens of the providence of God in times of trouble. I’m sure other chapel speakers have mentioned this as well. But perhaps it’s good that we define the word “token” because for some of us that can sound trite, but the word “token” literally means a visible or tangible representation. So, I’ve got three things very briefly to say and then I’ll close. The Corinthians had disunity and we see that very clear in this book as well as this passage. But my prayer for you is that you’ll know a greater unity in the church in your lifetime. You can put it down. There will be disunity. There’s nothing new under the sun. You’ll battle that at times and as the scripture says in Ephesians, “You will have the opportunity to labor for unity.” But I think you will have a gift in your lifetime. What I’m about to say, I want to acknowledge is counterintuitive. But I believe that you’ll have a gift. And if you’re serving the church of Jesus Christ outside the West you will definitely experience this gift, if you’re serving with this gift in Western culture I think this gift is going to get more intense. And here it is, the gift of persecution. Now you say, “Pastor, why did you bring that up?” Well, the last 300 years have been an anomaly in Christian history in the West. And that is that you could be a Christian and even be ... whether you’re a convictional Christian or a casual Christian you could live a Christian life without severe persecution compared to what the other parts of the world is experiencing. But that is shifting on our watch. And I believe that in the West, in your lifetimes, that we will taste a greater degree of persecution as we serve Jesus. But I believe that this is a grace from God. Now, I don’t say that recklessly. But let me illustrate very quickly, first of all, I have just like many of you, friends around the world. I know an Apostolic leader in the nation of Laos. This is what he says. Where the church is growing in pockets in Laos. He says, “When we are persecuted in our village, then we are unified. And when we’re unified, people notice the way we love one another. And they get curious about the gospel. And we proclaim it. And God honors his gospel.” Some of you have heard what’s happened out of Afghanistan after Americans pulled out. And what’s happened in pockets of the church there with persecution. She’s actually grown rather than decreased in size. I am confident, because I’ve heard Dr. David Parks and his guests teach on this campus that you’re aware of the fastest growing church in the world is where? Iran. And that’s counterintuitive. But at the same time it’s where many pay the highest price for following Jesus. There’s a brother that I know in Southeast Asia, three American pastors sat with him a few years ago and said to him, “Pastor, tell us what do you do in your country about lukewarm Christians?” And he paused for about 30 seconds. Didn’t say a word. Just looked down. You could tell he was thinking. And he looked back up, with tears coming down his cheeks, and he said to the three American pastors, “You must understand, in my country when you follow Jesus you can no longer own property. Your children can no longer be educated, free, in the government schools, you can no longer own a business. There are no lukewarm Christians in my country.” Ed Stetzer and the Pew Research foundation validate that in the coming years that casual Christianity will fade in North America. And there will only be convictional Christians. The gift of persecution. Secondly, in this letter you see that the church was sifted for the development of holiness in their lives by the Word of God written by the Apostle Paul, inspired and led by the Holy Spirit. And what I want to validate is that we are in an hour where the church in the West is being sifted in several ways. There’s a sifting going on that many of you have been listening to a podcast, the Rise and Fall of something ... What is that? Mars Hill? Yes. You’ve been listening to that podcast, which is a reflection of some things that are happening in many churches around North America. We recognize that in the sovereignty of God there seems to be a sifting, a shaking out of God purifying his bride. But we also know COVID has had this effect as well. I believe in faith. This doesn’t mean I’m right, this is what I believe, and I believe I’m right, but it doesn’t mean I’m right. I believe that our circumstances are our classroom. And on the basis of Romans 8:28-29, I believe God is using COVID for good. Now, please understand I don’t say that insensitive to those persons who have lost loved ones with COVID. Please know I share this with a sensitivity to the suffering around us. My own father right now is laying in St. Vincent’s Hospital because he’s immuno compromised and he got COVID last Thursday. I appreciate your prayers for him. And many of you have already prayed. But in the church we are noticing that a lot of people that were there before are not coming back. But we also notice among those that have come back have a purer and more properly aligned hunger for God and hunger to be the church and to be authentic community. There is something redemptive happening in this hour. And I want to encourage you because you’re going to inherit some of the fruit of what God is doing as you move into places of servant hood and leadership. Thirdly, the most important thing and that is that the Lord’s Supper preaches the gospel to us and you have the deposit of the gospel of Jesus Christ dwelling in you. We are not ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God for salvation, for first the Jew and the Greek, he dwells in you. You have something to offer the world in all of its brokenness. And diminishing of human flourishing in this hour, loved ones. So, Jesus shows up and Martha looks at him and says, “Jesus, been dead for four days.” COVID or something. That’s not in the text. Okay? “He’s been dead for four days. Where have you been?” Her faith is in yesterday. Jesus says, “Martha, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even if he dies.” Martha looks at him and says, “Jesus, don’t talk theology with me. I know that someday there’s going to be a resurrection.” Her faith is in tomorrow. Where all the while God incarnate standing right before her. Billy Graham was asked before he died, “Dr. Graham, other than salvation, what is the most important issue of our lives?” Just like that he said this, “The brevity of life.” The gospel of Jesus Christ dwells in you. You have a gift to give the world. Life is a vapor. Don’t put your faith in yesterday. Don’t put your faith in tomorrow. Believe him in the present. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. >>Kristen Padilla: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast. Our theme music is written and performed by Advent Birmingham of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, Alabama. Our engineer is Rob Willis. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our co-hosts are Doug Sweeney and, myself, Kristen Padilla. Please subscribe to the Beeson podcast at www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast or on iTunes.