Division

Your Bibles to first Corinthians chapter one

Why are you doing that? Let me say how delighted I am that Amy and Gary are here and I think they had a rather late night of it getting everything set up and all but we're glad they're here I talked with a couple of the elders and I think we agree that it's the best thing to do to just Let's go on So we're gonna try to get the information to the media outlets this afternoon and let those who come you know We've been praying that folks would come who normally aren't in tune with church Who would come because of the style of music and we've hit some of those outlets advertising hoping that they'll come well Sometimes they're rather hardy individuals and They probably wouldn't be interested in the football game. Maybe like some of the rest of us But they'd love to come and maybe don't come and you know what if it's just one person They got out of the brain. It's worth it So you pray and if you think of some folks maybe you've invited and you kind of debating back and forth Come on out I got a note here that after the service this morning Gary named me'd like to meet you and this probably one time they can meet you because there's not a lot of us And if you just meet in the fellowship hall afterwards go down. They'll be glad to talk with you Visit with you a little while get to know you a little bit First Corinthians chapter one we continue our study

Paul's first letter to the Corinthians and we began reading this morning at verse 10 Paul says I appeal to you brothers in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ That all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought My brother some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you What I mean is this One of you says I follow Paul Another while I follow a Paulus and another I follow Cephas and still another I follow Christ Is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you where you baptized into the name of Paul? I'm thankful that I did not baptize any of you except crispus and gays so that none can say that you were baptized into my name Oh, yes, I also baptized the household of Stefanus beyond that I don't remember if I baptized anyone else For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel Not with words of human wisdom less the cross of Christ be emptied of its power And may the Lord bless the reading and the preaching of his word to our hearts this morning As we return to Paul's letter to the Corinthians we find him addressing the major problem in the church When we go through the book you're going to find him addressing specific Problems that he's been asked about or problems that he is aware of But I'm convinced that they basically fall under the rubric of this problem and that is division That each and every one of these questions had caused some measure of division in the body there at Corinth These people were divided There were many issues there were many opinions. They'd all had different experiences and it seems as though they all caused division The word translated division here in the Greek is schismata from which we get the English word schism And if you're a student of church history you know that schisms in the church have occurred And by those who love the church are abhorred the word liberally means a tear or crack Now what's Paul saying? He's saying the church is being torn There's a crack In the body in the fellowship there at Corinth Where there should be unity there is division Now let me be quick to point out that Paul's not saying that everybody is going to agree on every issue About every detail of everything that comes up He's not that naive We're not home yet And yet When it comes to fellowship in the body of Christ there ought to be a unity that cannot be torn Or cracked because what unites us is our common bond in Jesus Christ A bond that is glued if you will by the Holy Spirit and our differences of opinion

Our differences and how we see things Should never bring about a division a tear in the body Paul does expect these believers to have a loving disposition that strives for harmony peace and purity in the church That's what vows we've taken When you join the church one of your vows here is that you will pursue strive for the peace and purity of the church

That's not some outlandish thing that some Presbyterian somewhere is thought up in a backroom

It's a reflection of what the Bible Says is expected of each of us There's to be harmony unity

Inside of our imperfections Because we're one in Christ Why is Paul so concerned about the divisions he sees in the church at Corinth Paul knew that division was the one thing that would render the church impotent He says in another place we're not We are not ignorant of his devices. We're not unaware of his schemes You know what the steam of Satan is to thwart the ministry of the church. It's always the same I've told you many times It's what every good military commander knows divide and conquer You want to destroy a marriage divide and conquer You want to destroy family relationship Father son father daughter mother son mother daughter divide and conquer You want to destroy the ministry of the church of Jesus Christ just bring division division diminishes the ministry of the church And that's my theme statement this morning division diminishes the ministry of Christ church And we all probably can give examples of where we've seen that either in our own experience or in other churches where we've lived That we've known where there been real division and how it hampered the ministry not only of that church but of other churches

Paul knew That division Would strip the church of her power

This morning what I want us to do is to hear What Paul has to say to the church at Corinth as he addresses this problem

Because you see what Paul has to say we need to hear Wasn't just for them it's for us And so the first thing I want us to see is in verses 10 through 12 the fact of divisions Paul states this and presents this as a fight It's not I suspect or I assume or I deduce from what I'm hearing Head on he says this is the problem Notice in verse 10 we see his appeal. He says I appeal to you that there be agreement Well, what does that mean it means that there's disagreement he says I appeal to you that there be no divisions What does that mean their divisions their cracks and their tears? I appeal to you that there be perfect unity and thought that you have one mind and one spirit as you approach these things What's that tell you they were of many minds and many spirits as they approach these different issues Dr. Kiss the maker says in his commentary having been called into the fellowship of God son Jesus Christ Which we see in verse 9 they should understand that this fellowship Fellowship with Jesus Includes unity and harmony and excludes dissension and strife You see the basis of what Paul is saying is the relationship of these people with Jesus Christ When you are in relationship with Jesus Christ you are automatically In relationship with those members of his body his church And when I counsel young couples for marriage. You know one of the big things. I tell them I say young man look at this woman And look at her family you're marrying all of them and I say young lady you look at this man and you look at his family I mean in laws outlaws dogs cats cousins you marry in all of them Boy, I've seen some guys backtrack as I love this woman but her mama I can't stand her Say what son you better think it through because you marry in her mama too Oh, no, I remember one boy said I ain't marrying her mama I said if you marry her daughter you marry in her in one way or another you're gonna have to live with it Well, when you Belong to Christ You got to live with his family Paul says the basis of our fellowship in Christ is the basis Of our relationship with one another in the church We're kind to one another if we're born again Whether we like it or not and like us tell my Sunday school class this morning Some are prettier and nicer and easier to love than some of us some of us are prickly Some of us not very pretty Pretty is is pretty does some of us doesn't do very pretty But we're still part of the family

And because we belong to Christ We belong to each other Warts and all CK Barrett the British commentator says you should be rightly related to your fellow Christians Not simply because you're both members of the same organization But because he is your brother for whom Christ died But hey what that puts it in a whole different light then

When you look at me and see me simply as another individual with another opinion. That's one thing But when you see me as a brother for whom Christ died Can't look at me the same You can look at each other and you say well, I don't like that person When you see them as a person for whom Christ died you can't get off that easy can you

Remember Warren wears be said to dwell above with saints. We love how that will be glory But to dwell below with saints. We know well. That's another story That's true It's true in our families It's true in our marriages and with our children and it's true in the body of Christ We get pulled there is tension We all have relatives that we wish we could trade the other families, but they do too Remember preacher one time at that Another church I was in it's talking to him We're talking about some of our cantankerous members And I said you know the Methodist church that candy corner crossed from us. I said well I'd love to trade about three over there. He said I bet you he's got five. He had to be glad to trade We got got to talk and laughing about it. I said you know, I think I'll keep mine and let him keep his Yeah, that's kind of how it is because that's the way we are And our fellowship is in Christ and that causes us to look at each other differently Now Paul addresses the source of his information. He says it came from Chloe's household. We don't know who they are But what were they telling they're saying they're quarrels How did Paul know there was division because there was quarrels these people were fussing I don't know if you know what fussing is but I had a sister 19 much younger than me And I know all about fuss I think we probably were the world champions fussers And I remember my mom saying if you do don't quit fussing at one another I'm gonna scream Of course sometimes we kept fussing to see if she would

What was going on at Corinth they were fussing You're quarreling If one of them said why have the other one said black if one of them said blue the other one said green If one said Paul the other one said butter powers And finally the most sanctimonious of the box said well Jesus said they were just going in it Yeah So many teach school you know exactly what it's like it's like there's a spirit that invades your kids someday And they just betty is that right just like every time you're happens Postes happened in the church their quarrels and people are offended and people are dividing It's just that's not the way the body's supposed to be What's obvious is that these Separations had not brought about a permanent division, but they were in the process Notice in verse 12 how Paul confronts this thing He says there are factions in the church. We done sugarcoded He doesn't cut it at all. He says the way it is now remember that not every believer in Corinth had a line with a group You see our tendency is Westerners is to say uh-huh everybody fit into a little pigeonhole That's how I think okay. Well you must be Paul Thomas Peter now who the Jesus people may Everybody no, not everybody. There were some people who were sitting there confused Because they said well, I love so and so and I love so and so and why are they always at each other's throat? What you have at Corinth? You got a mass So what you got come around with the seminary with a boy this from South Carolina and he's more country and I am and he said it's a mass brother Every time something going he said it's a mass brother and I became our byword. It's a mass Well, it was a mass in Corinth The issue there is that they Have created divisions and align themselves under certain leaders all of these people undoubtedly administered there You know the irony Paul Apollos Peter Never ever would have condoned what they were doing They were invoking the names of people who never would have been in favor Of their dividing over them

Let me ask you are there divisions are there tears are there cracks in this body We know that in divisible church there will be divisions between the wheat and the tears Those who are not truly born again of Christ those who are not the true sheep but our goats We know that will happen We know that division must come

I'm not talking about that kind of division. I'm talking about the division that comes between members of the body

Is our unity in Christ or are we divided then I want you to ask yourself am I divisive and I a divisive person I've never served in a church where there weren't a few divisive people There's some here Now we tend to think That the divisive people are those who are always running around so in seats of division Well, yeah, they are but those who listen and do not stop the gossip Are just as divisive as those who are active you have those who are active and those who are passive in their divisiveness So you see we might say oh, I am not divisive. I never complain. I never never criticize. I never But do you listen to it? Do you pass it on Do you build up or do you tear down?

You see our tendency is to think that all these people in Corinth were Maori people know there were probably some Maori people but both were divisive Our unity is and must ever be rooted in our relationship with Jesus Christ That's what knits us together one Lord one faith one baptism We are here and the basis of our unity is a blood basis and we talked about that before how blood relatives if you come It came up in the country. That's an important thing By their blood you'll never you'll never get so and so to turn on him because they're blood relatives That's how it is in the body Tragedy in the modern church in America is that so often it's people outside of the church who are critiquing us correctly Rather than us critiquing ourselves and dealing with it a lot of what the unbeliever says about the church is too true I grew up in a church that fought all the time It's why I'm thankful for you While we're not perfect. This is I say this and hold my breath It is one of the most peaceful groups I've ever been around And they blow up before I get out of here

If you grew up in that environment where people literally yelled at one another And constantly were undermining each other working against each other Then you know what I'm talking about and there are folks who've grown up in that and they say If that's what the church is I don't need any more tension and strive in my life I'm raising kids. I'm married to a workaholic. I go to work. I have stress and strange coming out my ears I don't need it in the church And you know what a lot of times they are right One of the most vicious places can be the church I would just say to you brothers these things ought not to be And Paul addresses that since there are divisions here and there's no reason for them I think I think I think he addresses their false notions of loyalty versus 13 through 17 Notice his logic and versus 13 through 16 Paul's logic is impeccable First he applies his logic to himself You can take this argument and you can supplant Paul's name with a palace or with Peter The reasoning is the same Paul points out the obvious but sometimes we're blinded to the obvious aren't we we're so close Close to the situation we can't see the forest for the trees and that's why sometimes we need people outside I remember when my grandfather was in my nursing home My dad was struggling with a lot of things that are very normal and if you've studied any of this You know that the things the family was going through were incredibly normal So I go home and I hear all this and being the outsider. I say okay, you know here. Let's talk about this Let's do that and finally, what do you know about it?

You know what are you saying? A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown So he's saying says I know who you are you're my son And you could not possibly have anything worthwhile to say on this What I found out they didn't want any help. They just wanted me in that was okay

Paul Comes here through this ladder and he says let's deal with this And he sees things that they can't see because he said a distance he speaks to those And he uses himself which you know when I know that He was under attack from some quarters, so the best thing is to use himself Every good preacher will do that But you know when I know that the others could have been just as easily put in here Was he say Paul was not crucified for you By in Prince of Paulus was not crucified for you Peter was not crucified for you You weren't baptized into my name Nobody puts you under the water nobody sprinkled you nobody dipped you and said baptized in the name of Paul the Apostle

So that didn't happen fact. He says my ministry wasn't even a ministry of baptism I think this gives us a clue is to where some of this was coming now They weren't saying well. I was baptized under the ministry of Paul or a Paulus baptized me Well, you know when Peter was a Peter and you know Peter if he's one of the Apostles and then I hear it I can hear it well I'm baptized in Christ and I have the Holy Spirit in the truth There's always that group that's more spiritual they invoke Christ Sometimes they're the least spiritual Paul's look I didn't baptize many of you you weren't baptized into my name. I wasn't crucified for you Christ is not divided our union our unity is in him And then he reminds them of his calling in verse 17 It's a calling he had faithfully fulfilled in their midst He said my calling was to preach the gospel That was my primary task and how was he to preach the gospel Not with great oratorical skill The Greeks prided themselves on their ability to move people with their arguments their logic and their skill

You ever heard a good speaker?

They can hold you right there and manipulate you

I remember when Steve Brown came to RTS and taught a one-week seminar They're in the winter term and I took his seminar And what he did one you know, we met for like three hours every day He came in one day and he says I don't tell you story pulled up a stool to the story now if you've listened Steve Brown You know, he's got a voice to die for I mean, it's just this Melodius He sat there and told the story of Hoseha and you could heard pin drop and when he said You are gomer the whole And God has redeemed you from your horde of with the blood of his son the tears began to flow He was just telling story, but he was powerful He rightly used his oratorical skills to convey truth

And he told us he says guys you ever be careful of manipulating your audience with your skill You be sure it's the story of Christ that touches their heart. That's what Paul saying here He says I came to you and I didn't use these did he not have them He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees he was trained At the law school of law schools even though the Harvard of his day He knew how to speak to a crowd of people, but what did he do? He spoke on their level put aside The flowery Mechanical things he knew and he spoke the truth of God from his heart with passion And he says I came to you and I didn't use all these things that write my disposal I simply preach to you from my soul the cross of Jesus Christ Last You be convinced by argument or emotion that Christ died to forgive your sins I would submit to you that there are many today Who preach in such a way that they rob the cross of its power

And I would ask you have you experienced the power of the cross

For you see if you've been convinced by the logic by the argument of some preacher Then you've had a change of mind if you have been moved By the story the ability of some preacher to manipulate you then you've had a change of emotion

But if you've been convinced by the power of the cross If you've had a new birth Then you've experienced a change of the soul and I am convinced That while they are not mutually exclusive neither are they mutually inclusive and there are many In the southern church especially Who've had an emotional change But they've never had a change of soul Because how quickly and easily They can walk away from the things of God You can do that with emotions emotions wax and Wayne Convictions don't I'm convinced there are many who had had a change of mind They said this stuff makes more sense in anything I've found you see Paul understood The Greeks could speak to the mind the Jews could speak to the soul but uh the to the emotion the heart But only Jesus could speak to the soul and bring mind and heart together and change a person so that they're new

Now what about us what about us the first question is have we truly been born again Exam in yourselves to see whether or not you're in the face you say preacher. We're the ones who are here, right

That's who that question was originally addressed to the ones who were there

Exam in yourself your soul not just your emotional. I feel good about Jesus ain't That won't hold you up when the storms come I think good about Jesus that will not keep you

That my redeemer lives I know that he has forgiven me and how do you know Jesus loves me this I know Ford the Bible tells me so you see those who had a change of soul Know that and live by that regardless of the rest How are we living in this church in our families in this community? Are we divisive? Do we allow our personality differences and maybe our differences of opinion from time to time To bring tears into the body of Christ rips

Why can Corinth when it happens The ministry is diminished if there's a rip in one of your relationships go go see if it can be repaired And they'll be paranoid some people paranoid you know the clerk at the grocery store is having a bad day and they think it's their fault No, be wise. That's God to show you

Maybe you need to lay down your axe and just go home. It's okay Sometimes I have to do that But are we divisive or are we seeking the peace and purity of the church when Lord Nelson was commanding the ship at the battle of Trafalgar He came on deck to discover two of his officers quarreling

In that instant he grabbed both of them world them about Pointed them to the enemy ships and said gentlemen there are your enemies

Let's remember who our enemies are

Let's take the heart calls words of exhortation to the Galatians But if you bite and devour each other be careful Let's you be consumed of one another And may it be said about That we were people of grace Who's outstanding characteristic Was how we loved each other For Jesus said by this show all men know that you are mine Because you love one another I want another As I have loved you Father, we thank you for your word We thank you That Paul address the issue head on and we thank you That you have called us not to set each other straight on every jot and tittle But to love each other Father remind us that our ministry in the body And outside the body Is not to be continually condemning And looking for everything we can find wrong But to be gracious To build each other up in the faith And to love the unbeliever So that they may taste and see in us The grace and the love of God Which we have known And which they can know in Christ Jesus This miss us with your peace Knit our hearts together And make us the people of love For we pray it in Jesus name Amen