1 Corinthians 1:10-17

We have all had parents. Some of us are parents. Some of us are actively living with our parents. We have all probably been in a situation where we really needed to know what our parents wanted.

When you get a certain age, parents start saying things like: Well, do you what you think is best. And they say it in that certain tone, which means that they would prefer that you didn’t do that.

Do you ever wish that you had a button when you needed it that would produce thought bubbles from your parent’s head, so you knew exactly what they wanted and what they expected from you in that moment?

So, valuable.

The amazing thing is that we don’t have to guess or wonder with God. He has made it clear in the Bible. And Paul jumps right into a core issue with the Corinthians. Unity.

What does God want? He wants unity for the sake of the Gospel.

Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Pray

1A. God desires Unity

God desires unity. Do we understand how much he desires unity among his church?

The word that Paul uses for divisions here in verse 10 is schism. In Greek it speaks of something being ripped apart. Luke, Matthew, and Mark all use the verb of this word for when the curtain of the temple is being torn in two pieces. So, picture what Paul is saying: urges the Corinthian church to not rip the body of Christ apart, limb from limb. It’s pretty graphic what he is saying. It’s painful.

And when a church decides to rip apart, it hurts. When believers who will worship God together in eternity someday decides to rip apart, it hurts.

God desires unity.

What Paul is saying is not something new. Over and over in John, Jesus urged his followers to love one another.

John 15:12 (NIV)

12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.

And then, in John 17, Jesus prays:

John 17:20–21 (NIV)

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

There are over 100 verses in the Bible about unity.

What does this unity look like?

1B. Centered on Christ

This unity is centered on Christ.

Read V. 10

This is the tenth time Paul mentioned Christ in the first 10 verses. He is clear in whom our faith is. He is clear who our focus should be on.

Not only does Paul mention Christ, but he urges the Corinthians to be united in the name of Jesus.

This should remind us of teachings on prayer. Many people end their prayers with the phrase “in Jesus’ name.”

They pull that from Jesus in John 14

John 14:13–14 (NIV)

13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

But, this doesn’t speak of a miracle phrase. It’s speaks of a cultural understanding.

Someone’s name carried one’s character and reputation in the public. When you pray in someone’s name, you are saying that you are praying something in line with someone’s character, reputation, will.

When you urge someone to do something in someone’s name, you are urging them in line with someone’s character, reputation, will.

Say you are looking for a commentary. You don’t know which one to buy, so you call me. I make a recommendation. I stake my character and reputation that this product will be quality.

If you watch commercials, celebrities are asked to endorse products. They are staking their character and reputation on the quality of that product.

For Paul to plead in the name of Jesus, means that he is urging the Corinthians to accept it for the sake all that Christ is known to be and have done.

Our unity is based on Christ.

This is important to remember, because sometimes we get confused.

2B. Held regardless of little differences on doctrine and teachers

Our unity is based on Christ and should be maintained regardless of little differences on doctrine and teachers.

The Corinthians got confused.

Read verse 11-12

The Corinthians thought their unity was based on who taught them.

But, that doesn’t work.

Let’s do an exercise.

(split congregation up into Apollos, Paul, Peter, and Christ)

Now say who you are following all at once.

Yup, that doesn’t sound like unity. Because it isn’t.

Let’s look at what the Corinthians were doing. Now, what I am about to say is informed conjecture. We don’t know if this was what the split was over, but it makes sense.

Apollos was the new teacher on the block. He was passionate, flowery, exciting to listen to. People like to listen to him and they could remember what he said.

Paul was the one who founded this church. He wasn’t easy to listen to, but he was solid and carried tradition. The older generation loved him.

Peter was the founder of the global church. He is the one Christ placed as head. Compared to Peter, Paul was the newcomer. Peter got his teaching straight from Jesus, God Himself! So, shouldn’t he be the one listened to?

But, truthfully, why get all caught up with what a human said or wrote? Shouldn’t we follow what Jesus said alone? So, there were the super spiritual ones who said: we are not going to spend our time on human stuff, what human’s wrote, we are followers of Christ.

Put it into our own situation. We have those people who are followers of John Calvin and those who are followers of John Wesley, and they fight about theology, because they don’t like the other’s label. Then you have those who say: I am a Biblicist. I don’t follow those manmade traditions. Each one is still creating a division, tearing the body of Christ apart.

Consider denominations: Lutherans are followers of Martin Luther. Methodist are followers of John Wesley. You have Presbyterians, Baptists, Roman Catholics, all followers of a certain man’s theology. And then, you have the non-denominational churches, who are removed from that all. Unfortunately, many times they are so removed from denominational squabbles that they won’t have anything to do with the others.

This also comes in to play in a local church. Some people love their pastor so much that they will not attend when their pastor is out of town. That causes division and should be condemned.

Jesus said something that somedays I have a hard time choking down:

Mark 9:38–40 (NIV)

38 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”

39 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us.

The Corinthians thought their unity was based on who they were following, and they were pretty proud of who they were following. Paul says, nope, your unity is based on Christ and should be held regardless of differences of teachers.

The Corinthians thought their unity was based on what they believed.

Each one of them were followers of Apollos, Peter, Paul based on what was taught to them. Not only were they proud of their teacher but they were proud of what knowledge they had come to.

In chapter 2 and 3, Paul will have an extended discussion on wisdom, because the Corinthians were proud of human wisdom. They studied their Bible and their theology, but they forgot Christ.

I am continually arrested by what Paul wrote in Philippians

Philippians 3:10 (NIV)

10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

He didn’t want to know the next theological controversy. He didn’t want to know the end times timeline. Sure, he knew those things, and they were useful, but his whole being yearned to know Christ.

Now, I have to make clear that there are certain doctrinal points that must be held to be a believer, to be part of the body of Christ. Division must occur on those points, between the believer and the non-believer.

One must believe in the Trinity, in the full deity and humanity of Christ, in the spiritual lostness of the human race, in the substitutionary atonement and bodily resurrection of Christ, in our salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus. In the physical return of Christ, in the authority and inerrancy of Scripture.

Those points cannot be changed.

Paul wrote:

1 Timothy 1:3–4 (NIV)

3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain people not to teach false doctrines any longer 4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.

Certain points cannot be changed.

But, there are other points, which we must have an opinion on, but that opinion should be held in humility, knowing that the person opposite you is part of the body of Christ. You will worship with that person for eternity, so why should we divide and tear the body of Christ apart.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t talk about our differences and seek to know better what is true. It just means that we don’t allow those differences to divide us.

Paul’s appeal for unity was “for harmony, not the elimination of diversity. He desired a unity of all the parts, like a quilt of various colors and patterns blended together in a harmonious whole.”

Rupert Meldenius wrote a tract during a bloody war in the mid1600s. He said:

In Essentials Unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.

Basically, we are to be the same in the core doctrines of our faith. In non-core areas, we must allow people to believe according to their conscience. In all things, we will have love toward each other. Why? Because we are followers of Christ.

That is why, when we ask potential members to read our doctrinal statement. We ask them to state whether they agree with it or whether they agree to not teach against it. We desire unity, but we are not proud enough to think that we have a perfect doctrinal statement. It's what we believe, but I would not be surprised if I got to Heaven and God told me I had something wrong.

I am grateful for his grace and his love and his forgiveness, though Jesus Christ.

It’s all about him. Paul reminds us:

1 Corinthians 1:13 (NIV)

13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?

We need to remember the basics:

Christ died for us. We were baptized in his name. Therefore, we are to reflect him with how we live with each other.

We are to live in unity, based on Christ, held regardless of small differences in doctrine or teacher.

3B. Revealed through our mind and our purpose

How is this unity seen? It is revealed through our mind and our purpose.

Read V. 10.

Paul wanted us united in our mind and our purpose.

Our mind speaks of what we believe. Again, this is the core of our faith.

The early church would repeat the Creed everytime they met together, so that they could remember what they agreed on.

That’s useful. Because we could get caught up in what we disagree on.

Distribute the Nicene Creed.

The creed:

We believe in one God,

the Father, the Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth,

of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,

the only Son of God,

eternally begotten of the Father,

God from God, Light from Light,

true God from true God,

begotten, not made,

of one being with the Father;

through him all things were made.

For us and for our salvation

he came down from heaven:

was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,

and became truly human.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

On the third day he rose again

in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],

who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,

who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.

We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

We look for the resurrection of the dead,

and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Based on what we believe, we have unity in purpose. That is our actions, our priorites, our desires. We have the priority to live for Jesus every day.

There are plenty of people who are divisive because they are proud of their beliefs or which Bible teacher they are following, but they are not living as a Christian. In pride, their studying is worthless, because they have never applied it to their life.

What are we spending our time on? Are we pursuing Christ, knowing him, living for him? Or are we pursuing our own knowledge and our own pride, and thereby creating divisions in the Body of Christ?

God desires our unity, which is based on Christ and held regardless of any little differences in doctrine or teachers.

In a short phrase: we are to have humility in unity.

2A. God desires unity for the sake of the Gospel

Not only does God desire our unity, but God desires our unity for the sake of the Gospel.

Remember reading John 17 at the beginning of the sermon?

John 17:20–21 (NIV)

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Our unity proves to the world the truths of the gospel. So when we have humility for unity, seeking to follow Christ and living that out, the Gospel is made clear.

Paul’s focus of ministry in Corinth was the Gospel, not to create a following or a division.

1 Corinthians 1:17 (NIV)

17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Instead of division, our focus is the Gospel.

1B. not with wisdom or flash

A Gospel that is not focused on wisdom or flash.

Paul believed that a Gospel presentation based on wisdom or eloquence would empty the cross of Christ of its power.

So many evangelists focus on pumping someone full of emotion and reeling them in on emotion alone. Unfortunately, that might win someone’s passion, but it won’t win their heart and mind. In fact, it might just create division.

So many apologists focus on persuasive eloquence, if they could just prove the truths of Scripture someone would come to faith. However, that just wins a mind, but not the heart. In fact, that might to just create division.

Only Christ can win the heart. Only the Spirit of God can make someone’s message effective.

2B. with earnestness

Which brings us to Paul’s strategy: earnestness. Sincerity in outpouring.

He preached Christ crucified and allowed God to work.

We are not out to get results. We are out to get the Word out that we know someone who brings salvation, hope, peace, love and everything else that people are wishing for.

Many people do not think that they are qualified to share Christ. They want the pastor to do it.

But, everyone has a story of God working in their life. When that story is shared, God is glorified.

I call this outpouring. God has poured into our hearts. We just turn around and pour into others what God has given us.

Humility in unity, so we can focus on sincerity in outpouring.

My challenge to you is to write one person’s name down that you want to invite to Easter. And start praying for that person, that you would have an opportunity to share a spiritual conversation with that person and that you would live a life focused on Christ to bring about that conversation.