Is Christ Divided?

Welcome: Welcome to Hype Student Ministries, for those who are visiting and may not know me, my name is Kent and I’m the youth pastor here at Crosspoint Community Church. Here at Hype we just started studying the book of 1 Corinthians a couple weeks ago and tonight we will finish up studying chapter 1. To start off tonight’s lesson, I want to read this quote.

Introduction

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Can anyone tell me which president said this quote in a famous speech?

answer: Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln said this at a speech during the Illinois Republican State Convention, Springfield, Illinois on June 16, 1858. In this speech he was addressing the reality that the United States of America was a divided country because of the issue of slavery. There was the North vs. the South. Unfortunately for the United States unity did not happen until after the civil war where an estimated 620,000 people lost their lives serving in combat.

The root cause of this division is the same root cause of any division which is pride.

Pride destroys unity because instead of thinking about the bigger picture everyone is only thinking about themselves.

Pride is defined according to the Tyndale Bible Dictionary...

Pride- improper and excessive self-esteem known as conceit or arrogance.

- Tyndale Bible Dictionary

Or in other words thinking higher of yourself more than you should.

Transition statement: I open up with this because we see pride breaking up unity in our passage this evening. So please open up your scripture notebooks to 1 Cor. chapter 1 verse 10.

Read 1 Cor. 1:10-17.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

10 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction. 11 For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers and sisters, by members of Chloe’s people, that there is rivalry among you. 12 What I am saying is this: One of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. 16 I did, in fact, baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t recall if I baptized anyone else. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.

So basically what’s happening here is that the people at the church in Corinth have forgotten that their identity is supposed to be first and foremost in Christ which we learned about last week. Instead of having Jesus as their go to identity, we see the people of the church identifying with other people and they do this to the point that there is rivalry among themselves.

We see this in 1 Cor. 1:12-13

1 Corinthians 1:12–13 CSB

What I am saying is this: One of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name?

I hope you see that instead of identifying with Jesus as primary identity, the people in the church at Corinth were choosing prominent Christian teachers to identify with and as a result the church is divided. The church where people should be united because of their need for a savior in Jesus. The church where people should be unified in obeying the words of Jesus. The church where people should have unity for the mission to share the gospel, the good news of Jesus. Instead of being unified, there is division and rivalry because the people had lost sight of their higher identity which is to be in Christ.

To help illustrate this, I’m currently disciplining and mentoring a college football player and during one of our meetings he was talking about how his football team was struggling to win games. I asked him what’s one of the reasons he thought that the team wasn’t winning. His answer was that the football team had disunity. There was divisions amongst the players. There was one football team but they were acting like if there was three different teams; the offensive team, defensive team, and special teams. This football team had a lot of talent in multiple positions but the players held their position (offense, defense, special teams) as a higher identity than their identity as part of the overall same team. When something went wrong they would blame the other positions. They would encourage their teammates of different positions. They were only concerned about themselves.

Because of this, a team that had great potential ended up not winning many games because their pride divided them and they forgot their bigger identity of playing on the same team.

This is what we see at the church at Corinth. People on the same team. Team Jesus. But they are choosing to focus on a lesser identity of another human which has lead to divisions in the church.

Transition statement: This is the “what” that is happening of the first issue that Paul is addressing here in his letter to the Corinthians. Let’s keep reading to see what Paul says next to the church at Corinth.

Read 1 Cor. 1:18-25.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved. 19 For it is written,

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and I will set aside the intelligence of the intelligent.

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached. 22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

Here we see the “why” behind Paul calling out the Corinthians on their identity issues.

Paul says this in v. 18.

1 Corinthians 1:18 CSB

For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is the power of God to us who are being saved.

I want you to underline “foolishness” and “power”

Paul says that to the unbeliever, the gospel is foolishness. This is because for the Jews, they were expecting a messiah that would overthrow the Roman government. They wanted a strong messiah. A savior to save them from earthly suffering.

The greeks or people who lived in Corinth that were not Jews, thought the gospel of Jesus to be foolishness because who would want to believe in a God that would become human just to die a brutal death on the cross.

Both would seem as foolishness to anyone who doesn’t understand the real reason why the gospel of Jesus is good news.

But we who understand. We know why the cross is the power of God to us who are being saved.

Share gospel message here....

Transition statement: Let’s finish up chapter 1.

Read 1 Cor. 1:26-31.

Christian Standard Bible Chapter 1

26 Brothers and sisters, consider your calling: Not many were wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. 27 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one may boast in his presence. 30 It is from him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom from God for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption 31 —in order that, as it is written: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

Big idea from this last section is this.

Because of the power of God in Christ. We should boast in the Lord.

This means that for those of us who are believers, we boast, we should praise God, we should share openly and boldly that even though we may have weaknesses. God is mighty and strong. He’s strong enough to overcome death and sin. He is powerful enough to forgive our sins and change our heart.

How Should This Change My Life?

Give closing applications

What area in your life are you prone to put your pride over boasting in Jesus?

Sports? Academics? Relationships? Jobs? Being popular? Being liked?

I want you to take some time and think about this question because where there is pride in our lives, there is a potential for division to take place.

We should be united because it glorifies God.

God is united. Trinity. Three different persons but one God.