His Body Is To Be Unified

Good morning and welcome to CCC. I am so very glad you are here with us both here in person and joining us on our live stream. It is such an joy to be with you this morning.

Let’s pray

Start OBS

Last week we began our We are the Church sermon series with an introduction to I Corinthians and looking at Paul’s introduction to the church at Corinth. I pray that this week you asked God to show you your heart and if you had unconfessed sin that you confessed that to Him

This week we begin to move into the reason for the letter. This is where Paul begins to address why he felt lead to write them

I Corinthians 1:10

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“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.

There is a lot going on just in this verse.

Divisions inside the church....

Surely Paul was confused because there are never divisions inside churches are there?

There should never be divisions inside of churches but you see churches are made up of imperfect people who choose their flesh and sinful nature and desires over Jesus so that will lead to division.

When people are focused on Jesus there will never be divisions because Jesus is not divided the problem comes when we focus on us and not Jesus.

What makes this even more embarrassing and hurtful is the things that churches fight over, are divided over are not even deep theological things.....no they are the color of the carpet.

Here in Corinth they might as well have been fighting over the style and color of the carpet because what they were being divided over was just as useless as being divided over carpet or style of worship or where and when communion is taken.

The church in Corinth lost sight of their mission. They lost sight of being ministers of reconciliation which is the call of the lives of all Christians.

This is one of those passages that many Christians today look at and think boy I am glad we don’t deal with that today.

What?????!!!!! There are more people on the golf course or in fishing boats or sitting at home getting ready for football games then in God’s house this morning and one reason is God’s children are too busy fighting over carpet to do the work God created for them to do.

God’s church today is just a guilty of this type of behavior and thinking as the Corinthians.

Look at how Paul encourages them to not be divided

and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.

What is the same understanding and same conviction.

Just with the amount of people in the room this morning coming to a consensus, same understand and same conviction on something as little as where to go to eat after church would be very difficult.

Humans, again sinful and evil by nature, have a hard time getting along because everyone wants what they want, their understanding, their convictions so how in the world is the church to be unified?

There were many verses that I could go to illustrate and teach this point on unity Ephesians 4:1-6 comes to mind, Ephesians 2:18-22 also comes to mind but I landed on

John 17:20-23

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““I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.”

Jesus praying here for you. “also those who believe in me through their word” That is you

That is me

That is anyone who believes.

Jesus was, is, and always be very serious about unity. In fact, in Jesus there is no other way besides unity

You are not capable of being unified with your brothers and sisters in Christ on your own

You will always screw it up if you are depending on you and you alone

Look at Jesus’ words, “May the all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in You”

It requires Jesus being in you and in your brothers and sisters in Christ for you to be unified.

Now as Christians we are to live in a way that shows we truly try to be unified with everyone.

Even non-believers. Will you be unified with them like other Christians no because they do not have Jesus but God calls us to live in a way that promotes unity, us dying to ourselves to show them the love of Jesus

Romans 12:18

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“If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

If possible. The if possible refers to them accepting your peace.

God cares about unity and demands it within the Church

Why because if the church is not unified it is missing Jesus!

You are to live at peace with everyone because that shows them Jesus

Most of the time when someone gets angry and upset and wants to attack it is because pride was injured

When you truly put others first like Jesus put you first on the cross, there will never be pride that gets injured.

I Corinthians 1:11-12

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“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. 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.””

They were allowing human emotions and rivalries to destroy what God built. They were fighting over which leader they “belonged” to

They were more worried about who preached the gospel to them than they were about the Gospel itself.

I belong to CCC.

I belong to First Christian Church

I belong to First Baptist Church....

They do that over there I am sure glad we don’t do that over here

Nothing says come to Christ like a bunch of His followers bickering and arguing over who is better!

I don’t care where someone finds Christ as long as they find Him!

I don’t care where someone worships as long as they worship in a place that is a Bible preaching, Bible believing and Bible living church…Praise God. GO!

These guys were arguing about humans.....they lost sight of Jesus

I Corinthians 1:13-16

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“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. I did, in fact, baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t recall if I baptized anyone else.”

Paul brings them back to reality with a few simple questions.....

Is Christ divided?

Was Paul crucified for you?

Were you baptized in Paul’s name?

He is saying to them you have lost your focus.

You have forgotten what is important in life

You are fighting over and giving credit to humans when the credit all belongs to Christ.

Christ is never divided. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit ALWAYS live in unity. If you love God, have accepted Jesus as your savior and have the Holy Spirit inside of you there is never any reason to be divided with other Christians if you are focused on Jesus and not you

I love each and everyone of you. I pray that each and every Sunday I am able to pour into you, to help bring the Word of God alive to you, and help you grow and mature in your walk with Christ. That is my prayer and intention every single Sunday but I realize and I pray you realize I have nothing to do with that. It is all the work of Jesus and Holy Spirit in you and through me.

If something in a message grabs you and changes you and brings you closer to Jesus give Him thanks not me. That is what Paul is stressing to them here.

Paul is essentially saying to them “You guys are tripping.....you are missing the entire point. You are over here arguing about dudes and forgetting that it is Christ who saves! You are focusing on the earthly and missing the spiritual

Focus on Jesus not men.

Paul brings them back to being mission minded. It is so easy for us to lose sight of our mission....being God’s ambassadors. Living in such a way that God makes His appeal through us....that is why we are ministers of reconciliation so that God can use you to bring the lost and broken and hurting and backslidden back to Him

I Corinthians 1:17

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“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.”

Paul knew God’s calling on his life was to preach the Gospel. Was to preach to anyone within ear shot about Jesus!

Paul was not called to do this with fancy words or smoke or lights or emotion or any of that. No Paul was called to preach the Gospel with and through the power of the Holy Spirit!

Jesus doesn’t need you to embellish or improve on the cross. It stands alone. Christ gives it power not you or me

We are all different.

We are all created by the same God for the same mission but with different gifts and abilities

Great teams....God’s church is a team…great teams no matter where they are....football…baseball…work…marriage…doesn’t matter the team....Great teams have many things in common but 1 mission..

Paul is referring to here is we as Christians and the Christians in Corinth have one mission.....Jesus

Great football teams have 1 mission…win. Every member of that team does their part even though every position is different

The church has 1 singular mission, the ministry of reconciliation. God making His appeal through you!

We all have different positions and there are many roles to play and jobs to do but all with one mission....the lost be found and the saved grow and mature in Christ…Jesus is the mission

What does that look like for you?

We just spent 10 weeks looking at our personal foundations in Christ

That is individual Now God is moving us to start looking at CCC.....our Church....His church and what we should or should not be doing as a family of God.

I am excited to see what God has planned.

I want to make sure we understand a concept....a truth…that I believe God will use to drive home unity…lack of divisions

“Is Christ divided?”

No but you must be divided to truly live in unity with other believers

Let me try to explain

Hebrews 4:12

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“For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Separation of soul and spirit. That is the civil war inside all of us as Christians

You are born with a soul…the seat of human emotions

We know from scripture we are all born evil and sinners…full of sin

That means our soul is evil and full of sin as well

The Bible…God’s Word divides our evilness our soul from our holiness the Holy Spirit

It cuts out us to make room for the Holy Spirit

We see this individually in having to crucify ourselves everyday!

Die to our emotions

Die to our wants

Die to our desires

Die to our comforts

All so that we can live from Jesus!

Corporately here at CCC we must do the same thing

We must die to our emotions, wants and desires and comforts that sound a lot like this

I think worship should look and sound this way

I think pastor Josh should preach on this or preach on that or do this or do that

I think that there needs to be this ministry or that ministry

I think whoever is leading that ministry is doing it wrong

I

I

I

I

Kick I out of here

We…others 1st

What does God want? He wants His children unified around our mission of reconciliation

Whatever that sounds like

Whatever that looks like is up to Him

Seek Him in prayer

Seek Him as you study His Word

Seek Him and do what He shows you to do!

God has gifted you to build His Kingdom and this church

Go!!!!

Do!!!

He wants to use you

He doesn’t need you but He wants you

Don’t lose sight of the mission and get hung up on worldly things like recognition and human praise

Preach the gospel by living the gospel

Be Jesus to the world

Be Jesus to your brothers and sisters in Christ

Put them 1st and give all that you have to them

In this world we have lost sight of what is important.

Look at work. You work 30 40 maybe even 50 years with one goal in mind.....retiring....quitting…no longer having to work.....

Christians never retire....sure you will retire from you secular work but Christians never retire

Christians are Christians for eternity and true Christians realize if God has not called them home then He has plans for them…Plans to make His appeal to the lost and broken and hurting through them

That is why Christians don’t retire.....as long as you are here God is using you and since Jesus hasn’t returned yet there are lost to be found!

I urge you during invitation and this week to ask God to show you all he wants you to do.

I urge you during invitation and this week to ask God to show you if you have divisions with your brothers and sisters in Christ

Bring that to God this morning and He will show you how to be unified.

Invitation song.