Rebrand: Refocusing Our Mission & Purpose

During the month of February we are going to be taking a look at our mission as a body of believers. This is a series that will cover a bit of 1st Corinthians (this week), then, for the 3 remaining weeks we will be turning to the book of Acts. My main goal for this series of sermons is to help us get our minds focused on the call that God has placed on Ottawa First. As of today, I’ve been your pastor for 10 months, so we are coming up quickly on our 1 year anniversary together. I’ve learned so much over these past few months. The last time we spoke about our mission and vision was about 7 months ago (or so). This series is intended to remind us of why we are here and what we need to do going forward to have an impact on our personal circle of influence, and then our community.

In week 1 (this week) we will talk about the idea of unity and some of the pitfalls that modern churches fall into when trying to reach the community at large. In week 2 we will talk about the importance of evangelism; In week 3 we will look at the churches mission statement and I will be issuing a challenge to all of us, which will serve as our theme for the year. Finally, in week 4 we will look at Acts Ch. 6, which serves as a model for us today.

PRAY

Today we are looking at 1 Cor. 1: 10-17, but before we dive into the text, let’s look a little bit of background first. Why did Paul write the letters to the Corinthian church and what was his relationship with the people there. About 146 years before Jesus Christ was born, the city of Corinth was looted and destroyed by the Romans. The men of Corinth were brutally slaughtered and its women and children were sold into slavery. The entire city was torched and it lay in virtual ruin for almost a century. But then about 46 B.C. the "new" Corinth rose from the ashes. Julius Caesar rebuilt the city and it became a seat of government for a province of Rome.The town of Corinth was very prominent city, the capital city in the Roman province of Achaia. It was well known for its immorality, as a matter of a fact, a word was coined to describe the conditions: korinthiazomai, meaning to live immoral like those in Corinth. In Bible times the New Corinth was inhabited by over 400,000 people. Her population was mixed, including Greeks, Jews, Italians, and other foreigners.

Acts 18: 1-4

After this, he left Athens and went to Corinth, 2 where he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul came to them, 3 and since they were of the same occupation, tentmakers by trade, he stayed with them and worked. 4 He reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and tried to persuade both Jews and Greeks.

Yet, despite all of this sin and corruption, Paul, worked together with fellow tent makers Priscilla and Aquila and established a church. Paul spent a considerable amount of time with them before needing to move on. I believe that Paul knew that if he could establish a church in such an important city, it would help Christianity grow and expand…which it did. But, because of the immorality of the town, the church really struggled with sin issues. We see something similar in the town of Ephesus, except in that town, it was a different issue. This is why his letters to the Corinthians sound like they do-there were new converts coming in or perhaps people who came to simply cause trouble. Imagine today, it would be like starting a church on the Las Vegas strip, or downtown New Orleans during Mardi Gras. So, taking all of that into account, let’s read the passage

1 Corinthians 1:10–18 (CSB)

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. 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.

There were a number of problems going on with the church in Corinth, including sexual immorality, but in the opening part of his letter to the Corinthians, Paul is addressing disunity.

Paul opens up by making sure to address everyone, unlike some of his other letters, in which he address one person, for example, in

1 Tim. 1: 2

2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now, just as a side note, just because Paul only address Timothy doesn’t mean he didn’t want it read to everyone, but in this case Paul took extra care to address the men and women of the church ; Paul wanted to make sure everyone was paying attention to what he was about to say. He says: Now I urge you, in other translations we see the word exhort. Paul uses the word parakaleō, which is: to call to one’s side. Paul was like, hey, all of you, come here, and listen up carefully. That reminds me of times when Sam was young and he did something he shouldn't have, I would call him over, put my arm around him and instruct him…this signifies how much Paul loved the people in Corinth. Paul did not like to see division of any kind going on…but especially when it’s fellow believers arguing over who is the better leader. Paul wanted them to be united or joined together. Barclay’s Bible Dictionary say that the term Paul uses for united is “A medical word used of knitting together bones that have been fractured, or joining together a joint that has been dislocated. The disunion is unnatural and must be cured.” Those of you who have ever broken a bone or tore a tendon knows exactly how bad it can hurt our physical bodies and how unnatural it is vs when all of our bones are in unity with one another, Paul relates this idea to the area of unity and division. Apparently Paul had received word from someone associated with the church, that there was a rivalry going on. We do not know how many people were involved in this drama, but it was enough to warrant Paul’s attention.

In other translations, contentious is used, instead of rivalry, people were being contentious with one another over who they preferred among the early church leaders.

One of the most prevalent aspects of Roman culture at the time was to attach yourself or identify with one of the popular teachers or philosophers. Today we can somewhat compare it to sports fans, how one person will be a Bears fan, but another will be a Green Bay fan. Depending on who you are, you take “your team” very seriously. I grew up in a family of rabid Cubs fans. When I followed sports, I was more into the Cincinnati Reds. Pete Rose was my favorite player back when I was a kid. I still remember watching the game where he broke the record for most hits in a career. People become very loyal to their favorite player or team.

Well, this is what was going on back then, except it wasn’t sports, it was the celebrities of that day: well known teachers and philosophers. Unfortunately, some of the people in the church brought that mindset with them. As a result, they started arguing over who the better teacher was. I’m sure it upset Paul a great deal that his name was getting dragged into all of this. Paul was very careful to keep his name and reputation clear.

One of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

Of course, we know who Paul is, he is the one writing, many of you have heard the name Apollos, he was one of the leaders in the early church, Chepas was just another name for Peter, one of the original disciples, and then some of the people were saying “I belong to Christ.”

I think we all can recognise that it was improper for the people in the church to claim allegiance to anyone, other than God. But notice that Paul also mentions those who are claiming to belong to Christ. In a little bit, I will get to why (I believe) Paul also included the people saying “I belong to Christ.” This type of strife was really bad for the moral of the church; it had nothing to do with sin or an error in what was being taught…it was simply fellow believers acting prideful and arrogant.

Romans 15:5–6

5 Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.

The remainder of our passage, starting in vs. 13, is Paul explaining the reasoning behind the correction.

1 Cor. 1: 13-14

“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,”

With all of the discord and division going on, Paul asks a very important question for the Corinthian church to ponder: Is Christ Divided? What did Paul mean by this? Think for a moment about the problem that Paul was addressing…the people were dividing themselves according to different teachers. It appears as though the issue of baptism was front and center in this problem, because Paul addresses that directly. Perhaps the people were pledging their allegiance to the leaders that baptised them. Paul says, listen, in Christ, we are all under the authority of Christ, no one is better than anyone else. The church is one body, with Christ as the head of that body, not Paul or Apollos or Peter.

Growing up, there were some very well known leaders and pastor that the people in our church looked up to. Even today, pastors can draw huge followings, especially due to social media and the internet. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the teaching or sermons of a pastor or teacher, I have people I enjoy listening to, but we must always be careful, lest we cause division amongst the body, whether on purpose or not, by using our preference for one person over another…and, just to make it clear, we must always be careful who we allow to speak into our lives. Here is a rule of thumb I normally go by: 1. very rarely to do I make any spiritual decision based on advice from someone I’ve never met before. That isn’t always the case, but with so many preachers and pastors out there willing to hand out advice, you will always find a way to confirm your personal bias in a given issue. For example, if I am trying to decided between 2 things of a spiritual nature, I would always bounce it off of someone I trust, rather than just run with something I saw from my favorite TV preacher. 2. I stay away from people who offer up a quick explanation to a very complicated subject, typically people like this come across as though they have the corner market to Biblical truth. 3. I try to always look at someone who disagrees with me, to get a different perspective. This is how I have changed certain views I held dear over the years.

We finish up our passage with vs. 17-18

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.

As a theological side note, this verse right here is one of the main reasons or arguments against a line of teaching that says a person must be baptised to go to heaven. While this is not a super popular view in mainstream protestant church, I’ve come across more than my fair share of people who believe it. The entire doctrine is primarily based off of a couple of passages in the N.T. The Catholic church and the Mormon church believe this.

Mark 1:4

4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Acts 2:38

38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 22:16

16 And now, why are you delaying? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’

Matthew 28:19

19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

I won’t get into this too much right now, but I do want to mention in. Coming up later this year we will be doing a series called: How to read the Bible. In this series we will be looking at stuff like this. My goal is to equip all of us with the tools to properly interpret God’s Word.

Anyway, Paul tells the Corinthians that he was sent to them to preach the gospel, plain and simple, not to get caught up into who is baptising who. Why did Paul say:

not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.

What does Paul mean here? This confused me for some time, as anyone who has read the letters written by Paul, most would agree that Paul is very eloquent. In other translations, (NASB) the word is translated as cleverness of speech; so, not with cleverness of speech, so that the cross of christ will not be emptied of its effect. So, Paul did not come to preach using cleverness of speech, eloquent wisdom

the two words here are sophia and Logos, logos meaning literal words, and sophia meaning: the wisdom which belongs to man. In other words, Paul did not come to preach with the words and wisdom with belongs to man. This here relates back to what I was talking about earlier, how in Roman society, Philosophy was a really big deal. Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. Secular philosophy is all about man trying to explain why we exist. All of the ideas and reasonings come from the human mind and discount (for the most part) how we were all created in God’s image and that we owe our existence to the Lord. Paul did not come to preach human wisdom and reasoning. Human reasoning has landed us exactly where we are today, technologically advanced and morally bankrupt.

1 Corinthians 2:13–14

13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.

Paul says that human reasoning empties the effect of Christ dying on the cross. Meaning, if you and I are able to figure everything out on our own, we are each called to be our own little savior, then the sacrifice of Christ means nothing.

To finish up, In the very next verse of 1 Cor. 1: 18

1 Corinthians 1:18 (CSB)

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.

Paul is trying to get the Corinthians to understand that they need to be different than the culture that surrounds them. A culture that believe in human reasoning. After all, if they belong to Christ, then it should not matter who baptise them, it was all done in the name of Christ. When that light switch turns on in a person’s brain, and the Holy Spirit finally reveals to them their need for Christ, it’s only at that point that a person can realize that human reasoning is an exercise in futility. This is why Paul says that the cross of Christ is foolishness to those who do not know Christ…but, for those of us who have repented of our sins and now live for Christ, we should now understand the significance of the sacrifice of Christ.

Paul lays out some pretty heavy instructions for the church in Corinth. He is disappointed in the fact that the people are acting like their old selves, before they submitted their lives to Christ. Division and disunity has broken out among the people. They were allowing secular attitudes of pride and favoritism to influence them. Paul calls for unity, for them to be sown together.

Faithlife Study Bible (Chapter 1)

God’s provision of salvation through the crucifixion of a messiah appeared to be foolishness according to the wisdom of the world. The Romans used the cross as a humiliating form of execution reserved for the worst criminals—insurrectionists. The Greeks believed that the gods operated above the limitations of people and would not have allowed themselves to be treated as Jesus was. Jews regarded the cross as a shameful punishment and even a curse from God

For the early church, and for us today, it is the cross of Christ that should unite us.

Part II

To wrap up today, I want to cover 2 topics related to our passage in 1st Corinthians.

How Paul also corrected those who claim to belong to Christ.

What unity looks like in the body of Christ today.

1. Paul corrected those who claim to belong to Christ.

vs. 12: One of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

Now, hold on a second, I think we can all understand why Paul was correcting the people who claimed to belong to someone, other than Christ…we get that, but Paul also included the people who were saying that they belonged to Christ. Isn’t that who we belong to after all, we belong to Christ. Paul says so in these passages. This here is where we begin to wade into some of the deeper waters of Christian maturity.

While my son was growing up, I would often say to him, just because you are doing the right thing, doesn't mean that you are always doing the thing right and just because you are right, doesn’t mean you are not wrong. Sam would look at me and tell me that I was crazy. For example, let’s say that my wife asks me to put the dishes away…I don’t really want to, but to avoid an argument and because I know it is probably the right thing to do, I start putting the dishes away, but I put everything in the wrong place, or I go about the task being super loud (on purpose), distracting her from grading the papers in front of her.

Well, I did the right thing by putting the dishes away, but it’s for sure that I didn’t do the thing right. My heart was still rebellious.

The people in Corinth were right when claiming to belong to Christ, bu they were wrong, because they were engaging in the division. They were right in their assertion, but wrong in their attitude. We don’t know this for sure, because the text doesn’t specify, but I would image the people claiming to belong to Christ were probably very haughty, arrogant and elitist in their attitudes. Paul is telling them that they are just as wrong. In my view, there are 2 main things that have given Christianity a bad name over the years.

Hypocrisy

Spiritual Pride

Romans 12:9–16

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Detest evil; cling to what is good. 10 Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another. 11 Do not lack diligence in zeal; be fervent in the Spirit; serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer. 13 Share with the saints in their needs; pursue hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

Just as I speak out against the pastor’s and churches that have lost their way, due to failing to preach the entire gospel, I feel even stronger towards those who come across as nasty, mean and have a know it all attitude. Make no mistake, this comes from spiritual pride, which is one of the nastiest forms of pride. I won’t say that it does more harm to the gospel, because I don’t think it does, but it results in a really negative church culture…it has the exact opposite effect of what we saw in the earthly ministry of Christ. Last thing about this, I have yet to meet a pastor that acts like this that is truly teachable and humble, like what we are called to be.

So, just because these people were correct, they were still causing division with their attitudes. This is one of the most difficult things for a pastor to deal with, as many people do not understand the principle of being able to be right and wrong at the same time. More often than not this type of behavior is rooted in spiritual pride.

2. What unity looks like in the body of Christ today.

First, let me tell you what unity is not: unity is not when everyone thinks the same. We all look at things a bit differently, and that is OK, as long as those differences are kept in perspective, they will not affect the unity of the church. Simply put, unity is when everyone is working toward the same mission. People can have different opinions perhaps on how to best achieve that mission. There are 2 things that will help all of us here at Ottawa First stay united, meaning, If we allow these 2 things to drive all we do, unity will be much easier to maintain: Discipleship & Evangelism. As a church, these should be our two main driving forces. Whatever we do, whatever I preach should always be furthering the mission of discipleship and evangelism. I won’t spend a lot of time on these, but I do want to go over them quickly. Let’s look at Discipleship first.

Discipleship

What is discipleship?

Discipleship is simply teaching those who belong to Christ, how to live for Christ.

Col 3: 16-17

16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

If you know Christ as your personal savior, you should be about the business of discipleship. This can take many forms, but the most effective form of discipleship is relationship. We grow in relationship with one another. For some this is easy, while for others it can be more difficult. Part of my job as your pastor is to disciple you as you disciple others. The goal of discipleship is to become more mature in our walk with Christ. To become an example to those around you. None of us are capable of walking though this life alone, we need like minded people around us to help guide and sharpen us. This is what discipleship is all about. I will be touching on discipleship throughout this series, but I did want to mention it today. The is no one magic way to make disciples, but the more you are involved with other believers, the more you will grow.

So, discipleship is one of our main goals, and one of the main reasons discipleship is so important is to give us the tools for the second thing:

Evangelism

Evangelism is all about letting our light shine and sharing the Love of Christ to a world that is perishing, first to our circle of influence then to the community at large, then to the world. For the early church and for today, it is the cross of Christ that was supposed to unite them. Division comes in when we begin to get too far away from that message. Of course, in any church, the pastor will address a number of topics and issues that are germane to the current culture and society they are living in, but everything we do (as a body of believers) must be united under the message of the cross. This is why Paul said that he came only to preach Christ and Him crucified. One of the main themes of the cross is reconciliation. Through the cross, you and I are reconciled to God.

Reconcile means:

restore friendly relations between two parties.

2 Corinthians 5:16–21

16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come! 18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God.” 21 He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Because you and I have received the gift of a restored relationship to God, we should long for others to experience the same freedom. We should all be united, working toward the same mission and vision: to see the lost come to Christ and to build and disciple those who already believe. That is about as simple as it gets. Both of those things, evangelism and discipleship are the core ideas we see all throughout the N.T. When we begin to stray from these mandates, that is when disunity happens. As I mentioned before, sometimes people can have disagreements on how to best achieve those mandates, that is just a normal part of ministry. I know it’s cliche to say, but in order for us to grow and thrive, we must get out of our little religious shells that keep us safe. We must adopt a worldview where the lost are not our enemies, they do not have cooties. Over the years I’ve seen believers adopt a mentality, where they think they are “better” and that God must love us more now that we are reconciled to Him. We can become awkward around those who do not believe. The earthly ministry of Christ is the perfect example that we should be following. Jesus did not speak like the pharisees did, he spoke so people could understand him. What purpose do we serve if, once we come to know Christ, we become so religious and prideful and are no longer able to reach those who are exactly like we used to be.

To close today, let me give you a little insight into what motivates me as your pastor. Perhaps you’ve never noticed something about my preaching, you see, when I am developing a sermon, my main concern is not to point out how wicked the world is, you don’t need me to tell you how bad things have gotten, sure i’ll use an example every once and a while, but 99% of my sermons are focused around discipleship and evangelism. It’s my job to help us grow in our relationship with God, to equip you with the tools necessary to fulfill the great commission. Perhaps you’ve noticed that I do not use very strong language when talking about those who do not know Christ or how bad the world has gotten-while it does make for good preaching, neither of those things will help you grow. What that type of preaching does, over a long period of time is cause people to become fearful, yet prideful at the same time. Fearful of the unwashed wicked and full of spiritual pride over the fact that we are the elect, and they are not. This is the exact opposite of the example that Christ gave us while He was walking this earth.

One of the reasons that I ask Joe and Dean to speak, is because they will emphasize things that the Lord has laid on their heart, things I wouldn’t necessarily think about. I think it’s a mistake for pastors to horde the pulpit if they have people who they trust to deliver God’s word. I’ve discovered that pastors who have a tendency to horde the pulpit do so out of trust issues and well hidden feelings of inadequacy. They are afraid someone else will get up and do better than them or that the people will prefer the other person. It’s good for us to get a rounded view from different perspectives. I bring all of that up to let you know that when I get up here, you can know that I am being very intentional, always trying to stay on message because I love you all and want you to grow, I do not want you to be fearful of the world we live in. We must all be knitted together; with the cross being the common thread that unites us.

Next week we will be looking at a portion of Acts Ch. 4, talk some more about evangelism and outreach.