Sermon Tone Analysis

Divisions from Within

So we have just begun a series going through the book of 1 Corinthians, and Pastor Jason has been doing an excellent job painting us a picture of the culture and context in which the Corinthian church existed.

The environment the Corinthians lived in was full of debauchery, “Sin City” would be a good title.

We saw some similarities between their church and ours: both filled with sinners, both needing to live godly lives in the face of worldliness.

And we were told to beware of losing our focus.

We need to pray for those around us, and we need to point them to Jesus and the Cross.

Today, we will be continuing our series by going through 1 Corinthians 3-6.

Go ahead and turn there, but let me start by asking a question: How many of you have experienced church division?

Many of us have.

I looked up some issues that were causing divisions in churches …

Argument over the appropriate length of the worship leader’s beard.

Idk, should we regulate Eric’s beard?

Is that going to affect our worship?

A vote was called whether or not to remove the clock from the sanctuary.

That’s a timely argument.

There was a fight over which picture of Jesus to hang in the foyer.

I’d like to know who took that picture.

I have other issues with that one, but I won’t get into that this morning.

As you know we’re putting in a new coffee area in the back.

Several churches have had arguments over which coffee to serve, how strong, should we switch from Folgers to Starbucks, and people actually left the church because of that.

Who likes deviled eggs?

Well, you might know where this one is going: there was an argument over whether or not deviled eggs should be allowed at church meals.

A good compromise would be to have angel food cake for dessert.

And finally, there was an argument over whether to use gluten-free communion bread or not.

That’s easy, I’m pretty sure the Bible says gluten-y is a sin.

Those are pretty petty things, yet they can cause problems within the church.

Our focus this morning is going to be this: that the greatest danger to any church is division from within.

Not from the outside, but from within.

As I was reading over these 4 chapters, I found 5 different examples of issues that were causing division within the Corinthian church.

We’re going to take a look at these and see how we might prevent those same issues from affecting Faith Bible Church.

Sound good?

We have a lot to cover so we’ll move quickly

Spiritual Immaturity (1 Cor 3:1-3).

The root of division can almost always be found in spiritual immaturity.

Paul calls the believers in the church of Corinth “carnal” - sarkinos (sarr-key-nos), it means fleshly.

Someone who is dominated by their fleshly desires.

Please don’t mistake and think that Paul is writing to unsaved people here.

He is speaking to the believers in the church. 1 Cor 1:2 says that to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, all who call on the name of Jesus Christ.

They are believers.

Paul preached the gospel to them and they believed.

By their faith, they were justified and granted forgiveness and peace with God (Rom 5:1-2), but they were still greatly influenced by worldly thinking and behavior—they were babes in Christ.

They are immature.

He knows they are “canal” because of what he wrote in verse 3, that envy, strife, and division is occurring among them.

The bickering, the arguing.

Compare this to what Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia in Gal 5:19-21, where he writes the works of the flesh are obvious:

Gal 5:19-21 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

These are evidences that you are giving in to your fleshly desires, and if these characteristics are common with you, then maybe you’re a “person of the flesh,” maybe you are being worldly, maybe you are still a babe in Christ.

It had been about 5 years since Paul was in Corinth, and yet the believers still needed spiritual milk, as Paul continues with this analogy.

They couldn’t handle anything more solid.

They were stuck on the very basics, probably the gospel and the basic doctrinal beliefs.

I like what Warren Wiersbe said, “You can tell a mature person by their diet.”

You feed a baby milk, but if all they’re consuming at 5 years old is still milk, something is wrong.

They should be transitioning from milk to cheerios and vegetables.

Eventually, they are going to transition from milk to meat.

Wiersbe, Warren W. The Bible Exposition Commentary.

Victor Books, 1996, p. 578.

Can you see why spiritual immaturity causes problems?

People are acting like the world, not Christ.

Maybe they don’t know because of ignorance, they’re newly saved, or maybe they haven’t matured since they believed.

This is going to cause problems.

Either because you act like the world, giving in to your fleshly tendencies, or you just don’t know the Scriptures, so you haven’t learned how to think, renew their minds, you’re not putting off and putting on, know what to do, know who God is, etc.

Now, I’m going to save our applications until the end this, morning.

Let’s just continue to look at the causes of division within the Corinthian church.

First we see spiritual immaturity, secondly we see ...

2. Factions (1 Cor 3:4-9, 18-23)

Sometimes claiming loyalty to a particular preacher or teacher becomes what a believer is known for instead of being known by Christ.

Claiming a particular person to follow can cause divisions to happen in the church.

The believers began focusing on men rather than God.

They were following different personalities.

God was using both Paul and Apollos to bring people to Christ, but it was God alone who was producing the results.

It says in verse 5 that they are both servants of God; they both had their roles.

Paul was used to plant the seeds.

He was traveling around and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Apollos then had his task of watering the seeds.

Apollos was an educated Jew who could powerfully use the OT to back the gospel.

He was discipling the believers, he was helping them to spiritually mature.

God placed Paul and Apollos in a position to serve God and His purposes.

Each had their task.

Paul planted seeds, while Apollos’s job was to water.

And the believers were saying, “I’m on team Paul,” and others were saying, “I’m on team Apollos,” when their loyalties should lie with Christ.

I think it’s clear how picking sides and loyalties could cause division in the church.

Spiritual Immaturity, 2. Factions, 3. ...

3. Pride (1 Cor 4:6-13)

Pride is the next thing that I find in the text that will cause problems in the church.

Offscouring - dirty scrapings from skin when cleaning.

Paul is pointing out one of their main problems: pride.

Again, it’s not hard to see how pride could divide a church.

Paul just addressed how they were favoring one leader over another, and now they are acting arrogantly in their behaviors.

Look at verse 7, “For who makes you differ from another?

And what do you have that you did not receive?”

Paul asks, why do you see yourself as superior, or better than others?

What do you have that hasn’t been given to you by God?

And he explains to them how everything belongs to God.

He was the one who gives and takes away.

I’m currently studying Creation in one of my classes, and we’ve been discussing with each other our Stewardship of God’s creation.

In Genesis 1, we learn we are created in God’s image, and then we are given the role of dominion, or stewardship, over everything.

We are stewards for God, we manage what is His for His purposes.

We are not the owners.

If you start viewing everything you have from God like it’s yours to do with as you please, you’re on the fast track to pride.

Believers should have a position of humility before God.