1Cor1s10
Maintaining Our Focus
10/29/06 CC/AM
1 Corinthians 1:10-17
(1 Cor. #2)
Introduction: Whatever happens the Detroit Tigers have had a successful season! One of the major ingredients of success is teamwork. For the Tigers to be successful they have operated in cooperation with each other to reach a common goal. It would be possible to have the best athletes in the world on your team and still not win championships when the individuals do not respond with teamwork. They have to all be on the same page. When they are not, you know what that is called, the Detroit Lions!
In the church, we must also have a great deal of teamwork if much is to be accomplished. We more often would refer to it as unity. It is amazing what a unified hard working group of people can accomplish and it is the same in the church.
Paul addresses a group of people who were having a problem with this concept. In 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 he writes to them to help them restore their unity and thus their effectiveness for the Lord.
As the body of Christ, we must also maintain our team mentality. As we follow Paul’s advice we will see how we can maintain our focus.
Prayer
Text
1. The Anomaly v. 11
a. The situation that is described is a anomaly not because it happens so infrequently, but because it is to be out of character for believers!
b. It was report to Paul, by Chloe’s people, (tattletales), that there was some fighting going on inside the church at Corinth.
c. What is the cause for fighting in the church?
James 4:1 (NCV) Do you know where your fights and arguments come from? They come from the selfish desires that war within you.
d. There are three main sources of disunity in the church.
i. Personal opinions – when our own personal opinions are the only ones that matter.
ii. Personal preferences – when our personal preferences must become the preference of others or they will be sorry!
iii. Personal pride – when I must defend and advance my opinions and preferences at all costs demonstrating my selfishness and self centeredness.
e. What might people at church fight over? Anything!
100 years of Christian fellowship, spiritual love, Godly unity, and community growth ended last Tuesday in a fit of congregational discord not to be rivaled in this century. Holy Creek Baptist Church was split down the middle like the tabernacle cloth that tore at the point of our Lord's crucifixion. It is said that one could hear that rip a hundred miles away. Holy Creek Baptist was severed from the once stalwart cord of unity that bound them together. The fist of discord has pounded an army of Christian soldiers into two disheveled, unorganized factions of estranged members.
The source of dissension in this once Holy house of God, is a piano bench which still sits behind the 1923 Steinburg to the left of the pulpit. Landover Baptist members who have friends or relatives at Holy Creek Baptist, say that the old bench was always a source of hostility. People should have seen this coming. "That congregation was getting ready to break for the last 10 years," some said. "It's just a shame that it had to be over a piano bench." One outside pastor commented, "However ridiculous it might sound, I'm sure the Lord is using this whole thing in some way that none of us can see or make any sense of at all or ever hope to comprehend."
At present, Holy Creek Congregation will be having four services a day. There has been an unspoken agreement mediated by Pastor Deacon Fred of the Landover Baptist Church. Each faction will have it's own separate service with it's own separate pastor. Since the head pastor is not speaking to the associate pastor, each will have their own service, which will be attended by factioned members. We are told that the services are far enough apart that neither group will come into contact with the other. An outside party will be moving the piano bench to different locations and appropriate positions, between services, so as to please both sides, and avoid any further conflict that could result in violence.
f. The anomaly of division was taking place at Corinth and was rendering the church ineffective.
g. I am thankful that we don’t have a church like that, at least not right now! All it takes is one to start things headed in that direction! In our membership class we share the responsibility of each member to protect the unity of the church.
Ephesians 4:3 (NIV) Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
Ephesians 4:29 (NIV) Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Hebrews 13:17 (NIV) Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.
h. When believers are having trouble getting along with each other, it ought to be the exception rather than the rule!
2. The Appeal v. 10
a. Paul challenges them in the Name of Jesus Christ that they all agree!
b. It is the will of God that we be alike in the way that we think!
John 17:20-21 (NCV) “I pray for these followers, but I am also praying for all those who will believe in me because of their teaching. Father, I pray that they can be one. As you are in me and I am in you, I pray that they can also be one in us. Then the world will believe that you sent me.
c. Where is the individualism and the diversity? Wouldn’t it be a boring place if there was total agreement on everything?
d. Does Paul really mean what he says when he calls the church to all agree, to have the same mind, to have the same judgment, to literally speak the same thing?
e. What he is proposing is that all the people in the church are to have the same focus. The church does not exist to promote the agendas of people in it. It’s sole purpose should be to bring glory to God as the work and worship of God are being accomplished.
f. God not only welcomes diversity, He created it! No two of us are identical! We have different opinions, abilities, preferences, talents, size, shape, color, etc.
g. God made us special with variety but He made us all for the same purpose!
Romans 15:5-6 (KJV) Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
h. Unfortunately, this same appeal needs to be made to many churches in America today, and it is also possible that we could even fall prey to destructive division taking place right here in this church without much warning!
3. The Argument vv.13-16
a. The division at Corinth seemed to stem from those who had identified themselves with various leaders of the Christian movement.
b. Each individual and no doubt various groups had formed which all claimed a superior position because of the leader that they were following.
c. Some claimed they were better because they aligned themselves with Paul the church planter. Some claimed Apollos, the pastor that followed Paul was their leader. Some liked Peter, the first spokesperson for the church. Still others, the most super spiritual of the group, claimed that only Christ himself would do for them. Even those that seemed to follow Christ appeared to have a attitude that was dividing the church instead of unifying it!
d. People can be so fickle! I have had to laugh at times when I have spoke with those who have followed me at various ministries. Some have asked me how I did things there in a way that everyone one seemed to like it. I have assured them that I heard how great the people were who preceded me and that I got the same complaints then from the same people who now are praising me. I told these other youth pastors not to worry, the people will love you after you are gone. Maybe that is one reason many pastors leave so soon!
e. When tend to like what is going on when it is being done in the same way that we would do it.
f. Paul was embarrassed to even be named as one of the leaders that people had because of pride attached themselves too.
g. In that day students often attached themselves to teachers in an attempt to become like them and to even gain respect for being one of their followers. We see that the relationship that Jesus had with the twelve was similar to this. In that culture it was normal to do so. Paul was a student of Gamaliel, a well known instructor of the Law.
h. The problem was that this type of approach is not intended to be used in the church. It is not about following after people, even well respected people. It has nothing to do with priding ourselves about anything.
i. Paul in effect tells them that they had lost their focus of glorifying God because they were to busy trying to glorify themselves.
j. There in is the same reason that there is so much trouble in so many churches today! It is not about God anymore. It becomes all about personal agendas, preferences, opinions, and pride.
k. What is the church to do?
4. The Answer v.17
a. Paul wanted to be very clear about what his focus was.
b. He did not intend to draw attention to himself. He was not trying to gain a following. His goal in life had become to preach the gospel.
c. The answer to keep from having division is to have each person have the single minded priority of sharing the message of what was accomplished on the cross by Jesus Christ.
d. Sometimes we let the glorious message of the gospel take a back seat to things that are far less important. We can get side tracked and spend our time disputing things like musical preferences to Bible translation preferences. We can complain about the color of the carpet or whether there should be any carpet. We can fight over the order of the service or the number of services. We can say we liked it better the old way or the new way. But if we are for one moment distracted from the sharing of the message that Jesus offers salvation through His shed blood and resurrection, then we are in danger of becoming just like the church at Corinth.
e. We looked at three reasons for disunity. Here are three ingredients for unity:
i. Personal humility – The truly humble person is filled with the spirit not themselves.
ii. Personal obedience – Each person must have a desire to obey the Lord in all things.
iii. Personal devotion – Each person must be tuned to the heart of God. His passion of reaching people must become our passion. When that happens all else will become secondary at best!
f. Look what happens when the focus is in the right place:
Acts 4:31-32 (KJV) And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.
Conclusion: If we begin to lose our focus of spreading the gospel it will be easy to detect. There will begin to be friction and division in the church. All we need to do to keep that from happening is stay focused on what God wants. He wants people to respond to the message of salvation through His Son Jesus Christ. When evangelism is central all should be involved! When we think it is a job for someone else, we are approaching the danger zone of division. May God keep us on the right track!
1 Corinthians 1:10-17 (NASB95)
10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.
12 Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”
13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 so that no one would say you were baptized in my name.
16 Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.