1 Corinthians 1:4-17

Intro

Good morning

In a series on 1st Corinthians.

Recap last week:

-Paul’s letter is primarily exhortation—He is writing to correct behavior, the influence of cultural ideologies, and church functions.

-He is recognizing a rough trend in this particular church where the congregation is not fully willing to sacrifice their old selves and rest in the renewal of Christ.

And Today, we are going to talk about something that is so common in the church and has been common in the church for 2000 years that it’s almost like just read the Scriptures without listening or doing what they say.

(That’s a joke…because that’s exactly what we all do the majority of the time)

Today we are going to rest in Chapter 1, primarily focusing on verses 10-17:

Before we Get into it, let’s pray together.

Story

Church division is not a new thing.

There have been church splits and divisions for close to 1000 years.

-East-West Schism of 1054 where The Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox broke communion with one another over hierarchy and the definition of a word “filoque.” Long story but that is the primary reason.

-There was the great reforming movements of the 16th century. With Luther, Church of England, Anabaptist, Se-Baptist, church of Scotland (Presbyterian)…etc.

-Methodism in the 18th Century away from Anglicanism

-PCA splitting from the PCUSA

-ACNA splitting from the Episcopal Church in America

So on and so forth:

Today there are numerous denominations fighting and splitting. United Methodist, Reformed Church of America,

Church splits, splinters, and schisms are not uncommon.

We even see this within churches themselves.

Church plants often begin because a group of people feel disenfranchised with how the church is going so they leave to start what they believe to be a more authentic or relevant expression of church.

I’ve seen first hand where a church didn’t split, but within the church a faction who wanted teh Youth pastor to be the lead pastor rose-up and forced the lead pastor to resign…resulting in both lead and youth pastors leaving and the church losing hundreds of people in the process.

When I was let-go from my job in Alabama, without provocation, a lot of the leaders I had responsiblitity for and their families left as a result.

Church division is an unfortunate reality.

but why?

I think there are a few modern reasons, in particular in the United States:

-On the local level, The clearest reason is power and influence.

Power is one of the greatest idols of American society. It corrupts everything. And churches that split or divide in the U.S. is almost always a result of a power struggle.

Everyone has a desire on some level for power and influence. We either want it for ourselves, or we want it for the people that we like or want to follow. And when we don’t receive that we struggle to continue our own engagement with a community. This happens all the time.

-Doctrinal issues. This tends to be more on the denominational level. As factions grow within a denomination, schisms become inevitable. Who can preach on Sundays? Who can be baptized? Who can participate. Those kinds of questions.

And to be clear, those aren’t inherently bad questions. Those are accountability driven quesitons. Questions of orthodoxy. Ensuring that the church is being held to a higher standard than our own minds and desires. But they do split denominations.

-Social issues. This is the big one today. As outside societal pressures grow stronger and stronger, the churches have been wrestling with their responses, often leading to disagreements, dissentions, and eventual schisms.

And in this passage of Scripture, Paul gives us a fairly clear solution to the problem.

Scripture

If you have your Bibles, please open them to

1 Corinthians 1:4–17 CSB

I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in him in every way, in all speech and all knowledge. In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; you were called by him into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 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. 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.” 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. 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.

Before Paul goes into a 16 chapter exhortation and ripping into the church, He comes to them as an equal…as a brother and softens the blow a bit by acknowledging the good things they are doing.

Thanksgiving

-For their proven gifts of knowledge and evangelism—Full endowment of God’s gifts

-That Christ will sustain them

Division

At the center of issues in the corinthian church is this issue that Paul addresses first.

Division or Cliqueness

Paul addresses division other times in this letter.

And you’d be surprised to see that Paul, in chapter 11 says that dissagreements in the church are inevitable. He even uses the word “Necessary.”

1 Corinthians 11:18–19 CSB

For to begin with, I hear that when you come together as a church there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it. Indeed, it is necessary that there be factions among you, so that those who are approved may be recognized among you.

What he says there is that factions and groupings within the church are good things when they all bring to the table a focus and well-roundedness.

The problem arises when we see our little focused slice of truth as the whole truth and not what it actually is…it’s part of the whole.

In Chapter 11 Paul uses two different words in verses 18 to describe the same thing:

Division=Schismata or separation

Factions: Heiresais (where we get the word Heresy from)…but he is not referencing heresy here. But that word means “sect.” In this context it is best translated as “to choose.”

What Paul is saying here is that separation is bad, but factions can be good.

It is okay to be selective but not divisive.

Paul is acknowledging that there is bound to be different emphases and ideas within a local church.

All of us select different aspects of the truth at different times for particular emphasis.

It could be something we or a group of us is struggling with.

or...

It could be something we see the whole congregation struggling with.

And Paul aknoweldges taht when this happens it tends to take the focus away from other strands of truth on to specific issues and matters in the local church.

That is allowable, if not sometimes necessary, as long as we realize that what we are choosing to focus on is not being proclaimed as the whole truth.

When a Christian, or a group of Christians, becomes totally absorbed with one aspect of the truth and neglect, even deny the whole truth as it is in Jesus, then the danger-point has been reached. That is when selectivity becomes heresy and for Paul, when Heresy is brought to the surface so that “Those who are approved can be brought to the surface.”

Cults of Personality

In this passage in Chapter 1, Paul gives us a glimpse into what the church is dealing with with division.

There seem to have been some personality cults forming. That cultural reality of choosing a teacher to follow that we talked about last week. Where the teacher or teachings of that teacher become more important than the reason why they are teaching.

And these groups are separating themselves based on their personal likes or possibly for stylistic reason.

4 Parties

1. Paul—Missionary extraordinare. He isn’t concerned with speaking eloquently…but bringing people into the community through service, care, love, and sound teaching. Paul makes the point to say that he was not preaching with human eloquence. He was simply sharing the truth of the Gospel. Sometime harsh truth, no doubt.

2. Apollos—we know little about him, other than he was a highly learned and educated man from Alexandria and was a great debater and a very good speaker. But he lacked maturity and was discipled by Priscilla and Aquilla. There his no doubt that when he got to Corinth, not by any intention of his, that his deep knowledge and speaking ability would have garnered followers of him. Remember, Corinth was known for group allegiances to teachers or “Sophis.” It was a cultural norm to attach yourself to one. And the people Apollos brought into the church undoubtedly had an unhealthy allegiance to him.

3. Peter—we know that Peter’s primary role as an apostle was to bring the Gospel “to the circumsised” meaning the Jewish people. We also know that Jewish Christians were still expected on some level to adhere to the Jewish law. Whether or not Peter was actually in Corinth we don’t know, but we can rationally assume he did stop by on his own journeys. We also know that Peter and Paul disagreed (Gal. 2:11) on how Peter was scared to be seen eating with Gentiles and Paul “opposed him to his face” and called him out. See, even the Apostles had issues.

4. Jesus—This is the most curious one because at first glance we are like “yeah…aren’t we all Jesus people?” But that is not what Paul is talking about. He isn’t saying “Good job Jesus people” he is saying “Stop using Jesus as a way to not be held accountable to your own anti-authoritarianism. These are the people in the church who were probably sitting back like “who needs leaders anyway…Christ is our leader.” And their attitudes in the assembly would’ve been that of arrogance and demeaning others who didn’t have that same view.

There is extra-biblical evidence that the Christ Party at some point, splintered off and created their own congregation. St. Clement mentions it in passing in his letters to Corinth. It is also a great example to us to see that the church has always had some sort of issue to deal with.

And people are attaching themselves and dividing themselves over which group they belong in. The church, at this point, is on the brink of collapse. Each group believes themselves to have the right path and the right way. But because of that they are ignoring the real truth of the Gospel.

Primary Concern

Paul is primarily concerned here with harmony over unison. “Say the same thing” is not to be confused with being “yes men” but instead being a united, harmonious, mutually submitting, and discerning body of believers.

He believed that it was not merely possible for Christians of many different kinds to live together in harmony, but that this was their calling from God. Such mutual recognition and submission, giving each person the freedom to express their convictions and understandings, would lead to a restoration of the community as he says in

1 Corinthians 1:10 CSB

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.

Or mind and knowledge/understanding

The key—Relationships

I know it might be getting old now, but relationships is the key to killing division.

As it was true for the Church in Corinth, Very often what happens in a local church today is that differences grow around personalities (either from within the church fellowship or from the wider church) and then those differences become articulated around matters of doctrinal dispute.

There may well be genuine theological disagreement, but the Rivalry (vs.11) begins because personal relationships are not good.

When the love of God is truly controlling relationships within a church, areas of disagreement find their proper perspective and do not result in or require a rivalry, let alone ‘schism’.

So-called ‘clashes of personality’ are nothing much more than a failure, or even a refusal, to let God’s love change us in our attitudes toward one another.

We allow theological differences (instead of the love of God) to determine the quality, openness and depth of our relationships.

For example, our western tendency to be detached and objective and rational in discussing any situation enables us to analyse differences in the church in what we believe to be a very careful and biblical way.

On a denominational level We can do this while sitting in the same room as those with whom we disagree—and never meet one another as people, let alone as brothers and sisters in Christ.

And we believe that when the discussion is over, the division is truly theological, not a lack of relationships.

At the core of Church resolution is true relationships.

I love this quote I read this past week from a biblical scholar named David Pryor:

We tend to believe that the real problem is theological, when in fact we have managed, by our very detachment, to prevent the love of God from bringing harmony and mutual acceptance. We then declare that theological differences are the cause of the schism between us, rather than our lack of relational depth.

The mark of a mature disciple of Jesus is one who can sift past and beyond trivial doctrinal issues, pursue real and vulnerable relationships with everyone in the congregation and leave all the room in the world for the Spirit of God to move and lead.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t care about doctrine. We should. We should strive to be in right thought or orthodoxy as much as humanly possible. Doctrines free us from the bondage of theological wandering. And in our society, doctrines help us stay on the right track. So, I’m not saying ignore doctrine, but we cannot allow doctrine to drive our relational calling with one another.

Application

Let’s play a small hypothetical game here:

Raise your hand if you would be okay with drums during a Sunday morning? No judgment…just an exercise here.

Now, raise your hand if you would not be okay with drums during a Sunday gathering? Again…no judgement.

You see, some say yes…some say no. Ultimately, the issue is trivial and pointless and a point of preference or selectivity.

The real question happens in our reaction next. Say, the ghost of Neal Pert walks in the door and says “hey…I want to play drums on Sunday.” Guess what…the ghost of Neal Pert is going to play drums on Sunday. We might have to tell Neal perts Ghost to play softer…but he’s going to glorify God in the best way he knows how.

And if that were to happen…what would that mean? Hopefully we wouldn’t abandon the community we invest in because of a trivial thing like drums….right? Or waste time and energy writing emails or having meetings to complain about it.

Ultimately…the truth is, there is an immaturity in the Corinthian church. One that doesn’t really get resolved as Clement addresses the same factional or cliquish thinking in Corinth 40 years after this letter was written.

Regardless of what Church community you choose to call home…there are always issues, there seem to always be some form of factional thinking. No church is perfect. No gathering “style” is correct, and ultimately, the things we choose to divide ourselves over are highly trivial and ultimately and eternally pointless.

There are really two groups of Christ followers in which we can judge…Those who make disciples…and those who don’t. That’s the eternal implication of our call. It’s not the style of the gathering, the teacher on the stage, the music being played, or the scriptures being read, or the theology being preached. The eternal implication, the thing that truly matters is are we living Holy Lives and making authentic and real disciples of Jesus.

--Should we desire a strong missional work? Yes. That is what Paul brought to the table. Sacrifice of self for the advancement of the Kingdom of God.

--Should we desire good theological teaching? Yes. That is what Apollos brought to the table. Eloquent and attractive speech. Sound doctrine and great biblical knowledge. --Should we desire a reverance for traditions that connect us with the earliest days of our faith? Yes. That is what Peter brought to the table. --And should we desire to be fully led and filled with a unique and transformative Spirituality? Yes. That is what the Jesus people brought to the table.

We need it all. We cannot rest on our own opinions and ideologies. Opinions and ideologies often result in disagreements, and disagreements without relationship almost always devolve into factional thinking and division.

Paul is not saying what the factions believed was wrong. What he was saying is come together and be a better community.

What do we do with those factions? Do we allow them to devolve into waring cliques? Or do we choose to wade in that messy middle?