Murder on a Church Row

Intro

Welcome to sermon 3 of our walk-through of !st Corinthians! I hope that you’re enjoying hearing the sermons from this series as much as I’m enjoying delivering them. Preaching through a book isn’t something that I am very good at, and its out of the norm for me. I usually preach about a particular subject from a range of texts dealing with certain aspects of that topic, but this is different. God deeply impressed me to preach through this book, and I believe each week we are finding what we need to hear from the text of scripture.

So far we have seen from this text that we are called higher, and last week we looked at the amazing grace that God has given us in Christ. Today, the text takes a turn. Paul has greeted the Corinthians as brothers and sisters in the Lord, he has spoken of the great grace that was given to them by God in Christ, and now the letter shifts. Paul begins dealing with some of the issues in the church at Corinth, and let me be the first to tell you that we have the same issues today. What Paul deals with in this text is terrible, and it pronounces death to any church that is consumed by it. What I’m about to say may shock some of you, and you may be wondering why I would include it in the introduction to a sermon, but here goes.

In the 1930s Cleveland Ohio was riddled with a series of grisly murders. People were found beheaded and dismembered with surgical precision, and the killer became known as “The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run”. The murders were investigated for years, and while many suspects were identified, no one was ever formally convicted, and many of the victims were never identified. However, investigators now believe they were the work of Dr. Edward Sweeney. Sweeney was a veteran of WW1 that suffered nerve damage from a poisonous gas attack, as well as PTSD. He self medicated himself with alcohol and as a result suffered a mental breakdown that led to the murders. Eventually he commited himself to a psychiatric institution, where lived out the rest of his days. While it was never officially proven that Dr. Sweeney was the Mad Butcher, after he commited himself, the murders stopped.

I know what you’re all thinking. Why am I talking about a murderer in church, why am I talking about it in a Sunday morning sermon? Because it directly connects with our text this morning.

We are facing a crisis in the church today. A crisis that rips the body of Christ apart, that no one wants to deal with, and the devil so throughly enjoys that he encourages it every chance he gets! With God as my helper, I want to show you a few things in this text and preach on this thought: Murder on A Church Row.

If you have a Bible this morning, open to 1st Corinthians 1. Starting in verse 10, the Bible says

The New King James Version (Chapter 1)

10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. 16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

V. 10:

Paul begins in verse 10 with something we don’t hear very much about in today’s church. Unity. in verse 10 he says

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Notice how he begins. He says I plead with you, brethren. The word plead means ‘to summon, to urge, to call out, to beseech, to beg.’

He isn’t mincing words here. He is heart broken over what he has heard about the goings on at Corinth, and he knows that if left to their own devices, this church will die. In the opening statement of this call to unity, he says ‘Now I beg, beseech, urge, and summon you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you.

Hear me this morning. I echo the words of the apostle, pleading with the church of the living God that there be no division among us! If you’re wondering why I used a murder statistic in the introduction, now I can explain. The word division here means to rip, tear, or rend into pieces. The picture behind this is that of a butcher dismembering an animal. It’s this graphic scene that Paul is on his hands and knees begging the Corinthian church to stop! Division is the silent butcher of the church, and it directly impacts everyone who comes into contact with it! And before you start thinking about denominations, stop and back up. We’ll get their in a few moments. Paul isn’t writing to Corinth because they had divided themselves from the Ephesians or Galatians. He’s writing them because this division, this butchering of the church, was going on within their own body! Let me break down how division works and what it does within the body of Christ.

1: Individuals -

Division hurts the individual first. Most of the time, division is about something that doesn’t matter at all. I know of a church that split wide open over the brand of toilet paper that was put in the restrooms. The lady who handled the custodial needs of the church was out of town, and the church ran out of toilet paper. Someone bought some to see them through, and when the lady got back and saw that the toilet paper in the restroom wasnt the brand she always bought, she got upset. She began backbiting and running people down, believing they were trying to take away her job and give it to someone else. Before long the entire church was divided and split.

What difference in eternity will it make whether it was Charmin or Scott’s toilet paper in the restrooms? None whatsoever! But the enemy seen opportunity to plant a seed of division in someones mind. That seed was watered, and before long had taken over the person and made her miserable. Out of her misery and anger, she attacked others which only added to the frustrations, and the devils job was done. This happens every day in churches throughout the world.

Someone will get a thought in their minds that because they do things a certain way, that their way is the only way it should ever be done, and before you know it you have the beginnings of division. First, it tears the individual apart, and then, because misery loves company and people take their eyes off of Jesus, it starts to affect others.

2: Those around you -

Division will move from one person to the next as soon as its given opportunity to do so. I know people right now that won’t step foot in certain churches because of something that happened between their long dead second cousins uncle twice removed and someone else who’s dead and buried. Or maybe it was more recent and we let a Karen or Richard that isn’t even saved hurt us or offend our sensibilities to the point that we run home and can’t wait to jump on Facebook or the phone and tell everyone ‘you wont believe what so and so at that church did to me!’ Right after that the rumor mill will start and what began as an insignificant disagreement grows into a monstrosity of division that rips and tears the church apart, and innocent by-standers get caught in the crossfire of the fight!

This is why Paul pleads with them in Jesus name to stop being divisive! Stop letting petty things that don’t matter blind you and divide you, come together and agree! Let us all say the same thing, answer the call to unity, and be in agreement! Why is this so important? Look at verse 10 again. He says to be in the same mind and the same judgment. Why is it so important that we be of the same mind? Because the Bible tells us to. How many times in the New Testament do we read about thinking and the mind? Philippians 4 tells us to think on things that are true, good, honest, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, and praise worthy. 3rd John tells us that we will prosper and be in health as long as our minds and thinking are right. Romans tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice because its our reasonable service of worship, and Hebrews 12 tells us to look to Jesus as the author and finisher of our faith. I can guarantee you that if you have your mind and heart focused on God and the things of God, and your focus is on Christ, you won’t have time to worry about what someone else is doing, you won’t give place to the devil and allow division in your mind! The Bible says where this is no vision, the people perish. When division is in the hearts of the people, and constant infighting is going on, the vision is derailed, sin enters the camp, and our judgment is skewed. But thank God there is an answer for division, and that answer is unity!

V. 11-16

Paul continues through verses 11-16 going more in-depth on where this problem of division started. Corinth was made up of a mixed body of believers that had all been saved and baptized under different people’s ministries, and they thought that made them better than each other. A personality cult had started. I know everyone has their favorite preacher or teacher. I’m not under some grand dillusion that I’m anyones favorite, so there’s that out of the way. However, the problem arises when we start saying that we’re more spiritual than someone else because of our association with that person. This glorying in men is something churches are absolutely consumed by. I have seen entire congregations that were more faithful to the pastor of the church they attended than they were to the Church they were supposed to be members of! There are people who join a local church because they really enjoy the preacher, and they wind up following them instead of Jesus! I can’t speak for every man who stands behind a pulpit today, but if you’re hear because you like me, I appreciate the sentiment, but I hope that before you leave today you’re here because you want to worship the Lord! There are some folks who won’t attend church when their favorite isn’t preaching. If that’s you then go ahead and say ouch, because you need to repent and get yourself focused on Jesus! I love all of you, but I dont come to church for you! I dont spend hours in the study each week for you. I dont preach for you. I do all of these things to bring glory and honor to the name of Jesus! But getting back to the text, Some of them were arguing, saying that because Paul had baptized them they were better than those who were baptized by Peter or Apollos, and vice versa. It was nonsense! I don’t care who led you to the Lord. Whether it was Billy Graham or someone who’s name nobody knows, that doesn’t matter! What matters is that you know who Jesus is!

Paul recognizes this, and he calls out those who are trying to pander to his ego by using his name. He recognizes it for what it is, and says ‘we’re you baptized in the name of Paul? Was Paul crucified for you?’ He brings it back to the main thing. He reminds all of those at Corinth that as valuable as these individuals were, as noble as their laboring in the gospel was, in the end all of that points back to the one who made it all possible, the Lord Jesus! It is Jesus that was crucified for you, not me and not your favorite tv preacher. It was Jesus who bore your sins and mine on the cross, it was Jesus who was buried, and Jesus who rose again! It’s not about me, it’s not about you, it’s not about the pastor down the road, it’s not about our favorite evangelical superstar, it’s all about Jesus! It isnt because were religious, it’s because Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain but he washed me white as snow!

V. 17

This is the issue. Paul says he’s thankful that he didn’t baptize any of them except Crispus, Gaius, and the household of Stephanus. He dismantles the personality cult by reminding them who it was that died for their sins, and then he drops a bomb in verse 17 that you’ll miss if you aren’t careful. He says that Christ didn’t send him to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. This phrase at the end is crucial. A more literal translation would say ‘so that the cross of Christ will not be robbed of its effective power’. This is the greatest issue that’s brought on by division. It robs the gospel of its effective power. How? How could division render the gospel powerless? Because the devil knows that as long as he can keep the church in a fight over things that don’t matter, it won’t matter how well they preach the gospel. It won’t matter if the greatest preacher to ever walk the planet is behind the pulpit. If the church is divided and being torn apart, that gospel won’t be effective. Lost folks will see the bickering and arguing that go on and want nothing to do with the God the church is supposed to represent. The world we live in is divided enough, for Jesus sake and for the sake of every lost person in the world let the church come together and be of the same mind! Don’t allow the butchery to continue. Stop fighting over things that won’t matter in eternity. I can promise you the division isn’t worth it, but I can also guarantee you that the souls that will be saved when we are in unity will be! Don’t rob the gospel of its power, its the only power in this world that can save sinners!

You hear me this morning. The devil knows how to use division. A brief glance at church history can tell us that. If we look at the history of the church we see the cost of division. This is going to sound strange, but I want you to understand this. Jesus founded one church. He didn’t start a baptist church or a pentecostal church or a methodist church or any other title you can think of. He started one. Today, there are 45,000 different DIVISIONS of that one body. We call them denominations, but lets get down to what they really are. They are divisions. Now let me say this. Some of them were established to protect and defend the gospel. Others were established because somebody got mad. I was going to preach a revival down in Georgia once and came up on a stretch of road that had several churches on it. The first was Old Vision. A couple miles down the road was Vision. Then 3 or 4 miles from that one was New Vision. Before long, it’ll be No Vision! Needless division must stop, the church must put aside the differences we have that don’t affect the gospel, and we must come together in unity.

Conclusion:

Paul isn’t saying here that we must agree on everything down to the infintesmal details. He’s saying to keep the main thing the main thing! As long as Jesus is high and lifted up and the true gospel is preached, we can and should have unity. But as long as we allow the devil to divide black from white, old from young, and charismatic from cessationist, the power of the gospel will lose its effect. For Jesus sake, for the sake of the souls who are lost, let us stop the murder on the church rows and come together in unity.