I Follow Christ

INTRODUCTION

Good morning and welcome again to First Christian Church. I am so happy to have you here with us this morning. We are in week 2 of our series in 1 Corinthians, and I would invite you to go ahead and turn to 1 Corinthians 1 and we will be starting in verse 10 today.

I am so excited that we have our kids in service with us today, and that we can worship as a family, a forever family, together. I think this is a great way for our children to see and feel what it is like to be in church, and open up some time for our families to sit together.

In 1960 for the first time ever, the nation was able to hear from both of the presidential nominees through a series of debates. This format had not been used before. To get to hear from, and see, the candidates for president live on your television screen in your living room would be a game changer. The candidates that year were John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. They agreed to debate four times, each one live for the public to consume.

In late September of that year the first debate is held. If you were alive then, you may remember turning on your t.v. to see it happen. There you have JFK and Nixon, men who would be famous political figures in years to come, in all their splendor on your black and white television. This was new technology, and the candidates were not as well versed in it as they are today, and Nixon decides to not use any stage makeup or get a fresh shave. This causes his afternoon 5 o’clock shadow to show up on screen. This, coupled with the heat from the lights causing him to sweat and his light gray suit blending in to the backdrop, caused then Chicago mayor Richard Daley to remark, “My God, they’ve embalmed him before he even died.” Some say this was a contributing factor to Nixon’s loss and JFK’s victory.

It wasn’t necessarily the words either man spoke that night, but the appearance. Kennedy looked up to the job, while Nixon looked worn out from the campaign trail. You are probably wondering what any of this has to do with 1 Corinthians, right? Well today we will see some parallels between this debate and what Paul warns the church at Corinth about. Kennedy received an advantage, not because of policy ideas, but because he looked and consequently sounded like the right thing. Nixon seemed to be the lesser candidate, not because his policy was bad, but because he didn’t appear to be the right person.

Paul will warn us today about following man because he has eloquent words, seems wise in the eyes of people, and has all the right “signs”. His encouragement is to look to the truth of Jesus, the wisdom of God, and what His word says, not ours. Would you join me in prayer this morning as we begin

PRAY

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow 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 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

1 Co 1:10–17.

Paul is beginning the meat of his letter here. While it is still early, he is not wasting any time discussing what needs to be discussed. I want to draw our attention to whom he says he is appealing to the church through. Paul can write to the church and say I am appealing to you as your church founder, as your spiritual leader, as an apostle, as a missionary, but he does not appeal to the church through his titles or power. He is appealing to them through Jesus. This is Paul saying, the need to fix our problem is coming through Jesus Christ. I am appealing to you, not because I think you should figure this out, but because Jesus tells us we have to figure this out.

NO DIVISIONS

So, what is he appealing to them about? He is appealing that there not be division but unity. He is appealing to them, by Jesus, that the church should not have division but be united in mind and judgment. He is calling them to be united in their thinking. To be united as one church, division does no good for the church. They do not need to be divided.

The temptation for division has been based around the different teachers that they have heard. He says that he knows they are quarrelling amongst each other over who they follow. Some are saying I follow Paul, Apollos, Cephas, and some are saying that they follow Christ. What are they dividing over? They have decided what earthly teacher they follow. The fight seems to be over what earthly teacher they follow, while not seeing that these teachers would have been pointing them to Jesus.

Paul goes on and says he is thankful that he has only baptized a few of the members of the church, and it makes it seem that there may have been an attachment to who baptized them, or who may have been preaching the Gospel when they responded to it.

In verse 17, Paul states the case for this appeal. He has been sent not to baptize but to preach the gospel. Why does he give this distinction? Isn’t baptism important? Yes, it is, but baptism is the outward sign of an inward change. Baptism does not save; it is the first step after salvation, showing that a change has occurred in your life. It shows others that you are a follower of Jesus, that He is your Lord and your Savior, but it is not the primary point of the work that Paul is doing. His mission, our mission, is to take the gospel to the world, make disciples, and baptize. Not singularly focused on just one aspect but working through all of them.

Paul is pointing the church back to Christ. He is telling them that the purpose is not who baptized you, but why have you been baptized. The main point is not Paul, Apollos, Cephas, or any other earthly teacher. The main point is Jesus Christ. We do not follow men, we follow Jesus. Paul poses the question, “Did Paul die for you?” or “Were you baptized in the name of Paul?” No! Christ was crucified for us! Our salvation is found in Jesus, not in man. Our baptism is a sign that we have followed Jesus, not Paul.

What is the warning for us today?

Paul is warning the church at Corinth against dividing themselves by whom they follow. And we have to heed this warning as well. This church is not founded on me. This church is not built up around me as your pastor because I will let you down. We must guard our own hearts from falling into the temptation of following man over Christ. We have to watch out for what Paul calls “eloquent wisdom” over the power of the words of Christ.

In our modern, technologically advanced world, you have access to any number of bible teachers, apologists, and “experts.” You could pull your phone out right now and open up YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or Google and plug in our bible passage from today and get millions of resources. Does that mean they are all correct? Does that mean they are all beneficial? We must guard our hearts from falling into the temptation of believing a speaker because they have eloquent words and are full of human wisdom.

I think it is also important to remember that we are all created to worship. If we go back to Genesis, we will begin a study of Genesis this Tuesday morning at Bible Study if you can come at 10 am this Tuesday. But if we look back to how we were created, we see that we are created to worship God. But, man has always had a problem with turning the attention of our heart away from God and to the created things around us. When we start to make divisions because of which man we follow, we have to be careful that we are not giving worship to something.

In fact, if we scoot down to verses 21-25 of chapter 1, we read this:

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Co 1:21–25.

The world is looking for knowledge by what impresses them. What can wow us, what can mesmerize us, what looks like it is right? Just like Kennedy looked better than Nixon, our eyes draw us in. We should not be looking for knowledge through signs and worldly wisdom.

There is a craving for signs and wisdom. What are the signs? Today, we may be looking for something miraculous to take place to convince us to believe Christ. Or we may look for coincidences that we assign importance to. Some churches even artificially facilitate these signs to make it appear as though God is in the room.

Some seek wisdom. We have so much access to information today that we sometimes gain a thimble full of information and think we have a trash truck full of knowledge. At times, we allow someone who sounds good and looks good convince us of something that we don’t know if it is real or false. Paul is encouraging us to not look for these signs or worldly wisdom. He says that all we preach is Christ crucified. The Gospel does not need man-made signs or libraries full of human wisdom to have power and be effective. Why? Because Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. The foolishness of God is still wiser than man, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. The miracle that is seen is the salvation of man, that is a miraculous event as our sinful hearts are made clean through the blood of Jesus.

The Gospel is not strengthened through the power, wisdom, or strength of man. There is no human sign that is needed to proclaim Christ. The sign we seek is Christ crucified for the sins of man, and the wisdom we need is only from God.

Paul continues this thought:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

1 Co 1:26–31.

Why should we not place our hope in man? Why should there be unity in our minds and judgment? Why should we not look to human strength, wisdom, or status? Because we were not wise, powerful, or born with a noble status. We do not add anything to our salvation except the sin that nailed Jesus to the cross. God has chosen what is foolish to shame the wise, what is weak to shame the strong, and what is low so that we cannot boast.

There is no boasting in our relationship with Jesus, except to point to the one who saved us. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus, because God knew that he would send his son to provide salvation, we are now in Jesus. It is through the atonement, the death and payment for sin, of Jesus that I know have the righteousness of Christ placed on me. He is the wisdom, I have his righteousness, He is the one I want to be more like, and He is my redemption. There is no boasting in this in myself, it is only in what Jesus has done for me.

We do not need to divide ourselves by what earthly teacher we follow. We should have unity as we follow after our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That is who we follow. I echo the statement of Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 to follow me as I follow Jesus. Don’t put your faith in man, but in the one who bled and died for you.