1 Corinthians Part 2

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Welcome, Mission, Dismiss Children, Goals

1 Corinthians so far

1 Corinthians is about how the gospel matures a messy church.

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Main Idea: Unity is found in the message of the Gospel

Illustration: Baptist Joke

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"

He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"

He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"

Northern Conservative†Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over.

3 questions we want to ask looking through 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

How does the Church unify? Why is the Church divided? What is the Church’s message?

How does the Church unify? (1:10)

Paul starts out the body of this letter with an appeal. This is not a personal request as he clearly is wielding his apostolic authority by the “name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

He starts by asking that “all of you agree”

How does agreement come within the body of Christ?

No divisions (elaboration coming on the nature of the divisions within the church at this time).

Unity of the same mind and the same judgement

1 Corinthians 2:16 “16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”

We will have the same mind, when we have the mind of Christ and are not bent on our own ambitions. Disunity comes when we boast in our position, status, or preferences.

1 Corinthians 5:12–13 “12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.””

Judgement here is in the same way that a judge in a court of law is called to make a judgement call on the right decision. “the same judgement” just means a unity of justice and discernment from God.

Unity can only come with those who have the mind of Christ and have judgement derived from the Scripture.

Illustration: hug and say your sorry (growing up)

Apply: Disunity is bred in our midst when we don’t see Jesus Christ as Lord, when we have our own mindset and focus not derived from Christ and when our judgements differ (think of how we should make decisions together)

2. Why does the Church divide? (1:11-13)

Have you ever thought or been asked “why are there so many denominations and churches?”

I could say a lot on the Great Schism, the reformation, or even our current church factions but needless to say there are many reasons some needless and other very important doctrinally.

Paul addresses here some of the festering issues in Corinth that can lead to division within the church.

“for it has been reported by chloe’s people”…..not sure if these are members of the Corinthian Church? Maybe merchants? Either way Paul is getting insight from others about what is really happening.

Verse 12 unpacks the nature of the division and whether these are the actual factions or just rhetoric on Paul’s part, its hard to tell but what we can deduce is that the Corinthians were engaging in what I would call Christian tribalism by identifying with leadership personalities rather than unifying under the common message of the cross.

Lets define Christian tribalism: Christian tribalism is the tendency to only associate with those who agree on and boast in minor differences or preferences

Different than dividing over doctrine! Don’t hear what I am not saying. Ecumenical movements without commonality on the message of Christ are impotent and ultimately erode the truth.

So what was happening in Corinth? They had individuals they preferred for various reasons and used it as a boasting and quarreling mechanism amongst themselves. Keep in mind we aren’t talking about ones with serious theological disagreements or false teachers. We are talking about differences in preference that have been elevated to a wicked prominence.

Apollos was a capable and eloquent teacher Acts tells us. Peter was widely seen as the primary leader of the church at this time and Paul was the founder of the church at Corinth. Lots of possible reasons for them to find their boast in these different men…but thats just it. They are men. The end of verse 12 says “I follow Christ” and you might say…good that party has it right. But they are missing the point. The entire church are followers of Christ! No one is better than anyone else and they are all unified in the message. So these identifying markers to differentiate are useless.

We would never do this today would we?

Warning signs of tribalism in our midst:

An “us versus them” mentality

Do we compete or connect with other believers? Do we degrade and demonize other churches who, as far as we can tell, are teaching the core doctrines of the Gospel?

Do we boast in our church planting status? “I go to Gospel Heights a really cool young church plant”……Is our boast in Christ or in the fact we are a member of a successful looking church plant? We had better watch it friends. Our boast must always be in the cross otherwise we have missed it.

A lack of patience and grace towards others

An impatience with believers and churches with other cultures is a big warning sign regarding a tribalistic mentality.

Do you have 1 service or 3? Do you have groups or sunday school? Do you have cool sounding worship music or just a piano?

Are you traditional or contemporary?

Mature believers see past these things as points of division that are useless as they are meaningless differences in regards to the message.

Making good practices into Gospel issues

What is a core doctrine verses something that is non-primary?

Last thing to say: verse 13 Paul uses rhetorical questions to undergird the absurdity of what is happening in Corinth. Christ cannot be divided, Paul wasn’t crucified for anyone, and no one was baptized in the name of Paul!

Illustrate: First time preaching at UBC right after Jeremy and Scott.

Apply: What is your boast in? Are you quick to divide over non-primary issues?

3. What is the Church’s message? (1:14-17)

Verses 14 and 15 talk about baptisms which the point of what Paul says here isn’t that baptism isn’t important. Its more to underline the point that baptism was not his primary purpose.

Baptism doesn’t save but its an important step to take of obedience after trusting Christ.

A note on baptism: simply put, baptism by immersion as a believer who has trusted Christ as your personal savior and Lord is an outward expression of an inward faith.

Baptism is an outward expression of an inward faith

1 Peter 3:21 “21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”

So Paul is not negating here the practice or helpfulness or obedience aspect of baptism, rather he is reminding the Corinthians, it doesn’t matter who baptized who or who followers who’s teaching but primacy of the Word of the Cross (vs 18)

Verse 17 reminds us that our elegant speech or rhetoric has no bearing on the effectiveness of the message.

We are often tempted to find ways to spruce up the Gospel message with nice words, or a compelling inspirational moment but Paul here is reminding us the substance of the truth is where the power comes from.

“This the power of the cross, Christ became sin for us, took the blame, bore the wrath we stand forgiven at the cross.”

Illustration: Experience and manipulation taking the place of the cross of Christ.

Apply: What ways are we tempted to usurp the power of the cross in our daily walk with Jesus? What are the ways we feel the need to manufacture the power of Jesus in our lives or in others lives?

Final thoughts:

Can the cross be emptied of its power? No but there is such a way in which we can live void of God’s power working in us through elevating other things.

What is the message we are unifying over? Same mind. Same judgement

Where there is disunity, may we partner over the call of the Gospel message which unifies us from all backgrounds and perspectives.

Main Idea: Unity is found in the message of the Gospel