Sermon for Jan. 26, 2020

This morning I'll be reading 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 10 through 18.

And I'll be reading from the Harper Collins Study Bible.

Paul wrote this to the church in Corinth to try to clear up problems that he was made aware of. These scriptures deal with divisions in the church that needed to be dealt with immediately.

10 Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. 12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” 13 Has Christ been 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(KRIHS-puhs) and Gaius(GAY-yuhs), 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas(ste-fä-nä's); beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. Christ the Power and Wisdom of God 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning.

Let us pray:

Dear Lord, as we begin this morning, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen.

-----------------------------------------------------------

As I was preparing for todays sermon,,, as always,,, I looked at the lectionary scriptures first.

As I read them and prayed about which scripture to use for today,,, at first I didn't see anything that immediately told me which one to use.

Especially this scripture,,, because we just don't have any problems of division like they were experiencing in this church,,, either in this class,,, or either of the two churches that I serve.

But,,, as we can see,,, God had other ideas and this is where I was led for today's sermon.

Division in this world is something that we will always have to deal with,,, in one form or another.

We have this division because,,, we live in this world now,,, but,,, as Christians,,, we are looking forward to our time spent in Heaven,,, time that will be spent in eternity,,, in another world!

Jesus said in : 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

We don't belong to the world,,, but,,, we must live in this world!

Hopefully,,, we can learn from this how to deal with division in today's world.

-----------------------------------------------------------

In this scripture,,, Paul has had to write to the church in Corinth because they were apparently arguing.

Their arguments had become so heated that it was leading to division in the church.

He appealed to them as brothers and sisters in Christ and asked that they all be in agreement with one another instead of arguing amongst themselves.

It was reported to him by Chloe's people in verse 11.

They reported that the people were being divided,,, by some saying that they belonged to Paul,,, some belonged to Apollos,,, some to Cephas,,, and some to Christ!

Paul asked them in the beginning of verse 13,,, "Has Christ been divided?"

Which we all know that the correct answer is "no"!

He went on to ask if he has been crucified for them or were you baptized in my name?

In the last part of verse 13 Paul asked if them if he has been crucified for them or were they baptized in his name?

And again we know that the answer is "no"!

Paul continues,,, but you can tell that he is upset by the words that he has written.

Paul continues,,, but you can tell that he is upset by the words that he has written.

Verses 14 and 15 says: 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name.

You can almost feel the impatient tone in his letter!

Then it's like he remembered something and he adds this in verse 16: 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether

I baptized anyone else.)

From the Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers,,, it says,,, Paul had forgotten them, and was reminded of it,,, possibly by Sosthenes (SAHS-thee-neez),,, who was writing all of this down for Paul, and would naturally have known the fact, because according to ,,, Stephanas (ste-fä-nä's) was,,, the “firstfruits of Achaia (uh-KAY-yuh)”,,, .

According to my Study Bible,,, Sosthenes (SAHS-thee-neez) had been chief ruler of the synagogue when Paul had been brought before Gallio, deputy of Achaia (uh-KAY-yuh). ()

According to my Study Bible,,, Sosthenes had been chief ruler of the synagogue when Paul had been brought before Gallio, deputy of Achaia. ()

It says that this might be the same man that was beaten that day and that afterward he decided to become a believer in Christ and a companion of Paul.

It says that this might be the same man that was beaten that day and that afterward he decided to become a believer in Christ and a companion of Paul.

Stephanas (ste-fä-nä's) himself was at Ephesus (EH-fuh-suhs) with Paul when this letter was written, and probably talked with him and Sosthenes (SAHS-thee-neez) every day ().

Stephanas himself was at Ephesus with Paul when this letter was written, and probably talked with him and Sosthenes ().

Since his memory had failed him on this point, Paul adds, “beyond that I do not know”,,, in case there was anyone else.

After this,,, Paul carries on in verses 17 and 18 where he says: 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Paul ends this part of the scripture that we are reading by stating why he was sent to them.

And he was sent to proclaim the gospel,,, that was his concern.

He wasn't sent to be a divider among them,,, but he was sent to proclaim that Jesus Christ had died for all!

When Paul wrote that he wasn't sent to "baptize",,, he didn't mean that he didn't believe in baptism,,, just,,, that wasn't his primary concern.

(6:28)

I do believe that he was intent on being obedient to Jesus' words about baptism,,, but for now he wants their focus to be on Jesus and remember that Jesus died for all.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Today we are faced with our own new danger of division because of our continued arguments of sexuality and differing opinions over scripture interpretation.

Regardless of your beliefs on these issues,,, it is taking away time that should be spent on making disciples of the world.

I know that I haven't been very accepting of Bishop Swanson's opinion that he has brought forth since these issues have really become center stage.

It appears that he is straddling the fence and I didn't agree with that decision.

At the same time,,, is that really our biggest concern?

Paul was concerned that they were worrying about following one or the other,,, when they should have been following Jesus Christ.

They were worrying about the wrong things.

Through this whole part of scripture,,, Paul spends his time explaining to them that what they are doing is wrong!

Bishop Swanson has been doing the same thing by trying to keep our focus on Christ instead of the argument going on today!

We also have the discussions about the separation of the United Methodist Church into different denominations by the introduction of “The Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation”.

This plan will allow for the separation of Traditionalist,,, Centralist,,, and Progressives,,, so that each will be free to align themselves with others of their same belief's and hopefully end the fighting amongst ourselves.

That's my simplified version of this plan but it involves much more than this and there are many more details to be worked out later.

All of these things and much more will need to be voted on by our General Conference and all of these are just discussions of things that will be presented at the conference.

There is know sure way of knowing what will even get through so that it can be voted on.

-----------------------------------------------------------

When Paul was made aware of the situation in Corinth,,, he tried his best to stop the problem before it became too much to deal with.

He immediately appealed to them as brothers and sisters in Christ to stop arguing amongst themselves and remember why they were there.

He urged them to remember that Jesus was the answer,,, Jesus was the only one that they should be looking to for their saving grace!

They needed to concentrate on the good news that they had received,,, and the fact that they were supposed to all be of like minds so "that the good news about Jesus" could be spread far and wide!

He was aware that would be impossible if they didn't quit arguing and come together as a church.

(9:18)

Paul wanted them to understand that his main objective was to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He didn't need fancy words,,, or as this translation puts it,,, "eloquent wisdom",,, to get that message across.

All that Paul needed to do was tell those that would listen the "good news" of Jesus Christ and everything would be ok.

He wanted to reassure them that Jesus was the important part of the "good news" that they needed to concentrate on!

-----------------------------------------------------------

In todays world,,, we,,, like Paul,,, must do everything that we can do to stop the arguing amongst ourselves before it becomes too much to deal with.

There are some that think that is already too much to deal with,,, and they may be right!

But I don't think so,,, because I know that we have a God that is capable of mighty things,,, if we are obedient to His words and do what we are supposed to do!

If we can do as Paul told the church in Corinth to do and concentrate on Jesus Christ,,, everything will be just fine.

That's what Bishop Swanson has spent his time speaking about.

He has done everything that he could do to keep us focused on "making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world"!

That's what we need to be concentrating on!

I also want you to know that I believe that Bishop Swanson knows that he is straddling the fence and he's doing it to make our conference better by keeping our focus on Jesus!

I couldn't see that before because I focused on the problem,,, not on the solution,,, like he tried to show us by his example!

If we put our efforts into telling others the "good news about Jesus Christ",,, everything else will fall into place.

Our focus needs to be realigned to the solution not the problem.

Be sure that we have our eyes on Jesus,,, and not the problems of this world.

(11:13)

-----------------------------------------------------------

So what does all of this mean for us as we prepare to leave here and begin our week?

It means that hopefully we can remember these verses and as we hear and see the words that intend to divide us,,, we put them into their proper place.

We concentrate on the solution instead of the problem.

As long as we put Jesus Christ first in our life,,, our church,,, our community,,, our everything,,, then our problems will take care of themselves!

Just as Paul tried to tell the church in Corinth,,, putting the focus back on Jesus should solve their problems,,, and it can definitely solve ours today!

-----------------------------------------------------------

So as we sing our final hymn,,, let me remind you that the alter is always open,,,

If you feel God speaking to you,,, don't hesitate to come,,, maybe you just have questions,,, God will answer,,, you just have to ask Him,,, whatever the need may be,,,

As we sing the final hymn,,, come if needed!

Oakdale - Hymn Page - 462

Seminary - Hymn Page - 557

-----------------------------------------------------------