6.4.44 9.26.2021 Factions 1 Corinthians 3.1-23
Embracing Hope by Eliminating Avoidable Errors • Sermon • Submitted
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Entice:
Our focus should be on Jesus.
Our focus should be on Jesus.
Not on ourselves.
Not on ourselves.
Not on our leaders.
Not on our leaders.
Not on our favorite preacher or teacher.
Not on our favorite preacher or teacher.
Not on our favorite "celebrity".
Not on our favorite "celebrity".
The issues at Corinth began with self-satisfied pride. Gifted people making choices for how "me and mine" are going to live the Christian life. Paul begins 1 Cor. 3 by calling them a
bunch of babies
bunch of babies
That must have got their attention.
They could not grow until they focused on Jesus
Engage: There are a lot of voices contending for the ear of the Church. In a recent "French Press" Newsletter David French contends that one of the reasons conversation is so strident in our culture and congregations, one of the reasons the Church is flailing right now is simple:
many Christians do not know nor believe Scripture.
many Christians do not know nor believe Scripture.
Consequently they think being divisive, contentious, inflammatory, argumentative, mean-spirited, and factional are both permissible and warranted. Paul, who wrote the text we study today, disagrees. When the Church is as divided as the world it demonstrates both bad theology and bad practice.
Expand: Paul does not just say, “stop it!” and He does not offer an easy answer. He engages the mind of the Church so that we not only wind up acting as expected but that
we get where God wants us to be because we have learned to think as He thinks.
Excite: If we don't or won't it is because we have chosen the conflict over conversion, faction over faith, anger over love.
Explore:
Immaturity destabilizes the church creating conflict and factionalism which prevents us from understanding, demonstrating, and declaring the sovereignty of Christ.
Immaturity destabilizes the church creating conflict and factionalism which prevents us from understanding, demonstrating, and declaring the sovereignty of Christ.
Explain: Paul warns us of the impacts of factionalism and division.
First He warns us that
1 Factionalism stunts our growth.
1 Factionalism stunts our growth.
1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready,
3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?
4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
1.1 It is infantile.
1.2 It is unspiritual
Next Paul warns us that
2 Factionalism denies the Lordship of Christ.
2 Factionalism denies the Lordship of Christ.
5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor.
9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
2.1 Mistakes the laborer for the Lord.
2.2 Mistakes contribution for creation.
2.3 Mistakes my desire for God's design.
Paul then warns us that
3 Factionalism wastes our work.
3 Factionalism wastes our work.
10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
11 For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—
13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Rewards. Success. Failure. We should all want our work to be of the highest quality with the greatest durability. Factionalism, fighting, and division makes that work much more difficult. To insure that our work is eternally durable we should…
3.1 Build carefully.
3.2 Build faithfully.
3.3 Build Soundly.
When we build carefully, faithfully and soundly our labors carry over into eternity…When we fail to do so our work may be wasted in the fire. Continuing, Paul warns us that
4 Factionalism pollutes God's dwelling place.
4 Factionalism pollutes God's dwelling place.
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
This is one of those times we need to be clear about our pronouns and antecedents. the You here which I read as "y'all, or all y'all" is plural. Paul reminds us that the Holy Spirit indwells the Church. When division, and petty partisanship invade the Church it inhibits our growth and obscures He who dwells here.
4.1 God dwells with us, and in us (Immanuel)
4.2 God's Holiness should clarify and unify us around His purposes.
Finally, Paul warns us that
5 Factionalism confuses God's way with the Worlds way.
5 Factionalism confuses God's way with the Worlds way.
18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”
20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
21 So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,
22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours,
23 and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
There is a stark contrast between the way the world works and the way God works. When our behavior obscures that difference we make it difficult for God to operate.
5.1 The world's wisdom is folly and the world's wisdom is futile, the worlds way is failure.
5.2 God's way is to unify us eternally in Jesus Christ, whose we are.
Shut Down:
Too many people want the Christian faith to be a slight, spiritual veneer over how they already intend to think. So a preacher hears things like. "Don't make it too complicated! Don't go too deep! Make it understandable! Don't confuse me with the facts: I've heard it for years.
Some popular preachers tell people what to think rather than teaching them how to think. They follow the polls, listen closely to the chatter and enable the divisive behaviors which cripple the Church. Paul didn't do that and neither will I. Correct, It isn't that complicated. The issue is not information. We face a crisis of will. We have to get over our addiction to conflict. We must get beyond the mentality of us vs. them, black hats vs. white hats.
There is no acceptable level of conflict in the Church. Unless there is heresy and even then our tone is to be love, our motive restoration, and our attitude humility. It is theologically unthinkable for the Body of Christ, the Temple of God, the Church founded upon Jesus to be divided into factions.
How we think about Christian solidarity is theological. How we behave puts that theology into practice. When we live rightly the Gospel prospers and God grants growth. We ignore these warnings at our peril.