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1 Corinthians 1:9-17

January 27, 2013 Series: 1 Corinthians

Topic: New Testament Passage: 1 Corinthians 1:9–1:17

Port Gardner Church | January 27, 2013

1 Corinthians | United in the Calling of Christ | 1 Corinthians 1:9-17

[Adapted from notes by Sam Ford]

INTRODUCTION: Unity
After expressing thankfulness to God for the grace He bestowed upon this immature church,

Paul gets right down to business. There is no ignoring or minimizing what is the deadliest enemy to any marriage, family, or church—DIVISION.

We ended last week with verse 9 of chapter 1, where Paul writes: 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called INTO THE FELLOWSHIP of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Through faith, Jesus adopts many children together into one family

where each individual surrenders their own desires,yields their own needs to the needs of others,and contributes their own talents towards fulfilling the one mission for the glory of Jesus. That one mission is to make disciples.

The Corinthian church, however, is full of individuals competing against one another, arguing for their own mission, and pursuing their own glory.

Satan is the “Father of lies”, the serpent, the accuser… He is our enemy.

He wants do destroy the fellowship of Jesus Christ from the inside out. He can use the smallest things to cause the biggest damage to the unity of families and churches.

And when our unity is broken, truth is perverted, love is denied, and the mission is lost.

This is important for us today because,

while we claim to be more connected than ever,But, everything in our world feels more divided than ever. Our culture is divided politically, socially, economically, even recreationally.

Even the church-culture is divided by

denominations, schools of theology, philosophy of ministry, church networks, “coalitions” of pastors who do conferences, blogs, books, and podcasts.

Disunity is everywhere.

This study in 1 Corinthians is going to ask some hard questions about exactly why we are all here, who we are all here for, and what mission we are really on.

So here is what Paul writes in verses 10 through 17

1 Corinthians 1:10-17 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.

PRAY

I appeal to you brothers
Paul begins by appealing to them as a brother.

He has already made it clear that he is an apostle; that he speaks with the authority of King Jesus. But instead of pulling rank and flexing his muscles, he addresses them as a sibling—a fellow member of the family.

Remember that your pastor is a brother as well, a sinner saved by grace.

And while there is a God-ordained office that should be respected, we must always remember that we are co-sharers in grace. I am a brother and you should see and hear about my own real relationship with God and my genuine interaction with the gospel.Paul tells young pastor Timothy:

1Tim 4:14-15 14 Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Even the pastor struggles, repents, and grows in maturity in Christ.

Agree and be united
So as a brother, Paul appeals to his family to resolve the divisions he’s heard about.

“Chloe’s” people have reported that there are many fighting factions in the church. Division in church is not new. When Jesus prayed in John 17, one of the repetitive themes of his prayer was unity.

John 17;11, 21-23 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one…20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

Jesus knew that we would struggle with unity because,

like the world, we think of our own name and our own fame MORE than God’s. Paul is writing to a church suffering from widespread self-glorifying-individualism.

He appeals to them to be united as one, literally,

to SAY the same things, THINK the same things, and DO the same things.

The church is called to be one group of disciples,

speak with one voice, decide with one mind, and move with one action. A family, or a family of families (a church) either agree to think with one mind leading to unity; or they will think with many individual minds leading to division.

Without one unified mind, perspectives are driven by

personal experiences, decisions by personal preferences, and mission by personal benefit. And if something in the church doesn’t’ agree with our personal experience, preference, or mission, we may leave or worse, destroy the unity.

We stop being self-sacrificing family members and become a group of self-serving individuals.

And no one ever admits this because we’re ALL (wrongly) convinced that our particular preference is best for the family. It doesn’t take long before the family is divided.And many times they may not “divide” in any formal sense; they may decide to tolerate each other and exist as “married” people living single lives.

The word that Paul uses in the beginning to be “UNITED” is a surgical term.

The division in their relationships is not some unfortunate thing to be tolerated;it is hurting the body of Christ and making them weak. There is no health, no growth, and no joy because “the bones of the body are dislocated and need resetting”—THIS IS ALWAYS PAINFUL.

It is painful because rebuilding unity not only requires TRUST, it requires SELF-DENIAL.

It is much more difficult to “re-build” trust once it has been broken.

And when you decide to be self-denying, that vision that met your own personal preferences is destroyed.

This is not about denying your mind so that you can submit to what some other “louder” voice says, or thinks, or does—like some kind of cult.

This is about everyone denying themselves, elevating others, and finding unity in the mission and mind of Christ

Philippians 2:3-5 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,

The mind of Christ, demonstrated by the life of Christ, places our commitments in this order:

1. What God commands, 2. What others need, 3. Then … what I want.

V. 11-12 Identifying with men

Disunity in Corinth resulted from the church following the minds of men more than following the mind of Jesus.

In an effort to elevate themselves over one another, groups of men are identifying themselves with different pastors who had visited the church. They are dividing their church by picking teams; choosing to honor certain men in order to receive more honor from a lot of other men. Some factions in the church say they follow Paul, others Apollos, some Peter, and others Jesus.

We can only guess why:

There is an emotional connection to Paul because he was the church planter, the first pastor, their “father” in the faith—he appeals to the emotional loyalists. Apollos, a man the Bible describes as eloquent and competent in the Scriptures came through after Paul and proved to be quite the teacher, perhaps even better than Paul—he appeals to the intellectuals. Cephas (Peter) is the historical choice as he is the first leader of the church and, what the Corinthians call, a “super apostle”. And finally, there is the, “Well, I just love Jesus” group.

The first problem is the emphasis on the word “I”.

The gospel emphasizes what we share, not our differences. The Bible says that in Christ: Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus

In other words, the gospel takes I and MY and replaces it with WE and OUR.

Jesus is not just MY Lord, this isn’t just MY church, and I don’t have MY own mission or even calling. Jesus is OUR Lord, this is OUR church, and WE have a mission and a calling to complete together.

The second problem is that they are making much of men.

They identify themselves with the teachers more than with the teachings of Jesus Christ. It’s one thing to say I admire or I support so and so…but these folks are saying I AM of this guy or I belong to that guy, or I follow this other guy.

This is the language of cults

and it is the language that we too often use in our culture of celebrity-pastors.Whose name do we hear most in our church? Do you quote, read, reference, or study pastors more than Scripture?

Churches divide and die because they become unified around the wrong person, the wrong power, and the wrong purpose.

The head of the church never changes; it is Jesus. The power of the church never changes; it is the spirit of Jesus. The mission of the church never changes; it is the proclamation of Jesus.

V. 13 Three rhetorical questions

Though perhaps he should be glad that one group admires him most, Paul condemns their divisions.

Paul asks three questions:

He asks if Christ has been divided. The answer is yes.

The body of Christ is supposed to be a multi-part organism that is unified and powerful. A divided body simply cannot live. If all the body parts are not working in unison, then they will be useless, maybe even dangerous.

He asks if Paul was crucified for their sins.

He also asks if they were baptized in the name of Paul. The obvious answer is no.. to both.

Baptism symbolizes identifying with the death and resurrection of Christ.

It is much more than just getting wet. Baptism is the act of identifying with Jesus and His church. It is a declaration of allegiance and ownership.

This passage also makes it clear that the individual doing the baptizing doesn’t really affect the validity of the baptism. Those baptized by the great apostle Paul had no advantage over those baptized by some unknown believer. The power of baptism is in the spiritual reality it represents.

No human leader can ever be lifted up to the level of Christ.

It is only through the death of Jesus that God reconciles the world. It is only through the blood of Jesus that men can receive forgiveness.

A pastor reconciles nothing.

The blood of a pastor forgives nothing. We do not make a team and invite Jesus to be on it. Jesus picks us. Jesus is the owner, coach, and captain. Jesus is the head of the church. The pastor of Port Gardner Church is Jesus. I can be wrong, Jesus can’t.

V. 14-16 Paul is Thankful

Paul comments that he is glad that he has done little, or nothing, to contribute to what sounds like his unwanted celebrity status (at least with one group.)

Unfortunately, there are many pastors who do much to contribute to their celebrity status.

They put their faces on screens, their words in books, their signatures on Study Bibles, and even use their names as website addresses. They work hard to gather followers and gain fans, committing themselves to gathering attendees versus making disciples. And they remind you constantly that they are about making much of Jesus because no one is sure anymore.

Knowing the hearts of men, pastors must do everything in their power to turn them AWAY from themselves and toward Christ,away from their preaching and toward the WORD of God, away from their ministries, and toward all that Jesus has already done. Even preach less, or leave churches, so that the people will not get confused with exactly whose church and mission they serve.

V. 17 I am here to preach

To conclude, Paul clarifies exactly what his mission is and is not: 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.

Paul says that Jesus did not send him to baptize.

He is not trying to minimize the importance of baptism,nor is he trying to deny the Great Commission where Jesus commands us to go and baptize.

Paul is simply saying he didn’t come in order to build The Apostle Paul Ministries.com.

He is not working to gather followers or build his reputation; he is here to make disciples of Jesus. Paul did not come to build the church. Paul did not come to grow the church. Paul did not even come to change a single heart. None of those are in his power.

As one missionary said, Paul came to “Preach the Gospel, die, and [be] forgotten. This is the mission of us all. This does not require eloquence, education, or skill. It only requires you open your mouth and speak the plain, straightforward declaration of the person and work of Jesus on the cross.

(Explain gospel)

2 Corinthians 4:1-5 Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. 2 But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake

CONCLUSION


WE ARE PROCLAIMERS. WE ARE PREACHERS. IF we believe that the power to change a heart, to transform a life, to open the eyes of the blind, to set free those entrapped in slavery LIVES in the gospel…we’ll preach it all the time. WE won’t just listen to guy preach it on Sunday morning, we will tell our family, our neighbors, our friends about Jesus. And we’ll invite them to gather with the church, a family of disciples who loves Jesus, to adore Jesus, learn about Jesus, so that we can go forward not of ourselves, but in the mighty saving name of Jesus.

 

More in 1 Corinthians

November 17, 2013

1 Corinthians 16:1-24

October 20, 2013

1 Corinthians 15 The Resurrection

October 6, 2013

1 Corinthians 15:12-20