Contention Intervention

I Corinthians 1:10. I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas "; still another, "I follow Christ." 13. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? 14. I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15. so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel--not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 18. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (NIV).

CONTENTION INTERVENTION

Text: I Corinthians 1:10 - 18

“In the late 1800s, there were just two deacons in a small Baptist church in Mayfield County, Kentucky. The two deacons hated each other and always opposed one another. On a particular Sunday, one deacon put up a small wooden peg in the back wall so the minister could hang his hat. When the other deacon discovered the peg, he was outraged that he had not been consulted. The church took sides and eventually split. The departing group formed a new church, called The Anti-peg Baptist Church. (Raymond McHenry. ed. McHenry’s Quips, Quotes And Other Notes. [quoted from: Doyle L. Young. New Life for Your Church, 1989, p. 63]. Third Printing. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2004, p. 270). The identity of this church----the “Anti-peg Baptist Church” bears a hint of its history in its name.

The kind of conflict---contention that the Apostle Paul addressed in the early part of I Corinthians is very similar to that that existed in the split that resulted in the formation of the “Ant-peg Baptist Church”. It seems that Paul was trying to address the problem before it got any worse. Paul was trying to do some what we call in modern day----“damage control” or “intervention”. If we were to put a label on what Paul was trying to do we might call it “contention intervention”.

WHAT CAUSES CONTENTIONS?

One of the things that comes to mind is what we call a clash. Paul was addressing the clashes when he spoke those who claimed their allegiances to Paul himself, Apollos, or Cephas. Someone (Kenneth L. Chafin) has noted what the agenda of each of these factions were. (Lloyd J, Ogilvie. General ed. Mastering The New Testament: 1, 2 Corinthians. Volume 7. Kenneth L. Chafin. Dallas: Word Publishing, 1985, pp. 33 – 34). Those who associated themselves with Paul were more then likely Gentile converts who were charter---founding members of the church of Corinth (Chafin. p. 33). The second group who associated themselves with Apollos because “they were drawn to his preaching” (Chafin, p. 34). The third group associated themselves with Cephas (Peter, [see John 1:42]). The Cephas group was more than likely a group of Jewish converts. It seems that when Paul mentioned the last group----“those who belong to Christ”, he was illustrating the point that Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior is the only One who can sanctify us and justify us and make us right with God. It is in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior that we are both justified and sanctified who washes us (I Corinthians 6:11) and saves us from our sins (Matthew 1:21).

Another cause that comes to mind is competition. The story of those two deacons whose conflict caused a split that resulted in the formation of a new church----Anti-peg Baptist Church runs parallel to the point that I am trying to make about competition. The story of Anti-peg Baptist Church even reminds me of two churches I once served. The history of those two churches that I once served is that one church came out of the other. A faction happened that caused a split in the original congregation. That split eventually rivaled enough support for the establishment of the other church. Now the split that I am talking about had happened over some fifty years ago. But, even still, the churches tried to compete with one another. One got a gymnasium and the other one got a gymnasium. It was the same thing with a church van. One got a van and the other one went got a van. The vans and gymnasiums were in existence even before I got there. There were times when the relations between these churches resembled a sibling rivalry more than they did a Christian fellowship in the ways that some of the members of these two congregations would relate to one another.