Lunacy? Series

Lunacy?

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

January 12, 2003

INTRO:

A. [Lunatics Never Unite, Citation: Haddon Robinson, "The Wisdom of Small Creatures," Preaching Today, Tape No. 93.]

A man went to an asylum for the criminally insane.

He was a bit surprised to find that there were three guards to take care of a hundred inmates.

He said to one of the guards, "Aren’t you afraid that the inmates will unite, overcome you, and escape?"

The guard said, "Lunatics never unite."

Locusts do.

Christians should.

If we don’t, we don’t know where our power is.

B. And so today, I want to ask, “Are Christians luny?”

C. Let’s read our text, 1 Corinthians 1:10-18.

D. Now, Paul is not discussing the differences that exist between denominations and brotherhoods.

1. In his day, there were no denominational or brotherhood divisions.

2. There was only one church in Corinth.

3. It would be like there only being one church in Greencastle, one church in Bainbridge, and one in Crawfordsville; one church in each town.

4. Paul wrote this letter to the church in the city of Corinth.

E. Paul, in this passage, is striking out against division within the local congregation of the church.

1. However, division is wrong wherever we find it and this passage has application in nearly all cases.

2. Division of any kind is wrong.

3. Division is division, whether inside of one church or within the church world-wide.

4. Denominationalism is wrong.

5. And I must say as well that most division within local congregations today is not over matters of faith, but rather the result of personalities that are in conflict.

6. And it wasn’t any different in Corinth.

E. Paul is writing this letter to the Corinthian while in Ephesus and verse 11 tells how he learned of the Corinthians’ problems.

1. One of the people living in Corinth was named Chloe.

2. And some of the people living in Chloe’s household had traveled from Corinth to Ephesus to inform Paul of the divisions within the church at Corinth.

F. The problem was a burden; not something to be covered up.

1. They went to an inspired apostle with the problem.

2. Good example to follow!

3. Let’s follow that example by looking to this inspired apostle for help with our modern-day divisions.

4. First notice...

I. THE DIVISIONS PAUL NOTED IN THIS CHURCH

A. The Greek word for “division” in verse 10 is “schisma” which means to “rip” or “tear”.

1. Paul says the church in Corinth has been torn into different parts.

2. The people have divided themselves into different groups.

3. These different groups had different beliefs and ways of doing things.

B. We might sum up the divisions in this way:

1. First Paul mentions the “I follow Paul” group.

a. This group may have taken the attitude that Paul started this church and he will always be our leader.

b. These are the traditionalists.

c. They probably said things like, “This is the way we’ve always done it before.”

d. “Paul started this church, and we’re always going to do things his way.”

e. This is the way Paul taught us and nothing is ever going to convince us that there is any other way.

f. I usually refer to this group as the “Don’t bother confusing me with the facts, I already know what I believe” crowd.

g. “I follow Paul.”

2. Then there was the “I follow Apollos” group.

a. These people may have put great emphasis on knowledge of the Scripture.

b. Apollos was mighty in his use of the Word although he didn’t know as much as he should have.

c. These may have been the Bible intellectuals.

d. They probably memorized and had great knowledge of the scriptures.

e. However, they also probably did very little evangelism or any other ministries besides teaching.

f. You can image this group sitting around reading the Bible to each other all of the time and since they did a lot of sitting, were probably a little overweight.

g. “I follow Apollos.”

3. “I follow Peter.”

a. These may have put great emphasis on the church and since Peter had been given the keys to the kingdom, and since Peter instituted the church on Pentecost, they decided they would follow him.

b. They may have been great “church” men without going further.

c. The crowd that showed up for church on Sunday morning, but didn’t do anything else for Christ.

d. They probably didn’t use their talents and their abilities for Christ throughout the week.

e. They just stressed to people they need to go to church.

f. “I follow Peter.”

4. And there was a group that said I follow Christ.

a. These may have been saying, “We don’t need anyone or anything but Jesus.”