1 Corinthians 1:10-18 (p 1772)
I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, 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. My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 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.”
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanus; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 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.
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.
“Who Leads the Church?”
If you measure him by his church size, you would count him as a very successful pastor. He is the pastor of the largest and fastest growing church in the U.S. with more the 40,000 members in weekly attendance. His televised broadcast reaches millions across the world every single week. He boasts a church budget of over 40 million dollars every single year. If you measure him by all of this… he is successful indeed.
If you measure him by credentials, you would count him as a very successful pastor. Every book he has written has soared to the top of the best-sellers list. He is constantly on talk shows and doing interviews. He was voted “Most Influential Christian in America” in 2006 by The Church Report. If you measure him by all of this… he is successful indeed.
If you measure him by popular appeal, you would count him as a very successful pastor. His personality is outstanding. He literally oozes charisma. People come from miles around to hear him preach, and they’re willing to show up hours early to get the best seats in the house. He has also been called “America’s favorite pastor.” . If you measure him by all of this… he is successful indeed.
But his message… well… that is another story. His message is not necessarily a bad one… but it really isn’t a good one either. It is a message of prosperity and goodness. His message is God wants to bless you. “God is a loving, forgiving God who will reward you with health, wealth, and happiness.” I particularly like the one sermon when he told us “God wants you to have a bigger TV!” I could get behind that.
He loves the bible texts that show what a loving God we have… however he avoids all the bible texts that are difficult, hard, or show any signs of struggle within the text. He is the first to admit that he doesn’t have any biblical or theological training… and likens himself to more of a life coach than a theologian. His narthex… or stage as he calls it… does not have a pulpit… it has a podium. There is not a single Cross anywhere to be found within the church… it has a spinning globe instead. When he is asked about sin and our need for Jesus… he goes back to our need for God, and that his message is one of hope… and that he doesn’t want to beat people down with talk about sin or depravity.
And so his church grows and grows, as he continues to preach the message that God wants us all to drive Ferraris… and completely leaves out the message of Jesus Christ. If you measure him by all of this… do you still consider him a success?
Our scripture text today is dealing with a lot of the same issues. It comes from Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church. As you may remember from sermons past… Corinth was the equivalent of our modern day Las Vegas. What happens in Corinth… stays in Corinth. Well… the church in Corinth was fighting over which leader would be the best… most charismatic… most dynamic… most church growing leader they could follow. Basically, they were looking for a leader much like we just heard about… they were looking for “The Most Influential Christian in Rome Year 55.”
Lets review what Paul wrote in verse 11:
“My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 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.”
Some believed that Paul would make the best leader. Just look at his outreach to the Gentiles, his new way of thinking, his modern approach to ministry! His innovative approach was sure to bring young families into the fold! He’s the kind of guy they needed to get behind!
Others believed that Apollos should be their guy. Apollos was the preacher with the silver tongue from the big city of Alexandria. His eloquent and learned preaching style had won several over to his following… surely he would do the same for their church. He’s the kind of guy they needed to get behind!
Still others fell behind Cephas. Cephas was the Apostle Peter’s Aramaic name. Peter was well known for his conservative and traditional stance on religious matters. He would surely bring stability and growth to times of such uncertainty. He’s the kind of guy they needed to get behind!
And so the church of Corinth argued amongst themselves… asking the question “Who should we follow?” Should we follow Paul… with his new ways of thinking? Should we follow Appollos for his mass appeal? Or should we follow Peter for his strong traditional stance? Who’s it gonna be? We need the most dynamic leader!
Let’s pick Paul up again in verse 13 to hear his advice:
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 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.
Paul sits the Church of Corinth down and says “What’s going on here?” Literally Paul says… “I know I haven’t been there in a while… but did someone divide Christ up into little portions and hand them out to everybody since the last time I was there? NO? Well then what are you all talking about here? I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas. What are you thinking? Are we the ones who died to bring you salvation? Were you baptized in the name of the Father, the Paul, and the Holy Ghost? No, of course not!”
Paul says, “Look… you wanna know who the true leader of the church is? It is not me, nor Apollos, not even the Apostle Peter… none of us has any power for salvation… only our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has that… and it is HE that is the true leader of the church. Any authority I have is not because I am a brilliant speaker or a charismatic leader… my authority comes because I preach the cross… and that is where the real power lies.”
And so the church of Corinth had some very hard words to hear from Paul. In many ways… they had stopped following the principles of Jesus Christ and were subscribing to the principles of popular personalities. They were going to the Church of Paul, the Church of Apollos, the church of Cephas… and they squabbled over which was the right church… which was the true church.
And Paul calls them out… “You have forgotten about what is important. We are members of the Church of Jesus. In this church we are supposed to worship God… not worship whatever personality we find suits us the best. If we really believe the church is the body of Christ… and if we really believe the body can not be separated… then we need to remember which church we are a part of, that all of you may agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.”
It is no great leap of the imagination to hear these words as if they were addressed to our church, as if they were addressed to our time. We are no less riddled by conflict than the church in Corinth. We may not have the Church of Paul, the Church of Appollos, or the Church of Cephas… but we do have the Church of Luther, the Church of Calvin, and the Church of Wesley. Paul’s words are still the same… even though we bicker… even though we disagree… even though we subscribe to different theologies… we are still one in Christ, and the single most important thing for us all to remember is the importance of preaching Christ.
Built into these distinctions is also a warning for us not to become a cult of personality… we’re not suppose to shop for churches to find Pastors we like… yet many of us have. Many of us have skipped church when the pastor goes on vacation… and it’s not suppose to be like that either. Some stop going to church altogether because they dislike the pastor that has been called to their church… Paul’s message applies to us still. It is not about the pastor… it is about the message… and the message is Christ.
You see… the very simple truth that Paul was getting at is that no matter who you put in the pulpit… that person has absolutely no authority or power outside of the power of Jesus on the Cross. Sure, you can get some handsome… charismatic individual in the pulpit… sure you can get large numbers of people to follow them… but if their message is a watered down version of the truth of the Cross… than is it worth anything at all?
As a church, we need to be a church of Jesus. As we work together… as we worship together… as we reach out together… the unifying center should be the power of Jesus Christ and the Cross. We should come to worship… every single Sunday because of what Christ has done for us… not because of who is in the pulpit. When we make decisions… we should always seek the direction our true leader is calling us to go. Whenever we do anything, it should be weighed in the light of what Jesus would have us do. Then and only then can we truly say that we follow Jesus. And isn’t that what being a Christian is all about?
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
