A Divided Church; An Oxymoron
1 Corinthians 1: 10-17 (NLT)
Intro: Who knows what an oxymoron is?
.Webster’s defines it this way:
. “a combination of contradictory or incongruous words”
. Phrases that contradict each other.
. Here are some of my favorites.
. Boneless Ribs, Fresh Frozen, Jumbo Shrimp, Small Fortune, Living Dead, Living Dead, Pretty Ugly, Working Vacation, Devout Atheist, and my favorite Artificial Grass.
. We are back in 1 Corinthians this morning and we see an oxymoron. A divided church.
. The reason this is an oxymoron is that once a church becomes divided, it ceases to be a church. The two words together are a contradiction.
. All it becomes is a group of people who have lost their way and their mission as a church.
. Division and fighting and backbiting within a church demoralize and discourage and deaden the effectiveness of the church.
. Not only does this destroy the church, it destroys the effectiveness of the Church. It undermines the testimony of the church.
. Quarrels are part of life aren’t they? From the time we are children and someone takes something away from us, we quarrel.
.Children fight and quarrel. You would think that we would grow out of that as we age and mature. Sadly most don’t.
. The reason we fight is always for the same reason, our sinful selfish nature. The “me” Syndrome. It’s all about me and what I want and need.
. Christians and the church are not immune to these problems either.
. There was a man who had been marooned on a deserted island for twenty years. One day a ship finally came by and he was waving and jumping up and down from the beach and they saw him. When they came ashore they looked around and saw all kinds of buildings and structures. The asked him what all of the bldg’s were for and he took them for a tour of his Island.
. They walked down the street he had made and he showed them hid house and his grocery store, his community center where he went for entertainment. As they walked down the street, he was proudest of his church he had built for worship on Sunday morning. As they looked around, they saw another bldg that he had not mentioned and they asked him what that bldg was. He said that the bldg was the church he used to attend before he got mad and changed churches.
. Christians, and the church, are not immune to quarreling.
.In his commentary on our passage this morning, John McArthur writes this:
. “Quarreling is a reality in the church because selfishness and other sins are realities in the church. Because of quarreling the Father is dishonored, the Son is disgraced, His people are demoralized and discredited, and the world is turned off and confirmed in unbelief.”
. The Corinthian church had many problems and issues as we will see as we work our way through the epistle.
. The first issue that Paul addresses first is the issue of quarreling and division within the church.
. He realized that as long as there was not unity within the church, nothing else could be accomplished.
. He realized that a divided church was in fact an oxymoron.
. Lets read our scripture.
10I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
11For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters.
12Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.”
13Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!
14I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15for now no one can say they were baptized in my name.
16(Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.)
17For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.
. In his correction, Paul is telling the Corinthian believers and us what a united church should look like.
. The first thing we see here is that there can be:
. NO DIVISIONS
. Look at verse 10 again.
. 10I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.
. Paul tells them that there can be no divisions if you are to be the church that God intends you to be.
. You must be united in thought and purpose.
. You must understand what your purpose is.
. The church is not a social club.
. The church is not a community action organization.
. The church is not just a building that you meet in on Sunday morning.
. Paul says that they, we, are the church.
. There can be no divisions among us.
. There’s a story about a king of Sparta in ancient Greece who boasted to a visiting monarch about the mighty walls of Sparta. But the guest looked around and didn’t see any walls, and finally he said to his host, "I’d like to see those walls. Show them to me!" The Spartan ruler pointed with great satisfaction to some disciplined and well-trained troops, part of Sparta’s mighty army, and exclaimed, "There they are! Those are the walls of Sparta!"
Just as each Spartan soldier was viewed by the king as a brick in his mighty wall, so we are viewed by God as the stones that build the church.
. The church is not the building that we choose to meet in for worship.
. The church, is the people who make up the body of believers.
. The believers are the walls of the church and when divisions occur, the church starts to crack and crumble.
. We become divided when we forget who’s we are.
. Once we surrender our life to Jesus Christ, you no longer belong to yourself. You belong to Christ. When we forget who we actually belong to, divisions will come.
. We are divided when we not only forget who’s we are but we forget who we are.
. We forget that we are representatives of God here on this third rock from the Sun. God is supposed to be seen through us here on Earth. When we forget that we become divided.
. Paul writes that there can be no divisions; that we must be united in thought and purpose.
. While there can be no divisions, Paul addresses the fact that there can be:
. NO DIVIDERS
. Look at verses 11&12 again.
. 11For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters.
12Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.”
. Paul said that his friend Cloe had sent word that the church was becoming divided and these are the culprits.
. These are the people who are the dividers in the church.
. We don’t know if there were doctrinal issues or why these people were forming their cliques.
. One group was saying that they followed Paul, another was saying they followed Apollos while another was claiming to follow Peter.
. Does anyone see a pattern here.
. They were following a man and his teaching instead of following God.
. I remember back several years ago when the search team asked me if I had any pet peeves. At the time I believe I told them no. I don’t know if any of you have ever been in a job interview with 5 interviewers but I can tell you it is stressful and sometimes you think back on and wish you had answered in a different way.
. I should have told them yes, I do have at least one pet peeve. It really bothers me when a person identifies where they go to church by the pastors name.
. They say I go to so and so’s church or I attend where such and such is the pastor.
. I bite my tongue but I want to correct them and tell them that the church belongs to God, not the pastor or the deacons or the leadership team or any other man.
. The church belongs to God and any that want to follow the man instead of God are dividers.
. That is what Paul is admonishing them about, quit following a man and follow God.
.These people are dividers, not unifiers, and they need to stop.
. Then we see the group that is following only Christ.
. At first glance we would think that this is the group we want to be in wouldn’t we?
. Pastor you just said that we should follow God. That is true.
. Paul does not elaborate on this group but in context, they are part of the groups that are the dividers.
. Perhaps, they are like some today who have no use for the leadership model that God has instituted for the church.
. There are Christ only groups out there that only want to study and live by the 4 gospels. If Jesus didn’t say it then it is irrelevant.
. They can be some of the most aggressive dividers because they have no use or respect for the governing of the church as laid out in scripture.
. Through God’s word, we have been given examples of how the leadership of the church is to function. My guess is that this Christ only faction or clique had no respect for the leadership of the church.
. God places leaders within the church and as long as they are being true to scripture and following God’s prescribed way of leading the church, it is the responsibility of the church to follow these leaders.
. Paul is calling them and the other factions out as being dividers within the congregation at Corinth.
. This should also warn us to be on our guard and not become part of a clique that would divide the church.
. Instead, we are called to be unifiers not dividers.
. Dividers have no place in God’s church.
. We should not have divisions or dividers within the church but if the church is going to be a united church, Paul writes that we can also have:
. NO DISTRACTIONS
. Look at verse 13 again:
13Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!
. There was a movie out several years ago starring Kevin Costner as Robin Hood. The movie was titled “Prince of Thieves”. In one scene, Robin walks up to a young man taking aim at an archery target. Robin asks, "Can you shoot amid distractions?"
Just before the boy releases the string, Robin pokes his ear with the feathers of an arrow. The boy’s shot flies high by several feet.
After the laughter of those watching dies down, Maid Marian, standing behind the boy, asks Robin, "Can you?"
Robin Hood raises his bow and takes aim. Just as he releases the arrow, Maid Marian leans beside him and flirtatiously blows into his face. The arrow misses the target, glances off the tree behind it, and scarcely misses a bystander.
Distractions come in all types, and whether they are painful or pleasant, the result is the same: we miss God’s mark.
. Paul is saying to them that they miss their mark when they fuss and fight about things that will not affect the Kingdom of God.
. What color is the carpet, who moved the picture that has been in place for 150 years. Why is the piano on the other side of the stage.
. John the Baptist had Sunday School @ 9:45 and church @ 11:00 on Sunday and the world will end if we don’t do it the same way.
. Paul says that all of this is a distraction and we need to focus on what the church is supposed to be.
. In the last 4 verses, we see that the Church has:
. ONE DIRECTIVE
.Look at these verses again.
14I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15for now no one can say they were baptized in my name.
16(Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.)
17For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.
. Paul says that God did not send him to create a cult following.
. They were not to follow him or anyone else but God.
. His singular directive from God was to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.
. Paul tells them that if they go following a man or a religion, the cross will lose it’s power.
. The gospel will become like a cult and people will follow a human and not God through Jesus Christ.
.The church had then and today; one directive.
. Spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.
. That is what a united church looks like.
.Paul writes that a divided church is and oxymoron.
. Have you accepted the Good News of Jesus Christ this morning.
. Invitation
*** To my Christian brothers and sisters, thank you for taking the time to read this sermon. I ask that you take another second and score this for me. I am always open to feedback so that I can continue to grow in the proclamation of God’s word.
May God bless you as you continue to strive to walk worthy of His calling.
Sources: The Holy Bible, NLT
Illustration from sermon central
John Macarthur, New Testament Commentary, 1 Corinthians
