FREEDOM From DIVISION-III—1Corinthians 1:12-13(:10-17)
formerly: 'The INDIGNITY Of DIVISION'
Attention:
Whole, raw cow milk, if collected from the cow & left undisturbed for 24hrs., will separate into cream & ‘skim’ milk.
So in order to avoid the natural separation, all the ‘whole milk’ you buy in the store must be ‘Homogenized.’
Homogenization mechanically mixes the cream & milk so that they remain evenly combined over time.
First the cream is separated. Then all the ‘fat droplets’ that are a natural part of the cream are injected back into the milk suspension at high-speed, so that the cream & milk will remain together/emulsified rather than separate.
Division or separation in ‘packaged whole milk’ is to be avoided. Otherwise milk would not taste the same, or respond like we would expect in cooking applications.
Likewise, division devastates any church’s potential success, as well as any ministry’s potential for success!
And So, FREEDOM from division, frees up any church/ministry for success!
Need:
God’s people must RECOGNIZE divisive behaviors in themselves & others. God calls us to SURRENDER those behaviors to His power, thru the Holy Spirit, Who lives within us.
“Indignity”—A state of being unworthy of honor or respect(in relation to godly matters).
The Corinthian church was afflicted/troubled by the indignity of internal division.
And the apostle Paul urged the Corinthian church to distance themselves from that indignity.
Successful ministry is undermined thru internal division.
?What can free or distance us from division?
And...?How can we be free from that indignity?
3 measures of freedom from division.
So far we’ve found that...
1. Freedom from division thrives in Christian...
UNITY(:10-12)
Today we’ll find that...
2—Freedom from division ALSO thrives in a United Christian...
MINDSET(:12-13)
Explanation:(:12-13)
:12—“Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.”
Obviously, there were those who had been led to the Lord, or instructed to conviction about their beliefs, by certain ministers of the Gospel(including Christ Himself). And because of that, certain of the Corinthians clung to those particular (favorite)ministers with arrogant loyalty. They used the name(of their ‘hero’) as a “slogan of identity” with “implied superiority.”—Terms borrowed from John MacArthur
Some of these were even so arrogant as to place “Christ” in juxtaposition to His own apostles! Touting Christ for use as one’s partisan leanings is a real threat to the Gospel.
•No doubt many today hold to Christ as a political shoe-in to a specific body of behavior &/or belief. In similar fashion as those did at Corinth, there are many in today’s churches who have a ‘loyalty to Jesus’ that is born from a decidedly fleshly spirit.
There is nothing wrong with having a special affection for the one who led you to Christ, OR for the ones who for years guided you toward greater righteousness, OR for the ones who counseled you during a dark time of personal struggle, OR for the ones who comforted you in your greatest need...
BUT if you white-wash & elevate those people as notable ‘heroes’ of the faith, so that all others are excluded from ministering to you, then you have used your own hand to fail God’s desire! And in so doing, you actually limit & undercut the ministry you have received.
•Aligning yourself with specific ministerial ‘parties’—like politicians do their constituencies—is not the fault of the ministers themselves(“Paul”, “Apollos”, “Cephas”, “or” “Christ”). But, anyone who limits God’s Gospel to individual ‘party-line’ thinking, obviously makes him/herself answerable to God for misapplying the potnetial ministry influence they have been granted by God.
•To single-out & elevate certain teachers to the exclusion of others, is to manipulate God’s truth & reduce it a matter of fleshly ability & selfish pride.
Yes, there are preachers & teachers who are wonderfully gifted in many areas. But we must make sure that hose we follow & are influenced by, are teaching, preaching & living-out the Good News of Jesus Christ, & not simply building a following for themselves.
Let’s not confuse the Gospel, the truth, & the testimony of God concerning His plan for mankind!
Keep in mind that “Paul”, “Apollos”, “Cephas”, & “Christ” are all formative in their own ways, for the birth & sustainment of the Church.
To take any of these to the exclusion of another minister of the Gospel is to ‘throw out the baby with the bath water’ as it were.
•It would be akin to ourselves removing parts of the Bible, because they were written by someone we held a preferential distaste for. Or removing a portion of the Scripture because it calls attention to some subject that we don’t want to deal with.
2Pet. 3:14-18—“Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot & blameless; & consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation--as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught & unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace & knowledge of our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now & forever. Amen.”
1Cor. 3:4, 21—“For when one says, “I am of Paul,” & another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?”.....“Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours:”
Concerning “Paul”:
“Paul” was a prolific correspondence writer particularly among those churches that he helped establish & encourage as well as among his co-workers. He is known for his great focus, boldness, perseverance, & tightly-reasoned defense of the Gospel. “Paul”(& all those mentioned in verse :12) lived in a day when there were No motorized vehicles, No electricity, No internet, No computers, No telephones, No email, texting or video of any kind.
At one point, “Paul” himself ministered continuously in Corinth for 1½ years(Acts 18:11). There he came into contact with Aquila & Priscilla, who were themselves great defenders of the faith(Acts 18:1-3). “Paul” stayed with them & worked with Aquila because Aquila was a tentmaker by trade, as was “Paul.”
•Crispus(:14) was the ruler of the synagogue(of the Jews) in Corinth, whom “Paul” himself led to the Lord & baptized(Acts 18:7-8 & 1Cor. 1:14).
Wordwise—“Paul” would become, the author of over 25% of the New Testament!
Book-wise—“Paul” wrote 13(?14?) books of the 27 total books of the NT. Making him the writer of nearly 50% of the NT.
There were some who said that while Paul’s ‘letters’ were forceful & intimidating, he was nonetheless, unimpressive in-person.
2Cor. 10:8-12—“For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority[‘apostolic’], which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed-- lest I seem to terrify you by letters. “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present. For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”
Concerning “Apollos”:
Acts 18:24-19:1—“Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent[learned/orator/skilled in literature & history] man & mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; & being fervent in spirit, he spoke & taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John. So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila & Priscilla heard him, they took him aside & explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; & when he arrived, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus...”
1Cor. 3:5-6—“Who then is Paul, & who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”
1Cor. 16:12—“Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brethren, but he was quite unwilling to come at this time; however, he will come when he has a convenient time.”
“Apollos”—Apollwv—Apollos = “given by Apollo.” “Apollo” was the pagan god of archery, music, dance, truth, prophecy, healing, diseases, sun, light, & poetry, among other things.
Concerning “Cephas”:
“Cephas”—Khfav—Aramaic ‘Cephas’ = “Stone.” The same is Petrov in Greek, & ‘Peter’ in English.
He was one of the 12 original disciples. Peter became a leading figure in the Church. Peter is the first to preach in Antioch after the arrival of the Holy Spirit. He was a part of the Jerusalem Council after Paul’s First Missionary Journey. Peter may have even ministered in Corinth. It is believed that Peter was martyred in Rome.
When “Paul” himself withstood Peter’s hypocrisy at Antioch(Gal. 2:11-16), some at Corinth, getting wind of such, would have no doubt have written off Peter’s ministry completely. Though others would have elevated Peter due to his humility & repentance.
Gal. 2:11-16—“Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I[Paul] withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew & separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles & not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?” “We who are Jews by nature, & not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ & not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”
Concerning “Christ”:
“Christ” is the Anointed One of God, & is thus, Savior & Lord of humanity.
Those in Corinth who formed ‘factions’ around their allegiance to Christ, are actually out of step with Christ. That is because those evidently held to an ‘outward name’ of Jesus, but only as a matter of self-centered pride, prestige, & misguided piety, in order to accumulate praise for themselves rather than actually surrender to Christ....
Otherwise, how could anyone relegate “Christ” to the status of His own undershepherds/ disciples?
“Paul” wants his audience at Corinth to be shocked. So that those who follow certain “of” cliques, will realize how evil, mischievous, & blasphemous such allegiances really are.
2Cor 4:5—“For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, & ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake.”
:13—“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
* “Paul” now asks the church a series of probing questions. These questions will make it plain that to choose, separate, & divide one’s Christian allegiances is utterly foolish, because it actually “divides” “Christ” Himself! We dare not ‘hold to a part of “Christ”’ to the exclusion of His wholeness!
:13—“Is Christ divided?...”
“Divided”:
First of all, the Church exists as the tangible expression of the ‘Body of “Christ”’ in the world. So it is ludicrous to think that “Christ’s” Body should be anything less than whole! So to answer “Paul’s” question: “Christ” is indeed NOT “divided”!
Eph. 1:22-23—“And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”
1Cor. 12:12, 27—“For as the body is one & has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.”.....“Now you are the body of Christ, & members individually.”
All the apostles are merely servants of “Christ.”
•So to elevate them above “Christ” is to remove a portion of the sacrificial atonement from “Christ” Jesus & to reduce the message of salvation in “Christ”(see below) to jibber-jabber.
•Division would obviously result in separating “Christ” into ‘camps’ that answer to subjective fleshly whims. That would take away the uniqueness & power of His sacrifice, & dilute by making it subject to personal preference, thus making both He & His Cross-work useless.
Eph. 1:7-10—“In Him[wholly/fully] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom & prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven & which are on earth--in Him.”
Col. 1:27—“To them[the saints] God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you[plural], the hope of glory.”
“The hope of glory” does not come to anyone by “Paul” in you, OR “Apollos” in you, OR by “Cephas” in you!
:13—“...Was Paul crucified for you?...
“Crucified”:
Secondly, & for those aligning themselves exclusively with “Paul”, neither he nor any other apostle has ever been “crucified” for our sakes or for the sake of the world. To hold to such nonsense completely eviscerates the Good News of salvation by the blood of “Christ” alone.
“Crucifixion” was a capital punishment practiced by the Romans.
BUT, “Christ” “Jesus’” “crucifixion” was a singular & unique event. In that event, “Jesus” willingly laid down His own Divine life(as He was God in flesh), as the one-& only effective substitution for you...for your very life.
•Neither you, nor anyone else, can thru their own life & blood, ever make such a Substitutionary payment, OR Bring about your own or another’s redemption, OR Offer yourself or others deliverance from the power of sin!
:13—“...Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
“Baptized”:
Thirdly, again directed toward those aligning themselves exclusively with “Paul”, he asks them to seriously consider the implications of their faith. What would it mean for the believers IF they had indeed been “baptized in the name of Paul.”
•What would the power of “baptism” in “in the name of Paul” accomplish? And what would it proclaim?...
•In such a case, the so-called ‘power’ would be lodged in a mere man, namely “Paul.” And as a result, any “baptism” undertaken in “Paul’s” “name” would be completely useless as a testimony to/of the certainty of eternal salvation!
•“Paul” was not “crucified” for anyone! “Paul” couldn’t even save himself, much less bring about the salvation of others! “Paul” needed Jesus’ perfectly holy, divine, substitutionary, atoning sacrifice to redeem his life from hell. So why would anyone think “Paul’s”, “Apollo’s”, or “Cephas’” life would suffice for the same thing!?!
*All three false conclusions—A “Divided” “Christ”, Someone other than “Christ” being “Crucified” for them, & being “Baptized in the name of” someone other than “Christ”— are absolutely implied in the rivalries manifested within the Corinthian Church!
Argumentation:
Rom. 12:16— “...Do not be wise in your own estimation.”
Prov. 3:5-7— “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, & do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD & turn away from evil.”
Jer. 9:23-24—“Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands & knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, & righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.”
Rom. 12:1-3—“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good & acceptable & perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”
Illustration:
WWII—Men & women gladly, cheerfully, & responsibly joined the military in order to personally seek the demise of Nazi Idealists. The overall national MINDSET was United! Unified MINDSET
•CONTRASTED WITH:•
Vietnam—A general consensus was that the war was unfounded & unwinnable. Poor governmental decisions made throughout the course of the war, caused many a young man to become so distraught, that they avoided ‘the draft’(conscripted service) by surrendering their American citizenship. They became citizens of Canada & Mexico, & other places. They renounced their citizenship here, so as not to sacrifice their lives on the altar of inept military & governmental missteps that viewed their lives a cheaply expendable! The overall national MINDSET was skewed & divided! Unified MINDSET
Application:
?Is YOUR MINDSET Unified with the Church, to the extent that you are a promoter of ‘Freedom From Division’?
?Does ‘Freedom From Division’ characterize the Body of Christ called Salem Baptist Church?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Homogenized milk is intentionally Undivided!
Action:
Freedom from division thrives in A United Christian...
2. MINDSET(:12-13)
1. UNITY(:10-12)
Pt#2 only! Presented 07/21/2024am to:
Salem Baptist Church
1618 Salem Rd.
Bennettsville, SC 29512
Pt# 1-3 Presented 08/04/2013am to:
FBC C’belle
206 Storrs Ave SE
Carrabelle, FL 32322
