RYAN: Oh, don't give me that, Andy! Anyone with half a brain knows that I am right.
ANDY: Are you saying I am stupid? Listen, Ryan, you better take back what you said or I'll throw you halfway across the room!
RYAN: Yeah? You and what army?
ANDY: Don't get me mad, Ryan. These hands are registered as lethal weapons.
PASTOR DAN: Wait a minute. What is going on here? What are you guys arguing about?
CHRIS: These guys are having this ridiculous argument. Ryan claims that Daryl Norenberg is the best Sunday School teacher we have at First Baptist, and Andy claims that John Galliford is the best. I can't believe they would argue over anything so silly! I thought everyone knew I was the best Sunday School teacher in this church.
RYAN: Give me a break, Chris. Daryl has such deep insights into the Bible. You and the other teachers are mental midgets compared to him!
ANDY: Get real, Ryan. John Galliford is a Doctor, like in Ph.D. He is brilliant. His brain is probably bigger than your whole head.
RYAN: (Grabbing Andy by the shoulders.) You are really starting to make me mad, Andy!
PASTOR DAN: (Breaking up Ryan and Andy.) OK, you guys just calm down. John and Daryl are both excellent teachers, and so is Chris. I am just thankful we have such great Sunday School teachers for the adult classes in this church. You guys should be grateful for that too.
RYAN: Well, I am just getting tired of this whole thing. I am going to call Daryl and see if we can start our own church. We will call ourselves the Norenbergites.
ANDY: Well, I am going to go talk to Dr. Galliford. Maybe we will start our own church and be the Gallifordists.
CHRIS: Hey, I might as well start my own church too. I think I will call it the, ah, the ah, Chris-tian church. That's it, Christian church. Pretty original, eh?
PASTOR DAN: Just go sit down, guys. Maybe after the sermon this morning you will realize how arguing about who is the best teacher really does not honor the Lord.
Friends, fortunately for us, that conversation is total fiction. As far as I know, there are no arguments in this church about who is the best Sunday School teacher. However, there have been some bitter conflicts in churches when one group decides to follow one leader, while another group is loyal to someone else. A few years ago a Detroit newspaper reported how police had been called to break up a fight that had broken out in a Baptist church in that city. A conflict existed over which of two individuals was to be the pastor of the congregation. So, that Sunday both men had gone up front and were preaching at the same time, trying to out shout each other. That is when the fist fight broke out between the supporters of each pastor, which did not end until the police arrived.
Today, as we continue our study of the Book of 1 Corinthians, we will find that divisions plagued the 1st Century church as well. Our text is 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. Now, we touched on some issues concerning church unity a few weeks ago in our series on the purpose of this church. But, this is such an important topic. As Jesus said, "A house divided against itself will not stand." And neither will a church. Even if a church division is much less extreme than what happened in Detroit or in our skit, it still dishonors the Lord and can do great damage to people's souls. Let's pause and pray that God would speak to our minds and hearts today and help us avoid these tragic divisions.
Let's take a look at the situation in the Corinthian church. Last week, in the first part of this chapter, we saw that Paul was thankful for how God's grace was making a difference in the lives of the Christians at Corinth. Yet, it is a church full of problems. The first one he addresses, perhaps because he saw it as the most urgent, or maybe because he saw it compounding all their other problems, was the issue of factions or divisions within the church. 1:11 My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. This is the only reference in the New Testament to Chloe. She was a Christian woman who had contact with both Paul and the Corinthians. It has been suggested she was a business woman in Ephesus, with an office in Corinth. Anyway, some of her family members and employees told Paul about the problems in the Corinthian church. Paul continues in 1:12 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." The Christians in Corinth are split into four factions. We cannot be sure what differences in beliefs or practices divided them, but they each identified themselves with a particular individual.
Some claimed to be followers of Paul. Remember he had come to Corinth about three years earlier and had spent eighteen months there, getting the church started. Paul was the spiritual father to many of the people there, and it is no surprise that some folks would consider themselves his disciples. I suspect that when others in the Corinthian church were questioning instructions Paul had given, these folks came to his defense. A second group called themselves followers of Apollos. He was a very gifted and eloquent teacher from Alexandria, which is in Egypt. He had spent some time in Corinth (Acts 19:1), but apparently now was in Ephesus with Paul. Apollos was probably the best speaker around, and his followers may have been attracted by that. A third group claimed to be disciples of Peter (Cephas is his Aramaic name). We don't have any record of Peter visiting Corinth, but because he was the primary spokesman for the early church, it is no surprise that he had a following there. Suggestions that this group liked Peter's Jewish emphasis, or that they saw him as the rock on which the church should stand, are just speculation. A fourth group simply called themselves followers of Christ. It is hard to know what they meant by that label. They may have had some particular beliefs about Christ which distinguished them from others in the church, or they may have rightly understood that it was wrong for Christians to put any other personality ahead of Jesus Christ. However, we get the impression they were looking down on the others in the church, thinking that they were the only truly spiritual members of the congregation. Four different factions in a church which was probably quite a bit smaller than ours. Remember that Paul, Apollos, Peter or Christ were certainly not encouraging anyone to be part of their faction. This idea came from the folks in the church. Some have suggested that these factions were behind all of the controversies in the Corinthian church. For example, maybe Paul's group spoke in tongues, while Peter's did not, or that those who called themselves followers of Christ had very high standards for sexual morality while those who followed Apollos did not. That is probably not the case, but the one thing Paul does tell us is that there were quarrels, plural, between these groups. When folks arrived to a church meeting on Sunday morning in Corinth, people were not glad to see everyone else in the room. It was a divided congregation.
What is Paul's response to what is happening? #1) He appeals to the unity that the church should have in Jesus Christ. 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. I am sure Paul knows that "being perfectly united in mind and thought" is a little beyond where the Corinthians are going to be any time soon, but that is the goal. In response to the factions, one which bore his name, he says, 1:13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? The implied answer to each of these questions is "no."
Each individual who has experienced God's grace and by faith has received the gift of salvation is a Christian. He or she is not a Paulist or an Apollosite, but a Christian. Paul wants all the members of the church in Corinth, no matter how young or old they are; no matter what their ethnic background is; no matter how well-educated they happen to be; no matter if they are wealthy or poor, he wants everyone in the church to consider themselves and each other as disciples of Jesus Christ. As he will elaborate upon later in Chapter 12, they are part of one family and make one body that must not be divided.
Paul notes that one of the signs of Christian unity is that we have all been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. I don't think Paul was insisting that Christians be baptized in the name of Jesus only. He would be very comfortable with saying Father, Son and Holy Spirit as we do here. His point is simply that Christians are not baptized in the name of Paul, Peter, Apollos, or any other apostle, pastor or Sunday School teacher. Listen to what he says, 1:14-17 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 Stephanas; 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. Now, Paul's point is simply that he is glad he had not baptized more than a handful of folks at Corinth because of the tendency people might have to put the person who baptized them on a pedestal. That is certainly a valid point. But these verses also reveal some things about Paul's view of baptism. Twenty-five years ago, right after I graduated from high school, I read a book by a man named Cornelius Stam who led what was known as the Berean Society in Chicago. He believed these verses meant that Paul regretted baptizing anyone and that baptism really was not something Christians should practice. That is really stretching the meaning of the text. Throughout the New Testament, including here in these verses, the assumption is that Christians will be baptized. I think if Paul ran into a believer in Jesus who had not been baptized, he would be puzzled and would ask, "Well, how come you have not been?" The distinction Paul makes in Verse 17 between baptizing people and preaching the gospel cannot be ignored, however. 1:17a For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel -- There are lots of folks who believe baptism is essential for salvation; that you cannot be saved, cannot go to heaven, unless you are baptized. Some of my friends think this should happen when one is a little baby, while others think it should happen after one makes a profession of faith in Jesus, but they agree that you cannot be a Christian unless you are baptized. When I read these verses, I can't imagine that Paul agreed with that. I think he believed, like I do, that one becomes a Christian, is saved, by believing the gospel and embracing Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Once that happens, this person ought to be baptized, but the faith in Jesus Christ means he or she is already a Christian. (Incidentally, we are planning to have baptism April 16, Palm Sunday, and if you are a believer in Jesus Christ and have not been baptized since you professed your faith in Him, I encourage you to talk to me or Pastor Chris about getting baptized. We believe it is something every Christian should do, but we don't believe it is what makes someone a Christian.) OK, that was kind of a side issue, but an important one. Let's now take a look at some of the lessons for us in our text today.
First, I think the Lord is reminding us that we should be followers of Christ, not of human leaders. Yes, we should be willing to learn from pastors, Sunday School teachers and other Christian leaders, but we need to remember they are only human. Even though they have some great insights into biblical truth, human teachers can sometimes be wrong. Francis Schaeffer was a great Christian missionary and writer who died in 1984. While I was in college and seminary, I read many of his books and went to hear him speak on numerous occasions. No human being has had a greater influence on my Christian life than Schaeffer, and I'm so thankful for that. Yet, for a few years I am afraid I may have been more of a Schaefferite, than a Christian. When I formed an opinion on an issue, sometimes what Schaeffer said was more important than what the Bible said. Fortunately, the Bible and Schaeffer almost always said the same thing. But, I'm glad I realized that Jesus, not Francis Schaeffer, was my Lord, and that He spoke directly through the Bible, not through books like "How Then Shall We Live?". If I would not have realized that, I would be a Presbyterian today, like Schaeffer, not a Baptist. Yes, on average, Presbyterian pastors get paid more, but I'd still rather be a Baptist. Today, I see some Christians making the same mistake that I did. I know folks who seem more concerned about following their pastor than they do about following Jesus. No one in this church, but there are folks like that. I also have seen people treat a Christian teacher like Pat Robertson, Bill Gothard, Jack Van Impe or even Billy Graham as their Lord. They start to forget that the phrase "Bill Gothard says" doesn't carry nearly as much weight as the phrase "the Bible says." Just because someone says something on television or just because we read it in a book, doesn't mean it is true. The Bible says we are to honor those who teach the Word of God, but we must never forget that they can sometimes be wrong.
Another reason to avoid following an individual Christian is that each leader is capable of falling into sin. When Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart got involved in sexual sin a number of years ago, there were thousands of people who quit going to church and gave up on Christianity because they were so disappointed at the moral failure of one or both of these men. Eight years ago the largest evangelical church in Duluth was Ecclesia. Over 500 people flocked there each Sunday morning to hear the dynamic preaching of Pastor Doug Dotson. Then it was discovered he was having an affair, a homosexual affair, and within a couple of weeks, less than 100 people were attending the church. I am not sure the church even exists today. It seemed that a lot of folks were maybe following Doug Dotson, not Jesus Christ, and when Doug fell away from the Lord, many of them did as well. Friends, by the grace of God I intend to be faithful to my wife until death does us part. But, the Lord forbid, if I ever had an affair, and I resigned as your pastor, I hope your faith in Christ would be strong. Oh, your faith in me would be shattered. But, I am not your Lord, Jesus is. I pray that I will never let you down, but unfortunately I cannot guarantee you that I won't. However, I can guarantee that Jesus will never let you down. He, and He alone, is worthy of your total trust.
Part of the lesson here is that leaders need to encourage others to follow Christ. Few pastors or teachers encourage people to become their disciples, but it still happens far too often. Those of us who are pastors and teachers need to make a conscious effort to encourage those we lead to be first and foremost followers of Jesus Christ. Maybe as a lay person you have led some friends or family members to the Lord, or maybe you have had a significant impact in someone's spiritual life. That's great. But make sure you discourage those who may feel indebted to you spiritually from putting you on a pedestal. Oh, it is fun to be up there sometimes, but we don't belong there. We need to encourage them not to just believe everything we tell them and to accept all our opinions as fact, but instead, we need to encourage them to be like the Bereans in Acts 17, and to search the Scriptures, study God's Word, and see if the things we say are true. Folks, we need to help friends and family members to be not our followers, but followers of Jesus.
The second lesson is that we need to avoid factions and divisions in the church. For one thing, this means that we should avoid denominationalism. We should not get so tied to a particular denomination that we start thinking that everyone who is part of another group is either not really a Christian, or is just not as committed to Christ as we are. Friends, denominations are not necessarily wrong, but we need to realize God is certainly not bound by them. George Whitefield understood that. Whitefield was a great open-air evangelist in England and the American colonies in the 1700s. He remained a member of the Church of England throughout his life, yet he counted many Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and even Baptists as his close friends. He was also a strong Calvinist, and one day someone asked, "Mr. Whitefield, do you think we will see John Wesley in heaven?" Wesley, of course, was the founder of the Methodist Church and an Arminian, a vocal opponent of Whitefield's theology. He responded, "No, I doubt that we will see Mr. Wesley in heaven. He will be so close to the throne of God that we will be fortunate to even catch a glimpse of his back." Whitefield understood that the differences that divide Christians down here will not divide us in heaven. John Wesley understood that too. Someone asked him, "Rev. Wesley, will there by any Presbyterians in heaven?" Wesley replied, "No, there won't be. There won't be any Baptists, Lutherans, Catholics, or Episcopalians in heaven either. In fact, there won't be any Methodists. There will only be Christians in heaven." We should make sure our loyalty to a denomination or a particular church never comes before our loyalty to Christ.
We also need to carefully avoid factions within our own church. We don't have any divisions over Sunday School teachers, but we have our differences. Some like one type of music, and some like another kind. Some think the church should be more outspoken on political issues, while others think it should not touch politics with a ten-foot pole. Some think Christians should home-school their children, while others believe we should stay in public schools as salt and light. Some prefer to use the King James Version of the Bible, while others like the New International Version. We have differences of opinion, but we should not have divisions; we should not have factions. It is fine that we disagree on an issue, but we should not think of those who agree with us as "our side," and those who disagree with us as "the other side." I want you to look around the room and pick out a person who you are pretty sure disagrees with you on an issue I just mentioned, or another issue you think is important. Pick someone besides your spouse. How do you view that person? Is that a brother or sister you disagree with on a particular issue? Or is that someone you see as an opponent, someone who is against you? Friends, if we are believers in Jesus Christ, we are brothers and sisters. We are part of the same family. We are on the same side. We must not forget that.
So, what do we need to do today? First of all, we need to repent of any divisive attitudes that we have been harboring. If we have been treating another believer in Christ as someone on the other side, we need to confess that as sin to God. We need to ask His forgiveness. Then if there is an opportunity, we need to go to that other person and apologize for the attitude we have had. Oh, that is not an easy thing to do. I suspect many of us, including myself, would like to let this suggestion go in one ear and out the other. But, I would be delighted that if this week even one person would go and be reconciled to another Christian who they had treated as an opponent. That would be honoring the Lord, and it would be very healthy for this church. We need to get rid of any factions and prevent any factions from developing, by repenting of any divisive attitudes we might have.
Secondly, we need to work on being humble. Divisive attitudes are rooted in pride. When we start thinking we are better, smarter or more spiritual than the folks around us, we are heading for trouble. Friends, being humble is not easy. As Leonard Bernstein said, "Playing second fiddle is the hardest thing anyone can do." But we need to work on cultivating humility in our lives. Maybe you will find it helpful to ponder something Martin Luther once said. I just read this yesterday. "God created the world out of nothing, and as long as we realize we are nothing, God can make something out of us." And, friends, as long as we remember that without Christ we can do nothing, as long as we believe the words of the song which says, "All that I am and ever hope to be, I owe it all to Thee, Lord," we will not become proud, we will not have a divisive attitude, and we will not cause divisions in the church of Jesus Christ. Especially in these days, Christians need to remember what Ben Franklin told the Continental Congress, "We must all hang together, or we shall surely all hang separately." Friends...united we stand, divided we fall.
Go to www.life.1stbaptist.org/sermons.htm for Pastor Dan's full text Bible based sermon site
