It is said when the British and French were fighting in Canada in the 1750s, Admiral Phipps, commander of the British fleet, was told to anchor outside Quebec. He was given orders to wait for the British land forces to arrive and then support them when they attacked the city. Phipps’ navy arrived early. As the admiral waited, he became annoyed by the statues of the saints that adorned the towers of a nearby cathedral. So he commanded his men to shoot at them with the ships’ cannons. No one knows how many rounds were fired or how many statues were knocked down, but when the land forces arrived and the signal was given to attack, the admiral was of no help. He had used up all his ammunition shooting at the “saints” (Our Daily Bread).
Too many Christians today are like Admiral Phipps. They are so occupied with attacking other saints that they are of no help --- only a hindrance --- to the cause of Christ.
TEXT: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17
The church in Corinth was a divided church. Was there any hope for them? Is there any hope for us?
PROPOSITION: Though division is a problem in every church, it can be corrected by refocusing on our Lord Jesus Christ.
I. DIVISION IS A PROBLEM IN EVERY CHURCH (vv. 10-12).
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 (v. 10).
The Greek word for “divisions” is found two more times in 1 Corinthians. These passages reveal the reasons why division will always be found in a church.
A. Because unbelievers will always be in a church.
“I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval” (11:18-19). Paul expects some disunity in the Corinthian church because he assumes that some of its professing Christians are not genuine. So there is a “necessary” disunity in a church because of the reality of false profession.
B. Because Christians will always struggle with pride.
“God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other” (12:24b-25). This passage teaches us that the opposite of division is having “equal concern for each other.” Why do we find it so difficult to have “equal concern for each other”? The answer is . . . pride. Disunity is always rooted in pride. Pride is a sin every Christian struggles with.
Augustine once said, “Should you ask me: What is the first thing in religion? I should reply: the first, second, and third things therein is humility” (Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, p. 456).
Application: I am not so naïve as to think that division is not a problem in our church.
If division is always going to be a problem, you might wonder, “Why even bother to seek perfect unity?” Paul was well aware of the barriers to church unity, but he still instructed the Corinthians, “Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace” (2 Cor. 13:11).
Pride was obviously at the root of the divisions in the Corinthian church. (Notice the word “I” in verse 12.)
My brothers, 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” (vv. 11-12).
Certain members of Chloe’s household had informed Paul of quarreling among the Corinthian Christians. We don’t know who these people were, but the Corinthians surely would have known.
Application: In naming his informers, Paul lays down an important principle. We should not pass on news about our fellow believers unless we are willing to be quoted in the matter. If this example were followed today, it would prevent most of the idle gossip that plagues churches today.
John’s Gospel helps us to better understand the nature of the Corinthians’ division and quarreling:
At these words the Jews were again divided. Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and raving mad. Why listen to him?”
But others said, “These are not the sayings of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:19-21).
Just as the Jews had divided opinions about Jesus, the Corinthians had divided opinions about their Christian leaders.
Paul had urged them in verse 10 to be “perfectly united in mind and thought.” The Greek word for “perfectly united” is the same word used in Mark 1:19 for the mending of fishing nets. The Corinthians needed to mend these divisions in their church by thinking the same thing about their leaders. So when Paul tells them to “agree with one another” in verse 10, he doesn’t expect them to be in total agreement about absolutely everything. Instead, he wants them to agree that it is foolish to quarrel about which Christian leader is the best.
1. Some of the Corinthians boasted, “I follow Paul.”
There were many in Corinth who were strongly attached to Paul. He writes in 4:15, “In Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.” He had been gone for several years now, but his memory lived on. Paul had many admirers in the church who were always harking back to “the good old days.”
Application: We must not long for the past; we must be occupied with the present.
2. Some of the Corinthians boasted, “I follow Apollos.”
Apollos followed Paul as leader of the Corinthian church. Acts 19:1 says, “While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus.” We learn from Acts 18:24 that Apollos was “a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures.”
Conflict between the admirers of Paul and Apollos seems to be the greatest cause for division in the church. Paul writes in 3:5-7,
“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe --- as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow.”
Application: I am not in competition with the former pastors of this church.
3. Some of the Corinthians boasted, “I follow Cephas.”
We are not sure if Peter ever visited Corinth. The Corinthians did know that he traveled with his wife (9:5), but that could have been common knowledge.
This idolizing of Christian leaders by the Corinthians was an understandable problem because, being Greeks, they were lovers of human wisdom. They regarded their philosophers as national heroes. Some of this spirit had crept into the Corinthian church.
Application: Today, Christians have the tendency of making celebrities out of well-known Christian personalities. We need not be careful not to idolize these people. They should point us to Christ, not to themselves.
4. Some of the Corinthians boasted, “I follow Christ.”
This fourth slogan is the most difficult to interpret. You might be wondering, “What’s wrong with saying, ‘I follow Christ’?” I believe these Corinthians were guilty of two errors: (1) they lowered Christ to the level of mere human leaders like Paul, Apollos, and Peter and (2) they were claiming to possess Christ in a way the other Corinthian believers did not.
II. THE CURE FOR DIVISION IS TO REFOCUS ON OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST (vv. 13-17).
Paul appealed for unity “in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 10). The Corinthians were focusing on men, and the result was division. Instead, they needed to focus on Christ. In verse 13, Paul asks three questions that are intended to center their attention on Christ, not men.
The famous missionary Hudson Taylor was once scheduled to speak at a large church in Melbourne, Australia. The moderator of the service introduced the missionary in eloquent and glowing terms. He told the large congregation all that Taylor had accomplished in China, and then presented him as “our illustrious guest.”
Taylor stood quietly for a moment, and then opened his message by saying, “Dear friends, I am the little servant of an illustrious Master” (Nelson’s Complete Book of Stories, Illustrations & Quotes, p. 458).
A. Every Christian possesses all of Christ.
Is Christ divided?
I believe this question is in reaction to the fourth slogan: “I follow Christ.” Paul is making it clear that Christ has not been divided or portioned out to only some Christians. In verse 10 Paul described Christ as “our Lord Jesus Christ.” He is the Lord Jesus Christ of us all.
Application: No matter what disagreements you might have with another Christian, that person has Christ as much as you. They are no less a Christian than you.
B. Every Christian needed the same Savior.
Was Paul crucified for you?
The crucifixion of a mere man like Paul would have done nothing for the Corinthians or us. Paul needed to remind them that their sin was so great that they needed to be saved by nothing less that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ --- the same was true of Paul, Apollos, and Peter, and the same was true of us. We are all equal at the cross. The cross destroys all pride and lays a new foundation for unity.
C. Every Christian was baptized into the name of the same Lord.
Were you baptized into the name of Paul?
However, it seems that some of the Corinthians were boasting about who baptized them. Imagine that you were baptized by Billy Graham. You might be tempted to boast, “I was baptized by Billy Graham!” Some of the believers in Corinth were boasting, “I was baptized by Paul,” or, “I was baptized by Apollos.” They were making a mockery of baptism. Baptism is supposed to be a public declaration of allegiance to Christ. But the Corinthians were more focused on who baptized them than whose name that were baptized into --- the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!
In reaction to this awful error of the Corinthians, Paul writes these somewhat shocking words in verses 14-16:
I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that 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.)
How could Paul be thankful that he baptized only a few at Corinth? Didn’t Jesus command us to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”? (Matt. 28:20).
1. Paul was not minimizing the importance of baptism.
The book of Acts shows us that Paul placed tremendous value on Christian baptism. One example of this is found in the story of the conversion of the Philippian jailor and his family (Acts 16:29-34). We learn two truths about baptism from this account:
· Baptism is only for believers. The Philippian jailor “had come to believe in God --- he and his whole family” (v. 34). This, by the way, also goes against the belief that infants should be baptized because an infant is not capable of believing.
· Baptism should follow closely after conversion. The jailor and his family were “immediately” (v. 33) baptized after they believed. This is what happened in Corinth: “Many of the Corinthians who heard [Paul] believed and were baptized” (Acts 18:8).
2. Paul was minimizing the importance of who baptizes whom.
a. Paul was thankful he had only baptized a handful of Corinthians.
Paul obviously delegated to others the responsibility of baptizing his converts.
Application: Baptism is not essential to salvation. If it were, Paul would not have been thankful that he baptized so few. However, baptism is essential to obedience. We must obey the command of Christ. If a person is not willing to be baptized, his profession of Christ must be questioned. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).
b. Paul desired to glorify Christ, not himself.
Paul’s attitude was like that of John the Baptist who declared, “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30). Paul was not out to make a name for himself. His sole aim was to point people to Christ.
Because of Paul’s stature as an apostle, he knew that when he did the baptizing, there was the danger that people might focus on Him instead of Christ. Paul, of course, didn’t want that, so he made the decision to do as little baptizing as possible.
3. Paul was not sent by Christ to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
For Christ did not sent me to baptize, but to preach the gospel --- not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power (v. 17).
Not many could preach like Paul, but there were many Christians who could baptize in Paul’s place.
CONCLUSION
What is the cure for a divided church? A refocusing of our minds on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The next time you are tempted to boast that you are spiritually superior to another Christian, the next time you are ready to criticize that Christian who might not see everything your way, remember . . .
· He possesses Christ just as much as you do. You are no more a Christian than he is.
· You needed the same Savior as he did. You were no more able to save yourself than He was.
· You are committed to the same Lord as he is. You are not supposed to be in competition with him; you are supposed to be in cooperation with him..
So “ I appeal to you, brothers [and sisters] in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” that you be united and not divided.
