The Third Sunday after Epiphany
January 22, 2017
I Corinthians 1:10-17
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. 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.” 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 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. (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Are you familiar with the slogan “WWJD”? I’ve seen those four letters on everything from bumper stickers to T-shirts to bracelets. The letters stand for, “What Would Jesus Do?” Almost without exception I have heard that slogan used in situations where you or I are encouraged to base our actions on what we think Jesus would do if He were in that same situation. While there is some merit to having that conversation with ourselves, it very easily becomes very subjective, doesn’t it? Think about it. You and I could be in a very similar situation and end up doing very different things because I think Jesus would do this and you think Jesus would do that. And since it is so subjective we could end up deciding that Jesus would do two things that actually contradict each other!
While it is very common today for individual Christians and for entire Christian congregations to decide for themselves what they think God’s will is— I personally find it rather troubling that many of these decisions are often based on someone’s own personal opinion and not on what God says here in His own Word!
For five weeks you and I are going to follow a sermon series that gives us the opportunity to study God’s will. Our study, however, will not be based on my opinion— nor will it be based on your opinion. No, rather, our study of God’s will be based on the divinely inspired words of the apostle Paul as we find them recorded for us in his first letter to the Christian church in the city of Corinth. Today then, let’s begin this study by seeing how this portion of I Corinthians chapter one reveals to us: God’s Will for Our Congregation — Be Perfectly United! There are two points that I hope we all take home with us today. First, let’s see that God’s will for our congregation is that we consciously strive to remain “perfectly united” because Satan is always trying to divide us. Secondly, let’s see that God’s will for our congregation is that we consciously strive to remain “perfectly united” because that “unity” will enable us to stay focused on the work that God has given to us to do.
You may recall from our Epistle Lesson last Sunday that God had given the congregation in Corinth every spiritual gift. (See I Corinthians 1:1-9) This is the most gifted congregation we read about on the pages of the New Testament Scriptures. And yet, even with all these spiritual gifts, even with all these wonderful blessings from the Lord, the Christian congregation in Corinth is perhaps the most troubled congregation we read about on the pages of the New Testament Scriptures!
Why was this gifted congregation so troubled? One of the reasons they were troubled, my friends, was because they had allowed Satan to divide them. Look at what Paul says in verses 11-15 of our text, “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.’ 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 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.)”
This was obviously a congregation that was openly divided against itself. Why? Why did the congregation in Corinth divide into different groups? Were these divisions based on doctrine? Was Paul teaching something different from Apollos? Was Apollos teaching something different from Peter (Cephas)? Not at all! The members of this congregation had openly pledged their allegiance to either the church leader who baptized them or to the church leader whom they liked the best— whether it was Paul or Apollos or Peter. Other members reacted to these allegiances by proudly and perhaps even arrogantly proclaiming, “I follow Christ.” The end result was that Satan was very successful in dividing this congregation into competing factions and cliques.
Could something like this ever happen here at our congregation? Since we all have that old sinful nature lurking inside of us and since Satan is extremely well versed in the military strategy of “divide and conquer,” we would have to say yes— it is indeed possible for our congregation to fall into this same trap and become divided against itself.
How? How could Satan divide our congregation? Since our congregation only has one pastor there is very little chance that our congregation will fall into the trap of one group saying, “I follow Pastor Lockman” while another group says, “I follow Pastor So-and-So.” At the same time, since our congregation only has one pastor, Satan could tempt the congregation to divide into two groups with one group saying, “I like our Pastor,” while another group says, “I wish someone else had accepted the Call to come here.” Satan could also tempt you, the individual members of our congregation, to form alliances behind the men who are seen as leaders here at our congregation.
If Satan is not successful in dividing our congregation on the basis of personality traits and personal allegiances, will he simply give up, go away and leave us alone? Not at all! Satan has an entire arsenal of weapons that he has found to be successful in dividing and conquering Christian congregations. These weapons include: the sins of gossip, rumor and slander; “coldness” towards both members and visitors; cliques and apathy; a lack of Christian love and a lack of Christian forgiveness.
Because Satan is always trying to divide and conquer us we need to consciously strive to follow God’s will for our congregation. And what exactly is God’s will for our congregation? God’s will for our congregation is exactly the same as God’s will for His congregation in Corinth. Look at the opening verses of our text. The Holy Spirit has Paul say to us, “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.”
There are two points I want to emphasize here. First, God’s will for our congregation is that there are no “divisions” among us. The Greek word that is translated here as “divisions” gives us the English word “schisms.” Very literally, this word paints the picture of “tears”— as in “tearing” a piece of cloth. In fact, the verb form of this very same word is used in John chapter nineteen. After the soldiers had crucified our Lord they divided His clothes among them. John tells us that when they came to Jesus’ undergarment and saw that it was “woven in one piece from top to bottom,” they said, “Let’s not tear it. Let’s decide by lot who will get it” (John 19:24). God’s will for our congregation is that we do not allow anyone or anything to “tear” us! God’s will for our congregation is that we strive to remain “perfectly united” as brothers and sisters in the faith. We might even say that God’s will for our congregation is that we remain “woven in one piece from top to bottom.”
The second point that I want to emphasize here is found in the words, “Be perfectly united in mind and thought.” Another way to translate the Greek here is to say, “Be perfectly united in thinking and purpose.” God’s will for us as a congregation is that we be “perfectly united” in our “minds,” in our “thoughts,” in the way that we “think.” How is this even possible? How can God expect that all of us will be “perfectly united” in the way that we “think”? It all comes down to this one Book, my friends. (The Bible) When we believe, teach and confess that the Bible is God’s holy, inspired and inerrant Word then, as Paul said in his second letter to God’s people in Corinth, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5). Yes, my friends, God’s Word empowers us to be “perfectly united” in our “minds,” in our “thoughts,” in the way that we “think” about everything from the virgin birth of the Christ-Child to the physical resurrection of the dead, from the definition of marriage to the sanctity of human life, from how the heavens and the earth came into existence to the respect and obedience we owe to our civil government. God’s Word is both the basis and the yardstick for being “perfectly united.”
The Holy Spirit’s encouragement to us to be “perfectly united” in “purpose” leads us directly into the second major point that I hope you take home with you today. What is our “purpose” for existing as a congregation? If we answer that question based upon our own personal opinion we will get a tremendous variety of answers. If we answer that question based upon God’s will for us— as it is revealed here in His Word— we will get a very clear, a very simple and a very focused answer! Look at the closing verse of our text. Paul says, “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 please do not misunderstand what Paul says here concerning the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. Paul very clearly taught that our Baptism connects us to both the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (See Romans 6:1-4) Paul lived the truth that through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism all of God’s children enjoy an absolutely equal status in the eyes of the living God. (See Galatians 3:26-29) Paul believed and faithfully proclaimed that through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism God saved us! (See Titus 3:3-7) At the same time, my friends, Paul knew that his number one God-given purpose here on this earth was to focus on preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
That’s also God’s will for our congregation. When we strive by God’s grace to maintain “perfect unity” among us this will enable us to remain focused on the number one reason we exist as a congregation: To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in both Word and Sacrament, to point both our members and others to the cross on Calvary’s hill and guarantee to them that through faith in what Jesus has done for them all of their sins are completely forgiven and eternal life in heaven is God’s free gift to them! That is why our congregation exists!
Does this mean that as a congregation we do not need to be concerned about helping the poor and needy? Does this mean that as a congregation we do not need to go the extra mile to support a fellow member who is going through a difficulty in their life? Of course not! What it does mean is that as a congregation— and as individual Christians— our focus, our purpose is to do everything we can do “preach the Gospel” to as many people as we possibly can!
WWJD— What would Jesus do? While there is indeed some merit in having that conversation with ourselves, we need to be extremely careful that we don’t answer that question based upon our own personal opinion. As Christians, we need to let Scripture answer that question for us. So I ask you again: What is God’s will for our congregation? Again, that is a very good question for us to ponder. Again, that is a question that needs to be answered on the basis of what God Himself tells us here in His holy Word and not on the basis of personal opinion— no matter whether it is your opinion or mine.
My prayer then this morning, my friends, is that you will indeed take to heart what God says to our congregation here in our text for today. God’s will for our congregation is that we remain “perfectly united.” Why do we need to remember this? We need to remember this because Satan is always trying to divide us. We need to remember this because being “perfectly united” enables us to stay focused on the work that God has given to us to do.
To God be the glory!
Amen
