Sermon Tone Analysis

*                             “CHRISTIAN, YOU ARE RICHER THAN YOU THINK!”*

 

*                                                         (I Corinthians 3:21-23)*

*  *

            */“Therefore, let no man glory in men: for all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, of death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”/*

Every Christian will, consciously or unconsciously, face several crises in being a Christian.

He will face an /identity/ crisis.

Because he has logged so much time as Satan’s child and in Satan’s service (living selfishly), he will have a difficult time understanding and adjusting to his new identity, what it means to be “in Christ.”

Then he will face an /inventory/ crisis.

He will have a difficult time acknowledging and appropriating his new “bank account.”

The Bible speaks of his riches, but he finds it difficult to realize that anything has changed.

Then he experiences an /interpersonal/ crises.

Jesus said, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”

Say what?

Even the effort to love one another seems impossible, but to love one another /as Jesus has loved us/?

He must be kidding!

He must not understand me, and He surely doesn’t understand the people I have to live with!

So we experience one interpersonal crisis after another.

Then he faces an /involvement/ crisis.

Just exactly what does Jesus expect of me?

He wants me involved with Him --but how?

And in what?

And where?

Then he will face an /implementation /crisis.

How am I to do what is expected of me?

I want to truly serve God and man, but by what power am I to do it?

What resource or resources do I have that will enable me to do what is to be done?

In this study, I want to address the /inventory/ crisis.

Positively, I want to explore just one statement of Scripture that itemizes a few things in the Christian’s inventory.

Hidden in the Gospel is an often overlooked truth, and that is that being faithful, having friends, making disciples, being a Christian — the total Christian package, is so costly that /only rich people can afford it.

/There was an incredible cost factor on God’s side in making that package available to us, and there is an incredible cost factor on our side.

The cost of /entrance/ was high, and the cost of /maintenance/ is high — and so /daily/!

The cost of being a Christian is very high, and the demand never lessens.

/Only rich people can afford to be Christians/!

Now the good news, the flip side of that disarming truth: /the Christian is underwritten, endowed from Heaven’s treasury with an incredible inventory of riches./

Any Christian who looks at his “bank book” must do a double-take, thinking there must be a misprint or a mistake in recording.

A teacher asked a boy in her class, “Jimmy, if you reached in your pocket, and you found a dollar, a half dollar, a quarter, a dime, a nickel and a penny, what would you have?”

The boy quickly answered, “I’d have on somebody else’s pants!”

It is even more difficult for a Christian to apprehend, appreciate and appropriate the vast riches he has in Christ.

We are like the proverbial person who dies in penury and poverty and starvation while surrounded by an abundance of wealth.

In order to appreciate our riches, we must take seriously what Scripture, Heaven’s Bank Book, says about them.

Our text is a good place to begin.

*I.

A BACKGROUND PROBLEM*

 

            There was a massive problem in the church at Corinth that formed the background of this text.

The church at Corinth had an overload of carnal church members, and one of the most devastating symptoms of their carnality was that they had divided the church.

The Body of Christ was divided and fragmented over their selection of their “favorite preachers.”

The church at Corinth had been blessed with a lineup of great pastors, such men as Paul and Apollos and Peter.

The baby Christians who filled the church had responded by choosing favorites.

Thus, they had turned Christianity into a personality cult, parading the names of their favorite leaders instead of profiling Jesus.

This is an ever recurring danger in the Body of Christ.

One of the greatest errors of this practice is that it turns Christianity into a preachers’s movement instead of a people’s movement.

To see the problem in sharp focus, turn back to I Corinthians 1:10-13.

Satan’s master strategy for the Body of Christ is to “divide and conquer,” thus neutralizing the Body by curling its attention back on itself and its leaders.

Let me exegete the text in order for us to see the problem.

Verse 10 opens the discussion of the problem by saying, “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

Note the word “beseech,” and the word “brethren.”

The word “beseech” literally means to “call  alongside.”

So Paul uses a term of deep affection, the word “brethren,” and he invites them to assume a position very close to him while he deals with a serious problem among them.

It is almost as if he cushions the reprimand by special affection.

Then he uses an expression which assumes great authority:  “By the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

So he blends great affection and great authority as he appeals to them.

Thus, we may begin to see how serious the problem of divisions in the church really is.

He then appeals to them: “That there be no divisions among you.”

The word “divisions” literally means “schisms” or “splits.”

It is the same Greek word that described the /rending/ of the veil of the Temple when Jesus died on the cross.

So there was a deep and tragic rift among members in the church at Corinth.

Paul appeals to them that they “all speak the same thing,” and that they be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

The word translated “joined together” is a strong word that means “adjusted,” or “restored,” or “mended.”

It suggests that much damage had already been done by this divisiveness, and that the divisions must cease and the damage be repaired as much as possible.

Then Paul divulges to the Corinthian church members the source of his information.

Verse 11 says, “ For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.”

The word translated “contentions” is another very strong word which literally means “quarrels” or “bickerings.”

Then, in verse 12, Paul describes the problem: “Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.”

Dr.

H. E. Dana picturesquely said, “The church in Corinth was divided like any good pie should be divided — four parts!”

Notice that the trouble was spread throughout the entire church: “Every one of you saith.”

The words must be examined carefully before we can begin to appreciate the sinful and deadly nature of the problem of divisions in the church.

The four divisions were polarized around four great names.

It must be noted that there is no acknowledgment anywhere that any of the four leaders had given his consent or his initiation to the creation of this problem.

Paul shows this vividly by highlighting (verse 13) only the segment that used his name as their rallying point.

Thus, he dissociated himself from the sin and error of the very group that used his name to further divide the church.

One group rallied around Paul, a second group around Apollos, a third group around Peter, and the last group around Christ.

Surely there were much deeper reasons for this action than mere preference.

It is very probable that the group centered in Paul were Gentiles, for Paul was the assigned Apostle to the Gentiles.

The group following Apollos  was probably made of Greeks, because he was an eloquent Greek.

And the group following Christ was apparently as exclusive as the rest, and probably thought of themselves as the most pious of them all.

It is natural to flesh to choose self-pleasing favorites.

Paul was the /smart/ preacher; Apollos was the /slick/ preacher; and Peter was the /strong /preacher.

Or you might say that Paul was the /mystical/ preacher, Apollos was the /mental/ preacher, and Peter was the /methodical /preacher.

Naturally, my favorite preacher would be the one who ministered most to me.

Here is the bottom line.

The word translated, “I am” (of Paul, Apollos, Cephas, Christ), is the Greek word, /ego/, which transliterates into English by the same word.

The problem was that each Christian was making an /ego/-centered /choice/ of /his/ favorite preacher instead of a Christ-centered choice that denied self and favored the Body.

The “I” had become emphatic, selfish, and demanding, thus producing carnal believers.

But the deadliness of the problem has not yet been examined.

Study verse 13 carefully.

“Is Christ divided?”

So what happens when a church is carnally divided?

A division in a church, the Body of Christ, means a /dividing of the Person/ of Christ Himself!  “Was Paul crucified for you?”

A division in a church, the Body of Christ, means a /degrading of the Passion /of Christ Himself.

“Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?”