The Church Built Up - Unity in the Gospel
The Church Built Up • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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What does the word Unity mean?
As I’ve read through this letter to the Corinthian Church and to us, the theme of Unity in the Gospel rings throughout. I have a few definitions I’d like to give you for this word before we read our passage today:
Unity
Not being multiple, being one
A condition of harmony, being in agreement
Combination of parts that makes a whole
As we read our passage, Paul will specifically call out the church for being divided and urge them to be united. Let’s read starting in verse 10:
10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 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.”
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
***Title Slide***
I wish I could say that this is not a problem in the modern church, but that is not the case. We are easily convinced to follow people. If we are not careful, our loyalty to people can overshadow our loyalty to the Gospel.
It might be helpful to know a little about the Corinthian culture in the way people were followed. This culture took pride in their displays of logic, reason and ability to speak. People who had those gifts were elevated above others. If you could argue and debate you were somewhat of a celebrity. People would follow you where ever you went and would support you. The wealthy would invest in those who showed promise so that when they became famous, they could take some credit for it.
There would be contests where they would put one guy against another to see who was the most wise and eloquent. It was a real spectacle.
The church allowed this part of culture to be part of how they followed people in the church. They gained status by being friends with Paul or Apollos. If you were able to be baptized by one of them, you walked a little prouder.
The leaders weren’t promoting this, it was those within the church that brought this competition in. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but in an atmosphere of competition comes division, conflict and strife.
Many scholars believe that this what is happening here. People are competing to have a voice in the church to decide what is allowed and not.
Paul deals with that by giving instructions later in the letter about how to deal with certain behaviors in the church. No doubt there were some that would say one thing was allowable while others said it wasn’t. When these arguments came up. they would drop the name of the guy that baptized them and claim since they follow this guy, they must be right and the other person was wrong.
The overarching purpose of this letter is to build up the church by uniting them in the Gospel. Without unity in the Gospel and church is just another social club.
Let’s read verse 10 again:
10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
Paul’s appeal is in Jesus. Jesus is central to the reason of this letter. Jesus must be central to what the church is about. This verse has 3 overarching appeals that are dealt with all through the letter:
That all of you agree with one another in what you say
That there be no divisions among you
That you be perfectly united in mind and thought
What is is that we are talking about? What is important enough for us to say? In these things, we are to agree. It doesn’t mean that we won’t have things that we disagree about. That’s impossible, but on the things that matter regarding the Gospel and the mission of the church, we shall agree on what we say.
If, sorry…when we disagree, we handle those disagreements with one another and in love. We don’t handle our disagreements by getting others to agree with our disagreement. We go to the person and have an adult conversation.
If we can’t do this, we will have divisions. This doesn’t mean we don’t have different parts or groups, that is impossible. Here are Crossroads we will have different ministry teams and groups, but different parts will be united in the gospel and the overall mission of the church. Jesus said in Matthew 12, “every kingdom, city or house divided against itself will not stand.”
The last point is how the other 2 happen. The church is to be perfectly, not perfect, but perfectly united in mind and thought. The way we get there is to teach, study, meditate and talk about the Gospel. We do it on Sunday, when we have coffee with a friend on Monday, tacos with a friend on Tuesday, Bible study on Wednesday, dinner with a group of friends, golf, fishing…all the time we are talking about what Jesus has done, what Jesus is doing and what He will do.
That promotes a unity in mind and thought. Unity in the Gospel of Jesus!
11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.
Paul then calls out these quarrels citing a credible source. Just so you know, these kinds of things always become known. If you are being divisive and quarrelsome in your talk, there will come a time where that information makes it back to the person you are speaking of. Here is what Jesus said to do in Matthew 18:
15 “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
When issues arise, this is the way we prevent division in the church. Let’s keep reading
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.”
This verse can be spoken over every church that has ever had a split. Just replace Paul, Apollos and Cephas with the names of leaders in the church. What is interesting here though is that Paul, Apollos and Cephas (likely Peter) were not the ones creating the division. The ones creating division were “One, Another, another and still another”. They are the source of the strife. They are just using the names of leaders to gain credibility.
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Paul again brings the church back to the main thing: Jesus! Paul didn’t do what Jesus did. Only Jesus did that. Paul isn’t who we identify with when we are Baptized. Only Jesus. Only JESUS!
14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
Paul speaks of his mission. His mission is not baptism. That will happen, but his mission is to preach the gospel.
Wherever he goes, that is what he wants to do. He has been sent to talk about who Jesus is, what Jesus, what Jesus is doing and ultimately what Jesus will do when He returns.
That’s it. Preach the Gospel.
And Paul recognizes and is saying to you and to me. Preaching the gospel does not require someone who is wise or eloquent. Sometimes we use that as an excuse - I’ll leave that up to those who speak better. I’ll just wait until a wise person shows up to say what needs to be said.
If we wait for that, we miss out on the last phrase of that sentence “lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
God in his wisdom often uses the least talented people to do his work.
***Title Slide***
Unity in the gospel…Unity in what Jesus did, is doing and will do.
We are all unified in our sinfulness. You might think you are better or worse, but we all have unity in the fact that we are sinners.
We are all unified in our inability to do anything about it. There is nothing you or I can do to make up for our sinfulness.
We are all unified in the love that Jesus has for us. A love that sent him to the cross to pay the penalty for our sin.
We are all unified in the gift that Jesus offers us. A gift that will lift us up out of grave. A gift that says we can have hope in Him today. Hope for eternal life through what Jesus did.