January 27, 2008 1 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.

It is the nature of sin to divide people. Look back to the very story of the Fall. God had created Eve from Adam to be his helper – a complete compliment to him. He was ecstatic to have her in his life. But when they ate from the Tree of Knowledge something changed in them. When they were found by Adam completely turned on Eve and threw her under the bus of God’s wrath by telling God that Eve gave him the fruit. This is what sin does. It divides people and makes them blame one another and do anything they can to look better - even among God’s chosen people. We even see two sisters; Rachel and Leah; at odds with one another over Jacob’s love and children. Esau and Jacob fought over the God given birthright. Absalom tried to kill his own father to become King. It is a sad thing.

God predicted that there would be division between believers and unbelievers in this world. But He did not want there to be division among members of His own family. This is what was happening in Corinth, and it was tearing the congregation apart. At stake was the very honor and name of Christ. When we Christians do not act like the light of the world; when we squabble and bicker and fight; the world sees this; and the light of Christ is put under a bushel. It was a serious matter to Paul when Chloe’s household told him what was happening there. Paul needed to address it. What exactly was going on? How would he address it so the light of Christ would shine? Let’s find out about -

The Cause, the Cure, and the Conviction in Corinth

I. The cause of division

Paul explains what the bickering was about. He wrote, “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 Corinthians were being divided over who they said they were following and also who baptized them. Although we don’t get all of the dirty little details, it seems pretty obvious what was happening and how it was happening. Every one of these men had different talents and abilities. Paul was said by some to be a “weak speaker” but a good writer. Some liked him. Peter is known from the history of the Bible to at times be an outspoken and straight forward guy, not afraid to answer a question or come for a fight. I couldn’t find any reference to Peter having been in Corinth – yet some claimed him. Apollos was a Jew from Alexandria who came to Ephesus preaching about Christ; who was then further enlightened by Priscilla and Aquila. When Paul went to Corinth Apollos stayed and watered the Word which had been planted by the Word. (1 Corinthians 3:6) So Apollos seemed to have been there for some time to help nurture their faith. Some said they followed him. There also seemed to be the “purists” who tried to claim that Paul and Peter and Apollos had no influence on them at all – that they were strictly followers of Christ.

No matter whom they chose, they were all ultimately claiming to have a better way or a greater knowledge, based on the skills and talents of the individual leader that they were choosing. They were probably also using the weaknesses of the other leaders as fodder against their followers. I could imagine them saying something to the effect of, “you follow Paul! Isn’t he kind of boring?”, or “you follow Peter! He’s speaks in too Jewish of terms for me.”, or “I don’t follow anyone but Christ.” They were almost putting their spiritual leaders into contestants on an “Apostolic Idol” contest, taking sides and even using baptism to promote whose group they were in – all within the same church even! Imagine trying to invite someone to such a congregation only to be involved in a tug of war within the congregation as to which pastor to follow and how to be baptized? How could the light of Christ shine through when its own members couldn’t get along? It couldn’t.

Look at Christianity today and you still see similar problems. Look at the way baptism is approached for instance. There are some who look down on our infant baptisms and call them worthless and weak because the child is too young to know what is happening, or because we don’t use enough water for their liking. Catholicism will claim that baptism has to be done by a Catholic priest. I baptized my nephew years ago, and I heard about a year ago that his father was going to have him re-baptized in the Catholic Church. Then you have another group that will say that even an immersion baptism is really ineffective all around – that you need a spirit baptism – without water - where you can start speaking in tongues. Others will say that the only legitimate baptism will have to be done in the name of “Jesus”, not in the name of the Triune God. All of this is done in the realms of Christianity in order to claim that each group has the “right way”. It all militates against the “one baptism” which Paul spoke of to the Ephesians. (Ephesians 4:5) It makes Christianity seem divided and unattractive to unbelievers.

Division also happens in the modern day search for the “ultimate leader.” When a pastor has a certain weakness – whether it be in a slow delivery or a bad memory or a bit of standoffishness to him – people are quick to point out his weaknesses to each other and either fire him or move on to the next congregation with a “better” pastor. Until they find a church and leader that properly entertains them they are not satisfied; so they continue to establish newer and “hipper” churches in search of the ultimate “Christian experience”. This is also divisive to Christianity.

Divisiveness over leadership happens within the Lutheran faith as well. You will hear long time Lutherans remember fondly the training they had. They will say things like, “when I was confirmed I had to know a lot more passages. My pastor was strict. At my old church we had to memorize the whole catechism – in German! Kids these days don’t know half of what I had to.” When other members of different churches visit another congregation they will compare how they are taught – whether their pastor uses power point or what kind of evangelism was done or the programs that one pastor to the next uses. Without any hesitation they will compare one style to the next and then openly nitpick and ridicule anything they can find in comparing one leader to the next or the last. Imagine then how difficult it would be for two pastors to work together when the church was openly divided and politicking against one another. It makes Christ look ugly in such congregations with such divisions. This was what was happening in Corinth – over men who were not even living there!

II. The Cure for Division

Paul had a different ideal for the Christians of Corinth. 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. Notice the brotherly manner in which he appeals to them. The word for “appeal” really means, “I call you by my side”, brothers in the faith. His ideals for the Corinthian congregation were sky high - to have a perfect unity – not in actions – but in mind and thought! I used to be a mock cheerleader in an all male college and we used to think up these strange halftime routines. It took hours of practice just to try and get our hands and feet to move together for ten minutes. So how could Paul possibly hope to get the Corinthians to get their minds and thoughts moving exactly the same without any division? Paul said he would do it by preaching “the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”

How could the gospel of the cross be so powerful as to get people to think the same thing and unite them together? Think about the message of the cross and how it works. The cross has one message for the world. It tells the world that it is born and condemned under sin. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are; how powerful or successful; how good or bad in the eyes of the world; whether you are a preacher or a pauper – you all deserve to die and be condemned in hell because of your sin. The message of the cross is that the world needs to go to hell for what it’s done – that it needs to pay for its sins; and so God sends His Anointed One on the cross to fulfill this punishment and die for the world. The only way to be saved from the wrath of God over a sinful world is for the sinner to go running under the cross of Christ in faith. It turns all of us into weak and helpless sinners who all have to cower together under one place for refuge. Yet when we then look up at the cross and see Jesus take all of God’s wrath, we all feel a similar feeling of comfort and relief as we hear Jesus tell us, “it is finished.” As we have the blood of Christ come pouring on us, we are all told that we have His righteousness and holiness. This is also what baptism is meant to do – to clothe us in the same Christ with the same holiness through the same cross. This is what the Lord's Supper is supposed to remind us of, as the body and blood of Christ come pouring into each one of us at the table. So the cross makes us all look the same in God’s sight – like sinners and saints. No matter how old or young you are, whether you are male or female, smart or slow, white or black, Jew or Gentile, God declares that anyone who is brought to faith is covered in the same Christ. The cross is the great equalizer. Paul wrote in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Think also about how we actually are brought to know about this mystery of the cross. Paul goes on to write in the 2^nd chapter of Corinthians,

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived

what God has prepared for those who love him" 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

The only way we came to know Christ was by the working of the Spirit – who revealed to us the mind of God in Christ. So through the Gospel God has placed the same Universal Spirit in each and every one of our minds – which convicts us all of sin and comforts us all with the same Savior. This is the Holy Spirit who inhabits and opens our minds and gets us thinking of Christ. This Holy Spirit is the One who can cure division and unite our thoughts and minds with the heavenly wisdom of Christ.

III. The Conviction of the Cross

In light of this, Paul said to the Corinthians, 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.) Paul wasn’t trying to pit baptism against the Gospel or say that there was anything wrong with baptism. But if the people were going to misuse their baptism as a reason for pride or arrogance against other Christians – he didn’t want that either. The whole purpose of baptism was to clothe sinners in Christ – not to divide Christians over who they followed. So Paul had to chastise the Corinthians and remind them that he, Cephas, and Apollos all had one purpose – and that was to bring people to Christ. He went on to say this in chapter 3 of Corinthians –

Since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? 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. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

If you had a wonderful pastor who helped you to grow in faith by leaps and bounds, then thanks be to God for that pastor. But don’t forget that no matter how great the preacher may have been, he was still a sinner. Don’t use him as a standard by which to judge other preachers. Whether your pastor is a people person, a good preacher, or kind of a dud in your eyes, the main thing is that your pastor or teacher is faithful in giving you Christ. The last thing a pastor would want is for anyone to be devoted to him. The first and foremost thing any faithful pastor would want is for his members to be devoted to Christ. This is what God wants all of us to be looking for.

Two ladies were sleeping in a tent with both of their infants by their sides. One lady rolled on her toddler and accidentally smothered him to death. During the night she switched her infant with the other neighbor lady. The next morning a fight ensued. They both claimed the live baby was theirs. When the case was brought before Solomon, he commanded the baby be chopped in two – giving half to each woman. The real mother said “no,” let her have him, while the fake mother said, “yes, let the baby be chopped in two.” This proved to Solomon who the real mother was. Instead of chopping the baby in two, he gave him to the real mother.

When two faithful ministers of Christ are pitted against one another and people argue over who is “better” than the other, it is like two Christians sinfully grabbing Jesus by the arms and legs and having a tug of war on him. When the world witnesses us arguing over who really has Christ in this way, it disgraces the name of Jesus and they walk away from both women in disgust. Whether your leader is Apollos, Peter, or Paul – it really doesn’t matter - as long as they are giving you the gospel of Christ crucified. The name of Jesus causes Christians to be united under a common banner of grace and forgiveness – curing us of division, and convicting us of our sin and our Savior. Amen.