The movie "Hoosiers"
tells a true story about how a high school basketball team, in a small
Indiana town, won the state championship in 1951. Throughout the movie,
the coach keeps telling his players that they are a team. Let's watch
a clip where the coach first introduces this concept. Show video clip!
A team is simply a group of diverse people, individually gifted, coming
together for a common purpose and functioning as a unified whole. Which
if you think about it describes the church. Look around you. We look
different. We have different personalities. We have different kinds
of jobs. We have different gifts & talents. Yet, when we come together
to form the church, our common purpose is to corporately glorify God.
This is what makes the church the most unique gathering of people in
the world.
Yet for some reason many Christians have not yet embraced the truth
of unified diversity. Tony Evans says: "The church of Jesus Christ remains
the most segregated aspect of Western society." Not only has the church
been split by race, but also by denominations. Which is so sad considering
what many of their great leaders had to say about denominational pride.
Martin Luther said: "I pray you do not call yourselves Lutherans but
Christians." John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church said,:
"I wish the name Methodist might be lost in eternal oblivion." Charles
Spurgeon, who was a Baptist, said: "I look forward with pleasure to
the day when there will not be a Baptist living."
Do you realize that many Christians today wouldn't dare have fellowship
with Luther or Wesley, or even Spurgeon, if they were alive? What makes
this so ironic is that we quote them and we read their books. But yet
if they were alive today many of us would not be able to fellowship
with them because of their doctrinal beliefs.
Notice in v. 2 that this letter isn't addressed to the 1st church of
Corinth. Nor is it addressed to the Baptist church, or the Methodist
church, or the Pentecostal church of Corinth. Instead it is addressed
to the church (singular) of God at Corinth. The great mystery that God
revealed to Paul, was that the church was to be made up of many different
types of people, not that there would that would be many, many different
types of churches in each city. You have probably heard of some of the
stories about Jimmy Hoffa. It's always been a mystery as to what happened
to him.
One of the stories I heard was that Jimmy Hoffa was butchered, and all
of the limbs of his body were buried in the end zone of a football field.
One guy said, "that puts a new meaning on sudden death!"
The apostle Paul is rebuking the Corinthians for this same image-v.
13.
With these 3 questions Paul sets the stage for the fundamental teachings
about the church that he will talk more about in chs. 10-12. In those
chapters, Paul describes the church as being the body of Christ. He
teaches us that just as a physical body, though made up of many members,
is one, so also is the church. What Paul is teaching us here is the
principle of oneness in Christ. Since Jesus Christ cannot be divided,
then why are there so many denominations in his church? Why are there
so many church splits? Why are there quarrels in a local body over silly
things that have no eternal value? The answer is because of pride.
In Corinth, this pride was being manifested over who baptized you. The
Corinthians had become more concerned with who baptized you, then they
were about the meaning of baptism. It wasn't the fact that the people
were making a public declaration that they had put their faith in Jesus
Christ. Instead, they were saying that your baptism wasn't authentic
unless you were baptized by Paul, or Peter, or Apollos, or some other
Christian superstar!
They kind of remind me of the church I heard about that had a sign out
in front of it that said, "Jesus only." But a heavy wind came through
that area one day and blew away some of the letters, so that the sign
read, "Us only." A lot of people think they are the only ones that love
Jesus. In reality, all they are is very divisive. Paul never did anything
that would cause the body of Christ to become divided. The reason he
didn't is because division in the church is a contradiction to the principle
of oneness in Christ.
How many of you have ever broken an arm or a leg? Did you tell the doctor
to cut it off because it wasn't working like the other arm/leg? My left
eye is worse than my right eye. Yet I would never consider plucking
it out. When you get a cold, do you get some sandpaper and rub your
nose off your face? Of course not. And the reason why we put up with
the physical infirmities of our body is because it takes each part to
make our body.
And this is what Paul is trying to get across in this letter. It is
a contradiction to the teachings of the Bible to have a divisions within
a local church body! Not only because it weakens the witness and testimony
of the Gospel. But worst of all it grieves the one who sent his only
son to die to make us one.
Now I don't want to be misunderstood that what I'm saying is that we
need to embrace the ecumenical movement. If that was so, then I would
be saying that I don't believe that theology & doctrine are important.
I want you to know that I am fanatical about being theologically and
doctrinally correct. And I stand in good company for Paul was also zealous
about maintaining correct theology & doctrine.
If the book of 1 Corinthians teaches anything, it is that theology &
doctrine are important. Paul will later on address the divisions that
are necessary because of heresies that were being spread among the church.
But the other side of the coin is that we should never allow carnal
things to divide us. Which is what the Corinthians were doing.
One of the carnal matters that were dividing them was money. They would
celebrate communion with an agape feast that looked a lot like our covered
dishes. Except that those who were rich weren't willing to share their
food with those who were poor. As the people celebrated the Lord's Supper,
the rich would eat until they were stuffed, and drink until they were
drunk. And the whole time they wouldn't give any food or any drink to
those who were less fortunate. Another carnal matter that was dividing
them was false spirituality. This was because some had certain spiritual
gifts, like tongues. Those that spoke in tongues believed that they
were more spiritual than those who couldn't. Times haven't changed much
in almost 2,000 yrs., has it?
One trap I have noticed that a lot of the people who attend nondenominational
churches is that believe they are more spiritual than other believers.
When this church first started, 3 of our top leaders used to brag about
the fact that no one else was doing church like we were. Sadly, those
3 eventually did things that disqualified them from the ministry. We
should never think we are better than anyone else is for the practices
of our church.
Look at v. 14-15.
Paul was so thankful that he had only baptized a few people, because
he knew they all would have been running away bragging that they had
been baptized by the great apostle Paul! In John chapter 4:2, we see
that the Lord Jesus never baptized anyone. Now I don't know about you,
but I would love to be able to say that I been baptized by the Lord
himself! I would love to hear you whisper: "Our pastor was baptized
by Jesus!" Maybe then y'all would worship me!
To be baptized in the name of someone else is to indicate that the one
being baptized has surrendered his/her life over to another. When we
are baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, we are
indicating that we have become the possession of the triune God. Paul
is not minimizing Christian baptism. He knows that baptism is an external
act that publicly tells what Jesus has done internally. Think about
the time when you were baptized. It was your way of publicly declaring
that Jesus is your Lord. It was your way of telling people you belong
exclusively to Jesus. Not to a particular church, or even the person
who baptized you.
One of the ways pride manifests itself is by name dropping. And we're
all guilty of this. A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned in a sermon,
that not only did I go to the beach this summer, but I went to Hilton
Head. We don't just tell people we went on a boat ride on our vacation.
We have to include the fact that we went on a cruise ship to the Bahamas.
We also love to tell people who we know. I always find a way of telling
people that I met James Brown when he was in prison. In fact, I love
to tell the story of how I had to preach after James Brown sang.
And if we can't brag about who we know/where we've been, we will make
sure people know of who we are. Why else do people put doctor before
their name, or letters after their name? If I call myself Reverend Laube,
or Pastor Bob, rather then just Bob, will that impress you more?
In the church of Corinthian, the people were going around asking each
other, "Who baptized you?" And if you were baptized by some no-name
preacher, they would look down their noses at you. I can't think of
a more sillier thing to cause division. But that's exactly what was
going on. But that's the danger of pride.
In Proverbs we learn that "Pride leads to arguments." In the church
of Corinthian there were quarrels, cliques, and pride. Those are the
3 major elements that will split a church. Paul didn't want anything
to split the church at Corinth, especially over who baptized you. God
called Paul to preach the gospel, and bring people to oneness in Jesus
Christ, not to create a cult by those he baptized in his name. This
is why he was so thankful that he hadn't baptized many people.
Look at the ministry Jesus called Paul to: "I have appeared to you to
appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seem of Me
and what I will show you. I am sending you to them to open their eyes
and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to
God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among
those who are sanctified by faith in Me." (Acts
26:16-18)
Paul says that the only the only way we can prevent quarrels, cliques,
and pride, which lead to splits, is to keep the main thing, the main
thing-v. 17. That's my exegesis of the original Greek. In the Greek
Paul is saying, that even though baptism is important, the main thing
is what took place upon the cross. That is the line the church of Jesus
Christ draws in the sand. This is the only thing that should ever cause
us to split from other people.
I don't care if you don't believe that all of the gifts of the Spirit
are in operation today. I don't care if you believe that the KJV is
the only inspired version of the Bible. I don't care if believe that
wine should be used instead of grape juice. I don't care if you believe
that you can lose your salvation. I don't even care when you believe
the rapture will occur. But what I do care about, and what will cause
me to break off fellowship with you, is what you have to say about what
took place on the cross. In verse 17 Paul tells us that the only thing
that ought to divide believers is the gospel. The gospel is that since
the fall of man, man needed to be saved. And if he is not saved, he
will face the wrath of Almighty God on Judgment Day.
The 2 nonnegotiable truths of Christianity are, first of all, that only
the death of Jesus on the cross reconciled man with God. And the 2nd
nonnegotiable truth is the consequence of rejecting God's gift of salvation
is spending eternity separated from him in a place called hell. The
cross proves that Jesus Christ died for our sins. That is the message
of hope that is concealed in the Old Testament, through all the prophecies,
and all the rituals, and all the typologies. This is the message of
hope that is revealed in the New Testament where we meet the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world.
When Paul spoke to people, he never left out the message of Jesus' death
on the cross. When he spoke to the Christians in Rome, a city filled
with people who were in awe with power and might, Paul strikes a note
by saying "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because it is the
power of God unto salvation to all that believe, to the Jew first, and
also to the Greek."(Romans
1:16) But when he comes to the Greeks in Corinth, who loved to boast
about all their wisdom, he uses the theme of wisdom to present the message
of the cross-v. 23.
To Rome it was the gospel of the power of God. To Greece it was the
gospel of the wisdom of God. Brothers & sisters, listen to me, the people
in you world are crying out to hear the gospel! There's nothing wrong
with trying to find a way to present the gospel in terms of their worldview.
But never water it down, or leave it out, just so you want offend anyone!
For notice how Paul concludes v. 17.
Paul did not do anything that would take away from the power of the
gospel. He didn't use cleverness of speech, or empty promises to convince
people to accept Jesus as their Lord. He simply stated "That Jesus died
for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and
that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures."(1
Cor. 15:3-4)
The last part of v. 17 is the most meaningful words in all the Bible
to me. For these are the words that used when he called me to preach.
One day, as I was reading this passage, these words became Rhema, they
became alive, as God called me into the ministry of preaching & teaching
his word. When God used these words to call me into the ministry, he
told me that he didn't want me to put on a better show than what the
TV/radio preachers were doing. He told me that he didn't want me to
put on some kind of dog & pony spiritual show to keep the people coming
back. He told me that he didn't want people to think more of the messenger
than they did of his message.
And this is the same calling God put upon the apostle Paul. Paul didn't
want to present himself to the people. He only wanted to present the
facts of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. Paul knew that these
facts are all someone needs to know to get saved. So when he preached,
he didn't try to entertain the people. He didn't try to make them feel
better about themselves. He just presented before the people the irrefutable
truths about Jesus Christ.
I heard a true story about a woman who cries every time her pastor says
the word, "Mesopotamia." Isn't that dumb? What does it matter how you
say Mesopotamia? What does the way you say Mesopotamia have to do with
the message of the cross? Absolutely nothing!
I am aware that with all the exposure that people have had to the great
preachers of our day, through radio &TV, that some people may turn me
off because I don't put on some kind of spiritual sideshow every Sunday.
But that's okay because God has told me that I don't need all the flash
& fleshly junk that passes for good pulpit ministry today. I don't want
to ever decorate my messages so they take the heart out of the message
of the gospel. God has revealed to me that all I need to be a good preacher
is to have a heart that's deeply in love with Jesus.
The application I get from v. 17 is that you subtract from the power
of the cross when you add to the message of the cross a display of the
flesh. If you instead lift up the cross, and hide behind its shadow,
then you will exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. Which means
you have to let God crucify the sin of pride from your life.
Let me close by saying, please don't let spiritual pride cause you to
break fellowship with a brother/sister who doesn't see the Scriptures
the same way you do. Instead we need to come to the point where we can
agree to disagree over the non-essential elements of the faith. But
let me also add that we need to come to the point where we're willing
to break fellowship with those who start proclaiming that there are
other ways to get to heaven. We don't need to be ashamed to agree with
Jesus when he said, "I
am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can comes to the Father
but through me."
Let's pray!!
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