Follow THE Leader - I Corinthians 1:10-17

Follow THE Leader

I Corinthians 1:10-17

Introduction: Remember the old Rodney Dangerfield line, “I went to a fight the other day, and a hockey game broke out!”? Hockey may be a violent sport, but conflict between people is not restricted to sports. It’s all too common in families, between neighbors, and between nations. My five younger brothers and I probably had a couple of days without fights when we were growing up. We probably did, but I don’t remember them!  Sadly Christian families and Christian churches are not immune from quarrels and “fights.” Division can destroy marriages, tear families apart, and split churches. Remember the old saying, “To live above with saints I love will certainly be glory. To live below with those I know, well, that’s another story!” James told us where the “quarrels and fights among us” come from,

^3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. ^4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? (James 3:17 - 4:1).

“War” starts in the human heart! The divisive actions of the Corinthians demonstrated that their hearts were not right; they were still walking in the flesh rather than walking with the Spirit.  One writer said “in unity lies the joy of Christian ministry and the credibility of Christian testimony.” If that is true, and I think it is, the disunity in the Corinthian church surely diminished the joy of their leaders and diminished the credibility of the church’s witness in that pagan community. Psalm 133 is one of my favorite passages dealing with the unity of God’s people,

Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!  ² It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!  ³ It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore (Ps 133:1-3).

The metaphors are a little strange to us, but think of what they represented: the anointing oil poured in abundance over Aaron’s head, filled the room with its fragrant perfume and witnessed to those who were present that this one was chosen by God. The dew of Herman, the life giving water that descended on the slopes of Mount Herman and collected in the brooks that ran down the mountain, this was one of the signs of the covenant blessings that God had provided to his people. Water meant life in that arid climate! So the psalmist was saying that unity in the community of faith was a testimony that these were chosen and blessed by God. That is reflected in the second part of the statement I read earlier, “….in unity lies the joy of Christian ministry and the credibility of Christian testimony.” If we fix our eyes on Jesus we’ll live in the light of our unity and He will be glorified.

The Big Idea: Jesus is Lord, and if we delight in Him and reject the things that would divide us, He will be glorified as we carry out our mission.

I. An Appeal for Practical Unity: Jesus is the Head of the church, follow Him! (10-12).

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.  ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.  ¹² What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ."

        Notice that Paul has affirmed his apostolic authority in the opening of the letter, now he urgently appeals to them “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” He is speaking to them for the Lord, in His name.  That is a good first question to ask isn’t it when quarrels arise? When something would threaten to divide us, when the world, the flesh, or the devil asserts itself, ask “what does the Bible say,” and “What would Jesus do?” If we know the answer to that question, we should immediately be of one mind. Not my will, your will be done!

       Paul “appeals to them,” parakaleo, exhorts or encourages them. It’s the verbal form of the Word used for the “comforter,” the Holy Spirit, and our “advocate,” Jesus Christ. He is not ordering them in his apostolic authority, but tenderly urging them as a brother, as their shepherd. He’s not beating the sheep into submission, he’s leading them.  It’s the same word that Paul uses in Philemon, verse 9, “…For loves sake, I appeal to you…” We see the heart of Paul, he comes along side and urges them forward in their Christian walk, he knows that at its root their problem isn’t conduct, that is only a symptom. Rather the real issue is their hearts.  So tenderly, he appeals to them as brothers. We know that Paul could be direct and forceful. He certainly was to the Galatians (see 3:1), as he will be at points in this letter! But first he comes expressing his heart, pleading with them as brothers in Christ. Their divisiveness broke his heart as surely as it broke the heart of Jesus.

       He urges, “…that there be no divisions among you…” The word here, schismata, is used to describe a severe rent in a garment, for example in Matthew 9:16, “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.” It is repeatedly used in a metaphorical sense of the division in the people over Jesus (see John 7:43; 9:16; 10:19). Yes, the world is divided over their response to Jesus, but there should be no such division in the church of Christ! 

            Paul exhorts them to “…be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” This word is used by Paul in Galatians 6:1, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” The word katartizo is translated “be united” or “restored,” i.e. “made whole.” It is used in secular literature for setting a broken bone or a dislocated joint. It is used in a literal sense of the activity of James and John when they were about to be called by Jesus, “And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.” The little tears that had started in the fishing nets needed to be fixed, or mended, before they became a rip that challenged the integrity of the net.

            Do you hear what Paul is saying? “I’ve gotten reports about you, that tears are beginning to form, destructive rips that threaten the integrity of the body. I am pleading with you, stop fighting, ‘mend the nets’ before it rips you apart. It’s not about Paul or Apollos or Peter, nor should one group pridefully be saying ‘we’re the true Christ followers, NOT YOU!’ Be united in the same mind, in the same judgment.  WWJD?”   Paul made a similar plea for unity in Philippians 2:2-3, “…complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  ³ Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Remember, Jesus is Lord, and if we delight in Him and reject the things that would divide us, He will be glorified as we carry out our mission.  That brings us to…

II. A Basis for Practical Unity: The Church is Positionally One (13). Paul uses a series of three short rhetorical questions to make his point, to give a basis for practical unity,

“Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1:13).

First of all, “Is Christ divided?” The implied answer, “Of course not!” The language that Paul uses elsewhere for the church indicates that we are “in Christ,” we are his building, his temple. He also says that we are his body. Christ is not divided, even as theologians describe the deity and humanity of Jesus, they are two natures in perfect union in one person. The sense of the rhetorical question, re-worded as a statement would be: “You obviously know that Christ is not divided!” The first question invites the readers to realize that division and quarreling cannot be the will of God, it is contrary to his very nature and contrary to his design for the church. If we are his, we are part of his body, and so is the brother that we are arguing with! Is Christ divided? Absolutely not!

Secondly he asks, “Was Paul crucified for you?” The tendency we have to divide over personalities or minor disagreements over doctrine is putting our will or our leader on a pedestal where it doesn’t belong.  A recent example has been the sudden resignation of Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll, which has left the multi-site church reeling, with some of the campuses apparently dissolving.  Humans should be respected for their gifts and calling but not put on a pedestal. That is what some of the Corinthians were doing and Paul was intent on urging them to refocus their hearts on Jesus. Was Paul crucified for you? You know he wasn’t! The cross of Christ is at the heart of the gospel message. Jesus bore our sins in his body on the cross. He who was without sin was made sin for us. It is not about us, or any merely human leader, this is the gospel of Jesus, it’s all about Him. Paul is saying, “You know that Jesus was crucified for you, not Paul or any other human leader!” God showed us His love in the cross, delight in Him!

Finally he asks, “Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”  God forbid! They were baptized into the body of Christ of the basis of their profession of faith in Jesus. Paul, Peter, and Apollos clearly did not desire to gather disciples to themselves, they desired making disciples for the Lord. As John the Baptist said, they understood, “He must increase, I must decrease.” Paul’s question implies the idea, “You weren’t baptized in the name of Paul [or any other human leader] but rather, in the name of Jesus, follow him, and follow him together!”  Jesus is Lord, and if we delight in Him and reject the things that would divide us, He will be  glorified as we carry out our mission together.

III. A Stimulus for unity: Team Ministry that exalts Christ (14-17).

“I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,  ¹⁵so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.  ¹⁶(I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)  ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power (1:14-17).

            It is clear that Paul is not collecting “notches on his Bible” in terms of those he had baptized.  In the light of the current “party spirit” Paul is thankful that few in the church could boast that he was the one who baptized them (v.15). Verse 16 is kind of funny, it seems to come almost as an afterthought. We could paraphrase, “…come to think of it, I did baptize the family of Stephanas, but I think that’s about it…” (16).

         Note this: Paul is not saying that baptism is not important. Clearly it is. It is one of two ordinances that Jesus gave the church, a normal, expected, outward sign that testified to the community that this person was a Christ follower. What he is saying is that his calling is not to impress anyone with his style or eloquence or persuasiveness, and he certainly is not out to win followers to himself. He was thankful that he had baptized few of them in case someone thought that it was a special honor or something to have been baptized by him. He wanted them to keep the main thing the main thing, to stay focused on Jesus.  His calling and passion was to preach the life changing message of Jesus.

Ten times in the first ten verses of this epistle Paul uses the name of Jesus, six of those wit­­­­h the full title, “The Lord Jesus Christ.” The phrase “our Lord Jesus Christ” appears four times in the first ten verses, no other book has it more than once in the opening.  That is striking and certainly points the reader away from Paul, or any other mere human, and exalts Jesus. He is our Lord and King. He alone is worthy to be praised. If we fix our eyes on Jesus we’ll live in the light of our unity and He will be glorified.

What is God saying to me in this passage? Jesus is Lord, and if we delight in Him and reject the things that would divide us, He will be glorified as we carry out our mission together.

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Have you thought about the things that sometimes separate us from other Christians, the fights we pick or the fingers we point?  I am thankful that I see in our church a desire to seek the truth and not compromise. Don’t you agree that we can do that better together? We’ve started a new Sunday School series, “Ballast for your boat,” Dr. B. has called it, but we’re looking over the next few months at what we believe. This is not going to be a dry recitation of Bible doctrine. We want to know God better, and understand more clearly what he desires of us. Our purpose is “To know God and to make Him known.” The source of truth about Him is this book (the Bible). Let’s seek to know Him better, together.

       You’ve heard the saying, “To know Him is to love Him.”  With respect to the Lord that is absolutely true. Jesus is Lord, we want to think about what that means. If we delight in Him and reject the things that would divide us, He will be glorified as we carry out our mission. “Finally brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you…” (2 Cor 13:11).

Think about that.  AMEN.