Unity
or Mutiny in the Family of God
1 Corinthians 1:10-17
January 26, 2014
We
were a car full of preachers trying to find a movie theater in a strange
town. We had lots of opinions, but no
map and no GPS. We were all men so you
know what happened. Endlessly we
wandered onto dead-end streets. We drove
past well lit gas stations and never once considered the possibility of
stopping and asking directions. Instead
we kept driving each offering our own ideas, “Turn here”, “No that’s not the
way we have to turn around”. We never
saw the movie.
If
you are traveling with someone and you want to get to where you want to be, you
are going to need a map or directions and you are going to have to be in
agreement, because none of us really flies solo. We are all part of a family, a community, a
church.
In
our scripture today we’re going to see what happens to a church where people
disagree and where they want to be and how they expect to get there. But, first let us pray:
Risen
Christ, you have prayed for us that “we may be one”, but in reality we are not
one but many. We come from different
backgrounds, holding a variety of opinions about this and that and the
other. These convictions can drive us or
they can divide us.
Help
us Lord as we seek the mind of Christ so that we might have the “same mind and
the same mind. Open our hearts to the
unique gifts you have give to others and to ourselves. Amen
The
city of Corinth was re-built and established as a Roman colony in the year 46
B.C. So, its citizen spoke both Latin
and Greek. Its location was the key to
its great wealth. It was a city on the
crossroads between east and wet, north and south; so it was cosmopolitan in
every sense of the word. People came
from everywhere and they brought their religions with them.
Michael
Green wrote, “It was to this mixed community at Corinth, greedy for power,
dedicated to pleasure, fascinated by rhetoric and knowledge, that Paul came and
preached the gospel in the autumn of 50 A.D.”
When
he arrived there were already brand new Christians organizing. Aquilla a Jew from Rome and his wife
Priscilla had moved to Corinth because the Roman emperor Claudius began to
persecute the Jews in of Rome. They made
their living making tents as did Paul.
With both vocation and faith in common they set out in ministry
together.
They
built a church and then a year later Paul moved on, eventually beginning
another church in Ephesus across the Aegean sea. It was while he was there that word reached
him that all was not well in Corinth.
Conflicts were heating up. The
divisions were theological and moral, ethnic and socio-economic. They were related to age and gender and
different tastes in worship style and practice.
In other words they made every molehill of difference into a mountain of
conflict.
They
divided into four distinct groups. Some
said, “I belong to Paul” or “I belong to Apollos” or “I belong to Cephas”, or
“I belong to Christ.”
Those
who identified with Paul were most likely charter members and probably gentile
Greeks. They were the first converts who
remembered the exciting “good old days” when they first started out. Although they never said so out loud there
was still a feeling that their membership in the church counted a bit more than
the membership of those who came later.
They may have been the very first Christian to say, “We’ve never done it
that way before.”
The
group who identified with Cephas, which you more likely recognize as Peter were
probably Christians who came from a Jewish background. They claimed an even older heritage because
they went back to Abraham. They had a
theological chip on their shoulder that came from pride which said their people
knew God longer and so they figured better than these newcomers. Their slogan was “God said it, I believe it,
and that settles it.”
The
group who followed Apollos were those who those who are captured by a
spell-binding preacher; always looking for the latest energetic and charismatic
leader. They were quick to bounce from
church to church looking for the latest homiletic hot shot. They didn’t have a slogan because they were
more interested in the personality of the preacher than the person of Christ.
Finally,
the group who claimed Jesus were those who said they needed no earthly
teachers. Their favorite hymn was “I
come to the garden alone and he walks with me and he talks with me and tells me
I am his own.” They were tempted by a
spiritual arrogance which excluded all others.
Their bumper sticker said simply, “I found it.”
All
four of these groups were in the same congregation so there were times when
going to Church on Sunday morning was like going to a game between the
Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
You know they just couldn’t seem to get along.
In
other words the church in Corinth was a lot like the Christian Church
today. Everywhere believers find
themselves on different sides of the fence.
Sometimes the fence is built with theological and moral questions. Sometimes walls are constructed with bricks
of personality. Sometimes the barrier is
built upon ethnic or economic differences.
Whatever building blocks are used; the end result is the same. The Church is not one, but many; the Church
is not whole, but divided.
One
preacher asked, “If Christ is divided, who bleeds?”
So,
the Apostle Paul wrote in verse 10:
“I
appeal to you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you
agree and that there be no dissensions among you, but that you be united in the
same mind and with the same judgment.”
This
is the theme of his whole letter and why he is writing to them. This is his hope and dream from the
Corinthian Church and I believe for the Christian Church today.
This
is key, so I’m going to unpack it a little bit at a time.
He
begins with a reminder that they “are brothers and sisters in Christ”, so it is
in Christ they are to find their unity.
The dissensions have lead to divisions.
The Greek word here is familiar, “schizmata” from which we get the word
“schism”. It literally meant to tear or
rip a piece of cloth into pieces.
So
he appeals to them to be united. Again
the Greek word “kartizo” was a medical term to describe the healing that takes
place when a broken bone mends.
How
can this mending take place? Paul says
it occurs as we are united in the same mind and with the same judgment. And there’s the rub. The church is supposed to draw people from
every background, culture and race. It
is supposed to be diverse, so how can we possibly be united in the same mind?
The
answer to that question is determined by what you mean when you say the same
mind. If by that you mean that everybody
is supposed to think the same thing about everything then you are looking for
uniformity and not unity. You are trying
to make “cookie cutter” Christian where everybody dresses in the same manner,
speaks with the same vocabulary, and thinks the same way. And there are church that try to do just
that. In those churches differences are not celebrated but punished.
The
Presbyterian Church in general and Eastminster in particular have never
interpreted this passage in this way. It
has been our view that a band made up only of tubas is not as beautiful as an
orchestra filled with strings and brass and percussion. It is has been our view that we make better
music when we incorporated the special and unique gifts that each individual
brings.
I
believe that the Apostle Paul shared that view.
Later in this letter in the 12th chapter, Paul will develop
an analogy comparing the church as the body of Christ to the human body. None of us would ever say to a doctor since I
don’t use my little toe very much, you can go ahead and cut it off. Most of us see every part of our bodies as
important and essential. So it is with
every member of the church.
So,
what did Paul mean when he encourages us to be united, healed really, with the
same mind and judgment? Look down the
page a bit to the 1th verse I think you will see.
“For
Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with
eloquent wisdom, lets the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
Unity
in mind and judgment can only be found at the foot of the cross. It is only achieved when each of us realizes
we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God. Unity of spirit only heals when each of us
acknowledge that we are “justified by grace as a gift, through the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus.
Paul
describes this at greater length in another letter he wrote to the church in
Philippi:
“So,
if there is any encouragement in Christ any incentive of love, any
participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by
being of the same mind, having the same love, and being in full accord and of
one mind?”
And
what is that one mind?
“Do
nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than
yourself. Let each of you look not only
to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
And
why should we do that?
“Have
this mind among you, which is in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of
God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. He humbled himself and became obedient unto
death on the cross.”
Being
of the same mind cannot possibly mean that everyone in the church is to have
the same opinion about every moral and theological question. That has never existed in any church at any
time, though some have made the attempt.
I
remember a few years ago a pastor from a very conservative nearby church asked
to visit with me. He was for the first
time struggling with his congregation’s discipline that required full
allegiance and agreement on any number of Biblical interpretations and
theological understandings. Dissent was
not tolerated. The view of his church
was our way or the highway, and he was beginning to wonder if that was right.
I
told him that in the Presbyterian Church diversity of thought was not only
tolerated, but encouraged and that I thought this was a good thing. The reason I think it is good is because if
everyone thinks the same way and holds the same beliefs there is no one to
challenge or even ask a question. If
there is no one to challenge or even ask a question, how can you grow? He said he never thought of it that way
before, and I told him that is exactly my point. We need people to push our thinking and ask
new questions if we are ever going to learn and grow.
When people gather at
the foot of the cross and in the name of Jesus they must treat each other with
love and respect and with a sense of humility because we recognize that we are
not there because of our own wisdom, will, or good looks. We are there because we have beheld the face
of Jesus, have touched the scars, and experienced the power of the
resurrection.
When
we fail to this the consequences can be severe.
One preacher put it this way, “Fractured fellowship robs Christians of
joy and effectiveness, robs God of glory, and robs the world of the true
testimony of the Gospel.”
I
can think of no better illustration of this than the church of the Holy
Sepulcher in Jerusalem. This is the
cathedral which has been built over what many believe to be the site of Jesus’
crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.
In other words, it is sacred ground.
When
I first saw this church I had just come from the Mosque at the Dome of the
Rock. This golden domed sanctuary is the
most prominent feature in the skyline of Jerusalem. It is magnificent in
concept, elegant in design, and reflects a real architectural unity throughout.
Compare
that to the Church of the Sepulcher which is a hodge-podge of conflicting design,
poor maintenance and confusion throughout.
I thought it was a poor testimony to the glory of the resurrection.
The
reason for this chaos in this cathedral is because its ownership is divided and
contested by no less than 6 Christian denominations. When I was there scaffolding reaches to the
ceiling and has been there for over 80 years because these 6 different
Christian denominations cannot agree on what it is supposed to look like and
who is going to pay for it. I felt this
robbed God of glory and diminished the testimony of the gospel.
There
are some who peak through the windows hoping that Christ is really here and
that Christ makes a difference.
Is
he? Does he? Can Christ bring people in the church
together?
I
believe he can. I believe that the power
of the cross is that strong! I believe
the love of God is that powerful! That
is the sacrifice God made for us; and that is the sacrifice we need to make for
each other.
Fractured
bones can heal. Broken spirits may be
made whole by the grace of God and by the forgiveness of his disciples. Come to the foot of the cross once more and
experience God’s healing balm.
Have
this mind among yourselves, which you have in Christ Jesus, who though he was
in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped…but
humbled himself and became obedient unto death on the cross. Amen