Unity or Mutiny in the Family of God

1 Corinthians 1:10-17

January 26, 2014

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            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 12^th 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