all for One. One in all

 all for One. One in all

I Corinthians 1:4-31

Introduction – The Power of One

I’m not a baseball fan.  To me, the game is just too slow.  But when I lived in LA during the 70’s and 80’s, I had the opportunity to catch Dodger games at Chavez Ravine.  When you go to the park, it’s more than just about the game.  It’s the Dodger dogs (foot-long hot dogs) with all the condiments, the seventh-inning stretch, and the chance to yell insults at Reggie Jackson – or whoever your favorite villain on the other team is.  So, when the Dodgers were in the World Series this year, I decided to watch for a little bit of personal nostalgia.  By all accounts, it was a great series between two very good teams.  But the better team won and the Houston Astros brought home the championship to a deeply grateful and battered city. 

Even more than the drama of the game, I enjoyed watching the camaraderie and unity of the two teams.  Each member of the two teams pulled together to try and get a win each game.  They were united in their purpose and mission.  They enjoyed playing together and it seemed like they genuinely loved their teammates.  When a great play was made, it was exciting to see the dugout erupt in celebration in support of their teammate.   And the celebration of the Astros when they won the series was like watching a bunch of second-grade boys in their unrestrained joy.

Wouldn’t it be cool if the church was like that?  It could be.  The Christian faith is supposed to be a team sport.  We’ve got a compelling mission and everyone has a role to play.  But all too often, we get distracted by our own personal preferences and agendas.  It’s not a new problem.  The church is made up of imperfect and immature people.   It’s true of every church.  Especially the one in ancient Corinth. 

Text – I Corinthians 1:4-31 (NIV)

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers and sisters, 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 in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in 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 wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;

    the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Call to Unity (vs. 4-11)

Corinth was the “Las Vegas” of the ancient world.  It was a prosperous port city that was full of idolatry and debauchery.  Paul stayed in the city for a year and a half and established the church, even though he experienced serious opposition from the Jews there.  It was a well-endowed church, rich in diversity and spiritual giftedness.  And Paul begins his letter to them by affirming their best qualities and reminding them of the firm foundation in Christ that has established them.  They are eagerly awaiting Christ’s return and the Apostle reminds them that Christ will sustain them and keep them strong to the end.  The church is, after all, God’s enterprise and he will ensure its perseverance. 

But after affirming the people, Paul gets right to the point with his primary concern:

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.

(vs. 10)

Paul comes to them with the authority of Christ, himself.  We read Jesus’ prayer earlier this morning in John 17 where he asked the Father to make the Church one, even as he and the Father were united as one (vs. 20-21).  Jesus understood that unity was essential in order to fulfill the gospel mission of making him known to the world.  Paul understood it as well, as he pleaded not only with the Corinthians, but appeals to church unity are found in virtually all of his epistles.  In his letter to the Philippian church, he tells us how we can be unified by serving each other:

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Philippians 2:1-4

Preferential Pitfalls (vs. 12-16)

That certainly wasn’t the approach that the Corinthians had toward each other.  Throughout his first epistle to them, Paul takes them to task for their selfishness.  In this first chapter, it was their personal preference for particular leaders that was dividing them.  It was silly really.  But we modern folks aren’t above having personal preferences divide us either.  In our day, it isn’t so much preference for spiritual leaders, though that occasionally comes into play, but rather our preference for musical styles.  I’ve used this passage many times to address the division that has divided American evangelicals for the last thirty-five years.  

You're all picking sides, going around saying, "I like contemporary Praise and Worship," or "I only sing the hymns," or "I hate organ music," or "Drums are an abomination in the church."

I ask you, “Does Christ only have one worship style that he prefers?”  Is praise and worship the only way to worship God?  Will hymns save your soul?

…right now, friends, I'm completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You're acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I'll nurse you since you don't seem capable of anything more. As long as you grab for what makes you feel good or makes you look important, are you really much different than a babe at the breast, content only when everything's going your way? When one of you says, "I can only worship with contemporary praise and worship," and another says, "Nothing but hymns on the piano and organ," aren't you being totally infantile?

Adapted from The Message, I Corinthians 1:10-13, 3:1-4.

I am very grateful that “the worship wars” have waned in the last five years.  I’m always thankful for your openness to a broad spectrum of worship music.  I know that most of us still have our preference for particulars styles of worship music, but you’ve learned to honor and love each other by embracing the needs of others – just as Paul instructed the Philippians.

Mission Focus (vs. 17-25)

All in all, we are a fairly healthy and unified church.  Now, don’t let that go to your head and think that there isn’t any work to be done.  There certainly is.  We have our issues.  But God has been gracious to cultivate a measure of goodwill and unity among us here at First Baptist Galesburg.  Let’s look again at our text in vs. 13-15:

Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized in my name.

Read between the lines.  Paul is really ticked off at their disunity!  Why is that?  ‘Cause their division was causing them to lose the game.  In fact, they weren’t even in the game!

In 1987, the Dallas Cowboys were a decent team.  Not great, but decent.  Danny White was their quarterback and he had surpassed even Roger Staubach in most of the passing records.  But 1987 was also the year of an NFL strike.  Notably, quarterback Danny White and several other veterans crossed the picket line.  When the strike was over, the Dallas Cowboys were not the same team.  Resentment between the players deeply divided them.  The next year, their record was 3-13.  In 1989, it was 1-15, the basement of the NFL.  Division between people causes them to lose sight of their mission.  It is always a losing situation.

That’s why unity is so important to the Church.  The message of the gospel is compromised when God’s people don’t get along.  Corinthian petty divisions over their spiritual heroes kindled Paul’s anger.  God’s mission was in jeopardy.

It is very interesting what Paul says about the gospel in his letter to the church.  He is very clear.  This isn’t about Apollos.  He was a great orator and had a charismatic personality.  It isn’t about Peter.  Everybody knew that it was Peter who was the most dominant and outspoken disciple in the first days of the church in Jerusalem.  He was widely and highly esteemed in the first-century church.  And Paul wanted to make it very clear that the mission wasn’t focused on him, either. 

The gospel will always be countercultural.  Jesus was never out to win a popularity contest.  To the world, the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection was nonsense.  No one talked about crucifixion in polite company.  Not only was it brutal, but it was deeply shameful.  Jesus hung naked on a cross between two thieves.  How could anyone’s spiritual leader have been crucified?  And the resurrection?  That brought about the biggest guffaws from the elite Greek philosophers.  Paul was laughed out Athens for proclaiming it. 

If the gospel is always countercultural, that means we are a subculture.

Fifty years ago, that wasn’t the case.  Judeo-Christian morality was the dominant cultural force in our nation from the beginning until about 1970.  It was an unusual historical window of influence for the church.  But beginning in the 1960’s to the present, waves of expressive individualism and narcissism have engulfed us.  Christian mores, of course, stood as a barrier to the increasing libertine values of our culture.  Consequently, the church has been increasingly marginalized and muzzled.  We’ve been told that we are on “the wrong side of history” and bullied into submission in some cases through the courts. 

For many Christians, this is a cause for great alarm.  Many conservative Christians focus all of their efforts on regaining our privileged place and platform in the national public square.  I think such efforts, while well-intentioned, are misguided.  There is no going back to the ‘50’s and ‘60’s where Christians held the dominant influence in our culture.  Many folks see the severe drop-off in attendance and rise in church closures and are demoralized.  Actually, these seemingly negative developments have a significant upside for us.  A closer look at our survey data regarding the decline is churches reveals that the percentage of serious or convictional Christians has remained the same.  What we’ve lost are those who say they are Christians but don’t orient their lives around obedience to his word.  People are just more honest about their faith – or lack of it.  We’re not playing church games anymore. 

And friends, this is good news!  The gospel will always be countercultural.  And what the world has labeled as foolishness, prudishness, and passé, is exactly what it needs.  Our culture is deeply broken.  People are lonely and lost.  Families are decimated.  Love and civility are being flushed down the drain of power-posturing.  The church offers family, love, a place to belong and a purpose for living in Jesus Christ.  This is our day of opportunity.

Let’s Do This…Together (vs. 26-31)

Jesus prayed, “I pray…for those who will believe in me through [my disciples’] message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

You probably all know the story of The Three Musketeers.  They, like us, were countercultural and their mission was to fight against many of the injustices of the ruling powers.  Their fiercest held value was unity: “All for one and one for all.”  Our unity runs much deeper than a closely held value.  Our unity is a reality because we have all been brought into the life of Christ. We share his life; we are partakers of the divine nature (II Peter 1:4).  God, himself, through the Holy Spirit lives within each one of us.  “Christ in us,” Paul wrote, “is the hope of glory.”  

Unity is essential if we are to fulfill the mission that Christ has given us to reach the world.  Fortunately, God has given us a good deal of spiritual health and unity at this point.  Let us be diligent to protect it.