Wednesday, March 10, 2021 Some material taken from The Gospel Is the Answer
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. For it has been reported to
me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 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.”. 1 Corinthians 1:10-12
A Divided
Fellowship
The apostle Paul wrote
his fist letter to the Corinthians, a church community that he spent a year and
a half forming, because he had gotten word that there were some problems among
the congregation. They were young Christians, and even though they were strong
in their beliefs when Paul left, they needed some new guidance from him.
One of the problems the congregation
in Corinth was facing was division in the church. We all know the church is
full of humans, sinful humans. Our flesh gets in the way real fast when we let
it, and when that happens, Satan has a foothold to get in and wreak havoc.
Two new teachers had come
in since Paul had left and the people had picked which teacher they favored and
formed two different groups. The fact that they had formed these two different
study groups was not the problem. The division came from the way they acted to
one another. Each group thought the other one was not as good as the group they
belonged to and they began to talk disrespectfully about one another. This is
where the division started.
It is not wrong to prefer
one teacher over another. Everyone prefers different styles of learning and
worshipping. In fact, the way we prefer to worship is one of the big causes of
division in churches today. A degree doesn’t always mean someone will be a
better teacher, and wisdom doesn’t usually come from books. God uses all kinds of
people to teach and preach His good news.
Satan loves division,
especially in the body of Christ. A house divided cannot stand and unless we
are one, unified in mind and spirit, we are powerless to do what Christ calls
His church to do. We will turn people away with our actions, no matter how human
we are, because they expect the church to be different. And we should be.
Paul was counseling these believers not to boast in
particular church teachers because those teachers are merely servants of
Christ. If there is any boasting, it should be a unified boast in the Lord
singularly, and the work He accomplished through the cross and resurrection. -
Sam Nobles
As believers are all in
Christ. If each of us are in Christ, we can live in unity by implementing cooperative
thinking and agreement on the important matters. We will disagree with other
believers sometimes, but we must agree on the facts – that Christ was
crucified, rose from the dead, and accepting His gift of salvation is the only way
to heaven. Disagreement doesn’t have to mean division. It may mean compromising
a little, but it doesn’t have to break a church apart. If we are separated in
division, the church doesn’t work for Christ and we can’t grow in Christ
either. Let us not be distracted by pride but be unified in the love of Christ
and doing His work.
For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
