Mending, Not Tearing | 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Let me ask you a question. If I was going to

take a straw poll of everybody in the room this

morning and I asked you to raise your hand if

you've been part of a church split, what percentage

of hands do you think would go up? You don't

have to say that a lot. So clarifying, if you

were a part of a church, maybe as a child or

as an adult, and that church split for some reason,

or maybe your immediate family is connected to

a church that has split, what would the percentage

be? I'm guessing more than half of the folks

in this room would raise their hands. And that's

heartbreaking, isn't it? Because we've sung it,

we've said it, we've read it this morning, the

church is to be won. It's heartbreaking that

that happens. In my lifetime as a believer, I've

heard more stories than I can count of men and

women within seemingly good churches who end

up breaking fellowship with other members of

those same seemingly good churches. They break

fellowship, it's nasty, it's ugly, and then they

run off to start a new movement, or they find

another seemingly good church, and oftentimes

they repeat that same pattern. And perhaps the

saddest part of these stories is the cause of

those splits. In many cases, it's not doctrinal,

it's not an essential of the Christian faith.

Most of the time, splits happen over opinions,

over preferences, and over personalities. Which

raises the question, why are we so known as a

people who can't seem to maintain the unity of

the church? That reputation is out there. And

again, it's heartbreaking. We all know and affirm

that Christ is one. We all know and affirm that

his body is to be one. We all affirm what we've

already heard in our New Testament reading from

earlier. One spirit, one Lord, one faith, one

God and Father over all. And yet... Knowing that,

time after time, unity escapes us. Well, the

biblical author James has something to say about

this, doesn't he? What is the source of quarrels

and fights among you? He asks, don't they come

from your passions that wage war within you?

Did you know that redeemed Christians struggle

with their passions? Did you know that? They

do. We all do. Because we're in a war, right?

The flesh and the spirit, which Paul very clearly

describes in his letter to the Galatians. He

says the flesh sets its desire against the spirit

and the spirit against the flesh. For these are

in opposition to one another. And so even among

professing Christ followers, we struggle with

the flesh. We struggle with pride, self -centeredness,

sinful wants, anger, bitterness. And we get stubborn

and hard -headed about our opinions. over secondary

issues, over our preferences about what a church

should do, how a church should be run, and so

on. Simply put, conflict in the church happens

because men and women with strong passions bump

into other men and women with equally strong

passions. And in the midst of the rock tumbler

of that collision, if our desires aren't regulated

by God's word, if we're unable to subordinate

our feelings and passions to the lordship of

Christ, then the results are going to be destructive.

Let me say that again. If our desires aren't

regulated by the principles of God, and if our

passions are, we're unable to subordinate our

feelings and opinions and passions to the lordship

of Christ, then we're going to be in trouble.

And let's face it. We all know about quarrels.

It's a part of life, right? We've all grown up

with quarrels. Think about this. We grow up around,

let's see, toddlers fight over toys. And then

little kids fight on the playground. And then

teenagers fight with their parents over everything.

Then college students fight over relationships.

Then they grow into adults and they get a job

and they fight with others in the workplace.

Then they get married and guess what? They fight

with their spouse. And then they have children,

and they fight with those kids, and the circle

is complete. The beat goes on, right? And James

tells us it's because of your passions that these

things happen. You're at war within yourself

because of your unchecked desires. You want things.

You want things so badly, but you don't get them.

Or worse, you can't have them. And so what do

you do? You act out. You rage and you plot and

you seethe and you grow bitter. And there are

times, this is when it gets dangerous, when you

might come to a place where you say, I will do

whatever it takes to get what I want, even, catch

this, even if it divides the body of Christ and

harms other believers. Can you imagine that?

This is totally out of character for people who

profess to know Christ and yet it happens all

of the time. And guess what? Our spiritual enemy?

The prince of this earthly realm, he loves every

single bit of it because it brings disgrace to

the name of Christ. It degrades our testimony

out there in the world. And here's the thing.

We'll see this today. It's not new. Conflict

and disunity go back to the very founding of

the church. In fact, if there's any encouragement

about the fact that we're going to study disunity,

it's that It's not just a modern thing. It's

not just us. It's been happening from the beginning.

Why? Because the church is made up of fallible

human beings, and we're all in various stages

of spiritual maturity, and many of the folks

in the church are still more driven by their

passions than they're driven by the Spirit's

leading. And so conflict is going to happen.

So friends, before we dive into this text, hear

me on this. This is one of the most straightforward

teachings in all of Scripture, and yet one of

the hardest. To live out. So don't underestimate

the exhortation we're about to hear. Grab your

Bibles. We're going to 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, find verse 10. You'll

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

recall that the last two Sundays we have walked

through the historical context of this letter.

And then we have looked at Paul's greeting in

verses 1 through 9. And if you remember, this

is a greeting which is quite unusual for Paul

in the sense that he mentions nothing positive

about this church, the way they walk, in their

faith. He says nothing positive about the church

body in Corinth. What he does talk about is a

thorough list of positional truths about the

Corinthian believers. And this is so important

to recognize. Positional truths about these folks.

The list is on the screen. They've been sanctified

in Christ, he says, meaning they've been chosen

and set apart for God's purposes. They've been

called into the kingdom of God as saints, which

means holy ones. That is positionally true. They've

been lavished with grace from God. They've been

enriched in every way, Paul says, and they've

been promised that Christ will confirm them blameless

to the end. That's positionally true of every

believer. It was true of these struggling believers

in Corinth. And all of it, he says, is guaranteed

by one thing, God's faithfulness. That's good

news, isn't it? So in the first nine verses,

Paul, he doesn't commend the Corinthian believers

for anything. Listen, instead he thanks God for

what God has done in them. And what a great posture

that is for us to have as well. And now, having

laid out this greeting, beginning in verse 10,

Paul's now about to turn his attention to the

pressing matters that need to be confronted there

in Corinth. And he starts with what he apparently

believes is the number one issue, unity. Without

unity, the church of Corinth was struggling,

both inside and outside. Internally, they were

tearing each other apart. Externally, their infighting

was a detriment to their witness in the culture.

Guys, listen, without observable unity and love,

a church has no platform to speak into the culture.

It has no platform to make an impact with the

gospel. If people look at the church and go,

why should I listen to them? They can't even

get along. They're splitting all the time. By

the way, this is why unity is the number one

statement that we make in our church covenant.

If you don't know it, this is what it says. This

is number one in our covenant. We will work and

pray for unity of the spirit within the body.

How do we do that? Always practicing forgiveness,

pursuing reconciliation, and rejecting harmful

gossip. Unity is the foundation of a healthy

church. It's the foundation of a strong witness

to the culture. Amen? So, let's see what Paul

says, beginning in verse 10. Now I mean this,

each one of you is saying, I am of Paul, and

I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.

Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified

for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the

name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none

of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one

will say that you were baptized in my name. Now

I did baptize also the household of Stephanas.

Beyond that, I don't know whether I baptized

any other, for Christ did not send me to baptize,

but to preach the gospel, and not in cleverness

of speech, so that the cross of Christ would

not be made. void. This passage always takes

me back to something that the late Adrian Rogers

once said. It's one of those quotes that's always

stuck with me. Here's what he said. The church

is at its best when it's on the battlefield fighting

the real enemies of the gospel. She is at her

worst when she's in the barracks fighting one

another. What a truth that is. Now, it's interesting

how Paul approaches the issue. Look at verse

10 again. The way he writes this is very revealing.

I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord

Jesus Christ. So there's some important things

happening here. First of all, in the original

Greek, Paul writes, parakaleo de humas adelphoi.

I appeal to you, brothers. I appeal to you. Now,

parakaleo is a compound word. Kaleo means to

call. Para means alongside. So catch this. Even

though Paul is an apostle with full authority

to rebuke and to judge, what he does here is

he starts with a gentle tone. He starts very

gently. It's as if he's like a big brother who

comes alongside a little brother and puts his

arm around him, calls him to his side, and says,

we need to talk about something. We need to have

a conversation. There is no doubt in Paul's mind

that the issue is important, that it's urgent,

but he starts, this is so important for us, by

making that family connection. Hey, little brother,

come over here. My brothers, he says. This reveals

a pastoral heart of care and concern. Remember,

Paul knows these people personally. He cares

for them. But then he raises the stakes in terms

of authority, right? He says, look, I'm appealing

to you. By what authority? In the name of the

Lord Jesus Christ, the full title of our Savior.

I appeal to you by the name of our Lord Jesus

Christ. In other words, what he's saying is,

look, what we're about to talk about, it's not

just my private opinion. But this is the opinion

of the Lord himself, what he desires for you

and for your church. And by the way, that should

have grabbed their attention, right? Would that

grab your attention? But what we're going to

find out as we go through this letter is this

is why the Corinthians are in such a mess. Again,

they're more driven by their fleshly passions

than they are by what God desires for them. That's

how a church finds itself in trouble. So here's

how I want to walk through the rest of the passage.

We're going to go slightly out of order here

and we're going to start by looking at the problem

that Paul diagnoses. Then we'll look at his rebuke

and then finally the command or the remedy to

what he's And along the way, we'll make some

practical observations for us here at Oak Hill,

because this is a very practical passage, is

it not? And also, by the way, I'm going to invite

another one of our elders to come up, and he's

going to share a personal testimony about this

very same issue, so stay tuned for that. But

let's start with the problem. Look at verses

11 and 12. What is the problem that Paul diagnoses

here? Again, let me say this. This is not, sometimes

we get into passages and we're like, this is

difficult to interpret, difficult to understand.

Not this one. This is very straightforward, right?

And if you've ever experienced a church split,

you read this and you go, I recognize that spirit.

I've seen this happen. For I've been informed

or it's been reported to me concerning you, my

brethren, again, family connection, by Chloe's

people that there are quarrels among you. And

then he talks about these various parties that

people are lining up behind, including, by the

way, Kephas is just Peter. That's the Aramaic

name for Peter. In terms of the Greek here, the

implication is that the people in the church

are saying, look, I belong to that particular

teacher. I belong to him. I only follow him.

That's my guy. That's what they're saying here.

And remember, where's Paul writing this letter

from? From Ephesus, so directly across the Aegean

Sea from Corinth. He's writing from Ephesus.

And for some reason, he gets a negative report.

From somebody named Chloe, we don't have any

information about Chloe. She's not mentioned

anywhere else in the New Testament, but she has

people, which is funny, right? Chloe's people.

And so the speculation is that she's probably

a member of the church in Corinth. She may have

been a wealthy businesswoman who had business

interests in Ephesus. So her people, her agents,

go to Ephesus, and she says, you know what? Find

Paul and tell him about what's going on back

here. Because it's not good. And the message

Paul received is, verse 11, he says, I hear there

are quarrels among you. Now, the word quarrels

here is erodes, in the plural form of a word

named eros. It's a word that is used both in

biblical Greek and classical Greek, and it refers

to all kinds of conflicts. You see some of them

on the screen. It can refer to quarrels, contention,

strife, wrangling, even rivalries, which fits

the context of this very, very well. Interestingly,

Paul's the only New Testament author that uses

this word. He uses it nine times in his letters.

And get this, three of those nine times in Romans

1, Galatians 5, and 1 Timothy 6, this word shows

up in a vice list. Okay, if you know anything

about, there's virtue lists in scripture, there's

vice lists. And three times Paul lists this in

these vices that are called deeds of the flesh.

So these kinds of conflicts, Paul says, are deeds

of the flesh and they have no place in the life

of a Christian or in the church. That's how serious

Paul views this. Then in verse 12, he lists the

rivalries that have sort of come to the surface,

right? These are, we would call these cliques

or factions, right? Within one congregation,

we have four groups and each one has a certain

nuance to it. So we have the Paul party and you

might call this the loyalist party. I'm going

to give each one of them names. Paul, why? Because

these are the people that are most loyal to the

guy who came and planted the church, to the apostle.

And it's possible that the people in the Paul

party, they were saved through his initial ministry,

those 18 months in Corinth. And so he's their

guy. Look, he planted the church. I got saved

through him. I follow Paul. The second guy is

Apollos, and we might call this the cultured

party. Remember, when Paul left Corinth, he sent

Apollos, to come and watch over the church. Apollos

was the second pastor of the church of Corinth,

and he was known for his intellect, known for

his eloquence as a teacher. He was a Greek man,

so it was likely that he was a man of philosophy

and rhetoric, and people were super impressed

by him, super impressed by this guy, right? So

it's possible that the members who lined up behind

Apollos were the more educated or cultured parts

of the Corinthian church. Then you have Kephas

or Peter. You might call this the traditional

party because remember, Peter was one of the

original pillars of the church from the very

inner circle of Jesus. So what a connection to

make there, right? Going back to the original

church in Jerusalem. He's my guy. And it's very

possible that the people in this party also were

more partial to the forms and the ceremonies

of Judaism. There's a lot going on in this church,

isn't there? And then there's the Jesus party.

Now, how does that strike you? You might look

at that and go, well, that's the party I'd pick.

But be careful. Be careful. We should all be

followers of Christ, but the fact that Paul lists

this as one of the rival parties tells us that

he believes there's some unhealthy things going

on there as well. Now, why? It's likely that

the Jesus party was the most prideful. Of all

the four. Perhaps by saying we only follow Christ

they were looking down at others and saying well

you don't follow Christ. In other words we're

the only ones who are really saved. And sometimes

we find people like this in the church. They

look down their nose at others and say well you're

not as mature as I am. Maybe you're not saved.

Maybe I'm the only one who's truly saved here.

Or it's possible they come to the conclusion

by saying we only follow Christ that we don't

need any human leaders. or teachers, and that's

dangerous as well. So it's as if the church of

Corinth is divided into four distinct worshiping

communities, maybe even meeting in four different

locations, in different houses, but shattering

the union of the church as a whole. Now notice

this is not a leader problem, it's a follower

problem. There's no indication in the text that

the leaders were fostering these divisions, that

they were trying to build cults of personality.

It's the members of the congregation. They are

the ones putting these teachers on a dangerous

pedestal. We see this all the time today, don't

we? Falling into the cult of personality or the

cult of giftedness and almost bowing down behind

certain men. We see this all the time, engaging

in an ungodly devotion to godly men. And make

no mistake, the root of the problem is actually

pride. It's a sense of superiority. Each group

thinks their guy is the best, that their wisdom

and lining up behind their guy makes them superior

to everybody else. So pride is at the root of

all of this. And again, we see this today, the

danger of taking pride in knowing or being associated

with this preacher or that pastor. People today

select churches based solely on the cults of

personality or giftedness of the guy behind the

pulpit. They don't even see the other members,

the other believers. That's not the issue. The

issue is that guy behind the pulpit. It can be

dangerous. Especially if they run around going,

well, I listen to all of the sermons. All of

his classes, I read all of his books, I listen

to all of his podcasts, and you know what? He's

perfect. I never disagree with him. He's their

guy. Like my guy is the fount of all truth in

all matters of faith and practice. Here's where

it gets bad. If you criticize my guy, you become

my enemy. And we draw lines and divisions, and

we line up behind guys. And by the way, if you're

not on the bandwagon I'm on, you're not listening

to the same things I'm listening to. you're just

deaf, dumb, and blind. And sadly, I've seen this

play out many times among churchgoers, but can

I shock you this morning? I see this happen with

pastors. I see this happen with, believe it or

not, guys in the ministry who should know better,

but so idolize their favorite preacher or teacher

that they turn them into spiritual celebrities.

I've seen this happen at the Shepherds Conference.

I've been to Shepherds Conference. More times

than I can count. And if you go, and you should

go, it's a wonderful event. But one of the things

that you will see is guys looking at the, these

are pastors, looking at the lineup of speakers

and waiting by the door. waiting by the door.

When those doors open, they will elbow brothers

in Christ. They will push and shove. Why? So

they can get as close as possible and let the

shadow of their favorite teacher fall upon them.

Some of you guys have been there. You've seen

this. It's pastor worship among pastors who should

know better. How easily we forget that even the

best of preachers and teachers in the church

are just men. who need to continually repent

of sin. And if you don't have a balanced perspective

on this, if you don't have a balanced perspective

on your preacher or your pastor or your elder

team, what happens when that man lets you down?

Or, God forbid, has a moral failure. It's devastating.

It can devastate the lives of believers. We've

seen it happen too many times, right? Some big

names in recent years who have fallen. And I've

seen people stumble and crash out because they

put too much stock into that man. Somehow Christians

forget that the church belongs to no man but

Christ. We've got to keep that perspective. I'm

going to have Jeff Steele come up for a second.

Jeff is, if you don't know Jeff, Jeff is one

of our elders here. And not only that, he has

been, oh, and Carol, even better. Even better.

Right? Even better. That's right. Jeff is one

of our elders here and has seen the back room

of many churches in many different roles in ministry,

and I thought it would be interesting to hear

his perspective as well. Well, Jeff asked Carol

and I to share what we've seen and learned about

factions in the church over our 50 years of ministry.

And if you live long enough, you see all kinds

of stuff, even in the church. And so we wanted

to touch on three items where we've seen factions

grow up in the church and the problems it created.

The first one is youthful arrogance. And I'm

starting with this one because I was guilty of

it. I was young, I was in Bible college, serving

on the staff at my church, and I was learning

all this stuff about what the church should be

and how it should work. And I didn't grow up

in a church, and there was a lot I didn't know

about how the church worked and didn't work.

But I had ideas and dreams, and I thought everybody

should listen to me. And after a while, I came

to the point where I realized I couldn't be on

staff anymore because I just didn't see eye to

eye with the pastor. But I continued to push

and talk about my ideas that I had to anyone

who would listen, and it got to the point where

I didn't have much confidence in the old guys

leading the church. What did they know? And finally,

a year after I left staff, Carol and I made the

decision to leave the church. And I got to be

honest, when we met with the pastor, it did not

go well. But what struck me is that many of my

friends who'd known me for a long time, when

they found out that we were leaving the church,

they all said the same thing. It's about time.

And apparently they recognized something that

I hadn't, and that was that my unhappiness was

hurting the church. And I wasn't helping anyone

by staying. There comes a point when you're better

off leaving than trying to push something that

most people in your church don't want. And in

my youthful arrogance, I wanted the church to

listen to a 24 -year -old who knew all the answers,

and I was wrong. And I bring this up because

a lot of you are young and you're learning a

lot of stuff, but make sure you have the humility

to admit what... that you do not know at all.

There's a reason Peter in 1 Peter 5 exhorts young

men to submit to their elders and to clothe themselves

with humility. All right, second area is two

different philosophies of ministry or preferences

for ministry. And this can form around structure,

around worship, or even around spiritual gifts.

In one church, it came to a head over the role

of the Bible. and how we were going to live it

out. And there were some who believed the Bible,

but wanted to be more laid back in how you applied

it on some issues. And they really couldn't make

a decision about baptism or the Lord's Supper

or the role of women in the church. And the attitude

kind of was, if you had a belief, just go with

it. And others felt like we should work through

these issues from Scripture and make a decision.

And eventually the church split over all this.

And the church that I pastored always tried to

find this balance at the time between being anti

-charismatic and hyper -charismatic. I know.

But at a certain point I discovered it was like

trying to ride two horses going different directions

at the same time. And it didn't work. I had two

elders resign in the same week from my church.

One because we were charismatic and one because

we weren't. And I realized that I had to pick

a direction. And when we did, we lost some people

because of it. And the church went through a

lot during that time. And for me, as a pastor's

wife, these are my dear friends. We planted the

church together. And so I had friends over here

going, no, we need to go this way. And I had

friends over here going, no, we need to go this

way. And you need to talk to your husband about

this because, and it was such a hard thing for

me as a pastor's wife to be torn between these

two preferences and practices. The last issue

that where we've seen division rise up is powerful

people. Powerful people with strong personalities

who aren't necessarily in positions of leadership,

but who try to influence people and events often

behind the scenes. They are masters of manipulation

and they work through rumor and innuendo and

even slander at times to sway people to their

point of view. There was one woman, she terrified

me. She was very impressive, and she came to

me one day, and we were just associate pastors.

And she said, Carol, you need to take over women's

ministry, and your husband needs to start preaching.

And we're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. And when we

didn't, both of us were like, wait a minute,

this is wrong. And so when we turned away from

her flattery, she got real nasty, and she started

all sorts of rumors about us. Yeah. And the common

denominator in these people is that they are

self -willed and they aren't content unless they

get their own way. Twice in my life, I have had

powerful people start rumor campaigns against

me with stories that were completely false. But

the problem is, by the time the truth comes out,

the damage has been done. Trust and leadership

is undermined. The church is divided. That's

why Paul cautions the Romans to keep an eye on

those who cause dissension and to turn away from

them. And why he warns Titus to reject the factious

man after a first and second warning. The unity

of the church is at stake. Amen. Thanks, you

guys, for sharing a little bit about your lives.

Appreciate that. We've had many stories. We've

talked so many times at the elder table about

these stories and more. And it's heartbreaking

to see the church. Oh, thanks, sound guy. That's

great. All right, so we've looked at the problem

that Paul brings up here in the letter. Let's

turn our attention to the rebuke in verse 13.

And this will go quickly because this is such

an obvious teaching. In verse 13, look at it,

Paul asks three rhetorical questions. Has Christ

been divided? He asks, obviously not. And if

that's true, then we dare not divide his body.

Amen? Paul was not crucified for you, was he?

Obviously not. Only the precious blood of the

eternal God -man is capable of paying the debt

that we owe for sin. That's ludicrous, isn't

it? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

Again, obviously not. Your union in the waters

of baptism. is with Christ alone. So what Paul's

doing here is he's using a literary tool that

we call an appeal to absurdity. Because this

is all absurd, isn't it? And it's by design.

These questions are designed to point out the

foolishness of what's going on in Corinth. Paul

was saying, look, why would you line up behind

mere men when you have Christ? And notice how

tactical he is by using himself as the example,

right? If he pointed to Apollos or Peter, then

he would have been attacked by the other parties

saying, see, he's attacking the other parties

and building up his own following. So he appeals

to himself in these examples. Very smart, very

tactical. But you can picture Paul writing these

questions out and thinking to himself, how ridiculous

that we would even ask these questions. Were

you purchased by my blood? Did I redeem you?

Were you baptized in my name? No? Well, then

stop being man -centered. And the church needs

to hear that message. Stop being man -centered.

Now, I'm going to resist the temptation to dive

into baptism here in verses 14 to 17. And if

that disappoints you, sorry, we'll get it next

Sunday. I promise we'll come back. The only thing

I'll say today about the baptism issue is Paul

simply making the point that he's glad he didn't

baptize more people because even that could have

been a source of division in the church, if you

can imagine that. Members of the church getting

puffed up because I was baptized by this guy

or I was baptized by that guy. But that shows

you just how fleshly the Corinthians were acting

in this day. So we'll come back to that next

week and we'll talk about what Paul says about

his preaching as well. That's a tease for next

week to come back, right? Okay, so we've seen

the problem. Now you've seen the rebuke. As absurd

as it is, let's look at the command. Let's look

at the command. What is Paul's remedy for the

problem that he's diagnosed? And we find this

back in verse 10. Now I exhort you, brethren,

by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we looked

at that already, listen now, that you all agree

and that there be no divisions among you. Okay,

if you're worn out, I want you to stop and take

a deep breath because this is where it gets really

practical. And as we go through this, I want

you each to think about how you function within

the body of Christ here at Oak Hill, the way

you think about your role in the local congregation.

First of all, there's some important word choices

here. The word for divisions, which in the Greek

is a very familiar word, it's called schismata.

Schismata, and so the first thing we think about,

of course, is schism. And yes, that's where our

word comes from. But in classical Greek, schismata

is a word that's used to describe the tearing

of something, particularly the tearing of a garment.

And so what a great word picture we have. Paul

is commanding the members of the Corinthian church

to stop tearing apart their congregation. What

a beautiful, right? You can picture that in your

mind, the tearing apart. How do you put those

things back together once it's torn? Second,

Paul speaks of everyone agreeing. Boy, when you

read that, is that not a tall order? Everybody,

we're all going to agree on something. Man, asking

everybody in the local church to agree on anything

is difficult these days. But listen, I want to

make something clear. There are legitimate times

and places for disagreement in the church. Okay,

lest we have some utopian view of how this works,

there are times when we can disagree. It's how

you handle those disagreements that makes all

the difference, right? More on that in a moment.

Something important to see in the language here

in the Greek is the word that Paul uses for agree.

It comes from the root of the word lego, which

means to speak. So essentially what Paul is commanding

here is that believers in the local body should

all speak the same things. We should all speak

the same things here at Oak Hill. In a practical

sense, here's where this plays out in two areas.

First of all, in terms of doctrine. And I'll

even divide doctrine into essential and non -essential.

Which, by the way, is one of the most important

things you can do in your development of theology

is to make sure you can define what is essential

and what is not. When it comes to essential doctrines

of the Christian faith, the unshakable beliefs

that define historic Christianity, there can

be no room for disagreement among any of us.

We speak with one voice on those things, right?

We must. But then there's the non -essential

doctrines. And there we can leave room for a

diversity of opinions, especially when there

are legitimate interpretive disagreements. And

that happens in the Bible, right? Where good

and godly people look at a text and we have a

different interpretation of it. And we're brothers

in Christ. We have fellowship, but we differ

on a non -essential. Does that make sense? Very

important. I mean things like the details and

the timing of the last days. Right? We can disagree

on those things. Whether you're dispensational

or you take a covenant approach to the whole

of biblical theology. Whether you're Calvinist

or Zwinglian in terms of the presence of Christ

in the elements of communion. Whether you're

tradution or non -tradution. Whether you're superlapsarian

or infralapsarian. And we could do this all day.

Right? Because there's a lot of disagreements

among godly people in the church. Now, as I say

that, we can leave room for differences of opinions

on those things, but it is imperative that the

elders of the church all agree. Why? Because

the teaching arm of a local church has to speak

with one voice on all matters. Otherwise, what

we do is just sow confusion in the congregation.

That's very important. On your end, you, the

members of the body, you might see something

different than the elder team does on a non -essential.

And that's okay. provided you remain teachable

and you take seriously the exhortation to not

cause divisions over that issue. And look, I've

talked to so many of you, and sometimes we disagree.

You say, I have a little different take on this

than the elder team. Okay, are you teachable?

Will you, as Jeff said, listen, submit to your

elders and listen? Right? Most of all, Will you

make sure that you don't divide the body of Christ

over it? That's incredibly important. That means

so if you have a difference of opinion on a non

-essential doctrine, that you carefully regulate

the way you speak about it. Do you catch that?

That's what Paul's talking about, to speak. Carefully

regulate the way you speak about it. Here's what

that means. And I'll take a page out of Paul's

letter to the Romans. Go home this week and read

Romans 14. It's very informative. Paul makes

the case that Christians ought to develop convictions

about biblical issues. You shouldn't just be,

you know, I don't have to see or think because

my elders just say this. No, you should each

be studying the word and developing convictions

on your own. But when your conviction on a non

-essential issue differs from your brother's

conviction, you're not to fight about it. And

you're not to impose your conviction on him and

vice versa. So go ahead and talk about it. Kick

it around. Open your Bibles and study in the

spirit of brotherly love. That is all good, but

do not create a tear in this body. You hear me

on that? I love when guys are like, hey, can

we get together and wrestle through this text?

Nothing pleases an elder more than that. But

we will not create tears over non -essential

doctrines. And just as a warning, this is sort

of how... How this happens. I've seen this happen

too many times in the church. Jeff sort of hinted

at it. You have somebody in the body who starts

off with goodwill and he gets into a particular

issue and he starts reading books about it and

he listens to every podcast about it. He gets

very excited about this one thing. And he's convinced

that everybody in the church needs to believe

what he believes. And it becomes his pet issue,

his thing. And oftentimes he'll either avoid

talking to the elders about it, or if he just

can't get their attention, he will start to whisper

about that issue in the corners of the church.

Or he will start meeting with people to try to

convince them that he has this right. And if

he has the charisma, he will gain a following.

If he has the charisma to pull that off, he will

gain a following. And over time, he'll make that

pet issue a point of division in the body, and

here's the kicker, he'll be proud of it. He'll

be proud. Why? Well, I've straightened out what

was crooked in the church. God gave me that assignment.

Now I've fixed everything. Really? The truth

is he's not serving Christ. He's not serving

the church. He's serving himself. And he tears

the church apart. And he pumps up his ego. And

he chips away at the testimony of the church.

Imagine you arrive at the judgment seat. And

your legacy is, I brought harm to the bride of

Christ. Now, it's not only doctrinal issues where

this matters. Sometimes it's speaking the same

things related to decision -making processes

in the church. This happens all the time. After

much prayer and discussion, an elder team makes

a decision. They direct the body in some way,

and a member of the church hears that from the

elder team, and they think, I don't agree. And

that's fine. You have every right not to agree.

But rather than going directly to a leader, humbly

seeking understanding to say, hey, help me understand

that decision. Give me the background I might

not have. Clarify for me. Give me insight. Instead

of doing that, what does he do? He talks up his

own opinion with the other members. And his goal

is to get a whole bunch of people on his team.

that all feel strongly about this thing. And

then we'll try to manipulate the church to go

in that direction by using, you ready? The subtle

threat of rebellion. Well, I got a bunch of people

over here that really think you guys are going

the wrong direction. And it tears. It's divisive.

It's corrosive. And for anybody that's ever been

approached by somebody, they say, hey, let me

talk to you about something. The elders, stop

listening. Just cut it off right there. Nope.

If we want to talk about something the elders

are doing, let's invite an elder into this. Don't

listen to it. Jeff mentioned it, Romans 16. Paul,

talk about practical. Paul says, keep your eye

on those who cause dissensions and turn away

from them. For such men are slaves, not of our

Lord Christ, but of their own appetites. And

by their smooth and flattering speech, Carol,

right? You said that. By their smooth and flattering

speech, they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting,

the immature in the body. So listen, practical.

You're not always going to agree with or be happy

with a decision or direction taken by an elder

team here at Oak Hill or any church you're ever

a part of. You may not be happy. When that happens,

it may be a couple things. Because you don't

have the full picture or the background of why

they came to that decision. Or, you know what?

You may be dead right. You may actually, your

opinion might be 100 % legitimate and valid.

But either way, the key is how do I go about

handling that disagreement? So coming back to

that concept, there are healthy ways to disagree

in the church. The iron sharpening iron aspect

of disagreements can produce spiritual fruit

if it's handled the right way. It could even

draw us closer together if we work through disagreements

in a biblical fashion. But going back to the

book of James, it's imperative that you take

stock of your own heart before you take any action.

To ask yourself the question, hold on a second,

deep breath, am I being self -centered here?

Have I made this about me? Am I angry or bitter

towards leadership for some reason? If so, I

have to deal with the Lord first on that issue

before I do anything else. To lay that aside.

Above all, am I seeking peace and unity and insight

and clarification, or am I seeking to pump up

my ego by dividing people? These are critical

things. Jeff said it. Sometimes... Sometimes

when you're on the younger side of this, you

don't understand these principles. When you've

been in ministry for 20, 30, 40 years, you're

like, man, the same pattern. The same pattern

in the church. And the enemy loves it. Here's

the thing. We live in a bitterly partisan world

today. Everybody online is angry. Everybody's

hostile. Political... Political speech is a competitive

sport. Everybody's running around pointing fingers

and saying, labeling the other side with the

most vulgar things you can imagine. We fight

and argue on social media. We run to the comments

section. Don't look at the comments section.

Don't do it. And don't contribute to it. It's

ugly. We shoot off texts and emails or post something

on Facebook without thinking about the damage

that we're doing. The way we're hurting people,

the absolutism that we have in our position.

And then we find certain heroes online, right?

Certain podcasters, certain personalities. We

love all their posts. We start to hang on their

every word, like party loyalists. But the hatred

is so, I wonder if this is part of what Jesus

was talking about in his Olivet Discourse in

Matthew 24, when he said, many false prophets

will arise. and they will mislead many. And because

lawlessness is increased, people's love will

grow cold. I just wonder, are we in that moment?

Now, you might object to me. You might say, well,

look, that's the spirit of the world. That doesn't

happen in the church. Oh, friends, it seeps into

the church. How can it not? If any of us spends

hours and hours online, on our phones, reading,

listening, clicking, you are likely to bring

all those tendencies into the church, into the

fellowship. And when you do that, the danger

of division skyrockets. You end up treating your

leaders, your brothers and sisters in Christ

in the same way you treat somebody online, as

an enemy to be vanquished. We're all susceptible

to this. If we're not guarding our hearts. And

sadly, a watching world sees it. They see when

we go after each other. They hear, oh, did you

hear about XYZ Church? They split again. And

what do we do? We give them an excuse to mock

the church. We give them an excuse to disregard

the name of Christ. So let's just finish. The

last part of verse 10 now. What does Paul want

us to do? He says that you may be made complete.

Some translations say that you be perfectly united

in the same mind and the same judgment. Now,

that phrase, made complete, is a very scary Greek

word, kadertismanoi. You see it on the screen.

But it's the companion word to schismata. This

is so important. Remember, schismata is the tearing

apart. Kadertismanoi is the mending. It's the

mending of a garment. It's the mending of a fishing

net. It's even used to talk about bringing broken

bones together. It talks about holding things

together. This is what Paul wants for us. And

for him, this comes with spiritual maturity.

Hear me on this. Spiritual maturity in the Lord

comes when you become a mender of things, not

a terror of things. That you're committed to

mending and to peace and to unity. And if you're

a terror, listen, do you find yourself constantly

contentious in life? If someone were to say,

you know, what do you think about me? And one

of the words is, he's a contentious person. You're

always looking to argue, always looking to win

a debate, win an argument. Paul would say, you

lack humility and you lack love. He would say

what he says here in verse 10, you should be

one with your brothers and sisters. Put on the

same mind. Have the same judgment. In other words,

have the same perspective as others, especially

your leaders in the Lord. See the big picture.

Don't get caught up in the weeds on trivial things.

Be able to discern what really matters and what

you can lay aside. And to show what that looks

like, I always go back to Philippians 2 because

it is the, to me, the foundational New Testament

passage that talks about how we should all be

functioning in the body of Christ. Be of the

same mind, Paul writes. Same mind, that's that

same phrase. Be of the same mind, maintaining

the same love, united in spirit, intent on one

purpose. Do nothing from selfish or empty conceit.

but with humility of mind, regard one another

as more important than yourselves. Do not merely

look out for your own personal interests, but

also for the interests of others. Have this attitude.

You ready? This is it. Have this attitude in

yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. Guys,

here's the ultimate model for how you should

interact with others in the church. It's Jesus.

Is that a shock? Is that a surprise? It's Jesus.

What was Jesus's attitude towards you and me?

He humbled himself, taking on the form of a bondservant,

being made in the likeness of man for us. The

Lord of glory went to the cross and allowed sinners

to execute him for our benefit, and we can't

respond to that sacrifice by being menders rather

than terrors? Are you kidding me? Unity happens

when the members of a congregation are all striving

to put one another first. When all begin to see

that the needs of others are more important than

their own. And when everybody in the local church

is doing that simultaneously, guess what? The

church functions as Jesus designed it. That's

what we want to be. That's what we want to be.

Behold how good and how pleasant it is. For brothers

to dwell together in unity, David says. Now,

can I close with just some good news? Here at

Oak Hill, we do unity really well. I mean, this

might have felt like a little bit of a club today,

but we do this really well. And we can praise

God for this. Historically, the threat of divisions

hasn't been a problem here. And I think that's

because we've always made fostering unity a high

priority and we don't let divisions linger. We

deal with them biblically. And that's to your

credit, brothers and sisters. Well done. You

get it. You've understood the priority we put

on that and you've been striving for it. So well

done. But most of all, praise the Lord for all

of that, for all the ways that he has protected

us over 19 years as a church family. But having

said that, can we get complacent? No. No, because

the warning that we have in this text is real

and it's still binding on us. And we know that

our spiritual enemy is always out there, right?

Prowling around, seeking to devour. So together,

let's remain vigilant, let's remain alert, and

let's keep holding each other to the high standard

that we have in this particular passage of scripture.

Amen? All right, I'm gonna ask you to bow your

heads. This is one of those moments where it's

good and helpful to give you a few moments to

talk to the Lord and to pray quietly and to repent

of any sin that you need to repent of and to

affirm the truth of his word. So let's all spend

just a few moments in prayer together. Then Grant's

gonna pull us out and we will sing two more songs

in response. Let's pray.