Undivided

Since we're beginning a new sermon series,

we just concluded our series through the book of Ephesians.

And let me provide a little bit of background

for this new letter through 1 Corinthians.

So the epistle to the 1 Corinthians

written by the Apostle Paul around 55 AD.

And Corinth was at the time a Roman colony.

And it's a narrow strip of land

that connects basically the northern mainland of Greece

to the southern peninsula.

So it's a narrow strip of land

that has the Mediterranean Sea

on either side of it to the east and the west.

So it's a very strategic location.

And because of that, it was a very diverse city.

And it's not really not unlike Cambridge and Boston really today.

But because of diversity and not just that,

the Corinthian church was also very divisive.

It was what we might call a problem church.

And Paul is having to address a lot of different things.

And one of the issues being,

they were challenging Apostle Paul's very authority.

They were saying, well, I mean, why should we listen to you?

I mean, we have these great people to follow.

So Paul is addressing a lot of serious problems

as he writes this letter.

They disagreed on a number of issues,

including sexual immorality, lawsuits, marriage and divorce,

singleness, spiritual gifts, and public worship.

And they were engaging in all this kind of back and forth

of one-upmanship with one another.

And so Paul is trying to tell them through this letter

to stop their one-upmanship and prideful, basically, divisions,

and then to unite together for the advancement

of the good news of Jesus Christ.

So that's really the main point of the reason

why Paul writes this letter.

And as our church continues to get older,

and as our church continues to grow, the Lord willing,

by His grace, there will be increasing temptations

for disagreements and divisions.

And because of that, our hope is that

as we go through the first Corinthians together,

the sermon series entitled Undivided,

that we will come through the end of it

stronger in our unity in Christ as a church.

And at the root of all forms of divisiveness,

and especially the divisiveness of the Corinthian church here,

was spiritual pride and elitism,

which our passage for today addresses.

And there's a book entitled Privilege.

The subtitle is The Making of an Adolescent Elite

at St. Paul School.

It's an interesting sociological study

about our social elite and how it develops.

And the author's name is Shamus Khan,

and he was once a student at St. Paul School,

and then he became later a teacher,

and then later a researcher at the institution.

St. Paul School is a college prep-forter school.

It's in New Hampshire.

It's one of the most exclusive college prep-forter schools

in the whole country.

It's one of the eight, I believe,

schools in the Eight Schools Association,

which is basically the Ivy League of high schools.

And so they, it's really hard to get in.

And as he was researching this, though,

he noted that the most successful students at this school,

basically the students that will in the future make up the social elite,

are not necessarily the most hardworking students.

Instead, he wrote this.

He says that they are the students who embody what he calls,

in quote,

the ease of privilege.

He writes,

these students,

because they were conditioned by their academic,

economic, and environmental privilege,

they carry themselves with tremendous confidence,

and in a sense,

this air of superiority about them.

And that helps them to get ahead in life,

succeed,

and to get people's esteem.

It's what he calls the ease of privilege.

The most successful students,

he noted during his research,

are people who embody that ease of privilege.

But what's interesting about that is also that he notes that

while these are the most successful students for this reason,

and while they are products of their privilege,

they themselves believe that they're successful

solely because of their intrinsic talent and hard work.

That's kind of the example of social elitism,

how that develops.

And that kind of mistaken elitism also finds its way in the church.

Christians who have been privileged to receive much grace from God

can imagine themselves as belonging to this elite class of Christians

and look down on other believers.

The grace that they have received from God is a gift.

They take credit for it themselves

and flaunt their own merits.

Ah, it's my superior devotion to God.

Ah, it's because I serve God more than these people.

Ah, it's because I had great mentors and teachers.

Oh, it's because of my superior upbringing in a Christian home.

Oh, it's because I got a great theological education

from this Christian college or seminary.

All of us, I would say, have at some point been guilty of this spiritual elitism

or have been offended by this spiritual elitism.

Probably many of us have done both, right?

And the church in Corinth was falling into a similar pitfall.

And so Apostle Paul graciously and forcefully addresses this issue

in our passage for today.

And his main point is this,

that those who belong to the church of God

by the grace of God should boast only in the cross of Christ.

That's the main point.

And those will be my three points.

It's that the first, the church of God in verses 1 to 3.

Second, the grace of God in verses 4 to 9.

And lastly, the cross of Christ in verses 10 to 17.

Paul begins the letter by identifying himself in verse 1 as the author.

Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus

and our brother Sosthenes.

It's a similar introduction to the one found in Ephesians,

but it's actually far more detailed than any other introduction we find

in Paul's other epistles.

And I think the reason for that is this,

because we later learn in the letter that in chapter 4, verses 1 to 5,

that these Corinthian believers were judging Paul, right?

And we also find out in chapter 9 that they were questioning his apostleship.

Is Paul really a true apostle, right?

And fully aware of this,

so Paul, right from the get-go, emphasized the divine origin of his apostleship.

He says,

Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.

The word apostle can be used generally to refer to the messengers of the gospel,

but Paul is using the word in a more formal, official sense

to refer to those who belong to the office of apostle,

who are laying the foundations of the church

by proclaiming authoritatively the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So he's claiming to be someone who was personally appointed and commissioned

by the resurrected Christ to be a church-planting missionary,

as 1 Corinthians 9 talks about.

So he's saying,

I am an apostle by the will of God.

And this self-awareness of Paul is very important

as we go through this letter as a whole,

because on the one hand,

Paul is incredibly self-effacing and humble.

He doesn't like to take credit for himself.

But on the other hand,

when it comes to defending his ministry and authority as an apostle,

he's very assertive,

and he's staunchly defensive of his own basic calling.

And I think the reason why we see,

on the one hand,

great humility and great confidence in Paul at the same time

is because he knew,

without a doubt,

that he were called by the will of God to be an apostle.

And so,

and that,

we'll see,

and recognizing that,

the fact that he is so,

by the grace of God,

will be the antidote,

will be what heals the spiritual elitism

that's besetting the Corinthians at the moment.

But Paul also mentions one of his companions,

as he writes,

he calls him our brother,

Sosthenes.

It's not clear who he is,

but there is a guy that's with the same name

that's mentioned in Acts 18, 17,

who was a leader in the synagogue there,

but later was beaten by an angry Jewish mob.

He probably converted to Christianity at this point.

And then afterward,

joined Paul and his missionary journey.

So he mentions him as well

as someone who is greeting the Corinthian church.

And then,

having introduced himself and Sosthenes,

Paul names his addressees,

the people whom he is addressing in verse 2.

To the church of God that is in Corinth,

to those sanctified in Christ Jesus,

called to be saints together with all those

who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

both their Lord and ours.

This is very interesting,

because nowhere else in all of his letters,

except for his two letters to the Corinthian church,

Paul addresses his recipients as the church of God.

So,

in Romans,

he says,

to all those in Rome

who are loved by God

and called to be saints.

In Galatians,

he says,

to the churches of Galatia.

In Ephesians,

he says,

to the saints who are in Ephesus.

Colossians,

he says,

to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ,

the Colossians.

In 1 and 2 Thessalonians,

he writes,

to the church of the Thessalonians in God.

But when addressing the Corinthians,

he doesn't just call them saints,

he doesn't just call them brothers or sisters,

he tells them,

to the church of God

that is in Corinth.

And with that phrasing,

Paul's intentionally addressing

one of their chief problems,

namely spiritual pride.

Because they don't belong

to some special class of Christians

distinct from the rest of the churches.

He's saying,

no,

you are one of the churches of God.

You belong to him.

He is your owner,

he is your Lord,

and you are the church of God.

And because the church belongs to God,

they are called sanctified in Christ Jesus,

called to be saints.

When we hear the word sanctification,

we usually think of

the progressive sanctification,

that Christians,

as Christians,

we strive to become more like God in our life,

and we grow in our holiness day to day.

But that's not the kind of sanctification

that is in view.

What's in view here

is what theologians call

definitive sanctification,

that at the moment we turn to Christ in faith,

that we are sanctified,

sanctified,

that we are,

and it's really simultaneous

with our justification,

that we're considered saints of God

in a real way.

That's what he references

in 1 Corinthians 6,

11 later,

when he says,

you were washed,

you were sanctified,

you were justified

in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

and by the Spirit of our God.

It's something that's already taken place.

We are sanctified in Christ Jesus

when we believe in Jesus for salvation.

And then,

the fact that they are called to be saints

is also speaking about the same reality,

right?

The words sanctified and saint

come from the same Greek word

that means holy.

And the basic meaning of the word holy

is to be set apart,

right?

So holiness is an attribute of God

because God is set apart.

He's someone that transcends

the created world,

right?

He's set apart from the rest of the world.

And so when something is called holy,

where someone is called holy,

we're saying that that person

is set apart for God's special purposes,

right?

And so saints are those who are,

they're the holy ones.

They're the ones who are sanctified.

They're the ones who are set apart

for God's special purposes.

And for that reason,

church is very special.

And Paul freely acknowledges that.

However,

the Corinthian church believed

that they were superior to other churches.

They were charting an independent course.

And because of that,

later in 1436,

Paul rebukes them.

Was it from you

that the word of God came?

Or are you the only ones

it has reached?

Right?

So all throughout this letter,

Paul emphasizes the fact

that they belong to,

he emphasizes practices

and teachings

that are basically found

in all the churches.

Because Paul wants to bring them back

to,

instead of charting

their own independent course,

to be united

with the practices

of the other churches.

You know,

to reign them back in.

And that's what Paul's trying to do

in verse 2 here.

He's trying to bring them back

down to earth.

He says,

To the church of God

that is in Corinth,

to those sanctified in Christ Jesus,

called to be saints

together with all those

who in every place

call upon the name

of our Lord Jesus Christ,

both their Lord

and ours.

Their Lord

and our Lord

the same.

The church in every place

calls on the same name

of Jesus Christ.

And the Corinthian church

is not called to be

a superior church,

a better church,

a different church,

but called to be

the church

together with all

the saints.

And sometimes,

this is true

in the modern day as well,

right?

Specific local churches

and specific denominations

can be so enamored

with themselves

that they begin to think

that their way

of doing things

is the only way

of doing things.

They think that they have

a monopoly on truth

and best practices.

But the truth is that

every church

that calls upon

the name of our Lord

Jesus Christ

belongs to the same

extended family of God

and have the same

spirit of God.

And in all likelihood,

for that reason,

there are probably

other churches

in the world

that have done

what we're doing

and have thought about

what we are thinking about

and what we're wrestling with.

And therefore,

we should assume

not a posture of pride

but a posture of humility

and a posture of learning

as we dialogue

with other churches

and with the spirit fellowship.

And after addressing

his recipients,

Paul greets them formally

in verse 3,

Grace to you

and peace from God

our Father

and the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's it.

Paul's trademark greeting,

right?

Grace and peace.

And the same one

he uses in Ephesians 1-2,

the standard Greek salutation

was simply greetings

which is a variation

of the word rejoice,

right?

But Paul transforms that,

just changes one constant here

and one verb there

and he,

to turn that into grace

so that the Christian,

distinctively Christian greeting

becomes not just greetings

but grace.

And grace refers to

God's unmerited favor

as one Bible dictionary puts it,

the absolutely free expression

of the loving kindness

of God to men

in the bounty

and benevolence

of the giver.

It's unmerited,

meaning that we didn't earn it.

It's out of God's

absolute freedom

that he bestows

his grace on us.

It's a gift

given to us

out of his sheer bounty

and benevolence.

And God treats us

with the favor

that we don't deserve.

That's grace.

It's the grace,

the reason for God's

saving acts,

all of his saving acts.

And if grace is the reason

for God's saving activity,

then peace

is the result

of God's saving activity.

The word peace

doesn't refer merely

to an absence of conflict.

It's a translation

of the Old Testament

concept of shalom

which refers to

a state of being whole,

of having a life

that is whole,

well-ordered before God,

according to God's purpose

and design.

Right?

And that's only possible

through the grace of God.

So really,

when he says grace and peace,

Paul's summarizing

his entire theology.

The grace,

the reason why God saves,

and the peace,

the result of God's

saving activity.

May that be to you,

Paul is saying.

That's his blessing

as he begins

his letter.

So the true

church of God,

then,

is the church

that has been constituted,

that has been formed

by the grace

and peace

from God.

And that's my first point,

the church of God.

Then,

having greeted

the Corinthian believers

as the church of God,

Paul proceeds

to give thanks to God

for the grace of God

at work in their lives.

And that's my second point,

the grace of God.

Paul says in verse 4,

I give thanks to my God

always for you

because of the grace of God

that was given you

in Christ Jesus.

Notice how Christ-centered

this whole passage is.

Right?

You look at Christ

is mentioned

no less than 12 times

in the span

of just these 17 verses.

Right?

Paul describes himself

as an apostle

of Christ Jesus

in verse 1.

Corinthian believers

have been sanctified

in Christ Jesus

in verse 2.

And here in verse 4,

he says that grace

was given

in Christ Jesus.

And Paul's theology

is Christ-centered

because he understands

that all of the

spiritual blessings

that we receive

from God the Father

are mediated

through Jesus Christ.

There's no grace

of God that comes to us,

that reaches us

apart from Jesus Christ,

that doesn't come

through Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit,

our comforter

and our advocate,

would not indwell

us apart from Christ.

The sweet fellowship

that we enjoy

as the body of Christ,

as the family of God,

would not be ours

apart from the grace

through Jesus Christ.

That's why Paul

can't help but speak

so frequently

about Christ.

Right?

And later in chapter 2,

verse 2,

he says,

I decided to know

nothing among you

except Jesus Christ

and Him crucified.

As believers,

we need to be characterized

by that,

the dominance

of Christ

in our lives.

That's why when we gather,

we don't tire

of speaking about Christ.

We don't ever

tire of singing

about Christ.

Christ.

That's what God

ordained.

God the Father

ordained that Christ

will be exalted

and the Spirit

glorifies the Son.

That's,

and sometimes I think

we get a little bit,

sometimes I've seen people

criticize churches

that they say

are too Christ-centered.

That church is

too Christ-centered,

too gospel-centered.

It's imbalanced.

There is no such thing.

to be Christ-centered

is to be profoundly

Trinitarian

because that's what

God the Father

ordained.

That's what the Spirit

of God does.

They glorify the Son.

Every grace we receive

comes through

Jesus Christ.

And I already explained

what Paul means

by grace earlier,

but here in verse 4,

Paul's not simply

speaking about,

in general,

about the grace of God,

but he has in mind

as he writes this,

a very specific

manifestation

of the grace of God.

He names what

he's talking about

in verse 48.

I give thanks

to my God always for you

because of the grace

of God that was given you

in Christ Jesus

that in every way

you are enriched in Him,

in all speech,

in all knowledge,

even as the testimony

about Christ

was confirmed among you

so that you are not

lacking in any gift

as you wait

for the revealing

of our Lord Jesus Christ

who will sustain you

to the end,

guiltless in the day

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The grace of God

was given

to the church of God

with the result

that in every way

the Corinthian believers

were enriched in Him

in all speech

and knowledge

so that they were

not lacking in any gift.

So especially here

in the context

of 1 Corinthians,

Paul closely associates

the grace of God

with the gifts of God.

And that's what Paul

is doing here too.

He's saying that

the gifts of God

that you have now

among you

is an expression

of the grace of God

and in that Paul

is rejoicing

and giving thanks

to God for it.

And he describes it

this way,

he says,

they were enriched

in every way

with all speech

and all knowledge.

So the full spectrum

according to Paul

of spiritual gifts

have been demonstrated,

have been witnessed

in the context

of the Corinthian church.

And what does it mean?

What does it mean

by speech and all knowledge?

So later in 1 Corinthians 12,

Paul lists the various gifts

of the Holy Spirit.

And then in verse 8

of that chapter,

he specifically mentions

the utterance of wisdom

and the utterance of knowledge.

So the word utterance

is the same word

that is translated here

as speech.

And knowledge,

of course,

is the same word.

So by all speech

and knowledge,

Paul's referring

not to just talking,

but to various gifts

of spirit-inspired speech.

So such as knowledge,

wisdom,

tongues,

prophecy

that he all specifically

mentions in 1 Corinthians 12-14.

And interestingly enough,

though,

this is helpful

because in those later chapters,

Paul's offering

a stern rebuke,

a correction

of how the Corinthian church

was thinking too highly

of themselves

because of their gifts

of speech

and knowledge.

in particular,

the gift of tongues,

which is a form

of spiritual speech

addressed to God.

And I'll teach on the tongues

more specifically

when we get to 1 Corinthians 14.

And they thought

that because they spoke

in tongues

that they had spiritually alive.

We're already there.

We're enjoying

the fullness

of God's presence

in the kingdom now.

And so they were

puffed up because of it.

And because of this

disproportionately enlarged

view of spiritual gifts

of speech and knowledge,

they used them

in an unruly

and disorderly manner

in the corporate worship context.

And that's why

Paul corrects them later.

And so when you keep

that context in mind,

it's remarkable

that Paul thanks God

for those very gifts

that's causing

all these problems

in the Corinthian church.

He says,

these very gifts

of speech and knowledge

are the source

that they're

manifestation

of God's grace.

gifts.

This is a helpful example

of not throwing

the baby out

with the bathwater.

So they are

definitely

misunderstanding

the spiritual gifts

and definitely

misusing

the spiritual gifts.

But nevertheless,

Paul says,

that is a real

and good demonstration

of God's grace.

And for that part

of that,

I thank God.

And Paul is,

I think,

completely sincere

when he offers

that thanksgiving.

It's,

I think that's remarkable

because,

you know,

it's easy for me

to thank God

for you guys.

I can pray this passage

on behalf of you guys

because I'm thankful

for you all.

And it's easy

for me to do that.

But to be in Paul's shoes,

to be writing

to the church,

that's challenging

his very apostleship.

And for him

to write about

the very things

that's causing

the strike

and discord

in the church

and for him

to say,

you know what,

I know you're

kind of messing

the use of that up,

but I still thank God

that that's an evidence

of God's grace for you.

That's such a helpful

practice for us

as we relate

to one another.

That helps us

to bear with one another,

doesn't it?

Yeah,

you were

sinning in that way.

Yeah,

you are messing

that up in that way.

But you know what,

I see that grace

of God in you.

And even as he's

thanking God

for the Corinthians,

the gifts that are

among the Corinthian believers,

he also pastorally

redirects them.

Right?

And he does that

in two ways.

First,

rather than emphasizing

the gifts

in and of themselves,

Paul emphasizes

the grace of God

in giving these gifts

to them.

So he focuses

on God

as the giver

instead of the recipients

as the gifted.

Right?

And by redirecting

the Corinthian believers

focused in that way,

he calls for greater

humility among them.

He's saying,

in essence,

what you have

is a gift from God.

You didn't earn it,

so why boast about it

as if you didn't

receive it freely

from the Lord?

In the same way,

when we encounter

highly gifted people

in our church,

and there's quite a few

highly gifted people

in our church,

as you look at them,

we shouldn't admire them

in and of themselves

and be jealous of them,

but rather we should

adore and thank God

for the gifts

that they have.

It's good to acknowledge

one another's gifts,

that's true,

but our focus

shouldn't be,

oh, how gifted

is so and so,

but rather,

oh, how generous

of our God

to give them those gifts.

Second,

he redirects them

another way,

second,

the Corinthian believers

thought that the

spiritual gifts

were evidence

of their spiritual arrival.

I mentioned this earlier,

right?

And he addresses this

in greater depth

in chapter 4

and chapter 13,

but they were basically

acting as if their salvation

was already fulfilled

and consummated,

right?

They have all that

is needful

to enjoy

the fullness of Christ.

That's what they believed

because they had these

gifts of tongues

and prophecy

and all of this.

But what Paul reminds them

of is that

the gifts that they

possess currently

is not evidence

of their arrival,

but evidence of their

waiting for arrival,

arrival and return

of Jesus Christ.

So he says in

verses 7 to 8,

so that you are not

lacking in any gift

as you wait

for the revealing

of our Lord Jesus Christ

who will sustain you

to the end,

guiltless in the day

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul says very clearly

in chapter 13

of this epistle

that the spiritual gifts

like prophecy and tongues

will cease

when Christ returns

because their purpose

is to build up the church

until they are fully built up.

So the very existence

of those gifts

is a sign

that we have not arrived,

that we are not done

being sanctified,

we are not done growing,

that we need to wait eagerly

for the coming,

second coming of Christ.

And I think

those two things

are connected.

Perhaps it's because

we are not eagerly

awaiting the return of Christ.

We are not eagerly

preparing ourselves

for the return of Christ

and for that reason

we don't eagerly desire

the spiritual gifts.

because if we see

the need for our preparation,

if we see

and anticipate

the coming of Christ,

then we will want

to be edified,

we will want to be built up

and the spiritual gifts

are given for that purpose.

And so Paul wisely

reorients

these Corinthian believers

even while he's sincerely

thanking God for them.

And then Paul expresses

his faith that God

will sustain them

to the end,

guiltless in the day

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Man, the Corinthians

are far from guiltless

and misguided

in so many ways.

So what gives Paul

such confidence

that they will be sustained

until the end?

The answer we find

in verse 9.

God is faithful

by whom you were called

into the fellowship

of his Son,

Jesus Christ,

our Lord.

I'm so grateful

for that verse.

The basis for Paul's faith

that the Corinthians

would be sustained

to the end

is not their faithfulness

but God's faithfulness.

Because even if we are faithless,

he remains faithful

for he cannot deny himself.

2 Timothy 2.13

Now that does not mean

that we do not have to

persevere in our faith.

We do have to persevere

to the end.

But the preserving grace

of God

is prior to our own perseverance

because it's God

who enables our perseverance.

Our perseverance itself

depends on God's faithfulness.

And that's why

the subject of the verb

is God.

In verse 8,

he says that God

will sustain them

to the end.

Some people debate

whether the subject

is Christ or God,

but either way,

it's the same difference.

It's God,

not us,

who is sustaining.

The word sustain

in verse 8

actually is exactly

the same word

that is translated

as confirmed

in verse 6.

So Paul repeats

that same word

to emphasize

the fact that

the God

who initially

confirmed

the testimony

about Christ

in our midst,

he's the same God

who will confirm

our salvation

in the end.

It's God

who guarantees

our salvation

from the beginning

to the end.

That's what makes

Paul so hopeful.

And that attitude

also informed

Paul's perspective

about the Corinthians.

That's super helpful

for us as well.

As we look at

each other's shortcoming

as the family of God,

we remind ourselves

as we see

each other's sins,

we remind ourselves

that's just dross

that is being removed

from the gold

that will be.

That's not

who we will be

in the end.

God's going to sustain

us to the end

because God

is faithful.

So that gives us

hope as we pray

for one another

and as we live

together

in seeking

to grow in Christ.

So that's my

second point,

the grace of God.

We belong

to the church of God

by the grace of God.

And after

the introductory

greeting and thanksgiving,

Paul turns to the

main body of his

letter in verse 10

where he teaches

that those who belong

to the church of God

by the grace of God

should boast only

in the cross

of Christ.

And that's my third point,

the cross of Christ

and he finds it

necessary to emphasize

the cross of Christ

for this reason.

Let's read verse 10

together.

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.

The word that is

translated agree

literally means

speak the same

in Greek.

And so

three times

in this verse

Paul is repeating

this word

same.

So he says

to emphasize

the importance

of unity

he exhorts

him to speak

the same

and to have

the same

mind

and to have

the same

judgment.

And Paul

does that,

exhorts this

with the authority

of Christ.

He says,

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.

you know,

for us

moderners,

telling other

people to

agree with

each other

kind of strikes

us as a little

strange and

maybe a little

bit pushy,

right?

I mean,

how can you

tell someone

to agree?

If they agree,

they agree.

If they don't,

they don't,

right?

I mean,

how can you

tell someone

to agree?

And that's

kind of how

we think about

it.

But when it

comes to our

confession of

faith,

right?

Because Paul's

not here,

and this is

actually not,

for Paul this

is actually kind of

common when he

tells people to

have the same

mind and agree.

And in

Philippians 4,

2,

actually he

says,

I entreat

Eodia and

I entreat

Syntyche to

agree in the

Lord,

right?

So he tells

them to agree

because they

were disagreeing

about something.

So this is a

very different,

it's radically

different from

our kind of

modern day

perception of

agreement and

people's own

opinions because

the modern

motto is to

each is home,

to each his

own,

right?

Whatever you

believe,

you believe,

and I'll

believe,

I'll

believe.

I mean,

that's really

the modern

attitude.

But for

Paul,

that's not

the attitude.

He says,

I appeal to

you,

brothers,

by the name

of our

Lord Jesus

Christ that

all of you

agree.

In Paul's

thinking,

he believes

that in the

context of

the church,

it's possible

for believers

to agree.

But what

are we supposed

to agree on?

Paul is not

telling us to

agree on every

single personal

preference or

taste or

opinion,

but when it

comes to our

confession of

faith,

when it comes

to our knowledge

about Jesus

Christ,

Paul expects

and enjoins

agreement.

In short,

he's calling

for unity,

not uniformity,

and he says

in Ephesians

4.13 that

the church

should strive

to attain

to the

unity of

the faith

and of the

knowledge of

the Son of

God.

So he's calling

here for a

confessional unity

that deals with

the content of

our faith,

especially that

which concerns

the knowledge of

the Son of

God.

And the fact

that that's the

kind of unity

Paul has in

mind is

confirmed in

later verses.

You get

verses 11-13

with me.

It says,

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.

Is Christ

divided?

Was Paul

crucified for

you?

Or were

you baptized

in the name

of Paul?

So Paul,

this is so

fascinating,

but Paul

received a

report from

Chloe's people.

I have no

idea who

those people

are,

but most

likely Chloe's

people didn't

belong to the

Corinthian church

because he

cites their

report as

something that's

credible and

objective,

something that

the Corinthian

believers would

accept.

And if they

were one of

the factions in

the Corinthian

church,

it probably

would not be

a reliable

thing to

cite.

And so

Paul,

these are

probably

kind of

third-party

believers who

are on

their way to

Paul,

stopped by

the Corinthian

church and

got to

witness this

first hand.

And they're

reporting some

serious issues

in the

Corinthian church

that they are

taking on

names of

various Christian

leaders as

slogans for

themselves and

declaring allegiance

to them in

a position to

others.

The fact that

only some

of the people

said,

I follow

Paul,

shows clearly

that there

were people

in the

Corinthian

church who

opposed Paul

himself.

Others

claimed,

I follow

Apollos,

or I

follow Cephas,

which is

Peter.

And still

others,

arrogantly,

claiming to

rise above

the fray,

they said,

oh, I

follow Christ.

Christ.

I mean, that

seems pious

on the

surface, but

claiming to

saying, I

follow Christ,

not as a

way of trying

to bring

people together

into unity,

but as

another one of

the factions

saying, oh,

you follow

Paul, I

follow Christ.

I mean, that

shows their

immaturity.

This is also a

problematic

attitude that

they had.

They suffered

from the same

spiritual elitism

that the

others were

guilty of,

even though

they're saying

what is true,

that we

should all

follow Christ.

And we

can easily

become guilty

of this

ourselves,

can't we?

At the

local level,

a group of

believers can

say, you

know, I

follow pastor

so-and-so.

He preaches

the best

sermons.

Oh, yeah?

Others can

say, I

follow pastor

so-and-so.

He's wiser

and more

mature.

Right?

At the

more regional

level, a

group of

believers can

say, oh, I

follow John

Piper.

He's the

most biblical

and bold.

And then

others can

say, oh,

yeah?

But he's so

overbearing and

inflexible.

I follow Tim

Keller.

He's much more

reasonable and

nuanced.

At a more

historical level,

people can

say, you

know, I

follow John

Wesley.

Because he

really understands

the prominence

of the Holy

Spirit.

And then

others will

say, oh,

yeah?

I follow

John Calvin.

Only he

really understood

the doctrines

of grace.

That hits way

too close to

home, doesn't

it?

It does for

me, too.

The problem

is not these

men's ministry

per se, but

that we use

their names for

the purpose of

asserting our

spiritual

superiority

over other

people.

That we are

dividing and

quarreling rather

than seeking

agreement,

seeking unity.

A similar

thing was

happening within

the Corinthian

church.

And we

don't know

the details

of what each

of these

groups of

people were

claiming for

themselves,

but there

seems to

have been a

particularly loyal

following of

Apollos,

because Paul

specifically

mentions

Apollos several

times throughout

his letter.

He says in

chapter 3,

verse 3-7,

For while there

is jealousy and

strife among

you, are you

not of the

flesh and

behaving only

in a human

way?

For when one

says, I

follow Paul,

and another,

I follow

Apollos, are

you not being

merely human?

What then is

Apollos?

What is

Paul, servant

through whom

you believe as

the Lord

assigned to

each?

I planted

Apollos'

water, but

God gave

the growth.

So neither

he who plants

nor he who

waters is

anything, but

only God

who gives

the growth.

And then

later, in

chapter 4,

verse 6, he

encourages the

Corinthian believers

to learn from

his example and

Apollos'

example, and

to not to go

beyond, I'm

quoting, not to

go beyond what

is written, that

none of you may

be puffed up in

favor of one

against another.

So that's the

problem here.

Some people were

getting puffed up

in favor of

Apollos against

Paul, and

vice versa.

And we

could infer

what the

problem might

have been,

because Acts

18.24

teaches us

that Apollos

was a native

of Alexandria,

an eloquent

man, competent

in the

scriptures.

Alexandria was

an ancient

city famous

as the center

of Greek

philosophy, and

Apollos was a

learned and

eloquent man,

and the fact

that he's

described as

eloquent probably

refers to his

Greek training,

formal training

in Greek

rhetoric, which

means he was a

trained philosopher

and a trained

orator like the

traveling Greek

philosophers of

that time.

And Corinthians,

it seems, were

enamored with

Apollos' gift,

with his

ability.

And so they

developed a

cult of

personality around

him.

And that

happens so

often nowadays

too, when

someone that's

very charismatic

or gifted, a

cult of

personality develops

around a

person.

And they

were saying

to Paul,

Paul, okay,

well, he's an

accomplished Jewish

theologian, we'll

admit that, but

Apollos, he's the

Greek philosopher.

Have you ever

heard him preach?

He's got the

real goods.

We follow

Apollos.

That's the

attitude that

Paul's dealing

with.

And so that's

what he seems to

be aiming at

when in chapter

two, verses

one to five,

it's a preview of

next week where

he says,

And I, when I

came to you,

brothers, did

not come proclaiming

to you the

testimony of God

with lofty

speech or

wisdom.

For I decided to

know nothing

among you except

Jesus Christ and

him crucified.

And I was with

you in weakness

and in fear and

much trembling.

And my speech and

my message were

not in plausible

words of wisdom,

but in demonstration

of the spirit and

of power so that

your faith might

not rest in the

wisdom of man,

but in the

power of God.

All of this is

absurd nonsense

to Paul.

Because he

corrects the

Corinthians in

verse 13 with a

series of rhetorical

questions.

Is Christ divided?

Was Paul crucified

for you?

Or were you

baptized in the

name of Paul?

There's only one

Jesus Christ, and

that means there's

only one body of

Christ, which is the

church of God, so

that divisions and

factions should have

no place in the

church.

And Paul's

clearly not

impressed, even

with the people

who are saying,

I follow Paul,

right?

He's saying,

what is Paul?

Was Paul crucified

for you?

If they thought

that they're going

to win some points

with Paul by saying,

oh, I follow Paul,

they were dead

wrong.

He's not impressed

that his name is

being used as a

slogan, because

that's not what he

wants for himself

or Apollos or

anyone else.

to be baptized

into the name

of someone is

to owe your

allegiance to that

person.

That's why Christians

are baptized in the

name of the Father

and the Son and

the Holy Spirit.

So of course they

were not baptized

in the name of

Paul.

But it seems that

the Corinthians are

making a big deal

of who baptized

them.

Oh, you got

baptized by Paul?

Guess what?

I got baptized by

Apollos.

But Paul rebukes

this kind of

attitude.

And the mention

of baptism

sidetracks Paul

for a bit, and

you guys probably

noticed that as

we were reading,

in verses 14 to

16 he says,

I thank God

that I baptized

none of you

except Crispus

and Gaius, so

that no one may

say that you

were baptized

in my name.

Well, I did

baptize also the

house of Stephanas.

Beyond that, I

do not know

whether I

baptized anyone

else.

It's really

kind of a

funny little

glimpse into

Paul's thinking,

right, as he's

writing this,

kind of ad hoc,

right, he's just,

and Gaius

mentioned Acts

18, 8, I

mean, Crispus