From the Apostle Paul, a letter to YOUR church: ... Dealing With Division
Actually, 1 Corinthains was a letter to the church in Corinth, an ancient Greek trading city of great wealth. It is quite relevant for us today because it helps us understand the issues confronting the church. The study of 1 Corinthians will help us understand the proper function of church, the proper view of many critical issues we face, and the proper exercise of God's gifts in the church.
One of the big issues found in churches all over the world is division. Division in churches happens as people develop pride and preference for certain individuals over others.
Consider a large, influential church in the Southern Baptist Convention that had a great senior pastor for many decades. As he moved into retirement, a search committee was formed to find a new senior pastor. A new senior pastor was called and began his work shepherding the church. The elder pastor continued to do some preaching and stay involved in the church ministry. It was not long before the new pastor realized that every decision he made was informally "approved" or "denied" by the elder pastor. Certain members of the congregation would follow the new pastor while others would go to the elder pastor any time a decision was made they did not like. Within six months, the new pastor resigned citing his inability to lead the church due to the divisiveness.As our LORD Jesus Christ said, "No one can serve two masters" (Matthew 6:24, NIV). The various ministries of the church need to operate together as a team to be effective. Pride and preference for one leader over another damages the body of Christ as it leads to:How do we deal with divisiveness in the church?
- Formation cliques and factions around certain leaders or groups in the church is damaging to the body of Christ
- Gossip about other people or groups
- Comparing results of one individual, group, or ministry to another
- Create quarrels, jealousy, and rivalry.
Main Thought: God has called each believer in Christ to use His gifts of grace in confronting divisive issues in the local church.
Outline:
- Hailed for holiness -- the church of God consists of true believers in Christ who are called to holiness in His church.
- Gifted with grace -- true believers are encouraged with every gift of grace needed to persevere in the work of the church.
- Destroyed by division -- pride and personalities create division which is desturctive to His church and those who cause it.
- Jewelled by the Judge -- each believer stands on his own before God as a servant whose individual work will be rewarded according to its heavenly quality.
1. Hailed For Holiness
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ--their Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor 1:1-3, NIV)
Paul commended the believers at the church in Corinth as those who were "sanctified in Christ" and "called to be holy." Before you dismiss this as just for some ancient, spiritually mature church -- consider he says this "together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our LORD Jesus Christ." In fact, the church in Corinth was a very immature church.In Christ, you are "sanctified" -- set apart for God and His kingdom. When you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are forgiven and declared holy before God -- this is your POSITION in Christ always (Eph. 1:4,4:24; 1 Pet. 2:9).
If holiness is your position in Christ, then what is to be your practice in life? In Christ you are called to be holy -- set apart for God unto the good works He has planned for you to do (Ephesians 2:10). All believers are sanctified and called to be holy, especially in the church.
The church of God consists of true believers in Christ who are called to practice holiness in HIS church.
In Christ, you are called to BE HOLY for God is holy (Eph. 5:1; 1 Pet. 1:14-16,2:5,9). The believer in Christ receives a new, holy nature from God -- this is the work of the Holy Spirit on the inside, what it means to be born again. Because God IS holy and has DECLARED you holy, you are called to LIVE a holy life. Paul explains in Ephesians what is required for the believer to be a proper, productive member of the church:You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24, NIV)Only a pig, in his true nature, will receive a complete bath and then return to wallow in the mud. As a believer in the Holy One of Israel, you are called to be holy -- this is a call to live in accordance with your new nature in Christ. Can you honestly even conceive of our LORD Jesus Christ encouraging factions and cliques and division in His church? It is ridiculous thought because it goes against the very core of God's nature: holiness.Paul's introduction to this book reminds us of who we are in the church of Jesus Christ. You are "hailed for holiness," commended for your trust in the LORD Jesus Christ. Remind yourself at the next church social, business meeting, or prayer group that as a believer in Christ, you are holy and God expects you to conduct yourself accordingly.
B. Gifted With Grace
I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way--in all your speaking and in all your knowledge-- because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. (1 Cor 1:4-9, NIV)Not only were the Corinthian believers hailed for holiness, they were gifted with grace. Grace is how God relates to you in every aspect of your life, not merely for salvation. Consider what the Bible is saying here about the work of grace in your life as a believer:Here Paul notes that the believers in that church had been "enriched in every way" through the grace of God. In fact, spiritual gifts abounded in that church: "you do not lack any spiritual gift." So there was nothing this church could not have accomplished for God's kingdom had they worked together.
- Enriches our life in every way
- Affects our speaking and thinking
- Consists of every spiritual gift
- Provides strength to persevere
- Brings holiness
- Allows fellowship with Jesus
- Gives assurance of salvation
True believers are encouraged with every gift of grace needed to persevere in the church.
Imagine a starving man, dying beside a refrigerator, because he refuses to avail himself of its contents. Instead, he moans about how hungry he is! The church of Jesus Christ that refuses to draw upon all the gifts of the Spirit that are resident in each believer is just like this starving man. The church is gifted and equipped by our LORD Jesus Christ for kingdom work.So the key is for the church to harness the gifts and work together toward the common goals of God's church:
Equipping the saints:
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-12, NKJV)Note that it is the leaders in the church -- apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers -- who are responsible for organizing the church for effective ministry. When God calls the man of God to be a leader in the church, God's people are called to follow his leadership.Making more disciples:
18And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19Go £therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20, NKJV)
God has graced you with all you need when difficult issues face you in His church. So draw from the strength and wisdom He has already provided. We must courageously tackle the issues because He who called us is holy.
C. Destroyed By Division
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, 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." (1 Cor 1:10-12, NIV)
The tragic truth about churches is this: though they are called out from the world -- the "elect" -- many still act like the world in regard to the form and function of the church. Consider these real life examples, with names withheld to protect the churches involved:
- A growing church splits in two because the pastor hired a youth minister...without involving the deacons.
- Several influential members of the church decide they want a new, "flashier" pastor. They begin a campaign of innuendos and gossip that eventually forces the pastor to resign.
- The youth minister is asked to leave without any word to the church body as to why. Many families who liked the young man leave the church in protest.
- The fellowship of in another church suffers for years because of unfair and poorly handled accusations against a deacon. Sides developed and the "winners" were those who sided with the pastor and the "losers" sided with the deacon.
Pride and personalities create division which is destructive to His church and those who cause it.
Each of these examples harms the body of Christ which is the true church -- not just a local church fellowship or church building. The Bible says that when one of us suffers, we all suffer in the body of Christ: "And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it" (1 Cor. 12:26, NKJV).During tense times of conflict, many people would rather simply switch church homes than fight. Here in the Bible belt there seems to be a church on every corner. Also, many conclude it is easier to shoot the patient and move on than try to make a difference where you are.
There is a cute story about a very sick man called to the doctor's office with his wife. The doctor calls the wife in privately, making the husband rather nervous. The doctor says, "I need to level with you. Your husband is very sick and will die if you do not take drastic measures to care for him. He will need regular medicines, of course, but will also need rest and freedom from stress. You must be kind to him, cook him 3 meals a day, and basically attend to his every need for several years. She walks out of his office and her husband anxiously asks what he said. His wife snapped, "He says you are going to die!"
The Bible gives explicit instruction to us to work together as one body toward one goal: the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). In the next few chapters of 1 Corinthians, we find these inescapable truths:
- Paul exhorts us to put an end to divisions over leaders, to be united in mind and thought, to work together as the body of Christ -- be the church (1 Cor. 1:10-2:16)!
- God gives the wisdom...individuals have no wisdom apart from God's provision so there is no room for boasting or factions (1 Cor. 1:20-25).
- God uses even the weak, poor, and seemingly inconsequential people to share the power & wisdom of God -- again, no room for boasting or factions (1 Cor. 1:26-31).
- There is a stern warning to those actively involved in destroying the body of Christ (1 Cor. 3:16-17).
D. Jewelled By The Judge
You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. (1 Cor 3:3-9, NIV)
1. EACH BELIEVER STANDS ON HIS OWN BEFORE GOD AS A SERVANT WHOSE INDIVIDUAL WORK WILL BE REWARDED ACCORDING TO ITS HEAVENLY QUALITY.
Each believer stands on his own before God as a servant whose individual work will be rewarded according to its heavenly quality.The Bible makes it clear that each individual will be rewarded individually. Therefore, there is no need for envy of another's work, nor pride in one's own contribution.
Also, the key for the believer in Jesus Christ is reward! The believer is judged at the cross -- Jesus Christ took the punishment for our sins 2,000 years ago at Calvary. The judgment we look forward to is not one of punishment but of reward. Further in this passage, the Apostle Paul uses a beautiful word picture to describe this great judgment:
Each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:13-15, NKJV)Salvation of the believer is not in question here -- the believer is totally secure in the salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ...provided by the grace of God and appropriated by faith in His promised Savior. So if we stand before the judgment seat of Christ individually, then there will be no following of people, no cliques, and no factions to prop us up. Each of us will be rewarded for his or her own labor since the moment of salvation.You can build the church, or build yourself up in the church, on the foundation of personal agendas, popularity, power, or money but all of these will cause that you to suffer eternal loss. We must strive to build on the foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ, walking by faith in Him, following His will wherever it leads.
Our attitude, then, should be to focus on the person of Jesus Christ, not on personalities in the church. We should point to His work of grace in our own lives rather than point fingers at what others do or do not accomplish. We must follow His will in the church and for the church...the church is His body. Remember, the stakes are eternal.
Conclusion
In God's church, there is no room for boasting; no place for pride or preference. Paul makes the point that the church belongs to each believer and each believer to the church. God provides the gifts we need to function as an effective ministry team. Therefore, there is no place for pride and preference in the church.Yet, because we are called to be holy, we must confront problems as they arise. We must also work through them within the body of Christ to His glory and the gain of His kingdom.
In the church, YOU must be the church!
