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sermon: Differences of Opinion


Martin G. Collins
Given 15-Aug-20; Sermon #1558; 64 minutes

Description: (show)

The breaking of God's law has brought the curses of Deuteronomy 28 onto the offspring of Jacob. Satan champions self-opinion and mob behavior. From the very beginning, God's Church was not immune to division because each member has only part of the truth, seeing through a glass darkly (I Corinthians 13:12). The apostle Paul, no stranger to confronting factions, expresses the desire that the whole body should be "knit together" (as a mended bone) in unity. Each one of God's people needs to resist the carnal tendency to complain or put others down, realizing he lacks the whole picture, being only one interdependent part of the Body of Christ. God's called-out ones are not "islands" unto themselves; God has created them to need and to serve one another. As Paul cautioned the Corinthians, God's people today must not idolize church leaders or champion one personality over another; instead, we must all defer to the mind of Christ. The goal of each child of Light must not be to argue and win—breaking down the personality of a brother, but to connect to the other side, being kindhearted, as in the context of the give and take of family relationships.




I want to begin by painting a political picture for you. You may agree with me or you may not and that is fine.

Many in the United States today believe that we live in a "democracy." They are mistaken of course. Constitutionally, we live in a "republic" and up until the last few years, this republic has had some democratic principles intermixed with it. So in the loose sense, we incorrectly say that we live in a democracy or we say that we have a democratic form of government.

The mainstream media pushes the propaganda that internationally we spread "democracy" around the world by "helping" set up "democratic" governments. Yet, taught in this country in the government schools and universities for the last few decades, students have been brainwashed with what was called "Marxist socialism" in the 19th century and deceptively called "progressivism" in the early 20th century (generally speaking), and called "socialism" in the mid to late 20th century and deceivingly known today as "social justice."

Now, what I have just done is given you a mere glimpse of some of the political confusion that we have in this country. And it is very likely I have gotten some of it wrong or at least have not gotten some of the terms perfectly correct. Now, the politicalness of that does not matter for the sermon. It is just to show you that there is such widespread disagreement in this nation and in the world regarding what I have just loosely mentioned to you. And more often than not, we end up saying, "Well, we'll have to just agree to disagree." We have heard that comment, maybe not to ourselves, but we have heard it passed around through society.

There was an almost unspoken understanding in business never to discuss politics or religion with your coworkers or clients or customers because it inevitably lead to arguments. Often people disagree on the finest points and details of a subject, especially those two: political and religious.

Today in this society, everything has become politicized. People without self-control are even attacking others who are not wearing a mask. Have you seen the news stories and videos showing the viciousness of the attacks? People verbally ridiculing maskless people in stores and trying to publicly shame them. People punching, kicking, and throwing hot coffee in people's faces over mask-less-ness. Then on the other hand, people with a genuine fear of disease who wear a mask are sometimes mocked and ridiculed as well.

Widespread disagreement continues, even in what we might consider unimportant areas. Racism, education, sports, entertainment, statues, music, and religion have been politicized. There is widespread disagreement in every aspect of our lives. Lawlessness abounds. The United States was established on a foundation of physical and spiritual law. Those laws were established to protect citizens, not to control them, and also to guide citizens in the correct way to live.

Today there is a major thrust to do away with moral law. One instrument used to promote this is the false premise that if there is widespread disagreement on a law it is unjust. Let me explain. In other words, if several people disagree with the law, then that makes the law unjust. It does not matter whether you are for or against it. If there is a widespread disagreement, the going idea among legislators, leaders of the country are that these laws are unjust and that is how they are justifying doing away with so many of them.

It is being argued in our society that it is not wise to keep a law or to make a public policy decision in one direction when there is wide diversity of opinion within society now. Abortion and gay rights are prime examples of that and how they are able to continue with the laws regarding those. This false humanly-reasoned argument is based on three steps in false reasoning.

1) There can never be a just law requiring uniformity of behavior on any issue on which there is widespread disagreement. This is what they are going by as their modus operandi for legislating.

2) There is widespread disagreement on the issue of forbidding abortion.

3) Therefore, they argue, any law that forbids women to have abortions is unjust.

You see the Greek logic and the circular reasoning.

This demonic argument is a clever lie designed to allow for liberal changes in established laws that were originally meant to protect all human beings within the borders of this country. The false reasoning results in confusion and you may be surprised to know who sends this confusion.

Deuteronomy 28:15 "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you."

Deuteronomy 28:19-20 "Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out. The Lord will send on you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, because of the wickedness of your doings in which you have forsaken Me."

I cannot help but wonder if that is not being applied right now. Today, God is sending on this nation cursing, confusion, and rebuke. Rejection of God's law brings the inherent curse of confusion upon entire wicked societies, as well as individual sinners. We know that God is not the author nor source of confusion, but He has established the law of cause and effect. And the effect of sin is confusion.

God has established immutable just laws that require uniformity of behavior, uniformity of righteous behavior. And even if most people do not agree with them, people know that certain things are wrong because God has placed within every human being the knowledge of what is right and wrong, in a general sense, but they choose to be ignorant.

Ephesians 4:17-19 This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

Again, a description of our society today.

The widespread disagreement argument has its roots with Satan, the father of lies, and he has promoted self-opinion to the point where this society does what is right in its own eyes on a massive scale, and very few can agree with anyone else because they have little or no moral standard of law.

No one can seriously argue with the fact that there is widespread disagreement in the world and sometimes the widespread disagreement argument influences some in the church. The people, that is, the crowd, wants changes and thinks they are possible because of the false widespread disagreement argument.

Take, for example, the attitude used to water down and then change the doctrines of the Worldwide Church of God in the late 1980s and early 90s. Statements like, "The brethren want a change in this teaching" or "It's too hard. We have to make it easier for the people." Or "There is widespread disagreement among the brethren on this issue." So they began to water it down to try to make it acceptable to everyone. The corrupt leaders have conspired to lead the weak church members to believe that the teachings of the church needed to be changed.

Exodus 23:1-2 "You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice."

Justice demands impartiality rather than unwarranted compliance with the crowd. Judges are cautioned not to pervert judgment and they must not be overruled either by might or multitude, nor to go against their consciences in giving judgment.

Now in verse 2 of Exodus 23, the English word they are used for crowd is multitude. Crowd or multitude is translated from the Hebrew word, rabbim, which sometimes signifies the great chiefs or mighty ones or great teachers. The sense can also be understood as "you shall not follow the example of the group, the great or the rich, who may so far disgrace their own character as to live without God in the world and trample His laws." United States President John F. Kennedy in his 1963 State of the Union message revealingly said, "The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion."

Unity in the church should never rely on the uniformity of opinion either.

Ephesians 4:13-15 Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.

The meaning in verse 13 is until we all hold the same truths and have the same confidence in the Son of God. In verse 15, the translation in the text is literally "true thing in love." Two things are seen in this phrase.

1) The truth is to be spoken—the simple, unvarnished truth. This is how to avoid error and this is how to preserve others from error in opposition to all deception and fraud. We must speak the simple truth and nothing but the truth.

Every statement that we make should be straightforward truth and every promise that we make should be true. Truth is the representation of things as they really are. That is the goal. As human beings, we have a long way before we can reach that level of speaking the truth. But we are certainly trying. And the key is to speak it as we do in love. Speak truth in love.

2) The truth should be spoken in love. There are other ways of speaking truth. It is sometimes spoken in a harsh, irritable manner. It does nothing but disgust and offend. And when we state truth to others, it should be with love and concern for them and with a sincere desire to do them good, not just to pat ourselves on the back or to feed our egos.

Where a minister pronounces the corrective truth of God about immorality and other sins, it should be in love. It can be bold, but must come from the heart of loving concern

God is allowing Satan to use the same ploy today to continually split God's church, moving it farther and farther away from unity. Discord is promoted by increasing the intensity of the disagreements. Just on social media alone, there have been so many disagreements between even brethren and the church over all of this politically correct issues that are out there. Notice how closely II Peter summarizes this deception.

II Peter 2:18-19 For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.

So true religion always promises and produces liberty. But the type of liberty that these people Paul and Peter speak of seem to have promised was freedom from what they regarded as needless restraint or from strict and narrow views of the religion.

The widespread disagreement begins with one person complaining to another so that leads us to this next issue of complaining. In I Corinthians 10:10, the apostle Paul tells us that Satan can destroy us if we complain, as he did some of the Israelites. "Nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer." So we see there that when we complain, it is very likely that Satan is sending messages to us, putting us in the wrong frame of mind.

Complaining confirms that we do not believe that God is dealing fairly with us, even though as sinners, we deserve what we get. Jeremiah states this in Lamentations 3.

Lamentations 3:38-39 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? Why should a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?

Please turn over to Philippians 2. In verse 12, Paul succinctly states our individual responsibility with regard to the proper attitude in working towards salvation.

Philippians 2:12-15 Therefore, my beloved, as you have also obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

So we cannot let the influence of the world's argument that widespread disagreement is justification for doing what we want and for what we want to believe. Complaining about doctrine or other brethren is directly toward God Himself. Any type of complaining is.

We are building a case here. Complaining destroys unity partly because it rejects truth; and the unity of faith comes partly from learning and speaking the truth of God in love.

Colossians 3:12-15 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness [remember that word], humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

The problems of differences of opinion in the church have existed since the beginning and will continue as long as we have human nature, but we should be working on overcoming the things that cause disagreements and that lead to contentions.

(This all prior to this was my introduction. And this was my SPS.)

Unrighteousness is the overall cause of contentions. Things like pride, selfishness, confusion, power struggles, and more. Not until we learn to be truly humble and of a contrite heart will we rid ourselves of contentions. And there are many triggers of contentions. Paul spells it out here in Romans 1,

Romans 1:28-32 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who know the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only to do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

It almost sounds like the banner that should be floating across the screen when CNN or MSNBC or any of the mainstream media comes on board because this is what they are describing in every newscast. This nation is in sad shape. This is a description of the world. Christians should not have any of these character traits, but of course, as having human nature, we are still overcoming some of them. Hopefully only very few, if any.

The word "strife" here in verse 29 (of the New King James version) is translated "debate" in the King James version. The Greek suggests contention, strife, and altercation. It is connected with anger and heated zeal. Strife is the result of self-centeredness and follows covetousness, maliciousness, and envy.

In II Corinthians 12, Paul mentioned several similar problems to those mentioned in Romans 1, verses 28-32 that are related to and sometimes cause strife.

II Corinthians 12:20 For I fear, lest when I come, I shall not find you such as I wish, and that I shall be found by you such as you do not wish; lest there be contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, backbitings, whisperings, conceits, tumults, . . .

In the New King James version, the word "contentions" is "strife" in the King James version and is a word of battles, of fights, of battles of destruction. It indicates rivalry and competition and discord about place and prestige. Contention is the characteristic of the person who has forgotten that only he who humbles himself can be exalted.

Now there is a false reasoning that is very common in almost every area of life where there is rivalry and competition. It is referred to as "Ad Hominem Fallacy." This is when one of the arguers begins to attack an aspect of the other person's character involved in the discussion and uses that as evidence for his lack of ability to make his point. When people think of arguments, often their first thought is of shouting matches riddled with personal attacks. Ironically, personal attacks run contrary to rational arguments. In logic and rhetoric personal attacks are called "ad hominems."

The term AD hominems is Latin for "against the man" or "to the person." Instead of advancing good sound reasonings, AD hominems replace logical argumentation with attack language unrelated to the truth of the matter. More specifically, AD hominems are a fallacy of relevance where someone rejects or criticizes another person's view on the basis of personal characteristics, background, physical appearance, or other features irrelevant to the argument at hand.

Ad hominem is more than just an insult. It is an insult used as if it were an argument or evidence in support of a conclusion. Verbally attacking people proves nothing about the truth or falsity of their claims. Ad hominems are commonly known in politics as mudslinging. Instead of addressing the candidate's stance on the issues or addressing his or her effectiveness as a statesman or stateswoman, AD hominems focus on personality issues, speech patterns, wardrobe style, and other things that affect popularity but have no bearing on their competence. In this way, AD hominem can be unethical, seeking to manipulate voters by appealing to irrelevant foibles and name calling instead of addressing core issues.

In this and the last election cycles personal attacks were volleyed freely from all sides of the political aisle, with all candidates at all levels facing their fair share of AD hominem or mudslinging. Ad hominem is an extreme slander used as if it were proof or facts in support of an accusation or argument. Ad hominems often signal the point at which a civil disagreement has descended into a fight, whether it is siblings, friends, or even brethren.

Almost everyone has had a verbal disagreement crumble into a disjointed shouting match and angry insults and accusations aimed at discrediting the other person. When these insults crowd out a substantial argument, they become AD hominem. So, every one of you who is on social media I am sure has seen it, in emails have seen it, and also in person we have seen it. We are all guilty of it at some point in time and it is something that we should work very hard to overcome. But as long as we have human nature, it is going to slip out and I think that we can all admit that we have all done it at some point in our lives.

Paul wrote a letter to the younger, less experienced minister, Titus, and Paul tells him to warn the brethren to avoid contentions by practicing good works.

Titus 3:8-11 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These works are good and profitable to men. But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject the divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.

Regarding Titus 3, William Barclay wrote this. I think it is very revealing.

It has been said that there is a danger that a person may think himself religious because he discusses religious questions. It is much easier to discuss theological questions than to be kind and considerate and helpful at home, or humble and diligent and honest at work. There is no virtue in sitting discussing deep theological questions when the simple task of the Christian life are waiting to be done. Such discussion can be nothing other than an evasion of Christian duties.

The real task of the Christian is in right action. That is not to say that there is no place for Christian discussion, but the discussion that does not end in right action is greatly wasted time. Paul advises that the contentious and the strongly opinionated person should be avoided. The Authorized Version of the Bible (the King James version), in verse 10 calls him the heretic or heretical.

Heresy or division creeps in when a person promotes his own private opinion or agenda against the teaching, the agreement, and the tradition of the church. Heretic is simply someone who has decided that he is right and everyone else is wrong. Paul's warning is against the person who has made his own ideas the test of all truth. We should always be careful of any opinion that separates us from the fellowship of our fellow brethren. True faith does not divide people, it unites them.

Please turn with me to actually what is, in a sense, my core scripture for the rest of the sermon. It was important to David's sermonette as well, as he used three of my scriptures. They were not mine, but I am using three of his as well. So I am really pleased with the way the sermonette and also the commentary ties in with this.

Earlier in his epistle, Paul tried to mend the contentious situation that had risen in the church at Corinth. He was writing from Ephesus. Christian slaves who belonged to the establishment of a lady called Chloe had visited Corinth and they had come back with a discouraging report to Paul of dissension and disunity in the church.

I Corinthians 1:10-11 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.

Twice Paul addresses the Corinthians as brothers, probably for two main reasons here. One, to soften his rebuke of them, the things that they were doing wrong, and two, to show them how wrong their dissensions and divisions were. They were spiritual brothers and sisters and they should live in brotherly love.

So Paul appealed to brothers, not to adversaries, in the most authoritative way—in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Addressing them as his brethren, as members of the same family with himself, he calls upon them to take all proper measures to avoid the evils of division and of conflict. In trying to bring the Corinthian believers together Paul used two interesting phrases here:

1) He admonished them to solve their differences. The phrase Paul used is the regular one used regarding two hostile parties reaching an agreement.

2) He wanted them to be perfectly joined together, or as the King James version says, knit together. This is a medical term used of knitting together bones that have been fractured or of joining together a joint that has been dislocated.

Paul told them to speak all the same thing, avoid the divisions (or schisms as the original has it). In other words, avoid all disaffection from each other, be perfectly joined together in the same mind as best you can. In the weightier matters be of the same mind, but when there is not a unity of opinions, there should be at least a union of loving concern. The consideration of being agreed in weightier matters should extinguish all feuds and risks about minor ones.

This goes for all of the political things in the world as well that are discussed. They are of the world, our citizenship is in heaven, and we are ambassadors for Christ. We must think from that perspective.

Paul hints at the origin of these contentions. Pride lay at the heart of the problem, and this made them divisive and exclusive. Proverbs 13:10 says, "By pride comes nothing but strife." So in verse 10, Paul says, you all, and it almost sounds like it is a Southern term, but he says, Y'all speak the same thing, if I could to put it in that kind of language. But he says, "You all speak the same thing."

So this brings us to the question: Should all Christians agree on everything? I am sure you already know the answer to that. God made us individuals differing from one another. Physically, God did make us look alike. One of the greatest miracles of God is how we are all similar—one nose, two ears, two eyes, and so on. And yet we are all different. Therefore, since God made us different in other ways in being God's creation, He is the only one that could have done that. He is the only one that could have made such an infinite variety.

Evolution certainly could not. Evolution, if it even existed, would always produce similar or the same thing. Nothing except God can develop and produce and design so many different minds all thinking in unity when He puts His Spirit in it. God is also the God of spiritually thinking individuals. We differ in the degree of our fellowship with God, even though when we truly believe, we all become children of God.

As in one family, all the children belong to the same parents and are brothers and sisters among themselves. Yet their relationship to one another is different. So also in the Family of God. We are all children of God, yet we are all different. Now, we must not try to hide our individuality but feel free to express it in consideration that others are different from ourselves as well, and to respect that. We should not try to make others be what we are or make ourselves what others are. We are to become like Christ.

Now, the ideal is to have a healthy, realistic view of ourselves and a proper evaluation of others. As human beings, although we are each individuals, we cannot be self-sufficient. We must live to meet the needs of others. We are designed to do that. And we must accept others as capable of meeting our needs as well. No man is an island. We all need other islands, so to speak. But we all need others at some time or another, whether it be financially or help in a health crisis or whatever the case may be, we all have those needs.

The caring person is one who knows how and whom to help and how and by whom he can be helped. Where there are individuals, there are differences of opinions.

In Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, he is writing to believers and he calls them brethren, as I mentioned earlier. And one of the greatest dangers of having our individuality is to relegate the one who differs from us as a non-brother. We cannot say or make the judgment he is unconverted. We should never say that type of thing. We might say he is not acting very converted, but we cannot make the judgment of whether he is or not. Only God knows the heart. We certainly would not like other brothers or sisters who differ from us to consider us as not belonging to Christ.

Now the reason for this is that our present knowledge of everything is at best partial. You heard that word earlier in the sermonette.

I Corinthians 13:9-12 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then [when we are changed into spirit beings] face to face [with Christ]. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

So we know, still in part, but we know more than we did because we have God's Holy Spirit, being in God's church.

Because our knowledge is partial, it takes the partial knowledge of many to arrive more fully at what the whole truth of a certain issue is. If only one person could think of all that could be known of a certain thing, then there would be super-minds to whom all of us would have to bow in full subjection. But none of us, no matter how intelligent, smart, or whatever the IQ might be, has all the answers.

We all have impartial answers and facts and knowledge. Humanity is made up of individuals complementing each other and therefore demanding mutual appreciation, which is the fiber of the joy of group life. When a person or group tears apart the local body of Christ, he hurts it. He brings harm, not progress to it. Paul tactfully commended the Corinthians, then he launches a discussion of their sins, dealing first with the matter of church divisions. The sad news of their splits had not only come to him from the household of Chloe, but also from the friends that visited him who observed it

Now, why is it that bad news of church trouble spread so rapidly, while the good news of the gospel does not seem to spread quickly at all? Sometimes people idolize others, especially leaders, to the point of blindingly following them. Another thing Paul mentions in I Corinthians 1:10, is that there be no divisions among you. Do not bring schisms into the local body of believers.

The word for divisions is schísmata, which means schisms. It derives from the words schízo, meaning to rip or rend and separate from the whole. There is nothing nice about it, nothing easy about it. The idea is that one must bear in mind that when he tears off a piece, as from a bed sheet, what is left behind is characterized by inadequacy and the piece torn can no longer serve as a sheet.

If there can be fulfillment of the purpose of Christ by orderly division, that may be fine; but if both parties, the one remaining and the other departing, are hurt and made inadequate, then such a schism is improper. It should always serve the basic purpose of Christ.

Of course, if there is a false doctrine being taught and it has come to the point where it is impacting everyone and it is having a huge negative impact, of course that may be a valid reason to leave another group or leave the group and go somewhere else. But if it is not a doctrinal issue, then we are to put up with people in God's church and learn to love them and work with them. We have to be very careful for the reasons that we do part.

Now, there are reasons. For example, in marriage, when violence is a reason for departure, as well as the other reasons, but it is similar in a church. I suppose if you are receiving verbal violence against you, you may be pushed out, but it is not something to take lightly and it is not something to just jump around from church group to church group.

The church of God is spiritual and there are God's people in many of the groups, but our loyalty is being watched by God.

I Corinthians 1:12-13 Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

Any division must not be because people have idolized the leader, nor should it be because a leader is self-serving. Here in I Corinthians, Paul explains why they were divided. They had their eyes on men instead of Christ. Some claim they were of Christ, but we will find out how they really thought as we go on here.

One of Paul's primary concerns is that the Corinthians' pride had led them to value outward appearance and eloquence over the genuine work of God's Spirit. They quarreled about their ministers. Paul and Apollos were both faithful ministers of Jesus Christ and helpers of the Corinthians faith and joy. But those who were inclined to be contentious broke into groups and set their favorite minister at the head of the several factions in the church. Some promoted Paul, perhaps as the most knowledgeable leader. Others promoted Apollos, perhaps the most eloquent speaker. Some Sisyphus, who was also named Peter, perhaps for the authority of his age and position. And some were for none of them, but claimed that they were for Christ only, disregarding His ministry.

So Paul identified these four groups in the church at Corinth. They had not broken away from the church, the divisions were still within. He described them as tears and rips in a garment. So the church in Corinth was in danger of becoming as unsightly as a torn garment. And notice that the great figures of the church who were name—Paul, Cephas, Apollos—had nothing to do with these divisions. There was no dissension among them. There was no disagreements between them. Without their knowledge and without their consent, their names had been appropriated by these Corinthian factions.

Quite often, a person's so-called supporters are a bigger problem than his open enemies because they are emotionally involved and idolizing him. Let us see what these groups represent in a little more detail.

There were those who claimed to belong to Paul. This may have been primarily a Gentile group. Paul preached a Christian liberty, so to speak, which some had perverted into a false doctrine of Christians no longer being under the authority of the law of God rather than not being under the penalty of the law. But it is most likely that this group attempted to turn liberty into license and used their newfound Christianity as an excuse to do as they liked. They had forgotten that faith without works is a dead faith and the working of the Word of God solves problems in real life and reveals how to live God's way of life. They had forgotten that they were in the process of being saved, which is a gift from God. Nevertheless, righteous conduct and overcoming sin are among other virtues that are conditions to receiving the reward of the saved.

There was the group who claimed to belong to Apollos. There was a brief character sketch of Apollos in Acts 18:24. He was a Jew from Alexandria, an eloquent man and well versed in the Scriptures. Alexandria was the center of intellectual activity in the known world at that time. It was there that the scholars had made a science of allegorizing the Scriptures and finding the most obscure meanings in the simplest passages. The Alexandrians were enthusiasts for literary elegance. They were in fact the people who intellectualized Christianity. Those who claimed to belong to Apollos were the intellectuals who were fast turning Christianity into a philosophy rather than a religion.

There were those who claimed to belong to Cephas. Cephas is the Jewish form of Peter's name. These were most likely Jews and they promoted the teaching that a person must still observe the Jewish law. They were legalists who exalted the law and by so doing burdened believers with the weight of their own form of the law.

There were those who claimed to follow only Christ. All of us in this room should declare that we follow Christ. But these were doing it in a different way. They claimed they did not need ministers. They must have been a small and rigid sect who claimed that they were the only true Christians in Corinth. Their fault was not in saying that they belonged to Christ, but in acting as if Christ belonged to them. They could be characterized as a little, intolerant, self-righteous group. Most of the problem was because they were trusting in the wisdom of men. They were glorifying in the works of men and they were comparing one servant with another and boasting about men.

Paul proves that this infatuation with men was a mark of worldly living, evidence that these spiritual Christians were actually babes at best in Christ.

I Corinthians 1:14-17 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

Paul explains here that any division must not be because of a practice such as baptism. He says that he is glad that he did not baptize more believers in Corinth than he did because the division might have been even worse than it was. So Paul's associates in the ministry did most of the baptizing since Paul's special commission was to evangelize.

Paul, of course, is not criticizing baptism here. The people he did baptize that were mentioned here were very special converts. Stephanas was probably the first convict of all of those in Corinth. Crispus had once been no less than the ruler of the Jewish synagogue at Corinth. Gaius had probably been Paul's host when he arrived there.

The point is, baptism was into the name of Jesus, not into any man's name. In the Greek this phrase "into the name of Jesus" implies the closest possible connection. To give money into a man's name was to pay it into his account. To sell a slave into a man's name, was to give that slave into his undisputed possession. A Roman soldier who swore loyalty in the name of Caesar belonged absolutely to the emperor. "Into the name of" implied total possession.

In Christianity it implies even more. It implies that we are not only possessed by Christ, but we are uniquely identified with Him. What Paul is saying is, "I am glad that I was so busy preaching, because if I had baptized, it would have given some of you the excuse to say that you were baptized into my possession instead of into Christ's."

Now Paul was pleased that no act of his could be misconstrued as annexing men for himself and not for Christ. Paul wanted to set before those being called by God, the name of Christ in its simplest terms. To decorate the story of Christ with rhetoric and cleverness as mainstream Christianity has, and especially Catholicism, would have been to make people think more of the language than of the facts, more of the speaker than of the message. It was Paul's goal to set before humanity, not himself, but Christ in all His grandeur and all His glory.

Can we all speak the same thing without it being mere repetition? In I Corinthians, chapters 12 through 14, Paul delves into the problem, which apparently existed only in Corinth because of its proximity to Delphi, where certain priestesses gave out oracle pronouncements, usually causing confusion because of their intended ambiguity. Do our politicians and leaders speak in ambiguities (to say the least)?

The word used in Paul's discussion about speaking in an unknown language, and by extension in languages other than one's native language not immediately understood by others, is the Greek verb lalee. That is the transliteration of whatever the original Greek word is. We will see how it is used by Paul in I Corinthians 14.

I Corinthians 14:6-9 But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking with tongues [that is the word lalee, or better said, languages], what shall I profit you unless I speak to you either by revelation, by knowledge, by prophesying, or by teaching? Even things without life, whether flute or harp, when they make a sound, unless they make a distinction of the sounds, how will it be known what is piped or played? For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle? So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.

Here in verses 6 and 9 "speaking" is the Greek lalee. It means either to repeat something or to say it without necessarily expressing one's own individual thought. Let me repeat that for comparison to the next word we are going to see. It means either to repeat something or to say it without necessarily expressing one's own individual thought. But in I Corinthians 1:10, where we are told by Paul "that you all speak the same thing." Paul uses another word and it is transliterated from the original Greek to legee, which means "to speak with one's understanding or logos." In other words, with reason and intelligence.

So what Paul says in I Corinthians 1:10-12 is that no Christian should become a parrot merely repeating certain religious phrases coined by some supposed superhuman mind or super apostle. In other words, no Christian should lay aside his or her intelligence and become the blind follower of an individual who seems to possess superior knowledge. And that was the problem in Corinth. Some Christians became blind followers of Paul, Peter, and Apollos to the point of disbelieving other true ministers of God, though speaking the Word of God.

Now a Christian must think for himself, know what he believes, and make wise personal decisions. In Romans 14:23, Paul says, "Whatever is not from faith is sin." What is the "same thing" that Paul admonishes all Christians in Corinth to intelligently speak? The Greek expression is to auto, which refers to the basic truth of the Gospel. He defines the essential truth here in I Corinthians 15.

I Corinthians 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

Anyone who does not believe that is not saved, because that is the foundation of the Gospel by which we are saved.

What should characterize believers of a local church? After stressing the negative aspect of unity in Christ, Paul stresses the positive.

I Corinthians 1:10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

Paul begs them and us to be perfectly joined together, which in the Greek is the verb katarizo. It means to put together in order, to fit together like pieces of a puzzle. It is a medical term, as I mentioned earlier, that refers to the setting of a bone that is broken or out of joint. Whenever Christians cannot get along, the body of Christ suffers. So Paul recognizes through the use of this verb that we are all parts of a whole.

I Corinthians 12:12-23 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing? And if the whole hearing, where would be the smelling? But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.

And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty.

So none of us can be the whole thing or have the whole truth or have the whole knowledge of what is going on, especially when we look at the world or even the Scriptures. There is so much more in there and that is why iron sharpens iron. And as we discuss these things with one another, we increase the amount of understanding we have. As in a choir, it takes all of us put together to bring harmony in a chorus of varying voices. Each must sing his or her part, otherwise there cannot be a chorus. None of us can abdicate his part nor can we keep others from playing their part, but we must all sing in unison to reveal and exalt not ourselves, but the name of Christ.

Paul says that all the Christians' mindsets should be the same; "that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind." The Greek word for mind is more than a general term indicating the whole intellect. It is that part of us which enables us to think. Now the mindset of Christians is definitely different than the mindset of unconverted people. All Christians must have the mind of Christ.

I Corinthians 2:16 For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.

We must never evaluate Christians by the preachers they admire, but by whether they have the mind of Christ.

Paul's phrase that follows "in the sound mind" is "and in the same judgment." The word judgment in Greek is gnome meaning "opinion." It is what one thinks of a particular matter. That is what the Greek suggests. Today, for instance, we have two predominant mindsets, conservative and liberal, and our mindsets determine to a great extent our individual opinions on specific matters. Whatever our individual opinion is on a certain matter, though, it may be different somewhat from another Christian. Yet it must always indicate that it is founded on the basics represented by Christ Himself. In our individual opinions, we must demonstrate the mind of Christ. Verse 13 of Romans 14 contains within it a broad principle that by extension should govern our Christian relationships.

Romans 14:13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or cause to fall in our brothers way.

The wise Japanese writer Haruki Murakami wrote, "Always remember that to argue and win is to break down the reality of the person you are arguing against. It is painful to lose your reality, so be kind, even if you are right."

For a final scripture, please turn to Ephesians 4. When we are in the moment, we can easily forget that the goal is to connect with the other side, collaborate with them, befriend them, and integrate them into our family. Sometimes we are so caught up in winning the argument or whatever it might be that we forget about connecting. It is easy to spend our energy labeling people rather than working with them.

Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

The word "be" here before the word kind is really "become," because Paul realizes that believers have not yet attained the full measure of perfection found in Christ. The word from which kind is translated indicates a tenderhearted and generous character. The word "kind" originated from the word "kin" and when you are kind to someone, it means you are treating them like family.

Kindness is a good platform for respecting others. There is a give and take in this matter because mutual forgiveness is required and we have the strongest possible motive: we are to forgive one another because all of us have already been forgiven by God in Christ. Our forgiveness of others is to be like God's forgiveness of us. It must flow from ungrudging love.



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