May 6, 2002
LifeWay Family Bible Series for May 19
Ministry is first casualty of Christian conflict
___1 Corinthians 1:10-17; 3:1-23
___By Barbara Kent
___University Baptist Church, Fort Worth
___A couple of years ago, my husband and I visited Charleston, S.C., and toured the churches and synagogues of the city. We were fascinated to learn that in each case there had been divisions or splits. While we were thinking they all sounded like Baptists, a Jewish lady in the group whispered in our hearing, "Now doesn't that just sound like a bunch of Jewish folks." We were in a Catholic church at the moment.
___How sad that the unifying factor for all those groups had been their divisions. The problem is not new, as we will discover in studying Paul's letter to the Corinthians.
___We are one in the bond of love, or should be
___If the hymn "The Bond of Love" had been written when Paul wrote this letter to the church at Corinth, he might have urged them not to sing it until they resolved their differences. Paul appealed to the believers at Corinth to agree with one another, to have the same mind, to agree in purpose as well as in words.
___As you read further in this book, you will discover how serious and how foolish were the divisions that separated the believers. Paul appealed to them to lay aside these petty differences and quarrels in order that they might focus on the primary things of God, the message of the cross (v. 15). A church that is divided internally by any kind of schism has little hope of impacting the world with the good news of Jesus Christ.
___While students at Southwestern Seminary in the 1960s, Dan and I visited a church where one of his professors was preaching a revival. He told us on the way to the service that the church was apparently hopelessly divided. The issue--whether or not to give white Bibles to members of Young Women's Auxiliary who were to be married. However foolish that may sound, it is not very different from the issues dividing the church at Corinth.
___By our quarrels, we show what we really are
___While the things with which Paul took issue with the Corinthians may seem petty, the opposite was true. The real issue was the church and the gospel. Their argument over which leader was the most effective or the most spiritual was stripping the gospel of its power. They thought they were being wise. Paul felt were being foolish, even childish. He said they were anything but mature Christians. They were not acting like redeemed people (v. 3).
___Paul said he could not address them as spiritual (v. 1). He could only address them as worldly (v. 1). He had nurtured them with spiritual food appropriate to babes in Christ (v. 2). Sadly, they had never moved beyond that level. They still were not able to move beyond baby food (v. 2).
___Putting leaders in their place___
___Paul indicated that one clear evidence of the Corinthians' spiritual immaturity was the matter of choosing leaders by which to judge and tout their spirituality.
___Foolishness, Paul said! All who had served among them were mere servants. For the Corinthians to think claiming allegiance to one leader or another gave them special standing in the church or in matters of spiritual wisdom was folly. Paul said nothing either he or Apollos had done was of their own merit. God was the cause of any growth in the church (v. 7).
___His and Apollos' jobs were to be faithful servants in the tasks God had given them. God would determine the merits of the work they did and reward them accordingly (v. 8). God also would evaluate the merits of the Corinthians' labor.
___Leaders are to be servants. Paul was a wise leader both in recognizing this and in teaching it.
___Evaluation of builders and warning
___Paul had used a farming metaphor. Now he shifted to a construction metaphor. The point of both metaphors was simply this: Each person who serves the Lord has a God-given task to fulfill. Each person's work for the Lord will be evaluated by the Lord (vv. 13-14).
___Paul's original complaint with the Corinthians was their lack of true spirituality. In verses 16-17, he brought the matter to a conclusion by saying they were God's temple and God's Spirit lived in them.
___Do not deceive yourselves, Paul warned. Wisdom by worldly standards was foolishness. Boasting about human leaders was folly. The believer should know one master, and that master is Christ.
___Bringing these words home
___When conflict arises in a church, most people would like simply to ignore it, pretend it does not exist or run away from it. Paul would exhort every believer to be spiritually mature. Conflict that divides the body of Christ is not of the Lord. Remembering the church is the Lord's and we are his is a good place to begin. Affirm the worth of all in God's sight. Practice humility in all things, remembering we are servants, not lords. There is only one Lord, Jesus Christ.
___Questions for discussion
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