Sermons

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The Ground of Unity
May 13, 2001
Series on I Corinthians
Pastor Dan Baumgartner

I Corinthians 1:10-17

[Take piece of cloth and TEAR it…loudly]

THAT…is what the Apostle Paul was afraid of in Corinth. The church being torn apart, rent, divided…or quite literally, schismed. “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…that you be in agreement, that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”

The church at Corinth was just a few years old…and it was off to such a great start. Yet here Paul is, pleading…because the church is in danger. The reports he is receiving are that the church of Corinth is struggling to stay together as one community. Why is that so important? What’s the big deal? It may not sound so big to us…churches break apart all the time. People get in conflict, somebody doesn’t like a pastor, there’s a major disagreement…so somebody leaves and starts the new, better, improved church. Just start your own denomination. In the United States alone, there are over 5,000 Christian denominations! That’s a lot of splits and disagreements. So what’s the big deal?

For Paul…it’s a huge deal. Because the church is something more than just a community of volunteers who meet on Sundays. The church is something bigger than that…it is mysterious, it is Christ’s body, it is God’s main way of impacting the world He cares so much about. What would be a good model for us to think of that has a bunch of diverse people come together? How about a good choir, or ensemble? Think of the sound…not one monotone sound that says everybody thinks the same way on every issue, but a blending harmony of purpose…one heart and mind in the Lord Jesus Christ, with all the pieces “knit together.” Paul was worried.

He worried that people were quarreling over allegiance to some of the leadership figures of the church. There seems to be several divisions or special interest groups. Their slogans sound like this: “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas.” We don’t know, of course, what exactly was causing the divisions. We could speculate from what we know of the three personalities. The part who claimed the name of PAUL might have been mainly Gentiles…after all, Paul’s main mission was to Gentiles. And his message was the gospel of grace that brought Christian freedom, a new view of the law. Maybe these were people attracted to freedom.

And what about the party of APOLLOS? We know something of Apollos from the book of Acts. He was the guy who came from Alexandria, a man of great wisdom, and knowledge of scriptures AND he was a scintillating speaker, burning with enthusiasm, and powerfully debating in the public arena. Apollos was a very sharp guy and the Alexandrians were by reputation a very intellectual bunch…perhaps the party of Apollos represented a more intellectual approach to the faith.

And then the party of Cephas -- Cephas is the Hebrew name for PETER, the rough and tumble fisherman who was one of Jesus’ main disciples. He was Jewish, from Galilee and someone who had personally known Jesus. Had he made a trip to Corinth? Perhaps he had connected with the Jewish Christians there, or gained a following among the blue-collars.

Whatever the reasons, there were these three parties….and then a fourth, one that sounds just great at first, who trumpet “I belong to Christ.” You’d think that’s what Paul would want. Yet here it’s another division…perhaps a fourth group who thought they were the REAL Christians. “You all think you’re spiritual, but WE are the ones who are really in touch with God. WE belong to Christ…we’re not so sure about the rest of you.”

Special interest groups built on personalities can split the church. Does that really happen? Of course. To have your main commitment to the body of Christ be focused on one person is not a good think. Even good leaders go astray. Or people get hooked into one speaker, one TV evangelist, one author…and lose perspective. I still remember the stories of Jim Jones, the pastor turned cult leader who orchestrated a mass murder/suicide in Guyana in the 1970’s. I remember hearing a story of him preaching in a church in San Francisco, and at one point throwing the Bible down and screaming “Don’t listen to that…listen to ME!” And people continued to follow him. He was a personality.

Now, I tried hard to think of how this might exhibit itself here at Bethany. I thought, “Well, let’s see, there are three people here who preach: Dan, Lynne, Jeff. I wonder if WE are setting up parties? I wonder if people are saying “I belong to Jeff Van Duzer! I belong to Lynne Baab! I belong to Dan Baumgartner!”

I’m thinking that’s not really a problem. But I am reminded that we need to be discerning about our leaders in the Christian community. And the main thing I believe we always need to look for, whether in a preacher or writer or teacher or professor…is this: Who do they point to? If we sit and listen and walk away and all we think is “what a marvelous speaker!,” there’s something wrong. If we come away moved by someone’s credentials, there’s something wrong. Are they pointing to Jesus? Do we come away wanting to love Jesus, to live differently, to know the scriptures? Or are we pointed to the person?

This week I read about one leader who had it right, at least sometimes. One of Martin Luther’s colleagues in the 16th century was a man named Melancthon. When Martin Luther was forced to flee the persecution of the church, Melancthon became the main teacher in Wittenberg. He gave a series of lectures called “Annotations on I Corinthians.” When Luther returned, he found out about the talks and acquired a copy. He was so impressed, he wanted them to be published. But Melancthon was very reluctant to do that. Why? He was “afraid that his comments would advance his ideas more than God’s.” I’d be interested in following someone like that, who pointed people towards Christ and not himself.

What causes a division in a church? Lots of things: egos, selfishness, gossip, theological disagreement, evil, personalities, power, choices, pride, brokeness. Is it real? You bet it’s real.

Some of you have read about the trip that Pope John Paul is on right now. Last week, he met in Athens, Greece with the Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church. You historians will note that the origins of the split between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, at that time the church in the West (Rome) and the one in the East (Constantinople) date as far back as 1054 AD. The issues splitting the church were many, and complicated. But it was the year 1204 AD that was particularly pivotal. That was the year when the Crusader armies swept through Turkey and trashed Constantinople, pillaging and burning and massacring. Then Rome forced a Western Bishop in as head of the Eastern Church. The resentment over that and other grievances have lasted for at least 797 years! A pope had not visited Greece in all that time. 797 years.

So Paul says “Seek unity.” What is the ground for unity according to Paul? This might surprise you. He doesn’t appeal to the good in each person, or some basic humanitarian civility. He doesn’t broker a political compromise, nor does he talk about respecting each others’ rights. The ground of unity is found in only one place: the cross.

Paul says “Christ sent me…to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.” The cross of Christ is the sign that God broke into the world with intentionality. The cross was not an accident of history, but God’s way of setting things right, of embodying forgiveness extended towards all people. The cross of Christ is not pretty…it’s offensive. It wraps up sin and death and pain and longing, and makes the absurd claim that God would act in such an earthy, painful, humiliating way…to accomplish His purposes. And so Paul says…don’t ever obscure the cross. Don’t cover it up with pretty words and human cleverness and persuasive techniques … the power of the cross is the love of God laid bare. THAT cross…is the ground of unity for the church. It cuts across all human differences, and makes room for the grace of God that comes as sheer gift.

It’s easy to talk about the brokeness of the worldwide church, or of denominations. It’s harder to talk about what it means HERE, in THIS church. Are we in danger, do we have special interests that threaten the unity of this community?

I want to flip that question around a bit. You see, I believe that there are some marvelous things happening in this church right now. Barriers of socio-economic distinction are slowly being chipped away. Gifts are being called out for ministry in new areas, people are trusting each other and asking for help in battling addictions, broken relationships are being knit together…I believe the Spirit of God is moving powerfully. When there are good things going on, the community also becomes a target for the Enemy. There is nothing that Satan would like better than to put up a barrier to what God is doing by planting division. And so this morning, I would ask you: what will YOU do…to work for the unity of this community? Here’s a couple of ideas:

a) Guard Your Tongue. In every New Members class we hold, I ask people to name their expectations of Bethany. Then towards the end of class, I tell them a few expectations Bethany has of them. One is that they will hold up the unity of the church, and the thing I always mention is this: Guard Your Tongue. There is nothing that tears apart a community faster than spreading criticism, or trashing people verbally. Use caution in how you talk about other people. If you have an issue with someone, go talk to them about it. If someone you are talking with begins to go off in a destructive way, you are free to say “Actually, I’d rather not talk about them without them being here,” or “sounds like you need to go have a conversation with them.”

b) Pursue Forgiveness. Remember, it is the cross of Christ that is the basis for our unity. The cross is the ultimate expression of forgiveness that we have received. Insofar as the church is able to extend it to one another, the body of Christ models a life to people that is seen nowhere else. Jesus said “By THIS everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (pause) You may have someone in this community you have verbally torn down, or ignored, or hurt in some way, or carry resentment. Pursue forgiveness. Go and tell them, ask their forgiveness. Maybe it will be awkward. Maybe it is a long-standing silence. I know it’s not 797 years long! Here is what the Pope said last week: “For the occasions, past and present, when sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant us the forgiveness we beg of Him.”

c) Embrace Different Styles. Different is not wrong or shallow. This is particularly poignant here in worship. We are BLESSED with great diversity in worship. I want to urge you not just to put up with it, but to embrace it! Some of you would have a hard time ever raising a hand, or speaking out in a prayer time. But if you look down the row, and there’s someone practically dancing in the aisle, arms raised up to heaven…I’d say…welcome it! Affirm it, learn from it…even try it! Their activity doesn’t mean they are more spiritual, or that you are somehow less. In our midst, we have folks with the gift of speaking in tongues, and others who interpret, and others who receive a word from God for our body, and others who are contemplatives and help us find God in the silent spaces…we have some who love praise songs, the louder the better, and others who absolutely revere Handel and Sylvia’s great work on the organ. It’s a huge blessing! Embrace it as a gift from God.

d) Honor God By the Way You Disagree. We WILL disagree. We face hard issues everyday. But can we love while we disagree? At our last session meeting we started compiling a list of how we would want to behave during a disagreement. We wrote down things like “Listen. Let all the voices be heard, not just the loud ones. Try to disagree without questioning the motives of the other person. Consider that even the minority voice has a role in shaping our community in the long haul.”

e) Do Things Together. Whether it is ministry in the community, or working on a committee or music or arts or Bible study or whatever else…don’t do things by yourself. Don’t fall into the trap of building your own little kingdom. Even if it takes extra work, find things that you can talk about by saying “WE want to do this,” instead of “I’M going to do this.” We only have room for one kingdom here…the kingdom of God.

Unity is not a monotone. It is a remarkable harmony. It doesn’t come without work. And it means we are constantly called back to the basis for unity…the cross of Christ. (pause) I told you earlier about Melancthon. He lived during the time of the Protestant Reformation, a time of incredible turbulence in the church. In 1560, he passed away with this prayer on his lips: “That the churches might be of one mind in Christ.”

It’s what Paul wanted for the Corinthians. It’s what God wants for us. Amen.