1 Corinthians 1.10-18 An appeal for unity in the gospel

What do you think Paul would have to say to us today? What I mean is that each of you says, “I am United Methodist,” or “I am Global Methodist,” or “I am Episcopalian,” or “I am Presbyterian,” or “I am a fundamentalist,” or “I am a traditionalist,” or “I am a progressive,” or “I am…” whatever you want to insert here that indicates somehow we have not just divided Christ, we have chopped him up into so many teeny tiny little pieces that we aren’t even sure what we carry is even a piece of Him anymore.

“For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel—and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.”

Ever have a verse that you just had to grab a commentary or three and look it up because you can’t help but think to yourself, “That can’t possibly mean what I think it means?” In this case, it doesn’t. Paul is not devaluing baptism in any way, shape, or form; he is clearly stating that baptizing is not what he was called to do. He was called to preach.

I find that amusing in this day and age, having some experience in pastoring a church. Churches absolutely DO NOT want to hear you are a preacher. My experience is that they want a home visitor, an administrator, a finance guru, a housekeeper, and, if you can preach, that’s okay too. It has also been my experience that almost every clergy I have met says their strength is preaching… It’s not.

Let’s keep in mind, for a minute, however, that in Paul’s day, the church was not what it is today. The church was a new thing. The body of Christ was a new thing. People needed inspiration and hope, not a building that we consider to be the church today. They gathered together in small groups, mostly in private homes. When they gathered, they ate, prayed, and sang. If they were fortunate enough to have a holy document in their house, they would read from it. Otherwise, they testified to their own faith. So, for Paul, to travel and focus on preaching was novel and a necessity.

I have also heard many arguments that preaching doesn’t require education because Paul says that he was sent to proclaim the gospel, not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of his power. But Paul was heavily educated. He knew Jewish Law. He studied with the disciples. He possessed an innate ability to use his education and training to preach the gospel of Christ in a way that was easily understood by the masses, just as Jesus Christ told parables to make the Laws of God easier to understand and relate to.

I am becoming increasingly convinced that if people can find something to disagree on, they will. More and more frequently, I am finding people harder and harder to agree with because even when I say I agree with them, they start arguing that I am either wrong or I don’t understand what they are saying!

 “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

Human beings have become so attached to buildings that we understand neither who that building belongs to nor who we belong to. I belong to this church or that church. Yes, that’s what church membership is. But, first and foremost, you belong to Christ, no matter what church you belong to, if any. And Christ is NOT divided! Christ doesn’t care about all the stuff you argue about in that building you say belong to Him but don’t actually act like it does. Because if you actually believed that building belonged to Christ you wouldn’t be arguing about who was welcome in it or how they should act when they are in it!

You wouldn’t care if there was a coffee bar or not. You wouldn’t care if people were wearing shorts or their Sunday best. You wouldn’t care so much about whether the music was classic or contemporary. You wouldn’t care if there were pews or chairs. You wouldn’t care if the windows were stained glass or cement blocks. You wouldn’t care because Christ doesn’t care!

Christ visited Jewish Temples and preached there. Christ preached in fields. Christ preached in the homes at the dining table and in the living quarters of the rich, the poor, the sinner, the tax collector, the lawbreaker, the peasant, and royalty. Jesus Christ doesn’t divide people. We do.

We are the ones who decide that because someone is different from us in some way, shape, or form they are not worthy of being one with us. We are the ones who think race, gender, sexual orientation, doctrinal beliefs, culture, taste in music or art matter in a church. That’s on us. If you believe any of these things matter to Christ, you need to read your Bible again. If you believe someone us unworthy of holding any position in your church because of one of these things, you do not belong to Christ, you belong to someone else’s teaching.

I once responded to a random email from a man who wanted me to believe otherwise. First off, I told him I did not appreciate his judgment of me, as he did not even know me. Second, I told him I did not agree with his condemnation of others whom he did not know. I also told him of the story of the woman at the well who had had five husbands that Jesus Christ did not condemn. The man replied that he told her to “go and sin no more.” To which I replied, no he did not. Jesus Christ told her who he was, not that she was a sinner, nor did he condemn her.

Granted, Jesus did tell two other people not to sin anymore. The paralyzed man on the mat in John 5:14 and the woman in John 8:11, who was being stoned for adultery. I have no idea what the paralyzed man’s sin was, but apparently, Jesus knew, and well, it’s quite clear what the adulterous woman’s sin was. Incidentally, the earliest manuscripts of the Gospel of John do not contain the story of the adulterous woman that Jesus rescues from being stoned.

We want to believe the things we were taught from a young age. We want to believe that there are clear-cut lines between right and wrong. We want there to be truth, lie and nothing in between. But the only truth is: we believe what we want to.

I have baptized multiple individuals in my time as a pastor. Each one of those lives now feels as if there is a thread connecting them to me. I pray for them. I hope for them. But I do not own them. They are not mine. I baptized them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, by immersion or by sprinkling. I did not baptize them in my own name. They hold no obligations toward me, only me toward them.

In Paul’s day, Christians were trying to find their identity. They were neither Jew nor Gentile. They were some as of yet undefined reformation of Jewish culture that did not follow a Law. They followed only the commandment of Christ: Love God and love one another. But that wasn’t enough. They wanted more instruction. They wanted more guidelines. They wanted a more refined checklist so they could tell if they were doing it right or not.

Jesus Christ would tell them, “If you are loving God and one another, you are doing it right.” Paul probably would too. Condemning others for not being circumcised is not love. Condemning others for being circumcised, also, not love. Condemning others for breaking a Law of Moses, not love. Condemning others for being baptized by a priest other than the one who baptized you, not love. Notice a theme here? Condemning others for any reason, not love.

Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you but that you be knit together in the same mind and the same purpose.

The mind we are to have is that of Jesus Christ. The purpose we are to have is to love God and one another. We are to judge not. We are to be judged only by God and no other. We are to be knit together with the love we share for all God’s creation. That’s all we have to agree upon to be part of the body of Christ. All of the other extraneous ideas and beliefs we have about what that means only cause division in the church and harm to Christ’s followers.

We quarrel because we forget that salvation is offered to all who are willing to accept it. We forget that it is not we who change people but Christ working through us. We are sent to proclaim the gospel—and not with eloquent wisdom. When we start thinking too hard about it, nitpicking details that just are not there, expecting perfection from human beings and human memory, we empty the power from the cross of Christ. The power of the cross of Christ is in its simplicity.

I am a part of the body of Christ. That’s it.

I may have membership at a church, and I sincerely hope you do too, because it is important to have a group that shares the love of Christ regularly. I may have been baptized by a particular priest in a particular denomination. I may read multiple translations of the Bible. I may preach in a way that you find offensive. I may do a great many things, but I only belong to one God who saves me. I do not divide Christ. I do not divide my God. There is but one church. There is but one God. To believe otherwise is to be a perishing fool.

Stand not divided. Stand as one body, one heart, one mind, one purpose in Christ Jesus.