INTRODUCTION
When I was a teenager, I attended a congregation that was one of the biggest in Lawrenceburg at the time. We had a group of about 85 in our youth group, and I had invited a girl I was talking to at the time for Bible Study. That night, our youth minister was talking about a passage in I Corinthians, one where we discussed division in the Church. One of the young men asked about denominations, and immediately the youth minister made his opinions known about each. I remember when it came to the Christian Church, he said, "The Christian Church of today are a bunch of legalists!” The girl that came with me clinched her fist and had this angry expression the rest of the evening.
After we left, I asked her what the deal was, and she looked at me and said, “If there is any one that is legalistic it’s that guy!” After talking to her, I found that she and her family attended the Christian Church! This “minister” had just went into a tirade and labeled my friend as a legalist. She made the request for me to go to her congregation and listen to what was preached, and the next Sunday, I did. The minister never once said, THIS IS WHAT I BELIEVE, He never said YOU’RE GOING TO HELL IF YOU BELIEVE ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT I DO! He said something much more important! He said, “Today, we are going to see what the Bible says….” What the Bible says…not what the youth minister says, not what a doctrinal group believes, not what a denomination believes, not what I believe! What the Bible SAYS! The unfortunate thing was I ignored it, because I thought I WAS RIGHT!
Internal conflict is seen in families today, and of our Christian families both in the past and present! Not only is there division on the outside, but there is division on the inside. Many internal conflicts result from a struggle over control. I’m here to let you know this morning that if everyone would learn to give the Lord control for whatever they are responsible for, many internal and external divisions would be eliminated! Without the Lord’s leading, there will always be divisions. So what can we do to prevent this kind of division? Let’s be like that Christian Church preacher from my teen years and go right to the Bible and see what it says!
READ I CORINTHIANS 1:10-17
I. THE KEY TO UNITY IS LIVING IN TRUTH! (10)
A. The Word is what unites us!
1. Romans 10:17 says that this is where our faith starts!
2. Paul knows that through Christ’s words can man know the
path to salvation!
3. The Word dissolves barriers, and builds bridges!
B. Truth is exemplified through the believers!
1. Christians have a direct order from Christ! “If you love me, you will
OBEY MY COMMANDMENTS!”
2. We are to walk the talk! We are to live it out! That was the problem
with the minister in the story I told you…he had a lot to say,
unfortunately, it got lost because of his own blindness to the
Scriptures!
3. What is our testimony of Christ in our lives? Is it summed up in one
hour a week, or is it based on our dedicated walk in HIM!
C. Truth isn’t a simple I believe in Jesus! The Golden Rule is a great place
to start, but Jesus wants a relationship! He wants Worship! He wants
US-ALL OF US!
II. WHAT DIVIDES US? (11-17)
A. Style over Substance? (11-12)
1. One of the issues that the Early Church had was that there was the
same message, but different people delivering and hearing the
message!
2. The Corinthians were so mixed up that they had placed a value on
the messenger over the message! “I come for the preacher not the
Word!”
3. Does it happen today? Sure does! I was talking to one man and he
told me that he had been baptized by a very prominent preacher!
He held his head high in the air, a sneer on his face, that was until I
asked him if he was active there anymore! His expression changed,
and he told me that he had not been back to Church in some time,
because of the minister change!
4. Same Message, Different followers? NOT IN CHRIST! We are
called to be one body! Ephesians 4:4-6 reads, “There is one body
and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were
called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of
all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Apollos, Peter, Paul,
and Christ ALL PREACHED THE SAME MESSAGE, so why aren’t
Christians listening?
B. Opinion over Doctrine (13-14)
1. Does this mean the Church can’t have opinions? NO!!!!
2. Music, Style of Worship, The End Times, Politics, all are open!
3. God doesn’t want puppets that have to be set in a specific mold and
cast! He does want us to use our freedom with wisdom!
4. I Corinthians 10:23-24: “Everything is permissible”—but not
everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not
everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the
good of others.
5. Ever wonder why there are so many different “churches?” Opinion!
Ever wonder why a congregation might split after a meeting over
painting the building? Opinion!
6. We can have opinion, but when it tears at the Word, it can cause us
and others to stumble!
C. Tradition over Truth (15-17)
1. Some would have you to believe Paul is preaching against baptism
here, and that is the furthest from the truth! He is calling out the
people on what they have been saved INTO!?
2. How many times have we heard, “That isn’t the way we’ve done it?”
or “Back in my old church…”
3. How many times have we said, “10 years ago, we were such an
awesome congregation!” Worst three words I’ve heard, “We Once
Were…”
4. Wally Rendell asks if we have a crawdad mentality, “Backing into the
future, looking ahead to the past.”
5. A young man had come wanting to be immersed a few years back.
The preacher asked the father, who had been instrumental in
teaching his son the plan of salvation, if he wanted to baptize him.
The father was thrilled with the opportunity to share in this moment.
Some members of the congregation, however, said, “THAT’S THE
PREACHER’S JOB, NOT HIS!” WHAT!? Show me THAT verse in
the Bible! Phillip was a deacon and he baptized the Ethiopian
Eunuch! Does that mean the Eunuch wasn’t saved because Paul or
Apollos or Peter didn’t do it!?
6. Tradition has it place in worship, but when we allow it to choke out
sincere worship of the Lord, when we allow the past to blind us to the
future, when we get comfortable in our mundane methods, we fall
into a snare Satan sets for us
III. WHAT ULTIMATELY UNITES US! (10, 17)
A. Let’s read verse 17, and go back to verse 10! What do they have in
common?
CHRIST!
B. It is through the name of Christ! Through Jesus, we have life, without
Him, we have nothing! When we have Jesus, we have unity, without Him
we fall apart!
C. Are we in His name, or are we in our own? Is our fondness for a certain
style, a certain idea, or a certain tradition holding us back from being
committed to allowing Him to lead our hearts?
CONCLUSION
Back to the Christian Church preacher I met that one Sunday. A few years back I saw his name on a board at Louisville Bible College, I wrote him a note and thanked him for his prayers and encouragement that one time I went to the congregation he served. In the fall of 2009, I was attending a meeting for a church plant we were working to start! There, coming out of a church van, and meeting me at the door was the preacher. I shook his hand and introduced myself. He smiled and said, “You wrote me a letter a while back.” We teared up, hugged, and he said, “We need Christians now more than ever!” He’d didn’t say we needed opinions, he didn’t say we needed traditions, he didn’t say we needed good speakers, he didn’t say we needed more denominations! He said we need CHRISTIANS! Today, we need Christians to stand united in Truth! Today, are you ready to commit to truth and to Christ?
