Friday October 22, 2010

Read  1 Corinthians 1:10-25

The church at Corinth was a deeply divided church. On almost every issue there was dissension and disagreement. They valued their individual opinion and their liberty to believe what ever they wanted. They were free to follow whoever they wanted. They were free to do whatever they wanted and the end result was a fractured and divided church.

Look carefully at vs 10 and consider what the bolded words mean and imply:-

I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.

Let me run through each term one by one.

appeal: Paul pleads with the Christians in Corinth. He’s not asking them. He’s not commanding them. He’s pleading or begging them to be united. What is at stake is so important that he has to plead with them.  Paul is not pleading for a pretend unified front but for deep unity based on the Word of God.

the name: Notice that Paul doesn’t say something like, ‘As an apostle I command you..’ or ‘by the power invested in me…’ He goes straight to the top, to the name above all names. Paul is so concerned about the divisions in the church that he appeals directly to the name of Christ Jesus, our Lord

and Saviour. Paul goes directly to the high court because, as we said, this issue of unity is vitally and supremely important.

all of you: notice that Paul’s appeal is directed, not to a part of the church and certainly not to those who disagree on the essentials of the faith (like the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus). It’s directed to every single believer in the church. Paul is appealing that every believer be unified - not just those who have major theological differences.

no divisions: This last point is reiterated as Paul calls for absolutely no divisions in the body of Christ. That’s a hard call. That’s a tough ask. But Paul, read it very carefully, is not saying ‘Here’s a list of things you can disagree about’. He’s calling the church to mature and grow to a point where there are no divisions. Interestingly, the grey areas of Scripture are elsewhere clearly spelt out.

perfectly united: These are again high intentions. This is not milk but mature. The Word of God is calling for perfect union.

mind and thought: This perfect union is to be at the root level of what we think and the conclusions we reach.

It’s not about my interpretation and your interpretation of the Word of God. It’s not about what I think or what you think. It’s about finding out what God says to us in the Word. It’s about giving the Word of God ultimate authority and submitting to the Word. It’s about searching the Word together and together studying the Word to find out what it is really saying to us.

Perfect unity! It’s a tough call. It’s a hard goal to aim for. But every congregation should be aiming to come to a unified understanding on the Word of God.

Prayer:-

ÿ Pray that your congregation would be growing in unity and agreement with each other. Pray that the issues causing division or barriers (if there are any) would be worked through in a Christ-honouring way.

ÿ Pray that the underground church in China would be unified and walking in perfect agreement. Pray that the leaders would be able to come to agreement about the issues that are causing division. Pray that the work of the evil one in causing division would be bound and removed by the power and splendour of our Lord and Saviour.