Look at the Book

[music] >> This is our first session, maybe our only session on 1 Corinthians 1:10-17. I wish I could have put the entire paragraph on the screen down to verse 24, but it's too big. So, we'll make it work. I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you say the same thing. And that there be no divisions among you, but that you be restored in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are divisions or there is strife among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ." So, here's the situation. So, call that the situation. And here's the response. Not the only response, we'll see some more in what follows, but here's the basic response. So, Paul knew as he started writing this letter that he was going to have to confront these divisions. And what went before, you remember, was him giving them assurance that they could wait confidently for the Lord Jesus because the message of the gospel had been confirmed among them, and God was going to confirm them to the end blameless in the day of Christ. And so, he gave them a a very positive, strong, hopeful ground to stand on, and now he has some critical words to say. And that's a good way to start it. So, Father, I pray that we would understand the situation here and the response, and that you would grant us not to have unnecessary divisions among us, but that we would have the same mind and the same judgment among those in our churches. Pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So, let's tackle the situation. What What is the situation? We don't know anything about Chloe's people other than that they sent word to Paul that there's this strife in the church, and the nature of the strife seems to be that the church is dividing along the lines of three teachers and boasting in those teachers, as we'll see in a moment. I am of Paul, and maybe we're just speculating here, but maybe that was Paul's our founder. He's the one we should really get behind and count as our special, best of all teacher. And others said, "Whoa, Apollos, he's really an articulate, philosophical orator. We should get behind him." Or Cephas, Cephas walked with Jesus. He was the main pillar among the apostles. I think we should call him our greatest teacher. Whether that's the what they were saying, they were somehow saying, "I belong to I am of I belong to Apollos. I belong to Cephas." And then you have to ask whether I belong to Christ was another bad sect in the church or whether No, no, these These are the people who were saying the right thing. Well, told that and jump over to chapter 3 because I want you to see not only that this issue of divisions along the lines of subgroups behind favorite teachers was behind all of chapter 1 through 3. So, here's the end of chapter 3. So, let no one boast in men. That's the problem. As he's introducing in chapter 1 verse 10, let no one boast in men for all things are yours. Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, now there's the three. And the point he's making here is you shouldn't be boasting in men as though you belong to the one, you belong to the other because they belong to you. That's the gist of it. In Christ Jesus, they belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world belongs to you or life belongs to you death belongs to you present belongs to you future belongs to you. And all are yours. All things are yours. So, stop boasting in men as though you are theirs. They are all yours. And then he says, and you are Christ. You are of Christ. That's the same grammatical structure. So, I don't think these people are bad guys. I I think I am of Christ is what they ought to have been saying. Cuz when you get over here and he's correcting the groups, he says "Actually, the unifying statement among you all should be I am of Christ. We are all Christ's, and Christ is God's." We'll deal with the details here when we get there in due time. But, the solution behind these factions here is to realize that they're all yours, you're not theirs. Or you could say, "In Christ, you are theirs, and they are yours." So, the real remedy here is Christ is the one to whom you belong. And you shouldn't divide up along the lines of your favorite teachers. Christ is the unifying person to boast in, as it says in chapter 1 verse 30 1 30 and 31. And because of God, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom and of God, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts You're going to boast in somebody? Not Paul, not Apollos, not Cephas. Let him who boasts in the Lord, which it appears to me these folks were doing. That's the unifying factor. Now, we jumped ahead just to show you that this issue of dividing along the lines of teachers is behind everything until you get to the end of chapter 3. But here, what's his response? His response is, "My appeal to you, brothers, over against what's happening down here, is that by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you would say the same thing." Now, that's my translation. It's Those of you who have a little bit of Greek can see this. The same say all of you. All say the same. And what I think he means is don't say this, don't say this, don't say this. You see what it says? I mean each one of you says And here he says say the same, say Jesus is Lord. I'm I'm beseeching you in the name of the Lord Jesus. Remember Philippians 2, God has highly exalted him, bestowed on him a name You got a name you want to boast in that is above every name. It's above every name, Paul, Cephas, Apollos, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess, say the same thing, namely Christ Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. I think that's why he says by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I appeal to you, say the same thing, namely Jesus is Lord. I belong to Christ, not Paul, not Apollos, not Cephas. And then he says behind that saying what comes out of your mouth see to it that there no divisions. But that you are restored to the same mind. And this word restored here it's united in the ESV, but it really is uh the word for repair or fix or restore. And so, they've already made a mess of things down here, and Paul wants them to be restored to the same mind and the same judgment. And he wants that to be Speak the name of the Lord Jesus in your boasting. Let him who boasts boast in the Lord. The same mind and the same judgment doesn't mean every little opinion about whether Domino's Pizza or Pizza Hut Pizza is better. That's not what's going on here. He's not asking for lockstep opinions about everything. Well, well, what what does he mean? And I think I think Philippians 2 um is a beautiful statement. Before Before I take you over to Philippians and so, look look at the similar word about same mind over in chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians. Um God has so composed the body giving greater honor to the the part that lacked it, that there may be no division, no division. Same issue here. Among in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member's honored, all rejoice together. I think the same mind here, the same judgment here, is close to this idea of Look, when you look at each other, have the same care. One suffers, think of yourself as having the same suffering. If one member is honored, think of yourself as honored with them because you are one with them and have the same care for one another or you might say the same mindset, the same judgment about how to act in those situations. Now, here's Here's Philippians 2. Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Now, that's a lot of unity, all right? But then he unpacks it in a beautiful way. Three different ways. One, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. That's the one mind. That's the same mind. That's the love. That's the accord. If you would all count others more significant than yourselves. Second, let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. That would be the one mind, the same mind, the full accord, the same love if you would look not only to your own interest, but also to the interests of others. And then he sums it up with this beautiful statement I won't go into. Have this mind among yourselves, which is in Christ, namely the the kind that left heaven, took on suffering, and died for his enemies. That's the oneness of mind I think that uh Paul has in mind here and that I think he probably has in mind here as well. And one more thing, lest we get the impression that when he says um I just want you to say the same thing. Instead of saying I am of Paul, I'm of Apollos, I'm of Cephas, instead of saying that, say the same thing, Jesus is Lord. As though really it's just a matter of getting the right motto. That's not at all the way Paul's thinking. We know that because of this verse over in chapter 12. Therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says, "Jesus is accursed." And no one can say, "Jesus is Lord." except in the Holy Spirit. In other words, when he says, "I want you all to say the same thing." here, he's not thinking this is a merely human agreement to talk the same talk. This is a supernatural miracle for all Christians to be so born of God that they have a new Lord and out of their mouths comes from the heart, "Jesus is my master. Jesus is my Lord." which would go a long way to solving this broken situation. Now, next time we will go beyond this this paragraph and see how Paul attacked these very mistaken notions here. >> [music]