1 Corinthians Study Part 2. Paul said if there are divisions and strife among us then we are carnal and worldly. We are mere babies in Christ. It doesn’t mean we are not saved, but it does mean we are immature.
1 Corinthians Study Part 2 Audio
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You got me going. So, uh, this is part of it. I just, uh, flew down at the Bible study in Rome. And, uh, and Jane, Jay’s wife was there. And, and, and they were talking about some of the churches that they that they have there and they go to. And wherever they went, Jane would make this, this, she said, wherever you go, they’ve got this, and she’d make this face and do her hands like this. Well, I just, yeah, that’s for here. And, and, and it was, you know, she, and she said that about three or four times. Yeah, but it’s still got that, and then she’d do that. And, uh, uh, what it, what it is is like, you know when, if you’ve ever been to a church that you feel like you had to get dressed a certain way. I’m not talking about in the natural, but you had to put on a certain garb to get there. You had to be in a certain mode and a, and, uh, carry yourself a certain way and say, particularly, you had to say things in a certain way or, or you just didn’t fit there. And, and that’s what she was really talking about. You know, I, I hope and I pray that it never gets that way here. That you don’t have to be religious in any form or fashion to come here. You can just come and just be what you are. Just put on Christ and come. Amen. Sandy, this morning, I believe you guys were sitting behind me over here, weren’t you? And, uh, they, okay. Wherever that we’re at in the service, wherever I’m sitting, just make sure you guys are around me somewhere. You just bless me singing and ministering to the Lord and, and I just love it. So, wherever that I sit, make sure you guys are somewhere.
First Corinthians, chapter one. Last week we began to look at the, the book of Corinthians. And I told you that I was going to deal with the basic 16 problems that that Paul deals with. I hope tonight I’d like to deal with the first one. But I’ve gotten so hung up in this introduction that it, it’s been so good. It’s been such a, a wonderful study. Paul has just, as I told you last week, it’s as though by the ministry, using the, the Holy Spirit ministering through Paul, you can, Paul as the, as the vessel, has just opened the doors to this church and exposed this church of Corinth to anybody that will take time and look. And so many church problems are here dealt with and answered. And that’s why we’re, why we’re looking at it. Uh, so many things, so many things that, that he just deals with. You know, and I, I want to say this just initially. People when they first come to this church, they see the excitement, they see the love, they see the, the fun, the liberties, and that’s, those are probably the things that, that, that speak to them first. And so they come and, and, and they, and they think that it’s that way all the time. They, they think that, that, you know, boy, it’s, it must be the greatest place in the earth. And they come. But after a few months, they begin to see that that we’re not perfect either. And that if you look, you can find some faults. But you can’t blame us for them, right? And, and, and, and, you know, I just, I want to say that because, because when you, when you go through this, this book, you, you see the things that Paul is here dealing with, and it’s so important that we look at them in different ways, that we look at them as biblical study, but also that we look at them and make them applicable to our church, but then applicable in our life. And if we have these things going on in our lives, we need to deal with them. And in every one of these, every one of these problems, Paul deals with the problem. And I want, that’s what we’re after. We’re after finding, not pointing out the problem, but pointing out the solution to the problem and getting that worked into our life as the wisdom of God.
I want you to stand one more time. You’ll be sitting down 30, 45 minutes at least, uh, when we begin. I just want you to stretch your hands out and pray for me. That I will do this rapidly, that I won’t linger too long on specific points and that we’ll just move through this rapidly. Father, I just receive the prayers of the saints. Father, I want to say what you want said, but I don’t want to harbor, I don’t want to be lengthy. I want it to be delightful. I want it to be fun, Father, to study your word…. And Father, I just ask you to anoint me now so that I will say the right thing the right way and be able to progress on. And Father, you know the point from which I feel that you want me to go to, and I just ask you to help me to get there. I ask you to help these people to receive this, but Father, more than anything, I want you, Lord God, to put this principle in our church so that, Lord God, here in our church, when divisions come, we will know what the problem is, but not just see the problem of division, but Father, know how to deal with division. And Father, I ask you in the name of Jesus to help us tonight, and I receive the prayers and I receive the anointing in Jesus’ name, and we all say, amen, amen.
Be seated. First Corinthians chapter one, I want to read verses four through verse 13. And then I’m going to go over to chapter two and read verse one through verse four. I want you to read with me, not out loud. I wish we could if we all had the same translations, we would. But I want you to follow along with me. Beginning at verse four of First Corinthians chapter one.
I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus. That in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge. Even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful through whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s family that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, I am of Paul, and I am of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Chapter three, verses one through four. Three, I said it wrong the first time, chapter three. And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now, you are not able. For you are still fleshy. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshy? And are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not mere men?
We’ll be talking tonight about divisions after we get through the introduction. There’s still some neat things that I want to point out in Paul’s introduction here that we didn’t quite get to last week. But I want to say while it’s fresh on our minds, while we have just read the scriptures, that Paul clearly says here that if divisions are among us, that if we walk in jealousy and strife, then we are, uh, as King James puts it, carnal. We’re fleshy. We’re nothing but worldly, mere men. We’re babes in Christ. Doesn’t mean we’re not saved. But it does mean that we’re immature and that we’re allowing divisions to come in and something to come in and divide what’s really important. And what’s really important is Jesus Christ. Is Christ divided? So, that’s where I’m coming, going to, but I want to go back now and begin and say a few remarks from the introduction that we didn’t get last week
Now, the first thing that I want to say was where Paul says, I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus. Now, understand that this Corinthian church was full of problems. We listed them last week. Remember there were some 16 problems that this church had. It’s got division. It’s got immorality in the church. It’s got problems in having order in the church. Everything’s going chaotic. Their, their doctrines were messed up even on the resurrection. There, there was just chaos in all the church. They had defiled the Lord’s table. There was, there was unorder in the homes. There was, there was all sorts of problems inside of this church. But yet Paul says here, and it’s so neat, that Paul says, I thank my God always concerning you…. Isn’t, isn’t it good that you can have problems in the church and God still thanks you that you’re in the church? I think, I think that was, that was such a neat thought. He says, I thank God concerning you always. Now he’s not thanking God for the problems that you have. What he’s thanking God for is the grace that’s there to solve the problem. I thank God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus. His grace is what? Sufficient. For any problem, his influence in a matter, what he’s got to say about it is enough. And that’s, that’s enough. What he says about it is the final line.
Then in verse five, he says, in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge. In everything, he says, you were enriched in him. Now, what I want to point out here is that true riches in, in the, in the walk of God are not streets of gold, are not your pockets and bank accounts full of money. But what Paul says that he thanks God for is that in everything that these people were enriched in all what? What does it say? In all speech and knowledge or all utterance, King James Bible says, and knowledge. Can I, can I tell you that, that, that real true values, real true riches in, in the things of God are not monetarily. They’re not streets of gold and walls of jasper. But real riches in the things of God is talking right and thinking right. In all utterance and all knowledge. If you talk right and you think right, then the other things will just come. Once we apply the, the principles of God into our life, we will prosper. And if streets of gold are your, are your goal, then you will get those if you talk right and if you think right. But the real riches, the real riches that we’ve got to grasp and understand is right speaking and right thinking and how important are our words. Jesus says, by your words you are justified and by your words you are condemned. Proper speech is quite important. And as I talked about this morning, proper thinking is important. These are the true riches. These is what, this is what Paul says, in everything you were enriched in him, in all speech and all knowledge. From the abundance of a man’s heart, he what? He speaks. And he says to be renewed in the spirit of your mind. See, that’s what’s really important to the Lord is teaching us how to think. That’s where he wants to enrich his people. This church, he was glad they talked right and they thought right, and that’s what I think that he wants to, to show us is that he wants us to increase in our utterance, our speech, and our knowledge of him.
Then in verse six, he says, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you. How do I know the testimony of Christ is confirmed in me? By what we have just said in verse five, by what I think and by what I say. If I get around you long enough and, and talk to you long enough and listen to what you say and because out of your heart comes your words, and I listen to that long enough, I will know if you’re confirmed or not. I will know if you know, if you know what you know, that you’re in Christ. If it’s confirmed in your heart that you’re saved, it will, your words and your thinking will show me whether or not you are, you are confirmed in Christ. The way this church functions, the words that this church uses, the way we, the way we function in and out of this place confirms us. The words we say and the way that we think. Now, the testimony that we really have to people is through our words. Remember again, your words justify us or your words condemn us. And if you remember of this body and you go about with bad words, then it’s just not you that you’re defiling. It’s this entire body. You need to always remember that. Always remember this too, that the way you function in life is a direct, is a direct either slap or pat on the back to this church. If you don’t pay your bills and they know that you go to the church at Lafayette, what will they say about you Christians that go to the church at Lafayette? You don’t, you don’t have a good witness, you see. If you curse, use profanity, if you, if you, if you do things the way that you know you shouldn’t do them, and, and, and, and this, the speech, the way that we project ourselves is a direct testimony about our church. Now, because a church has problems, doesn’t mean Christ is not confirmed there though. I do want to make sure that we understand that. He says that in verse, in verse six, he says, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you. I want to make sure that we understand that this church, the Corinth church was confirmed in Christ, but this church had problems…. Now, a lot of times we’ll say, well, that church is full of problems and sure the Lord must not be there. No, that’s not exactly right. The way we’ve got to look at the thing because how many knows that we’ve had problems in our church? We’re, we’ll, we have problems in our church, and we shall have problems in our church. Because we have been saved and we are being saved and we shall be saved. And as long as God is working here, there’s going to be some problems in the body and some problems in the church. But does that mean that Jesus isn’t here? Oh, it does. They had all sorts of problems here in this church that we’re reading about. But Christ had confirmed them. We need to understand that and understand that when you, when you have problems with me or when I have problems with you or you have problems with a brother or a sister in this church, understand that that does not mean they don’t love Jesus. Just because they, they don’t see it your way or want to do it your way or totally agree with you, that does not mean they’re not confirmed in him.
Then in verse seven, so that, and I want to—you got to back up to verse four to see what the “so that” means. And verse four talks about the grace and says, I thank God for the grace given you in Christ Jesus, so that—all that’s kind of parenthetical—I thank God for the grace given you so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to point out two things here. Number one, grace is given upon a church so that no gift is lacking. Now you need to take a little time and digest that and get that parenthetical thought of verses five and six kind of out of the way so that you can see that what he’s saying here is that he thanks God that grace was given to this church so that no gift will be lacking there.
Now, when God’s grace is given to us, we’ve got to understand that God gives his grace to us so that there won’t be anything lacking in the church. No gift lacking in the church. He gives his grace so that the gifts of grace can function. This is how the testimony of Jesus Christ is confirmed in us is by we do what Jesus did through the gifts. Now, listen to me. Did Jesus minister to the people with the gifts? How else did he minister to people? Words and the gifts. You got to understand that when people come here to be ministered to, the proper way of loving these people, the proper way of giving them the testimony of Jesus Christ is through the gifts. And what we need to have in our body is all of the gifts.
We were—this was about six years ago or so, maybe five, I don’t know. We were out at Portland, Oregon. And I was at a conference. And the church’s name was Bible Temple. Large, large church in Portland. They would go to church 30 minutes prior to every service and they would pray. And there would be thousands of people there praying. And then about 10 minutes till the time for the service to begin, maybe over here in the far right corner, you would begin to hear one or two people begin to sing in the spirit. Then that would just kind of begin to crescendo. It would begin to move toward you in both directions. And it would engulf you. And then it would carry you into a very high place in the Lord because you were completely caught up in it.
I really pray as Pastor Tibo was leading us in and singing in the spirit earlier, I really pray that this place will come into that. That before services, we can come to the place where we really seek God for his grace in our services. And that we can begin to just sing and minister unto him in the spirit. Paul says in First Corinthians chapter 14—we’ll be looking at it in several weeks—First Corinthians chapter 14 verse 15, he says, What is it then, brethren? I will sing in the spirit and I will sing in my understanding also. I will pray in the spirit and I will pray in my understanding also. I really pray that our church comes to the place where it can sing unto the Lord and just lift unto him a crescendo of praise and worship totally out of our spirit. Just, just come as a loud crescendoing, as it—it was, it was really engulfing. I don’t, I don’t, I haven’t done it justice in trying to explain it to you. But I really pray that it, that in this place, that in this place no gift will, will be lacking here. That when people come, sufficient prayer, sufficient ministry unto the Lord has taken place, that people are willing enough and obedient enough to begin to minister and function in every single gift that God has given his body.
The second point I want to point out from this is that he says, so that, he thanks God for the grace given you in Christ Jesus, so that you are not lacking in any gift, and then he says this, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the thing I want to point out here is awaiting eagerly the revelation, the apocalypse—that’s what revelation there is—of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unveiling of, King James Bible says, the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. So how long, how long will we be eagerly then functioning in the gifts of the spirit? Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a trick question. Many of us have been brought up in the school of thought that the gifts of the spirit were, was for a time past, for a generation gone by, for, for, for a time that, that’s happened in the past. But the Bible clearly says here in verse seven that the gifts of the spirit are here until the revelation of or the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we need to understand that, people. We need to understand that the gifts of the spirit was not for a people gone past. They’re for a people that’s present. And they’re for anybody that will just dig them up out of the holes that we put them in and begin to function and minister in them. Nothing is further from the truth than to be taught and told that the gifts of the spirit are not for today. That’s not the grace of God. The grace of God is given to us so that we’ll be lacking in no gift. The grace of God is given to us, the influence of God upon our lives is given to us to minister and to love people just like Jesus did. In chapter 12, he tells us the gifts. In chapter 13, he tells us the more excellent way which is love. The proper way to love people is with the gifts because in chapter 14, he tells you how to function in those gifts that he just told you how to love people with. And, and, and that’s the way the Bible grace works.
Verse eight says, Jesus Christ shall confirm you to the end, blameless. Somebody say, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Not faultless, but blameless. I’ve already talked about that this morning. You’re blameless not because you’re faultless. Nobody is in here that’s faultless. You’ve never sinned. Who is this? Let me see. Nobody. But how many of you can say by the blood of Jesus Christ, I’m blameless? Yes. That’s what it’s about. He says he’s going to present you blameless. Jesus Christ shall confirm you to the end, blameless. How many knows it’s not difficult to find faults in the church? Corinthians were full of faults. But yet and still they would be presented blameless. Is that good? They would be presented blameless.
Now, verse nine talks about, God is faithful through whom you were called into koinonia, into fellowship with him, with his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Dr. Cash shared with you this morning about the loaf of bread. The word there, communion, is the Greek word koinonia. Now this word is translated in the Greek in, in the King James Bible four ways, and in other translations it’s basically three ways. The word koinonia is used 20 times in the New Testament Greek. In Romans 15:26, it says, make a contribution, make a koinonia to the poor. In First Corinthians 10:16, which Dr. Cash had us read this morning, it says communion or koinonia of the blood or koinonia communion of the body. In Hebrews 13:16, it says, do good and to communicate, to koinonia forget not. And in First Corinthians 1:9, we’re reading it right here, it says you’re called into koinonia, you’re called into fellowship with his son.
Now, Jesus Christ, our Lord has called you. How many of you really believe that you’re called of God? That you didn’t wake up one day and said, today I’m going to get saved, but you know in your heart that God called you from the foundations of the world. Amen. Now, what did he call you for? To sit in that chair? To come and clap your hands a little bit and sing a couple of worship and praise courses? What did he call you for? According to the Bible that’s in your hand and that’s in your lap. What does it say that he called you for? Fellowship and koinonia, to have communion with him, to have contribution with him, to, to, to have communication with him. To have fellowship with him.
Now, I want you to get this one. I want you to understand this, that when you come into the body of Christ, it is not just to pray a prayer, shake a preacher’s hand and get dunked in the water. What you’re supposed to do is come and have fellowship with Jesus Christ. You’re supposed to come into this thing, you’re supposed to come into this thing and contribute with him. Whatever you’ve got, you contribute it with what he’s got and you function. He’s given everybody in here a gift and talent. You can take that talent and hide it in a ditch and be cast into outer darkness, or you can take that talent and function in the body. You can contribute with him to the body of Christ. Or another thing that word means is, is communion. You need to have communion with him, with Jesus Christ. The third thing, we have communion, the Lord’s table every week and, and, and, and other times, you know, in a, in a different manner and in a different form. But folks, I’m telling you, that’s not just what communion means. You need to have personal time of prayer, personal time of praise, and corporate time of prayer and corporate time of praise. We need to commune with him individually and corporately.
I’ll go ahead and say it now. Dr. Cash been talking about communion this morning, talking about the baked bread. And in that baked bread, you break that bread, do you have the grains of the wheat still whole in that bread? But is the grain still whole? What has happened to that grain? It has been crushed and pulverized until there is no more identification of that grain. That grain is mingled and mixed with every other grain in that loaf. You cannot say, well, here’s that grain. It, that doesn’t work that way. And when you come to the body of Christ, when we’re, when we’re properly functioning in the body of Christ, folks, there are no big I’s and little him’s. It is all of us all together all the time that we’re going to be broken and taken and fed to the community of people that need Jesus Christ. Taken and broken and blessed by him like he did with the fishes and the loaves, multiplied, hopefully, and then bless a whole area of people. And that’s what we’re talking about when we’re talking about koinonia. You, you’re not a grain in this thing by yourself. You, you can’t have communion just by yourself. Now communion by yourself is necessary. But you need the body of Christ to have koinonia with. You need the body of Christ to function in praise with. This, this junk of, I can praise at home all by myself is a half truth. And a half a truth is a half a lie. You don’t need to be there all by yourself all the time. That’s fine and that’s wonderful and that’s good. But you need to be here too. And I’m not shouting at you because you are here. Trying to shout loud enough so those that aren’t can hear me. People need communion. They need to be ground and mixed together so that, so that there’s no identification of a single individual except Jesus Christ.
We’re translated communicate. We need to communicate with Jesus. We need to fellowship with Jesus. King James Bible says fellowship of his son. You’ve been brought into the fellowship of, you’re in, in this thing, there can’t be any big ones and little ones. Folks, I’m just functioning in a gift and I get to be in front of you and I have a gift that God’s given me. But folks, I need your gifts. I need your gifts more than I need my gift. Do you know what I’m saying? My gift without your gift is no good. I’d be, I’d be just preaching to empty chairs. We need each other. And we need to be ground together and put in that loaf and baked so that we can be broken and taken and fed to a whole group of people. No individual kernels of wheat in his loaf, in his dominion. He’s the important factor in it.
Now, when I see people that come to this church and then get unhappy and leave this church, I always can see it happening in these four ways that I’ve just talked about, talked to you about. The, the first thing is you’ll be walking along and they’re excited, they come, they love it. Oh, this is the greatest place. You guys got so much liberty. I love your church government. Man, you, you, the word is so good and the love, people, and we’re walking along, you know, real good. And they’re right up here with me. Man, they’re here every time. We’re here. Well, they’re just talking to me and communicating with me. And all of a sudden I, I look to see them and talk to them and, and, and they, they done started drifting back…. And, and, you know, and I’m still moving and I have to look back now. They’re kind of drifting back. But still moving along. And then the next thing they stop doing after they stop communicating with me, they stop contributing. They stop giving, not just their money, they stop giving their time. They stop giving of their talents. And it’s like the whole, it’s like the nation of Israel as they walked along, there would be those that were in the front and all of a sudden they would begin to drift back. And, and we, we can’t, we can’t stop. You see, we can’t stop. We got to keep going because there’s an enemy to kill and there’s a, there’s a nation to take and there’s a, there’s, there’s an enemy that we’ve got to conquer and we can’t wait. But yet they keep getting further and further back and then the next thing they stop doing is communicating. Not, not communicating, but, but they stop, they stop fellowshipping. They stop contributing. They stop communicating. They stop communing. They stop praying. And, and you see them less and less and less. They get further and further behind and then the Amalekites come out and get them. And that’s what happened to the nation of Israel as they went through the wilderness. The Amalekites would attack those, the stragglers from the rear. And the next thing you know is they’re not here anymore. They’re gone. And, and how many knows that’s a pretty good picture of when people come to this church, they get real fired up and real excited for a couple of months and then they start drifting back. They get further and further back. And the next thing you know you don’t see them anymore and finally you hear something about them, the Amalekites have attacked them, wiped them out. And it’s sad. It, it, it breaks my heart because that’s not what I want to happen. I want them to be blessed.
In the first nine verses, the first 10 verses actually, but in the first nine verses that we’ve looked at thus far, the word Christ, Christos is found there 10 times. It’s found twice in verse two and it’s not in verse five, but the word him is there which is referring to Christos. In other words, the emphasis of, of this letter, of Paul’s letter is going to be Christ. Any church has to have the emphasis of Jesus Christ. If anything else becomes the emphasis, then it’ll fall eventually one day. It will not exist anymore. It cannot be, the emphasis cannot be on praise. The emphasis cannot be on preaching. The emphasis cannot be on the nursery. The emphasis cannot be on the parking lot. The emphasis cannot be on the deacon board. The emphasis must be Jesus Christ and him crucified. And in this letter of Paul, he immediately establishes the emphasis. If he, Jesus is the emphasis, then a church can have as many problems as you can count. Yet that church will continue to exist. As long as the emphasis is Jesus here, I’m telling you, nothing can destroy this church.
Now, let’s get into what I want to bring tonight real quickly about division. Verse 10. Paul says, I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete, King James Bible says perfectly joined in the same mind and in the same judgment. Now, a couple of thoughts here. How do we become complete or perfectly joined? How does the Bible say, what, what, what must we do as a body? What must these Corinthians do as a body? What must any church do as a body to be completely joined, perfectly joined in the same mind and in the same judgment? Now, a couple of thoughts here. How do we become complete or perfectly joined? How does the Bible say, what, what, what must we do as a body? What must these Corinthians do as a body? What must any church do as a body to be completely joined, perfectly joined in the same mind and in the same judgment? What? Right, yeah. I just said it. I agree. I, I just said, I asked you it wrong. But what we must do, and I’ll just answer it so because I don’t want, I don’t want to, but we must be in the same mind and we must be in the same judgment. I, I asked you wrong. I asked you the question which was the answer. But the thing, the thing I want us to see here is that how many of you’ve ever heard that all the churches surely can’t believe the same thing and, and all the churches surely can’t agree on the same thing. Can they? How many, have you ever heard that? Sure you, how many’s never heard that? Oh, that’s better. Listen, the Bible says, Paul says, I want you all to agree. Is, is that what he said there? Now, would he ask us to do something that was impossible? The, the trick is, if it’s a trick, the answer is, is that all we’ve got to do is get into the same mind so that we’ll have the same judgment. When disagreements come, when divisions happen in the body, when we get in, in disagreement with one another, it’s because we’re not thinking the same. It’s because we’re not handling or judging a situation the same. When we come into the same thinking and the same judgment, we won’t be in division. And, and I want us to see this. I want us to understand again the thing I think that the Holy Spirit has been emphasizing to our body over the past several weeks is the aspect of the wisdom of God, the thinking of God. Listen, whose mind, whose thinking should we have? And if we’ve got his mind, then we all think the same. Whose judgment should we have? Jesus Christ. Listen, it doesn’t matter what I have to say about it. It doesn’t matter what I think about it. It doesn’t matter how I will judge it or how I, how, how I will handle it. But what does matter is what does the Bible say about it? That’s the only answer. And folks, all we’ve got to learn to do in our life in this church is just open that book up. Here is the answer. This is what God said about it and do it. If we’ll do that, there’ll be no problems in the church. There’ll be no divisions. He’s already answered the whole problem right here of division. He answers it before he really even gets into it. That’s what it says. Disagreements and divisions come when minds differ and when we judge things differently.
Listen, left on our own, I will take a, a problem and a circumstance. I, I will deal with it my way which will be completely different from his way. Is that probably right? There’s probably 100 people here tonight or something like that. We would have 100 different solutions to one problem. But who is the answer to every problem? And all we got to do is find out what he says. He says you have the mind of Christ. Then in Philippians chapter two verse five, now let that mind be in you that was also in Christ. We’ve got it, folks. We’ve just got to use it. The problem is answered right here. I don’t care if it’s divisions. I don’t care if it’s immorality in the church. I don’t care if it’s disorder in the church. I don’t care if it’s false doctrines in the church. I don’t care what the problem is. The problem is is that we’re not thinking, not in the Bible. And what we’ve got to learn to do is simply come to the word of God, find out what the word of God says and get in the same mind and then we’ll get into the same judgment.
He says there, I have been informed. I have been informed, he said. Now, Paul was in Ephesus when he wrote this letter to Corinth. And an individual, what’s this guy’s name…
…Chloe. Chloe’s household, Chloe’s people, it says, came to Paul and told him about the problems that were going on in the church at Corinth. Now, you know, some people would say, well, that’s just tattletaling. That’s just, that’s just gossiping. But folks, I’m telling you, there is a time when you need to go to the proper authority and let them know what is going on in the body. Because if you don’t, then the body will be destroyed. And so Chloe’s people came to Paul and told him about the quarrels, the divisions, the strife that was going on in the church at Corinth. And Paul says, I’ve been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. Now, I mean this, that each one of you is saying, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Now, the thing that I want to point out here is this: divisions come when people begin to focus on personalities rather than on Jesus Christ. Divisions come when people begin to focus on the man, on the preacher, on the leader, on the teacher, rather than on Jesus Christ. And Paul says, listen, I didn’t die for you. You weren’t baptized in my name. Why are you saying you’re of me? Why are you saying you’re of Apollos? Why are you saying you’re of Cephas? Why are you saying you’re of Christ? Has Christ been divided? And the answer is no. Christ is not divided. But what happens is, is that people begin to focus on personalities, and when you do that, division will always come. When you begin to focus on a person, rather than on Jesus Christ, division will always come. And that’s what was happening in the church at Corinth. They were focusing on personalities, and division was coming. And Paul says, listen, the answer to this is to get your eyes back on Jesus Christ. The answer to this is to get your focus back on Jesus Christ. The answer to this is to get your mind back on Jesus Christ. And when you do that, then the divisions will be healed. When you do that, then the quarrels will be healed. When you do that, then the strife will be healed. But as long as you focus on personalities, as long as you focus on people, as long as you focus on men, then division will always be there. And so Paul says, listen, the answer is to get your eyes back on Jesus Christ.
Now, I want to go over to chapter 3, and I want to read verses 1 through 4 again. He says, and I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly? And are you not walking like mere men? For when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not mere men? Now, the thing that I want to point out here is this: when there is jealousy and strife and division in the body, it is a sign of spiritual immaturity. It is a sign that we are still babes in Christ. It is a sign that we are still fleshly. It is a sign that we are still walking as mere men, and not as spiritual men. And Paul says, listen, I couldn’t even give you solid food. I had to give you milk, because you weren’t able to receive it. And even now, you’re not able to receive it, because you’re still fleshly. You’re still walking as mere men. You’re still walking in jealousy and strife and division. And so the answer is, is to grow up. The answer is, is to mature. The answer is, is to become spiritual men and women of God, and not just babes in Christ. The answer is, is to put away jealousy and strife and division, and to become spiritual men and women of God.
Now, I want to go back to chapter 1, and I want to look at verse 11. He says, for I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. Now, I mean this, that each one of you is saying, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, that no man should say you were baptized in my name. Now, I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, that the cross of Christ should not be made void.
Now, the thing that I want to point out here is this: Paul says, listen, I thank God that I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius and the household of Stephanas, because I don’t want anybody to say that you were baptized in my name. I don’t want anybody to say that you were baptized into me. I don’t want anybody to say that you were baptized into Paul. I want you to know that you were baptized into Jesus Christ. And so Paul says, listen, the focus is not on me. The focus is not on Apollos. The focus is not on Cephas. The focus is not on Christ in the sense of a party spirit. The focus is on Jesus Christ and him crucified. The focus is on the cross of Christ. The focus is on the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so Paul says, listen, the answer to division is to get your eyes back on Jesus Christ. The answer to division is to get your focus back on the cross of Christ. The answer to division is to get your mind back on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now, I want to close with this. The thing that I want to say to you tonight is this: the answer to every problem in the church is Jesus Christ. The answer to every problem in the church is the cross of Christ. The answer to every problem in the church is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And if we will keep our eyes on Jesus, if we will keep our focus on Jesus, if we will keep our mind on Jesus, then the problems will be solved. The divisions will be healed. The quarrels will be healed. The strife will be healed. But if we take our eyes off Jesus, if we take our focus off Jesus, if we take our mind off Jesus, then the problems will come. The divisions will come. The quarrels will come. The strife will come. And so the answer is, is to keep your eyes on Jesus. The answer is, is to keep your focus on Jesus. The answer is, is to keep your mind on Jesus. And if you’ll do that, then the problems will be solved.
Let’s pray. Father, I thank you tonight for your word. I thank you tonight for your grace. I thank you tonight for your mercy. I thank you tonight for your love. And I pray, Father, that you would help us to keep our eyes on Jesus, to keep our focus on Jesus, to keep our mind on Jesus. And I pray, Father, that you would heal every division, that you would heal every quarrel, that you would heal every strife, that you would heal every problem in this body. And I pray, Father, that you would help us to be one, even as you and the Father are one. And I ask it in Jesus’ name. Amen.
1 Corinthians 1:4 – 1:13
4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus,
5 that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge,
6 even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you,
7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
8 who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.
12 Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”
13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
1 Corinthians 3:1 – 3:4
1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ.
2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able,
3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?
4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?
1 Corinthians Study Part 2 Audio
1 Corinthians Study Part 2 Audio
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