Called into Unity from 1 Corinthians 1

Today I am commenting on 1 Corinthians 1:10-25, which reads:

Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a [stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

As I write this posting it is very common to hear pundits opine on cable news programs that our nation has never been so divided. To this I say, really?

During the Revolutionary War, when our nation was being founded, about a third of the people in the Thirteen Colonies backed independence and another third were loyal to the Crown. The balance of the population, the remaining third, remained neutral. Seems pretty divided to me!

During the Civil War we had armies fighting one another. Americans were actually killing one another over political issues. Not only that, but the two sides were divided internally as well. Within the ranks of the Unionists there were divisions over why the war was being fought and riots broke out in New York City over drafting men into military service. Deep rivalries existed among the general officers in the Confederate Army, and shortly after the last shots were fired, U.S. President Andrew Johnson was the first president to be impeached. Again, seems pretty divided to my way of thinking!

Our nation is divided in many ways, but at least we are not shooting at each other!

With the backdrop of the looming Civil War, Abraham Lincoln quoted Jesus when he said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Sadly, churches fall prey to divisions as well, even churches in the New Testament. Just a few years after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, Paul was dealing with division in the Church at Corinth. What he taught them applies to many of our churches today who are in conflict.

What Is Fellowship?

 In the preceding verse to our focal passage for today, Paul told the congregation at Corinth that, "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."

Often in churches we use the term fellowship to mean a party or meal of some type. This use misses the deep richness of the meaning of the word. The Greek word translated fellowship is koinonia.  Koinonia means intimacy, community, communion, and joint participation. So, fellowship is more than just "kool aide and cookies." Fellowship is close friendship and shared trust.

Sadly, true fellowship was lacking in Corinth; church was seriously divided.

How Was Corinth Divided?

The Church at Corinth was apparently divided into several factions based on personalities:

The sophisticated camp (Apollos). Apollos was a wonderful speaker and he was very articulate. Some people in Corinth wanted to claim him as their role model and it seems as if they were trying to bask in the glow of his rhetorical brilliance.

The traditional camp (Peter). Peter, of course, was the first leader of the Apostles and of the Jerusalem Church. He was a bedrock of the faith and it could be that some people at Corinth preferred to admire one of the first followers of Jesus rather than give respect to a leader who came later. For them, the original model was still the best!

The doctrinal camp (Paul). Paul was a very learned man and his many Epistles formed the basis for much of the theology which we still teach in Baptist churches today. Maybe for them, the knowledge provided by Paul made him superior to other leaders.

The arrogant camp (Jesus). It is easy for me to imagine some at Corinth looking down their nose at others and bragging, “I am of Christ!” Probably, we have all come across that person with this "holier than thou" attitude. Or maybe we have ourselves fallen prey to such thoughts?

Truth be told, the Bible does not characterize the attitudes of the people within each camp, but it does make it clear that the congregation was divided. When people follow different leaders, chaos ensues, and the church loses it way.

Crucial Questions:

Is Christ divided? No!

Not only is Christ not divided, He actually unifies! Read how Paul describes this in Ephesians 2:11-18.

Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

Was Paul crucified for you? No!

It went unsaid by Paul that neither Peter nor Apollos was crucified for the people in Corinth either.

Were you Baptized in the name of Paul?  No!

The members of the Church at Corinth were not baptized in the name of Paul, or Peter, or Apollos, but in the Name of Jesus.

Paul was reminding the Corinthian believers that Christ was what was important, not human leaders and personalities. Even today we see people in churches following human personalities as opposed to Jesus. People will follow a pastor from church to church if they can or sometimes people will leave a church because of a pastor. The truth is the church is not about the pastor and nor is it about the church member it is about Jesus and worshiping him as he deserves.  As Paul would tell us, "Brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so!

So what, then, is the answer to these things?

The Cure For Divisions:

Paul gave two cures for the divisions in Corinth:

First is the message of the Cross of Christ.

Before we come to the Cross we have no salvation, no forgiveness of sin, and no hope. Truly, the ground is level at the foot of the Cross for no one brings anything good with them into the Kingdom of God. In fact, we come to the Family of God like a new born babe, and so none of us should be proud. Instead, all of us should exercise humility and meekness. This includes everyone: pastors, deacons, and church members alike.

Second, we must acknowledge the wisdom of God.

The world thinks it is wise and sophisticated and that the simple faith of the Christian is foolish and naive. The opposite is the real truth. True wisdom is seeing life from God's point of view, which brings us to back that simple and humble faith in Christ.

If either cure is applied to our lives, we will be united in grace and peace as we humbly take our place in God's Family!

Conclusion:

A teaching point that I have often used in premarital counseling is illustrated by the diagram below:

As a husband and wife individually grow closer to Christ, they also will grow closer together. It is a simple fact of geometry! The same is true of the members of a church, the Bride of Christ. As we all grow closer to Christ we naturally grow closer to each other. It is only if we remain babes in Christ and distant from God that divisions are allowed to occur.

Let us determine to grow in the nurture and admonition of our Lord. If we do, we will become more and more united at  home, and at church!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

The Fellowship of the Son From 1 Corinthians 1

Today I am commenting on 1 Corinthians 1:1-19 which reads:

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, to the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Epistles of Paul are fascinating and instructive books of the Bible. The truths we find in the have guided the Christian church in development of its theology and its ministry practice for centuries. It is not too much to say that without the Pauline Epistles the church would probably look very different than it does today. The far-reaching impact of these letters is hard to exaggerate.

The factor that many people forget, however, is that the Pauline letters are just that, letters. These epistles were the result of Paul taking advantage of the technology of the day, the Roman transportation and communication system, to provide pastoral care and guidance to churches he had planted during his various missionary journeys. No doubt, these letters were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and they are the Word of God, but they were also written to real people in real places facing real spiritual issues.

The issues faced by those early Christians are the same as we face today. Therefore, the instruction provided by Paul to his children in the faith is just as valid today. Even this short introductory passage contains important facts about our relationship to God through Jesus.

The Fellowship of the Son is to be Sanctified in Christ:

Such a simple statement but one which has a tremendous meaning!

First, we see that God calls people to Him. God loves us and wants to relate to us, we who are part of the highest level of God's created universe. God has invested Himself in us in the fullness of all that concept includes.

Second, people need to be saved and sanctified. As powerful as God's love is for us, His desire for righteousness is just as powerful. Sadly, the sin of humanity brings God's righteous wrath into play in our lives and prevents us from experiencing God's love in our natural state. Becoming disciples of Christ saves us from our sin and sets us on the path of sanctification so that we can become more and  more like Christ. This not only honors and blesses God, it also blesses us.

Finally, we see that the essential element in God's call on our lives is Christ. None of the work of saving and sanctifying can be done without the intervention of Christ. Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost, which is sinful humanity, and He sent the Holy Spirit to empower and guide our sanctification.

The call of God to people to be saves and sanctified in Christ should be focus of the Christian church as it goes in to all the world to make disciples of all peoples.

The Fellowship of the Son gives Grace and Peace:

A popular internet meme allegedly quotes John Wayne as saying, "Life is hard; it's even harder if you are stupid." He probably didn't say that (look here) but that doesn't make the sentiment any less true.

Life is hard because our world does not operate the way God intended it to operate. In fact, this world will someday be destroyed and God will start over. Until then, like Adam, our lives will be full of thorns, thistles, enmity, dust, and sweat. We need resources we don't possess to make a go of this world. Paul prayed for the Church at Corinth that they would find grace and peace.

Grace is the unmerited favor of God which is available to us in Christ Jesus. Grace recreates the broken relationship with God that was the result of our sin and it is grace that promises "in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Knowing God is on our side helps us make our way through the tragedy of this world.

Also, the promise that He will take us home to be with Him when we leave this planet comforts us with the knowledge that this world is not our final home.

Even though our ultimate future is bright in Christ, we still must slog through the daily grind of living in a fallen and dying world. That's where God's peace comes in. His peace is not like the world's peace, but is greater and eternal. God's peace calms our hearts and reassures our minds. It strengthens  us to stand fast in the storms of life and to resist the Devil and his wiles.

Like the members of the Church at Corinth we remain in need of God's grace and peace. Blessedly for us, He still provides it to His children!

The Fellowship of the Son Enriches and Equips People:

Jesus told his disciples in Luke 11:13 that, "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” God is like human fathers in that He loves His children, but He is greater and more loving than any human father. God loves His children and He wants the best for them.

What is best for God's children is to become His disciples. Here is how Paul described that in Ephesians Chapter 4:

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,  to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Later in 1 Corinthians Paul would express his frustration that the members of that church had not grown in the faith but were still "babes in Christ." Growing in our faith not only blesses us, but it also fulfills the will of our Father. "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30)."

The Fellowship of the Son is Faithfulness to His People:

Have you ever wondered why some of the disciples had doubts after the Resurrection? With this question I am referring to   Matthew 28:16-18, which says: "Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted."

No one can say why these disciples had doubts because the Bible doesn't give us that information. The events of the proceeding days were now doubt traumatizing. To see their Master arrested, abused, executed and buried was shocking and frightening, but the Resurrection might equally be confusing and shocking as well. In any case, some of His closest followers were troubled when in the presence of Jesus.

It is instructive to note His response to their doubts and fears. Jesus used what some today may call the "sandwich technique". He began by reminding them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

He continued on to give them a huge, God-sized task,  "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

He closed by reassuring them, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Do you see what He did their? He enclosed the overwhelming task of making disciples of all people inside statements designed to remind them of who He was, what He could do, and what He would do. He would be with them throughout the entire process, and He had the power and authority to help them and care for them.

God was faithful to the first disciples. He was faithful to the Church at Corinth. He is faithful to His children today. He will be faithful until Jesus returns!

Conclusion:

A former pastor, the minister who performed the wedding for me and my wife, used to describe fellowship as "two fellows in one ship."

If two people occupy the same boat, then they both have to go the same place the boat goes, and they both will enjoy the same weather, food, and living conditions. In fact, in one sense these two can become one since they make of the crew of the boat. Two people, but one crew.

As we walk more and more closely with Christ, we too will become more like Him. As Paul put it in Ephesians 4, we will attain "the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." 

May it ever be so!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about Pleasing the Father

Today  I am commenting on Matthew 3:13-17, which reads:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Baptism is a vital rite of the Christian church and it is universally celebrated as a special occasion in the life of a congregation. Of course, that does not mean that every baptismal service is flawlessly conducted. Awkward moments can occur.

For example, we have all probably seen the on-line video  of the child who does a cannon-ball into the baptistry, resulting in a tidal wave of water cascading onto the choir sitting below.

On another occasion, a pastor who was baptizing a man much taller than he smashed the man's head into the side of the pool during the baptism. The new believer came to the surface sputtering words more suitable for his former way of life than for church.

These incidents demonstrate that even the most sacred of our church rites can sometimes become awkward moments. One might say this almost occurred during the baptism of Jesus as well, but the actual outcome pleased His Heavenly Father. Let's look at that together:

Jesus Pleased the Father by His Humility:

Few who read the account of the ministry of John the Baptist would doubt that his was a powerful ministry. He preached captivating sermons which touched many lives. He confronted evil and sin without hesitation. Masses of people came to him to repent of their sins and be baptized. Yet, despite all of this, he knew that one was coming who would be far greater than he.

Like John, Jesus had a powerful ministry, He, too, preached captivating sermons which touch many lives. He confronted evil and sin without hesitation. Masses of people came to him to repent of their sin but also to be healed of their diseases and be fed with physical bread as well as the Bread of Life. Jesus was a prophet, like John, but unlike John He was God incarnate, who raised the dead and who defeated death and hell on the Cross. John had no doubt that Jesus was superior to himself, and we should have no doubts about that also.

Despite Jesus's obvious superiority to John, Jesus humbly submitted to baptism by him. Jesus's humility began even before the primitive circumstances of His birth, but in Heaven, when He humbled Himself to be born in the form of a man so that He could be the Savior of the world. This humility on the part of His Son pleased God the Father, and when His people choose humility today it pleases Him as well.

Taking the path of humility on the part of a child of God is never a bad choice for it pleases the Father

Jesus Pleased the Father by His Desire for Righteousness:

God is perfect, which, among other factors, means that He has perfect balance all the time in all His attributes and all His actions. Righteousness is a key attribute of God and it balances with other qualities like benevolence

Dr. Fisher Humphreys, a retired professor of theology, has taught for years that God is both good and loving, that is, "We can trust in One who does what is right, in One who loves and is concerned about us."*  Part of this goodness, to my way of thinking, is the characteristic of righteousness. Jesus the Son, cared about upholding righteousness, and this pleased His Father in Heaven.

Why is upholding righteousness important? Some people's concept of God is that He forgives all people all sin without any standards at all. In Romans 6:1-2 Paul rebukes that thought strongly, saying "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?"  The Scriptures are clear: although God is Love, He also clearly hates sin! How then can we find a way out of this conundrum? Through Christ!

Jesus is the One who fulfilled all righteousness on our behalf. It was He who came to fulfill the Law. As Paul went on to say in Romans 6, "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus."

The righteousness of Jesus has provided for our salvation. The children of God please Him when they live out the righteous life given to us at such great cost to Him.

Jesus Pleased the Father by His Baptism:

In the present day we are proud of our use of audio-visual techniques to share the Gospel and to worship God. We project hymns onto screens and we frequently show promotional or motivating videos as well. We incorporate drama, dance, and even puppets into church services. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and the whole galaxy of social media outlets are viewed as vital, and  even indispensable, tools for ministry. Yet, we are not the innovators that we think we are.

Centuries before we were even born God was using audio-visual means to declare His presence and His plan for us. He used pillars of smoke and fire to guide the Israelites in the wilderness and assure them of His presence. The Ark was a physical reminder of His covenant with them and the fire from Heaven on Mt. Carmel demonstrated His power. The star over Bethlehem and the Spirit descending as a dove graphically illustrated God's engagement with humanity. The Lord's Supper is not only audio-visual, but it is also tactile and olfactory as well. God was way ahead of us in using these techniques to communicate His love and truth to us. This should not surprise us since God is Creator and we are His creation, and we should approach the use of these tools with humility.

Baptism, of course, is a powerful audio-visual sermon which testifies to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and the transforming effect that this has on the lives of His people. In the case of Jesus it was a prophecy of what was yet to come. In the case of a believer it is a testimony of what Jesus has done for them and a declaration of their trust in faith in Christ. As Romans 6:4 says, "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life."

When a child of God is baptized, they are preaching a powerful sermon about redemption and God's love for us. This also pleases the Father.

Conclusion:

The task of servants is to please their master. As servants of God we should always endeavor to please Him. As we live humble, righteous lives, and as we obediently follow the commands of Christ our Savior to be witnesses for Him (including following Him in baptism), we please our Lord. May we all live so that we meet Him in person we will hear our Lord say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

Every Blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

* Fisher Humphreys, Thinking About God, page 68.