Imagine that I had brought with me this morning some sticks, one for each of you. After handing them out, I instructed you to break your sticks. Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap! All were easily broken. Then I got out another set of sticks which I had brought along, tied them together into one bundle, and handed the bundle to each of you in turn with the same request. Could you break them? I doubt it. Why not? You broke your individual sticks, and quite easily. If you could do that, why couldn't you break a bundle of them? Because when bound together there is a combined strength that unites the individual sticks making them unbreakable.
Unity is a wondrous thing, a strong thing that blesses us in countless ways. In our lives of faith God calls us to it in His Word.
Now, the unity which the Bible encourages is not an external thing. It's not really like a bundle of sticks tied together with a rope around them. It's more like a great tree through which the same sap circulates, from the massive trunk to the tiniest leaf on the furthest branch. In that case it's an internal thing; but it will also be seen on the outside. For if the tree is healthy within, each branch, each twig, each leaf will benefit and show it.
Paul touched upon this in our text when he wrote, “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.” Unity in the Church starts within, with a common mind in Christ.
If as Christians we're going to be united with a strength that Satan cannot break, it has to start within, and it has to start with the Lord Jesus Christ. With Christ uniting our minds and thoughts, we will work together for the good of His Kingdom
So, on the basis of our text, to Him we go asking for the blessings of strength and unity of faith we need to work for Him. Humbly we pray, Lord Jesus, Unite Us. Unite Us I. in Your name…II. to preach the Gospel, trusting its power.
I. Lord Jesus, Unite Us in Your name.
Unity wasn't happening in the church at Corinth anymore. There was no unity within and it led to a visible fracturing on the
outside. Divisions and factions were ripping the church apart. The members were at odds with one another. How could that happen?
This congregation had been started by the Apostle Paul himself. He, Silas, and Timothy had served as its pastors for a year and a half. Other well-known preachers of the early NT Church had visited it as well, like Apollos, and maybe even Peter. Those were some pretty high-powered teachers. Yet, at the time that Paul writes this letter, the church was breaking apart. Why? Because the members were no longer walking in Christ's name and were indulging in what we might call the sin of hero worship.
Paul writes about it when he says that Chloe's household had told him about the problem. They weren't trying to stir the pot with gossip, but were genuinely concerned lest the gains that had been made for God's kingdom would be nullified. They spoke out of sincere and humble concern for the welfare of the congregation.
You see, dear friends, as Christians, we cannot afford to ignore a quarrelsome spirit, especially if it threatens to disrupt the peace and the harmony that God wants to give us in our lives. God's purpose is not to divide us; He wants to unite us with Him and the blessings He gives. The Bible says that some of those blessings are “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control”(Ga.5:21f) – complete opposites of a quarrelsome spirit. So, if division arises and factions take over that bicker among themselves, sin is involved, for such are not fruits of faith. They are not a product of God's love for us in Christ. How was this happening in Corinth?
Strange as it may seem, these Christians were indulging in a type of hero worship. One group idolized Paul. He was the one under whom many of them had come to faith. Another faction committed itself to Apollos, a very learned man and a dynamic preacher who had done a good job when he served as their pastor. Another party thought that Peter, here called by his Jewish name, Cephas, was the greatest. And then a fourth group piously called out, “We follow Christ.” As good as that might sound, it was said with the same proud, self-centered, quarrelsome spirit as the others had. None of them understood the place of the workers in their midst and the fact that the worker does not fish for himself, but for Christ. Such hero worship undermined the work of God's kingdom.
Is this sin common among us? Of course it is, but often in a subtle way that we don't even recognize.
Any time our thoughts and hopes and plans are based on people whom we hold dear because of their talents or abilities, rather than being based on the redeeming name of Christ, we could be giving in to this sin. If we complain about this one or that one, that this one's sermons are boring compared to that one's, or this one doesn't carry himself like that one did, or this one doesn't do things the way that one did, we could be walking in a similar vein. If such men are faithful to Christ's name , preaching Christ-crucified, which alone saves us from our sin, they are servants of God, fishers of men through whom the Lord catches His fish. It's not men and their abilities that we believe in, nor is it congregations; it's a Savior who died for our sins, yes, even our sins of quarreling and divisiveness. The Lord knows the gifts that are needed in His Church. He will see to it, and He often blesses pastors and congregations in different ways for His purposes for the good of His kingdom.
What's the answer to the problem? Simple. Ask yourself, “Into whose name have we been called to faith; and in whose name are we saved?” – Christ's name. Without Him we all stand the same before God – even Peter, Paul, and Apollos stood the same before God - sinners who deserve hell (Ro.6:23). But, by the grace of God through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus on the cross, we are forgiven and have the promise of eternal life. No man has done that, except the God/man, Christ Jesus. In His saving name we look beyond ourselves to the well-being of His kingdom and the unity that exists among all who hold to His truths. Christ is the object of our faith and all others are His servants who, if faithful, only want to give of themselves that He might be glorified.
Lord Jesus, hear our prayer. Unite Us in Your saving name for “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). God grant that we honor Him, and Him alone.
II. Unite Us to preach the Gospel, trusting its power.
On occasion we honor people. Sometimes we honor them by naming streets or public buildings after them. In Springfield I think of the Hammons Student Center or the Juanita K. Hammons Hall. Why do we do that? Because in doing so we want to acknowledge that such people have left indelible marks on our community. We thank them for the good they've done.
I guess that's okay; there's nothing wrong with it unless it goes
too far and interferes in God's Kingdom. If Christian humility gives way to human ambition, then there's a problem. And that's what happened in Corinth.
Such honoring of former preachers went too far and took on a spirit of petty arguing. “I was baptized by Paul,” some said. “He's the greatest missionary of them all.” Others shouted back, “Apollos baptized me. He was a far better preacher and a great leader.”
I don't think that would ever happen to me, that one of you cries out, “I like Pastor Lehmann the best.” Although it might flatter my sinful nature, such a comment would make me sad, as I'm sure it made Paul and Apollos sad. Paul even said, “I'm sure glad that I didn't baptize too many of you.” He wasn't criticizing baptism; he was lamenting the people's sinful take on it. It doesn't even sound like the matter was as much about the preachers and what they did as it was about the people themselves. Kind of like a child crying out, “I'm better than you because Paul baptized me.” Sad, isn't it?
The truth is there is no reason for pride in any of us. Our sinful nature leaves us filthy in sin. For that we don't deserve honor; we deserve punishment for sin. Yet, God does the unexpected. After sending the Savior and bringing us to faith in Him, God honors us, though undeserving. He doesn't name buildings or streets after us; He honors us in giving us His name. John writes to believers, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us! That we should be called children of God! And that is what we are” (1Jn.3:1).
That is the Gospel, the good news that what none of us could buy, or earn, or obtain on our own, God gives to us in His Son. In that Gospel promise He unites us to Himself and to one another. He makes us family, His family, not because a certain pastor or church did it to us, but because the Gospel they proclaimed did. That Gospel is the power of God to salvation. It's a power that doesn't lie in a man, doesn't lie in public speaking skills, doesn't lie in any special tricks of communication. It lies in the Gospel that we preach. Lord Jesus , Unite Us in it, trusting its power .
The church of our day could learn much from Paul's words for many seem to think that we must entertain or mystify or “wow” people to keep them interested. You may entertain, mystify, and “wow” people by what you do, but only one thing will save them – proclaiming the Gospel in its truth and purity.
To that end we pray: Lord Jesus, Unite Us to preach the Gospel, trusting its power. God grant it to us for Jesus' sake. Amen