St John the Beloved
Sermon and teaching audio from St John Church in Cincinnati Ohio.
St John the Beloved
Unity in the Mess
Unity is the greatest indicator that a church community will last a long time and be fruitful, not money, talent, or even growth. When the church is united under the gospel and in Jesus, it is strong, resilient, and effective.
• Unity means commitment, not necessarily conformity—staying together even when we disagree
• Paul uses language of mending torn fabric when he calls for unity in the Corinthian church
• True commitment involves time, sacrifice, consistency, and contentment
• Division occurs when we allow our differences to define us rather than our common faith in Christ
• The Corinthians were dividing themselves by following different leaders—Paul, Apollos, Cephas
• Our favorite teachers are wrong about something, and everyone has something to teach us
• We should practice curiosity with each other rather than flattening people with labels
• The cross has power to unite us because it teaches two unchanging truths: we are sinners in need of grace, and Jesus died to save sinners
• Unlike worldly communities that dissolve when circumstances change, Christ's church is built on eternal truths
And for the rest of us. Let's stand for the reading of God's Word in 1 Corinthians 1, verses 10-17,. The Word of God reads this way I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment, for it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says I follow Paul or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas or I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? I follow Cephas or I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized in none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else, for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. This is God's word. Thanks be to God. You may be seated, and may God bless this reading and preaching of his word word.
Speaker 1:In the early 1800s, in this area, this part of the country, the Shawnee chief, tecumseh, saw a troubling pattern After years of broken treaties and land seizures and relentless encroachments by the European settlers. Time and time again it became clear to him that while individual tribes could mount an impressive resistance for a small time, they couldn't sustain it, and the reason is that because they could never seem to form lasting, cohesive alliances with one another. It wasn't a matter of strength or of courage, or that they didn't have brave warriors. It't a matter of strength or of courage or that they didn't have brave warriors, it was a matter of disunity. They didn't have the numbers, they were not united with one another. So Tecumseh set out on an ambitious mission to form a pan-tribal confederation and he rode on horseback thousands of miles across North America, speaking to tribal leaders seeking to unite the tribes to create a united front in order to defend native land and sovereignty. He said memorably this is one of his quotes together we stand as a wall, but divided we're scattered and crushed like dry leaves. For a time he gained traction, but when Tecumseh was killed at the Battle of Thames, the Confederation splintered and with it so did any sort of meaningful resistance, and the westward expansion of the United States swept forward, not because the native people lacked bravery, not because they lacked skill in battle, but because they lacked unity. And last week I shared a similar story from the British colonization of Palestine. It's a pattern that we see again and again in history that when unity fails, strength crumbles. When the peoples are not united, they are not strong. But when people unite around something greater than themselves, they become powerful and resilient. The lesson of history, time and time again, is that strength comes from unity, strength comes from unity.
Speaker 1:This morning we're continuing in our series in 1 Corinthians called Bless this Mess. And right out of the gate, paul addresses one of the biggest threats to any local church the threat of division. The church in Corinth was diverse. They were gifted, they were alive, they were growing, growing, but cracks were beginning to form and they were losing sight of their unity in Christ and tribal loyalties were creeping in. And Paul is writing to them, knowing what's at stake that when the church is united under the gospel and united in Jesus, it is strong. Even if it's small, it's strong, it's resilient and it's effective. But when it's divided and when these cracks begin to form, it becomes unstable and weak and vulnerable.
Speaker 1:What makes a church healthy and strong? What's the greatest indicator that a church community will last a long time and be very fruitful? From a biblical perspective? It's not money. If you look at a church's bank account and see a large number in there, that's not the greatest indicator that it's going to last a long time. Plenty of very wealthy churches have gone belly up very quickly in certain circumstances. It's not talent, it's not giftedness or miraculous expressions of the spirit that indicates that a church is strong. The Corinthian church certainly had plenty of that, but Paul writes to them saying that they're weak. Had plenty of that, but Paul writes to them saying that they're weak. It's not even influence or growth or large amounts of people coming to Christ.
Speaker 1:That is the greatest indicator that a church will last a long time and be very fruitful. It's unity. How united is this church? How united are these people to one another? And in this passage, paul shows us three things about that unity the definition of unity, the threat to unity or a threat to unity, and the power for unity. So the definition, the threat and the power for unity. First, the definition of unity Unity means commitment and not necessarily conformity. Not necessarily conformity, but commitment to one another.
Speaker 1:Look again at verse 10. Paul says I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. When Paul writes that all of you agree, I appeal to you, brothers, that all of you agree. Does he mean that we should never have differences of opinion, that everyone in any particular church, or maybe in the church as a whole, that we should all vote the same, we should all parent the same, we should all have the same kind of lifestyle? We should interpret every passage the same?
Speaker 1:Just the past few weeks, as I was working on this sermon, I was on the phone with an old mentor of mine, a guy named Paul not Paul the Apostle, but a different Paul and a dear friend, an older brother, someone he officiated at our wedding. He and I disagree about a lot of stuff and we love to get on the phone and banter about things that we disagree about to sharpen one another. Does Paul mean that we should never disagree about anything? He can't mean that A that's unworkable. But later in this very letter, paul addresses a contentious issue in 1 Corinthians 8 through 10. He looks at this issue of food offered to idols, which was very contentious in their church, and when he addresses that he doesn't take a side and he does not demand uniformity. He doesn't demand that they all agree about that issue. He allows for differences of conscience and he says essentially there, you can disagree about this and you can still be united in Christ. So Paul can't mean that he wants us to always agree about everything.
Speaker 1:To really grasp what Paul is saying we have to look at the words that he's using. In the Greek the word for division is schismata, which is from the world of textiles, and it literally means a tear in fabric. A piece of fabric being torn is a schism, schismata. And then his word for united, when he says be united to one another, refers to mending, and it's elsewhere used in the New Testament of when the disciples were mending their nets. They're putting them back together, they're repairing the places that have been torn. That's the word that's used there. So he is not issuing this demand for ideological sameness, but he's offering a relational call that even when you disagree with one another or even when you offend one another. Don't tear apart. That's what he's saying. Don't be torn apart. Mend what's torn be stitched together.
Speaker 1:In another letter, in colossians, paul says paul prays that our hearts would be knit together in love, colossians 2 2. And when he's talking about unity in his letters, that's always what he's talking about. He's he's not talking about us all agreeing about everything, politically or theologically or lifestyle-wise. He's saying I want you guys to remain committed to one another in love, even when you disagree. Unity does not mean that we agree about everything because we don't. It means that we agree on the most important thing Jesus Christ and him crucified. On the most important thing Jesus Christ and him crucified. And because of that we are bound together in loving commitment to one another that no secondary agreement can undo. Even when we disagree, even when we offend one another, we cannot be torn. That's the kind of unity that Paul is calling for, not a uniformity of opinion, but a relational commitment to one another rooted in Christ. A commitment that's what unity is. Commitment, that's the strength of a church.
Speaker 1:Are we committed to one another relationally in love? I think all of us know what commitment looks like. Sometimes we just struggle to apply it to one another in our relationships here. Here's a simple example from our family. For the last few years, thanks to their mother, our kids have been part of a Taekwondo program in Norwood and we just have this habit as a family that when we get involved in things even as silly as a Taekwondo program, for better or for worse, we are just committed to it. And we're committed to this program and what that means for us.
Speaker 1:First of all, it means time. Every Tuesday night and every Saturday morning we are at Taekwondo. It's written on our calendars, basically in permanent marker. There's nothing else that can very, very few things that can disrupt that commitment that those times belong to the commitment. It also involves sacrifice. Because we have said yes to this. There's many other things that come up that they might want to do or we might want to do that we have to say no to things that we have to sacrifice because we've said yes to this other thing. You can't be committed to everything. As a matter of fact, you can only be committed to a very few things.
Speaker 1:It means consistency. It means we go whether we want to or whether we feel like it or not, it never fails. Every week, when we're getting ready to go to Taekwondo, one of our kids usually a different one, one of them will say I don't want to go to Taekwondo. Why do we have to go to stupid Taekwondo? And the answer is always we're going because we are committed. Even if you don't want to go, we go. That's what we do. We're committed to this thing, and it also means and this is an important one it also means contentment. Are there better Taekwondo programs out there in Cincinnati? Maybe Are we getting the best deal? Are we getting our money's worth? I don't know. I've never asked those questions or I've never investigated it, because we've chosen to commit to this program and so our hearts are settled. We don't even think about what other programs might be out there. That's what it means to be committed.
Speaker 1:When you're committed to something, it shapes your schedule, it shapes your priorities, your habits, your attitude. Your heart is at rest with that decision that you've made and Jesus wants you to commit to your local church like that. That's what Paul is calling us to when he calls us to unity. So just to make an application here, before we move on, I want to call us to recommit this morning. Recommit to one another, and I'm not just talking about commitment to an organization or commitment to a meeting or to a Sunday worship gathering. I'm talking about being committed to the people that are in this room, the members of this church, people that are part of this church community. Paul calls us to be united, not just structurally, but relationally a loving commitment to one another, even when we disagree. So I want to call upon us this morning to re-up on our commitment to one another in Christ.
Speaker 1:In order to do that, what needs to get written on your calendar and permanent marker that nothing can disrupt? Because not because you always want to do it, but because these are the people whom God has called you to be committed to? What lesser things do you need to say no to so that you can say yes to these people, the people that God has called you to live life with and to bear one another's burdens and to encourage one another and to live in mission together? Are you willing to show up for them in their lives, even when you don't feel like it? And then finally, again very important question is your heart settled, or do you always find yourself wondering if you're getting your money's worth in your church community, or if maybe is this really the right church for me? Is there some place out there that might be a better fit? If you ask that question, there probably is and this probably isn't the right church for you and there probably is a better church. It's going to be a better fit, but that's not the question. The question isn't is this really the right church for me? The question is is this the church that I have committed to? And if it is, then when we encounter frustrations and weaknesses, we we double down on that commitment and we we seek to help, to help one another grow in those areas.
Speaker 1:This is what Paul means when he says that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind, in same judgment, because unity is not about being the same, it's about staying together even when we're not the same, even though we're not the same. In this series, the goal is to equip you to know how to be part of a messy church, how to be part of a local church, a real church, and how to be fruitful in that. And the very first step is to commit, to be committed. So that's the definition of unity. Secondly, second point, the threat to unity. Unity is threatened when we allow ourselves to be defined by our differences, when we're defined by our differences and not by what we have in common.
Speaker 1:Look again at verse 11. Paul says it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there's quarreling among you, my brothers. There were differences within the Corinthian church. This is very natural, but those differences have escalated and what may have begun as personal preferences or personality fit has grown into sort of a quarreling and a division and a tension and where now there are different groups within the church and they're each looking at the other and they're saying they not like us. To quote Kendrick Lamar. Verse 12 spells it out.
Speaker 1:Paul says what I mean is that each one of you says I follow Paul. Literally in the Greek it's I am of Paul or I am of Apollos. I follow Apollos or I follow Cephas, which is Peter, or I follow Christ. Each one of those people Paul and Apollos and Peter, all of those, those men were faithful leaders in the church. Paul planted the church in Corinth. Apollos came after him and he sowed into that community and served the community. Peter, we don't know. He may have visited, or maybe someone who was close to Peter, had visited and sort of brought his style and his influence His influence was at least present and some, maybe wanting to appear most spiritual of all, said you know what? I just follow Christ, I don't. You know I'm not, I don't follow anyone but Jesus.
Speaker 1:And yes, there were likely differences among those leaders, differences of you know. Paul probably had a different preaching style than Apollos did. They had different cultural backgrounds and temperaments and maybe even they had some different theological nuances. And of course the Corinthian believers had their own personalities and preferences too. Some maybe resonated more with Paul, others with Apollos, and that's normal. But the problem is that they let their differences be the thing that was defining them, be the main thing. They did not just say I appreciate Apollos or, you know, I think I like Apollos preaching better than I like Paul's. They said I am an Apollonian. They said I am of Apollos or I am of Paul, I'm Pauline. And once you've said I belong to Paul and I've said I belong to Apollos, it's not long before we start thinking well, we probably don't really belong together and it would be better for us to start our Paul church and our Apollos church and just break fellowship with one another. And this is the danger. It's not the difference itself, but when the difference becomes the most important thing, when it becomes the thing that defines us and when our lesser loyalties eclipse our greater unity.
Speaker 1:On the night of October 30th in 1938, the world was already very divided. The wounds of World War I were still raw and the clouds of World War II were forming on the horizon. But that evening something very strange happened. As families across the United States gathered around their radios, which was a nightly ritual in that time, they were listening to a music program and they heard what sounded like news bulletin interruptions to the regularly scheduled program. Explosions have been detected on the planet Mars. A meteor has crashed into a farmer's field in Grovers Mill, new Jersey.
Speaker 1:Martians, gray, snake-like tentacles crawling from a metallic cylinder, their black eyes gleaming like a serpent, and a lot of people panicked. And there's reports of people having fled their homes or called the police. They genuinely believed that the country was under attack by Martians and they didn't realize that it was a fictional radio play. The War of the Worlds broadcast ingeniously as a series of fake news reports performed by Orson Welles. But the fascinating thing about that, what happened on that night, just a night or so before Halloween.
Speaker 1:For a few moments that night, the divisions between people faded. The things that seemed so important political parties, class systems, economic differences, racial differences suddenly those things didn't matter as much, because people believed that Martians were attacking. People believed that they faced an even greater common enemy. As Aristotle once said, a common danger unites even the bitterest enemies, and that just is always true. While the Martians weren't real. That reaction tells us something that is real is that we probably have way more in common than we think, just even as Americans or as human beings.
Speaker 1:But if that's true, as human beings and as Americans, how much more true is that if we believe in Jesus? How much more true is that in the church, we've all been called by the same Christ, the same Jesus that called me to faith in him when I was a 17-year-old kid. He's the same one that showed up in your life and called you. We've all been baptized into the same name and have all received the same spirit. We all have a common enemy. We have greater common enemies in the flesh and the world and the devil. And if we've been called to belong to Jesus Christ and if we've been called to belong to Jesus Christ. We always, always, always have far more that unites us than that divides us, and this is true in our church, this is true in your friendships with your Christian friends, this is true in your marriage. When it seems like you and your spouse couldn't be more different, you have to remember that because you belong to Jesus, even in those moments, you always have far more that unites you than that divides you. In Christ, we already have unity, and the only question is whether we will live like it's true. So how do we do that? How do we live according to that unity?
Speaker 1:Here's a few things just to keep in mind, just a few suggestions. The first is that your favorite teachers are wrong about something. The first is that your favorite teachers are wrong about something. Your favorite teachers are wrong about something, except for me. Everybody's so imbalanced except you and me, and sometimes I wonder about you. But no, your favorite teachers are wrong about something.
Speaker 1:Think about people who have shaped your faith most deeply, whether it's a personal mentor who invested in you, whether it's a prominent preacher or an author, someone you like to read or to listen to, or even if it's just your father or your mother, who had a profound impact on your faith. You should appreciate them. You should thank God for their ministry, as Paul will say in coming weeks that we should consider them as servants of Christ. You should thank God for them. But they're not right about everything. They get some stuff wrong. Even our favorite teachers are imbalanced on some issues. And so, along the same lines, everyone has something to teach you, no matter what we might disagree about. If we agree about Jesus Christ and him crucified, there's something that we can learn from every brother and sister in Christ. Even if you have major theological differences or other kinds of differences with another believer or with a certain preacher or author, all of us should have the humility to at least be able to listen to them and to find something that we can learn from them and something that we can thank God for from them. And then, finally, this should lead us to practice curiosity.
Speaker 1:We like labels. For example, I would identify the label that I would embrace for myself is as, theologically speaking, I'm a Reformed Presbyterian. Maybe you could add on to that like urban missional Christian. That's probably a pretty good label. Labels are great. They help us to quickly orient ourselves into a confusing world. But the danger with labels once you slap a label on somebody or on yourself is that when you do that, it's easy to assume that you therefore understand everything about them, so you don't have to be curious about them, you don't have to ask them questions or get to know them, because they have the label and you already know everything about that label. But the reality is that we're always far more complicated than our labels the labels that we take for ourselves or that we are given by others. So, instead of flattening people with labels, let's practice curiosity and when we find that we have differences, let's ask genuine questions that give other people a chance to open themselves up and share their hearts so that we might get to know them. Let's practice curiosity with one another, and let's also practice curiosity with the Bible.
Speaker 1:If we embrace a label for ourselves, it can abdicate us from our responsibility to search the scriptures to see what they say. I don't know how many. I've done this so many times. You probably have done the same. Someone will ask me a question about what the Bible says or what it means, and I might not know the answer off the top of my head, so I'll just Google or chat GPT, what's the reformed answer to this question? And I'll let someone else tell me that, and then I'll just toe the party line Instead of searching the Scriptures for myself to discern. What is it that the Bible is saying about this? And it's not that I can't be guided and taught by those who've gone before me, but you need to not abdicate that responsibility and give yourself permission to become more complicated than your own labels, because we are already united in Christ. We can recognize that our favorite teachers get some things wrong, and there's no shame in that because we don't belong to them. We belong to Jesus. We can have the humility to learn from people that we disagree with, and we can be genuinely curious without trying to iron out every wrinkle and convert everyone to our own opinion. Unity is threatened when we define ourselves by our differences, when that becomes the most important thing. So what do we need? Well, finally, the power for unity, and this is how unity is accomplished in every local church. The power for unity is found in the simplicity of the cross.
Speaker 1:In order to get the Corinthians back on track, paul brings them back to the cross, if you look at verse 13,. After he brings up this issue. Immediately he goes here. He says was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul? Paul's saying I taught you about Jesus and I didn't do that great of a job. I wasn't using eloquent words, I was just telling you the plain gospel. I taught you about Jesus, but Jesus is the one that actually died for you. Apollos taught you about Jesus, peter perhaps taught you about Jesus, but Jesus is the one who died for you. And then look at verse 17. He says for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ alone, the simple cross of Christ, be emptied of its power. And as we will see in coming weeks, paul had a very simple message In 1 Corinthians 2.2, he says I said even though he knew many things, he said I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Speaker 1:The power for unity is in the simplicity of the cross, and the preaching of the cross and the focus on the cross of Jesus is able to unite people who are otherwise very different into one body. Why does the cross have that power? We're going to look at that, but I first want to say that that's the goal of our preaching here at St John and our teaching, and we have our labels and we have our theological nuances, but the main thing I hope that gets across every week is the cross of Jesus Christ, because that alone is able to unite us to him and to one another. Why does it have that power? Let me start with an illustration.
Speaker 1:If you're a nineties kid, you might remember Bam Margera Um. He was a professional skateboarder and a musician and he and his friends started a very famous TV show that I can't say the name of it from the pulpit. I think it was on MTV. It was centered around their extreme antics and lifestyle, what they would get up to, and he was just surrounded by hundreds of friends. He was like the life of the party, but his lifestyle of drug abuse and alcoholism and his 100-mile-an-hour lifestyle caught up with him eventually and at a certain point he realized that if he wanted to stay alive he had to quit drinking, and so he did. And when he did, something unexpected happened he lost most all of his friends.
Speaker 1:When the party stopped, his friends disappeared and he's spoken publicly about his sobriety, and one of the most difficult aspects, he said, was the loneliness that came with it. He said, when I stopped drinking I realized most of my friends were just drinking buddies, and once I was sober they disappeared, they were gone. In other words, his community, the fellowship that he was a part of, was united, but it was united around drinking. That's what brought them together. So when that stopped he realized that there was nothing more to those relationships. And I think that's an interesting illustration, because much of the community that is available to us in the world, much of the community that the world has to offer, is like that. It's superficial, like that. You could join a CrossFit gym and bond with people over that, but as soon as you get injured or your schedule gets too busy or you can't afford it anymore, those relationships evaporate. You would experience the same thing in a running club or in a country club or whatever other kind of community that you can find to join. The things that bind us together as a society are often very superficial and once they're gone there's nothing to those relationships.
Speaker 1:Why is the cross different? Why is the church different? The cross teaches us two things deep down in our soul that are never going to change, and one is that you are a great sinner in need of grace and two, jesus Christ died to save sinners. That's the substance of the cross You're a great sinner in need of grace and Jesus Christ died to save sinners just like you. It's a very simple message, but the thing about it is that, even though everything else in your life might change, those things never will. Even though everything else might change those things never will, you're never going to stop being a sinner. You're never going to stop needing God's grace Until you get to glory. Then, hopefully, we'll stop sinning in glory, but until then, you're never going to stop being a sinner. You're never going to stop needing God's grace, and Jesus died for you and that's never going to not be true, and he's never going to give up on saving you as you carry on the long, winding journey of life. A lot is going to change, but some things never will, and those two things never will.
Speaker 1:In college, I was part of a vibrant church up in Dayton Ohio and it had this all-star leadership team, this world-class preacher. They were doing a massive work in Dayton Ohio advancing the kingdom of God. Many people were coming to faith in Christ and it was every Sunday that you showed up to church, it was just like you were just expecting God to do something amazing. It was an incredible church to be part of and they did many good things for many years. But then something happened. The pastor was caught up in sexual sin and had to step down and then, after he did that, in the years following, the leadership team just sort of fell apart. And the church today, though it still exists, has never been the same. It's today a shadow of what it once was, but a decade or so later, the leaders of that church at that time, including the fallen pastor, which are now serving in other places and serving in other churches, including the fallen pastor, who was later restored and is serving elsewhere.
Speaker 1:A few years ago I saw a picture of all of those people that original team sitting down together at a restaurant, sharing a meal and looking like they were having a good time, probably just encouraging one another and catching up on old times, and the caption of the picture said this. It said a lot has changed, some things haven't, and to me that's a perfect picture of the unity that we have in Christ. A lot has changed, but some things haven't. What hasn't changed? The fact that we're sinners and we're in need of a Savior, and the fact that Jesus died to save sinners. The Savior and the fact that Jesus died to save sinners. We may disagree about many things, we may offend one another in many ways or we may find other reasons to divide and to part ways, but it's the cross of Jesus that always brings us back to the same place.
Speaker 1:Remember, as we go through this series, that strength comes from unity. Over the next few months, as we preach through 1 Corinthians, it's my prayer that the Lord would strengthen our church, that he would establish us, that he would strengthen us and that he would mature us. And that has to mean that we grow more committed to one another. It has to mean that we identify less with our differences and it has to mean that we keep the cross of Christ as our main message, as the one string on our banjo, and, by God's grace, as we do that, we will grow more united and, as a consequence, grow more strong and resilient. Grow more strong and resilient.
Speaker 1:To that end, let us pray.
Speaker 1:Our Father, I thank you for this church community that you have called together that three, four years ago did not exist, and there are people in this place, lord, that three, four years ago were not walking with you, but that you called them to yourself and now are in fellowship with your son and walking with you in the light.
Speaker 1:And there are people in this room right now that three, four years ago did not know one another, but now are united in love for one another and are in fellowship with one another, encouraging one another. And, lord, this is something that you have done. You might say that I planted, that other people have watered, but it is God that has given the growth. Lord, this is your church, it's a work of your hands and we thank you for that. And we pray, god, that you would unite us more and more, that you would strengthen us more and more, that you would strengthen us more and more as a church community, strengthen us against the schemes of the devil, that we might encourage one another and join in mission together to a lost and hurting and broken world, for the glory of Jesus. All of this we ask in his name, amen.