DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- UNITY IN THE CHURCH

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – UNITY AMONG BELIEVERS

"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 all 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." (I Corinthians 1:10-11)

Today, we start our gleanings in the first letter of the Apostle Paul to the church at Corinth. The church at Corinth was a very gifted church. In fact, Scripture says that they "came short in no gift" (vs 7). That is, there was nothing lacking regarding spiritual gifts and no church exceeded their spiritual blessings. But even though they were greatly blessed with spiritual gifts, it was a church that had an abundance of problems that needed correction.

They are identified as saints and were sanctified in Christ Jesus (vs. 2). Indeed, all believers are sanctified saints in Christ. But there were a lot of fleshly, unspiritual attitudes and actions that were going on in Corinth. They needed to mature in their understanding of what it means to be a Christian, and God was faithful to use Paul to help them grow in their Christian walk. As verse 9 says, "God is faithful." He will take us where we are a mold us into His purpose.

The first problem Paul tackles in this letter is their pride that caused the church to be split with contentions (vs. 11). Jesus had prayed that the church would be one (John 17:21). The church at Corinth was anything but united. There were various factions in Corinth that were separated from each other because they followed various leaders. Some said that they were of Paul, others that they followed Apollos, still others claimed Peter as their patriarch, and the really holy ones said, "I am of Christ" (vs. 13). You can almost hear the haughtiness in their voices as they declared their allegiances. But Paul brought them back to Jesus, Christ crucified (vs. 23; 2:2). That is the only thing that binds us together as believers. It was Jesus who died for us – not some teacher or prophet or church.

Some of the disciples of Jesus came to Him one day and wanted to call down fire from heaven on a person who was doing miracles, but who was not a part of their crowd. Jesus said, " 'Do not forbid him...For he who is not against us is on our side' " (Mark 9:39-40).

I think we need to be very careful about our attitudes toward Christians in other denominations who are preaching the true Gospel, but may not be a part of our particular group. Christ is the head of the Church, and we find our fellowship in Him. Jesus Christ crucified is what brings believers together.

Love, Dad