Let me ask you a question. If I was going to
take a straw poll of everybody in the room this
morning and I asked you to raise your hand if
you've been part of a church split, what percentage
of hands do you think would go up? You don't
have to say that a lot. So clarifying, if you
were a part of a church, maybe as a child or
as an adult, and that church split for some reason,
or maybe your immediate family is connected to
a church that has split, what would the percentage
be? I'm guessing more than half of the folks
in this room would raise their hands. And that's
heartbreaking, isn't it? Because we've sung it,
we've said it, we've read it this morning, the
church is to be won. It's heartbreaking that
that happens. In my lifetime as a believer, I've
heard more stories than I can count of men and
women within seemingly good churches who end
up breaking fellowship with other members of
those same seemingly good churches. They break
fellowship, it's nasty, it's ugly, and then they
run off to start a new movement, or they find
another seemingly good church, and oftentimes
they repeat that same pattern. And perhaps the
saddest part of these stories is the cause of
those splits. In many cases, it's not doctrinal,
it's not an essential of the Christian faith.
Most of the time, splits happen over opinions,
over preferences, and over personalities. Which
raises the question, why are we so known as a
people who can't seem to maintain the unity of
the church? That reputation is out there. And
again, it's heartbreaking. We all know and affirm
that Christ is one. We all know and affirm that
his body is to be one. We all affirm what we've
already heard in our New Testament reading from
earlier. One spirit, one Lord, one faith, one
God and Father over all. And yet... Knowing that,
time after time, unity escapes us. Well, the
biblical author James has something to say about
this, doesn't he? What is the source of quarrels
and fights among you? He asks, don't they come
from your passions that wage war within you?
Did you know that redeemed Christians struggle
with their passions? Did you know that? They
do. We all do. Because we're in a war, right?
The flesh and the spirit, which Paul very clearly
describes in his letter to the Galatians. He
says the flesh sets its desire against the spirit
and the spirit against the flesh. For these are
in opposition to one another. And so even among
professing Christ followers, we struggle with
the flesh. We struggle with pride, self -centeredness,
sinful wants, anger, bitterness. And we get stubborn
and hard -headed about our opinions. over secondary
issues, over our preferences about what a church
should do, how a church should be run, and so
on. Simply put, conflict in the church happens
because men and women with strong passions bump
into other men and women with equally strong
passions. And in the midst of the rock tumbler
of that collision, if our desires aren't regulated
by God's word, if we're unable to subordinate
our feelings and passions to the lordship of
Christ, then the results are going to be destructive.
Let me say that again. If our desires aren't
regulated by the principles of God, and if our
passions are, we're unable to subordinate our
feelings and opinions and passions to the lordship
of Christ, then we're going to be in trouble.
And let's face it. We all know about quarrels.
It's a part of life, right? We've all grown up
with quarrels. Think about this. We grow up around,
let's see, toddlers fight over toys. And then
little kids fight on the playground. And then
teenagers fight with their parents over everything.
Then college students fight over relationships.
Then they grow into adults and they get a job
and they fight with others in the workplace.
Then they get married and guess what? They fight
with their spouse. And then they have children,
and they fight with those kids, and the circle
is complete. The beat goes on, right? And James
tells us it's because of your passions that these
things happen. You're at war within yourself
because of your unchecked desires. You want things.
You want things so badly, but you don't get them.
Or worse, you can't have them. And so what do
you do? You act out. You rage and you plot and
you seethe and you grow bitter. And there are
times, this is when it gets dangerous, when you
might come to a place where you say, I will do
whatever it takes to get what I want, even, catch
this, even if it divides the body of Christ and
harms other believers. Can you imagine that?
This is totally out of character for people who
profess to know Christ and yet it happens all
of the time. And guess what? Our spiritual enemy?
The prince of this earthly realm, he loves every
single bit of it because it brings disgrace to
the name of Christ. It degrades our testimony
out there in the world. And here's the thing.
We'll see this today. It's not new. Conflict
and disunity go back to the very founding of
the church. In fact, if there's any encouragement
about the fact that we're going to study disunity,
it's that It's not just a modern thing. It's
not just us. It's been happening from the beginning.
Why? Because the church is made up of fallible
human beings, and we're all in various stages
of spiritual maturity, and many of the folks
in the church are still more driven by their
passions than they're driven by the Spirit's
leading. And so conflict is going to happen.
So friends, before we dive into this text, hear
me on this. This is one of the most straightforward
teachings in all of Scripture, and yet one of
the hardest. To live out. So don't underestimate
the exhortation we're about to hear. Grab your
Bibles. We're going to 1 Corinthians chapter
1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, find verse 10. You'll
recall that the last two Sundays we have walked
through the historical context of this letter.
And then we have looked at Paul's greeting in
verses 1 through 9. And if you remember, this
is a greeting which is quite unusual for Paul
in the sense that he mentions nothing positive
about this church, the way they walk, in their
faith. He says nothing positive about the church
body in Corinth. What he does talk about is a
thorough list of positional truths about the
Corinthian believers. And this is so important
to recognize. Positional truths about these folks.
The list is on the screen. They've been sanctified
in Christ, he says, meaning they've been chosen
and set apart for God's purposes. They've been
called into the kingdom of God as saints, which
means holy ones. That is positionally true. They've
been lavished with grace from God. They've been
enriched in every way, Paul says, and they've
been promised that Christ will confirm them blameless
to the end. That's positionally true of every
believer. It was true of these struggling believers
in Corinth. And all of it, he says, is guaranteed
by one thing, God's faithfulness. That's good
news, isn't it? So in the first nine verses,
Paul, he doesn't commend the Corinthian believers
for anything. Listen, instead he thanks God for
what God has done in them. And what a great posture
that is for us to have as well. And now, having
laid out this greeting, beginning in verse 10,
Paul's now about to turn his attention to the
pressing matters that need to be confronted there
in Corinth. And he starts with what he apparently
believes is the number one issue, unity. Without
unity, the church of Corinth was struggling,
both inside and outside. Internally, they were
tearing each other apart. Externally, their infighting
was a detriment to their witness in the culture.
Guys, listen, without observable unity and love,
a church has no platform to speak into the culture.
It has no platform to make an impact with the
gospel. If people look at the church and go,
why should I listen to them? They can't even
get along. They're splitting all the time. By
the way, this is why unity is the number one
statement that we make in our church covenant.
If you don't know it, this is what it says. This
is number one in our covenant. We will work and
pray for unity of the spirit within the body.
How do we do that? Always practicing forgiveness,
pursuing reconciliation, and rejecting harmful
gossip. Unity is the foundation of a healthy
church. It's the foundation of a strong witness
to the culture. Amen? So, let's see what Paul
says, beginning in verse 10. Now I mean this,
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, so that no one
will say that you were baptized in my name. Now
I did baptize also the household of Stephanas.
Beyond that, I don't know whether I baptized
any other, for Christ did not send me to baptize,
but to preach the gospel, and not in cleverness
of speech, so that the cross of Christ would
not be made. void. This passage always takes
me back to something that the late Adrian Rogers
once said. It's one of those quotes that's always
stuck with me. Here's what he said. The church
is at its best when it's on the battlefield fighting
the real enemies of the gospel. She is at her
worst when she's in the barracks fighting one
another. What a truth that is. Now, it's interesting
how Paul approaches the issue. Look at verse
10 again. The way he writes this is very revealing.
I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ. So there's some important things
happening here. First of all, in the original
Greek, Paul writes, parakaleo de humas adelphoi.
I appeal to you, brothers. I appeal to you. Now,
parakaleo is a compound word. Kaleo means to
call. Para means alongside. So catch this. Even
though Paul is an apostle with full authority
to rebuke and to judge, what he does here is
he starts with a gentle tone. He starts very
gently. It's as if he's like a big brother who
comes alongside a little brother and puts his
arm around him, calls him to his side, and says,
we need to talk about something. We need to have
a conversation. There is no doubt in Paul's mind
that the issue is important, that it's urgent,
but he starts, this is so important for us, by
making that family connection. Hey, little brother,
come over here. My brothers, he says. This reveals
a pastoral heart of care and concern. Remember,
Paul knows these people personally. He cares
for them. But then he raises the stakes in terms
of authority, right? He says, look, I'm appealing
to you. By what authority? In the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the full title of our Savior.
I appeal to you by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ. In other words, what he's saying is,
look, what we're about to talk about, it's not
just my private opinion. But this is the opinion
of the Lord himself, what he desires for you
and for your church. And by the way, that should
have grabbed their attention, right? Would that
grab your attention? But what we're going to
find out as we go through this letter is this
is why the Corinthians are in such a mess. Again,
they're more driven by their fleshly passions
than they are by what God desires for them. That's
how a church finds itself in trouble. So here's
how I want to walk through the rest of the passage.
We're going to go slightly out of order here
and we're going to start by looking at the problem
that Paul diagnoses. Then we'll look at his rebuke
and then finally the command or the remedy to
what he's And along the way, we'll make some
practical observations for us here at Oak Hill,
because this is a very practical passage, is
it not? And also, by the way, I'm going to invite
another one of our elders to come up, and he's
going to share a personal testimony about this
very same issue, so stay tuned for that. But
let's start with the problem. Look at verses
11 and 12. What is the problem that Paul diagnoses
here? Again, let me say this. This is not, sometimes
we get into passages and we're like, this is
difficult to interpret, difficult to understand.
Not this one. This is very straightforward, right?
And if you've ever experienced a church split,
you read this and you go, I recognize that spirit.
I've seen this happen. For I've been informed
or it's been reported to me concerning you, my
brethren, again, family connection, by Chloe's
people that there are quarrels among you. And
then he talks about these various parties that
people are lining up behind, including, by the
way, Kephas is just Peter. That's the Aramaic
name for Peter. In terms of the Greek here, the
implication is that the people in the church
are saying, look, I belong to that particular
teacher. I belong to him. I only follow him.
That's my guy. That's what they're saying here.
And remember, where's Paul writing this letter
from? From Ephesus, so directly across the Aegean
Sea from Corinth. He's writing from Ephesus.
And for some reason, he gets a negative report.
From somebody named Chloe, we don't have any
information about Chloe. She's not mentioned
anywhere else in the New Testament, but she has
people, which is funny, right? Chloe's people.
And so the speculation is that she's probably
a member of the church in Corinth. She may have
been a wealthy businesswoman who had business
interests in Ephesus. So her people, her agents,
go to Ephesus, and she says, you know what? Find
Paul and tell him about what's going on back
here. Because it's not good. And the message
Paul received is, verse 11, he says, I hear there
are quarrels among you. Now, the word quarrels
here is erodes, in the plural form of a word
named eros. It's a word that is used both in
biblical Greek and classical Greek, and it refers
to all kinds of conflicts. You see some of them
on the screen. It can refer to quarrels, contention,
strife, wrangling, even rivalries, which fits
the context of this very, very well. Interestingly,
Paul's the only New Testament author that uses
this word. He uses it nine times in his letters.
And get this, three of those nine times in Romans
1, Galatians 5, and 1 Timothy 6, this word shows
up in a vice list. Okay, if you know anything
about, there's virtue lists in scripture, there's
vice lists. And three times Paul lists this in
these vices that are called deeds of the flesh.
So these kinds of conflicts, Paul says, are deeds
of the flesh and they have no place in the life
of a Christian or in the church. That's how serious
Paul views this. Then in verse 12, he lists the
rivalries that have sort of come to the surface,
right? These are, we would call these cliques
or factions, right? Within one congregation,
we have four groups and each one has a certain
nuance to it. So we have the Paul party and you
might call this the loyalist party. I'm going
to give each one of them names. Paul, why? Because
these are the people that are most loyal to the
guy who came and planted the church, to the apostle.
And it's possible that the people in the Paul
party, they were saved through his initial ministry,
those 18 months in Corinth. And so he's their
guy. Look, he planted the church. I got saved
through him. I follow Paul. The second guy is
Apollos, and we might call this the cultured
party. Remember, when Paul left Corinth, he sent
Apollos, to come and watch over the church. Apollos
was the second pastor of the church of Corinth,
and he was known for his intellect, known for
his eloquence as a teacher. He was a Greek man,
so it was likely that he was a man of philosophy
and rhetoric, and people were super impressed
by him, super impressed by this guy, right? So
it's possible that the members who lined up behind
Apollos were the more educated or cultured parts
of the Corinthian church. Then you have Kephas
or Peter. You might call this the traditional
party because remember, Peter was one of the
original pillars of the church from the very
inner circle of Jesus. So what a connection to
make there, right? Going back to the original
church in Jerusalem. He's my guy. And it's very
possible that the people in this party also were
more partial to the forms and the ceremonies
of Judaism. There's a lot going on in this church,
isn't there? And then there's the Jesus party.
Now, how does that strike you? You might look
at that and go, well, that's the party I'd pick.
But be careful. Be careful. We should all be
followers of Christ, but the fact that Paul lists
this as one of the rival parties tells us that
he believes there's some unhealthy things going
on there as well. Now, why? It's likely that
the Jesus party was the most prideful. Of all
the four. Perhaps by saying we only follow Christ
they were looking down at others and saying well
you don't follow Christ. In other words we're
the only ones who are really saved. And sometimes
we find people like this in the church. They
look down their nose at others and say well you're
not as mature as I am. Maybe you're not saved.
Maybe I'm the only one who's truly saved here.
Or it's possible they come to the conclusion
by saying we only follow Christ that we don't
need any human leaders. or teachers, and that's
dangerous as well. So it's as if the church of
Corinth is divided into four distinct worshiping
communities, maybe even meeting in four different
locations, in different houses, but shattering
the union of the church as a whole. Now notice
this is not a leader problem, it's a follower
problem. There's no indication in the text that
the leaders were fostering these divisions, that
they were trying to build cults of personality.
It's the members of the congregation. They are
the ones putting these teachers on a dangerous
pedestal. We see this all the time today, don't
we? Falling into the cult of personality or the
cult of giftedness and almost bowing down behind
certain men. We see this all the time, engaging
in an ungodly devotion to godly men. And make
no mistake, the root of the problem is actually
pride. It's a sense of superiority. Each group
thinks their guy is the best, that their wisdom
and lining up behind their guy makes them superior
to everybody else. So pride is at the root of
all of this. And again, we see this today, the
danger of taking pride in knowing or being associated
with this preacher or that pastor. People today
select churches based solely on the cults of
personality or giftedness of the guy behind the
pulpit. They don't even see the other members,
the other believers. That's not the issue. The
issue is that guy behind the pulpit. It can be
dangerous. Especially if they run around going,
well, I listen to all of the sermons. All of
his classes, I read all of his books, I listen
to all of his podcasts, and you know what? He's
perfect. I never disagree with him. He's their
guy. Like my guy is the fount of all truth in
all matters of faith and practice. Here's where
it gets bad. If you criticize my guy, you become
my enemy. And we draw lines and divisions, and
we line up behind guys. And by the way, if you're
not on the bandwagon I'm on, you're not listening
to the same things I'm listening to. you're just
deaf, dumb, and blind. And sadly, I've seen this
play out many times among churchgoers, but can
I shock you this morning? I see this happen with
pastors. I see this happen with, believe it or
not, guys in the ministry who should know better,
but so idolize their favorite preacher or teacher
that they turn them into spiritual celebrities.
I've seen this happen at the Shepherds Conference.
I've been to Shepherds Conference. More times
than I can count. And if you go, and you should
go, it's a wonderful event. But one of the things
that you will see is guys looking at the, these
are pastors, looking at the lineup of speakers
and waiting by the door. waiting by the door.
When those doors open, they will elbow brothers
in Christ. They will push and shove. Why? So
they can get as close as possible and let the
shadow of their favorite teacher fall upon them.
Some of you guys have been there. You've seen
this. It's pastor worship among pastors who should
know better. How easily we forget that even the
best of preachers and teachers in the church
are just men. who need to continually repent
of sin. And if you don't have a balanced perspective
on this, if you don't have a balanced perspective
on your preacher or your pastor or your elder
team, what happens when that man lets you down?
Or, God forbid, has a moral failure. It's devastating.
It can devastate the lives of believers. We've
seen it happen too many times, right? Some big
names in recent years who have fallen. And I've
seen people stumble and crash out because they
put too much stock into that man. Somehow Christians
forget that the church belongs to no man but
Christ. We've got to keep that perspective. I'm
going to have Jeff Steele come up for a second.
Jeff is, if you don't know Jeff, Jeff is one
of our elders here. And not only that, he has
been, oh, and Carol, even better. Even better.
Right? Even better. That's right. Jeff is one
of our elders here and has seen the back room
of many churches in many different roles in ministry,
and I thought it would be interesting to hear
his perspective as well. Well, Jeff asked Carol
and I to share what we've seen and learned about
factions in the church over our 50 years of ministry.
And if you live long enough, you see all kinds
of stuff, even in the church. And so we wanted
to touch on three items where we've seen factions
grow up in the church and the problems it created.
The first one is youthful arrogance. And I'm
starting with this one because I was guilty of
it. I was young, I was in Bible college, serving
on the staff at my church, and I was learning
all this stuff about what the church should be
and how it should work. And I didn't grow up
in a church, and there was a lot I didn't know
about how the church worked and didn't work.
But I had ideas and dreams, and I thought everybody
should listen to me. And after a while, I came
to the point where I realized I couldn't be on
staff anymore because I just didn't see eye to
eye with the pastor. But I continued to push
and talk about my ideas that I had to anyone
who would listen, and it got to the point where
I didn't have much confidence in the old guys
leading the church. What did they know? And finally,
a year after I left staff, Carol and I made the
decision to leave the church. And I got to be
honest, when we met with the pastor, it did not
go well. But what struck me is that many of my
friends who'd known me for a long time, when
they found out that we were leaving the church,
they all said the same thing. It's about time.
And apparently they recognized something that
I hadn't, and that was that my unhappiness was
hurting the church. And I wasn't helping anyone
by staying. There comes a point when you're better
off leaving than trying to push something that
most people in your church don't want. And in
my youthful arrogance, I wanted the church to
listen to a 24 -year -old who knew all the answers,
and I was wrong. And I bring this up because
a lot of you are young and you're learning a
lot of stuff, but make sure you have the humility
to admit what... that you do not know at all.
There's a reason Peter in 1 Peter 5 exhorts young
men to submit to their elders and to clothe themselves
with humility. All right, second area is two
different philosophies of ministry or preferences
for ministry. And this can form around structure,
around worship, or even around spiritual gifts.
In one church, it came to a head over the role
of the Bible. and how we were going to live it
out. And there were some who believed the Bible,
but wanted to be more laid back in how you applied
it on some issues. And they really couldn't make
a decision about baptism or the Lord's Supper
or the role of women in the church. And the attitude
kind of was, if you had a belief, just go with
it. And others felt like we should work through
these issues from Scripture and make a decision.
And eventually the church split over all this.
And the church that I pastored always tried to
find this balance at the time between being anti
-charismatic and hyper -charismatic. I know.
But at a certain point I discovered it was like
trying to ride two horses going different directions
at the same time. And it didn't work. I had two
elders resign in the same week from my church.
One because we were charismatic and one because
we weren't. And I realized that I had to pick
a direction. And when we did, we lost some people
because of it. And the church went through a
lot during that time. And for me, as a pastor's
wife, these are my dear friends. We planted the
church together. And so I had friends over here
going, no, we need to go this way. And I had
friends over here going, no, we need to go this
way. And you need to talk to your husband about
this because, and it was such a hard thing for
me as a pastor's wife to be torn between these
two preferences and practices. The last issue
that where we've seen division rise up is powerful
people. Powerful people with strong personalities
who aren't necessarily in positions of leadership,
but who try to influence people and events often
behind the scenes. They are masters of manipulation
and they work through rumor and innuendo and
even slander at times to sway people to their
point of view. There was one woman, she terrified
me. She was very impressive, and she came to
me one day, and we were just associate pastors.
And she said, Carol, you need to take over women's
ministry, and your husband needs to start preaching.
And we're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. And when we
didn't, both of us were like, wait a minute,
this is wrong. And so when we turned away from
her flattery, she got real nasty, and she started
all sorts of rumors about us. Yeah. And the common
denominator in these people is that they are
self -willed and they aren't content unless they
get their own way. Twice in my life, I have had
powerful people start rumor campaigns against
me with stories that were completely false. But
the problem is, by the time the truth comes out,
the damage has been done. Trust and leadership
is undermined. The church is divided. That's
why Paul cautions the Romans to keep an eye on
those who cause dissension and to turn away from
them. And why he warns Titus to reject the factious
man after a first and second warning. The unity
of the church is at stake. Amen. Thanks, you
guys, for sharing a little bit about your lives.
Appreciate that. We've had many stories. We've
talked so many times at the elder table about
these stories and more. And it's heartbreaking
to see the church. Oh, thanks, sound guy. That's
great. All right, so we've looked at the problem
that Paul brings up here in the letter. Let's
turn our attention to the rebuke in verse 13.
And this will go quickly because this is such
an obvious teaching. In verse 13, look at it,
Paul asks three rhetorical questions. Has Christ
been divided? He asks, obviously not. And if
that's true, then we dare not divide his body.
Amen? Paul was not crucified for you, was he?
Obviously not. Only the precious blood of the
eternal God -man is capable of paying the debt
that we owe for sin. That's ludicrous, isn't
it? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
Again, obviously not. Your union in the waters
of baptism. is with Christ alone. So what Paul's
doing here is he's using a literary tool that
we call an appeal to absurdity. Because this
is all absurd, isn't it? And it's by design.
These questions are designed to point out the
foolishness of what's going on in Corinth. Paul
was saying, look, why would you line up behind
mere men when you have Christ? And notice how
tactical he is by using himself as the example,
right? If he pointed to Apollos or Peter, then
he would have been attacked by the other parties
saying, see, he's attacking the other parties
and building up his own following. So he appeals
to himself in these examples. Very smart, very
tactical. But you can picture Paul writing these
questions out and thinking to himself, how ridiculous
that we would even ask these questions. Were
you purchased by my blood? Did I redeem you?
Were you baptized in my name? No? Well, then
stop being man -centered. And the church needs
to hear that message. Stop being man -centered.
Now, I'm going to resist the temptation to dive
into baptism here in verses 14 to 17. And if
that disappoints you, sorry, we'll get it next
Sunday. I promise we'll come back. The only thing
I'll say today about the baptism issue is Paul
simply making the point that he's glad he didn't
baptize more people because even that could have
been a source of division in the church, if you
can imagine that. Members of the church getting
puffed up because I was baptized by this guy
or I was baptized by that guy. But that shows
you just how fleshly the Corinthians were acting
in this day. So we'll come back to that next
week and we'll talk about what Paul says about
his preaching as well. That's a tease for next
week to come back, right? Okay, so we've seen
the problem. Now you've seen the rebuke. As absurd
as it is, let's look at the command. Let's look
at the command. What is Paul's remedy for the
problem that he's diagnosed? And we find this
back in verse 10. Now I exhort you, brethren,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we looked
at that already, listen now, that you all agree
and that there be no divisions among you. Okay,
if you're worn out, I want you to stop and take
a deep breath because this is where it gets really
practical. And as we go through this, I want
you each to think about how you function within
the body of Christ here at Oak Hill, the way
you think about your role in the local congregation.
First of all, there's some important word choices
here. The word for divisions, which in the Greek
is a very familiar word, it's called schismata.
Schismata, and so the first thing we think about,
of course, is schism. And yes, that's where our
word comes from. But in classical Greek, schismata
is a word that's used to describe the tearing
of something, particularly the tearing of a garment.
And so what a great word picture we have. Paul
is commanding the members of the Corinthian church
to stop tearing apart their congregation. What
a beautiful, right? You can picture that in your
mind, the tearing apart. How do you put those
things back together once it's torn? Second,
Paul speaks of everyone agreeing. Boy, when you
read that, is that not a tall order? Everybody,
we're all going to agree on something. Man, asking
everybody in the local church to agree on anything
is difficult these days. But listen, I want to
make something clear. There are legitimate times
and places for disagreement in the church. Okay,
lest we have some utopian view of how this works,
there are times when we can disagree. It's how
you handle those disagreements that makes all
the difference, right? More on that in a moment.
Something important to see in the language here
in the Greek is the word that Paul uses for agree.
It comes from the root of the word lego, which
means to speak. So essentially what Paul is commanding
here is that believers in the local body should
all speak the same things. We should all speak
the same things here at Oak Hill. In a practical
sense, here's where this plays out in two areas.
First of all, in terms of doctrine. And I'll
even divide doctrine into essential and non -essential.
Which, by the way, is one of the most important
things you can do in your development of theology
is to make sure you can define what is essential
and what is not. When it comes to essential doctrines
of the Christian faith, the unshakable beliefs
that define historic Christianity, there can
be no room for disagreement among any of us.
We speak with one voice on those things, right?
We must. But then there's the non -essential
doctrines. And there we can leave room for a
diversity of opinions, especially when there
are legitimate interpretive disagreements. And
that happens in the Bible, right? Where good
and godly people look at a text and we have a
different interpretation of it. And we're brothers
in Christ. We have fellowship, but we differ
on a non -essential. Does that make sense? Very
important. I mean things like the details and
the timing of the last days. Right? We can disagree
on those things. Whether you're dispensational
or you take a covenant approach to the whole
of biblical theology. Whether you're Calvinist
or Zwinglian in terms of the presence of Christ
in the elements of communion. Whether you're
tradution or non -tradution. Whether you're superlapsarian
or infralapsarian. And we could do this all day.
Right? Because there's a lot of disagreements
among godly people in the church. Now, as I say
that, we can leave room for differences of opinions
on those things, but it is imperative that the
elders of the church all agree. Why? Because
the teaching arm of a local church has to speak
with one voice on all matters. Otherwise, what
we do is just sow confusion in the congregation.
That's very important. On your end, you, the
members of the body, you might see something
different than the elder team does on a non -essential.
And that's okay. provided you remain teachable
and you take seriously the exhortation to not
cause divisions over that issue. And look, I've
talked to so many of you, and sometimes we disagree.
You say, I have a little different take on this
than the elder team. Okay, are you teachable?
Will you, as Jeff said, listen, submit to your
elders and listen? Right? Most of all, Will you
make sure that you don't divide the body of Christ
over it? That's incredibly important. That means
so if you have a difference of opinion on a non
-essential doctrine, that you carefully regulate
the way you speak about it. Do you catch that?
That's what Paul's talking about, to speak. Carefully
regulate the way you speak about it. Here's what
that means. And I'll take a page out of Paul's
letter to the Romans. Go home this week and read
Romans 14. It's very informative. Paul makes
the case that Christians ought to develop convictions
about biblical issues. You shouldn't just be,
you know, I don't have to see or think because
my elders just say this. No, you should each
be studying the word and developing convictions
on your own. But when your conviction on a non
-essential issue differs from your brother's
conviction, you're not to fight about it. And
you're not to impose your conviction on him and
vice versa. So go ahead and talk about it. Kick
it around. Open your Bibles and study in the
spirit of brotherly love. That is all good, but
do not create a tear in this body. You hear me
on that? I love when guys are like, hey, can
we get together and wrestle through this text?
Nothing pleases an elder more than that. But
we will not create tears over non -essential
doctrines. And just as a warning, this is sort
of how... How this happens. I've seen this happen
too many times in the church. Jeff sort of hinted
at it. You have somebody in the body who starts
off with goodwill and he gets into a particular
issue and he starts reading books about it and
he listens to every podcast about it. He gets
very excited about this one thing. And he's convinced
that everybody in the church needs to believe
what he believes. And it becomes his pet issue,
his thing. And oftentimes he'll either avoid
talking to the elders about it, or if he just
can't get their attention, he will start to whisper
about that issue in the corners of the church.
Or he will start meeting with people to try to
convince them that he has this right. And if
he has the charisma, he will gain a following.
If he has the charisma to pull that off, he will
gain a following. And over time, he'll make that
pet issue a point of division in the body, and
here's the kicker, he'll be proud of it. He'll
be proud. Why? Well, I've straightened out what
was crooked in the church. God gave me that assignment.
Now I've fixed everything. Really? The truth
is he's not serving Christ. He's not serving
the church. He's serving himself. And he tears
the church apart. And he pumps up his ego. And
he chips away at the testimony of the church.
Imagine you arrive at the judgment seat. And
your legacy is, I brought harm to the bride of
Christ. Now, it's not only doctrinal issues where
this matters. Sometimes it's speaking the same
things related to decision -making processes
in the church. This happens all the time. After
much prayer and discussion, an elder team makes
a decision. They direct the body in some way,
and a member of the church hears that from the
elder team, and they think, I don't agree. And
that's fine. You have every right not to agree.
But rather than going directly to a leader, humbly
seeking understanding to say, hey, help me understand
that decision. Give me the background I might
not have. Clarify for me. Give me insight. Instead
of doing that, what does he do? He talks up his
own opinion with the other members. And his goal
is to get a whole bunch of people on his team.
that all feel strongly about this thing. And
then we'll try to manipulate the church to go
in that direction by using, you ready? The subtle
threat of rebellion. Well, I got a bunch of people
over here that really think you guys are going
the wrong direction. And it tears. It's divisive.
It's corrosive. And for anybody that's ever been
approached by somebody, they say, hey, let me
talk to you about something. The elders, stop
listening. Just cut it off right there. Nope.
If we want to talk about something the elders
are doing, let's invite an elder into this. Don't
listen to it. Jeff mentioned it, Romans 16. Paul,
talk about practical. Paul says, keep your eye
on those who cause dissensions and turn away
from them. For such men are slaves, not of our
Lord Christ, but of their own appetites. And
by their smooth and flattering speech, Carol,
right? You said that. By their smooth and flattering
speech, they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting,
the immature in the body. So listen, practical.
You're not always going to agree with or be happy
with a decision or direction taken by an elder
team here at Oak Hill or any church you're ever
a part of. You may not be happy. When that happens,
it may be a couple things. Because you don't
have the full picture or the background of why
they came to that decision. Or, you know what?
You may be dead right. You may actually, your
opinion might be 100 % legitimate and valid.
But either way, the key is how do I go about
handling that disagreement? So coming back to
that concept, there are healthy ways to disagree
in the church. The iron sharpening iron aspect
of disagreements can produce spiritual fruit
if it's handled the right way. It could even
draw us closer together if we work through disagreements
in a biblical fashion. But going back to the
book of James, it's imperative that you take
stock of your own heart before you take any action.
To ask yourself the question, hold on a second,
deep breath, am I being self -centered here?
Have I made this about me? Am I angry or bitter
towards leadership for some reason? If so, I
have to deal with the Lord first on that issue
before I do anything else. To lay that aside.
Above all, am I seeking peace and unity and insight
and clarification, or am I seeking to pump up
my ego by dividing people? These are critical
things. Jeff said it. Sometimes... Sometimes
when you're on the younger side of this, you
don't understand these principles. When you've
been in ministry for 20, 30, 40 years, you're
like, man, the same pattern. The same pattern
in the church. And the enemy loves it. Here's
the thing. We live in a bitterly partisan world
today. Everybody online is angry. Everybody's
hostile. Political... Political speech is a competitive
sport. Everybody's running around pointing fingers
and saying, labeling the other side with the
most vulgar things you can imagine. We fight
and argue on social media. We run to the comments
section. Don't look at the comments section.
Don't do it. And don't contribute to it. It's
ugly. We shoot off texts and emails or post something
on Facebook without thinking about the damage
that we're doing. The way we're hurting people,
the absolutism that we have in our position.
And then we find certain heroes online, right?
Certain podcasters, certain personalities. We
love all their posts. We start to hang on their
every word, like party loyalists. But the hatred
is so, I wonder if this is part of what Jesus
was talking about in his Olivet Discourse in
Matthew 24, when he said, many false prophets
will arise. and they will mislead many. And because
lawlessness is increased, people's love will
grow cold. I just wonder, are we in that moment?
Now, you might object to me. You might say, well,
look, that's the spirit of the world. That doesn't
happen in the church. Oh, friends, it seeps into
the church. How can it not? If any of us spends
hours and hours online, on our phones, reading,
listening, clicking, you are likely to bring
all those tendencies into the church, into the
fellowship. And when you do that, the danger
of division skyrockets. You end up treating your
leaders, your brothers and sisters in Christ
in the same way you treat somebody online, as
an enemy to be vanquished. We're all susceptible
to this. If we're not guarding our hearts. And
sadly, a watching world sees it. They see when
we go after each other. They hear, oh, did you
hear about XYZ Church? They split again. And
what do we do? We give them an excuse to mock
the church. We give them an excuse to disregard
the name of Christ. So let's just finish. The
last part of verse 10 now. What does Paul want
us to do? He says that you may be made complete.
Some translations say that you be perfectly united
in the same mind and the same judgment. Now,
that phrase, made complete, is a very scary Greek
word, kadertismanoi. You see it on the screen.
But it's the companion word to schismata. This
is so important. Remember, schismata is the tearing
apart. Kadertismanoi is the mending. It's the
mending of a garment. It's the mending of a fishing
net. It's even used to talk about bringing broken
bones together. It talks about holding things
together. This is what Paul wants for us. And
for him, this comes with spiritual maturity.
Hear me on this. Spiritual maturity in the Lord
comes when you become a mender of things, not
a terror of things. That you're committed to
mending and to peace and to unity. And if you're
a terror, listen, do you find yourself constantly
contentious in life? If someone were to say,
you know, what do you think about me? And one
of the words is, he's a contentious person. You're
always looking to argue, always looking to win
a debate, win an argument. Paul would say, you
lack humility and you lack love. He would say
what he says here in verse 10, you should be
one with your brothers and sisters. Put on the
same mind. Have the same judgment. In other words,
have the same perspective as others, especially
your leaders in the Lord. See the big picture.
Don't get caught up in the weeds on trivial things.
Be able to discern what really matters and what
you can lay aside. And to show what that looks
like, I always go back to Philippians 2 because
it is the, to me, the foundational New Testament
passage that talks about how we should all be
functioning in the body of Christ. Be of the
same mind, Paul writes. Same mind, that's that
same phrase. Be of the same mind, maintaining
the same love, united in spirit, intent on one
purpose. Do nothing from selfish or empty conceit.
but with humility of mind, regard one another
as more important than yourselves. Do not merely
look out for your own personal interests, but
also for the interests of others. Have this attitude.
You ready? This is it. Have this attitude in
yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus. Guys,
here's the ultimate model for how you should
interact with others in the church. It's Jesus.
Is that a shock? Is that a surprise? It's Jesus.
What was Jesus's attitude towards you and me?
He humbled himself, taking on the form of a bondservant,
being made in the likeness of man for us. The
Lord of glory went to the cross and allowed sinners
to execute him for our benefit, and we can't
respond to that sacrifice by being menders rather
than terrors? Are you kidding me? Unity happens
when the members of a congregation are all striving
to put one another first. When all begin to see
that the needs of others are more important than
their own. And when everybody in the local church
is doing that simultaneously, guess what? The
church functions as Jesus designed it. That's
what we want to be. That's what we want to be.
Behold how good and how pleasant it is. For brothers
to dwell together in unity, David says. Now,
can I close with just some good news? Here at
Oak Hill, we do unity really well. I mean, this
might have felt like a little bit of a club today,
but we do this really well. And we can praise
God for this. Historically, the threat of divisions
hasn't been a problem here. And I think that's
because we've always made fostering unity a high
priority and we don't let divisions linger. We
deal with them biblically. And that's to your
credit, brothers and sisters. Well done. You
get it. You've understood the priority we put
on that and you've been striving for it. So well
done. But most of all, praise the Lord for all
of that, for all the ways that he has protected
us over 19 years as a church family. But having
said that, can we get complacent? No. No, because
the warning that we have in this text is real
and it's still binding on us. And we know that
our spiritual enemy is always out there, right?
Prowling around, seeking to devour. So together,
let's remain vigilant, let's remain alert, and
let's keep holding each other to the high standard
that we have in this particular passage of scripture.
Amen? All right, I'm gonna ask you to bow your
heads. This is one of those moments where it's
good and helpful to give you a few moments to
talk to the Lord and to pray quietly and to repent
of any sin that you need to repent of and to
affirm the truth of his word. So let's all spend
just a few moments in prayer together. Then Grant's
gonna pull us out and we will sing two more songs
in response. Let's pray.