All Together Now - [1 Corinthians 1:10-17]

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Well, good morning, everyone It is an unexpected privilege to be with you this morning
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As Tom goes and sits down. I would just invite you to Come this evening. We normally don't do that invitation at the beginning, but I want to make sure that everyone
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Knows about this evening that we're going to have a little social time with the Billingsley's tonight as they get ready to go to Texas so you want to keep them also in prayer as they look for a church home in Texas and as Tom Undergoes what
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I'm sure will be some quite difficult training. I'd also like to thank everybody just uh, it is a unique opportunity
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I have this morning to just thank you all Personally for the kindnesses and love that you have poured out on myself and my family
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Over the last few weeks and indeed we could say the last few years and it's just been a great joy
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I Just overwhelming really. Thank you Now let me ask you a question or a few questions
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What would happen if I asked everybody here this morning? For this entire week instead of walking on your feet to walk on your hands
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How would you do? I have a feeling probably not too.
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Well Now suppose that your body had two brains and They disagreed on which way to walk
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How would you do probably not too? Well, how would your life change?
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Now these are absurd examples clearly But what happens when the church body doesn't function as it should
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What if it were of two minds or three? What if it tried to walk on its hands instead of its feet?
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What if the church could not agree on the most basic doctrines what if there was
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Division in the body What if there were factions within the church as you open your
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Bibles to 1st Corinthians chapter 1 What we are going to see this morning is a church in turmoil a church divided a church in paralysis
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The church as the body or as the Bible describes it is in fact a body It is the body of Christ and it must function in an orderly manner
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It must function focused on the Lord Jesus Christ When it does not chaos ensues and this was the exact situation at Corinth it was a divided church and a divided church is a
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Devastated church 1st Corinthians chapter 1 verses 10 to 17
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Now I exhort you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all agree and There be no divisions among you
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But you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment
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For I have been informed concerning you my brethren by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you
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Now I mean this That 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?
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Paul was not crucified for you. Was he or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
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I Thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius That no man should say you were baptized in my name
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Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanus Beyond that I do not know whether I baptized any other
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For Christ did not send me to baptize But to preach the gospel
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Not in cleverness of speech that the cross of Christ should be should not be made void
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How about Corinth little background Corinth was a notorious city It was an important trade center being an important port of Greece It was known for its affluence but more than anything else it was known for promiscuity and Idolatry when we think of Corinth we can think of it as an updated version of Sodom and Gomorrah and Gomorrah or an antiquated version of maybe
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Las Vegas and Jersey City or Atlantic City or whatever it is
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West Hollywood Which is what I'm familiar with in sections of Massachusetts that I'm not familiar with and really
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Have no desire to be familiar with all those things all kind of rolled into one Corinth was a very wicked city and The church at Corinth was a reflection of the mess the moral decay that surrounded the church
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While they didn't abandon the gospel like the Galatians this church had a lot of problems
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And so it's interesting as you study 1st Corinthians You can look and you can take sections of it apart, and they apply to every single church today
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It it 1st and 2nd Corinthians those books are as applicable today word -for -word as they ever were we live in a
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Corinthian like society and Paul was just the man to address the problems of this church
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He'd spent a year and a half ministering at Corinth, and he had actually founded the church at Corinth These were his as it were his spiritual children.
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These were people that he knew well These were people that had come to faith under his ministry, and so he had the standing to let them know when they were in error and As we see when we read through 1st and 2nd
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Corinthians and knowing there was another letter this church kept him very busy This was this could have been a full -time job for anybody the
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Corinthian Church was a big mess Now as we move through this text this morning,
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I want to draw your attention to two key unifying instructions That Paul gives the
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Corinthian Church That are as applicable to Bethlehem Bible Church as they ever were to the
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Corinthian Church So that each of you will view the church the ministry of the church and even your own salvation rightly
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These key instructions ought to cause you to work for the unity of this church and to hold the leadership of this church up in Prayer so that it the church as a whole body will be faithful to the charge that Paul gives in this passage
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The first unifying instruction we're going to look at is let the body do its work in verses 10 to 16
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The work must be contention free. It must be free of division He says here
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I exhort you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you
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Could he invoke a More sacred name absolutely not he says he does not like look
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I just want you guys to know that I am upset about what you were doing and you need to change He says I exhort you by the name of our
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Lord Jesus Christ and the name is equivalent to the person He's invoking the person and work of Christ.
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He says there is nothing more important than what I am going to tell you now I want you to understand that Says there can be no contention.
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There must not be contentious people all must agree He tells the
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Corinthians that there should be no schismata no schisms, no divisions, no separation and The operation or the the opposite of schism would be unity the body functioning as God designed
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Not the church walking on her hands not the church being of two or three minds and going in different directions
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But the church functioning properly as the body of Christ serving one another fulfilling the
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Great Commission Reflecting the love of God in their love and service toward one another now.
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Let me ask you a question Maybe you haven't thought about this for a while Are you a schism causer?
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Are you a divider? May I tell you By the name of our
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Lord Jesus Christ, there is nothing you want to be less than a divider Paul wrote about this in other places in Titus 3 verses 10 and 11
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He says reject a factious or a divisive man after a first and second warning
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Knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning being self -condemned a factious person is somebody who causes schisms and it denotes loyalty to a separatist group if You are a schismatic if you are a factious person if you are a devices divisive person, you are a revolutionary
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You are a rebel and that is never Approved or Condoned in the
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Bible in fact quite the opposite. It's condemned It said there's nothing worse Now what does a factious person look like How can you identify the factious person would that be the one left with the sandwich board that says
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I am factious Do they wear a uniform with a little patch on that says
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I am of so -and -so I am of the so -and -so faction. No Let me invite you
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To look in the mirror You may or may not be factious, but they look just like me and you
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Exactly like me and you Sometimes what they do is very subtle Maybe they're not even thinking.
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You know what? I want to break up this church. I want to cause disharmony I want to cause the church body to stop functioning as it should
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I'm sure nobody comes in thinking like that But what do they do?
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They spread dissatisfaction They don't wave signs and jump up and down they whisper in private reminds me of Satan in the garden
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Satan didn't come out and just come out without landish things He was subtle he twisted and he went right along with him
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What a divisive people do they seek out the weaker Saints and try to peel them off They try to remove them from the body.
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They try to bring along their own dissatisfaction and get those people dissatisfied, too
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So why do I say look in the mirror? Because beloved we can do this without even trying to When we are focused on the flaws of other people
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Whether they be in leadership or serving somewhere When we are focused on people's problems other people the issues with other people rather than on the perfections of The church's
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Lord rather than on Jesus Christ himself We are in genuine danger of being a factious person of being a person who causes schism division when we are upset with someone and Go to a third party to talk about it.
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In other words someone who's not involved in it. We have started a potential division of the body of Christ When we complain to those not involved in a situation
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We have begun dividing the body of Christ Beloved we are to build one another up to strive for unity to pray for unity
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The example of our Lord in John 17 verses 20 and 21 his great high priestly prayer
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He says I do not ask he's praying to the father He says I do not ask in behalf of these alone talking about his disciples
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But for those also who believe in me through their word in other words through what they teach
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That they may all be one Even as thou father art in me and I and thee that they also may be in us
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That the world may believe that thou didst send me Jesus prays for the constant consistent
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Universal unity of all those who have believed in the gospel Every single believer.
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He wants to be unified to be joined together to work in harmony with one another and he gives the greatest example he can possibly give
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The eternal unity of the Godhead Says father just like you and I have this perfect harmony.
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That's what I want for the church That there be no division between them is there any division between the father and the son
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No, could it even be possible No, he says in that same way in that same way.
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I want there to be unity in the church The Lord prays for that unity
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Do we pray for that unity? Do we value it as the Lord Jesus Christ himself did now our unity will not be perfect And there are a lot of examples or reasons for that.
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It's because Basically baseline because we are not perfect But should we not seek after that?
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The Lord himself prayed for it ought we not to value it pray for it seek it our Unity he tells us is a testimony to the unbelieving world
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To the unbelieving world that the father sent him to the work of Christ when we are
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United when we are functioning as we should that is a testimony to the outside world of what
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Christ has done He's brought all these different people from all these different backgrounds all these different belief systems, and he has
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United them when people see that They think that Christianity That really is something
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Look at all those people all those different races all those different backgrounds all those different languages and how they all
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Work together for one purpose, which is to proclaim Jesus Christ We're not known as back biters as gossips as all these things
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We are to be a good testimony because we are to be a testimony of the finished work of Jesus Christ So what kind of testimony are we?
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There are two possibilities one is that we're a good one, or we're not so good Jesus again talked about this in John 13
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Verses 34 and 35. He said a new commandment. I give to you that you love one another
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Even as I have loved you that you also love one another By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another
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That's the testimony, that's how we know or the world knows that we are Christ's disciples because we love one another
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We have a love that is not normal People look at us and go what is wrong with those people they actually like each other
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It's so strange because they don't just get together on Sunday morning for 45 minutes leave and never see each other all the rest of The week they actually enjoy being together with one another
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What a weird thing Why because we love the same Lord we have the same desires
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We have the same mission, and we have the same Lord, and it's not an option
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When you get saved you can't say you know what I'm gonna love pastor Mike, but some of these other people
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I'm not too sure about and that's Steve guy. It is not an option
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The Lord himself commanded it. He didn't say you know what it would really be great if you guys did love one another
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Said I command you So do we love the Lord or not if we love him we will obey him we will do what he says to be disciples to be followers of Jesus Requires that we love one another to have any part in divisiveness
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Causing schisms to do anything that would harm the unity of the church is a grievous sin
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And it also calls in a question the very salvation of those who would cause division
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His disciples love one another so what's the opposite of that to not love is?
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Indicative of not being a disciple Disciples love one another and that is what factiousness is it is
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Not loving one another it is not showing one another the care That we
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I'll say deserve by the fact that we have been placed in the body by the Lord And it's not a question of what I deserve.
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It's a question of what Christ deserves He has brought us into his church God has now.
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How can we then say well Lord? I'm not really happy with that person being in the body, or I'm not gonna like that person that you have put in the body
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Just rejoice that you are in the body and learn to love those and this is why
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Because the unity of the body is so important. It's why factiousness is actually an exception to normal church discipline procedures
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Paul again talking about these factious people in 2nd
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Timothy 2 verses 16 to 18 but avoid worldly and empty chatter for it will lead to further ungodliness and Their talk will spread like gangrene
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Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus notice he names names He says these are guys who are causing division men who have gone astray from the truth saying the resurrection has already taken place and They and thus they upset the faith of some
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Now what Paul writes worldly in the Greek? It is Babel us or kind of Babel and it pertains to being accessible to everyone therefore
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Devoid of real significance it is pointless worthless empty talk
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Frivolous talk an empty chatter is no better. It's talk that has no value.
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It is profane It is devoid of Christian content. He says don't get caught up in that kind of chatter
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Don't be wasting your time words have words have value words have impact
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James wrote that our tongues are fire starters I Said this many times in the marriage class when you say something you can't take it back
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Think before you speak employ your brain one translation writes of this passage here, but avoid profane chatter because Those occupied with it those who are in the habit of doing it will stray further and further into ungodliness
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And I think that's the essence of it. What is gangrene? It is a disease that destroys the tissue of the body now think about that in terms of the body of Christ if you have a divider in there a person who is dividing the body of Christ and Paul says that that's like gangrene it is destroying the tissue the very fabric of the body that God has put together and it is
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Destroying that some translations use the word cancer And I think in either case cancer or gangrene and if you look at the word in the
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Greek It looks just like gangrene with an a slapped on the end. It is gangrene But the point is what happens when somebody gets gangrene?
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They cut that part of the body off. And so if we have someone in the body of Christ who is
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Dividing who is coming in and who is divisive who is spreading untruths who is causing division
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What will we do with that sort of person We talk to them once We talk to them twice and Then we cut them off as it were like gangrene
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Unity is so important. It's so stressed in the Bible gangrene destroys the physical body spiritual gangrene that is divisiveness schismatic behavior whispering gossiping
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Destroys the body of Christ in Ephesians 4
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Paul again writes about I mean, this is not some isolated theme of Scripture over and over again
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It is stressed why because it's important. It's vital For the church to operate as it should we must have unity
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Ephesians 4 verses 25 through 27 Paul writes therefore laying aside falsehood
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Speak truth each one of you with his neighbor for we are members of one another
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Be angry and yet do not sin Do not let the Sun go down on your anger and do not give the devil an opportunity
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Now in shorthand if you have an issue with someone go to them go to them
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Don't let the Sun go down on your anger, but do it in love You know don't grab them by the stack and swivel as we used to say
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You don't it it must be done You have to check your own motives and everything, but you want to resolve these issues quickly why because he tells us
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That Satan himself would love to use this as an opportunity to divide the body
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You are at risk you put yourself at risk if you don't deal with these issues quickly of being involved in some kind of gossip in taking your problems to a third party and Thus beginning a division a disunity that Satan himself would delight in starting, but he can't
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We do Satan's work when we do that Paul tells them back in 1st
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Corinthians Paul tells them to have the same mind and be in the same judgment the commentator
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Hendrickson says The term mind Relates to the power of observation and the word thought
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To forming a judgment or opinion so be of the same mind or judgment or thought
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Excuse me Paul wants the Corinthians to be united in their observations and judgments and to relinquish their divisiveness
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He is telling them that in respect to their mind and respect to their thought they must strive for perfect Harmony and continue to live together in peace
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Now the Greek means that they they were to have the same convictions the same mindsets
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The same belief system focusing on things that matter things that were eternal Now think about it this way if this was
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If this was We're obviously back in ancient times. We want to put ourself back in the first century
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And if we were to get on a ship that ship wouldn't probably would probably have oars Now just imagine an oar or a ship with a bunch of oars on one side a bunch of oars on the other side and Half we're pulling one way in half.
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We're pulling the other way Where's the ship gonna go? It's gonna go in circles, but it's not gonna accomplish a whole lot change its facing
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If that's what you want to do consistently change the facing of the of the ship, but it's not very effective
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In that same way if the church is not pulling in the same direction It's not going to be very effective.
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It's not going to accomplish her purpose now imagine
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Holding some kind of evangelism project and inviting a
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Church that we don't share the same view of salvation with on this on this endeavor.
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How would that work? Say we ask the local Catholic Church to help us with our evangelistic crusade as it were
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How would that work? How could we do that if they don't have the same view of salvation that we do how could we work together with them?
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The answer is we can't So our views within the body have to be the same we have to believe the same things
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We can't be like this Corinthian church that was separated that thought they could all do their own thing with regard to How they were going to operate they can't they were rowing in different directions and an effective church a unified church a
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Church that the Lord can use will not be rowing in different directions and Paul wants the
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Corinthians And I think it is instructive for us To have the same view of the work of Christ So that they can they can be unified to do the work of Christ MacArthur notes
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It is not that believers are to be carbon copies of each other God has made us individual and unique But we are to be of the same opinion in regard to Christian doctrine standards and basic lifestyle
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You may not agree with everything I do I may not agree with everything you do, but when we get down to the basics of Christianity we agree
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That's the key I got a phone call this week and one of the great things about being here all week is some of the phone calls
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I get but I got one And I was on the phone for quite some time and Mike says He sees me later, and he goes
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I I thought I was listening to the Bible answer man program It was a pastor who had called from Martha's Vineyard and He wasn't asking for a pulpit supply, but He just he had been on our website
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And he'd been checking things out and the more we talked the more I realized you know generally speaking
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We were on the same page. I mean if we got down to some fine points I think we had some differences, but this was definitely a man that we could that we could work with And it was greatly encouraging because I just thought man.
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I would never even think I Wouldn't even think to find a church on Martha's Vineyard, and of course they've got a
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I think he said about 15 people there But even so it was a great encouragement to think that there would be like -minded people there
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But there's a certain there are certain standards that have to be met in order for cooperation to happen
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Happen and there have to be certain standards for us to be unified as a local church body if we don't believe the same
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Gospel if we don't believe that we were Dead in our sins and trespasses that God made us alive that We were enabled to love
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Christ That we had to repent of our sins, and we were able to do so only by the grace of God that Jesus was
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Born lived a perfect life died was resurrected on the third day And is now sitting on the right hand of God if we don't believe all that Then we don't have unity in 1st
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Corinthians 111 Paul tells the Corinthians. He's got a source of information. He's got a tip line.
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He's got a mole inside the church The schism hotline has been ringing as it were
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He says for I have been informed concerning you my brethren by Chloe's people now much like a parent
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Who's been told tattled? On one of the kids has been tattled on by another for misbehaving
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Paul might not have been too thrilled to get that information Why because it's just like the
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Corinthians again however when the very existence of the church was on the line
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Paul sprung into action he knew that the Corinthian church could dissolve into different factions in a different splinter churches and And over the wrong things
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This had to be both troubling and very wearing on Paul There's nothing that will keep you awake more as a minister than thinking about problems within the church
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And this church had a lot of them, and I'm sure he lost a lot of sleep over it praying Thinking trying to figure out what he was going to say to them
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The bad news for Paul was he couldn't just get on the next plane He couldn't get on the phone the process would take weeks if not months if not longer and in the meantime
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He just prayed and he wrote Paul notes that there were quarrels
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That word means to engage in rivalry Especially with reference to positions taken in a matter of strife discord contention
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They were fighting They were a very contentious lot I mean
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I could just imagine what those Sunday morning services were like one group sitting over here another group over there
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Some happy to see who was preaching that morning others not happy. You know when the donut time came some people probably just headed outside well, they may not have had donut time, but Unity in and of itself is an amazing thing
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It's an amazing powerful force how the Lord can use it Vance Havner a writer says this
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Talking about unity. He says you know individual snowflakes are very frail But if enough of them get together they can stop traffic, and that's the way the body of Christ is individually
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Pretty feeble You can take any of us and just take us apart But if we're together if we're united if we're working together
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We can do something Why because it's not just the church is a lot more than the sum of its parts the unity of the church is supernaturally blessed
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God blesses unity in the church So in letting the body of Christ do her work
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We need to make sure that the work is contention free Nothing will distract and damage the church more than factiousness, and we also must make sure that the work is
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Christ centered The work must be Christ centered
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Now note here in the text that Paul turns on the holy sarcasm and That doesn't give you license to do that, but he does it he says now.
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I mean this That each one of you is saying I am of Paul and I have a polis
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And I have Cephas and I have Christ has Christ been divided
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Paul was not crucified for you was he or were you? Baptized in the name of Paul Now to analyze this rightly it would be a lot more than saying
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I am of Lewis or I am of Dave or I am Of Mike this is more like I am of Sproul or I am of Moeller or I am of Piper the men they knew or Were claiming to know and be disciples of were more than just the youth pastor or the nursery supervisor these were big names in the church
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Now do you think that that had much impact on Paul? He knew all these guys, and he reacts to them as if to say have you taken leave of your senses?
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Have you lost your mind? We these people that you were claiming to be disciples of our men
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I was not crucified on your behalf You were not baptized in the name of the
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Father Paul and the Holy Spirit. This is a reality check We are one in Christ.
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Not one in Paul. Not one in Cephas not one in a polis and Paul continues to lambast them for their foolish and sinful behavior verse 14
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He says I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius that no man should say you were baptized in my name
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Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanus beyond that I do not know whether I baptized any other
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The way they were behaving. It's almost like Paul's letting out a sigh of relief. I'm so glad I'm not responsible for baptizing very many of you guys
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Now there are a few I distinctly remember baptizing I Hope they're doing better than most of you guys but for the rest of you as long as you're behaving like this as long as you are being divisive causing problems and Not unified.
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I'm just as happy to not have my name attached with you. Thank you very much
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Paul was not interested in personal acclimation He wasn't concerned that maybe Peter had that Cephas that maybe
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Peter had more followers or Apollos had more followers That wasn't the point. The point was what are you guys thinking?
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This is about the Lord Jesus Christ not about any man
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It's not about Mike. It's not about Davis. Not about Lewis. It's not about me. It's about Jesus Christ It's about being unified in doing his work.
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And so he gives the second unifying instruction Let the gospel do its work in verse 17
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After he finishes getting basically saying I don't really care who baptized you
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See the implication what He says For Christ did not send me to baptize
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What's the implication of that the work of the ministry first of all is not baptism The pastor doesn't sit around going who can
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I baptize this week? We love to do baptisms, but that's not the thrust of the ministry. The thrust of the ministry is
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Saving souls equipping the saints for the work of ministry, which is The Great Commission, that's what we do everything we do should be pointed toward that end
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The work of the ministry is the preaching of the word And Paul took that cue from the
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Lord himself When he was met on the Lord or on the road to Damascus by the
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Lord We get his account of it in Acts 26 verses 14 to 18 So he's giving his testimony and he says and when we had all fallen to the ground
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I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect Saul Saul Why are you persecuting me?
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It is hard for you to kick against the goads and I said Who art thou
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Lord and the Lord said I am Jesus whom you are persecuting now.
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Stop right there again We've heard before It's interesting how Jesus personalizes this
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Jesus was dead buried resurrected But he equates his church with himself
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Says Paul you're persecuting me Paul you're bringing harm on me. Why because you're attacking my church now
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That should be another warning against those who would divide the church going on to verse 16, but arise
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Stand on your feet for this purpose I have appeared to you to appoint you a minister and a witness not only to the things what you have seen
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But also to the things in which I will appear to you Delivering you from the Jewish people and from the
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Gentiles to whom I am sending you to open their eyes So that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God in order that they may receive
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Forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in me
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The Lord's Commission to Paul did not emphasize baptism but being a minister and being a witness and the
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Greek word minister actually means to be one who acts under the authority of Others or another to carry out his will it's the it's the word for servant.
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He was a servant He was a servant of Christ. He did what he was told That was his job not to baptize people but to faithfully
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Carry out the ministry of God that he had been given the Greek word translated witness
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Implies the witness carries a divine message So here he was a servant given a divine message told to go and give it to the
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Gentiles and that's what he did His message or his job his
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Mission as it were Was to spread the message was to preach the gospel it wasn't to focus on baptism
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His divine message the thing that he had been entrusted with the message He had been given would open the eyes of Gentiles so that they could be saved
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Now note in verse 17 it also would clue us in that inventiveness is
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Not a virtue when it comes to preaching the gospel Verse 17 it says not in cleverness of speech that the cross of Christ should not be made void the commentator
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Henry's can Hendrickson notes to tell good news in Wisdom of word is a contradiction
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News only needs and admits of straightforward telling to dress out the story of Calvary in Specious theorems would have been to empty the cross of Christ to eviscerate the gospel in other words
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Excuse me the gospel doesn't need to be dressed up The gospel is not
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Jesus can solve your problems The gospel is not as it was given at a funeral.
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I went to it of a good friend of mine several years ago With about 500 unbelievers in the building the gospel is not what the man taught that day
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Which was you've tried all these different things to solve your problems now try Jesus for six months
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Jesus Christ cannot be tried out like laundry soap. That is blasphemous the gospel
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Alone changes lives. We present the gospel and sometimes it's not even all that well done
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But the gospel changes lives the Word of God changes lives And you can actually get in the way of the gospel
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You can get in the way of the good news by making what in making it what it is not Preaching the gospel is not a sales job if I have taught someone into Christianity If I've talked them into making a profession of faith by my own glibness by my own
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Ability to manipulate them whatever I've done I've not talked them into real
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Christianity. I've given them some kind of assurance of something. They don't even believe I Think just as an aside one of the wildest things to me is
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How easy it is to become a Muslim by saying one little phrase three times you become a
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Muslim It doesn't matter what you believe or not as long as you say those three or that phrase three times you have become a
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Muslim Christianity cannot be accomplished at the point of a sword It can't be accomplished by a cleverness a clever presentation
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It can't be accomplished by a force of will it must be accomplished by the
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Word of God and the Spirit of God And this passage here tells me that I've I've done these kind of things if I've resorted to these kind of tactics
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I've made void the cross of Christ why? Because I can't convict anyone of sin the
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Holy Spirit does that I can't draw anyone to Christ the Father does that? there is no promise that the cleverness of Steve will save anyone and In fact this verse would tell us that it's quite the opposite.
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I want to get out of the way and let the gospel Speak for itself no one naturally in and of themselves wants to be saved there must be a supernatural work in them and Efforts to shortcut the divine work are doomed to fail
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There is no clever way of presenting the gospel that gets a higher percentage than some other way
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Paul writes about that in 1st Corinthians 2 verses 4 and 5 He says and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom
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But in demonstration of the Spirit and of power that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men
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But on the power of God listen We want people to believe because the word cuts into their heart and they are convicted of their sinfulness of their need for a
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Savior of their need for forgiveness and An illustration of just how powerful the word can be and how the best presentation in the world is absolutely not necessary I'm sure we could go around the room and we would hear time after time after time of a non slick presentation of the gospel
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Bringing someone to salvation, but let me give you the testimony of one
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Charles Spurgeon He says I was miserable I Could do scarcely anything
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My heart was broken to pieces Six months did I pray prayed? agonizingly with all my heart and never had an answer
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I Resolved that in the town where I lived I would find I would visit every place of worship in order to find the way of Salvation he was church shopping
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Maybe he even thought if he heard a really good sermon. He would believe I Felt I was willing to do anything if God would only forgive me
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I Set off determined to visit all the chapels and though I deeply venerate the men who occupy those pulpits now and did so then
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I? Am bound to say I never heard them once fully preached the gospel at Last one snowy day.
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I found rather an obscure Street and turned down a court and there was a little Chapel I wanted to go somewhere, but I did not know this
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Street It was the primitive Methodist Chapel I Had heard of this people from many and how they sang so loudly that it made people's heads ache
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But that did not matter. I Wanted to know how I might be saved and if they made my headache ever so much.
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I did not care So sitting down the service went on But no minister came at last a very thin -looking man came into the pulpit he opened the
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Bible important and Read these words look unto me and be saved all ye ends of the earth
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Just setting his eyes upon me as if he knew me all by heart. He said young man
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You are in trouble Well I was sure enough Says he you will never get out of it unless you look to Christ Then lifting his eyes.
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He cried as only a primitive Methodist could do look look I Saw it once the way of salvation.
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Oh how I did leap for joy at that moment I know not what else he said I was so possessed with that one thought
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I looked until I almost could have looked my eyes away and in heaven. I will look on still in my joy unspeakable
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No jokes no poems No friendship evangelism
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Just a direct confrontation By a man who was not even supposed to preach that morning
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He was waiting for the minister to show up who never did and finally he got up to fill that pulpit ill -prepared all he could say was look and By that message alone
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Spurgeon Was saved was brought to the Lord. He opened the Bible and imperfectly preached
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Jesus Christ. Oh How the Lord used the earnestness of that simple sermon getting back to Paul Paul tells them you
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Corinthians have lost your way You're concerned about who baptized you about whose little fan club you're part of That you follow this teacher or that teacher you're divided
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You're not fulfilling the will of the Lord, and you've forgotten the big picture Jesus Christ and his gospel
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That is what Paul was about That's what he spent all of his time focused on and what he was encouraging the church at Corinth to remember unity for the sake of unity is compromise but Unity for the sake of the truth is a great and powerful weapon in the hands of the
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Lord Sometimes division is okay if the cross should not be made void in other words if it is to have its desired effect
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What is that effect when we know That it's okay.
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For example to divide the church from the world. That's okay and Sometimes it's okay for the church invisible to be divided from the church visible
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What do I mean that everybody who comes to church every Sunday, and I don't mean here I mean generally Everybody who belongs to a church everybody who goes to church every
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Sunday is not necessarily part of the invisible church We don't know who the invisible church is the invisible church is every single person who actually
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Belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and there is a division Why because they're not regenerates
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Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 1 18 and that would be a whole nother sermon But I want to read it for the word of the cross because it flows in this
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Passage here for the word of the cross is to those who are perishing foolishness
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But to us who are being saved it is the power of God there are those in the world today who say they are of Christ and Shun the gospel.
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It's not even enough to say that you're a Christian One must believe
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The gospel in order to be saved now.
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How can Unity or the lack of unity Affect the preaching ministry. How can it do that?
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Why does Paul switch from talking about the unity of the church to preaching and the effect that preaching can have?
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Well, it's pretty simple. Think about what a distraction the Corinthian Church was Think about even here at BBC think about what a distraction
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To the elder board to the deacons to the people who preach and teach here on a weekly basis
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Think about what a distraction disunity can be even here we want unity not because You should all listen to us, but because we all love the
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Lord and we should be striving to please him We should want no part of disunity.
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No part of factiousness. No part of disharmony. No part of Disagreement on the essentials of the gospel.
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So we must let the body do its work contention free with a Christ centeredness
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We must work for unity And we must also let the gospel do its work.
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We should work for purity of thought of deed of action Beloved there is no greater call in all of the scripture to the body of Christ than to do
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The work of the ministry to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world
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We cannot do that if we're distracted We cannot do that if we are not all
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Working together as we ought to let us strive for unity.
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Let us put off whatever it is that holds us back From being unified from loving one another as we ought to Let's pray our
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Father How thankful we are for? the great work of Reconciliation accomplished on our behalf by our
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Savior and Lord Jesus Christ Lord how You put him to shame that we might be
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Made right that we might be declared just in your sight Lord your word very clearly tells us that as a result of that That we belong to you that we have been purchased with a price that we have been placed into the body of Christ father we all have different gifts different backgrounds
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But Lord you have commanded us To put aside whatever division whatever differences there may be to love one another and to work together in harmony
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Not only for our benefit But for the benefit of those around us for the unsaved world that they might see the unity we have
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The love we have for one another father, I pray that you would Just bless this congregation that we would learn how to Be more loving to one another that we would learn the dangers of factiousness
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Lord not by experiencing them, but by seeing what your word says about them
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Lord that we might be careful In what we say in how we act toward one another
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That we might have as our ultimate aim to please you By preserving the unity of the body of Christ Lord would you draw us together?
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Would you use this church as? A as a great weapon in your hands as you bring us together for your work father.