Christian Unity

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June 13, 2021 | Steve Cortez on 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

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This sermon is from Grace Fellowship Church in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. To access other sermons or to learn more about us, please visit our website at graceedmonton .ca.
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Well, good afternoon everyone. Welcome back to Grace Fellowship Church. It's great to see everybody. Welcome and thank you for joining us again as we trek through the book of 1
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Corinthians. Again, Shane opened last week with 1 Corinthians, and as we started to look at 1
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Corinthians, again, if we remember what the church in Corinth was, this is a very young church.
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If you remember the context of which the letter was written to the church in Corinth, this is a very young church, around 50
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AD, and it's a church that Paul had planted. Again, being a young church, there are many things that were a blessing to the area, but we get to see as we go further in today's passage that there were many issues in the church in Corinth.
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Looking at the first few verses that I remember that Shane preached upon last week, this is Thanksgiving. There's a lot of hope that was built up in the church, and the message that as Paul opens up his letter, this is a brilliant letter meant for any new church because it has so much applicability and application in how we are going to conduct our lives and how we're going to live as Christ -centered disciples of Christ.
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But again, with as much hope that Paul builds upon, we get very quickly into the correction that Paul has in mind as he addresses this new church, a church that he is well invested in, in which he is emotionally invested in.
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He's done planting of his own, but we get to see that correction live out in full force this morning, or this afternoon.
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Before we get into it, I want us to just bear in mind that the text that we're addressing this morning or this afternoon has to do with divisions and unity.
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When we look at passages like the one that Jason just read, so verses 10 to 17 in 1
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Corinthians, we need to ask ourselves this question. Why is it that we have this passage to begin with?
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We need to think about why it's written in the way that it is, and when we're honest students of the Bible, when we're studious students, we have to understand that oftentimes things in the
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Bible aren't written because they're easy or because they come to us naturally. If it isn't clear, it's not our main disposition to be united.
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It's not our main disposition that we would come to one another and come in perfect harmony and come to see one another without any quarrels.
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That's not our natural disposition. Actually, rather, our main disposition and our natural desire is to divide.
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It's to bicker. It's to come to one another with our own preconceptions and our own issues and to divide over them.
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That's what we naturally are disposed to. That's what we want to do. So when we look and study today's passage, we need to come with a sense of humility.
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We need to come to an understanding that as we learn about unity, well, we study more about division, but more specifically unity.
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That is what we need to strive for, but it is difficult because we are carnal creatures, but we need to have an understanding that these things are written, that we might follow them with the right interpretation in mind.
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So before we even get to the passage that was read earlier, I don't know if you guys are familiar, anyone with an astute eye who's been going to church for a couple of years or keeping an astute eye in kind of church history issues and even modern church history issues will know that there are many more issues to divide over than perhaps unite.
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In one sense, if you're keeping a discerning eye into the news, into what discussions are coming up regarding the church, oftentimes you'll find issues of division that come up more than issues that unite us.
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Why, that's not by accident. I mean, that's a very implicit ploy by the world to rob us of our hope, to look upon the bride of Christ and to say, look at the quarreling that is happening in this place or that place or in this denomination or look at these people over here, look what's happening here.
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This is an intentional method that the world rains upon our joy. It seeks to take it away from us, but we need to have an understanding, a very humble understanding that this is something that we need to understand with Christlike eyes.
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These things are for us to study and to come to an understanding that it is, again, not our disposition to unite, but to divide.
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If you guys have been paying attention, there's been a lot of divisions over many things over the past couple of years. One of the ones that, and this is not to beat upon any one denomination because there's many, this is but one story of many with the
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Methodist Church in the United States. There was a big splintering, what you call a schism, a schism in doctrine that arose in March of 2020.
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And they've postponed, and the reason for the division is issues of doctrine, is to say these issues on complementarianism, who shall preach, and who is allowed on the pulpit, and issues of gender and sexuality.
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And this schism that has now divided this church, just for reference, this is the third biggest denomination in the
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United States, so you have to understand there's millions of members of this church, of this flock, that are now in limbo, that are now looking towards this schism, this division that is building within their congregations over issues of doctrine, over issues of any and all things.
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But primarily, they're having these issues that are coming up that are going to divide them. And again, this is just one example.
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You could look at all throughout church history, even modern church history, even within the last 50 years, you see all these divisions take place.
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And again, we need to have an understanding that it isn't our natural disposition to come to unite.
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That isn't something that I think we all, something I think we all understand, but we need to be really aware of. That true unity comes only in Christ, and we come to see that in this passage, as Paul really digs in and plants his feet and addresses and corrects concerns in this young church in Corinth.
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So with that in mind, again, that should be a sobering thought to us, that we are no better than this church in Corinth. In fact, this stands as much true today in 21st century
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Edmonton, Alberta, as it did in 1st century Corinth. We need to really look at this and have an understanding that it is in Christ, it's in Christ alone that unity is found, that we cannot find unity in any other means.
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And Paul gets right to the issue in this text. So let's just go to the Lord in prayer. Father, Lord, make us a humble people,
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Lord. Father, I ask that you'd prepare our hearts to study this text, Father, and that we would come with a mind,
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Lord, to truly unite, Father, that we would find unity in Christ. Lord, tend the soil of our hearts,
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Father, that the seed, Lord, that you would plant, Father, would grow and bear fruit, Lord, that would not be an issue of division,
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Lord, that we would come to an understanding today, Lord, that it is in Christ and Christ alone that any unity can be found anywhere.
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Lord, we are carnal creatures, Lord. We are too carnal still, Father. We are not spiritual enough. We do not seek you as we ought to,
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Lord, but I ask, Father, that we would take one step further today, becoming more and more like Christ, Lord, that we would be humble.
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Lord, seeking to glorify Him, Father, and be united as a church, loving one another, Father. I ask, Lord, that you would build up our minds,
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Father, right now in this moment. Father, you would make it fruitful, Lord, that we would come away edified and ready to learn what it is, what applied to first century
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Corinth, Lord, and what applies to us today. So I pray this all in the precious and loving name of Jesus Christ.
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So looking at today's text, we are looking at seven verses here.
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Jason was gracious enough to read it for us in the beginning. And it breaks up beautifully into a couple of sections that we're going to look at more clearly.
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But where we're going to stop right first is verse 10, and I'm going to read it right now. And I want us to really listen and to understand some of the brilliance of the text of the way
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Paul writes, but not just the brilliance, but the authority from which he writes.
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So reading verse 10, it says, I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and there be no divisions among you, but that you would be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
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Looking at all the verses leading up to and including verse 10, we have to understand that Paul is addressing to an authority.
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If you guys remember what the Greek word apostle means, it's apostolos in Greek.
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It means he that is sent. Paul, looking very clearly at the text, knows and understands his position as an apostle.
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Look at, if we remember even our first verse of this book, it says, Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother
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Sosthenes. He then understands full well that he is one that is sent, a sent one from the king, from our
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Lord Jesus. So he doesn't come to this church in Corinth claiming apostleship, which he does later, but he understands that his apostleship comes on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
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And if you look at verse 10, amazingly, if you keep a running count in your mind, up to and including verse 10,
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Paul has made reference to the Lord Jesus Christ 10 times. That's 10 verses, essentially.
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In each verse that he has written up until this point, there are 10 references to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Paul's made very clear that it is Jesus Christ that is our authority. And look how beautifully he writes at the end of this verse, which, by some commentators, verse 10 is also still part of the introduction, but this is where it ends.
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But that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. This is the ending of Paul's introduction, and he's about to get into the issues and corrections that he needs to address.
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But this is still part of the introduction, and we need to look at that and say, we need to keep a mind about us, the same mind and same judgment.
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Looking at this verse, we have an understanding that Paul, if you guys know the history of Corinth, he was one of the main church bunches.
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If we look back in the book of Acts, you see that Paul is very well invested in this church.
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He knows his people there. He has his brother Sostenes, to whom he's referring to. And you see that there are people and brother in there that he loves dearly.
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He loves his church dearly, and no doubt he is troubled by what he's hearing. If you remember,
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Paul, knowing his apostleship, calls himself an apostle to the Gentiles. In Romans 11 .13,
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he says, I'm an apostle to the Gentiles. And further on in the book of Ephesians, he says, even prisoner. He says, I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ on behalf of you
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Gentiles. Again, Paul, wherever he went throughout Asia, he expounded the name of Christ.
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He proclaimed his name, and he was planting churches in the name of Christ. But, just as easily, and again, if we've ever come to this text and come to understand it, one question that might have come up is, well, he could have easily just as said, could have relied on his apostleship, could have relied on the good graces and the effort and the relationship that he would have built with this church in Corinth.
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No doubt he would have met brothers and sisters, and he would have labored alongside them and built a healthy relationship, and he could have called upon those things.
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When you look at the natural disposition, again, and we're looking at the carnal man, it is easy, it looks to something for us to do that as well.
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I've earned this, or I've earned this amount of respect. I am an apostle. I've labored alongside you. And Paul does continually, throughout the book of 1
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Corinthians, continue to reestablish his authority. But the authority comes from Jesus Christ.
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He doesn't do so on the backs of his good works and his good labors. Because he understands that it's not in the carnality of man that he is laying down this argument.
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Because to do so, to put all his eggs in his basket, as it were, to essentially call in all his favors and cash in all the good relationships that he would have done, which he would have no doubt made, would have been to fall just as much into the sin that plagued the church of Corinth, would be to appeal to the carnality of man.
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Or to appeal to the same sense that has gotten them into this problem thus far. So keeping this in mind, keeping verse 10 in mind, we have to understand that Paul is making the appeal, in the name of our
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Lord Jesus, no divisions, that we are united, but we be united in the same mind and judgment.
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To have the same mind and judgment of Jesus Christ is ... We tend to look at passages like this one and almost overlook them.
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We would read this and we would say, well, we understand that he's making the appeal of Jesus Christ as the authority.
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And oftentimes, I mean, maybe I'll count myself as this, I would look at a passage like this and maybe breeze over this and say, okay,
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I understand what that means and I'm going to move on. But if we really stop to think about what it would look like, or what it means to have the same mind and judgment of Jesus Christ, and to really meditate on that, that thought is almost overwhelming.
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Think about having the same mind of our Savior, our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, to have that same mind and judgment to make decisions based on his judgment and his mind, his power.
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If we really stop to meditate on that for just a second and we look at all the issues that are going to plague this church in Corinth, there is no other way that we are going to deal with any of these issues unless it is on the shoulders of Jesus Christ.
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Just to, again, just to highlight just the authority of Jesus Christ. I've often cited this one,
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Matthew 28, the Great Commission. I'll just turn there real quickly. As you turn there, the
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Great Commission is cited often, but one of the defining features of this passage is that if you were going to say something to a group of people, and it was the last thing you were ever going to say, well, the last thing you were going to say to them in the physical sense, you would make sure that it would be something that would really matter, that would really stick.
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You'd want them to remember this. This is the Great Commission that Jesus Christ issued to his apostles before ascending into heaven, and before the
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Holy Spirit was poured out upon the apostles. And you read the beginning of Acts. This is right before that moment.
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He says this, and we'll pick it up in verse 18. He says, And Jesus came and said to them,
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All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Think about that authority, that same mind like it says in verse 10 here, 1
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Corinthians. The same mind and judgment. All authority, verse 18, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
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Jesus Christ, the authority, says this. And then he says in verse 19, Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
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Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
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That same mind is with us now today, and that same judgment is with us now today as it was in the church in Corinth in the first century.
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And we have to understand, again, to meditate on this, it's so easy for us to look at verses like 1
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Corinthians chapter 1, verse 10, and breeze over it. But to really meditate on this, it's almost overwhelming.
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The same mind and judgment of Jesus Christ. That is a big order. And Paul is making his claim on this.
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He's building his foundation on this rock. We sang rock of ages earlier. And that is exactly, if I was going to pick a hymn, that is the exact hymn that I would have sung.
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Because on that rock, we are going to stake our claim. It is on Jesus Christ who is that authority that we are going to build, that the church is going to be built on.
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Charles Hodge is a theologian from the 1900s who wrote a commentary on 1
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Corinthians. And in many ways, he meditated on this verse for what seemed like he connects this verse with many more verses later on in the book of 1
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Corinthians. And this is one that we should continue to go back to. To have the same mind of Christ and the same judgment is one that we are going to need to have if we are going to address any of these issues or come to understand the issues that plagued the church in Corinth.
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He says this of his commentary. And once more, it means mutual activity.
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What a marvelous thing that is. He accommodating himself to our weakness. Oh no, not becoming weak.
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He accommodates himself in his government of us, in his goings, to which he calls us fellowship, accommodating himself to our weaknesses.
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This is his gentleness. Think about that. He is accommodating himself to our weaknesses. Christ does not need us.
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But he comes alongside us in gentleness and accommodates his infinite power to our weakness, our burdens.
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He lifts us up. And he finishes by saying, And on the other side we are rising to cooperation with his power.
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That is the secret of greatness in fellowship. The fellowship of Christ, again, the reason
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Paul starts it, and we need to think about this, we need to understand that the reason Paul begins his rebuke with the foundation of Christ and the same mind and judgment is to say that we need to lean on his power to correct the divisions that are popping up all over the church and quorum.
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To do it any other way would be folly, would be futile, and there's no way that it could ever be done. So Paul makes this emphatic, and again, he ends his introduction, as it were, with this verse.
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So we need to keep that in mind. That reminds me, in one sense,
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I don't know if you guys are familiar about how you worked in construction for a season for a couple months, and it was difficult work.
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It's difficult work. But you learn quite quickly what having a good foundation looks like, what it looks like when you're working in construction.
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The simple principles of physics and understanding weight -bearing and all those things, that is the literal, it's the literal difference between life and death, in many ways, if you're working in construction, because you have to have an understanding of the physics of a proper foundation, because you need to have an understanding that what is below you is going to sustain your weight, and the weight of everything above you.
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When you're framing, I only framed houses for a time, but you learn quite quickly that you have to learn to trust the foundation if you're going to build upon it.
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If you don't have any trust in that foundation, you're going to quickly come to find out that you can't build very much on it, especially when you're up 30 to 40 feet.
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I remember learning, being on the ladders for the first time, 30 to 40 feet up in the air with nails and wood and lumber, and you're building a home.
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You're building the foundations that will eventually become the home of someone that's going to move in there. But if you don't have any trust in your ladder that is going to sustain you, if you don't have trust in the foundation on which the house is being built, you cannot work confidently or efficiently.
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In other words, that foundation has to sustain the weight of everything that is above it.
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To have anything that is faulty or a cracked foundation or faulty in any sense is quite literally the difference between life and death.
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In a spiritual sense, that applies even more to Jesus Christ. To not have that foundation on Jesus Christ is the difference between spiritual life and spiritual death.
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So again, I really just want us to understand that it is paramount that we understand that Paul ends his introduction still with this in mind, that he is appealing to the brothers and sisters to have the same mind and judgment in Christ.
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So again, if you're taking notes, this is, again, the appeal to Jesus Christ.
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This is the authority of Christ. So looking further into our text, we need to look at, again, just as we continue to break down the text, we start picking up again at verse 11.
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It says, Again, if we take a step back and remember what
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Shane preached about last week, if you guys are familiar with the geography of Corinth and just the location and how everything was in first century
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Asia, when you look at the map, you would see that it's almost like Central America.
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It's analogous, that you have two connecting bodies and you have Corinth, which sat kind of in the middle of this almost peninsula, this land mass that connects both the north and south.
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And for this reason, it was a mercantile area. So for those who don't know what mercantile means, it's just there was a lot of merchants.
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There was a lot of commerce. There was boats and big dock that would come in. And as a result, it was a busy area.
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It would be no different than, for example, big airports. You're seeing big airports in the United States, for example, in the
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LAX or in Houston, all these places. Wherever you see a big meeting of movement, of commerce, you're seeing a lot of different people.
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You're seeing a lot of different things. So I have maybe just a question for maybe the kids. If you were to try to maybe put your mind in first century
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Corinth, maybe I'll ask the kids this. So if you were going to imagine yourself in first century
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Corinth, what would you guys imagine these boats? Like what would you guys imagine is on these boats?
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People? Yeah, people. Yeah, that's a big one. What else would you see? Barrel? Pardon me?
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Barrel? Yeah, you're seeing goods. You're seeing commerce. You're seeing... What else would you see? Imagine all these boats that are coming into this port as they're being...
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Shane explained that they would be rolled, essentially, I think five or six miles across the land stream because they were trying to get to the other side.
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But in this time, they're waiting, right? They're waiting. So what else are you seeing in this port town?
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What are you guys imagining? Yeah, there's a lot of... There's cannons.
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There's a lot of different things. Would you believe it? Well, you would if I told you that this was also a way that they communicated.
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This is a way that some of the postage work back in first century Corinth. If you think about all these ships and all the way that information and all these things that we're bringing to this area, you would see that there was a lot of commerce.
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You would see a lot of boat ships. You see a lot of people. And then what you would find is that there's a lot of exchange of information.
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There's a lot of information that is being talked about. People would gather and disclose ideas to one another.
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They would debate. But then they would leave and then those ideas would flow into different parts of the Greco -Roman world.
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There's a lot of commerce happening. It's no different than what you see today, but it's a much... It's a face -to -face livelier, perhaps, way of doing it.
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And one way we come to understand is that the Lord redeemed this. The Lord redeemed this in Acts chapter...
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If we could turn quickly to Acts chapter 17, you get to see what that looks like. Played out in the 1st century
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Corinth and the 1st century Greco -Roman world. As you're turning there, this is the story of Paul in Athens.
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And we get to see, and the book of Acts recounts what it looks like, what it would have looked like to share information in this world at this time.
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So looking at Acts chapter 17, verse 16, we see Paul in Athens.
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And you see him in the Areopagus. Or as he makes his way to his Areopagus. In verse 16 it says, Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him, as he saw the city was full of idols.
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Again, we talked about those idols last week. But again, we're seeing Greece. And if you guys are familiar with Greece and Greco -Roman mythology, you're looking at all these gods and the pantheons that existed.
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And all these gods that they would create and that they would invest in, that they would manifest.
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Paul is looking at this and his spirit is moved and he's provoked. He's seeing all these idols and he's seeing all these images and all these things that are being proclaimed and he comes to, and the
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Holy Spirit moves within him. In verse 17 it continues, Some of the
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Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, What does this babbler wish to say?
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Others said, He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
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And he took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
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For you bring some strange things to our ears and we wish to know, therefore, what these things mean. Now all the
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Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
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And that's important for us to understand. The Lord no doubt took this opportunity, these platforms and this forum, an open forum, and redeemed it for the gospel, for the gospel's sake.
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The Lord made very well known the name of Jesus Christ. It says so right here in the text that some people were turned on by the idea where their eyes were opened.
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But oftentimes we have to come to an honest understanding that the enemy also uses these forums.
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Although the Lord redeemed this, it says in verse 21, Now all the Athenians and all the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.
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So again, we're looking at, again, the church in Corinth, which isn't far off from Athens, which is very close to Athens.
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And we're seeing that this same mind about them, about studying and idolizing knowledge for the sake of knowledge, is something that was probably well familiar to the church in Corinth.
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So when they would exchange ideas in the commerce, and they would exchange letters and postage and communicate back and forth, often they would be communicating different ideas.
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So you can understand that the gravity of the situation when Paul comes to hear from Chloe and Chloe's people that this is what is happening in Corinth.
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Again, the same mind about the Athenians was also in the church in Corinth. The Corinthians also had fallen into the same trap.
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This is a young church with carnal eyes. Nothing about what Paul has said in the first nine verses of this is incorrect.
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These are believers. These are brothers and sisters in Christ. But they are carnal believers. They are still too carnal.
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And they are too fleshward seeking. And they have fallen into this very trap of seeking knowledge for knowledge's sake.
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So when it says, interesting note when it says, for it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you.
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Again, we don't get any reference to Chloe other than in this verse, or Chloe's people, or in the
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King James Version has it rendered households. So family members have been in communication with Paul. But there is an understanding that Paul was speaking to these believers in Corinth.
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There was communication. He cared deeply for them, if you remember. And this troubled him. This troubled him dearly and this troubled him quite a bit.
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Obviously, by the tone of the letter as we study, you're going to come to understand more and more that it troubled him a lot, all these issues that were plaguing this church in Corinth.
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Isaiah 40, 411 says, He tends to his flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.
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He gently leads the nursing youth. Our Lord is not blind to what was happening in this church.
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He saw full well on full display. Again, our sin is not hidden from him. He saw full well what was taking place and he was moved to correct these issues through Paul.
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So, to see these corrections, we're going to have to, again, have an understanding that these corrections needed to take place.
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And some of them are going to seem quite harsh as we're going to see. Picking up in verse 12, it's going to say, 1
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Corinthians, it says, What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul. I follow Apollos. Or I follow
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Cephas. Or I follow Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
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These are pretty egregious sins. And we need to stop and think about what
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Paul is truly getting at here. It wasn't, again, it wasn't that they weren't receiving sound teaching.
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Because one question that comes up is, well, was it that they were just a young church that didn't have the shepherding and the guidance?
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Actually, this is Paul's rebuke that they have honored these teachings higher than the person of whom they are teaching about.
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This is a pretty large pedigree of people who are familiar in the area. They were familiar with Paul. Apollos, who is said in the book of Acts, he's mighty in the scriptures.
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Again, very mighty man in the scriptures. Or Cephas. Peter, one of the apostles, one of the original apostles. Again, it's not the teaching that is the problem.
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They have very sound teaching. It is not the teaching that is the issue. They're very privileged and very blessed to be able to hear these brothers.
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It's not that they were left adrift and they were just left without elders or people to teach or come alongside them.
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That is not the problem. When Paul asks in verse 13, is
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Christ divided? It's a rhetorical question and it's one that needs to make us pause for thought.
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Paul knows this, and we should be fully aware of this, that Christ is not divided. There is no division in Christ.
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He is not divided in and of himself. And when Paul asks these questions, was
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Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? These are rhetorical questions that make us pause for thought and should make us pause for reflection.
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Because it shouldn't be obvious. At least to the readers, as they come to read these questions, they should come to be struck right down to the heart that these are questions that are aimed right at their very circumstances.
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Is Christ divided? Invariably, the answer is no, he's not divided.
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Again, it's not that they had not received sound teaching. There's plenty of sound teaching. And I think that when we come to understand this, as we look to this issue with an understanding of the carnality of our carnal minds, it's easy to see why something like this might happen.
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Maybe appealing to the parents in the room or those with siblings.
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Again, I just want us to recognize that these issues, these quarreling issues that were coming out. Again, if I'm appealing to the parents in the room, how does it make us feel when our children bicker?
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As parents, when you see your children fighting amongst one another. Again, I come from a family with a lot of siblings and I'm blessed to have lots of siblings.
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But how does it make me feel when we are talking about sibling rivalries or quarreling amongst us?
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As a parent, looking upon this, this is quite shameful. This is something that is quite shameful to our
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Lord. And we think about what that means to have that quarreling. Well, what brings about this quarreling? Why do we have these disagreements?
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Again, the issue isn't that these disagreements exist, because they will. It's how are they dealt with?
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Again, it's an understanding that this quarreling will always take place.
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In a carnal world and one that keeps Christ outside or to the side, these divisions will take place regardless of what it is we try to do, to the best of our efforts.
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The carnal mind only values what we see and hear. What was happening with the
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Church of Corinth happens with us. Eloquent speech, commanding presence, wit, humor, parts of speech that really excites us, while on their own they're not bad.
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These things are not bad, and I want to make that clear. It's not bad to want to learn to speak better, to be more eloquent or to be more intelligent and to win people over with good argumentation.
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Those things are not bad in and of themselves. But to place more value on those things than the meaning of the message that is being preached on every
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Sunday or to align ourselves with a speaker regardless of the caliber of speaker is to make light of the light of Christ.
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And this is what Paul continues to get at. All throughout Church history, it's often been the case that people will cling just a little too tightly to the robes of undershepherds.
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They'll cling too strongly to undershepherds and their pastors or their leaders.
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Instead of clinging to the shepherd, looking to the light that is Jesus Christ. It happens all in Church history.
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We're looking at this taking place in 1st century Corinth. It happens all in Church history. It happens today.
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There's a good story about this in Scotland Dundee that took place.
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Robert Ray McShane was a pastor in the 1900s, and he had a very interesting life.
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He was taken by the Lord at a very young age, but this is a man who sold out for the kingdom. He was quite zealous for the
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Lord, and even though he had a failing heart and medical conditions that robbed him of more time here on earth, the
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Lord redeemed every second of his time by making him a zealous man unto God. We're looking at a man who, it's very interesting, he went to a missionary journey in Israel.
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He was during the plague, and it's interesting, you read of the accounts of what he had to go through, the similar issues that we go through here.
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There's quarantines and different issues that he had to go through, but again, this is a man that was sold out for the kingdom, and he said,
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I'm going to go to, the Lord has led me to Israel on a missionary journey. He doesn't stay there for very long, and he returns back to Scotland Dundee, which is where most of his life took place, most of his missionary work, or sorry, his missional work, and he returns to a revival that is taking place back at home, and he remarks this, again, we have to keep in mind, this is the carnal mind that is at work here, guys.
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He says this, The work of the Spirit went on, the stream flowing gently, for the heavy showers had fallen and the overflowing waters had passed by.
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Again, this is the revival there. He's seeing people come to faith in Jesus Christ, seeing life in where there was none.
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Mr. McShane became ever more vigilant and discriminating in dealing with souls, observing also that some were influenced more by feelings of strong attachment to their pastor personally than by the power of the truths he preached.
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He became more reserved in his dealings with them so that some thought that there was a little coldness or repulsiveness in his manner.
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If there did appear anything of this nature to some, certainly it was no indication of diminished compassion, but on the contrary, proceeded from a scrupulous anxiety to guard others against the deceitful feelings of their own souls.
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What Robert Murray McShane saw in his day in Scotland and what Paul became known about in first century
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Corinth is the same thing that happens today. It's not that we lack sound teaching.
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I think we have more than enough teaching that we could ever truly understand. We have more teaching than we know what to do with.
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But again, it is with carnal minds when we approach these things and we begin to idolize these things that we need to really fully understand that it is not
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Christ that we are honoring. It is the eloquence of speech. It is the carnal mind that sees these things and understands these things, but it's not the mind of Christ to have the same mind and judgment that he has for his church.
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To illustrate this, I guess, in one sense, I know we have a couple of athletes in the room here. Noah, who is your favorite hockey player?
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Okay, okay, okay. And this doesn't have to just apply to sports. It can apply to anything. But I know we,
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I know Harson, I think Sugar Ray Leonard? Yeah, he's your guy, hey? If you were going to play like Hopkins or box like Sugar Ray Leonard, what would you do?
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What's one thing you would do? I heard something over here.
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Okay, I heard practice. How would you practice? If you were going to practice to try to become like someone, what would you do?
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Okay, you're going to watch what they do. You're going to study what they do, right? Why would you study them?
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What's the goal here? That's right. You want to be like them, whatever that is.
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That might be how he plays on the rink, how he boxes in the ring.
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It might be even music. It might be artists. It might be authors and composers. It might be any and all things under the sun.
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I know that I have people that I look to, people that I value, and I really appreciate the way the
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Lord has used these people throughout church history. There are people all over the place that we will come to have an appreciation for.
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Those things are not bad. The Lord out -proportions giftings, and it is His to do with. He will build up. It is
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His church, and He will build them up as He chooses. But we have to have an understanding, guys, that we become what we idolize.
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We become what we chase after. We become more and more like these things.
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It isn't to say that we can't have, again, an appreciation for the hard work that other men and women have done, especially when it comes to church history, to see, to look upon them, to look at teachers, and to really appreciate sound pastors that we really come to appreciate.
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But it can't. But our allegiance is not to them. It is in Christ and in Christ alone that we build upon this.
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When Paul says, is Christ divided? This is not a referendum.
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This isn't a criticism on Paul or Paulus or Peter. This is a referendum on the people that are worshiping or idolizing these people, that are creating factions, sowing infighting amongst the brethren.
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It is a commentary on them and not the teaching that is being taught because He knows those are humble brothers.
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Those are humble brothers preaching Christ. It is not the teaching that is the issue. It is the hearts of those hearing the teaching.
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So we need to understand again, it isn't sound teaching that's the problem. It's who we idolize, who we try to become.
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We become what we idolize, right? And if it is not Christ, then we continue to see what happens in the carnal mind of man like it is here in 1
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Corinthians. Paul goes further in verse 14 and this is when he really, he becomes really direct and we start to see what correction looks like.
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So far it has been rhetorical questions. He is opening up the argument that what they are doing is of a carnal sense, is of a fleshly sense, to look upon man and to esteem man and not
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Christ. But this is what rebuke looks like. Looking at verse 14 and 16, so if we are going to start, this is our third point in our text.
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It says, a faithful rebuke. These are faithful rebukes from a teacher, from a friend.
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This is Paul who loves his church very dearly. He loves his church and is very well invested in them.
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But he has some harsh words for them. Starting in verse 14, he says, I thank God I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.
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I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.
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At first, we look at those words and we might say, well, those are kind of harsh words. Those are very harsh words.
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If I receive a letter like that to my household or to some correspondence or a group
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I belong to, those aren't words I want to hear. Those aren't words I would immediately appreciate hearing.
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Those are harsh words. Remember that Paul has spent all his time up until this point trying to build up his believers.
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These believers are being built up. He says these harsh words not to tear down but to build them up. In Christ, sometimes the hardest thing is to correct one another.
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But Paul is doing that in this verse. Proverbs 27, 6 says,
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Faithful are the wounds of a friend. Profuse are the kisses of an enemy. Looking back at verses 12 and 13, we see what is happening.
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And this offense, as rightfully so, it offends Paul to see how little they've made of Christ. To say, well,
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I follow Paul. I follow St. Josephus. I follow Apollos. All these people that are being placed in front of the image bearer.
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Of the image. The image bearer placed in front of the image. This offends
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Paul. And he doesn't, and these are harsh words but we have to, again, with the understanding that he's doing this to build them up.
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He's not doing this because he's ashamed of what is happening here. He's correcting issues in the church.
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To have the mind about us, the same mind and judgment of Christ is to look at this to say, that cannot be us.
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That cannot be how we conduct ourselves. For Paul, the spiritual vitality and health of the church is vitally important.
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Think about what he's starting with in terms of his rebuke. There are many issues in this church.
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As we come to read and we're going to come to know, there are many issues that plague this church. This being just one of them.
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But think about why Paul starts with this. Divisions in the church. I'm going to address this first.
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And he does it in quite a direct, and in some ways, harsh fashion. There are a lot of issues.
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I mean, no church is perfect. There are no perfect churches. I have a friend, Al Lowry, who makes the joke that if you ever find a perfect church, don't go there because you're going to ruin it.
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There is no such thing as a perfect church. There is no such thing. There will be disagreement. There will always be more that can be done.
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But this isn't that. This isn't that. This is something altogether. This is an affront to Jesus. That we have looked at something else and put that thing or that person or that teaching in front of the light bearer himself.
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When it says that Paul, so that no one may say that they were baptized in my name, again,
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Paul is making the point very clear. We love baptism here. We've talked about baptism at length here and we know that baptism, even one of the ordinances, one of the two ordinances that Jesus Christ ordained, we have such a huge understanding and we love the ordinance of baptism.
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It is a beautiful visual imagery of what it looks like to pass from death into life.
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So this is not a rebuke on the ordinance of baptism, but it is against the sentimentality or the faction building that occurs when someone says, well,
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I was baptized by Paul. I was taught by Peter. I was baptized by such and such person.
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Those are carnal and fleshly inclinations and they're leading to more infighting.
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And Paul, rightfully so, looks right at the issue and goes right for it and addresses it.
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Remember that we started with verse 10. Again, this is, it's intentional that we start with verse 10 because we'll actually come back to this verse a couple of times throughout the, no doubt throughout the book of 1
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Corinthians because, again, we need to have this about us, that we all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
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We're talking about issues of division and unity. And again, those things will come up. But true reconciliation and being able to address these issues in a way that is godly comes about only by having the same mind of Jesus Christ and the same judgment that allows us to make sound and God -honoring decisions.
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It's not bad for people to be proud of their church and to have pride in their church and the work that is being done there.
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It is a work sent from God, from Him and through Him and to Him. That's not the issue. It is that we would esteem that too high or that we would esteem those works or those people or that mission or those missionaries, all those things, that we esteem them all too high and say,
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I cannot do this if they are not around. You've often heard it said that if I were not here next week or if Shane were not here next week or anyone else that this role would be filled by someone else.
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That is not to say that, again, we can't have appreciation for teaching and giftings. There are people who are better teachers.
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Some people who are better mentors. Some people who are better prayer warriors. We're talking about the list of giftings that the
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Lord proportions. They're His. He's going to build up His church. And it's not bad to look and say, well, that man right there is a real man who has a real zeal for the
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Lord. He studies diligently and he knows it very well or someone who is a prayer warrior and says, you know, that person, if I need prayer,
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I will go to that person. But it is an issue when we come to an understanding that if I'm not there to pray for this person, then no one will pray.
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Or if there is no preacher on Sunday, that there will be no preacher for the rest of the weeks here. And that's not true.
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All these things are pointers to Christ. We are all instruments being used by Him. Some in different capacities.
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Some with better giftings in certain areas. But again, it is the Lord's and He proportions how He chooses. We cannot esteem them highly and put them in front of the lightbearer
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Himself. So, again,
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I want to clarify that it is not these sound teachers because we all know profound teachers and we all have many that we are drawn to and there's many that would align with our views, our doctrinal leanings.
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There are more than more sound teachers today than ever. I mean, we look at church history, we look at all the writings of the
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Puritans and so on and so forth. There are more than enough resources to study now than there have ever been.
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And some that align more with our view, less than our view. But there are those things are in and of themselves again, pointers to Jesus Christ.
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And Paul, again, addresses this perfectly in these last couple of verses that it cannot be that these men are being esteemed higher than Jesus.
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If we're going to accept correction like this, just to round up this point, if we're going to accept correction like this, again, we have to understand that it comes with a humble heart.
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Back to our sports analogy, I mean, or even at least I know you play piano. You play it quite well,
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I heard. Anything that you aspire to do, you aspire to do well.
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But for those of us who have taught or coaches or trainers or parents or in any position of authority, there is nothing more difficult than trying to teach someone full of pride.
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There's nothing more futile than trying to explain to someone who already knows everything, who has pride, who's proud, who doesn't seek to want to learn, who already knows it or gets angry.
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All these things disqualify that individual from being a good pupil or a disciple. There's nothing more embarrassing or more futile than trying to teach someone who already knows it all.
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I mean, they're the expert, right? Why would they come to you? They already know what they're doing. They can't accept guilt. They can't accept blame.
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They can't accept criticism. They can't move on. That cannot signify us, brothers and sisters.
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That cannot be us. Even in issues that are really important like issues of doctrine, we cannot be proud and hang our hats on those things.
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That's kind of what happened in the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelation, chapter 2, verse 1, while you turn there.
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This is a church that is a very proud church of its doctrine, very proud.
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They seem to get everything right. They were really discerning. They seem to have an understanding. But look what
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John says to this church. So again, Revelation 2, verse 1. It says,
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To the angel of the church in Ephesus write the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand who walks among the seven golden lampstands.
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That's Jesus Christ. This is his word to them. He says, I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil and have tested or but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and have found them to be false.
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These are wise people. These are people who are wise in the scriptures. They know what they're doing and they are testing and they are discerning and this is a good thing.
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This is a good thing about them. I know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my namesake and you have not grown weary.
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So this is kudos to them. This is good. Again, this is not a bad thing. This is what Jesus Christ says of them but pay attention to what he says in verse four.
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But I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore what you have fallen.
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Repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.
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All that head knowledge, all the doctrinal knowledge, all the knowledge that we take so much pride in is absolutely useless.
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If we don't have our first love. And if we were to hear something like that, I mean we pride ourselves on trying to have good doctrine and leaning on the word of God first and foremost.
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It is paramount that we lean on the foundation of Jesus Christ and his word. But if we stray or receive correction from a leader and we do, like this, a very sharp correction.
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This is Jesus Christ saying to them I will remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. How do we respond to that?
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You can respond one of two ways. With foolishness or prudence.
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You can either be a fool and continue walking in the way that we have been walking or you can be prudent.
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You can correct what's been done and you can move on from that. Proverbs 15 .5
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says, A fool despises his father's instruction but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.
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Again, looking at disciples and looking at anyone who aspires to teach or to learn or to be a disciple. Anyone who accepts correction needs to be of humble mind.
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Needs to be humble. It can't be that we walk around with haughty minds and puffed up egos because that does not make for a good disciple that is one that is prideful that doesn't look to be taught.
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There's the saying, I'm always willing to learn but I'm not always willing to be taught. And that cannot be us brothers and sisters especially when it comes to the word of God.
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We need to hold our doctrine firmly in the word and we need to accept that correction will come. Correction will come from me and none of us are above this.
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It will come to me. It will come to Shane. It will come to us all. Your leaders. Those at the far end of the pew or at the beginning of the pew.
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It doesn't matter. All correction comes from our Lord Jesus Christ. We need to be discerning and humble and we need to approach that either with foolishness that doesn't heed the
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Father's corrections or prudence. And this is maybe a call to those of the flock that look to our leaders.
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We need to look to our leaders and we need to understand that they are in difficult positions.
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It's a difficult position to be the leader in anything. But bear in mind this is the word of God.
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We are called to preach and teach. This is what Peter says in 1
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Peter 5. This he says of shepherds.
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So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed.
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Shepherd the flock of God that is among you exercising oversight not compulsion but willingly as God would have you not for shameful gain but eagerly not domineering over those in your charge for being examples to the flock.
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This is the example of good leadership. One that is eager to lead. One that seeks to lead with an honest and earnest heart.
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And when the chief shepherd appears you will receive the unfading crown of glory. So again this is the heart of a leader that aspires to lead.
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One that is going to do it not with domineering but one that is going to come alongside and correct and to truly build up in the image of Christ.
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He is our image and all of us are in the same path to him. We all aspire to become more and more like him every single day our mentor and teacher.
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And good leaders aspire to do this in a way that is gentle that is not domineering. That is
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Christ -like more and more every day. But look what it says in verse 5. It says, Likewise you who are younger be subject to the elders.
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Clothe yourselves all of you with humility toward one another for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
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It's not to have an understanding of pride and what that looks like with leadership is difficult. We need to have humble minds about us.
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Leaders and we're all part of the same flock. We are all sheep onto the shepherd. We are all seeking to be disciples.
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We all need discipleship. We all need correction. We all need to be reared in the word. It is not our leaders that are going to take us.
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There is Jesus Christ that is going to be our ultimate and final guide. And those in subjection to leadership clothe yourselves all of you with humility towards one another for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
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So looking at as we begin to round out our passage for today we have to understand again the carnal mind of the church cannot be what takes place in our church.
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It cannot take place in our own lives. We need to see and have an understanding that it is
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Christ and Christ alone that we follow. Good men will come and go. Good teachers will come and go.
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Good preaching will remain. And you will learn but always unto thee who is the one who is to be followed.
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Jesus Christ is not it is not man that we follow. And we need to be humble when those corrections come.
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And so as we get to the very end of our time here and we look at the last verse so we are going to look at verse 17 it says and this is where Paul rounds out his correction on this issue and he says
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For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel not with words of eloquent wisdom lest the cross of Christ be emptied in its power.
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Here we get to understanding why Paul speaks with such clarity and such urgency. I've said this throughout the course of this whole message you can't help but read this into this text.
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To esteem men over Christ is to make low the blood of Christ. To esteem any of these things if we align ourselves with the right teachers or factions or that we that we that we brag about our baptisms or even regular church attendance none of these things will save.
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None of these things. None of these things have any salvific value in them.
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Regular church attendance how many of us were regular church attendees until we truly realized that Jesus Christ that our repentance in him is what saves.
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Not regular church attendance. Those things these are this categorizes this church in Corinth.
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They were probably very studious. I mean you would have to be if you are leaning into faction into faction building into infighting.
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These are probably very studious people. They have good teaching in front of them. But it cannot be that we esteem men higher than Jesus Christ.
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That makes low the blood of Christ. It isn't baptism that saves.
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It is it's not a baptism of water that saves. It is a baptism of spirit and fire. Like John the
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Baptist said in Matthew 30. It is a washing away of sins by Jesus Christ.
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His repentance of our sin in him. It is not good doctrinal leanings that's important.
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But those things do not save. And to rob ourselves of the grace that is poured out by Jesus Christ is what
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Paul truly means to get at in this issue in this teaching. When he finishes this section he means full well
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Christ did not mean or did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel. And not with words of eloquent wisdom lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
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I mean again it isn't even eloquent wisdom that is going to win the day. I mean we should we all aspire to be better teachers better speakers better better students.
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Right. And that means that we're going to have to read we're going to have to learn and our manner of speech is going to be different and we're going to and we're going to grow in knowledge of our
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Lord Jesus and praise God for that. That's that's a real blessing but we cannot we cannot be won by eloquent wisdom.
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It is power of Christ and Christ alone that we will be won by. I want us to turn quickly to the first Peter first Peter chapter two sorry chapter one sorry my mistake first Peter chapter one verse 18 and I want us to as we as we close here we need to understand this because this is paramount brothers and sisters so first Peter chapter one verse 18 saying says this knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers not with perishable things such as gold or silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot he was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God we were ransomed brothers and sisters from the futile ways think about that the futile ways that we come to find peace and joy we are ransomed from that again not with perishable things we're talking about the most the most valuable things here on earth we're not we weren't ransomed with silver or gold or refined jewels we were ransomed by the blood of Christ that we would be that these futile ways would be washed away from us that we would not esteem them we need to understand this that it is in Jesus Christ power alone and that is exactly what
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Paul is correcting here it is not good teaching is good being studious is good being united being being united in Christ is better that is what
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Paul is teaching here that we do not empty the cross of its power by relying on things that will not last so as we continue to study in the in the months to come in the book of first Corinthians let us continue to draw near to the throne of grace let's continue to draw near Jesus Christ and to learn more about him like Paul was use this letter to build up their church in Corinth we are young church that we are also being built up stones in the living temple let us be built let us be be fashioned for Jesus Christ let us live for him with humble hearts that long for him that it are not open to correction but that that yearn for his leadership yearn for his gentle hand is chastening even but we would look to these things and understand that it is him who's doing it and it is him who's building us up into mighty men and women of God let's continue more and more to be like him let's pray dearly father
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Lord thank you for this day Lord we thank you Lord that father that we are being built up Lord by you by our
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Savior Jesus Christ becoming more and more like him every single day again it is not in the hands of men or that we are built
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Lord you use them or do you use faithful preaching use you use teachers and leaders and faithful men and women were to build up believers
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Lord but all those believers are with the right mind of Christ in the same judgment in mind father all seek
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Jesus Christ all seek to be more and more like him and not like the men and women that come before him and not like the all the men and women that he is using
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Lord no it isn't Jesus Christ alone that we find our strength or being in our power Lord I ask humbly
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Lord that that you would make this eminent in our lives father that this would be the very thought that awakens us and puts us to rest
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Lord every single day Lord that we would seek to become more and more like him not esteeming anybody too highly father lest we empty the cross of its power father it is
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Jesus Christ who is that power and I ask humbly Lord that you would implant this upon us father that your word would be eminent in our minds preeminent in all things father as we seek to glorify
01:05:32
Jesus Christ and become more and more like him every day in light of what we've learned today father
01:05:37
I ask this humbly Lord that you would bless us and and build us up father not just this church but the church around the world
01:05:44
Lord you are building her up and we give you thanks for that father that it is Jesus Christ Lord who will build this church we pray all this we pray all these things in the precious name of our