1 Corinthians 1:10-17, CEB - Now I encourage you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Agree with each other and don’t be divided into rival groups. Instead, be restored with the same mind and the same purpose. My brothers and sisters, Chloe’s people gave me some information about you, that you’re fighting with each other. What I mean is this: that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” “I belong to Apollos,” “I belong to Cephas,” “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you, or were you baptized in Paul’s name? Thank God that I didn’t baptize any of you, except Crispus and Gaius, so that nobody can say that you were baptized in my name! Oh, I baptized the house of Stephanas too. Otherwise, I don’t know if I baptized anyone else. Christ didn’t send me to baptize but to preach the good news. And Christ didn’t send me to preach the good news with clever words so that Christ’s cross won’t be emptied of its meaning.
In today’s passage, we see one of
the primary reasons Paul wrote this first letter to the church in Corinth. He hears a report that people have divided
themselves up into factions, each faction following a different leader. Of course, Paul calls this out as nonsense
and calls them to unity. We read it and
we wholeheartedly agree with Paul. Division
is counter-productive. All the leaders
that people are following have one leader – Christ Himself. We agree this is true.
Problem is, eons later, we still do
the same thing. There are tens of
thousands of Christian denominations now.
My current denomination is, as I write this, dividing up into at least two
more. Three of the five churches I have
been appointed to in my time as pastor have a congregational split in their
history. Our human tendency is tribalism, gathering
ourselves in little communities that set themselves apart, and many times
against, other communities. The word “human”
in that last sentence is the key here.
The more human our leadership is, the more prone we are to this toxic
tribalism.
Paul spends the first four chapters
of this letter explaining how it is supposed to work. If you have time today, I encourage you to
read them, but I’m going to summarize them here. The best and wisest leaders that humanity has
to offer are only able to scratch the surface of the amazing depth and genius of
God’s wisdom. Human leaders called by
God are called to play specific roles for a specific time. No one leader can convey, teach, and or
empower a community to live out the full gospel revealed to us in Christ. As soon as we begin to place all our trust in
one such leader, we have put Christ into an infinitesimally small box.
Listen
to Paul in chapter 4:1-5 (CEB):
So a person should think about
us this way—as servants of Christ and managers of God’s secrets. In this kind of situation, what is expected of
a manager is that they prove to be faithful. I couldn’t care less if I’m judged by you or
by any human court; I don’t even judge myself. I’m not aware of anything against me, but that
doesn’t make me innocent, because the Lord is the one who judges me. So don’t judge anything before the right
time—wait until the Lord comes. He will bring things that are hidden in the
dark to light, and he will make people’s motivations public. Then there will be
recognition for each person from God.
Leaders are, at best, simply stewards of the wisdom of
God. The Lord Jesus is the One who reveals
the wisdom, not the leader. So we all, including
all who lead, are followers of Jesus.
The constant is Jesus; the human leaders will always change.
I’m
reminding myself of that as I begin to prepare to move to another church. My prayer is that Holy Spirit has used me reveal
a little bit of the wisdom of God. I
pray that I’ve watered some seeds that my predecessors had planted and planted
a few seeds that others will water after I’ve moved on. I trust that I leaders have done the same in
the new place where I’m going. But in
the end, I love the way Paul says it in 3:6-7:
“I planted, Apollos watered, but
God made it grow. Because of this,
neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but the only one
who is anything is God who makes it grow.”
Don’t participate in division of any kind among God’s
people. It is foolishness. There’s nothing wrong with having leaders of
which you’re particularly fond (I have those too). However, if you so identify with those
leaders that you are no longer able to submit to others, you have departed from
God’s wisdom. Don’t do it.
Question: Spend some
time reflecting on gems of wisdom that you’ve received from leaders throughout
your life and looking forward to that continuing to happen for the rest of your
life.
Prayer: God, thank You
for faithful leaders. Help us to be faithful
to those we would lead and help us to always be followers of You first. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for unity in the church today.
Song: Take Me to Your Leader – Newsboys
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