I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? (1 Corinthians 1:10-13)
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The Portuguese Man o’ War is one of the most fascinating creatures out there in the world. The duck-billed platypus may be strange, but the Portuguese Man O’ War is fascinating. Most people think that the Portuguese Man O’ War is a big, very dangerous and very poisonous jellyfish. Except that it’s not a jellyfish. You know the old saying: “if it walks like a duck and it talks like a duck then it’s probably a duck.” Well, the Portuguese Man O’ War looks like a jellyfish and does a lot of the things a jellyfish does - but it’s not a jellyfish. In scientific terms, it’s called a siphonophore. A siphonophore is different from a jellyfish because it’s not a single creature. It’s actually a colony of thousands of tiny creatures called “zooids.” The interesting thing about them is that they can all be identified as individual and separate creatures but they can’t exist independently. They all depend on all the other members of the colony. They aren’t parasites. They don’t latch on to the Man O’ War and gradually eat away at it. They’re connected to each other and by being connected they become a Man O’ War. The Portuguese Man O’ War is usually thought of as living in warmer, tropical parts of the ocean. Actually, they can be found pretty much all over the world, except in the extreme north and south. Portuguese Men O’ War have been found in the Bay of Fundy and off the coast of Ireland. They’ve been found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, and in the Mediterranean and Carribean Seas. They’re everywhere. The Portuguese Man O’ War has a very powerful and very painful sting - and, interestingly enough, it can sting for several hours after it dies!
Now, I am not here today to offer you a lesson in either biology or zoology - although I do find this creature (or these creatures) fascinating! I mention the Portuguese Man O’ War because - frankly - it’s a lot like the church. Think about it. A single church is made up of all sorts of different people who nevertheless to be the church have to be in relationship with each other. You can’t separate yourself from the church and still be part of the church. The church is found everywhere - all over the world. The church is very resilient - it’s hard to kill a church. They may die eventually, but killing one is tough work. And the church can sting - as I was saying last week, we can sting when we forget to act out of grace and in agape love (the love that gives without seeking anything in return; the love that willingly pays a price to love the beloved) and instead chooses to act in judgment and very human hatred. I want to think about those (in cosmic terms) tiny little organisms that make up the. That would be us, folks.
Paul’s desire for the church in Corinth was “that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought.” Paul essentially wants us to be a Portuguese Man O’ W - both independent of each other and dependent on each other at the same time. But we’re not. It may work as an analogy, but it doesn’t work in reality, because we’re not as united or as undivided as that. We’re not “perfectly united in mind and thought.” I don’t think we should be. I think differences of opinion are healthy. The different opinions we hear from people are the things that challenge us to go deeper and deeper into our own faith and our own relationship with God. If everyone in the church thought exactly the same things about every subject, not only would church and faith be boring - they’d be lifeless. But that can go too far. That’s what Paul is talking about as he begins 1 Corinthians.
This is going to be the first of several messages I’m going to preach from 1 Corinthians. To me, this is one of the most important books of the Bible, because Paul is responding to people who have written to him, expressing uncertainty about the Christian life, sharing some of the struggles their congregation is having and wanting direction on certain ethical and moral issues. In other words, the same questions so many Christians have today. But in Corinth, the problem wasn’t that people had questions or were unsure about certain things. The problem was how they were handling the issues. Rather than treating one another as people of faith who acted in good conscience, they were falling into judgment of one another. In modern language, the folks who thought that they were the “true Christians” (ever heard that language?) seemed to think that all those outside their group were “fake Christians” or at least that they weren’t “good Christians.” In the 21st century Christian community, we deal with that all the time. Paul basically says that the people in Corinth (and I think he’d say the same to modern Christians dealing with the same problems) have their priorities mixed up. They’re focussing on the issues that divide them; Paul wants them to focus on the Christ Who unites them.
Paul doesn’t condemn or criticize the Corinthians for having differences of opinion over issues large or small. It’s to be expected that there would be differences. Paul’s concern is that those differences are causing the community to fall apart, to take sides, to draw lines in the sand. They had divided up into factions on the basis of which teacher they followed: “One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”” For Paul, even “I follow Christ” had become a problem in Corinth , because it was being used to sow divisions rather than to create unity. It was the equivalent of “I’m a true Christian and you’re not” that we sometimes hear today. To put what Paul said into modern terms, it’s the equivalent of a church dividing on the lines of “I follow Calvin” or “I follow Luther” or “I follow Wesley” or “I follow the Pope” with each of those options being seen by those who hold them as the only real way of being a Christian; it’s the equivalent of “I’m United Church” or “I’m Catholic” or “I’m Baptist” or “I’m Pentecostal” with anyone not part of your group being considered unChristian. Imagine what Central United Church would look like if people divided up into competing groups based on their favourite ministers: “I follow Steven” or “I follow Roger” or “I follow Orville” or “I follow Elliston” as if no one else can be a capable pastor and no other pastor is acceptable.
A man once said, “I was walking across a bridge one day, and I saw a man standing on the edge, about to jump off. So I ran over and said, ‘Stop! Don't do it!’ ‘Why shouldn't I?’ he said. I said, ‘Well, there's so much to live for!’ He said, ‘Like what?’ I said, ‘Well, are you religious or atheist?’ He said, ‘Religious.’ I said, ‘Me too! Are you Christian or Buddhist?’ He said, ‘Christian.’ I said, ‘Me too! Are you Catholic or Protestant?’ He said, ‘Protestant.’ I said, ‘Me too! Are you Episcopalian or Baptist?’ He said, ‘Baptist!’ I said, ‘Wow! Me too! Are you Baptist Church of God or Baptist Church of the Lord?’ He said, ‘Baptist Church of God!’ I said, ‘Me too! Are you Original Baptist Church of God or are you Reformed Baptist Church of God?’ He said, ‘Reformed Baptist Church of God!’ I said, ‘Me too! Are you Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1879, or Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915?’ He said, ‘Reformed Baptist Church of God, Reformation of 1915!’ I said, ‘Die, heretic scum!’ and pushed him off [the bridge].” Yes. It’s a joke. The sad thing is it sounds almost believable!
We have a problem in the church when our focus becomes the things that cause dissension rather than that which brings unity - and too often there’s a problem in the church. I was talking to someone just the other day and he dismissed the church by simply saying “there’s no consensus among Christians on anything.” In a way he’s right. But I’m not sure we should expect consensus; I’m not even sure consensus should be a goal. Reading between the lines of 1 Corinthians, you get the impression that Paul didn’t even bother preaching about contentious issues when he was in Corinth. They were afterthoughts. They had to write to him to say, basically, “you didn’t mention any of these things that are now causing us trouble - so help!” And 1 Corinthians was the response Paul made to them. And whle he’ll offer guidance on these things, his priority remains the same. In our passage today, to those tearing themselves apart over which teachers they preferred, he says “Was Paul crucified for you?” It’s obviously a rhetorical question. Christ was crucified for them, and Paul preached Christ crucified. In Chapter 2 he writes, “...I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” We’re going to talk a little more about that next week. Today I want to point out that it is Christ crucified who is our source of unity. Christ resurrected may be more important, more significant, more noteworthy - and 1 Corinthians, as we’ll see over the next few weeks, all leads up to Paul’s great teaching on the resurrection - but it’s Christ crucified that’s most important. That’s what Paul knew and taught and preached while he was in Corinth. He didn’t wade into controversial issues of morality or ethics or lifestyle. He preached Christ crucified, because Christ crucified is the ultimate sign of agape love - the love that sacrifices for the sake of the beloved; the love that pays any price; the love that expects nothing in return. The love that just loves. This is the cross - the divine act of self-sacrifice that asks, in return, for nothing. Through Christ, God gave simply to give. And that should be the source of unity within the Christian community - the giving of self for others while expecting nothing in return. There can be disagreements in that environment, but they don’t pit us against each other, because the issues we’re disagreeing about are always less important than the person we’re disagreeing with.
It isn’t easy to live that out. Agape love is hard because it asks a lot out of us and it offers us no guarantee of a reward. But anything other than agape love is counter to the love and life and example of Christ - the crucified Christ whom Paul knew and taught about and preached about. Long ago, the famous biblical scholar Matthew Henry wrote, “So liable are the best things to be corrupted, and the gospel and its institutions made engines of discord and contention. Satan has always endeavoured to stir up strife among Christians, as one of his chief devices against the gospel.” When our honest and honourable disagreements become the excuse for passing judgment on the legitimacy of the faith our brothers and sisters, we are not focussed on God and we are not serving God. We are, instead, focussed on and serving that which is opposed to God. Christians have been known to attack and exclude and even persecute all kinds of people and groups - and it’s all done “in Jesus’ name.” The real tragedy is that some Christians will willingly attack and exclude and even persecute other Christians - and they do it all “in Jesus’ name.”
Paul’s message would be “focus only on Christ” - not as an excuse to divide ourselves up into the good Christians vs the bad Christians, but to remind ourselves that honest differences don’t make those we disagree with any less Christian. Then, with Christ as the sole focus and priority, set everything else aside for the sake of the mission of the gospel. Christians should stop working against one another through competitiveness or quarreling and simply work together to do the mission and ministry of Jesus as we in good conscience understand it. Dwight Peterson wrote that “most of us who have been around churches for any amount of time know that Christians can get on one another's nerves.” That’s sadly true. Perhaps it’s to be expected since we’re only human, but it’s still sadly true, and when we allow that to get out of hand, we sap the life and love and energy out of what Christ asks of us and we put it into endless and meaningless arguments and disagreements.
The good news is that ultimately Christ cannot be divided, and we see Christ in all his glory when we see unity - not coerced and artificial common belief, but rather the understanding that in spite of our differences we are one in His name. And we see unity when we see love - not romantic, emotional, sentimental love, but love expressed in giving for others while expecting nothing back. When we can live by that kind of love, then we truly have within our own fellowship “an undivided Christ.”
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