Good morning, Asbury Family and Friends!

On a cold and unpredictable morning, I want to offer encouragement in Christ and some orientation toward His word. No fancy audio or video. Just the opportunity be to be closer to Christ right where you, as you are. May God add understanding to our minds and transformation in our hearts at the reading and the hearing of His word. Amen!

1 Corinthians 1.10-17 NIV — 10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Paul’s letter to the believers in Corinth tackles all sorts of practical church issues. Our passage in particular deals with church divisions. There were Christians in Corinth who would use the name of an influential preacher or teacher in order to win an argument. As if being associated with Paul or Peter made their idea or perspective weightier or more right. They’d even use who baptized them as leverage to be seen as more significant. Some even using Jesus as a “trump card” to one-up anyone who gained more ground in an argument.

But Paul wasn’t going to have any of it, and he calls the Corinthians to the floor, leveling the playing field, telling them to “be perfectly united in mind and thought” (v.10). There was no room for this perspective and that perspective; there was only room for being in agreement with one another concerning Christ. Jesus isn’t divided or torn, and wouldn’t be divided at the expense of people’s ideas and desires. Jesus came for a particular reason, and then sends His own people out to preach and proclaim that same reason. Jesus came to set the record straight; to say what He means and mean what He says. He came that those who would become His sheep would “have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10.10 LSB).

But this idea of trying to be win arguments and cause divisions did nothing for Kingdom of God, much less for those Christians in Corinth. No one gets to one-up another, or else they are filled with pride and self-centeredness, and that is not of God.

Using Jesus’ name or position to be right is no different than denying Jesus and His power. This is because we are to honor Him, not use Him. To be united with one another in Jesus is to be about God and His will. All Christians must live for Him, and not for ourselves. He came to save sinners and those sinners that are now saved are to preach and proclaim His salvation to the world.

And Paul tells the Corinthians just that; that Jesus sent him to preach the gospel, with simplicity and plainness (v.17).  Paul wasn’t sent to baptize people and move on. Paul was sent to preach the gospel to any and all who would hear; to win them with the message of Jesus; not to simply baptize and become a central figure in their lives.

Being baptized is not the goal. Being right is most certainly not the goal. Jesus was quite plain about what His witnesses were to do—they were to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything” Jesus had commanded them (Matthew 28.19-20 NIV).

• We make disciples by winning them through preaching and sharing.
• We make disciples by calling them to confession and repentance, teaching them to trust in and depend upon the Lord Jesus for everything.
• We make disciples by baptizing them for the outward and visible sign of their inward and spiritual change, marking them as “His”, as belonging to Jesus.
• We make disciples by teaching them and instructing them and encouraging them to obey Christ and be devoted to Him always, for the continuation of Jesus’ saving of them so that they are fit for Heaven!

Hallelujah, what a work! And should anything get in the way of that?! Should we be divided over this and that if Christ is central? For Christ to be central means that we are about the same work of calling sin ‘sin’ and welcoming sinners to become saints and trust in Jesus; for them to be moved by the power of God’s grace from hurt to healed, from disoriented to reoriented, from deformed to transformed.

If we are about such work then there’s no time to be divided, to be distracted, because we are “united in mind and thought” (v.10). But, have you put it together? I’ve already said it, but let me say it again. To be united in every way means we have to agree that Christ is the only way. Jesus has to be central in our minds, central in our hearts, central in our goals, central in our mission and purpose, central in our families, central in our city, central in our schools, central in our ethics, our morals, our standards, our finances, our views, our sexuality…should I go on?

I’ll bring it to a close with this: we MUST keep Christ as the center or else we are not Christian. Christians keep Jesus in the center. This doesn’t make sense to the world—the world being those who chase every feeling, every passion, every impulse. This way of life and of thinking just doesn’t make sense; it almost sounds foolish to them. But that is for next week’s lesson.

Today, hear this O, Christian. We are not here to baptize and then argue. We are not here to be better than another. We are here to preach the gospel. If we try to improve on that then we are working above our pay grade. We were called according to HIS purpose if we are lovers of God (Romans 8.28), therefore let us keep Christ as the center and preach His good news to the world. It is why we are being sent, to keep Him at the center—of our lives and in the lives of those we make disciples. Amen? Amen.

—Pastor Whit