United in Mind and Judgement

Holy Spirit, we come now to your word asking you to reveal its meaning. To us, not so that we can simply learn new information, but so that we might receive and believe and obey what you said. So we ask you to both illuminate our minds and open our spirits to hear from you tonight and pray in Jesus name, amen to be seated have noticed an interesting irony in the church that when the importance of unity among Christians.

As mentioned, it often elicits a defensive response, so Christians who are in disagreement are exhorted to show deference and love to each other, but in response to that exhortation, they often dig in deeper and begin to explain with all the more fervor how their position is right in the brother's position is wrong, as if to say, sure. I'll also deference as long as he agrees with me. And so the call to unity. Ironically, often ends up entrenching us even more deeply in our discs unity now to some extent. I understand that response. I understand that response when the unity card, so to speak, is played by someone who is genuinely in the wrong and it simply a ploy to get us to compromise truth. We do want to dig in deeper. When that's the case, there there is such a thing as un-biblical unity unity that's grounded in all the wrong things, but search. There is also something as biblical Christ honoring unity and it's with a call to that kind of unity that Paul opens his letter to the Corinthian church what's incredible about this is that Cormorant had any number of issues that needed to be addressed by the apostle Paul. This was a a messed up church they misunderstood the covenant of marriage.

And evidently there was un-biblical divorce and remarriage being practiced at there was misconduct on several fronts in their corporate worship to the point that disorder and impropriety was happening on such a scale that visitors to their services left confused and Christians left on edified the process of church discipline was broken at Corinth, even to the point that a case of of gross open sexual sin had been tolerated and ignored. So, if you had been sent to Corinth to begin cleaning up this mess.

Where would you have started reps he would've initiated church discipline and dealt with the most scandalous and first met you would've said let's let's get our homes or marriages in order. First, perhaps you would've started the much needed reform by addressing the very public problem of misconduct in corporate worship. Paul would eventually deal with all of these things and more.

But notice where he starts. He begins cleaning up the mess at Corinth by insisting upon the necessity of Christian unity for addressing matters of church discipline or public worship, or even the family unit. He addresses their divisive schismatic hearts.

Now this is the top of Paul's to do list.

It must be important. I guess the question for us might be if Christian unity is not that important in our own estimation of what constitutes a healthy biblical church. Why not why are we often content to tolerate what Paul seems to think is a matter of first-tier importance while finger several answers that question. For one, we might be misunderstanding what Paul means by Christian unity. He he addresses what it means right here in our textbook and look at that in just a moment.

But secondly, and perhaps more commonly, we might be underestimating how offensive this unity is to Christ within his church. In short the point Paul is to make in these verses is that if Christ was crucified in order to unite Christians into one body, than for us to tolerate division in that body is an affront to the person and work of Christ. It's a big deal.

It's a gospel deal now thankfully there's nothing that is currently dividing the church today into various factions and so we really don't need this education, like perhaps some previous generations of Christians have needed it.

I don't hear your lap you laughing, but I hope you realize I'm saying that entirely tongue-in-cheek. We have just as much need for this exhortation today is the Corinthians in the first century BC unity is essential to the Christian faith. And so it stands to reason.

Doesn't that the enemies of the church will aimed their biggest guns at our unity dividing conquer. It was the case in Corinth is the case at 2007, installing the road here in Harrisburg are unity will always be under attack and so the wise Christian will go on the offensive by seeking to understand and pursue authentic biblical unity also to the specifics of this text for a few moments and allow it to to educate us to motivate us to the end of Christian unity. Paul begins with an appeal for unity on appeal for unity.

Verse 10 says I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgments right out of the gate. Notice that Paul appeals to the Corinthians as brothers and sisters is certainly implied and that duties not excluding the women he frames his appeal for unity by referring in the very title he uses to the basis or the grounds for that unity. They are to be unified in mind and judgment, because they been unified already in status, Christ has made them one body, the basis of their unity is the familial relationship they have in Jesus Christ, their family, brothers and sisters and so Paul is saying your one body already act like it's important that we recognize this before we get into the specifics of that call to unity because Paul is not talking about some sort of pluralistic syncretism with the world. He's not exhorting Christians to be limp wristed with their faith in the name of tolerance and peace. This isn't some sort of ecumenical call to join hands with with well-meaning heretics know he's speaking to the church of Jesus Christ alone. He speaking in fact to specific members within a particular local church and is exhorting them to act like and think like the brothers and sisters that in Christ Jesus. They already are.

It's easy for us to talk about Christian division is a problem that exists between this church and that church or between this denomination that denomination or between conservative Christians over here in liberal Christians over there it's it's easy to keep the discussion in those contacts because all of those things are a safe distance removed from us.

It's it's out there and so we can critique it without getting our hands dirty. What we need to realize is that Paul's concern has to do with division within a single local congregation. These people who were divided knew each other face-to-face. They worshiped and served alongside one another. They interacted on a regular basis.

This wasn't some theoretical unity that Paul wanted them to pursue. It was a real unity that involved real people who lived together on the same proverbial block of the kingdom. These verses apply primarily to the relationships represented here in this room. Christian unity starts right here among brothers and sisters noticed and that Paul's appeal in verse 10 has three parts. There's the objective or goal of unity, there's the means whereby that goal is achieved and then there's the effect of the evidence to prove that unity has happened. Now Paul doesn't list them in that order in a minute talk about them in that order is just for for the sake of of expediency tonight. More than anything else. Let's first consider the objective the goal of unity and what is that objective. Paul says that there be no divisions no schisms among you a schism is a split at the crack. It's a tear it's a condition brought on by competing aims conflicting purposes.

I will go right long ago left.

We can't both do what we want to do.

Someone is going to have to defer to the other, or else there will be a schism, a division the goal the ideal. The objective is that there be none of that in the body of Christ. If if we are all agreed that our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. And if were all claiming to have the mind of Christ and and claiming the indwelling of the Holy Spirit than for us to be so confused as to simultaneously hold to convert lifting ideas of where it is.

We ought to be going or what it is we ought to be doing all that then reflects negatively on our claims world sees that and says these people don't have the Holy Spirit and have the mind of Christ I can even agree with each other on what glorifying and enjoying God looks like. The objective of unity is to do away with those differences. Differences that undermine our witness and are very purpose as a church. Paul not only tells us what the objective is.

He also tells us the means of achieving that objective.

How do we get there we get there. Verse 10 by learning to be united in the same mind in the same judgments. I think in many ways, this statement is the key that unlocks the whole passage see most Christians I'd imagine agree that the church ought to be unified. We don't dispute that always seem to find ourselves in a in disagreement about is how we are to go about pursuing this kind of unity. Paul tells us how to pursue right here in a has to do with what we think or believe and the way we judge being of the same mind has to do with believing the same objective, absolute truths, it refers to doctrinal unity within the body of believers unity in this arena requires that a group of Christians make a conscious commitment together to believe this and not that to interpret these passage of Scripture. This way, and not that way. In other words, to hold to a common confession of faith. I make this point our new members class, but it's worth making again. Every church has a confession of faith when they acknowledge it or not, whether they write it down or not. Even churches that claim to have no cream but Christ believes something about the person and work of Christ the benefit of a written confession of faith is not that he gives us something on top of Scripture to believe in the benefit of a written established confession of faith is that it gives us a means of measuring our adherence to the word of God. It provides a baseline of belief, it is fixed it can certainly be evaluated and amended as needed, but it provides a way of holding us accountable to what we believe and why we believe it forces us to be specific and precise with our beliefs so that were less vulnerable to all the winds and waves of doctrine that that blow our way church. The purpose of our creeds and confession and catechisms is not to give us some antiquated stack of books that we can dust off every time officer training rolls around notes to give us an established body of doctrine that will enable us to better pursue the sameness of mind which Paul calls the church for the sake of unity we ought to know what the Westminster standards contain where we find areas of disagreement we ought to desire and pursue agreement and where we can't seem to find agreement we ought to graciously defer to one another. It's all part of the pursuit of sameness of mind. Paul also calls us to be of the same judgments. This term is more subjective than the previous one. It it seems to describe matters of wisdom more than matters of absolute doctrine. It deals with the proper application of doctrine. Proper judgment requires a knowledge of right doctrine, but it also requires discernment and prudence and care in its exercise. So for example that we support mission work is a doctoral issue, but which missionaries Grace Church is going to support is a wisdom issue. It's a matter of good judgment.

It's a matter of good application of the principles we confess and Paul says interestingly that in both mind and judgment. We are to be united.

There's to be unity and belief and behavior and what we think as well is in as and how we implement what we think is the means whereby we achieve Christian unity. Now this I suppose this is where a lot of counterfeits rear their ugly heads, for example, authentic Christian unity is not measured in terms of politeness and friendliness in the church always we ought to be polite. We ought to be friendly, no one's questioning that brothers and sisters, we can be the most polite and friendly church in town and still lack the sort of unity that Paul is demanding of the church. We can pursue authentic unity without sacrificing authentic friendliness and we should be pursuing both what we ought never to get the two confused. Paul is calling for unity in mind and judgments and finally he his appeal describes the effect the outworking of this unity. We see it there in verse 10 where Paul says I appeal to you that all of you agree the King James in this case has a more literal translation than the ESV it says it ye all speak the same thing. This unity of mind and judgments unity that eradicates all points of division and schism is to be so pervasive that one.

This is achieved right down to the very words we speak now.

Perhaps this scares us a little bit and conjures up images of some cult group all droning the same mantra in a in a mindless brainwashed state. Paul doesn't mean that it all. He intends there to be this incredible external state of unity, but it's a state that's rooted in genuine conviction and belief, not mindless adherence.

We are to say what we say because we really do believe what we say it's the ultimate proof or evidence or affect of unity. One commentator said how complete the agreement ought to be, so that no diversity may appear even in words, it is difficult indeed to attain such a degree of unity, but still, it is necessary among Christians from whom there is required, not merely one faith, but also one confession as we consider Paul's appeal for unity and full than II think we find a couple of ditches. A couple of extremes which we need to be on guard against.

The first is the ditch of making too little of unity making too little of unity and I suspect that this is a danger to which Presbyterians are protected particularly susceptible. We love doctrine we love, truth, and we should but were not careful, we can blindly pursue doctrinal precision with little to no regard for unity.

It's truth without love, we discover a point of theological disagreement. Let's do the intellectual labor of working through it.

But let's not neglect the relational labor of working through it with grace and deference and mutual submission. We need to guard against making too little of Christian unity, but on the other side of the road is the ditch of making too much of Christian unity that is pursuing unity with little to no regard for truth. It's also a danger we need to be aware of this decision. Truth without love.

It's love without truth that Paul primarily addresses the first ditch, and in this passage the Corinthians idea of unity was doctrinal precision, without love, and it was producing all sorts of unnecessary factions within the church, but there is also the danger and one that perhaps is much more prevalent today of pursuing love without doctrinal precision. It's a it's a fake pretentious sort of unity. It's the it's the coexist bumper sticker sort of unity, but it certainly is not biblical. Authentic unity. Ours is a sincere unity that produces in us a real love for one another that is grounded in real conviction of biblical truth and it's this ideal to which Paul appeals to us to pursue. When next we see the cause of this unity. Because of this unity. In verse 11 says, for it has been reported to me by Chloe's people. If there is quarreling among you, my brothers, what I mean is that each one of you says. I follow Paul or I follow policies or I follow Cephas or I follow Christ that it interesting how we can talk about sports or restaurants or hobbies. We can agree to disagree and we walk away with a smile when it comes to matters of religion, we take no prisoners. We either conquer the hill or we die on the hill, even it seems when our viewpoints aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. Paul doesn't give us much information concerning the nature of the factions present here at Corinth we simply get the names of each faction. I follow Paul, I follow policy. I follow Cephas, which is Peter by the way, and I follow Christ.

Now we could speculate about what these different faction stood for that Paul was the founder of the Corinthian church, and one can certainly understand how those relatively new converts would've been loyal to their founding minister, that makes sense to us a policy evidently followed Paul at Corinth prescriptive 34 says that Paul planted in an Apollo's watered that we also know the policy was particularly gifted at speaking acts 18 describes him as an eloquent man competent in the Scriptures. Paul on the other hand was not a polished speaker. He acknowledges so himself in second Corinthians 11, so perhaps the Apollo's faction had a taste for the very Greek art of rhetoric which Paul lacked but Apollo's had an abundance then there was the Peter faction we don't know of any specific interaction that Peter may have had with the Corinthian church, but Peter was Jesus's right hand man. After all, he was a leader of sorts among the 12 apostles and he seemed to have a particularly deep interest in the in the Jewish ceremonial law. Maybe it was one of these distinctives that gave rise to the Peter Dang at Corinth had and lastly and most piously, there was the Christ faction. I suppose if you have to pick one of the four based on the names given to us. Gotta pick this one.

Can't you just imagine the other three factions rolling their eyes when the Jesus people say, will we follow Christ. The truth is we don't know what distinguished each group which means Paul is not condemning the doctor distinctives of each group is condemning the fact that there were even groups his ears. Nothing antithetical about the respective ministries of these four men. They were on the same thing all in Apollo's and Peter were like-minded friends, and Christ was the one who called these men to do what they were doing.

The issue wasn't doctrinal. It was immoral. The issue was that there was a fight at Corinth, where there shouldn't have been a fight is why even the Christ faction is thrown in with the other actions of course were followers of Christ above all, we can even profess to be followers of Christ in an unnecessarily divisive and factional way: Apollo's and Peter and Christ were were not in the theological contest with each other and yet the Corinthian believers were turning their differing personalities or gifts or roles or whatever into some badge of status and credibility. They were dividing what Christ says is undivided and it was sinful. Now don't read verse 12 and think that Paul is condemning doctrinal distinctions of any kind. There is a time and a place to divide over Dr. just read the first chapter of Galatians to see that Paul himself was no pushover when it comes to doctrinal heresy. What he's condemning is the unnecessary division of the church into faction and what makes it unnecessary is not that doctrinal purity doesn't matter what makes these divisions unnecessary and wrong is that there grounded in self-promotion and status and rank and self flattery there grounded in pride you had there been a faction of Simon the sorcerer or a faction of Judas the betrayer. No doubt Paul would address this is an orthodoxy problem with the issue at Corinth was an ortho prexy problem. They were believing true things but were sinfully using those beliefs as the basis of creating clicks and fabricating disunity where there should have been unity. We dare not compromise the truth in the name of unity with the sort of disunity. Paul is condemning in the sort of disunity we ought always to repent off is the kind that needlessly sets up factions that are motivated by a desire for superiority and recognition and legitimacy where you see this sort of disunity in a church there is selfish unrestrained pride. That's ultimately the cause of disunity. Lastly, then we see the basis for unity. The basis for unity verse 13 is Christ divided was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul.

Three rhetorical questions at all imply the answer no, Christ is not divided. Paul was not crucified for you and you were not baptized in the name of Paul. On the contrary, Christ and his bride are undivided. Christ was crucified for you and we have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ the basis of true Christian unity then is Jesus Christ and him crucified. He sees verse 13 that elevates this whole discussion of unity to a matter of first importance.

This is a gospel issue, not a preference, not a matter of taste or culture or upbringing being of one mind, and of one judgment to the point of sharing the same confession of faith in all things is a gospel reality because otherwise the work of Christ in the lives of his people is torn asunder into conflicting purposes and contradictory effect effect is why I said earlier that our tolerance of division in the church is an affront to the person and work of Christ.

This is a gospel issue to illustrate the point Paul turns to the subject of baptism, the very sign that is intended to demonstrate the unity of the church and yet assigned evidently and ironically had become the basis of much of division at Corinth, Paul is rejoicing that in God's providence, the number of Christians whom he baptized and Corinth was kept to a minimum. Otherwise, the Corinthians would've been even more entrenched in their various factions were 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius so that one may say that you were baptized so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name, I can hear the conversation. Yellow Paul baptized me know.

Didn't have to settle for Apollo's well brother Peter was the one who baptized me know that man can baptize. Paul says, who cares who you were baptized by the efficacy of it comes from who you were baptized into metal thing that Paul is downplaying the importance of baptism. Understand that Paul was not rejoicing in the scarcity of baptisms. He was rejoicing in the fact that he himself had not performed many of the baptisms at Corinth. The Corinthian Christians therefore have less of a temptation to wrongly attribute the value of their baptism to Paul.

He was belittling the sacrament he was condemning the Corinthian tendency to turn the sacrament into a status symbol. Paul goes on in verse 17 for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel and we need to read that statement in light of the great commission, Christ did send Paul to baptize at some level, but he did not send him to baptize over and above or apart from the preaching of the gospel. It's a it's a statement of priority that Paul is making here not a disregard for the sacrament he goes on, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power and again, this doesn't mean that there isn't a place for eloquent wisdom anymore than the previous statement meant that there is no need for baptism. In fact, the policy's eloquence is commended in acts 1824 wisdom is certainly something that Scripture tells us to pursue like it's gold so there's nothing inherently evil and a person being well spoken or wise. These are virtues. The question then is in what sense can eloquent wisdom. Empty the cross of its power. That's what we want to be on guard against our unit delved deeply into this question in future sermons because this is a central concern of Paul's letter to the Corinthians. But let me share very briefly to ways that eloquent wisdom nullifies the power of the cross in nullifies the cross when the hearer is someone who loves status in nullifies the cross when the hearer is someone who loves status.

One commentator said we must consider who they are, that Paul here addresses the ears of the Corinthians were tickled with silly fondness for high sounding style.

Hence they needed more than others to be brought back to the abasement of the cross that they might learn to embrace Christ as he is unadorned in the gospel in its simplicity without any false ornaments. If a person loves sophistication then sophisticated rhetoric runs the risk of eclipsing the message of the cross. The cross demands death to self. So to package the message of the cross in a in a manner that conveys promotion of self in a manner that scratches the itches of our idolatrous heart is to subvert the very message itself. Secondly, eloquent wisdom nullifies the cross when the preacher is someone who loves results.

It's not wrong to use eloquence in such a way as to draw attention to the beauty of the gospel, and Paul himself does that at Mars Hill. For example, Augustine said something to the effective. He who made Peter a fisherman also made a policy great fish a great speaker.

So eloquence isn't bad. Bad eloquence is bad miss used eloquence is bad and eloquence is missed use when it cleverly wins the emotions and mind and perhaps even the wills of people without actually changing their spirits eloquence is bad when its intent is to leave its hearers enamored with the speaker rather than with the gospel. Clever rhetoric can mask an inauthentic conversion can be used by gifted speakers as a shortcut to bypass the true power of the cross.

Incidentally, this can happen with overly simplistic and unadorned preaching as well a preaching preacher in an effort to avoid the pitfall of clever rhetoric may resort to down-home unsophisticated base speech, but he could be doing the same thing as the polished orator by appealing to the taste of his audience in order to manipulate their mind will and emotions. He's nullifying the cross whenever he relies on some means other than the gospel to get results and so both the preacher and the hearer need to be wary of their own idolatries, lest those idols of the heart get in the way of the gospel. Paul is not resizing baptism, nor is he dismissing eloquence. He knows that they're both capable of placing the cross at center stage, but he is attacking any use of these otherwise good things that isolates them from the cross and from the gospel were out of time and so I want to simply give very quickly some practical suggestions as to how these principles we looked at tonight might be implemented in the body of Christ, your Grace Church. These are rules to follow. These are merely suggestions to ponder, consider sitting in a different place each time you come to worship in order to get to know a broader cross-section of the congregation. Consider performing a specific act of service for someone in our body with whom you know you have a doctrinal different. Take note of anyone you tend to avoid a church and go out of your way to converse with them. Pray regularly for God's blessing to fall on those with whom you disagree, consider ways in which you are in danger of nullifying the cross by drawing attention to yourself, your abilities, your gifts your opportunities your eloquence, your lack of eloquence, and stop doing read the Westminster confession of faith. The shorter catechism in the larger catechism and then finally rejoice with a brother or sister whenever you discover you share like mindedness, knowing that such unity in the church is good and pleasant in Christ exulting with brain for Jesus.

We are yours and you are ours in our love for the gospel intersect with our love for one another in such a way as to bring you great glory, and to bring us great joy. We pray at all. In Jesus name, amen