When God Calls with Michael McCaskill

1 Corinthians Study - Division in the Church

Season 4 Episode 2

A Church Divided Over Leaders (1:10-17)

  • Why were they divided?
    • One possibility - teachers and philosophers wanted to share their “wisdom”.
    • Another - we naturally follow other people
      • Gravitate to those we better identity with; whose ministry we understand
      • Begin following the messenger instead of the message
      • Leads to competition among the “leaders”
  • The people of Chloe’s house were courageous
    • They openly called out the issue of division in the church to Paul and weren’t afraid of the attribution to them.
    • Paul founded the church and Apollos followed him.  Peter may have never been to Corinth.
    • Each had a different approach to their ministry of the Word.  However, they are “co-workers in God’s service” (1 Cor 3:9a)
  • Baptism in that day was costly.
     
    • The sinner who became a believer and was baptized cut themselves off from their old life; often rejected by their family and friends.
    • It was a BIG life event that changed the trajectory of their lives.
    • Paul isn’t diminishing this fact but putting it into perspective.
    • It is wrong to use any man’s name with your baptism other than Jesus Christ.
    • To do so creates divisions.
    • Jesus did not baptize (John 4:1-2).  Could creating divisions be why?

Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom (1:18-25)

  • This sections contrasts God’s Word with man’s wisdom
     
    • Jews
      • Emphasized miraculous signs
      • They were looking for a conqueror to come in power and might to save them 
      • Saw the cross as weak.
      • Couldn’t reconcile the old testament passages that describe the Messiah must suffer and die.
      • The cross is a sign of power, “and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Cor 1:25b)
    • Greeks
      • Emphasized wisdom
      • Saw no wisdom in the cross; saw the cross as foolish from a human point of view.
      • Not seeing it from God’s point of view as His great plan of salvation.
      • Paul asks the experts, teachers, and philosophers if in their studies have come to have a relationship with God.
        • The answer is no.
      • Yet God was pleased to save through the foolishness of what was being preached.  “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom,” (1 Cor 1:25a)
    • Those who believe experience the power and wisdom of the cross
      • Those whom God has called, and who responded to the calling by faith, see that Christ of the cross is God’s power and wisdom.
      • “We are called into fellowship because of our union with Jesus Christ; He died for us; we were baptized in His name; we are identified with His cross.” (Wiersbe Bible Commentary)
      • This is the lens through which we should determine how we are to live and worship on earth.