Things That Divide A Church

Raul Ries: People want to control the church. They're very territorial. They're causing divisions in order to get their way. If they don't get their way, they start talking to people. You can't do that. If you don't like a church and what they're doing, then you should look for another church that will fit you. But why go to a church and divide the church? God will hold you responsible.
Guest (Male): I am falling. I am falling in love. I am falling in love. I am falling in love with you. Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Today, we're returning to First Corinthians, and Raul will challenge us to pursue unity with our fellow believers, not allowing competing priorities and prideful attitudes to undermine the work God wants us to do. Stay with us to see that you've been called to serve alongside your Christian brothers and sisters with a willing spirit and a humble heart. Here is Raul Ries with our study, Things That Divide a Church.
Raul Ries: I don't know if you've ever been in a church split. We've never had one at Calvary, so it's been pretty cool in some 40 years. The reason for that is because we don't put up with division. We really don't. I learned that in the Marine Corps, not to really have anybody ever divide any kind of work. What's really cool is that Paul the Apostle is writing, he's been there for six months, and he's facing all these issues in the church of Corinth. Remember, the church of Corinth, they were Greeks. They were not Jews. They were Greeks. The Greeks, they were non-believers. They worshipped Zeus. They worshipped all these different gods of the Greeks. When you go to Corinth, I've been to Corinth about four times. I went with Chuck Smith three times and then I went on our own little trip. It was pretty amazing to get from Athens around the peninsula to go to Corinth, which is about 45 miles. When you get to the city of Corinth, it's incredible that there are ruins there today. But at the same time, when you're looking at the ruins, you can still see that it was a party city. You could see it. When you read the history of Corinth, it is incredible. One thousand prostitutes lived on top of this hill, and every evening they would come down to seduce the men in the city. A lot of the Christians were being seduced by these prostitutes. The church is there, so Paul wants to exhort the church concerning their testimony, not only as Christians. The worst thing that can happen in the church, and where the world gets turned off, is when there's division in the church, when people are divided. Paul the Apostle, now coming to Corinth and watching these 1,000 prostitutes coming down, the drinking, the debauchery, all the things that were going on, the wild parties, the church had one major problem: they were carnal people, not spiritual people. They were having a real tough time because when people looked at them, they said, "Well, if you're a Christian, then why do I see you over here in the nightclubs? The other day I saw you walking with a prostitute and you went into her house." They had a real bad testimony in Corinth. Paul writes this letter to correct the situation and the problems of carnality in the church of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The first problem that they find in Corinth is the problem here of division. That's the first issue Paul is going to deal with right now. What's incredible here is that Paul is intending to expose the source of the spirit of their divisions. Then he's going to expose both the folly of their cleverness in dividing the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, not being in unity. He's also going to reveal their divisions by repudiating them and stopping those divisions in the body of Jesus Christ because division keeps a non-believer out of the church. He begins now in Chapter 1, verse 10. Here is Paul's plea to unity. He says, "Now I plead with you, brethren." So right off the bat, what do we see? We see that the letter is written not to the non-believer. It is written to the church. Brethren are Christians. This is important to understand that every one of the epistles, from Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, then you have Philippians, Philemon, Colossians, and you go all the way through, they're all written to Christians. Paul is dealing here with the church in Corinth, and they're all Christians. He's pleading for the brethren in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, "that you all speak the same things and that there be no divisions among you, but that you all should be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." Notice that. Paul is pleading with the church. The Corinthians were having factions, which was a sign of carnality. Division is a sign of carnality, not spirituality. This is always happening in so many churches today. People want to control the church. They're very territorial. They're causing divisions in order to get their way. If they don't get their way, they start talking to people. You can't do that because that's to bring division. If you don't like a church and what they're doing, then you should look for another church that will fit you. That's the best way to do it. But why go to a church and divide the church? God will hold you responsible, and God will chasten you. We're not to divide. We're to unite. It's really important that we listen to Paul's heart here because the Corinthians were really having a difficult time. It was among themselves, and they were keeping people away from the church because of their carnality and their division. Know one thing: division kills a church, and it is a bad witness to the world. We need to understand that division also causes it to actually oppose the work of God. When people look at each one of us individually and they begin to see the work of God and it's a work of division, then really truly the Holy Spirit is not really there. The Holy Spirit is not the author of confusion or division. It's important for us as believers to constantly build up, not tear down. When there is a problem within the church, it is to be taken biblically to the elders of the church so they can take care of it. It's incredible how so many times, because people haven't read the Word of God and they haven't studied it, they don't know what to do. A lot of them, instead of doing what's right, Satan uses them. Instead of uniting the church, he uses them to divide the church. We need to be united, not divided, the church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so that the people in the world that are watching us and watching the church, instead of being turned off to the Lord, they can see, "You know what? That church has so much love and there's so much unity in that church." This is where the Holy Spirit really does His work in the church, when we're open to the Holy Spirit and we're willing to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in our own personal lives fully and completely. Now, we need to love Christ, but at the same time, we need to be like Christ in the church. When Jesus came, He did not come to set up division. He came to unify. The only people that were divided were the Pharisees, the Scribes, and the Sadducees. Why? Because they didn't get their way. They were religionists. Jesus tried to give them the truth, but they rejected the truth. What did they do? They tried to infect the disciples and anybody that followed Jesus Christ. The Pharisees, the Scribes, and the Sadducees were always coming against them and marking them. Jesus rebuked them completely. Paul really makes this plea concerning the church. Look what he says now in verse 11. This is pretty interesting because the house of Chloe had told Paul that these divisions were in the church. Paul got very concerned because of the testimony of the church in Corinth. He says in verse 11, "For it has been declared to me," somebody came and told me, "concerning you, my brethren," again Christians, "by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you." It's being reported. Things leak out of the church. When they leak out of the church, people outside of the church find out what's going on. What do they do? They make it even bigger, or they say, "You know what? Don't go to that church. That church is in trouble. They're having all these situations and problems," which sometimes it's not the truth. We have to really be careful when it comes to division-making. Paul now lays down the important principle of Christian conduct in the church of Corinth. We should not pass on old news or new news to fellow believers unless you've got the real scoop. You shouldn't even tell anybody anything, and it should not be given to them so they can gossip or you gossiping about somebody in the church. That should never happen. That breaks up the unity of the body of Jesus Christ. It is important because many people get the bad rap when somebody else comes and gives you the bad rap. People not knowing the whole matter, they add to the stories or they take away from the stories, and then it brings confusion and eventually it brings division in the body of Jesus Christ. This should never, ever happen. God will hold you responsible for the people that get divided and they don't walk with God and they leave. God will hold you responsible.
Guest (Male): You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com to look through our full range of resources, each designed to help you grow in faith and godliness. If you'd like Raul's response to your Bible questions, you can email him at [email protected]. Let's continue now with the conclusion of our study, Things That Divide a Church.
Raul Ries: When a church gets divided or someone gets hurt, you need to be man enough or woman enough to go and apologize and say, "You know what? I was wrong. Please forgive me." Otherwise, God will have to deal with you in such a way that you really don't want to be in that position when God deals with you. You'll get hurt. Paul is giving good insight because he says again in verse 11, "For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, that those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you." Now, verse 12. Notice that these divisions, they were dividing into factions now. He says in verse 12, "Now I say this, that each one of you are saying, 'Well, I am of Chuck Smith,' 'Well, I am of Greg Laurie,' 'Oh, well, I am of Billy Graham,' 'Well, I'm of this and I'm of that.'" That is not good. Did they die for your sins? No. Yes, they might be great Bible teachers, but we should never idolize or worship any pastor or any leader. We worship Jesus Christ. That's the problem with people. You know what happens? When you idolize somebody and they trip and they fall, guess what happens? You become very disappointed. That's why I keep my eyes on the Lord. I don't keep my eyes on people. Otherwise, I wouldn't be in this pulpit, and I wouldn't be a Christian then. I've seen too many people that could have stumbled me, but I don't keep my eyes on people. I keep my eyes on the Lord. Paul here brings up a great issue in verse 12. He says, "Now I say this, that each of you says, 'I am of Paul,' 'I am of Apollos,' 'I am of Cephas,' Peter, 'and I am of Christ.'" This is the beginning of denominationalism right here. It started here in Corinth. So many churches have been hurt and divided because of the choosing and the building up of people that God is using in accomplishing His work in the kingdom of God, and then they trip and they fall, and then people get discouraged. We need to learn that we are in the same team. What we need to do is pray for those people every single day. Pray for me every day. I need prayer every day. Seriously. It's really important that we understand that God is gifting people. God takes the one, and God takes the other. Whatever He wants to do with any one of us, He can do. God never calls us to become famous. God calls us to be what? To be servants, to be disciples of Jesus Christ, like I said this morning. What happens to people is that once you have a little Bible study, you get a little bigger Bible study, and then it gets really big, where before in the church, where you had a little church, you were available for everybody. Then as the church grows, well, you've got to get more people to help you. That's cool. But at the same time, as the pastor and as leaders, you should be walking among the people and talking to the people so that you can hear their problems and situations and you can minister to them, not isolate yourself from them. Think of how many pastors today, they think they're superstars in the kingdom of God, and they will not be with the people. They're not with the people. It's gone to their heads. They think they have arrived, and now they're special. They're special in such a way that I don't have to communicate with you. I have other people to communicate with you. I understand with the big church, I can't talk to everybody, but I do counsel with people. I do talk to people all the time. People have my phone number. I don't hide my phone number. It's really important for any denomination or any senior pastor or assistant pastor or worker in the church that once God begins to use you in a little church or a medium-sized church or a huge church, you have to remain the same kind of a person, not a superstar pastor. One of the first things they told me when they made my life story in the movie, they wanted me to know if I wanted to travel all over the world, leave my pastorate, and go out to the world and sign pictures and sign this and do this and do that. I said, "No, I'm not interested in that." We did the movie with Chuck because we wanted to give God the glory and we wanted God to use that story to save people, not to make money. Not to make money. It's really important that we understand the ministry, what the real ministry is. The ministry is the place of ministering to people, being a servant to the people. We're not here for you to serve us; we're here to serve you. That's the real leadership position in the Bible. Paul, Timothy, all those guys talk about that. Yet sometimes you can walk into a church and you'll say, "Man, the pastor is not even available." That's not right. It is not right. It's really important that we understand what Paul is saying here because Paul is writing here to correct the error in verse 13. He says, "By the way, is Christ divided? Or was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" What did you do to get so big and so popular? When Jesus Christ came, He humbled Himself, gave up His hands and feet to be crucified with a crown of thorns on His head, and then a spear through His heart, and then the water and the blood coming forth, and He dies of a broken heart. He's Christ. He's God. He never, ever promoted Himself in any way. He always became a servant to everyone. That's the position the ministry should be. Paul the Apostle was a servant, but they were puffing up Paul. "Hey, we're Paul's disciples. We're Cephas' disciples. We're this disciple and that disciple." We should never do that. Pastors are here, leaders are here to serve, not to become popular or to build upon another man's foundation. Bottom line, that's the way it is. It's really important that we take Paul's counsel here because we see that Paul's indignant rebuke here in verses 13 to 17 as he rebukes those in the church they were doing that. Notice there's two quotations that he gives us in this verse, and he's going to give us in verse 14. He says, "I thank God that I baptized none but except Crispus and Gaius." Paul says, "You know what, you guys? I didn't baptize a thousand people. I only baptized two people." And one more he'll say in a moment. The reason is because so many people would say, "Well, I was baptized by Chuck Smith. I was baptized by Greg. I was baptized by Billy Graham. I was baptized by him." Who cares? When we baptize, I like to get different people, all the pastors, all together baptize different people. Why? Because we don't want people with the same problem that Paul had. So I thank God, I say the same thing Paul: I baptize none of you except Crispus and Gaius, he says. Paul here is thankful for baptizing just a few people in the assembly of faith. At the same time, check this out, verse 15, "Lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name." Notice, I baptize in the name of Jesus Christ, not in the name of Paul. Not in the name of Paul. Paul was not trying to win converts to himself. He was not trying to make a name for himself. Think of how many people on television today, on radio, and in churches are trying to build their own kingdom and build their own name. Seriously. Paul the Apostle here is encouraging us not to do it because there are people in the churches and in leadership positions that are always trying to make themselves known, and they want to be heroes, and they want everybody to come to them, and eventually they desire worship like so many people. Like they're somebody special. That should never be so. Christ was never like that. Christ was among the people and for the people, and the people honored what He said, especially His disciples. Yet Paul never wanted anyone to say that he baptized in his own name. Paul was very careful to always, always give God the honor and the glory for His work. I love that. All the glory, all the honor goes to Jesus Christ for what He's done and what He's doing and what He will do, not to us or anybody else. Look what else he says. He gives you the answer. "Yes," verse 16, "Yes, I also baptized the household or the family of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized anybody else," Paul says. "I can't remember."
Guest (Male): We hope today's lesson has been a challenge for you to pursue unity with your fellow believers, recognizing that you may not always be in full agreement with goals and agendas, but God is glorified when His people work together as one. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. If you'd like to review today's lesson, Things That Divide a Church, in its complete form, just call us at 800-634-9165 and we'll send you a copy for a donation of five dollars or more. We'd also like to offer you Raul's 11-part series titled Unity, Holiness, and Love, available on CD and USB. This study explores several practical ways you can live out your faith. You'll discover how to best make use of your spiritual giftings, how to confront sin with grace, how to honor the Lord with your resources, and much more. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to purchase Unity, Holiness, and Love. We'll send you Raul's 11-message study on CD for twenty-three dollars or on flash drive for fourteen. That's 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, Post Office Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765. We also encourage you to take advantage of all of our free resources. Download our app for digital Bible studies and an online reading group. For podcasts of all previously aired programs, visit iTunes or Spotify. And you'll also want to visit the Somebody Loves You worldwide YouTube channel, which is our hub for archived and live-streamed biblical teaching. We appreciate your partnership. Every contribution is tax-deductible and helps us keep sharing the good news of the gospel with the world. Join us next time as we continue this series in First Corinthians with an illuminating look at the wisdom of taking up your cross and following Christ. The world views dying to self as foolishness, but in reality, it's a foundational part of being Jesus' disciple. Now, here's Raul once again with a closing thought.
Raul Ries: And then we notice the further reaction of Paul. Remembering, he says, "For Christ," here's a key, "For Christ did not send me to baptize." I love that. I didn't come here to get recognition or to build a name for myself. What did Christ call me? What did Christ call you? "He called me to preach the gospel." I love that. He called me to preach the gospel, not with the wisdom of words. Notice, "lest the cross of Jesus Christ should be made of no effect." Isn't that cool? Paul now is explaining the real purpose of his call. It was not to baptize but to preach the gospel. And there are so many today that do not know their call. They do not know their call. And what do they do? They preach themselves, not Christ Jesus our Lord. And then why is it these pastors and leaders are always misrepresenting God as if God needs our help when we need God's help? May God help us to stay simple, to stay humble, and stay close to the Word of God and stay close to the heart of God because of the cross of Jesus Christ. I am falling. I am falling in love with you.
Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.