Be Perfectly United

This Sunday we were privileged at CDC to have brother Merrill speak to us from 1 Corinthians 1 on the Apostle Paul’s call to the church to be perfectly united.

 ¹⁰I 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. ¹¹My brothers, 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."

 ¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? ¹⁴I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. ¹⁶(Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Now the Corinthian church was a very interesting church for Corinth was a city made out of a very cosmopolitan people, like Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. The original Corinth was one of the most prosperous cities of Greece but was destroyed by the Romans in 146 BC. When Paul arrived in 51 AD, the new city had sprung up for about a 100 years, repopulated by a diverse people from various parts of the Roman Empire.  Due to its location near two very strategic ports, the new Corinth was likewise very successful and many people in the city quickly became very wealthy.

Against this backdrop, Paul formed the Corinthians church, and like the city, the church was spiritually very rich. They practically had every single type of gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul said of them, “for in Him, you have been enriched in every way, in all your speaking, in all your knowledge”.

Yet, perhaps due to their worldly prosperity, the Corinthian church had let pride and materiality come into the church. One could imagine a modern day Corinthian church to be a large church where members came and compared who had the latest handphone or BMW, where politicians and Tan Sri’s and Dato’s were given far more respect regardless of spiritual maturity, where worldly recognition was more important than spiritual closeness to God.

In fact, the most major issue facing the Corinthian church was the rise of factions and divisions in the church. Some said “I follow Paul”. Others said “I follow Peter”. Another said “I follow Apollos” and there were even those who claimed “I follow Christ”, as if the others did not. Paul appealed strongly to them “Agree with one another”, “Be perfectly united in mind and thought”.

In Christ, there is no Anglican or Presbyterian or Baptist or Methodist. Christ is not divided, and He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that the church may be one as He and the Father are one. That was His utmost desire, not for them to perform great deeds or make great sacrifices for God. His utmost desire was for His church to stay united, for in being united, His presence would be there with them.

I am the vine, you are the branches. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. The Lord said. To stay united, in the vine that is Jesus Christ, we need to have that unity in spirit, to have that desire to agree with one another in the Lord, and to tolerate no divisions within the church.

Yet this does not mean simply accepting every doctrine or teaching that comes in or is suddenly advocated by a leader or member. For the Word says “Beware of false prophets”… There are many things of lesser importance that we can agree upon to submit to the church leadership, but the main important tenets of the Word of God cannot be compromised such as Salvation by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever a Pastor or leader or Minister preaches, we must like the Bereans of old, test it against the Word of God, not searching the Word to prove it wrong, but to search the Word to see if what is said is true, with an open heart, but depending on the Holy Spirit to give wisdom.

As the song goes “Bind us together, Lord, bind us together, Lord, bind us together with Love”, the most important ingredient of a united church is Love. Knowing this, Paul expounded a great declaration of the importance of love in this same letter. Whatever we do, whether sacrificing ourselves in the flames or driving out demons or healing the sick – if we do without love, it counts for nothing. That is how every man’s work will be tested, depending on whether it was done out of love, the greatest of all things.

Brothers and sisters let us then always strive for unity in our churches, in our home fellowships, in our families, always aiming to love each other more and more and remain always in our Lord Jesus. God bless, Jason