divisions – The Lowedown

1 Corinthians 1

¹⁰Now, dear brothers and sisters, I appeal to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be real harmony so there won’t be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. ¹¹For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your arguments, dear brothers and sisters. ¹²Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.” ¹³Can Christ be divided into pieces?

Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵for now no one can say they were baptized in my name. ¹⁶(Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.) ¹⁷For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speeches and high-sounding ideas, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. (1 Corinthians 1:10-17, NLT)

The Daily DAVEotional

If you haven’t noticed, there is a lot of political division in our country these days. And this political division has seeped into the church.

Perhaps it’s always been there. But with the advent of social media, it’s definitely more pervasive and widespread.

The first letter from Paul to the Corinthians was written in part to address the problem of divisions in the church. I wrote my thoughts on this passage a few years ago in my blog post “Name Dropping in the Early Church“. Members of the church in Corinth were aligning themselves with different church leaders, which was causing conflicts and divisions in the church.

Certainly, there is no problem with following certain pastors and religious leaders. The problem comes when we elevate those figures to celebrity status and begin to idolize them or place them on a pedestal, where they may take precedence over even Jesus himself.

As I re-read this passage recently, it occurred to me that perhaps the biggest source of division within the church today is political divisions. People within the church are aligning themselves with certain political figures and ideologies, which is causing major divisions within the global church.

These last 8-10 years in the United States have been a breeding ground for the enemy to sow hatred, divisiveness and discord among Jesus’ followers.

It’s become apparent that for many who call themselves Christ followers, their political party and candidate of choice is more important than Jesus himself. This heightened commitment to politicians and political parties is driving their behaviors and greatly influencing their views of others and even their understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

It’s been amazing to me to see people who claim to be followers of Jesus, belittling others, bullying others and berating others who don’t share their love and devotion for a particular candidate or political party.

For example, I’ve seen people on various social media platforms who have made the statement, “I don’t see how you can be a Christian and vote for . ” I’ve also seen “Christians” claim that God hates candidate “X” while other “Christians” have rebutted that God actually hates candidate “Y”.

Ironically, Christians on both sides, in defending their preferred candidate and ideology, are appealing to the need to “love” people, all while demonstrating hate towards those who disagree with them.

Let me be clear. It is not unbiblical to have a preferred candidate or a preferred political party. But when we place those candidates and parties above Jesus himself, and when we’re incapable of basic civility towards those with whom we disagree, we’ve unwittingly made an idol out of our political identity.

Paul, in this passage, has some words of wisdom for us. Was Donald Trump crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Joe Biden or Kamala Harris? Christ did not send us to promote the Democratic or the Republican party platforms BUT TO PREACH THE GOSPEL.

It’s apparent that we all have different ideas about how to solve the problems that we face as a nation and as a culture. While it’s ok to promote our views, as Christians, NOTHING should take precedence over Jesus and the gospel message. To do so could become idol worship or worse, the promotion of a false gospel.

Reflection

What steps do you think Christians can take to ensure that they don’t promote politics over Jesus?

Do you think it’s possible to be a Christian and also be heavily involved in politics?

What would you say to someone who says that a certain political party is the only party a “true” Christian could support?

How do you reconcile the different political views with the gospel message? What do you think is the proper way to integrate our political views with the gospel message?

Photo by cottonbro studio: https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-people-standing-face-to-face-10350693/

1 Corinthians 1

¹⁰Now, dear brothers and sisters, I appeal to you by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be real harmony so there won’t be divisions in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. ¹¹For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your arguments, dear brothers and sisters. ¹²Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter, ” or “I follow only Christ.” ¹³Can Christ be divided into pieces?

Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵for now no one can say they were baptized in my name. ¹⁶(Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.) ¹⁷For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speeches and high-sounding ideas, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power. (1 Corinthians 1:10-17, NLT)

The Daily DAVEotional

We live in an age where social media, podcasts and the internet have made it easier than ever for pastors and ministry leaders to attain “celebrity” status. Write a book, start a podcast, gain a large online following, embark on the speaking circuit demanding ever larger fees, and pretty soon, you’ve become famous within the Evangelical church, with your status being measured by how many Twitter followers you have or how many subscribe to your podcast.

Not surprisingly, many Christians today choose to align themselves with various Christian leaders. They buy and read all their books, watch all their podcasts and quote/retweet everything they say.

This isn’t just a modern phenomenon apparently, as even in the early formation of the church we see people segregating into different camps. It turns out that this was a major issue in the Corinthian church and one of the primary reasons Paul writes this first letter to its members. People in the church were aligning themselves with various leaders, such as Peter, Apollos, Paul and others.

This leadership affiliation was causing disunity as people were jockeying for position and attempting to gain an edge in the power structure.

Certainly, there’s nothing wrong with learning from and being influenced by godly men and women leaders within the church. But what Paul is addressing is more than that. It’s an obsession to be aligned with and connected to someone whose name association might elevate my own stature in the eyes of others.

We have a name for this in our culture. We call it name dropping, which is a practice whereby a person mentions the name or names of famous or important people in a story or a conversation in order to impress others and make themselves look better.

Paul says this is wrong and the primary reason for it is because it elevates people over the person of Christ. Jesus is the only one who has died for us and he’s the only person with whom we should be identifying.

There’s a second reason this practice is unadvisable and it’s not one that Paul mentions in this passage. That is, what happens when we become so closely aligned and affiliated with a “celebrity” Christian and then they have a moral failure?

Unfortunately, over the years, I’ve seen too many Christian leaders who had large followings succumb to various worldly temptations and thus disqualify themselves from ministry leadership. When we attach our leash to a leader who ends up experiencing a moral failure, our own reputation can inadvertently suffer.

Paul’s appeal is for unity in the church. The only way to achieve that unity is for believers to stop identifying as groupies of well-known Christian leaders and instead, identify with Jesus alone.

Reflection

Who are some well-known Christian leaders you yourself or others are prone to align with?

When have you experienced “name dropping”, either by yourself or someone else?

What do you think are some reasons why Christians are inclined to “name drop” other influential Christians?

How can you take advantage of the tremendous resources and teachings of Christian thought leaders while maintaining Jesus as the person with whom you primarily identify?

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash