Sunday, January 26, 2014

Church Division

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Division within the church is devastating.  Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, California is the largest glass building in the world, and has one of the largest musical instruments in the world - the Hazel Wright Memorial organ.  The congregation was founded in 1955 by Robert Schuller and grew to be a world renowned mega church.  In 2010 the church filed for bankruptcy, and in 2012 it was sold.  What happened?  Different people wanted different directions.  Division took hold and this once mega church with wonderful preaching and fantastic music went the way of many churches.  

I think sometimes we feel like those early Christian didn’t have to struggle with what we struggle with; that they didn’t have an uncle Billy or aunt Bobby Sue who always has to get their way; that they didn’t have to put up with a neighbors that were apathetic to the message, children that fought all the way to church, or visitors that decided to sit in their pew, or discussions, meetings, and committees being formed to determine the single greatest thing we will accomplish this year - what color to paint the restrooms!  

I thank God for the apostle Paul, and his decision to put pen to paper.  Because one day, while ministering to folks in Ephesus, he received word about those Christians in Corinth.  And the word was not good.  They are not united!  They are dividing along lines of personal preference, and it’s going to destroy the church.  So Paul took to writing, and we have a letter to the church in Corinth.  This morning and during the month of February we will be learning from the struggles and challenges of those Christians.  And I think part of what we are going to learn is that we are not that different.  The struggles we face they faced, and if we are open we might avoid a lot of heart ache and division among our brothers and sisters.

This text underscores the challenge of a church being effective while dealing with internal divisions.  Divisions within the church based on groups, clicks, or personal preferences weaken the message and mission.

Divisions are self-serving, v 12

To visualize just how silly division is within the Body of Christ imagine someone shopping for new clothes and only considering what the eyes finds appealing…

The most recent statistics on church closings are alarming.  In 2010, according to the Barna Research Group an estimated 75 churches closed each week.  How many church closings are related to divisions from within.  You see, this is something Paul knew 2,000 years ago.  The moment a congregation starts to move inward - groups, clicks, personal preferences - they lose touch of their message and mission.  One of the most dangerous things that can happen to a church is for it to begin to think that it exist primarily for them (their group, click or interest).  The church does not exist to house the saints; it exists to make disciples of Jesus Christ.  And that brings us to our second point.

Churches are self-giving

When you account for our message and mission we are self giving!  Our message can be found in John 3:16, and our mission in Matt 28:19-20.  The single greatest way to avoid divisions within the church - stay focused on the vision!

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