Episode Transcript
[00:00:16] All right, let's open our bibles together to the book of First Corinthians, chapter one. First Corinthians, chapter one.
[00:00:25] This is a sermon in our series, a church divided, and we're going to be working our way over the next few months or longer through the book of First Corinthians. Looking forward to this journey together. So we are in an election year, in case anybody missed that, didn't notice.
[00:00:48] Hopefully, if you have, then please give me your secret, because I want to forget about that. But we are in an election year, and we're watching the topic of our study played out in front of us every day. I'm entitling the sermon tonight. Divide and conquer. Divide and conquer. There are two strategic ways to lead people. One is to lead by dividing people. And you may recognize why I make mention of the elections. There is nothing more divisive, I don't think, on this planet at this moment, than the elections in the United States of America. It is a shame that we all celebrate being Americans on July 4, and then before the day is even over, we're talking about how divided we are and pointing our fingers at people. But one way to lead is by dividing people to create a mutual enemy and lead a crusade to conquer it, turn it into a life or death situation, and the sense of urgency unleashes unconditional support. Does that sound familiar to anybody? Conquering, winning at any cost is all that matters. I don't know if you've noticed, but in the elections in the United States and probably around the world, truth no longer matters. All that matters is divide, conquer, create my reality, win at any cost. But another way to lead is by uniting people, creating a shared ambition, and inspire people to build it with you. Turn it into a life quest. The journey to build something bigger than themselves unites people.
[00:02:35] The desire to leave a legacy is why people join this type of mission.
[00:02:42] Leaders either divide people or they unite people. That's true in the world. It's true in the church. Leaders have two choices, to unite or to divide. The latin phrase divide et emperor is the phrase that the saying divide and conquer comes from, and it is as old as politics and war.
[00:03:08] The phrase was attributed to Julius Caesar, and he successfully applied it to conquer Gaul 22 centuries ago. And I think it would make him very proud to know that his strategy is alive and well in this world. Have you ever heard the name Nicholas Machiavelli? He is famous for politics. And. And he said, politics have no relation to morals.
[00:03:40] I think we have a lot of machiavellian politicians in our country and around the world. He believed that for a leader, it is better to be feared than to be loved. He relied on the art of manipulation to build followers and allies. I don't know if anybody else put this together, but as I was studying this, thinking this through, it made me think of the screw tape letters that was written by CS Lewis. And he gives behind the scenes, imaginary, behind the scenes views of the devil and demons that are plotting together to stop Christians and Christianity. So Machiavelli also said, one who deceives will always find those who allow themselves to be deceived. So there's a reason that the term Machiavellian became a synonym for facts marked by cunning or bad faith. And that really has a lot to do with what we are talking about tonight. Because divisions are an illusion for both the leader and their followers. The leader paints a picture and tries to get people to believe in that vision.
[00:04:57] Their ultimate goal is to create a fictitious reality.
[00:05:01] So which type of leader do you think Satan is in his mission to lead others to destroy the Church of Jesus Christ?
[00:05:11] I don't think there's any question that Satan is a divisive leader.
[00:05:15] He uses division inside and outside of the church. This is one of his primary tactics. I want to remind you of the outline of the book of First Corinthians. Chapters one through six give us problems and solutions, and then chapters seven through 15 give us questions and answers. So we're in the section of the book. Chapter one through chapter four, verse 21, are talking about divisions in the church.
[00:05:44] And the backbone of this section of Paul's letter consists of. Listen to this. Nine Old Testament quotes. In chapter one, verse ten through chapter four, verse 21, he quotes the New Testament no less than nine times, highlighting who God is and how God works in the church and in the world. So Paul is rooting his letter in scripture. And I think it's important to point out that in the entire book of first corinthians, 15 chapters, Paul has over 40 references, direct quotes from the Old Testament. So he's rooting everything he does in scripture. If you'll look with me at first corinthians, chapter one, starting in verse ten, I want to read our text tonight. I want to remind you that this is God's word to God's people. Paul writes, I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers.
[00:06:59] What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul or I follow apollos or I follow Cephas or Peter or I follow Christ. Verse 13. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius so that no. 1 may say that you were baptized in my name.
[00:07:29] I did also baptize the household of Stephanus. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else for Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel and not with words of eloquent wisdom lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
[00:07:48] Let's go to the Lord in prayer father, I thank you for your word tonight. God, I ask that you would open our minds to hear and understand the truth of your word. May our hearts receive it and may our lives be changed. May we walk in truth and obedience to your word and what it teaches us. God, I pray that you give us clarity of thought and speech tonight. Lord, I thank you for what you are doing in Hope church, Asheville. And I pray that you would continue to do that we want. We ask all these things for the glory of Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.
[00:08:19] So as we talk about dividing and conquering as I read this passage in verse ten, I notice that unity is the goal. Paul is writing this to remind us that unity is the goal of why he's writing this letter. It's the goal of the christian life. I read to you last week Jesus prayer in John, chapter 17 where over and over and over Jesus prays and asks his father, make them one as we are one. So not only does jesus want his church to be united, he wants us to be united like the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are united. That's the kind of unity he desires for his church. So it's important for us to understand unity is the goal. He says, I appeal to you, brothers.
[00:09:11] This word means to admonish, to exhort.
[00:09:16] The most common word that we would use that is related to this word is the word beg or beseech. I beg you, brothers, to be united by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. He gives a strong, passionate plea for unity. And what is he connected to? The name of Jesus Christ. There's nothing higher he can connect this appeal to. Based on who Jesus is and what Jesus has done I beg you to be unified in the gospel.
[00:09:51] He says that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you. Paul doesn't even want to make room for small divisions. He's trying to unite the church. And this is what a leader has to constantly do, whether it's in a business, a sports franchise, or the Church of Jesus Christ. Unity is the road to success. Unity is the road to accomplishing your goals, he says, but that you be united. Some versions say made complete. This is the same word that Paul uses in Ephesians when he talks about equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. It's the same word that's used in the gospel to talk about mending nets or setting a bone.
[00:10:45] He wants us to be mended, made complete, restored, because we already know that there's divisions in this church. This is a church that is divided. And he's telling them that they need to be united in Christ, to have the same mind, which means their understanding, their beliefs, their doctrine. We're all coming from the same place. There is no private interpretation of scripture. We need to agree on what God's word says, what it means, and we need to unite around the good news that we find in this book.
[00:11:24] He says, the same mind and the same judgment. This is talking about our purpose, our intentions, why we're doing what we're doing, the application of our knowledge.
[00:11:36] And a good way to see what our mind is. And our judgment is, is to listen to the words that are coming out of our mouth.
[00:11:46] Our words come from our heart, as Jesus said. And this church was divided, and their words were betraying the fact that they were divided, that they were not of the same mind, that they weren't of the same purpose or intention.
[00:12:01] And that just reminds me that our language matters as a church, who we are, as we are united. Every single one of us who is a member of Hope Church, Asheville, has gone through the family room, which talks about our DNA, what it means to be part of the Hope church family, the things that we agree to, the things that we agree about. There is a statement of faith in the bylaws of Hope church, and there's just no room whatsoever for doubting the gospel. We are to be united in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And there's some specific language that we use as hope church. We talk about family, we talk about loving one another. We talk about valuing scripture over tradition.
[00:12:48] That is a defining mark of who we are. We talk about church planting, not church splitting. We talk about being the church rather than going to church language matters. We should speak a common language about who we are and what we are doing. Obviously, biblical language matters most. We need to know the Bible and we need to talk like the Bible talks. We need to be a people that are fluent in scripture, but we also need to have a common culture. As a local church, we are united. That doesn't mean uniformity. I'm not talking about uniformity. When I say unity, there is room for second and third level disagreements among the body of Christ. Some of us have different opinions about the end times and when Jesus is going to come back, how Jesus is going to come back, how that all fits together. We have different opinions about how theology works. We all agree that we're saved by grace through faith, that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. But some of us have different understandings of exactly how that works and how that plays out in the life of believers. And we can let that unite us, or we can let that divide us. Unity is not uniformity. Paul is not addressing traditions in this. Notice that. I'm sure they had all sorts of divisions. And if we sat in a round table tonight and discussed all of our opinions on everything from politics to hobbies to religion to theology to whatever, we would uncover a lot of differences of opinions. And some of those things would probably make us like each other less, because there are things that we believe in strongly that aren't doctrine, that aren't gospel. It's just opinions. It's just preferences. And Paul's not dealing with those things. He's not talking to them about their difference in preference. We can hold those things. We are commanded to be kind to one another. We are commanded to respect one another. We are commanded to honor and give preference to one another.
[00:14:59] But Paul's not addressing traditions. He's addressing the heart of the gospel. There's zero room for divisions when it comes to the gospel.
[00:15:09] So unity is the goal. We see that in verse ten next. Division is a distraction.
[00:15:16] Division is a distraction. It's a direct tactic and strategy from the enemy to divide the Church of Jesus Christ. And I just want to ask you tonight, do you think Satan is being successful in dividing the Church of Jesus Christ? We can fight about anything. And I'm not talking about Catholics fighting with Baptists.
[00:15:36] I'm talking about southern Baptists fighting with southern Baptists, or independent fundamental Baptists fighting with independent fundamental Baptists that aren't as independent fundamental Baptists as they are independent fundamental Baptists. We all know what I'm talking about. We can divide on the inside and division is simply a distraction. It is a strategy by the enemy to divide and conquer. If he can get us divided into factions, he can successfully distract us from the gospel of Jesus Christ. Satan cannot defeat the gospel. It's impossible. He can't defeat the church. He can't defeat Jesus Christ. There's no way. But that's not going to stop him from trying to distract us with divisions. Now, there are some things that the church divides over, and we can be clear about that. It's not tradition, it's not preferences, it's not opinions, but there are some things that we divide over. Paul addresses these things. We divide over false doctrine. The church cannot tolerate a false doctrine. We can't tolerate false teaching. We can't tolerate another gospel. As he says in the book of Galatians, we also divide over sinful lifestyles in the church. Paul is absolutely clear that there is a time for church discipline to take place. He talks about putting people out of the church, turning them over to Satan. These are people who claim to be believers. And he talks about turning them over to Satan for the destruction of their flesh so that their soul can be saved.
[00:17:13] There is no room for allowing sin or a permissive attitude about sinful lifestyles in the church. That's one of the reasons he's writing this letter. It's one of the reasons he writes the book of first Corinthians, and he's going to deal with that extensively. We see that as we get into chapter five.
[00:17:31] So we do not divide over tradition, preferences, personalities.
[00:17:38] But what was the church arguing about in Corinth? They were arguing about wisdom, rhetoric, personalities.
[00:17:48] And this, if you study the ancient ephesian culture, this mirrors a greek culture. This mirrors a culture of exalting wisdom, exalting rhetoric, exalting personalities. The Greeks and the Romans were fighting over these things in their culture, and this was bleeding over into the church. The church looked more like the culture then they looked like the church. As a matter of fact, I told you last week, we're going to see later in this study that the church looked more worldly in many ways than the culture did. The church was going further in their sin than the world was even willing to go.
[00:18:33] Now, when they start talking, if you look at verse eleven with me, he says, for it has been reported to me by Chloe's people. We believe that Chloe's people, Chloe was most likely a business lady, and her people would have traveled back and forth from Corinth to Ephesus, and Paul would have asked, how is the church doing? So every time they would travel back and forth, they would hear. Paul would hear from them of all the divisions in the church, which is why we believe he wrote four letters, two of which we still have preserved today.
[00:19:08] But in verse eleven, he says, been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ.
[00:19:25] So the Ephesians are arguing about personalities. Paul was looked down upon by some in the ephesian church that didn't think he was quite, or in the corinthian church who didn't think he was quite polished enough, because there was this young guy preaching named Apollos, who his name, he's named after a greek God. And it was very evident that this guy was incredibly gifted. Paul had to correct him at one point in his ministry, and he was corrected by some people in the church, some deacons in the church, who were correcting a misunderstanding he had of the gospel. We see that in the book of acts. But Apollos had developed into a strong preacher of the gospel, so much so that some church historians think that he might be responsible for the Book of Hebrews. There's much debate about that, and it really doesn't matter. But according to church history, Apollos was a faithful teacher, but Paul was not like Apollos. Now, Paul was an incredibly wise man. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, he could write a treatise. He sounded like a lawyer many times when he's. If you've ever read the Book of Romans, you know, Paul is no dummy. Paul is a very smart man, but he just wasn't polished like Apollos was polished. And many people looked down on him. And we can think in our days, some of the preachers that you may see on tv, and they're just polished, and then you come sit and listen to someone like me who has a north Georgia accent and is not ashamed of it. And I just don't sound as smart as some preachers sound. I love listening to Adrian Rogers. If I could have his voice, I'd take it, because it doesn't matter what you say when you've got Adrian Rogers voice. It's just. It's amazing. Like, that dude could lead a cold if he wanted to. I'm thankful. He was a good, solid baptist gospel preacher, but his voice was just amazing. That's not my presentation style. And if I try to be like Adrian Rogers, I wouldn't get three sentences into that and y'all would be rolling the floor laughing at me, because that's just not me. That's just not who I am.
[00:21:39] But Paul was looked down because some people preferred the style of Apollos. So those impressed with human wisdom and sheer talent would have been drawn to Apollos more than Paul, and many of them were.
[00:21:54] Peter was the leader of the apostle, the spokesman of the apostle.
[00:22:00] So those who were more impressed with power would have said, I'm of Peter.
[00:22:06] I'm of Peter's denomination. It looks like there's some denominations forming up in the church at Corinthe.
[00:22:14] Paul had a strong following. Obviously. He led them to the Lord. He discipled them. He was the one that planted the church there.
[00:22:23] Paul had this unbelievable history. He was like a terrorist to the church, and then God converted him. He saw Jesus face to face. Man, that's my guy. I'm going to follow Paul, and then there's a group that just goes straight to the top. Apollos isn't enough for them. Paul's not enough for them. Peter's not enough for them. What did they say? I am of Christ. You can follow Paul if you want to, but I'm following Christ. And, you know, that sounds real good.
[00:22:52] And Paul is ultimately going to confirm that, that ultimately we're following Christ. Christ is not divided, but you can say something in multiple different ways, right?
[00:23:04] I can say I'm following Christ in a way that declares to this world, I follow no man. I'm following Jesus. And I can say I'm following Christ alone in a way that lets everybody know I think I'm better than them because they're talking about a man or a preacher or a pastor or a shepherd. So I think these people are definitely, we could say, the fundamentalists of Corinth.
[00:23:29] They just jumped over everything else. I'm following Christ, and it's not wrong to say we follow Christ, but we can say it in the wrong way, because you can't define, you can't divide Paul's ministry and Christ's ministry. Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ.
[00:23:49] And to talk about people who were fired up about the apostle Paul preaching a sermon and they got saved, and they're being discipled through his ministry. They're reading his letters to accuse them of following a man when they're following Christ by following Paul. As a matter of fact, Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ.
[00:24:09] To take the high road and say, I'm following Jesus. I'm not following any man. It's divisive. And we do that.
[00:24:18] People do this today in denominations. But Paul follows this up with some questions. He asks us, has Christ been divided?
[00:24:28] Was Paul crucified for you?
[00:24:32] Were you baptized in the name of Paul?
[00:24:36] And what he's letting us know is that division is a distraction. Focusing on man rather than focusing on God is a distraction. It's a division in the church.
[00:24:50] And just like the Ephesians loved pomp, prestige, personalities, winning acceptance for their ideas. That was the greek culture of the day and the roman culture of the day.
[00:25:10] But that had no room and no business being inside of the church. It just brought division.
[00:25:17] So we see that unity is the goal. Division is a distraction. But number three, if you look at verses 14 through 17, we see that the gospel is the glue. The gospel is the glue. He says in verse 14, I thank God that I baptize none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no. 1 may say that they were. That you were baptized in my name. I did baptize also the household of Stephanus. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. Do you see the humor in that verse? In verse 16, Paul already says, I didn't baptize anybody except for these two men. And then he writes a sentence and then he's like, hold on a second. I did also baptize the household of Stephanus.
[00:26:03] Then he says, beyond that, I don't know whether I baptized anyone else because maybe he did baptize someone else.
[00:26:10] And I can relate to this.
[00:26:12] I think I remember everybody I've ever baptized, but I. I can't remember every sermon I've ever preached. I can't remember all the details from every mission trip I've ever been on. We forget things like that. And he's saying, I can forget it because it's not the main point. It's not the focus.
[00:26:28] But I thought that was funny, that Paul gets a little confused. And this also gives us an opportunity to think about what it means that the Bible is inspired by goddess. This isn't really in my notes, but I want you to think about this.
[00:26:47] God's word is inspired. Paul's writings were inspired. What we're reading right now is inspired. But you notice that God is not dictating like Paul's some robot and God's just downloading information into his brain and Paul's arm becomes like a first century printing press. No, God is using Paul's personality. He's using Paul's experiences. He's even using Paul's uncertainties right here in other books. Paul says, I'm talking like a man right now. I'm just. I'm being silly right now. And there are times in scripture where Paul gives us things that he's uncertain about. But this is God's word. And when we start thinking about the inspiration of scripture, God is using Paul in a way where he can just be honest and say, you know what? I've only baptized two of you. No, I take that back. I baptized someone else I might have baptized. I have no idea who I baptized. That's not even the point. The gospel's the point.
[00:27:52] But we see God in this instance using Paul in a way that is faithful to the doctrine of inspiration. But Paul's also using his personality.
[00:28:06] And God is preserving truth for us in a way that we can read it, even to the point of showing us Paul's flaws and his failures and pointing out the flaws and failures of other people in scripture.
[00:28:23] But he says in verse 17 something that's really important. He says, for Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
[00:28:39] There's an important distinction in verse 17 between baptism and salvation.
[00:28:46] If we believed in baptismal regeneration, there would be a real big problem with this verse.
[00:28:54] If I believe that baptism is what saves someone and makes them a part of the family of God, I would have a real hard time with Paul saying, Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel.
[00:29:09] We have denominations that argue, multiple different denominations, and even some Baptists that will argue for baptismal regeneration. Now, I believe baptism is incredibly important. I believe that's what shows the world that you are saved. I believe that's the declaration to the world and to the church that I'm a part of God's family. As a matter of fact, I could even go further than some people are willing to go and say that that is the entrance into the local church. It should be baptism. It shouldn't be signing some card. It should be saying, I'm being baptized in the name of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit, declaring to the world, declaring to the church, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I'm associating with the church. That doesn't mean it saves you. It just means it's really, really important. But Paul gives us an important distinction between baptism and salvation here. If baptism saves, Paul could not say this. God saves us through the gospel. No act saves us other than the act of Jesus Christ dying on the cross and raising from the dead.
[00:30:19] The gospel is not baptism. And we can add to this, the gospel is also not preaching styles.
[00:30:28] I've heard it argued that if you're not jumping up, yelling, running around, screaming, kicking something over, you're not preaching. The gospel is not a preaching style. Do you not realize that's what they were arguing about in Corinthe, Paul's style, Peter's style, Paula's style, Jesus style of teaching. Like, there were people that preferred different styles.
[00:30:54] But the gospel is not preaching styles.
[00:30:57] The gospel is not revivalism.
[00:31:00] The gospel is not a choir. The gospel is not old time religion. The gospel is not new religion. The gospel is not contemporary religion.
[00:31:10] It's not a methodology.
[00:31:12] It is the truth of God's word. The gospel is the message of the cross of Christ. And Paul makes that absolutely clear. He says, Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ should be emptied of its power. So the gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful. And we see that when we think about what is the gospel. The gospel is the message of the cross of Christ. In the message of the cross of Christ, you have the purpose for the cross of Christ. What is the purpose for the cross of Christ? It's the need for the cross. Why do we need the cross? Why did jesus have to die? Because we're sinners. Because we're separated from God.
[00:32:00] So the message of the gospel shows us the purpose for the cross. The message of the gospel shows us the provision of the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to this earth, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, rose from the grave, ascended into heaven. He is ruling and reigning as the sovereign king of kings and Lord of lords.
[00:32:22] That is the provision of the cross of Christ. We needed it. He provided it. And then we see the product of the cross of Christ. The product of the cross is salvation for all who believe new life.
[00:32:36] We are more than conquerors in Christ because we believed in the gospel. We've been saved, we've been changed, we've been converted. We are disciples of Jesus. The gospel is powerful. It is the message of the cross of Christ.
[00:32:53] And for us to focus on divisions, even something as simple as focusing on the teaching style of a preacher. Words of eloquent wisdom. He says that in verse 17, Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of eloquent wisdom. And what does he tell us? Focusing on eloquent wisdom rather than the gospel of Christ does, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. Do you want to know the real problem God has with division in the church? It empties the gospel of his power. When you focus on anything else besides the gospel, you have a powerless good news.
[00:33:37] You have a bad news that claims to be the good news.
[00:33:43] Divisions empties the cross of its power.
[00:33:47] Style, personalities, methods, eloquence, human wisdom. These can be tools God can use really smart, eloquent people, and he has in the past in powerful, powerful ways. Charles Spurgeon was the prince of preachers for a good reason. He was a prince of preachers because he could preach with eloquence, but he didn't let that distract from the message, the gospel. And he was a champion of the everyday preacher who couldn't preach like him, but was preaching the same gospel.
[00:34:21] One of my favorite quotes, and I've probably said this before, I know I've said this before in here, is I can't preach, or someone may preach the gospel better than me, but no one can preach a better gospel than me.
[00:34:35] The gospel is the power of God. And it doesn't matter if it's someone that's eloquent human wisdom, extremely gifted, extremely talented, or someone that can barely talk, that stands up with a tear in their eye and said, jesus loves you and he died for you and he could save you from your sins.
[00:34:51] The power is in the gospel. And when we focus on anything besides the gospel, when we take the tools and make them the focus, I study every week to be a better preacher. I want to be a better preacher. I listen to other pastors. I read commentaries. I listen to podcasts. I want to have as few distractions in the way I present the gospel and be as effective as possible, but never at the expense of changing the gospel or even shifting the focus from the gospel to my style, to my personality, to my preferences.
[00:35:34] Because this type of distortion of the gospel can work both ways.
[00:35:41] Those of us who have come out of a certain type of legalism can be legalistic right back to people that aren't doing it just like we are. There are people in independent fundamental Baptist churches that are honoring God with how they're preaching and how they're serving because they're doing it from the right heart and they're loving God and they're loving people and they're preaching, preaching the gospel. And God doesn't really, I don't think, give a rip about your style when it comes right down to it, if you're preaching the gospel and if your heart is in the right place, and we can be real proud that we've got an unbelievably amazing worship team. Every time I go out and preach somewhere else, I'm reminded of how much I love you guys and how much I love singing and worshiping here in Hope church. But we can be real proud of that. And we can brag about the fact that we have guitars and a cajon on the stage, and we can laugh at people that have a small choir, and guess who's wrong?
[00:36:35] Us.
[00:36:36] We can focus on silly things that ultimately divides the church and hides the gospel.
[00:36:45] A clear presentation of the gospel focuses on Jesus Christ, and unity is a byproduct.
[00:36:53] Being focused on Jesus Christ, unity is the goal. But how do we get there? Do we chase unity? No, we chase Jesus. We all focus on Jesus, and together we get closer. I remember a marriage counselor that told me and my wife in our, I don't know, second or third year of marriage, and we were meeting together, and I remember him drawing a little diagram as a triangle, and he said, the husband's here, and the wife is over here, and God is up here. If you set your eyes on God and you start moving closer to God, guess what's going to happen? You're going to get closer together. You can't help it. And I've thought about that over and over and over again. The divisions in our marriage, it doesn't come from our devotion to the gospel.
[00:37:38] It comes from focusing on something other than our love for one another and our love in Christ.
[00:37:46] So let's talk about application tonight. Let's get real. Are we focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ?
[00:37:52] If that ever just becomes a mantra of hope church, then we've missed it. If this ever just becomes something that we say, this becomes cliche around here, the results of that will be evident.
[00:38:08] We are to truly focus on the gospel of Jesus. Traditions are a poor substitute for Jesus.
[00:38:16] I'm gonna be honest with you. I love camp meetings.
[00:38:22] Craig samples. I said that, right? Right? Yeah. Craig samples from Mount Airy, pastor of Mount Airy Hope Church of Mount Airy, called me a couple weeks ago, and he said, hey, I'm going to a camp meeting in Taylorsville. You want to go with me? I said, yes, I do. I absolutely do. And the other pastors thought we were crazy. I couldn't go because I had something that I couldn't get out of that day. But, man, I wanted to go so bad. Not to make fun of people. It just. That's how I was raised. I love it. I still love fiery, exciting preaching and singing and many different styles across the spectrum of Christianity. I love and appreciate, especially the ones that were from the camp meeting culture that I was raised in.
[00:39:05] But traditions are a poor substitute for Jesus.
[00:39:12] And I just want to say to any of us here, the big focus in Christianity right now is divisions between theologies. People love to talk about theology, and I'm right at the head of that table. I love to discuss theology. I love to discuss differences among theology, and I love to talk about stuff like that.
[00:39:37] But it seems like as christians, the goal many times becomes to look for something cool and life changing, some new trend in the church, some new focus in theology.
[00:39:51] And I just want to say, if you're looking for something cool and life changing, get involved in a local church and live in unity with other believers and just watch and see what God will do as you faithfully serve him with a body of believers that are in agreement together.
[00:40:04] I think that's where the true, not magic, but that's where the true heart of Christianity is at, in the local church. When a group of people as diverse as us, as different as us in our backgrounds in traditions, experiences, unite under one common cause. And I believe I could go around this room and every one of us are here tonight for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:40:35] That's why we're here. The gospel unites us. And I believe God's starting something absolutely unbelievable and amazing in this place through simple people who gather together and are united.
[00:40:51] The gospel.
[00:40:55] So divide and conquer is a satanic approach. Absolutely, without a doubt.
[00:41:03] And the opposite of divide and conquer, as I said earlier, is an approach called unite and build. Man can go ahead and come forward, unite and build.
[00:41:14] And as I think of common grace, we have a lot to learn from people, even people on this planet who are not christians. I read a lot in the business world in the past. I've had to read business books, and from time to time I find myself reading articles and things that help me in different businesses that I have been a part of or that I'm pursuing even now.
[00:41:38] And common grace is something that is not necessarily attached to the church or the Bible.
[00:41:45] But it's evident that the principles of God and the principles of scripture are being applied in the business world, and this is one of those areas. This is something that's talked about in business. The unite and build approach, and a lot of culture reflects financial or social principles that were instituted by God. In the business world, they realize the power of unite and build and the dangers of divide and conquer.
[00:42:19] One author warned about the cult of the leader. This. This blows my mind that in 2024, people are writing about what Paul was writing about 2000 years ago.
[00:42:31] Fred Kaufman warns about the cult of the leader and how power corrupts in the business world.
[00:42:37] And he says that conquerors see people as followers who should obey their orders. Builders, people who want to unite.
[00:42:48] Builders take a different approach.
[00:42:51] They don't tell you to work for them, but for the mission.
[00:42:56] I'm not here tonight to shepherd a bunch of people to follow me. I'm here to shepherd people, to follow after Jesus, to follow after the mission, to live out the mission that he has commissioned us to accomplish in this world. And builders are driven by a purpose bigger than themselves. And I just want to say, that's in the business world and that's in the church world.
[00:43:23] Builders are driven by a purpose bigger than themselves. They focus on serving the mission, not people.
[00:43:34] Builders inspire people.
[00:43:37] Conquerors want followers to build their own kingdom.
[00:43:45] Builders want to create impact. They encourage people to achieve something bigger than themselves. If that's true in the business world, how much more true is it of the church?
[00:43:58] I honestly believe a lot of the self help authors and I could prove this. Bye, research. A lot of the self help authors in this world that aren't even christians have stolen a lot of good principles from this book, to write books and sell books.
[00:44:11] I've ran across it many times, reading a book just to grow in discipline or grow in business, or grow in another area of my life, and they're just blatantly ripping off the Bible in church. I'm glad they are, because the principles work. But apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ, they're not going to do us any eternal good.
[00:44:32] But attached to the gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul is teaching us a principle in the book of first Corinthians, that we need to be united because we are a group of people united under a common mission.
[00:44:44] And the message of the gospel unites those who believe it. Jesus is building his church. He promised that.
[00:44:53] And we are tasked to live our lives mission, his mission, not ours, not the mission of hope church, the mission of Jesus Christ. We are to make disciples, equip the saints, and live our lives for the glory of God alone.
[00:45:12] And if something else becomes more important than that, we become divided.
[00:45:17] But if making disciples, equipping the saints, and glorifying God is our driving desire, then we are united in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's what he calls us to do. Let's all stand together. We're going to close in a song. If anybody needs to pray, if anybody needs to pray with one of the leaders here, we'll be happy to meet with you. Brandon's here. Bobby's here. Anybody else in here would love to pray with you during the service or after the service. If there's anything that's on your heart and you can pray right where you're at, you can surrender something in your life right where you're at. You can acknowledge right where you're at that there's division in your life that's dividing you from people in the church. You can surrender that to Christ, you can commit to following him. Let's do that together.
