Christ Divided

Text: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

The Lutheran church in the U.S. is fostering splinter groups. Some people are not happy with the way things are going. Some folks do not like the agreement Lutherans have made with the Episcopalians. Some don’t like the agreement made with the UCC and Presbyterian churches. Some don’t like the stance of the church on the ordination of gay or lesbian pastors, some think the church is too liberal and others think it too conservative. Some think they are the real Lutherans. Some think they are the real Christians. Some of these folks have formed clubs of like-minded people. Some of these clubs have threatened to resign from the Lutheran church. That’ll show ‘em, they think.

Has Christ been divided, Paul asks. Has Christ been divided? You bet he has.

In this letter to the church at Corinth, a church he started, it is clear that Paul is not a happy camper. The church is full of splinter groups, just like the Lutherans. I’m with Paul, some say. I’m with Apollos, some say back. I’m with Peter, say a third group. What are you guys doing? Paul writes to them. You are all strutting around, disagreeing with each other, each group thinking they have it right. Where do you get that arrogance from? Not from me, that’s for sure. And not from Jesus, that’s for sure, too. I appeal to you, Paul writes, stop the division. Stop it.

Not that they should all be the same. That is not it. Paul later writes about how the follows of Jesus have all sorts of different skills and gifts, but they all come together in Christ. No longer Jew or Greek, male or female—we quote Paul from one of his other letters. We are all one in Christ Jesus. What Paul asks is that they all be on the same page, as we would say now.

But not that they spend too much time on the page, or on too many of those pages. Following Jesus is not the same as writing a treatise about Jesus. Eloquent wisdom is not what this is all about, says Paul. In fact, eloquent wisdom sometimes gets in the way. The fights between one Christian faction and the other are rarely based on personal experiences of God or understandings of the heart. They are and have always been more often based on theology and doctrine and creeds and interpretation. Such talk, while really interesting and entertaining (I like to do it, anyway)—but such talk, Paul says, can drain the cross of its power.

When you gather with other Christians, don’t ask them to explain what they believe. Ask them to tell their own story about what God means and has meant in their own lives. That would be a good way to start. It works with people who are not Christian, too, I’ve found.

Paul uses the phrase “brothers and sisters” twice as often in this letter (38 times, to be precise) as in any other letter. He wants the people in Corinth to remember that they are all God’s children, and that God has no favorites among them. If they are putting on airs, it is because of their own valuation of themselves, not God’s.

There is a unity among the followers of Jesus that comes from the heart of Jesus' teachings and his resurrection. But that unity does not come because we think we should be unified and should work really hard at not being divisive. It comes from God’s grace. As a consequence, Paul’s relationship with other Christians does not depend on how Paul feels about them or whether Paul likes them or whether he thinks they are good people or whether he agrees with them. It is based on the fact that God’s grace is alive in them.

Paul was a missionary. And this appeal he makes to the people has a lot to do with evangelism and hospitality. It has to do with evangelism because it means that you cannot convince someone anything about Jesus by talking at them. What you can do, and what Paul does all the time, is tell them some stories. Real ones, that you know about because they are yours. And it has to do with hospitality because everyone is welcome. Everyone is welcome because there is nothing on the face of it that can tell us any reason to not welcome them. Listen to their story. It is the flip side of evangelism. Evangelism: you tell your story. Hospitality: someone tells you his or her story. It works out nice.

Noah [a child in the church] was just baptized. He has become a Christian by this sacrament, marked with the mark of Christ, we said. This is part of Noah's story, should he someday want to tell it. It is part of your story too, having been witnesses to it and having promised to nurture Noah in his faith. He was baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The name we call God. Noah and we share a story and always will.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians starts with the greeting: “to all people everywhere who call on the name of Jesus.” Paul has nothing against eloquent wisdom per se. But it is not the first thing, nor the most important thing, maybe not even an important thing. The first thing, the most important thing, is that we are followers of Jesus.

For now, all those Lutheran groups I mentioned have decided that they will stay within the larger church. Partly because they think they can be more effective. But mostly because though they differ in many ways, they share in common one thing. They are all people who call on the name of Jesus.