1 Corinthians 1:10-13
Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?I have been thinking about it as it applies to me and to other Christians. Paul's key point or complaint is that people are aligning themselves with the teaching of a person other than Christ Jesus. Clearly this is a fairly important thing as its one of the first things he addresses in his letter to the church in Corinth. I have talked to others about it and have inserted the names of denominations in the places of the people Paul makes reference too. I am quite confident that you can insert pretty much any denomination in to this passage without changing its intent.
It is interesting how some of my friends define their faith. Some say they are Calvinist, some say they are Arminianists, others Lutherans, still other's Baptists, Pentecostals, Charismatics and so on. Each of these movements can be traced to men or women of God who were anointed to bring a Word or a Revelation that The Church needed to hear. The problem comes when people start aligning themselves with these new leaders. They don't get the revelation, they think instead that they have found a new leader.
If you say you are a Calvinist then you are basically saying, "I follow John Calvin" if you say you are a Lutheran then you are saying "I follow Martin Luther" if you are a Foursquare believer like me then you are saying you are a follower of Aimee Semple McPherson. I even heard one group of very conservative Baptists who said it was better to call yourself a Baptist rather than a Christian. Either way, if we are not careful we can be led astray.
Many reformers, Martin Luther, John Wesly (Methodist), Calvin, John Knox (Presbyterians), Jakob Amman (Amish), Meno Simmons (Mennonites), A.W. Tozar (Christian Missionary Alliance) and other great Christian reformers were not looking to start any denominations. They were merely bringing a new revelation of how we might live this life in Christ. What they got instead of reform were instead followers. The problem with this is that these new followers can forget that Jesus is the fist and most important focus of their faith and begin to promote and defend their interpretation of Scripture and faith. The longer this goes on the more dogmatic these followers can become so that when some new reformer challenges the status quo there are recriminations and accusations and division.
This is the major point of these verses in his first letter to the Corinthian church - as soon as we start to align ourselves with some new leader, we create division rather than freedom or enlightenment. In no time at all the church body is further divided with people throwing accusations of heretic and/or false prophet and the body of Christ suffers while Satan laughs. It can come to the point that the name they are following is more important than Christ; how else could people kill each other while claiming to be Catholics or Protestants in Northern Ireland.
Now I am a licensed Foursquare Pastor serving in the capacity of co-pastor in a little church in a village outside of Las Vegas, but first and foremost I am a minister of the the Gospel of Jesus Christ. People will come along with "other gospels" claiming they have the answer or they are God's new prophet... be wary! Be good Berians, search the scriptures, weigh what has been said or taught and consider it in the light of THE Good News. Keep first things first; Christ died for us and there is not other way to Salvation. The Greatest commandment is still Love God and love your neighbor. If anyone tries to convince you that there is some greater truth or greater commandment DO NOT BELIEVE THEM! Do not follow them.
No single denomination holds the whole truth and no denomination is without error. Even those churches that call themselves "Independents" can be just another voice out there crying "Follow Me". We need to be careful about who we choose to follow. Does your leader continue to point you to Christ? Do they use the Scriptures to point you to Christ? We don't need a bunch of hollow arguments distracting us from the primary things. Jesus Christ is the Truth, the Way and the Light. Salvation comes through no other Name and no other person.
So what do we do? Some people have decided to stop attending church - bad move. You need to be part of a congregation to be part of the body. You can do this in a home church or a building dedicated to the worship of God. We need to be part of something bigger than ourselves. We need a place to put the gifts that God has invested in us to work and we need a place that we can go to for help. We need a place where we can love and be loved, where we can be healed of our hurts and where we can participate in the healing of others. This place may be a denominational church. This may be an independent church. But wherever you place yourself, make sure that someone is pointing you to Jesus and teaching how to walk in the Way of Love.
Amen
Pastor Alan Beckett
