In today’s passage of scripture (1Cor. 15:1-32) Paul first tells us what is most important. Paul spells out the gospel of Jesus Christ for us. He says Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and He was raised on the third day. He says Christ then appeared to Peter, to the twelve, and to 500 brothers, to James, and then to Paul himself (1Cor. 15:3-8). People this is the gospel. This is what we are grateful for. This is the greatest picture of God’s magnificent grace to us. This is it. Of course there are so many doctrinal issues we can disagree on and debate over, but this is not up for debate. And amazingly the gospel in itself is very, very understandable to just about anyone who hears, or reads.

Paul goes on to explain to the Corinthian church that if there is no resurrection then pretty much everything we are doing is in vain and not only that we are in big trouble. He says: “Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if in fact the dead are not raised” (1Cor. 15:15). Paul says if Christ wasn’t raised then we are still in sin, our faith is worthless. The resurrection of Jesus Christ if the very crux of our faith. Without it we have nothing, nothing at all; and as Paul stated: “we are still in sin. Think about that for a minute. This is what we should hear more of, not less. We should hear and be reminded of the gospel on a daily basis or at least weekly. Our very lives should revolve around the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Sure getting a new car, or being blessed with a new house, becoming prosperous, and all of the other “getting” lectures are good and dandy, but in comparison to the gospel how important are those things. When we really get a hold of the gospel and understand the compassion and the grace God the Father has shown us it changes our perspective on life. The entire “I want God to bless me ” perspective changes to “I want to be a blessing to someone else.” I want to give my stuff, I want to give my life. I want my life to be given to those who have not come to the knowledge of what the God has done for us. This is what the Gospel does to us and in us. This what why we the resurrection should be taught and explained more than on Easter or Resurrection Sunday. Paul says: : “If the dead are not raised, Let Us Eat and Drink, For Tomorrow We Die.” I say the same if Christ hasn’t been raised from the day lets stop waisting time being religious, Let Us Eat and Drink, For Tomorrow We Die.

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As we continue to step thru the scriptures, we find ourselves in Corinthians. 1 Corinthians is one of those books of great theological controversy. Chapter 11 when it deals with “communion”, Chapter 14 when it comes to speaking in tongues and prophecy and how the church should meet and should women speak at all when the church meets. Chapter 15 and being baptized for the dead and even the trumpet (for my eschatology folks) back to Chapter 11 and head coverings for women and the infamous “man is the head of woman”. Chapter 5 and “church discipline” and finally Chapter 7 and divorce and remarriage.

These conterversies has caused a divide amongst Christians for years, especially since the protestant reformation (the 16th century); however, what is so ironic is that Paul actually wrote the letter to destroy the divisive spirit amongst these saints and we use the letter to divide. Weird right? There is a quite a bit we can focus on in this letter but I want to focus on this section here:

9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 10 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. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) 17 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.

Now I know your bible may break apart verses 9 and 10 but I included 9 for a very specific reason.  Before Paul gets into the division part he says (paraphrasing here) “God called you altogether to have an intimate relationship with Christ which means means you have an intimate relationship with one another”.

This would have been an interesting preface to not only the following verses but also to entire letter. Why? Well simple they were dividing over everything. Yet Paul is telling them they are one in Christ.

Just like then our culture is fascinated with Charismatic personalities. It just happens to be something that has been the fiber of humanity since the beginning. You remember Israel didn’t want God as their king, they begged for a king like the nations around them. When all were supposed to hear from God in Exodus they told Moses “you go for us”. And even in the church age where Paul taught that each was as important as the next, they still had problems with following someone other than Christ. Yet Paul says “I was sent to preach the Gospel”

That leads to the obvious question? Who is the leader? Who are we to follow? With so many voices coming over the loud speaker who should we listen to? The guys on TBN? The guys with the big churches? The guys that Larry King bring on his show? What about the guy who is the spiritual advisor to the president? What about the guy who sent the flyer to your door? What about the guy who has the best selling book? What about the guy with the sell out conference that has all the celebrities? You see we are not lacking in our choices of people to follow today. But Paul asks

“Is Christ divided”

This is a rhetorical question but the answer is no! Christ is not divided as we will see any division causes the Temple (the body of Christ/Church) to be destroyed and anyone who destroys Christ body will be destroyed (we will see this quote in a later chapter).

So who are we to follow? Christ! And we will find out in Chapter 13 what exactly is the fruit of one who is following Christ. Listen, there is nothing wrong with having a favorite teacher, having convictions in common with certain denominations, even associating with a specific doctrinal stance (Westminister, London Baptist, Catholic…). The problem is when thse convictions lead to a division in Christ’s body, a division that prevents us from living out the “one anothers” (as they are called), then we are bringing destruction to the Temple of God.

Following Jesus looks like the Cross. If your following of Jesus makes you pompus, pious, self-righteous, gives you a level of arrogance, and doesn’t allow you to be spit on, beat, whipped and hung so that you “die daily” then you aren’t following the leader.

divisiveness, unity