The
Sin God Hates Worst of All
(Based
on sermon by Jonathan McLeod--outlined, expanded and modified by
Stanley Sherman)
INTRODUCTION:
A.
We've been studying in our Bible class the epistle Paul wrote to the
church
at
Corinth (I Corinthians), and the problems they were having.
1.
To make this book live for us today, let me ask the question: “Have
you
ever
found a Christian group that doesn't have any problems?”
a.
If so, don't join it—you'll ruin everything; because all of us,
every
person has their
own weaknesses and faults.
b. And, since a church
is made up of imperfect people, every church
will have
problems.
(1) Some of them
are visible and others are not seen on the surface.
(2)
For instance Proverbs
26:24-25 says, “Whoever
hates disguises
himself
with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart. When he
speaks
graciously believe him not. For there are seven
abominations in his
heart.” (NESV)
2. However, before we look
at this letter to the Corinthians, let's turn to
Proverbs
6:16-19: (NESV)
“There
are six things that the Lord hates (detests),
seven that are an
abomination
to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that
shed
innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that
make
haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and
one
who sows discord among brothers.”
B. As we now turn to our text, I
Corinthians 1:10-13, think about these 7
sins which God says He
hates—that he detests the most, above all other
sins; and as we read, I
want you to notice which of these sins were being
committed by these
Christians in Corinth.
DISCUSSION:
A.
I CORINTHIANS 1:10-13
(READ) Let's
dissect these verses:
1.
In the King JamesVersion,
Paul starts his pleading in these words,
“Now
I beseech you...”
a. The New American
Standard Version renders it, “I exhort
you...”
b.
The Phillips
Version
says, “I beg you...”
c.
The Amplified
Version
says, “I urge you...”
d.
All of these phrases convey survival urgency
of
crucial importance!
Page
2
2. “Now I beseech
you, brethren,...”
a. The very title by
which Paul addresses them is an exhortation to
unity.
b. When you hear the
term, brethren, you think of a group all headed in
the same direction
with a common purpose.
3. “by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ...”
a. In COLOSSIANS
3:17 “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do
all
in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the
Father
by Him.”
(1) To do
something in the name of Jesus is another way of saying
to do this
by His authority.
(2) Whatever Paul
was going to beseech them as brethren to do, was
directly the
Will of God through the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit.
b. I also like the
way the Phillips Version renders this part of the verse:
“by all
that our Lord Jesus Christ means to you”.
4. “that ye all
speak the same thing and that there be no divisions
among
you.”
a. The word for
divisions is schisma. It means
there should be no
open break,
no fracturing of the church--which is done by
fighting,
by gossip, by tale-bearing, by criticism,
by hatred or by
bitterness
and unforgiveness.
b.
Problems between brethren can be and must be resolved between
brethren for the
sake of the unity of the body of Christ.
5.
The next phrase in our text is this: “but that ye be
perfectly joined
together...”
a.
The words “perfectly joined together” are
translated from only one
Greek
word, katarizo.
b.
This word can also be translated united
(NIV) or made com-
plete
(NASV) or framed
(Hebrews 11:3) or
prepared (Heb.10:5)
and
even mending as
in Matthew 4:21 when Jesus saw James and
John
and Zebedee “mending their nets”.
c. Jesus wants
Christians in this congregation to be perfectly joined
together—
(1)
as perfectly as the sun,
moon and starts
fit together,
Page
3
(2)
as perfectly as God formed the body
for Jesus to use,
(3)
and as perfectly as a mended
net is.
d. The Lord does not
grow a church plagued with problems--simply
because the net
is broken and, like fish, they get away.
e. Be perfectly
joined together—just as a fish net is woven together...
6.
“In the same mind and in the same
judgment”
a.
The term, mind,
which is within, refers to things to be believed.
b.
The term, judgment,
is displayed outwardly in things to be done.
c.
So the Holy Spirit says that in all that a congregation believes
and
does,
there is to be unity.
7.
“For it hath been declared unto me of you, my
brethren, by them
that
are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among
you.”(11)
[The NIV says “quarrels”;
the Amplified says “factions”]
or cliques.
“Now
this I say, that every one of you saith I am of Paul, and I of
Apollos and I of Cephas,
and I of Christ.” (12)
a.
Divisions
were caused
by believers following different leaders of
the church.
b.
They formed cliques around
certain men.
(1)
In one group were the proud
pupils of Paul;
(2)
In another the adoring
admirers of Apollos;
(3) And then
there were some who like Peter, or Cephas, and they
formed
the chummy cult of Cephas.
c. We know quite a
lot about Paul.
(1) He was an
intellectual;
(2) He was
brilliant and courageous;
(3) But
apparently he was not attractive physically. His body
bore the
scars and effects of his many beatings and harrowing
experiences.
(4) He didn't
claim to be a great speaker, and on one occasion in
Troas, a
young man named Eutychus, fell asleep during one
of
Paul's long-winded sermons and fell out of the third loft.
d. Peter
was fiery, and even though weak at first, he had become a
rugged
and captivating preacher of the gospel;
e. Apollos
was a great orator—one of the great preachers of the
Page
4
early
church.
(1) He was
not an apostle; but, he had been given much recogni-
tion.
(2) If he
had lived in our day and time, he would have been on
the
lectureship circuit or have had his own TV program.
f. All three
of these men had strong personalities and great
talent,
but they did not cause the divisions.
(1) They
equally all contended for the faith.
(2) They
maintained the unity of the Spirit.
(3) They
were not seeking promote themselves or be popular.
(4) They
all exalted Jesus Christ.
g. I can
imagine how these cliques or fan clubs reasoned with
one
another.
(1) The
Paulites probably boasted “We're followers of Paul
and therefore have a
greater credibility. Everyone knows
Paul is the greatest
doctrinal preacher, and that's the only
kind to have.”
(2)
The second group
probably would retort, “Apollos is our
man. Everyone knows
that he can preach circles around
Paul, and that's the
kind of man we need in the pulpit if
we're going to
attract the masses.”
(3)
The third group
probably reasoned, “We back Cephas
and you can brag
about doctrine and eloquence all you
want, but there's no
one that's as down-to-earth and practi-
cal as Peter. Why,
he'd appeal more to the common man.”
(4)
The fourth group,
probably more spiritually mature than
the
other factions, yet perhaps a bit haughty, might piously
reply,
“We're of Christ, and therefore look to no human
preacher to lead us
and feed us.” And,
therefore, they
would
be very skeptical of any preacher that came along.
8. Over the years, I've
encountered and dealt with many similar church
cliques.
a. Most all of them are
always composed of spiritually weak Christians
who have lost sight
of Christ's plea for unity and the importance of
being of one mind
and one purpose.
Page
5
(1) Some are bored
with the gospel and are looking for more
progressive
pastures, so they look for teachers and preachers who
will tickle
their ears, and like them, do not endure sound doctrine.
(2) Others have
their own agendas that rank higher than the peace
and unity of
the body. They will gladly split the church to have
their way.
(3) Several years
ago I interviewed with a congregation in Tucson,
Arizona,
about a preaching position. Once I arrived, I discovered
that the
church was on the brink of a split. I literally had to
interview
with each of two strong factions vying for control; and,
obviously I
decided that would not be a healthy place to be.
Neither side
was willing to yield and heal the rift.
b. Cliques often
develop over the selection process for a new preacher.
The story is told
about a congregation going through a preacher selec
tion process. The
search committee was composed of elders and
deacons.
(1) They had
received a lot of resumes and were split over which one
to decide
upon.
(2) The deacon who
brought the mailed in applications for the
committee to
review was beginning to lose patience, after seeing
the
committee reject applicant after applicant over some minor
fault.
(3) He saw that
all the committee had lost focus and was in need of
soul
searching.
(4) At the next
meeting he asked to read another letter of application:
Dear Brethren.
Understanding your
pulpit is vacant, I should
like to apply for the
position. I have many qualifications. I've
been a preacher with much
success and also have had some
successes as a writer. Some
say I'm a good organizer. I've been
a leader most places I've
been.
I'm over 50 years of age,
and have never preached in one
place for more than 3 years.
I'll have to admit I've had to leave
town after my work caused
some problems. And, I've even been
in jail a few times, but not
because of any real wrong-doing.
My health isn't too good,
though I still accomplish a great
Page
6
deal. The churches I've
preached in have been small, though
located in several large
cities.
I've not gotten along
well with religious leaders in towns
where I have preached. In
fact, some have even threatened me
and have been attacked on
occasion. I'm not too good at
keeping records. I've been
known to forget whom I have
baptized...”
(a)
One of the elders interrupted the deacon and said with
exasperation,
“Why are you wasting our time with a resume
like that? Who would
possibly want to consider a sickly,
trouble-making,
absent-minded jail-bird? Are you crazy?!
Who had the nerve to
send us that application?”
(b)
The deacon replied, “The Apostle Paul”.
c. I know of some
congregations I would say wouldn't even hire Jesus
Christ
Himself. They would say that “although He has some good
sermons, He's too negative.
He talks about sin all the time
and
preaches more about hell than any other preacher in the Bible!”
B.
Paul concludes with a
heart-rending question in verse
13. “Is
Christ
divided?”
1.
One writer, John Gill, commenting on this question said of Christ:
“His
human body was not to be divided; a bone of him was not to be
broken;
the seemless garment he wore was not to be rent asunder; nor
is
his mystical body, the church, to be torn in pieces by schisms and
divisions.”
2.
Paul continued his questions in verse 13: “Was Paul
cruicified for you
or
were ye baptized in the name of Paul?”
3.
The answer to these questions is “NO!”
a. Paul did not preach
one Christ, Apollos another, and Peter another.
b. There is but one
Lord and Savior and one gospel.
C. I think you can begin to see
how important it is to stay with and follow the
pattern that Christ has for
His church. The body is so fragile.
1. The church is not a
democracy, where its spiritual direction is
determined by the vote
of the majority of the congregation.
a. That would open the
door and invite politics...
Page
7
b. and the
possibility for all kinds of atrocities.
2. Neither is the church
run by a board of self-appointed directors.
3. Neither is the church
a dictatorship. There is not a boss in the Lord's
church.
a. In fact the Holy
Spirit told the elders through Peter, “Shepherd the
flock
of God that is among you, serving as overseers, not by com-
pulsion,
but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly, not as
being lords
over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the
flock.” (I Peter
5:2-3)
b. There is no place
for a boss in the Lord's church.
In 3 John
9-11, we have an example of a man who set himself up
to be a boss
in a congregation of the church.
“I wrote
to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to have the pre-
eminence
among them, does not receive us. Therefore, if I come
I
will call to mind his deeds which he does, prating against us
with
malicious words. And not content with that, he himself does
not
receive the brethren, and forbids those who wish to, putting
them
out of the church. Beloved, do not imitate what is evil,
what
is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil
is
not of God.”
3.
Christ designed the leadership and decision making of His church to
be among a
plurality of spiritual men, equal in position, which he
calls
shepherds,
or elders.
There is no
authority for a board of
a. When evangelists
were sent out to congregations, which did not
have elders to
shepherd the flock and deacons to serve the flock,
(Titus 1:5-11)
they were to appoint willing men who met the
qualifications
that the Holy Spirit sets forth in I Tim 3 and Titus 1-
men who were
already, before becoming elders, demonstrating
spiritual
leadership ability—who were examples of morality and
purity, who
were teachers, hospitable, even tempered, having a
good reputation
in the community in which they lived, who were
not eager for
personal financial gain and such. Men who were
faithful,
active in leadership and totally committed to Jesus and
His church.
Page
8
b. Go to I Tim. 3
and Titus 1 to read in detail the qualifications for
elders and
deacons and their wives.
c. The point is,
the ones to be chosen to make the spiritual leadership
and final
decisions for the congregation were to be the men who
could
be elder material or close to it if they desired it. Titus and
other
evangelists were to appoint such men desiring to protect and
shepherding the
flock by there knowledge of the Word of God.
d. In the absence
of elders, the church functions with men who come
closest to the
qualifications until the day when qualified men can
be appointed to
serve in that capacity.
e. Acts 6 also
shows that deacons appointed to serve the material
needs of the
congregation and ministration to widows and others
were to be
spiritual men of good report and who were qualified.
D.
So then, How then did the Corinthians get into their power
struggle
and
create this 4-way division?
Why
were there contentions among them?
1.
PROVERBS 13:10
says “Only by pride cometh contention...”
Another
version says, “Pride leads to arguments.”
(NLT)
2.
The
arguments among the Corinthians over which group as superior
was
caused
by pride,
and along with it the quest
for dominant
influence
in
the congregation.
3.
In I CORINTHIANS
3:4 Paul
continues-- “For when one says, 'I am
of
Paul' and another 'I am of Apollos,' are you not carnal?” (like
men
of the world with low
character).
E.
So, What sin does
God hate the most?
1.
God hates the sin of sowing
discord among the brethren
above every
other sin.
2. Why?
a.
Because it distracts
from the work of the church and
b.
threatens the
unity
essential to the functioning of the body.
c.
It's based on the
pride of personal feelings
and lust for power,
and
opens
the door to Satan's
further quest for dominance and
destruction.
Page
9
CONCLUSION:
A. Nearly 50 years ago there was
a man who had a dream of establishing a
congregation of the Lord's
church dedicated to reaching out with the
gospel through preaching
and person evangelism--
that would always stand
firmly for truth in an eroding environment of
worldliness and error, and
accomplish great work for the Lord.
l. He and his wife had a
piece of property with an old school building
standing
on it, which he freely donated to that end.
2. He shared his dream with
other visionary Christian men and their
families.
3. His name was Earl Fisher,
and along with his wife, Pearl, the Coburn's,
the Finley's and others
began meeting in this building on July 25, 1965.
a. Ernest Coburn was the
first preacher and Ed Finley the first songlead-
er.
b. And a congregation
was planted that served Junction City, Harrisburg,
Monroe and the rural
tri-county area dedicated to the mission of
evangelism and
standing like a lighthouse as the pillar and ground of
the truth from this
location from generation to generation until Jesus
comes again!
c. Others, caught this
vision. In 1967 my brother John began sharing
the preaching with
Ernest and served during the years that he attended
the University of
Oregon.
(1) I had the
occasion to come out during this time to preach one
Sunday,
bringing a classmate who was an atheist with me from the
University,
Jeff Gollupe. He was very impressed with the wel-
come he
received, the friendliness and fellowship of the
congregation,
and I believe that helped set the tone for his
continued
interest in studying the Bible with me and investigating
Christianity.
(2) By the way, the
pulpit back then was located at the other end of
the auditorium
and the entrance to the building is where the
library is now
located.
d. In 1971 my father and
mother caught the vision of the Lancaster
congregation and
dedicated their remaining years on earth to this
congregations
vision and goals. He added the dimension of a
Page
10
radio program to
proclaim the message from Lancaster over a large
area of the valley,
and that program continues to this day.
e. It was during the
70's that the Lancaster congregation helped sup-
port our mission
work in Canada, and we would come down from
time to time to
hold week long gospel meetings.
f. In the early 1990's
we joined with the Lancaster vision to continue its
goal of evangelism
and keeping the lighthouse of truth reaching out.
So most of my
life's work has been entwined with the vision of this
congregation.
B. As we stand on the threshold
of this new year, with the prospect of a
surge of population
expanding into our area with the new state hospital
being completed, and
supporting businesses bring families into our area;
1. Let's renew our
dedication to the vision our Lord gave us for this area
and stand united in the
cause of Christ.
2. Jesus said: “Let
your light so shine before men that they may see your
good
works and glorify your father which is in heaven.”
(Matt. 5:16)
3. Let's keep Lancaster's
lighthouse lamp radiating Christ and the
Christian example to
others until Christ comes to take us home.
No comments:
Post a Comment