This week's Bible Study - March 7, 2010
When Members Won't Get Along
 Background Scripture:
1 Corinthians 1:10-15, 26-29; 3:1-4
Quote of the Week:
“I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”
-- Groucho Marx
This next series of lessons is entitled 'Church Gone Wrong". The scriptural basis comes from the book of 1 Corinthians, where there were numerous problems within the church. Since none of our churches have problems within, this series of lessons won't apply to us, right? Of course we can all relate to this set of lessons, as there is no such thing as a perfect church and every church will experience many different issues. We will be looking at several issues, including this lesson about members not getting along. Other lessons speak to immorality within the church, members insisting on their way, worship that dishonors God and when Easter becomes just another holiday.
What types of problems do churches have? There are many potential types and your experience may bring mind certain ones that you key upon. I do know that there are personality issues among staff members and other leaders that can lead to problems. There are 'pet ministries' which are usually 'my' ministries. It's similar to a national budget - everybody is for cutting it until their own program gets cut, right? There are differences of opinion in how the church members should dress. In the most recent years, there has been a big debate regarding the style of music used in worship. An entire series of lessons could be written on that topic. The point is that all churches have problems, and it is important to remember that the church is made up of its members. If there are no members, there is no church.
Why is it that churches have so many problems? Perhaps its members are human beings who bring along with them their own sets of issues. There is no grouping of humans that doesn't have a set of problems. You will find many problems in workplaces, homes, athletic teams and anywhere else that humans come together. We all deal with many problems internally, as we each wrestle with our sinful nature. We know of our own struggles, so it only makes sense that when we all come together, there are bound to be issues. It is only when we come together and are led by the Spirit of God that we can even begin to address these issues and move forward.
Paul appealed to the family of the church. He called them brothers. It is an astounding realization to understand that you have brothers and sisters in every city, state and country around the world. I have been amazed to find other believers in other countries where the culture was much different to what I was used to. As long as we are in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are one. There may be differences in the details of what we believe, our personalities, our likes and dislikes, but in Christ Jesus, we are to be one. Paul wanted the church to agree with one another so that there would be no divisions among them. They were to be perfectly united in mind and thought. As you look around your church, do you see this unity? And, as you look out beyond your church and see other churches in your community - perhaps of other denominations - do you see unity? It seems that it can become easier to view the others as adversaries and opponents, rather than brothers and sisters in Christ.
Paul had heard several reports coming from this church at Corinth. He had heard of quarrels among them, as well as many other issues. If there are reports coming from our churches, what would those reports say? It is interesting that Jesus said that they would know we are his followers by our love for one another. Is that what people see? What do you think the answer would be if you polled a group of people who didn't belong to a church? Would they describe church members as loving? I would suspect you would hear more about judgmental people than anything else. It would seem as if we've erred on the side of the Pharisees and the other religious leaders rather than showing love to our world.
In the church at Corinth, the people had begun to choose their leaders. (Certainly that wouldn't happen in our churches, would it?) It wasn't just as a normal leader, but they began to follow these people, often more religiously than following Christ. Some said they followed Paul. Others said that they followed Apollos or Cephas. There were even those who said that they followed Christ. Paul said that Christ was not divided and none of the leaders, including him, was crucified. Additionally, none of them were baptized into the name of Apollos or Cephas or Paul, but of Christ. Paul indicated that he was thankful that he had not baptized many, as that may have led to more schisms within the church.
There is the message that needs to come out of these verses and the message that some will pull out that
was never really intended. Some will say that denominations of our day are against Christ, as they
perpetuate division. They will say that denominations may teach errors and distort the doctrine of
Christ. A few years ago, I had an online debate with someone who had posted a lesson online on
James 2:1-3 that is no longer available online. (If interested, you can read this debate at
http://www.crosstowncreations.com/Akers/james2.html). Certainly, some denominations seem to have gone away from the idea of being one in Christ and certainly some of them have distorted doctrine.
However, this passage is about people following different leaders, and who were not showing unity. The problem was not with the leaders, but with the followers. As individuals, we are all responsible to God. You can see some of this today with people that are more into their denomination than they are into Christ. Is it more important to be a Baptist, Methodist or Presbyterian or any other denomination than it is to follow Christ? In just about any church you will find some that think that their church, their denomination, 'has it', while the others are lost or severely misguided. And, there are some people that are so anti denominational that their non denominational status has become a denomination in and of itself. There was this group in Corinth that claimed to follow Christ, as if they were the 'real' believers and the others were excluded.
It is okay to worship with those who tend to believe more as you believe in the side issues. But, we need to realize that the kingdom of Christ is much bigger than our particular church. Don't get so attached to your own church that you miss being part of the family of believers.
The next point that is brought up in this passage is that each of us needs to remember what we were when we were called. Each of us that are believers became believers at different points in our lives. For me, I accepted Christ as an elementary student, and have since rededicated my life to Christ. However, some people don't become believers until later in life. When we do come into the family of God, each of us has different things we bring with us, but it takes a lifetime of learning to really see what being part of the family of God really means. In this family, the ground is level.
We need to understand the makeup of the early church. Neither the disciples, nor the early church members were world changers, in and of themselves. Paul said that not many of them were wise by human standards, not many were influential and not many were of noble birth. It doesn't say that they were complete idiots and didn't have anything going for them, but they weren't where they were because of what they brought. They were there because of what God could do through them. It is much the same in our churches. If we were honest and thinking about the people we would want to come to our church, it would be the people that have the pull. They would be the ones with the high paying jobs and influence in the community. If we only had them in our church, we could really do something (we think). Sometimes, we get so focused on what we can do that we tend to forget that this is all God's doing. I saw a quote earlier today that said that we tend to stand between God and our problems. We end up facing problems with God at our back, rather than realizing he is the one who can handle them.
Paul says that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. He chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things of the world to shame the high and mighty. He chose the things that are not to nullify the things that are. Why, you ask? So that no one may boast before him. It is truly astounding that I am writing this and that you are reading it. When you think of how Christianity began, it was not nearly as organized as many other efforts that have come and gone. It didn't have the financial backing or the most intelligent people, but it had the people that God had touched and they shared what God had done in their lives. Over time, it spread from town to town, and from country to country and from continent to continent. It has impacted untold billions of people throughout history, and it began as a group of ragtag nobodies that God touched and used to spread his love for people.
Are you more dependent upon the things that you bring to Christ, or are you allowing him to have his way with you? I look at my strengths and certainly I try and use them to honor Christ, but the key is to be open to where he is leading. If we simply go with our strengths and what we can do, we can get done what we can do. It may be a little for some and more for others, but it is cut off at what we can do. The thing that most people do outside of the church is figure out what they can do and then they try to do it. That type of attitude often comes back into the church and we do what we can do, leaving no room for God. Again, we stand between God and our problems, as if we can turn and tell God that we've got this one covered. This is not to be the church. We are to be so much more.
Paul continues to address the church in chapter 3 with some of the root causes of some of their issues. He says that he could not address them as spiritual, but as worldly. They were mere infants in Christ. When they first became believers, they were given milk and not solid food, because they were not ready. This analogy makes sense to us, right? We know that babies go through stages in what they can and can't eat. It takes some time before they are ready to go from baby food to normal food. If you see a baby eating baby food, that makes sense. But, if you see a kid in the 8th grade eating baby food, you would realize that something was wrong. Paul said that they were not ready for more, and even at the time of his writing, they still weren't ready.
How long have you been a believer? Obviously, answers to this question will vary from person to person. Have you grown and learned more in Christ as you've matured in him? Or, are you back to the same things that you have always gone back to? It is really amazing to me the lengths that people will go to for their jobs. They will study manuals. They will take classes. They will attend conferences. They will do training on their own. They will impact their schedule to do any of these things if it is necessary for their job. But, you may say 'that's their job - they have to do it!'. Well, this much is true, and I guess you're right - this is only their life and they only have to deal with eternity. Do you see the problem here? If we never mature as believers and we stagnate, yet we do whatever it takes in other areas to meet goals, are we basically identifying our priorities in life? What would that say about you?
Paul said that the essence of their problems and the essence of many of ours at times, is that they are still worldly. They may show up at services and sing the songs and participate in whatever the church offers, but that small part of their life is but a small part of their life. When worldliness enters the body of the church, right behind it will be jealousy and quarreling, which is a trait of worldliness. When we are worldly, we are acting like 'mere men'. When the distinction between people comes down to "I follow Paul" and "I follow Apollos", we're not a lot different from the people that follow different teams, like the UK Wildcats or the St Louis Cardinals or the Chicago Cubs. It is okay to draw some of those distinctions outside of the church, but when that becomes the defining point inside the church, we are but mere men.
Closing
The church at Corinth followed different leaders. We can have different classes with teachers and we can have different preachers at different churches and we can have different denominations. But, remember that we are of Christ. We are not of a specific class, a specific church or a specific denomination. When you asked what your religion is, you are a Christian. You are not a Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian or any other denomination - you belong to Christ. Are there areas of your life that you have put your allegiance with the wrong category? We need people to lead churches and denominations, but their primary allegiance needs to be to Christ.
Are you doing all you can do? If so, perhaps you need to change what you are doing. The church never spread because of what the people did, but what God did through the people. When God works in your life, you are capable of doing much more than you can do on your own. Engines have governors that keep them from going too fast - many Christians have governors that keep them from stepping out in faith, because they can't see how they can do it. I've been there. There is the notion of 'if you keep on doing what you're doing, you'll keep on getting what you're getting'. Are you getting what you desire as a believer? And there is the notion of getting done as much as you can do. What really is any different from the way people do it without Christ? Don't they do as much as they can do? This is a really lame analogy, but thing of an electric razor. It may have batteries and when the batteries are fully charged, it does a pretty decent job. However, as the batteries lose their juice, the razor does less than an adequate job. If there is a source of power that you can plug that razor in, it will continue as fully charged. We have that source of power, but the real difference is that when we are plugged in to the power of Christ, we can do much more than we can, as fully charged. Are you limiting God's ability to use you, because you will only do what you and your batteries can do?
Lastly, what is your source of nourishment, spiritually? Sadly, for many believers, there is no nourishment other than an occasional Sunday service. Others are more religious about their attendance to a service and Bible Study. If this is the extent of your spiritual growth, you will be stunted. You'll be the college kid who is still feeding on the equivalent of Gerber baby foods. You will find that you will begin to grow spiritually when you find yourself in God's word more often. There are many helps out there than can benefit you in this area. There are a variety of devotionals that you can on different topics or you can just as easily spend time in God's word and spend time in prayer. The key thing is that you need to apply yourself in some manner. Again, if this was your job, you'd find the resources. This is your life and much more valuable. Why not take the opportunities that you can find to work on your spiritual diet. If you find yourself growing closer to God, you will find that you are less and less a 'mere man' and you will find you are of much more benefit to a group of believers.
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