Message by Pastor John Culp : January 13, 2008
"E Pluribus Unum”
Text – 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
I need to beg your indulgence for a moment while I speak in very personal terms – I hope not uncomfortably or even nauseatingly so!
It’s about my marriage. I need to tell you that there are really some things that threaten to drive my wife Jennifer and me apart. We have some serious differences in worldview. She seems to think, for example, that at some times, under certain circumstances, it is actually acceptable to spend money. She has this really novel idea that if we’ve agreed dinner is to be at 6:00 o’clock, I’m actually supposed to be there at that time. And (I’m really embarrassed for her to share this), she has this thoroughly disgusting habit of putting the bathroom tissue on the holder in such a way that the paper goes over the top!
I might be lighthearted about it all, but in fact there truly are those things that seriously threaten to divide us. Most really grow out of the fact we’re both, in a sense, quite literally babies. She is the youngest of three siblings; I’m the younger of two. As you probably know, the experts in birth order studies will tell you that such a combination is a prescription for disaster in any marriage. The fact of the matter is that there truly are those things that threaten to divide us. Right at the top of the list is my own selfishness.
But having said that, I want to assure you that that which unites us is vastly stronger! And what sorts of things bring us together? You can start with the faith that we share in Jesus Christ. That’s really enough in itself! I can readily think of four more things to add to the list: Victoria, Judy, Lydia and Noah (our children). Oh, and there’s certainly one more thing that unites us: the fact that we love each other.
I hope you can say something similar. If you’re married, I hope you feel that way about your spouse. If you can’t, or if you’re not married, I certainly hope you can identify at least one other person – a close friend or a loved one – for whom all that is true. You recognize that there are those very real things that divide you. But you know also that all that unites you is far stronger.
The very same dynamic in interpersonal relationships is certainly true between believers in Jesus Christ. I don’t have to tell you that there are certainly those things that separate Christians from one another! It’s true on the level of churches and denominations. It’s true between individual believers.
I’ve been thinking about all this because this Thursday starts an observance in the wider church that we haven’t paid much attention to in recent years. That’s too bad, because it’s truly an annual emphasis that’s well worth the effort. It’s the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It runs from Friday to next Thursday (January 18th – 24th).
The week coincides with our national observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. But the quest for oneness among the followers of Jesus Christ is certainly no new concept. It goes all the way back to Jesus Himself, who prayed that all who would ever believe in Him would be one, just as He was and is one with God His Father. Jesus prayed for such Christian unity, because He knew that when the world sees it, that unity will help them believe that He is who the church claims He is (John 17:20-21).
The introduction of Paul’s great first letter to the Corinthians serves us well here. The Apostle makes a point we need to remember through the coming Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – and always!
No matter how great the things may be that divide Christian from Christian,
the fellowship we share in Jesus Christ is always more powerful.
Let’s think together about what God would teach us through the heart of His servant.
Now Paul certainly has a lot to say as he writes to his friends in Corinth, and unity is near the top of his list. Even as he begins his letter, he knows that he has some pretty harsh things to say to his Corinthian friends. And in fact a conspicuous lack of unity in the church is one of his big concerns!
Immediately after the warm words of introduction we just read, Paul notes with obvious pain that divisions have developed in the church because some identify themselves with him (Paul), some with Peter, some with Apollos (another leader of the first century church) (1 Corinthians 1:10-17). There is gross immorality in the Corinthian church, and that divides the body (chapter 5). These Corinthians are so much at odds with one another, some are actually suing others in the civil courts (6:1-11). That breaks the apostle’s heart, as we can well understand!
But for all that, these wayward Corinthians really are Paul’s friends, his brothers and sisters in Christ. He loves them! So it’s quite natural that the idea of the oneness he shares with them in their common Lord Jesus would come readily to the apostle’s mind.
Paul is concerned about all this not only because unity among believers makes life together in the church a whole lot more pleasant. He’s concerned about it not only because he remembers that the Lord Jesus prayed for that unity. Paul is concerned for unity among the Corinthians in large part because he knew that they shared in the same crucial work God had given him to do!
Today’s Old Testament lesson foretells that work. Through the prophet Isaiah, God had said: “You are My servant, Israel, and you will bring Me glory . . . You will do more than restore the people of Israel to Me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring My salvation to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:3-6 NLT).
God gave that commission first to His people Israel. He gave it to His Anointed One, the truest Son of Abraham. He gave it ultimately to the whole church. And Paul knew very well that the Corinthians could accomplish that mission much more effectively if the world could see their oneness in Christ. The same is true for the church in every age!
So almost everything Paul writes to his Corinthian friends here in the introduction of his letter can be seen in light of his earnest longing for real unity.
As believers they share tremendous blessings in Christ. That very sharing helps make them one. It is in Christ that they know strength and righteousness (1:8); in Christ that they have been given wonderful gifts (1:5-7); in Christ that they know God’s saving grace (1:4). In fact Paul points to the worldwide unity of the whole church right in the address of the letter, where says he is writing “To the church of God in Corinth . . . together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ – their Lord and ours…” (1:2 NIV).
And precisely because Christ is Lord of all who believe, Paul concludes that “God . . . has called [them] into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord . . .” (1:9).
Friends, I’m here to tell you: That very fellowship we share with one another in Jesus Christ is stronger than anything that divides us!
You know, there’s an old bit of folk wisdom shared in many cultures. Maybe you’ve heard it: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” I suspect you’d agree that that notion has not always served our government well in international relations!
I want to suggest a holy application, a standing-on-the-head of the same thought: “The servant of my Master is my sister, my brother in Christ.”
Never forget: The fellowship we share with one another in Jesus Christ is always stronger than anything that divides us!
What does all this mean for us in concrete, practical terms? How are we to apply this broad principle of Christian unity?
Think first on the institutional level. I don’t have to tell you that the church, the Body of Christ, is divided!
Recently I came across a rather startling statistic. The numbers are a few years old, but I doubt that much has changed. As of the mid-1990s, there were some 405,000 Christian places of worship in these United States. Of that number, nearly 25% - 100,000 – had no affiliation to any other group. (Joanne O'Brien and Martin Palmer, The State of Religion Atlas, [Simon and Schuster, 1993]. “To Verify,” cited in Leadership.)
But lest we take any smug comfort in our own denominational connection, we should remind ourselves that as reformed Christians – as Protestants – we define ourselves by our very separation from other believers.
We’re part of the Presbyterian Church (USA). But did you know that there are other presbyterian bodies? There is the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church . . . People actually call us Presbyterians the ‘Split Ps!”
In a fallen world and a fallen church, those divisions may be necessary to keep us from tearing each other apart. Be we should not take too much comfort in or rejoice in that which divides the Body of Christ before the world.
There are other divisions in the church as well, ones that have nothing to do with doctrine. Many have noted over the years that 11:00 o’clock Sunday morning is the most (racially) segregated hour in America.
So what are we to do as we confront such widespread institutional division in the Body of Christ? There are no easy answers! I can suggest a couple of small gestures.
We here at Tower Church will be hosting a community night of praise in our sanctuary Saturday evening, February 9. Come here then to worship the Christ with whom you share fellowship, with believers from many local churches. In a few weeks, the Spanish-speaking Baptist church that has been meeting in Fithian Chapel Tuesday nights resumes. Come to a worship service that will remind you that God speaks all the languages of world!
Remember: this is a week of prayer for Christian unity. Pray that we will be more visibly one, and ask God to show you ways to help.
Haddon Robinson tells the story of a man who went to an asylum for the criminally insane. He was a bit surprised to find that there were three guards to take care of a hundred inmates. He said to one of the guards, “Aren’t you afraid that the inmates will unite, overcome you, and escape?”
The guard answered simply, “Lunatics never unite.”
And Robinson concludes: “Locusts [unite]. Christians should. If we don’t, we don’t know where our power is.” (“The Wisdom of Small Creatures,” Preaching Today, Tape No. 93.)
But surely we each need to consider the whole question of Christian unity also on a very personal level.
Two guys were riding a tandem, a bicycle built for two, when they came to an imposing, steep hill. It proved to be a very stiff climb, but with great effort at last they reached the top. When they got there, the man in front turned to the other and said, “Boy, that sure was tough!”
The guy in back replied, “Sure was! That hill was so steep we probably would have rolled down backwards if I hadn’t kept the brakes on all the way!”
(James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited [Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988] p. 125.)
How much do you think Christ’s work in the church – in this church! – is held back by divisions that amount to some of us trying to climb the hills with our brakes on? I can tell you that those divisions consume an inordinate amount of my time and emotional energy.
There are only two kinds of people in the church. There are those who really are at peace with everyone; who never have a cross word or an unkind thought for another believer.
Then there are the rest of us, representing 99 and 44/100ths percent of all Christians. If I were a betting man, I would bet that you can think of at least one other person here at Tower Church with whom you have had a harsh word, toward whom you have had a condemning thought – things that divide us. You can probably even put someone else here right now in that category!
Do you think the Jesus in whom you share fellowship with that person is happy with that division? Do you think He wants you to pray for that person? Do you think He would have you do something more to reach out in a concrete gesture of Christian love and reconciliation?
Remember this: Whatever bad history might divide you, the fellowship you share in your common Lord Jesus is stronger!
James Hewett tells the riveting story of the time when he was speaking at the Indiana State Prison. Just weeks earlier they had had an execution, something that always creates a special tension in a prison. Hewett could feel that tension – in the faces of the inmates; in the voices of the guards; in the very air of the place.
After Hewett spoke to the general population of the prison, the warden led him and the small group with him to the place he dreaded entering: Death Row. The five men who were there awaiting the final disposition of their cases were allowed out of their cells while Hewett and the few volunteers spoke with them. He remembered that they closed by singing “Amazing Grace” together.
Hewett had been in correspondence with two of the five men, and he knew from their letters that they were believers. He couldn’t help noticing that one of them, James Brewer, had a radiant expression on his face throughout the visit, and sang at the top of his lungs.
As the group were shaking hands and the visitors preparing to leave, he saw that one of the volunteers with him accompanied Brewer back to his cell. He saw the two standing together in Brewer’s cell, shoulder to shoulder, reading from a Bible. Under some time pressure, Hewett urged the volunteer a couple of times to finish his visit. But the man said, “Please, please, this is very important. You see, I am Judge Clement. I sentenced this man to die. But now he is born again. He is my brother and we want a minute to pray together.”
Hewett stood there, watching the amazing scene. It seemed that everything divided these two men: One was black; one white. One was powerless; one powerful. The one had sentenced the other to die. Yet there they stood grasping a Bible together, Brewer smiling so genuinely, the judge so filled with love for the prisoner at his side.
In human terms it was quite impossible. But they shared fellowship in the One who makes all things possible, and they were truly one in Him. (Hewett, ibid., pp. 212-213.)
E pluribus unum – “One out of many.”
It’s a wonderful motto, a glorious ideal for a nation. For the church it is not only the object of our prayers – this week, and always. It is the ultimate reality we know in the Christ with whom we share fellowship, the Christ who truly makes us one.
Let us pray. Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for the amazing fellowship we share in You! You well know how many things we allow to divide us from one another. Please forgive us for those petty acts of selfishness. With Your servant Paul, please give us a vision of the whole world for You, and hearts that long to be more visibly one in You. Give us the grace, please, to allow You to turn that vision into reality – in us; in all Your church. We ask it in Your almighty name. Amen.