1 Cor 1:10-14 @ 2025-10-18

PHBC/Sermonettes/1Cor/1_10-4/1_10-14.md

@@ -33,18 +33,24 @@ likes of John Piper.
 I know the teaching of John Piper and trust him.
 They listen to other people who I am not familiar with, and I have to
 investigate.
-Do these teachers faithfully proclaim the Gospel?
-Do they faithfully teach God's Word?
 
+Do these teachers faithfully proclaim the gospel?
+Do they faithfully teach God's Word?
 If the answer to that is yes, then we have unity and should act accordingly.
 
 ## Christ Is Not Divided
 
 Look at verse 13 - in response to the teacher oriented factions of the
 Corinthians, Paul asks, "Is Christ divided?"
-If someone is claimed by Christ and commissioned by Christ, if they teach
-Christ faithfully, then to set him against another that teaches Christ
-faithfully is to divide Christ.
+I'm going to go ahead and say that Paul is asking a rhetorical question and
+that it should be obvious that the answer is 'no'.
+
+Paul is not truly telling us to become united.
+Paul is telling us to act according to a unity that we already have.
+
+If someone is claimed by Christ and commissioned by Christ and they teach
+Christ faithfully, then to set that teacher against another that teaches Christ
+faithfully is to set Christ against Himself.
 
 And of course, the people saying that they follow Paul or Peter or Apollos are
 missing the point.
@@ -56,28 +62,34 @@ against His own.
 By saying I follow Christ and I do not follow Paul, we set Christ against Paul.
 We set the Head against the Body.
 
-Saying that you learned from a particular teacher as opposed to another is
-fine.
-We all have teachers who have influenced us more than others, but if we
-faithfully follow faithful teachers, we are united in the truth of the gospel.
+Saying that we learned from a particular teachers as opposed to other teachers
+is fine.
+We all have teachers who have influenced us more than others.
+If we are faithful in following faithful teachers, then we are united in the
+truth of the gospel with those who follow other faithful teachers.
 
 Like most members of this church, I would not say that I follow Josh Hayward.
-He just hasn't had much influence in my life and I've spent very little time
-listening to him.
-With that said, he seems to be a faithful teacher and we would not have any beef
-with the members of Kinney Avenue Baptist Church over the fact that they follow
-him.
-We should and generally do recognize Josh Hayward, and happily greet those who
-sit under his teaching, because he teaches and they receive Christ.
-We should happily commend him and Kinney to our visitors.
+I would not say that I have really learned from him.
+But if he proclaims Christ faithfully, if he proclaims the gospel faithfully,
+then we must regard him and those who do follow him as being of the same body
+as us.
+We do not follow the man Josh Hayward, but we do follow his teaching because it
+is the same teaching that we have here.
 Where we lack unity in under-shepherds, we are united in the Great Shepherd.
+We have unity with them, and we should regard one another accordingly.
 
 ## Christ Defines the Church
 
-In verse 13, Paul asks, "Was Paul crucified for you?"
+Look again at Paul's question in verse 13, "Is Christ divided?"
+Paul does not ask, "Is Cephas divided?"
+Peter is in no way a uniting head of the Church.
+Paul and Apollos and Peter are members of Christ - and no other.
+Christ is the one of whom these others are members.
+
+Continuing verse 13, Paul asks, "Was Paul crucified for you?"
 
 By the time of this writing, many martyrs had already been minted for the sake
-of the spread of the Gospel.
+of the spread of the gospel.
 Opposition to God's Word spilled the blood of many prophets before Christ came.
 In that sense, we could say that many faithful believers have died for us, but
 Christ stands alone in having a death that appeases the wrath of God.
@@ -88,14 +100,16 @@ Is it by the name of Paul that you entered the church?
 
 No.
 We have one baptism, which is in Christ, regardless of whether we were baptized
-here or 2000 years ago by an apostle.
+2000 years ago by an apostle or here by Samuel - or by the next Senior Pastor.
 It is by professing the name of Christ that we enter the church.
 
 And notice verse 14.
 Paul is grateful that he baptized only a few of them, thinking that they might
 cling to him as the grounding of their baptism.
 Our faith is in no way defined by our baptizer.
-Our baptism and the faith expressed in it are grounded in Christ.
+Both our baptism and the faith expressed in it are grounded in Christ.
+
+### Christ Is More Than A Teacher
 
 Christ is more than merely the pedagogical ancestor of all other faithful
 teachers.
@@ -105,6 +119,9 @@ Christ did not come proclaiming a system that can exist apart from Him.
 We do not put our faith in a system named Christianity.
 We put our faith in the person of Christ.
 
+He died for us in a way that no one else could and we are called to be baptized
+in His name, expressing our trust in the significance of His death for us.
+
 Christ did tell us how we should live, but we do not derive our life from these
 things.
 Christ taught more than mere principles by which we should live.
@@ -122,11 +139,33 @@ Marxism could be conceived of apart from Marx.
 But there is no Christianity without Christ.
 And if we truly have Christ, we have Christianity.
 
-No teacher has brought anything of worth to the table that he has not received.
-
 Christianity is not incomplete without any particular teacher, other than
 Christ Himself, who is the teaching.
 
+( reference 4:7 here? )
+
+## Ending
+
+I chose this passage months ago.
+In the time since I chose it, we have become a people for whom this passage has
+become increasingly relevant.
+While we do quarrel over teachers at times, I believe that we generally do so
+with lightheartedness.
+
+But in the coming year, we will be called to receive a new voice in our pulpit.
+A new baptizer.
+
+I miss the voice of Ryan and will miss the voice of Samuel, but the Christ that
+they proclaimed will continue be heralded here.
+God used them to build up this church.
+They carried the torch to here, and now Russ carries it forward.
+
+Though we love the voices that we have lost and are losing, the true value that
+they provided came not from them, but from God's Word.
+Samuel's work here will continue, because it is not ultimately his work.
+God will continue His work here.
+
+
 ### Comment on Samuel's Mission
 
 As I reflect on how we are thinking that we must release Samuel to go and do
@@ -135,15 +174,14 @@ part of me wants to say, "He is going to spread the 9Marks way."
 "Go forth make disciples of the Park Hills way of all nations."
 But other resources exist to convey the ecclesiological teachings of 9Marks.
 
-There is nothing truly unique to Samuel or to the 9Marks ecosystem that Romania
-needs.
+There is nothing truly unique about our teachers or the 9Marks ecosystem that
+Romania needs.
 In truth, God could have called anyone from any multitude of schools of thought
 to this task.
 What is required is the faithful proclaim of God's Word.
 
-### Ending
 
-As I close here, I want to note that wrote what I am about to say in the last
+As I close here, I want to note that I wrote what I am about to say in the last
 hours of August.
 I had no idea when writing this how prescient this sentiment would be for us
 now.