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Listen to devotional here: https://anchor.fm/eradio-valverde/episodes/A-Divided-Church-e1tjcl7
View devotional here: https://www.tiktok.com/@eradiovalverde/video/7189489330870553899?lang=en
10 I have a serious concern to bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I'll put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common. 11 I bring this up because some from Chloe's family brought a most disturbing report to my attention - that you're fighting among yourselves! 12 I'll tell you exactly what I was told: You're all picking sides, going around saying, "I'm on Paul's side," or "I'm for Apollos," or "Peter is my man," or "I'm in the Messiah group." 13 I ask you, "Has the Messiah been chopped up in little pieces so we can each have a relic all our own? Was Paul crucified for you? Was a single one of you baptized in Paul's name?" 14 I was not involved with any of your baptisms - except for Crispus and Gaius - and on getting this report, I'm sure glad I wasn't. 15 At least no one can go around saying he was baptized in my name. 16 (Come to think of it, I also baptized Stephanas's family, but as far as I can recall, that's it.) 17 God didn't send me out to collect a following for myself, but to preach the Message of what he has done, collecting a following for him. And he didn't send me to do it with a lot of fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the powerful action at the center - Christ on the Cross - be trivialized into mere words. 18 The Message that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer silliness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation it makes perfect sense. This is the way God works, and most powerfully as it turns out. (1 Corinthians 1:10-18 The Message Bible)
Jesus sais, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be among them." (Matthew 18:20); a promise of peace and power to believers, and it is true. I've witnessed in my life and in the life of the churches that I served. Through the years I have come to changing Jesus' pure words to an alternative view that is, sadly, in some cases, true. "Where two or three people are gathered, there could be trouble." And tehre usually is. We are humans and as humans who make up the church, fail short in the department of getting along. Don't get me wrong, I have met some of the most incredible, loving people that I ever hoped to meet. These were wonderful, caring, second-mile people; God bless them. And God bless those that need blessing for their being the subject that drove Paul to write this passage in the first place. The common knowledge was that out of 100% of the people in your congregation, about 20% will love and follow the pastor. If the pastor wants the fellowship hall to become a McDonalds, they'll love the idea. Another group, maybe 10% of the congregation will never like what the pastor says or does. She could preach one Sunday on how beautiful God made the grass green, and as this group walks out of church they will snidely say, "The grass is blue!" And about 70% of the others don't really care one way or another and will follow the crowd usually. Lifeway Research in 2017 published a study they did called The Five Types of People in Your Church: The Generational: I'll be here forever. The Confrontational: I'll be back once you're gone. The Recreational: I'll be here when I want. The Relational: I'll be here as long as they are. The Devotional: I'll be here as long as He's honored.
Paul addresses this by saying, and this in this more modern version, "You must get along with each other. You must be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common." I once heard a professor say that there were less fights and more acceptance at Joe's Corner Bar than there was at the local church. I'm guessing because the stakes are higher for the enemy of the church and he, who does not sleep and who prowls around looking for those whom he can devour, loves to see a church divided. Paul is hurt, if not shocked in verse 11 where he says, "You're fighting among yourselves!" Paul is angered at this reality and more so when he understands the fighting in the Corinth church is because the members were taking sides by saying some were on Paul's side, others on Apollos' side, and some in Peter's side, and still others in the Messiah group. Paul has to ask, "Has Jesus been chopped up into little pieces so we can each have relics of our own?" Paul reminds them that God sent him to preach the Good News of all He had done and to collect a following for Himself. And all this without fancy preaching or fancy words, just preaching Chirst on the Cross, and this, while knowing that many would see that as sheer foolishness, and that because this group is perishing and on the road that leads to eternal death; while those who know the way of salvation it makes perfect sense.
Paul knows that in the greater picture and the great challenge of life itself, it makes better sense to work together, united for the common good of helping people find God and have God fix them, and then going out beyond the four walls into the community and seeking more for God to bless and save.
PRAYER: Awesome God, we know where we find ourselves right now, and that's in serious need of You touching us and blessing us. We fight too much and about things that normally shouldn't upset us; but there are matters that truly matter and do divide, help us to know the difference and to work to bring about unity. In Christ Jesus' strong name I pray, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! YOUR CALL TO ACTION: Seek to be a blessing fo unity to all.
Receive my blessings of love and joy,
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
