Heavenly Father, we want to thank you, God. Lord, we truly do thank you for your blessing. And I pray, God, that here tonight as we study your Word and try to dig deep, I pray, Father God, that we would as ones who truly love you, we would love the reading and the studying of your Word, and God, that we would seek to be changed, be impacted into our lives by the truth that you have in store for us.

We thank you in Christ's name, amen. Okay. All right, I want to begin off by doing a little bit of review. Okay? So a couple fill in the blanks for you guys. To say that we're doing an inductive study obviously isn't like some profound rocket science. All we're talking about is three easy steps.

The first one is? Observation. And the second one is? Interpretation. And the last one is? Application. Good. Okay. Observation, interpretation, and observation. And obviously, after time, over time, as your skill improves on what sorts of things you should notice in the scriptures, and also as the breadth of your knowledge of scripture broadens, how to interpret various parts of scripture, and by practice, how to apply various parts of scripture, you're going to improve just year upon year.

Okay? As we talked about the Corinthians, the church at Corinth, we, let's see, oh, I asked you guys actually a couple questions. After having read 1 Corinthians just in broad scope, how would you describe the church? In what ways are they healthy, and what deadly ailments do they suffer from?

Can I have some volunteers to answer that question? Yes, there's a list, there's a laundry list of things that they do wrong, but what are maybe some things that are actually healthy, and also let's list those things that are deadly ailments to the church. How's about, I'm gonna call on a table.

Let's see. This table is really full. Does anybody want to volunteer? Great. Gotcha. So, if you didn't hear what he said, the church was actually really kind of striving to practice their gifts. The bad part was they were seeing their gifts as better than others, and they were competing with each other.

Okay? What are the things that you guys notice about the church? Good things, bad things? Yes? You could say they really worship God, if anything the problem was that their worship services would get a little bit overboard. Okay. If anything, we're so not the opposite, actually. It's so orderly.

Right, right, right. Good, thank you. So, if you guys didn't hear him, he says they're worshiping, and they're expressive, and you know, but obviously the downside to that could have been that it was disorderly, and they were going overboard and whatnot. So, he talks about that in 1 Corinthians.

Good. Okay. Next question. How would you describe Paul's relationship to these believers? How's about the other full table ladies, the sisters over there? Yeah, that one. Anybody from that table? Uh-huh? Great, okay. Very good. Straight from the notes, excellent. That's okay. As a spiritual father, I made the mention that Apostle Paul probably spent one of the lengthier times at this church, over a year and a half, and he actually obviously wrote multiple letters, but the church history believes that his interaction with them went way more than the two letters that we have in the Bible, but that he was interacting with them.

He obviously cared so much about them that he would hear reports about them, so he's asking for people to report about them. He would even send other people to go there and minister to them. All around, Apostle Paul really loved this church. All right? Okay. Now, in thinking about that, here's some other questions by way of review.

What is the demographics of this church? Was it all Gentile church because it was in Corinth, in Greece? Was it a predominantly Jewish church? Who remembers the demographics of this church? There was a mixture. Okay, good. Obviously, because it is in Greece, and it's really close to a lot of traffic and whatnot, there were a lot of the Gentile people, but because of Rome and a lot of these Jewish sects running away from the persecution that was existent in Rome, there was a huge contingency of Jewish people as well.

Okay? I said, "What can we compare the city, Corinth, to as compared to a city in our day?" Like Vegas. You guys remember that, but the other stuff? I'm just kidding. Yes, I said the city of Corinth was compared to Vegas. If you think Vegas, yeah, it's a lot of gambling and stuff, but actually Vegas is the hub of auto shows, technology shows, even cowboy conventions.

Basically, just about any kind of business convention you can think of, they would have these conventions. As a matter of fact, Bia, my wife, worked for a salami company, and they have conventions for salami on Vegas. Weird, right? Corinth was like that because it was in that ... Remember the geography picture I showed you?

It was a channel that went right through, so a lot of commerce. But what's more, it was a derogatory term to be like, "Oh, you're a Corinth girl. You're a Corinth boy," to say you're a pagan to the core. Immorality, debauchery, you just lose lifestyle. Okay? So, the city of Corinth can be likened to, in modern day, Vegas.

Okay? So to that church, I said, to a church that's in the midst of such, I guess, a mixture of things and an environment that's hostile to pure Christian faith, Apostle Paul writes a letter challenging the church to be pure from the worldly influence and effects. Last week, we talked about how Apostle Paul, warmly, in his introduction, so to speak, of the letter, he laid the foundation of their salvation.

And he was both thankful, he was praising God for them, and it's almost weird. It was weird because we know what's contained in this letter, some of the harsher rebukes. But Apostle Paul was very fatherly with them. Well, today we begin with one of the first challenges and exhortations to this church, and that comes from verse 10 through 17 of chapter 1.

So let's all turn there, 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 10 through 17, and then we'll take it step by step in observing what the word has in store for us today. All right? So, chapter 1, verse 10 through 17. Okay. So, it says, "Now, I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people that there are no quarrels among you. Now, I mean this, that each one of you is saying, 'I am of Paul, and I am of Paulus, and I am of Cephas, I of Christ.' Has Christ been divided?

Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now, I did baptize also the household of Stephanas.

Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void." Okay. So, we have this exhortation from Apostle Paul. And I want to begin by taking a look at the first verse, just the first phrase of it.

"Now, I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, for you, when you read this," as I just kind of, I tried to do like a dramatic reading of it, "how do you hear his tone?" Okay. "What kind of tone do you think he's using?" And yes, someone please volunteer and answer this one.

I know it's kind of an obvious one. He's saying like, "I exhort you," right? "What kind of tone do you think he's using?" I asked the question because when I did my like reading through, I thought, yeah, he's setting them up. He says, "I'm so thankful for you, and I'm sure of your basically salvation, and then now, I exhort you," right?

So, I almost felt like he did like a, "Hey, guys, this is my letter to you, and now I'm going to lay this smack down," you know, almost like a setup, and then, well, bam, it's coming down hard. But I'm questioning that, and I wonder if that's the case.

That's how I read it the first time through. And I remember last week when I was kind of talking about it with you guys, I even used this tone in my own reading, with my own voice, like, "And now, I'm going to tell you how it is," right? "What kind of tone do you think he's using?" "He's pleading." Thank you.

That's great that you observed that because one of the practices you guys want to do is compare different translations. If you're working off the ESV, how many of you guys are working off the ESV? It uses the word what? Appeal. If you're working off the NASB or the King James Version, it'll use the word exhort.

And that's because that one verb, depending on context, is sometimes used differently. But what I find is that, although I read it harshly, given that he began with such warm words of, like, "Grace and peace to you," and then, given that he's calling them brethren, and given that he's using this word that typically, yes, does mean to try to at least plead with somebody, I wonder, again, how his tone is.

And so, I realize, depending sometimes, we do this, on your personality, you read stuff in your voice. Sometimes if you're goofy and stuff, and you're looking for silly things, I read sometimes the Bible in an accent. Weird, right? And other times, if you're the type where you're confrontational, perhaps you're reading it like, "And now, you better listen up." But actually, Apostle Paul, I believe, is using a word where the word appeal is the Greek word, parakaleo.

And the reason why I remember this is because the word for the Holy Spirit, when he's our helper, the paraklete, when I was in Samaria, I remembered it, memorized it by saying the parakeet, is the paraklete, he's the helper. He's the one who come alongside you and helps you.

So you see Apostle Paul's choice of words, because there are other words he could have chosen, and you realize his tone has a nice balance. Where it's authoritative, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. But it also is loving and pleading with them. I think that's something to note here.

That from the very, I guess, the first exhortation that he has, it's not just a harsh, confrontational rebuke, but there is a balance where he mitigates the harshness. Yet still maintains the authority. Good balance that he has. Okay? So, Paul harmonizes both the authority and compassion. Because he wants to help.

He's seeking their benefit whenever he speaks. Okay? So he harmonizes the authority and the compassion. And now you guys will always remember the parakeet. Alright. Number two. Looking at the second part of verse 10, he says, "Now exhort your brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and that there be no divisions among you.

But that you be made complete in the same mind, and in the same judgment." I asked you guys if you guys had the time to look at this passage. How would you describe the command that he's giving? I know I have two blanks. Let's do the obvious. So what does he say?

What's the command? Agree and no division. Okay? So basically he's saying the same thing in two different ways. One positive, one negative. Which Paul does quite often. Okay? So agree and have no division. Okay? But I ask you this question. You know, like, as you guys read the passage, throw out a guess.

Throw out a, you know, hypothesis, so to speak. What do you think he means by, "I want you to just agree"? What's the command there? All right. How about this? To make it kind of more specific, let's just take the plain meaning of agree. Two people, when they agree, they agree.

Okay? They line up. Now, question to you is, as Apostle Paul is challenging this church to agree, what sort of things do you think he wants them to agree upon? Okay? What sort of things do you think he wants them to agree upon? Okay, you can throw out any hypothesis, guess.

Don't be afraid. Okay, great. So if you didn't hear, she said, "Perhaps they should agree about who to follow because they're obviously disagreeing about -- no, probably maybe they're thinking, like, 'No, see if this is better. He's the better preacher.'" And maybe the other guy is saying, "No, Apostle Paul is, like, the better leader through experience.

He's gone through suffering." And the other guy is like, "No, we just need Jesus." You know? So anyway, maybe they're just disagreeing about leaders, and he's saying, "You guys need to agree about leaders." That's a great observation that, in the context, that's maybe what it seems. But what else do you think that he expects this church to agree upon?

Okay, great. Who Christ was. Okay? Let me ask you real quick, Andy. Did you say that because of something you observed in the passage, or did you say that maybe, like, just in other passages in general, they should agree on who Christ is? Right. Good. Right. Great. So I think that's a good observation, too.

And absolutely, if we think about it in general, the Christian church should absolutely agree, the members of a church, local congregation, should agree about the person of Christ, who he is. And the reason why I keep saying, "Oh, that was a good observation," is because, remember, so far for me, as I read the first passage, I always try to do one of these tallies of what's the most repeated concept.

And still, the most repeated concept is Jesus. He's exhorting them in the name of Jesus. He's repeating the person of Jesus. And I've read that verses 1 through 9 or 1 through 8, the name of Jesus appeared many, many, many, many times. Okay? So good. Yes. Excellent. Okay. That's -- I think that's -- if you guys didn't hear what he said, I said, "Because later in context of this book, there's much talk about immorality.

There's much talk about fornification and all sorts of things. Determining, evaluating, and judging what is evil, what is right and wrong, that judgment also needs to be agreed upon." And actually, if you think about this, take a look at the goal here. So I wrote in your packet, look at 10C.

He says, "I want you all to agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment." So if you are in your packet, it says, "What is the goal of Paul -- what is the goal that Paul is seeking?

Made complete in same mind and judgment." Okay. So that starts to tell us Paul expected this church to definitely agree upon judging, evaluating what is valuable, what is right, what is wrong, what is sinful, what is holy, what is pure. Okay. But, you know, if we think a little broader about this, if you turn your Bibles over to Philippians 3, verse 15 through 17.

Go in your Bibles to Philippians. Philippians 3, verse 15 through 17. He says this, "Let us, therefore, as many are perfect, have this attitude." And in ESV, what does it say for the word "attitude"? Does it just say "attitude" as well? What does it say? Yeah. Philippians 3, verse 15.

So, "Let us, therefore, as many are perfect, have this same -- think this way." Okay, yeah. Can you read that first portion for me? Okay. So it's kind of pretty different, right? One is, "Let us have this attitude, otherwise think this way." And then I'm just going to keep going.

It says, "And if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. However, let us keep living by the same standard to which we have attained. Brethren, join in following my example. Observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us." And then he's going to keep going.

This passage in Philippians, it doesn't limit what you're supposed to agree upon, just the doctrine does it. It doesn't limit what you're supposed to agree upon just in terms of leadership, does it? As a matter of fact, he says, "By way of attitude, by way of thinking, I want you guys to agree.

By way of pattern of living, I want you guys to agree. I want you to be in accord." And this is a huge theme in the Bible, that there be no disagreement in the church even to that kind of specific realm of living. There's a passage -- I'm kind of jumping around a little bit, I'm sorry about that.

In Romans 16, verse 17, which I have in your packet, "Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hinders, and contrary to the teaching which you learned and turned away from." So, yes, Apostle Paul wants us to be united in doctrine and teaching, but it's much broader than that.

So I ask you this question, okay? I ask you this question. Is there room for disagreement in the church? Right now, if you guys kind of get the flow of what I'm saying, I'm actually making the point that even to very specific things, how we think, how we judge, how we evaluate, how we live, there's a sense in which we need to agree, okay?

So it's much broader. In a culture, especially like ours, where we highly value diversity, which the Christian church does too, there might be something of a kind of perspective that is at odds, an ideology that is at odds, when you think about how much Apostle Paul desires there to be unity and one accord as opposed to how much diversity.

So I throw this question out to you guys. To what degree can members in a church, let's say Berlin Community Church, can we have disagreements? Are we allowed to have disagreements about stuff? Is it okay for members to be members when they disagree about various things? What are we allowed to disagree about?

Any ideas or thoughts about that? Yes. Okay. All right, so she said things that aren't explicit in the Bible, obviously they're different, like if it's kind of a gray area that's not spelled out in Scripture, there's different approaches, different applications probably. Okay. What else? Yes. So do we disagree in the sense of having different views or do we disagree in the sense of I think they're wrong?

Interesting. Okay. Did you guys hear that? All right. I'm not going to repeat it, but that's actually, I mean, I think that's really wise to discern what we mean by disagree. Just for the sake of kind of, let's do this. Let's just take the more extreme view of that term disagree to make the case.

Okay. So amongst just saying, oh, I have a certain perspective, I'm applying, and then the other person is applying and all that stuff, whereas the extreme is you actually think this should be the standard and you're wrong for not doing the standard. Yeah. Okay. So for the sake of argument, let's just say it's the more extreme of the two.

What's really interesting is the scriptures highly, highly value unity to a degree that which if it's at all possible, keep pursuing agreement. Does that make sense? Keep pursuing the agreement. And so there are passages in the scripture that talk about and command us basically in as much as it is possible with you, be in one accord.

And furthermore, as you guys know, the scriptures talk about for the sake of the body of Christ in unity, you need to also combine together to obey the leadership. So what I mean by that is it's one thing for, let's say, different pieces of the community to say, hey, we just need to come to a middle ground, compromise and agree.

Or you can say, look, there's one standard and we all need to agree to that standard. And by agreeing to one standard, we're naturally in agreement. I would say the Bible is more for the side of seeing that. Where the leadership of the church is entrusted with teaching, with directing, with vision casting, and applying the scriptures in the local body context.

And the members of the church need to in as much as they can in their own study of the scripture, yes, but follow suit with that. So if you look at some of these passages, Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17, pray your leaders and submit to them for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.

Let them do this with joy and not with grief for this would be unprofitable for you. Another passage, Acts 4 32, the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul. I'm going to read another passage, Philippians 2 verse 2 and following. Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the spirit, any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.

Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interest of others. Okay. Now, as I'm reading this passage, this is what I'm hoping to kind of make the point of.

You see, when it comes to the local church, our local body of believers, I believe we are to seek and continue seeking greater and greater agreement. The world might look at that and be like, ha, bunch of drones, bunch of sheep. You guys are just listening to one concept, one perspective, and you guys are all the same.

But in my mind, just because we're all in unison about philosophy of ministry, about conviction, how do we choose leaders? What do we expect from members? That doesn't mean we're drones or sheep. If we do the due diligence of studying the scriptures and applying and having our own conviction.

But actually, I think it's a beautiful thing that the Lord desires when the church is harmonious, even to that degree. And I'm going to say this. Practically speaking, if there is a member at our church who says, yeah, I know the church is all about membership, but I think it's just whatever.

I'm going to sign it, but I disagree. Or if the church says, yeah, I know the church has a vision for this, but for me, I have a different vision. Or if they disagree with how we place leadership, let me use that as an example. Even a disagreement about who is in leadership.

If you see that individual who you don't think should be a leader, and they're on top of the stage, or they're preaching and teaching, it's hard to be a happy participant in the local body. Right? So, that is why I don't necessarily speak on behalf of all the elders, but I know that they generally agree with this.

If an individual comes to us and says, yeah, I don't agree with you guys about even something, let's say infant baptism, okay? Highly debated topic in the Christian circle. And says, I don't agree about that whole issue with you guys. We're okay with saying we're not going to try to make you stay here.

If you're convicted about that, maybe you need to go. They're like, whoa, I never thought about that. Because there are certain issues that the church leadership has said, this we have a conviction about. Like Hannah said, there are things that are, again, not clearly explicit in the Bible, and there are things that the leadership says, this is clear in the Bible, and this is our stance.

If the church has come out and said those type of things, the congregation needs to agree. They need to come together in unison and be in one accord with that, right? And if a member disagrees with the things that the church sees as vital, even if it's not, let's say, explicit in the Bible, but they see it important enough, that it's a part of church policy, church philosophy, church ministry, then the members of the church need to agree, okay?

All right. So, the goal that he has in mind is same mind, same judgment, broadly speaking, what they believe, how they decide, standards, attitudes, and even principles of living. Pretty specific, huh? I just wanted to make this case because I do believe it is kind of contrary to current kind of ideologies.

You know what I mean? I think it's kind of contrary, like, oh, it's a beautiful thing that you have all these people of different beliefs just trying to come together. Actually, our perspective is it's a beautiful thing when there is true harmony based on each individual through their conviction of the word, having the result of being in one accord of mind and spirit, that is a beautiful thing.

Okay? Yes. Right. Right, right, right. So, he poses a good question, you know, like, there's kind of a line where you draw, and I'm going to say two things. One, there is a line that you draw based upon context. So, on your packet I wrote universal church, ministries, and local church, okay?

The universal church at large is every single Christian in the world. There is great diversity, great diversity. And I don't think anybody is going to draw strict lines, like you meet another Christian on the street, and you're like, you and I need to agree, brother, and you just start hashing things out.

But also in different ministries, ministry to ministry, there's great differences as well. The kind of unity that I just mentioned that needs to be really pursued is what I was talking about in the local church. So, that's one. Okay, so the line that you draw, they're first based upon what context.

But also the line that you draw, again, is there is great precedence and weight and responsibility on the leadership of the church. There are certain times you cannot draw a line because God never gave us that kind of sharp tool from the scripture. And sometimes he doesn't give us a broad stroke and says, "This is how it is." And the leadership of the church has to be aware of that.

And so, I found it pretty amazing. There's one sense in which we can disobey the Bible where you go against explicit things in the scripture. But also, just as worse of a sin was presumptuousness in the Bible where you go above the scripture and you start making rules like the same, like applications the same weight as biblical principle.

And that's where the church just needs to exercise great wisdom. So, I hope that helps. Okay. Okay, so that's the first section, right? Apostle Paul's exhortation. He says, "You guys need to agree. "You guys need to be of the same mind and of the same judgment." And I want to just expound, again, the goal that he has in mind is he wants them to be complete.

The word for complete is kind of a medical term. When things are broken, like let's say you have a shattered bone and you bring those things together, that's the word he uses for complete. So, he desires that church, the local body in Corinth, to be complete together. And as he's doing that, he's going to start examining, like a good doctor would, what is at the core of their problem.

Okay? So, I ask you this question. What is the core problem that Apostle Paul is addressing in these verses that we're studying today? What do you think is the core problem here? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So, perhaps they're weak in theology and doctrine. They're easily influenced as like maybe, you know, different teachers have come and all that kind of stuff.

Okay. What else? Yes. Okay. Okay. So, both by culture and both by what they expect and stuff like that, there could be difference between the Gentiles and the Jews. All right? Reasons for division? Yes. Okay. All right. Okay, okay. Good, good. All right. Yeah. So, if you guys are taking notes, jot some of these ideas down.

I mean, these are all good observations. Potentially, I mean, I think this is one that I think we need to spend some time on is Jesus Christ was not a priority. Like, they were looking to different leaders. And so, this kind of like the kind of actually mental flow that I took to is for when I was reading, it's like, okay, so there's a report.

Hey, the people are fighting, you know. And then I wondered, pastoral loyalty, you know, like, so what ends up happening is when people say, oh, I'm a Paul, you know, Apostle Paul, again, he planted the church. He spent a year and a half there. Of course. I mean, like, you guys, you know, I have no shame in talking about it.

I see Pastor Peter as a spiritual father, and he's ministered to me for the last, like, 15, 16 years. And it's crazy because I just realized the other day, I'm the age that he was when he first met me when I was in college. It's kind of weird, yeah.

And so, literally, for like a generation of time, he's been like my mentor. And do I have an affection for him? Absolutely. If someone were to ask me, like, are you loyal to him? Yeah, I am. And so, you can imagine that kind of stuff happening. Apollos was actually the second pastor.

So, when Apostle Paul left for his second journey, he sent Apollos over there to minister to that church. Peter's ministry, you know, Andy mentioned that there were these Jews. Peter was apostle to the Jews, okay, remember? In the Book of Acts, Chapter 5, Apostle Peter is the one ministering to the Jews, and many were converted under his teaching.

So, he mentions Cephas, that's Apostle Peter. So, you have people who are loyal to Peter. And then, I'm sure there are people who, you know, like, hey, I need no human leader above me, I'm all about Jesus, you know. And so, they're saying, I don't need all these people, I'm just committed to Jesus and whatnot.

So, is that what's happening? And I think there's a sense in which what Karen said, and what you guys said is all true in the sense that they're theologically weak and they're being swayed, there's cultural differences. But there's also this idea, where's the priority of Christ in this, right?

Now, the other thing that I wanted to mention too, though, is trying to think about why are they fighting in this way, you know. Like, we, at our church, we have a senior pastor, but we're in a context where we also have heroes of the faith. Where some of us, if you guys, you know, really, if you guys went to UCLA, you want a grace on campus, you love MacArthur, you know.

If you love John Piper's ministry, you love Piper. You love Keller, you love Keller, you know. And sometimes people have disagreements about who they enjoy. I personally like Alistair Begg, you know. And they have all these disagreements about who's your kind of hero in the faith and who's your favorite preacher and all that kind of stuff.

But we wouldn't fight each other. Why would they go to the degree of fighting each other? Well, some of the commentaries ask this question of, in their identifying with leadership, okay, identifying with leadership, the way that it reads in this Greek is like, I am of this person. I am of that person, okay.

And if you notice, Paul talks about being baptized, and then when you're baptized, you're baptized in someone's name, okay. So by identifying and associating with the leadership, they're saying I have that kind of authority or that kind of clout. Does that make sense? So what's happening here? By identifying with certain individuals, they are seeing themselves as what?

More holy, more righteous. What are they doing when they say, hey, I'm of a Paulist? No, I'm of a Paulist. What they're doing is trying to one-up each other, okay. So the greatest sin of losing sight of Christ's priority is when you place yourself as priority. An argument I'm going to make is, these individuals were just haughty men theologically one-upping each other, having the arrogance, having the arrogance to say I'm better than you because I was under him, okay.

Let me prove this to you. Take your Bibles and we're going to do a little flip through. First Corinthians chapter 3 verse 3, okay. Actually, as a matter of fact, if you guys look at chapter 1 verse 29, he talks about how you guys are all weak, and God chose the weak, why?

So that no man may boast before God. Look at chapter 3 verse 3. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly and are you not walking like men? Take a look at chapter 4 verse 6. For I am conscious of nothing against myself. Oh, sorry, sorry.

Chapter 4 verse 6. Oh, here we go. Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and a Paulist for your sake so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written. So that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against another.

Look at chapter 4 verse 18. Now some have become arrogant as though I were not coming to you. Verse 19. But I will come to you soon if the Lord wills and I shall find out not the words of those who are arrogant but their power. Take a look at chapter 5 verse 2.

It says you have become arrogant and have mourned instead so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst. And we can just keep going on. You see what a major problem in the church has been, right? A huge problem in the church is the arrogance of man where they take something good, the loyalty to a pastor, the appreciation for a man who sacrificed greatly.

They take something good. God has blessed the church with awesome leaders. They take something good and they turn that into exclusivity. They turn that into now I'm better than you. Now I know and you don't. I bet you those people who said I'm of Jesus, I am of Christ alone, I bet you they were the most arrogant.

I don't need a man. You guys look at a pastor, you guys look at Paul, I don't even need him. And they make a claim to Jesus Christ not as a reason to be humbled. They make it a reason to be arrogant and prideful. That's one of the big or huge issues in the church that's hard to address but exists all over, isn't it?

James in James chapter 4 verse 1 through 2 says this, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? It is not the source of your pleasures that wage war in your members. You lust and you do not have so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain so you fight and quarrel.

You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives so that you may spend it on your pleasures." So the problem, yes, is individuals trying to identify with specific leaders. But we can tell their motivation from what Apostle Paul is saying.

They're becoming arrogant with each other. The flesh breeds this kind of arrogance. The only way for us to have unity is for us to humble ourselves, for us to say, "I'm not going to specifically get my preference and what I want but rather I'm going to be empty of this kind of conceit and I'm going to seek the goodwill, the benefit of the people around me." That's how we obtain to unity.

True spirituality is humility. Sin in the flesh is pride. Okay? So I think about that a little bit and really I want to ask, like, you know, and this is maybe for application later. Are there elements of this same kind of pride in our modern day? You know, I think there is.

If you sit there and you're always name dropping like, "I met this guy, I met that guy." If you sit there and you're always talking about this. You know, I love the Master's Seminary. I had such a great time there. My love for Christ deepened there. But I did see some things that were pretty arrogant, you know?

People who were like MacArthur only. Everybody else who's not a MacArthurite is like, "Just weak sauce." You know? And then there are guys who are like, "I met MacArthur." You know? I shook his hand. I'm like, "What the --" He's not like the Holy Spirit. His hand's all wrinkly and old.

He's really old now, by the way. So what if he touched his hand, you know? But you know how it is. If he is your hero, that's fine. Like he's somebody who you look up to. That's great. But when by name dropping, by association, you start thinking of yourself better, that's absolute pride.

And that's the heart of who we are sometimes. We want to associate. We want to be linked to the greatest and the best. So we wear shirts that say Harvard. I don't know if anybody went to Harvard here. I'm sorry if I'm offending you. But stuff like that, you know?

We want to be linked to the greatest and the best. And I can see why these guys, in that time, when they -- the culture of, you know, like they're close to Athens, they're in Greece, they mention their mentors, they mention the philosophers. I studied under that guy. I studied under this guy.

And that's their accolades. So they're sitting there like, "I'm a Paulist. Who are you of, you know? Who'd you learn under?" I can see why that happens. And I bring all that up because you can see how that could happen potentially in our modern day too, right? Pride, arrogance, and pride and self-righteousness by way of association, it can happen in our day, and we need to be careful.

So Apostle Paul, like a good father and also a good doctor, is going to apply some medicine. Let's take a look at Verse 13 through 17. 13 through 17. He says, "Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void." That whole section, Verse 13 through 17, is Apostle Paul reasoning.

I want to ask, what do you see as his strategy in addressing division and fighting? Do you see maybe one big punch, like, "This is where it's at, guys, boom!" Do you see a little jab, jab, jab, jab, jab of little thingies? He's asking all these questions. What's his strategy here, and what point is he getting at?

How is he making his argument? How is he going to make them understand? Yes. Excellent. All right. Good Sunday school answer is always the best, Jesus. But to make it more specific, you know, Karen earlier said, "There is a priority of Christ that in the perspective of every man needs to exist in order for the world to be right." I always believed that.

When there is a whole lot of pain in your life and you can't make sense of things, perhaps the priorities have been mixed and jumbled by your difficult circumstance. Sometimes you feel like you've lost sight of why you're doing what you're doing. Probably the priorities of what you're investing your time and energy into is starting to be in question and suspect now is, where is your priority?

By individuals starting to level up and try to put themselves above and advance over others, where is your priority? So Apostle Paul says through this weird argumentation of, "I'm so glad I didn't baptize. I'm so glad I didn't baptize these people. I'm going to baptize more people." He is making this argument, "My priority in the whole time that I was doing this was Christ and the cross of Christ and the gospel message of Jesus Christ preached.

How do we make sense of this?" It's the same way. It's kind of like asking, "What are you building?" Our church leaders have been saying this from the day one that this church existed. "What are we building?" If we want to one-up our church above another church, we've lost sight of Christ.

"What are we building?" If I want to build my pastoral ministry where now I want to be a PhD, a book-writing pastor with a huge flock, what am I building? If I'm gathering attention to myself, where is my priority? We're not gathering the flocks to Berean because Berean is awesome.

We're gathering to Berean to hear the gospel and to be edified through the gospel, to be edified in the truth of Christ. Ultimate priorities need to always be set, revisited, reestablished, examined, and that's what he's doing. That's why it makes sense that he would say, "I'm glad I didn't baptize a whole mess of you guys because if I did, you would think you were baptized in my name and we would start a cult, a Paul cult.

But I'm so glad that didn't happen because I want you to be absolutely clear my priority was to preach the gospel." And I think for us as we think about this, we have to reassess too that question of what are we trying to build, what is our priority? A lot of times the answer to some of the spiritual questions that we have, "How do you encourage a guy who is being arrogant and prideful?

Do I go up and beat him up so he knows he's weaker than me?" That's kind of like the crane of the brethren. It's like, "Oh, I think you're all good, huh?" And then you go over and you pound him down and now you know your place. Was that the answer?

Paul's apologist gets their perspective straight. And oftentimes that's what we need spiritually. We don't necessarily need to get beaten down into the right position. We need our perspectives and priorities straight. And so that whole section as he starts to ask this question, he is centering his attention on Jesus Christ and he says, "Who am I?

Was I crucified for you? Was I trying to get you to be my disciple so that we can have a nice cult?" He says, "No, my priority was Jesus." And so we come at this last point of verse 17 that we need to focus on too. "For Christ did not send me to be baptized but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void." Okay?

I love Apostle Paul because he truly is a guy who has his priorities and he's always seeing eternal perspective, huge vision. What's the goal, you know? He wants the church complete in Christ, sanctified, presented as a mature man, presented as a pure body. He's always thinking ultimate vision, huge goals, right?

He says here one of the things he wants to make sure that he doesn't do ultimately is to work and labor and do all this stuff, build a church, plant a church, but then the cross of Christ to be made void. I ask this question to you guys as a wrap up.

What would make the cross void in ministry? Maybe take a look at the verse again and try to make sense of what he's saying. He's saying, "I'm so glad I didn't baptize. This was my priority, and I made sure not to do certain things so that the cross would not be made void." Any ideas or thoughts about that?

What would cause, you know, after toiling and trying to build a church and ministering to people, what would cause, you know, the cross of Christ to be void in the midst of that ministry? The elevation of self, okay? Sorry. Okay. Was that a -- Yeah. Good. Okay. Good, good.

Any other thoughts? Yeah. Great answer. I think we should take moments to think about that, you know, as we think about what Alex suggested a moment ago. When an individual or a church makes it its ambition simply to become successful. When a church desires to draw people to the church so that the church can succeed.

When a pastor desires to draw people to his pastor pulpit so that his pulpit would be a success. When we use all sort of tactics to draw people, when the drawing is not being done by the cross of Christ, the cross becomes void. When the main attraction becomes anything other than Christ crucified, the cross becomes void.

That's what he is saying. And so we need to determine the right priority. We need to determine that Christ truly needs to be priority and central. So by way of summary in this passage, okay, by way of summary in this passage, unity is quite powerful, right? Unity is quite powerful, and he wants the church to agree.

Just think about that for a moment how powerful unity is, okay? Many cults draw people by just their unity, you know? So many people are tired of the churches, the Protestant churches, where the elders are fighting in the parking lot, and they're punching each other and boxing it out, you know?

So many people are tired of like, "Why are there millions of denominations, and why is it so confusing?" And so when they find a group where they're like committed to each other and they're in absolute unity and they're striving together, although it might be entirely wrong, they're attracted by that, right?

But the thing about it is those cults are drawn together simply by trying to build that theology. They're knitted together by simply what the cult is trying to accomplish. But for those of us who are in the Lord Jesus Christ, we're held together by his spirit. We're held together by his truth.

We're held together in him. And that should be actually something so powerful as a testimony to what Christ has done. And so so many times in scripture and according to Christ's own words, he calls the church to be in true unity. As a matter of fact, in John chapter 17, Jesus prays in his high priestly prayer before the cross to God he prays that the people would be one.

Just as God and the Son are one, to that measure, Christ prays that the people would be one. In Ephesians 4.3, it says, "Be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace." And if you would, turn your Bibles over to Romans chapter 15. In a context where Apostle Paul challenges the church and says, "Those of you guys who are strong, those of you guys who think you're mature, why don't you bear the weakness of those who are weaker?

Why don't you bear the burden for the edification of the church?" But furthermore, he says this in verse five, "Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, accept one another just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God." So, in thinking about that, Apostle Paul's ultimate vision, he sees the glory of God as the ultimate reason for us to give 100%, give all the energy and persevere in trying to be of one accord and agreement with each other.

Amen? Alright. Any questions about the passage or the stuff that we covered so far? Okay. So, by way of just kind of your discussion, I want to go over some of these questions. Maybe you guys can think about, list as many negative examples or negative ramifications that can result from disunity.

And I gave you one. Your pastors will be really, really sad. Okay? They're going to cry. Name other ramifications of disunity. Okay? What can disunity in the church do for fellowship, do for witness, do for worship, do for practical sanctification? What will disunity in the church cause? Okay? Personal life, church life, all around.

But here's another one that I think would be interesting. How do you react when there are differences of opinion? How do you react when there's confrontation and you're at odds with somebody? How do you typically react? Okay? And, you know, just, again, I put this in there because I know how I typically react.

It's like, I'm not going to deal with you anymore. Goodbye. And then you just leave them alone forever and you don't talk with them, you know? That's sometimes what we do. Share more personally. How do you typically resolve or maybe not resolve? Okay? And then three, I do hope that, again, you guys, you know, there isn't like a small group leader in your small group.

It's just discussion. Let's be as open as possible. Are there any relationships or problems that are still unresolved? Okay? And you guys can all just be like, "Okay, guys, this stays here." Okay? Whatever it may be, just share. Are there things that are unresolved? Are there things that you've ignored for a long time?

And how can you apply, be diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace in that situation? But also please brainstorm, how do we strive for greater unity in-- Man, that is such a bad mistake. Dang it, I thought I was doing so good until the end.

All right. Anyway, you guys know what I mean by that. All right? If it is just to the degree of like, "Hey, maybe I just need to be more open," you know, "Maybe I just need to be more vulnerable." Again, we actually struggle with this at a church as a church is growing.

How much do I share? How much is public? How much is not? We have sisters who are resting like, "I'm pregnant. Do I share this or do I not?" You know? "Do I ask people for prayer? Do I not? Do I wait until the first trimester is over?" We have people where they're suffering.

They struggle with certain things. They wonder, "Should I share? Should I not?" All that kind of stuff. "How much do I pry? How much do I do this?" There's things to talk about, okay? So please talk about those things. And then lastly, your homework assignment is going to be a big chunk.

Verse 18 through Chapter 2, Verse 5, please make all the observations as you can. If you guys need a rule, I typically go by the rule, "At least make two observations for every verse." Okay? And then I always try to ask a question per verse. Now, it takes a while, but it's a good practice.

But I have some questions for you to answer after that, and then you guys can come prepared with that homework. Okay? Any questions? All right, then. Let me pray for us, and then you guys can get into your discussion groups. Heavenly Father, I pray, God, that all the more the spiritual realities would impact us.

That God, although, yes, we are not physical brothers, God, now that we are Christians in the spirit, we are more than brothers. God, that spiritually we are tied, and we are to be one. Father, I pray that these spiritual truths would impact us and cause us, God, to then both function and think underneath that truth.

God, I pray that you would forgive us for any time we've been so prideful. That, God, we would touch your glory, and we would continue striving for our name to be magnified. Forgive us of times when we used, especially of times if we've ever used the church, anything spiritual, for our own end.

I pray, Father, God, that you would humble us, and then, God, that you would restore us and help us to live in humility. Help us to live in true brokenness. For, God, we know that then we are strong in you. Lord, I pray that you would cause us to be a church, not arrogant and not prideful, thinking that we are more than that we truly are.

But, God, that you would cause us to be a church truly humble in the spirit. Father, Lord, we thank you for your word. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.