Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20001001.htm

1 CORINTHIANS: MINISTERING TO BELIEVERS WITH DEEP PAGAN BACKGROUNDS
Part II: Overcoming Divisions Between Believers Caused By Following Human Personalities
(1 Corinthians 1:10-17)
  1. Introduction
    1. The history of the Christian Church is marred by notable divisions even between fellow believers of like faith and doctrinal beliefs! It is well then for us to review Scriptures on overcoming such things.
    2. 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 focuses on handling divisions caused by valuing personalities in various believers:
  2. Overcoming Divisions Between Believers Caused By Following Human Personalities, 1 Cor. 1:10-17.
    1. Paul called the Corinthians to overcome divisions among them caused by following personalities, 1:10-12
      1. He admonished the group to avoid letting normal disagreements between them harm relations, 1:10a.
      2. This call arose as disagreements had the potential of creating divisions, or cliques of believers, 1:10b.
      3. Paul could actually name the cliques as Chloe's household had reported the Corinthians had a cliques that hailed various personalities above other personalities among their leaders, 1 Corinthians 1:11-12:
        1. Some hailed Paul as their "hero" in the faith possibly because he was the first apostle to have evangelized the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 1:12 with 3:6a; 4:15.
        2. Others felt Apollos was their "hero" due possibly to his great preaching skill, 1:12b; Acts 18:24-28.
        3. Some saw Peter as "hero" perhaps due to his being used of Christ to open God's kingdom to all classes of men in the Church era, 1:12c with Mtt. 16:18-19; Acts 2:38-41; 8:14-15; 10:44-48.
        4. Another group saw Jesus as their "hero" since He founded the Christian faith, 1:12d; Hebrews 12:2.
    2. In doing so, Paul revealed the cause and cure for such personality difference divisions, 1 Cor 1:13-17:
      1. A value system that places a high priority on human ability or characteristics of Christian leaders becomes the environment for fomenting personality difference cliques, 1 Corinthians 1:12.
        1. People at Corinth had begun to focus on the unique, personal characteristics of Paul, Apollos, Peter and Jesus, and this had led to them selecting one of these leaders as a "hero," 1 Corinthians 1:12.
        2. As a result, people viewed one personality as more valuable than the others in their minds, 1:10-11.
      2. This valuation of one personality over the others in thinking in time led to divisive in actions, 1:10:
        1. When one preferred one leader's person over another, he would eventually voice his preference, and that would counter another party's voiced preference for another leader, 1 Corinthians 1:10a.
        2. This difference of preference led to a division into parties of rooting sections for various men, 10b
        3. In time, a full-blown division over loyalty to personalities had cropped up! (1 Cor. 1:11-12)
      3. Thus, PAUL reminded the Corinthian believers of the FALLACY of setting a high priority on the HUMAN LEADERS in the Christian faith AND NOT ON CHRIST, 1 Corinthians 1:13-17:
        1. He reminded the believers that it was not Paul, Apollos or Peter who was the KEY Personality of their faith: it was the ONE Lord Jesus Who was that Key Figure: (a) Jesus, the head of the Christian faith, is One Personality, 1 Cor. 1:13a. (b) Also, it had not been Paul, Peter or Apollos who had been crucified for their sin, but Christ alone, 1 Cor. 1:13b. (c) Finally, it was not the name of Paul, Peter or Apollos by whom the believers had been baptized, but in Christ's name, 13c.
        2. Paul recalled he had not emphasizef baptizing his converts so as to hinder developing a personality cult development: rather, he minimized baptism as a ministry as his focus was be on leading people to believe in Christ above baptising, 1 Cor. 1:14-17: (a) Paul noted that he notably baptized only a few of his converts lest people would say he baptized in his own name, 1:14-15, 16. (b) This was consistent with Paul's calling not to baptize, but to see men saved by faith in Christ, 1 Cor. 1:17. (Note how 1 Cor. 1:17 reveals water baptism does not save, but that faith in the Gospel does!)
Lesson: Paul called the Corinthians to counter their divisions caused by following human personalities by showing that Christianity is truly built around only ONE Person -- Jesus, not His human church leaders! Accordingly, we must de-emphasize human personalities and focus on Christ's Person alone!

Application: We AVOID or OVERCOME divisiveness created by cliques that follow various HUMAN LEADERS in the Church by recalling that (1) our FAITH is built on ONE Leader -- Christ ALONE! (2) That being so, we view God's human leaders as SIGNPOSTS that ONLY point to JESUS ALONE!