Father in heaven, thank you for inviting us into a relationship with you. Lord, that is such an encouragement to be united with you. As we live in this world, let us continue to live with endurance and courage, as we faithfully follow you. In studying your word today, help us imitate your humility. Give us a motivation of love, valuing those who are against us, finding reconciliation with them.

I pray for the individuals wrestling with division and disunity in their lives. Lord, we need harmony and peace. We had it, but now we don’t. The culture wars around us has caused that harmony and peace harder to grasp. It slips out of our hands more frequently, so easily. God, it’s unattainable without you. Encourage us to this end.

There are others here with decisions that need to be made that will divide them with others. But we know you will be standing with all of them when those decisions are made. Whether that decision is to buy a house, change careers, adopting, fostering, starting a new business, moving cross country. Perhaps, even sharing their faith with somebody far from you. I don’t know what that decision is, but I pray your wisdom will permeate through their decision-making processes and fill their conversations and debates with love and care.

We want your mindset of humility. We want your mindset of servitude. We want to be in unison with your spirit and not be conceited with our own ambitions or achievements.

Unite our hearts and minds with your own. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jonathan Haidt, is a moral psychologist, wrote this in the Atlantic[1] a few months ago:

The story of Babel is the best metaphor I have found for what happened to America … the fractured country we now inhabit. Something went terribly wrong, very suddenly. We are disoriented, unable to speak the same language or recognize the same truth. We are cut off from one another….

It’s been clear for quite a while now that red America and blue America are becoming like two different countries claiming the same territory, with two different versions of the Constitution, economics, and American history. But Babel is not a story about tribalism; it’s a story about the fragmentation of everything. It’s about the shattering of all that had seemed solid, the scattering of people who had been a community. It’s a metaphor for what is happening not only between red and blue, but within the left and within the right, as well as within universities, companies, professional associations, museums, and even families.

All that to conclude that our we’re living in a ridiculous, dysfunctional, and unsustainably divided time. If this continues unchecked and unmitigated, our society will collapse like the city of Babel. So, that being the world we now occupy,

Key Question: How can we truly experience unity despite our differences?

I know loaded question.

There are actually two ways: through consensus or through solidarity. Here’s the difference between the two.

• Consensus is cheap, it is simply about a good-faith effort to find a place that is comfortable for all parties.
  • Consensus comes and goes as minds change.
  • This is thinking we if it benefits me.
  • We see this in politics or in business, making deals, it’s basically a temporary truce.

• Solidarity, on the other hand, costs something. It’s tying the wellbeing of somebody else with your own.
  • Solidarity does not change because your wellbeing is directly correlated to the wellbeing of another.
  • This is thinking we and not me.
  • We see this in acts of kindness and benevolence, parent-child relationships.

The reason our culture is so divided these days is because we’ve learned to pattern our notions of unity based on ideas of consensus instead of solidarity.

As a result we see people vomiting social norms, because our norms were based on what was acceptable in consensus with others. But now we have social media and the internet and can find people who fit the norms we want. So what was once normal and acceptable is deviant to whatever subgroup we’re a part of.

The consensus we once had within society is now all splinter groups aiming for recognition. We find this trend even more so within our faith. People who claim to be Christ followers but don’t actually follow Christ in practice are usually the loudest, and they get the headlines! They put up lots of Bible passages on their Facebook and Instagram, but it’s all out of context and crazy. So the already crazy, divided, messed up society looks at Christians and laughs because well, we look like them. We’ve already been scattered like the people of Babel, at least the world practices what it preaches, we don’t even know what we practice, because we’re not here on Sundays to hear it preached.

That brings us to 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 because unity in our diversity is a great idea, but the mindset to foster true unity amongst a very diverse people is much more difficult and complicated. Let’s read it together.

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. ¹² What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” ¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. (1 Corinthians 1:10-17a ESV)

Let’s cut to the chase. The point the Apostle Paul is making in the first century applies to us today:

Big Idea: God’s people are not divided.

We cannot be!

Denominational Divisions

Did you know there are something like 45,000+ Christian denominations in the globe today?

A denomination, for those of you who grew up at a non-denominational church, like Woodside, is a group of churches marked by differences in name, polity, and doctrines. For example, Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, Mennonite, Christian Assemblies, just to name a few.

Basically, it’s how Christians differentiate themselves from others. I know I’m going to get in trouble for this. But basically, each denomination in the universal church says that the way they practice following Jesus is the right way. And since we can no longer find unity with you, we’re going to leave the consensus we had with you and divide off and do this other thing over here with these groups of churches that are in the same mind and thought as us right now.

Non-denominational churches, like Woodside, we do this too. We say that our distinctives don’t fit neatly into one denomination or another, but we welcome all people from any background to worship God, as long as you find consensus in worshipping like we do. Sure, we don’t carry the same historical baggage as denominational churches, but lets be real. People are people, are people, we all sin and fall very short of the glory of God.

What?! Did you think I’d just talk smack about some churches and not include our own church?

Church History of Splits

History lesson. When Jesus died, was resurrected, and then ascended into the heaven, there was only one church. Then in 1,054 there was a great schism where the church in the west and the church in the east excommunicated each other. You see the solidarity the church had in its inception broke down because they opted for consensus. That consensus lasted until two groups of churches were uncomfortable with one another. So, they excommunicated each other.

The groups of churches in the western Roman Empire would become the Catholic Church and the churches on the eastern side of the Roman Empire would become the Orthodox church. The Orthodox Church would continue to be one church, until the fall of Constantinople in 1453, at that point, 23 denominations formed within that church—mostly around geographical and political lines.

Meanwhile the grouping of churches in the West were united in some form of consensus until 1517. That’s when the priest, Martin Luther, tired of the church selling indulgences to pay for building renovations and the lifestyles of priests, started the reformation movement by nailing his 95 theses to a catholic church in Germany. Then with the onset of the Gutenberg press, and people having access to Bibles that can be read in their native languages, churches across the western world began to split off from the Catholic Church.

Most of us in this church, are the products of the ongoing reformation within western churches that were birthed and are continuing to be birthed out of that movement. Gordon Conwell Seminary in Boston estimates that there is a new denomination forming every 10 or 11 hours. What is that, like 2.3 new denominations per day?

The reason denominations form that frequently is simple: It’s because the consensus they once had with the old denomination fell apart and in an attempt to make sure that there are no divisions and that there is unity within believers, Christians divide themselves in the guise of unity and peace. They will argue that they split so there is no infighting. Of course there will be no infighting you just started something new with a group of people who agree with you. Friend clique much? That is of course until the next person gets an idea.

On a macro level, just looking at church history, you can see that consensus does not produce the unity the Apostle Paul is urging the Corinthian church to have. That’s because consensus only works until somebody decides it doesn’t work or doesn’t feel good anymore.

On a micro level, most of us know that consensus wasn’t going to produce lasting unity because honestly, we don’t want to be tied down to another person. It’s bad enough we are tied down to our spouses and kids. It’s bad enough that our property values are tied to our neighbors who share a property line with us. We have learned to walk with people until we’re not in consensus with them anymore.

We call it a season of life. Be real, we know it’s not a season. You’re not going back to walk with that person you left behind. You’ve already said goodbye because you’re never ever getting back together with them.

• That’s why some of you are so lonely and complaining about it!
• That’s why you’re more disconnected than you ever been or felt before.
• And if that’s you, I want you to aim bigger.

Solidarity is True Unity

Go tie the wellbeing of others with your own and experience true unity in solidarity with people.

Let’s look at verse 10 again. ¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 

The Apostle Paul is talking about the marks of solidarity—no divisions, united with the same mind and judgment.

The ESV short changes what the Apostle Paul wrote in the Greek for “be united.” In Greek, he uses the word, “kat-ar-tizō” which emphasizes the level of unity that needs to be achieved. That level is “perfect unity.”

Only when you have perfect unity, will you be in total agreement with no divisions, with the same mind and same judgment—in fact, that’s the only way you can experience solidarity with another person. The Apostle wants us to be in perfect unity in the name of Jesus Christ because in Jesus Christ, shows us what it means to be in solidarity with people not like himself—to tie our wellbeing to is own.

Family, we’re called to be perfectly united with people who do not share and will not share our viewpoints, opinions, experiences, skills, giftings, or philosophies.

I want to make this distinction: Unity is not uniformity.

• You and me can follow different people on Instagram, twitter, tiktok and still be in unity.
• You can be republican and I can be democrat and still be in unity.
• You can be Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, or whatever and we can still be in unity.
• You can be of different races and cultures and ethnicities and still be in unity.

So even in our diversity, we can be united because unity is not uniformity. Unity is tying your wellbeing with those of another.

About Pride

Verse 11.

¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. ¹² What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” ¹³ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 

I love the sarcasm here, “I follow Paul or Apollos or Cephas or Christ.” People like to make distinctions based on arbitrary markers and traits and then we like to exclude others who don’t share the same traits and markers. We call it uniqueness.

It comes from wanting to be set apart and feeling special. You can even say it comes from pride.

The Corinthians in their pride, hoping there is more status, more authority, more spiritual favor that comes from claiming consensus in one person or another are dividing into factions when the point has been who Jesus is and what he did for us.

Jesus was of God, he became man, died for our sins, and was resurrected in victory over sin and death. He unites us with God and reconciles us to our father in heaven and restores us to who God created us to be.

Really let this sink in: we divide and are divisive with one another because we’re prideful.

That’s why consensus is all we can really muster – it’s the place of temporary agreement.

It’s why we don’t want to tie the wellbeing of others with our own because we know it will bring us down.

Pride is a sin.

• Pride is what got Satan kicked out of heaven.
  • He desired to be God, instead of serving God.
• Pride tells us that we deserve to be serve,
  • but Jesus doesn’t redeem us to be served
• We are redeemed to serve 

Just think about the last time you had a falling out with somebody or fought with somebody. The root cause was pride telling you not to give in, not to submit, not to humble yourself, not to serve.

• Pride doesn’t allow you to reconcile.
• Pride doesn’t allow for restoration.

And without reconciliation and restoration, we will never have perfect unity. You need reconciliation and restoration to have solidarity with those you are divided and separated from.

Striving for perfect unity will cause us to labor with one another in the same reconciliation and restoration Jesus demonstrated and provided for us.

That can only happen when our pride dies!

Are you willing to kill your pride for the sake of unity?

If yes, can we go to Philippians 2 real quick. Verse 1.

¹So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, ² complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. ³ Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. ⁴ Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:1-4 ESV)

You kill pride by having the same mind and judgment as Christ: being full of love, without ambition or conceit, and in humility counting others more significant than ourselves while looking for their best interests.

Then we can:

Point 1: Acknowledge and mend what’s been torn.

That’s what reconciliation is—Acknowledging and mending what’s been torn with the same mind and judgment as Christ. To do that, we must first:

Suspend Self-Interest

Reconciliation can only start when we suspend our self-interest. You want perfect unity in your marriage, then suspend your self-interest.

You do this by asking, what is in “their” best interest? That’s hard!

The night Jesus was betrayed by Judas, he prayed to God to remove the cup of crucifixion from him. He had a hard time suspending his self-interest. Jesus’ didn’t want to die a horrific death on the cross. You think he wanted to be stripped naked so he can indefinitely hang off the side of a highway?

Jesus didn’t want to lose his connection with the Father in taking on the punishment for our sins. They weren’t even his sins that he was punished for!

In the end, Jesus submitted to the Father by saying, “not my will, but your will be done.” Jesus suspended self interest and willingly went to the cross to reconcile us.

[do not read title] Own the Divisions

What’s interesting about Jesus suspending his self-interest is the fact that he owned the division between us and the father. On the cross, Jesus owned all of our sins, that’s why he was punished for them. He own the very thing that separated us from God.

He wouldn’t be our redeemer if he didn’t own our sins past, present, and future.

Owning the divisions with the goal of reconciliation will hurt. Especially if you are not the cause of the division. But it’s absolutely necessary.

By extending yourself this way, you tie your wellbeing with another person. This is not symbolic, this is solidarity rising within two people who were once divided.

When we own the division, we can rightly start:

Walking in Others’ Shoes

Then and only then can we start reconciling our relationships, so they can be restored to the glory God intended. Did you know Jesus is the one who gave us, walking in others’ shoes?

Look again at how Paul explains the model Jesus gave us in Philippians to kill our pride and seek reconciliation and restoration for perfect unity in him.

⁵ Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men….

Jesus came to walk the earth like you and me, fragile, breakable, afflicted, and subjected to society and culture. He took off his own shoes first. Jesus let go of his everything, so he could walk in our shoes. He walked in our shoes even though he didn’t have to. He was God, but he chose to take a posture of humility, to be subjected to that which he created.

Take off your shoes – that’s your ambitions, vulnerabilities, fears, passions, skills, strength, issues, and pressures—those things that puff up your pride. If you want to walk in other peoples’ shoes, you have to first take off your own shoes. That must be our posture always—that’s how you kill the pride we harbor in our hearts.

In order to walk in other people’s shoes we must first literally, you must take off your own shoes so you can put their shoes on and explore the world as they experience it.

Is that our normal posture in between Sundays?

The reason we don’t understand the people who stand divided with us is because even when we want to empathize with them, we still have our shoes on! At best, the most we can do is sympathize.

Feeling bad about somebody’s situation doesn’t make you united with them. Perfect unity can only be achieved when you understand, feel, and think about a situation or circumstance as they do, because that’s when their wellbeing is attached to your own.

Let’s pick it up in verse 14 in 1 Corinthians.

¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.)

Paul baptized three people. Or at least three people and their households.

• Crispus – according to Acts 18, was the chief Jewish synagogue leader in Corinth that Paul converted to Christianity, and as a result, influenced a lot of people in Corinth to also place their faith in Jesus.
• Gaius – according to Romans 16, was the host of the Corinthian church. You see, back then, churches weren’t in great buildings like ours. They met in homes. Like our life groups.
• Stephanas – according to 1 Corinthians 16, was a foreigner, who serves on the ministry team in Corinth by serving and giving.

Paul makes mention of these three families being baptized by him to eliminate divisions caused by pride in who baptized who. Paul is owning the torn relationship. He is trying to walk in their shoes or at least have them walk in his shoes. But that’s not enough. So Paul continues in verse 17:

 ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Reconciliation is not enough. Perfect unity requires restoration of relationship. So we:

Point 2. Turn to the one and only Christ. (vv. 13-17)

When you look at verse 17, Paul dispels any notion that baptism is regeneration or salvation in itself. Being baptized doesn’t give you into eternal life reconciled and restoration with God. A person needs to accept the good news of Jesus in faith for that. In fact, the power of God is anchored in receiving the gospel, not in being baptized by a certain person!

Baptism is our response to receiving the gospel. We respond to the gospel by publicly declaring our faith in Jesus Christ, signifying and sealing our adoption into Christ. If you receive the gospel, get baptized! We do it every month here. Email us, message us, testify to the power of the cross in your life.

Paul just points to the cross of Jesus in the hopes of reconciliation and restoration because the cross of Jesus is the source of power that fuels reconciliation and restoration. He says that’s his goal and motive.

I love what he says, he “preached the gospel not with words of eloquent wisdom….” He’s not trying impress anybody when he is testifying about who God is and what he is doing. He is simply saying, turn to the one and only Christ!

Christ restores us to perfect unity.

Family, when we share the gospel and how Jesus changes our lives, we don’t need the fancy arguments. It’s just telling them what Jesus did on the cross for you and me because he loves us.

This is the gospel:

• That God, in his mercy and grace, sent his one and only son to take on the form of man to live a perfect life
• That Christ willingly died on the cross for our sins to satisfy justice owed as punishment for our sins.
• He died as a peace offering, was buried.
• Christ triumphed over sin and death by being physically resurrected on the third day,
• All who trust in him through faith are raised to new life in this world and to everlasting life in the world to come.

Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we are perfectly united with our father and our spiritual family. So we turn to Christ to experience the solidarity of perfect unity here and now.

That’s the power of the cross of Jesus! As his disciples:

• We don’t have to be divided because of pride
• We don’t have to shrink back in hopelessness
• We have our wellbeing tied to the cross of Jesus
• We are in agreement, with no divisions, perfectly united in the same mind and the same judgment as our savior.
• We reconcile and restore through our posture of humility

God’s people are not divided.

Are you ready to live the life of perfect unity?

Let’s pray.

Father, you sent your son to redeem us. Thank you for your son, Jesus. Thank you for the reconciliation and restoration we experience by his blood. You renew us with your spirit, uniting us with love. God, I ask that you continue to assure us in faith, that our lives may be full with hope and perfect unity.

Lord, for those of us here who are still unreconciled with you, I ask that you send your Holy Spirit. Let your Spirit be received and dwell in us so we can be restored to you. Fill us with your spirit’s presence so we can be found in you forever.

For those of us who live lives scattered by division, and dissention; bring healing, reconciliation, and restoration to those relationships. Lord, let perfect unity be the mark of our discipleship in our lives. So the world will know you are faithful even when we are faithless. That we have grace and peace which can only be given to us as a gift from you.

Sanctify us as we follow you. In Jesus name. Amen.

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[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/