Prizing and Protecting our Unity

Based on 1 Corinthians 1 and 1 Corinthians 3 (ESV)

1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,
   ² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
   ³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:1-3)

1. The Bible teaches us both how to be followers of Jesus personally and individually and how to be the together with other believers.

⁴ I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— ⁶ even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁸ who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:4-9)

2. Because of his , God us into fellowship with Jesus and with one another.

3. No matter our season or circumstances, God is now and always will be .

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. (1 Corinthians 1:10-11)

4. God intends for us to be , not .

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? (1 Corinthians 1:12-13)

5. Disunity can be rooted in a wrongly calibrated commitment to spiritual .

We should honor, respect, esteem highly, imitate, obey, and
submit to the authority of our spiritual leaders,
but we should not idolize them, put them on a pedestal, allow them to be unaccountable, or elevate them above our commitment to Jesus, the gospel, and the truth of God’s word.

3 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. ² I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, ³ for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? ⁴ For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? (1 Corinthians 3:1-4)

6. Disunity is often a sign of personal and spiritual .

⁵ What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷ So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸ He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. ⁹ For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

¹⁰ According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. ¹¹ For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— ¹³ each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:5-15)

7. Spiritual leaders should be regarded as and .

This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ² Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:1-2, ESV)

8. God is the .

¹⁶ Do you not know that you [plural] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you [plural]? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you [plural] are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17)

9. God takes unity in the church – and we should too!

¹⁶ There are six things that the Lord hates,
   seven that are an abomination to him:
¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
   and hands that shed innocent blood,
¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked plans,
   feet that make haste to run to evil,
¹⁹ a false witness who breathes out lies,
   and one who sows discord among brothers.
(Proverbs 6:16-19, ESV)

10. Unity is both a and a .

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, ⁶ so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6, NIV84).

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ² with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³ eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1-3, ESV)

Behold, how good and pleasant it is
when brothers dwell in unity!
(Psalm 133:1, ESV)