WEBVTT 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:31.790 I'm gonna stick close to my notes today because I wanna make sure we get done in time. But I wanted to share with you that what we're talking about, this is really message for me that I wanted to share with you. Because I know that when there's a lot of change on the horizon, our differences are intensified. And we realize quickly that unity together isn't natural. I mean, it's not the normal thing. 00:00:32.670 --> 00:00:55.235 And that a lot of trust, a lot of grace, a lot of patience is required. A lot of intentional effort. Especially when, like with the bylaws and the statement of faith and this kind of stuff, it's when we care deeply, very deeply, about things we disagree with. And over the last couple of weeks, I've sat in a lot of meetings. I've had a lot of coffees. 00:00:55.555 --> 00:01:27.935 I've read a lot of emails, a lot of conversations about all of the things that we have introduced to you all with the bylaws and statement of faith and stuff. And you have raised a lot of important questions. And the main question, at least for me, that keeps resurfacing is, can we have significant disagreement and still be a family? Because that's a really good question. And it's hard to answer sometimes. 00:01:27.935 --> 00:01:48.265 Can there be significant disagreement And we still be a family. Because I'm telling you, I've been in many churches before, so have many of you. But it's not inevitable. Honestly, it's not even that common sometimes. That followers of Jesus have been trying to figure out how to follow Jesus together since the very beginning. 00:01:48.265 --> 00:02:21.575 And disagreements were happening even in the early church. And a couple of months ago, I preached on Acts 15, where we talked about a disagreement that could have, and in many instances should have, split the early church. And it didn't because of the grace and the humility and the love and the seeking through the Holy Spirit of those early apostles and followers of Christ. Today we're gonna look at another one. And if you have a Bible, you are welcome to open. 00:02:21.575 --> 00:02:42.985 We're gonna be in first Corinthians chapter one. The verses will be on the screen when it comes up. But I don't know if I ever told you this, but when I lived in Texas during seminary, I worked for Chuck Swindoll. And I'm not sure I ever told you that, but it's pretty impressive, right? It's completely untrue as well. 00:02:44.345 --> 00:02:58.360 Chuck Swindoll doesn't know who I am. I did, I was a youth pastor about two miles from his church though in Texas. And so I knew him. So I feel like maybe it's like he knows me too. Probably not. 00:02:58.520 --> 00:03:18.345 But for those who know who Chuck Swindoll is, at first you were impressed, right? I mean, I was impressed just by telling you that, even though it wasn't true. And when you say stuff like that, it kind of gives you credibility immediately. Like, oh, oh, oh, this guy. Okay. 00:03:18.345 --> 00:03:30.820 He has a little extra authority. And I think we do this all the time with people. Like, you know, whose podcast are you listening to? I'm listening to so and so. What denomination do you belong to? 00:03:31.700 --> 00:03:53.920 What's your theological tribe? I mean, we have these things. We attach ourselves to people in groups, it's like their credibility becomes our credibility. And I think that's exactly what was happening in Corinth when Paul was writing this letter of first Corinthians to them. And so I wanted to look at that together. 00:03:53.920 --> 00:04:24.620 I think you're gonna see a little bit of this right from the beginning. We're gonna be in chapter one verse 10, and this is what Paul says. I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church, rather be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. I love that the NLT uses the word harmony. 00:04:25.180 --> 00:04:52.820 That's the word that's translated here because if if you are like me, I love good music. And some of the best parts of music for me are when singers or musicians are singing and playing in harmony. It means that, you know, they're not all playing the same note, but different notes are being played, but they fit together well. And what harmony does is it requires listening. It requires cooperation. 00:04:53.860 --> 00:05:09.775 And I love that for this passage, because Paul is saying, I'm not asking you to be identical. I'm not asking you to sing in unison. Everybody's singing the same note. He's calling them to live in harmony. Don't let your differences divide you. 00:05:09.775 --> 00:05:19.240 Let them make it richer. Remember who you are. Remember your purpose. Seek harmony. Seek unity together. 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:38.765 And then he says in verse 11, my brothers and sisters, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. Shout out to Chloe and her household. Nobody knows who that is. But, her people are taking care of business. And so, they're exposing the quarrels that are happening in the church. 00:05:39.245 --> 00:05:57.180 Believers dividing themselves into camps. And look at verse 12, here are the camps that they're doing. Some of you are saying, I am a follower of Paul. Others, a follower of Apollos, or Peter, or I only follow Christ. You gotta love those people, because they're like, I don't follow any person, I just follow Christ, you know. 00:05:57.180 --> 00:06:09.725 And these names, they were like badges for the first church. And we do this today. Like, you know, I'm reformed. I'm charismatic. I follow John MacArthur, right? 00:06:09.725 --> 00:06:41.640 And we do these kinds of things, and we put ourselves in camps that basically say, you and I are different, rather than seeing them as harmony. From the very beginning, it's kinda disappointing, isn't it? To know that from the very beginning, from the first century, the church was being divided into camps already. And Paul is trying to hold this struggling family together. And so much so that verse 13, it almost feels sarcastic. 00:06:41.880 --> 00:06:56.105 Because he says this, he says, has Christ been divided into factions? I mean, was I Paul crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not. Of course not. 00:06:56.505 --> 00:07:08.920 Paul wasn't crucified for you. Neither was Apollos or Peter. It was Jesus. And that's the point. Why are you making Paul the sinner? 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:28.345 Or Apollos? Why are you letting these other allegiances divide the family that Jesus died to create? It's so much bigger than Paul. So much bigger than Apollos. Bigger than you, bigger than me, bigger than the camps we belong to. 00:07:28.425 --> 00:07:56.385 Remember who you belong to. And then Paul offers for the next several verses a powerful explanation of the cross that ends with these words in verse 30. God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit, God made him, Jesus, to be wisdom itself through the cross he's talking about. Christ made us right with God. 00:07:57.105 --> 00:08:26.365 He made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. The you in this verse, God has united you, it isn't you, Don, you, individual, it's you, us. It's a plural you. It's you all. God has united all of you, all of us, together, as one with Messiah Jesus. 00:08:27.405 --> 00:09:02.080 And verse 31 says, therefore, as the scripture say, if you wanna boast in something, if you wanna boast in your camp, make it camp Jesus, make it boast only about the Lord. If there's anything that deserves our allegiance, if there's anything to boast about, it's Jesus, crucified and resurrected, like we sang today. That, that is our center, all of us. Our unity doesn't require agreement on everything. Our unity just requires allegiance to Jesus. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:24.775 The person of Jesus, the way of Jesus. And it's really important because I am sure, as I said at the beginning, this one's for me. And so my agenda is just trying to keep my eyes on Jesus. But I want you to not misunderstand me. Paul is not saying that beliefs don't matter. 00:09:25.495 --> 00:09:47.685 Because he spends literally the rest of this letter to one Corinthians correcting belief and behavior in the Corinthian church. And I mean, that's the point. Unity is not avoiding hard conversations. And man, we've had a lot of those lately. And unity isn't saying that theology or beliefs don't matter. 00:09:48.165 --> 00:09:59.445 I mean, hope not. My degree is in theology. If that doesn't matter, what a waste, right? No. That was awesome. 00:10:01.420 --> 00:10:23.275 Unity, it's refusing to let our disagreements become more important than Jesus. Let me repeat that. Unity is refusing to let our disagreements become more important than Jesus. And it's allowing disagreement to actually form us. Learning to make room for others. 00:10:23.275 --> 00:11:11.015 Learning to love people we don't disagree, we don't agree with. Two more passages of scripture, because Romans really, Paul, in the same way with the Corinthians, he was doing similar things with the Romans, and he said something that's just really powerful for a church that is going through a lot of discussion about a statement of faith, and a lot of different opinions about things that are not necessarily foundational. And Paul says this in Romans fourteen:one, accept other believers who are weak in faith. Don't argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. In verse 13, he says, so let's stop condemning each other, but decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall. 00:11:12.055 --> 00:11:31.470 I feel like what Paul is saying is have conviction for what you believe. Have conviction for how you think life should be lived. Just don't turn those convictions into a reason to reject people, because people are never the enemy. Sin is the enemy. Satan is the enemy. 00:11:31.550 --> 00:11:58.710 Evil is the enemy. Oppression is the enemy, but people are not the enemy. Our center though, what keeps us united is Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected. And that's why for centuries, followers of Jesus were reciting the Apostles' Creed to name the center. I'm not gonna read it to you, but you know, this is the Apostles' Creed, a core document within our statement of faith. 00:11:58.710 --> 00:12:12.115 Just answering questions like, who is God? Who is Jesus? What is the gospel? What is our hope? Avalon's foundational beliefs is our attempt to put this shared center into words. 00:12:13.395 --> 00:12:27.110 But beyond that, followers of Jesus have disagreed about a lot of things. A lot of important things. End times. Women in ministry, which we've had lots of conversations about. Baptism, infant or believers? 00:12:27.270 --> 00:12:34.455 Sprinkled or dumped? Right? I mean, people have been arguing about these things forever. And they're important questions. They are. 00:12:34.935 --> 00:12:49.190 But they're just not the center. Followers of Jesus, trying to be faithful to scripture, have often reached different conclusions. We have. We still do. But none of us have arrived. 00:12:49.190 --> 00:13:09.035 None of us have all of the, we don't have the whole thing locked and saying, well, everything I believe is exactly right. We're all still being formed into the likeness of Jesus. I am. I assume you are. You know, like you haven't got it all together yet, because I am a long way from being like Jesus. 00:13:09.915 --> 00:13:23.690 And if somebody has to get everything right before they can belong to our family, I would say none of us qualifies. Amen? Amen. Belonging means we share a foundational confession. Jesus Christ is Lord. 00:13:24.810 --> 00:13:44.840 And yeah, we've talked about this too recently, but leaders and teachers do have a greater responsibility to represent what our church believes and practices, and that is true. But belonging, it begins in the center. Jesus is Lord. So I wanna invite the worship team. You guys, I hope you're in the room because that's pretty quick. 00:13:44.920 --> 00:14:10.320 But would you guys come back up? And I appreciate it. And while they're coming up, I wanna ask you a question. So with all of the changes, all the stuff that's going on, all of the beliefs and stuff that are being raised up, what do we do when we disagree? I mean, is it okay to have deep convictions on things that aren't necessarily foundational? 00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:29.295 Of course it is. But what we do is we do not turn people into enemies. We listen without immediately going on the defensive. We disagree without contempt. We leave room for the Holy Spirit to keep forming them and us. 00:14:30.815 --> 00:14:47.150 This isn't just a church issue, church. This happens in your family. This happens in your marriages, in our marriages. This happens with friends, and at work, and online, and in politics. With people who we love, who see the world very differently than we do. 00:14:49.755 --> 00:15:11.950 Disagreement is like, we've said this before in other ways, but disagreement is like squeezing a jelly donut. When we disagree with people, very often what's on the inside squirts out. When I'm in a disagreement with somebody, do I become angry? Sometimes. Do I always need to win? 00:15:13.630 --> 00:15:32.650 Sometimes. Do I always need to prove that I am right? My family would say sometimes. What's on the inside squirts out, and I don't like it. But disagreement, it always reveals what's at our center. 00:15:32.730 --> 00:15:53.705 Is it Jesus or is it something else? And very often, it's a little bit of both. So that's the opportunity we have in front of us. You know, as we update our bylaws, as we create a statement of faith together, our differences are brought front and center. And it raises important questions, and it raises real concerns. 00:15:54.540 --> 00:16:20.245 And tomorrow night, we get a chance to practice what we've been talking about. We may not all agree, we are not gonna all agree, but we can make every effort to keep unity, listening and asking questions, treating each other with dignity, and remembering that Jesus Christ, he is our center. Paul didn't die for us. Apollos didn't die for us. I didn't die for us. 00:16:21.685 --> 00:16:40.240 My theological tribe didn't die, and neither did yours for us. My politics and your politics didn't die for us, only Jesus. And not only did he die, he raised from the dead, crucified and resurrected. He is our center. And so maybe today that's your next step. 00:16:40.665 --> 00:17:24.425 Maybe you've been, you've given your allegiance to an idea or to a tribe or to a person or simply to yourself. Maybe today it's time to give allegiance to Jesus, to follow him, to be formed by his spirit. In just a second, I wanna pray. What I appreciate about what Paul is saying is he's talking to the church, and he's saying Jesus is the center. So church, and we have many people who are visiting today, and we're so glad you're here. 00:17:25.450 --> 00:17:51.625 And our allegiances are often all over the place. So for this moment, I just wanna challenge all of us. Are we willing to recenter our lives around the only thing that gives eternal life? Are we willing to recenter our lives around the only thing that will will fill the the hole in our soul as CS Lewis says? That's the that's the offer that Jesus says. 00:17:51.625 --> 00:18:13.495 I came not to condemn the world, but to save the world. I came to bring life, to bring forgiveness of sin, to bring unity with God, our Father. So let's pray together. Jesus, I pray that you will help us. Holy Spirit, I pray that you will fill us right now. 00:18:15.015 --> 00:19:07.435 Will you give us eyes to see the other allegiances that we have in our lives so that we can repent and really just lay them before you and say, take that away. We want Jesus and Jesus Christ alone to be our center as individuals, as family members, even as a people, that is what we pray, Jesus. And I, Lord, if there are people in the room right now, including myself, who are recognizing other allegiances that keep us divided, I pray that we would give them to you. We would lay them at your feet. If there are people in this room who have never committed their life to you and laid themselves at your feet, I pray that they would have the courage to do that right now. 00:19:08.315 --> 00:19:37.549 Jesus, we believe with everything in us that you came, died, rose again, and sit at the right hand of the Father. And that as your people, we are called to join you in bringing your kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. Help us to say yes to you. In your name, I pray. Amen.