Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20070617.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Corinthians: Discipling Believers With Very Sinful Backgrounds
VII. Overcoming Sinful Dishonor And Disorder
B. Heeding God's Use Of Even Evil Church Divisions
(1 Corinthians 11:17-19)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Ephesians 4:1-3 admonishes us as a local church body to live in humility, long-suffering and forbearance with each other, "endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." God knows that we have tried hard to heed that command in our Church!

Nevertheless, regardless of such efforts, divisions between believers in our midst have periodically, inevitably occurred. In fact, often we have sensed we have been "pushed" into Biblically being required to make certain stands or to take certain actions that have precipitated such divisions, and that to our dismay!



Accordingly, we may ask, "If we are supposed to try to keep the unity of the Holy Spirit in the bond of peace in the body, and, try as we may, we at times can not secure such a unity, and if the Lord Jesus predicted He would build His Church so that the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18), WHY does GOD allow such disunity to occur?! When it DOES occur, WHAT must be our response?"



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "Though Jesus said He would build His Church, and though many believers try to support the unity He has built, why do divisions between them still occur, and how are we to respond?!"
  1. Paul noted that WRONGFUL GROUP SPLITS had reportedly occurred IN the CHURCH at Corinth, 1 Corinthians 11:17-18a:
    1. In 1 Corinthians 11:17, Paul noted the Corinthian Church meetings did not even edify, but were actually harmful, 1 Corinthians 11:17b!
    2. The problem was group splits in the congregation, 1 Cor. 11:18a: the Greek term for "divisions" (KJV, NIV, ESV) is schismata, or "splits in the community", Theological Dictionary of the N. T., vol. I, p. 183.
  2. Though the splits were UNBIBLICAL (Eph. 4:2-3), Paul revealed he was not surprised that they had reportedly occurred, 11:18.
  3. Paul explained his lack of surprise as follows: in GOD'S plan, HE may ALLOW PARTIES of DIFFERING BELIEFS to ARISE in the CHURCH, LEADING to UNEDIFYING DIVISIONS that SPUR CARNAL or IMMATURE believers to HEED GOD'S APPROVED leaders INSTEAD OF the UNAPPROVED ones, 1 Cor. 11:19:
    1. The Corinthian believers suffered from a lack of needed discernment:
      1. Paul had noted in 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 that his Corinthian Christian readers were immature, making him have to feed them basic truths.
      2. We know from Hebrews 5:11-14 that such immature folk lack a degree of discernment between good and evil, meaning they are very vulnerable to being deceived by evil and error.
      3. The Corinthians were also carnal, i.e., controlled by their sinful natures, 1 Cor. 3:3, and those in this state are readily blinded to spiritual truth by Satanic activity, James 3:14-16 NIV, ESV.
    2. Thus, immature and/or carnal believers can naively heed errant leaders and their errant views, leading to great harm, Matthew 15:14.
    3. So, to FULFILL His promise to BUILD His Church, in GRACE, Christ ALLOWS ERRANT schools of thought to arise IN THE CHURCH in order that RIGHT schools of thinking in the GODLY might REACT AGAINST the errant ones, producing divisions that expose EVEN to the carnal and immature that a spiritual problem exists in the body, 1 Corinthians 11:19:
      1. In His care for spiritually vulnerable immature, carnal Christians, Christ "goes the extra mile", graciously providing discernment by letting false, errant schools of thought arise in the Church, 11:18a:
        1. The Greek term for "heresies" (KJV) ["differences" NIV; "factions" ESV] is haireseis, meaning "sects, schools, parties," Ibid.; Arndt & Ging., A Greek-English Lex. of the N. T., p. 23.
        2. The Greek term dei that introduces 1 Corinthians 11:19 depicts a sense of compulsion, that the evil situation is NECESSARY to gain "a certain result," Ibid., p. 171.
        3. Hence, GOD finds it necessary to allow errant schools of thought to arise in the Church itself as they will be resisted by the upright, leading to differing groups (schimsata, v. 18a)!
      2. Now, as differing schools of belief and thinking lead to unedifying divisions, even immature, carnal believers are left realizing that they MUST discern the good from the evil that is involved!
    4. God then works in events that transpire with the divisions to expose to the weak just who the divinely unapproved and who the divinely approved leaders ARE; the weak can then heed the truth, 11:19b:
      1. The term "approved" in 1 Cor. 11:19b (dokimoi) recalls Paul's earlier hope to avoid as a servant of God being "a castaway" (KJV) ["disqualified" NIV, ESV] from the word, adokimos, cf. Bible Knowledge Commentary, New Testament, p. 531.
      2. As such, Paul taught the divisions that occur lead immature, carnal believers eventually to discern the servants of God of whom He APPROVES from those He does NOT approve!
      3. Then, the immature and carnal can heed the truth of the approved leaders for their edifying protection in the Lord, cf. Eph. 4:15!
Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for salvation from sin, John 3:16. (2) Then, if we see divisions occur between professing believers, WATCH for GOD to reveal those who are UPRIGHT and TRUE in the events that develop that we might heed the words and examples of those who are shown in such events to align with God's Word. (3) If we MUST take a stand for the truth and it leads to a troubling division with other professing Christians, realize GOD is LETTING it occur for the sake of carnal, immature believers, and LOVINGLY KEEP STANDING for God's glory!

Lesson: Though divisions among professing believers are themselves unedifying, God often LETS them occur to SHOCK EVEN carnal, immature folk into DISCERNING the disapproved from God's approved leaders, that they might REPENT of harmful error and GROW in Christ!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

God once again clearly led in the formation of this sermon:

(1) Last Sunday, June 10th, 2007, toddler Luke Slate found a 20-year-old worship bulletin under one of our pews. When it was given to me, I saw it was from the May 3, 1987 missions conference when the late SIM missionary Rudy Nilson had spoken to us! He came highly recommended by my missionary parents as they had told of his dedication to work in a tough, Muslim area of Africa for 20 years!

The fact that a toddler had found the bulletin recalled the advice Reverend Nilson had given me at that conference. He had said, "Don, you pastor an immature church, one that has a mix of lots of good and bad times! Yet, if you stay the course', things eventually get better!"

By God's grace, in heeding Reverend Nilson's advice for the next 20 years, we have seen events smooth out and become better!

(2) Then, on Tuesday, June 12th when I opened my Bible to the next scheduled passage, 1 Corinthians 11:17-19 to start to prepare this sermon, the fact that a toddler had found that bulletin and the advice by the respected missionary of 20 years on the issue that we had successfully heeded for the next 20 years helped certify God's application from that passage for today: we were to keep staying the course regardless even what divisions Christ might still let us see, and that so we might mature into the kind of Church God wants us to be!

(3) That Tuesday evening, in a phone call to my Mother, without her knowing about this bulletin or being reminded of Reverend Nilson's advice, she had said, "You know, Son, God leads us through precedents -- they are very important!" I have often taught that truth from Scripture, but the FACT that she had said it when she and my Dad had recommended Reverend Nilson, and that in connection to a toddler's finding of the bulletin and its pointing to Reverend Nilson's advice built on 20 years of his own extensive missionary work, which advice we followed with God's blessing for the next 20 years revealed her remark had come from the LORD for this sermon!

So, if we FACE INEVITABLE DIVISIONS AGAIN, GOD wants us to know (1) HE is LETTING them occur so WE might DISCERN our God-approved leaders, and ADJUST! (2) If we BIBLICALLY MUST STAND for truths that ADD to the STRAIN, it is GOD'S WILL, and we are LOVINGLY to STAND for Him!