From Share The Word, Wednesday, 10/4/2014

I Corinthians 1:13, “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?”

During the years I have seen families divided over both petty issues and serious ones. The same goes for churches! Some of the most ridiculous things have divided brethren and sisters in churches of all denominations. End result many times were 1st. XYZ Church, then a 2nd. XYZ Church, and etc. because of not being able to get along and being of the same mind in serving the Lord.

The Apostle Paul became extremely disturbed over issues that were not petty, but were serious in nature. In I Corinthians 1:11, Paul expresses the seriousness of the problem by asking the question, “Is Christ divided?” Many of the brethren that should have known better had begun to line up with one or the other of the apostles and were not “joined together in the same mind” (vs 10) as they needed to be. Some of the new converts (believers) were paying more attention to giving credit unto Paul and others of the disciples instead of unto the Lord. We have no right to pay allegiance unto anyone other than unto our Lord Jesus Christ. This troubled Paul so much that he was thankful unto God “that he had baptized none of them but Crispus and Gaius” (vs 14). Pastors and preachers are to be godly loved and prayed for, but not to be idolized or worshiped. The best reference of this teaching is found in Acts 14:15 which says, “Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein...” The people had gone so far as to say “The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men” (Acts 14:11) which strongly upset Paul and Barnabas. The healing which Paul had just administered came not from his own power, but was of God. They were still seeing some of the same problems they had experienced earlier of not giving all of the credit to God rather than man. If you as an individual, or your church is divided, it could be because either you or the church is looking more to individuals rather than unto God for guidance and leadership. This is so very true for our nation as well. God help us to be “joined together in the same mind” and that mind be of Christ.