1 Corinthians 1:10 10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.
If ever there was a truth that we could all agree upon, this is it: the world is a divided world. Every imaginable difference exists, and we are increasingly finding it hard to find common ground, or even to agree to disagree! Instead, one side condemns the other with ever increasing inflammatory language.
I read an article about the Chinese dance group, Shen Yun Performing Arts, that tours the world showing ancient Chinese culture through dance and music. What I found interesting about the article is that this group is not liked the the Communist Party of China. The reason is simple: for the Communist Party, all that matters is the party. All good things come from the Party. There can be no history before the rise of the Communist Party.
Something that could be such a great advertisement for a country and culture is seen as something to be feared. Talk about insecurity! Talk about the lack of belief in a system of government and ideology. They don’t even trust their own propaganda to win the hearts and minds of their populace.
Paul is writing a letter to the Church in Corinth, an ancient city located in modern day Turkey. And as we read this letter we will discover that it has problems! Imagine that, a group of people with problems. That never happens today!
Paul’s desire, his charge to this church as he begins this letter, is that they would agree with each other about the essentials of faith. Masks, no masks. Stay at home to protect our neighbors, exercise faith and reach our neighbors. Two sexes or multiple genders. Scripture is Truth or scripture is a nice story.
You see, divisions have been part of humanity since the beginning. Remember the First Family’s murder motivated by meat or vegetarian sacrifice, and the jealousy and anger that followed. But Paul wants the Church to be different!
But as we look around at the church, especially in the West, we see divisions left and right. There are exceptions, those congregations that work together to accomplish the Gospel, even advertising and supporting the ministries of others, for the good of the Kingdom. But by and large, we would rather keep to ourselves and support our own ministries.
Paul wants unity of message, first and foremost. Mind and thought. For our mind and thoughts drive our actions. What we believe about the LORD and what we believe about each other, greatly affect what the world sees of the Church in action. Paul wants a united message going forth.
You would think this would have been easy, but just like now, unity is very difficult to achieve. Paul appeals to this group of believers. He is begging them to change the way they are walking out their faith. He wants Jesus, first and only, to be the message.
It would be a different world if we could preach and live Jesus, first and only.
The Arnold Journey 