Pray for the Christian Unity

 

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 quarrelling among you, my brothers. 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? ¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

 

“Agree to disagree.” A phrase uttered when you would want to end the argument with seemingly on agreeable term – while in fact you are not. What is the logic behind this? Perhaps winning the relationship far importance than the argument. That is true to the spirit of Christian unity as Paul has urged the Corinthians to do in 1 Corinthians 1:10 – 18. Ever since early 589 A.D, the church of the West (Roman Catholic) and the East (Eastern Orthodox) have been in dispute over the word filioque – “and the Son” inserted in the Nicene Creed. The West agreed that the Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Son, while the East does not agree to it. In many ways, theology was only the tip of the ice-berg for the separation. It was men’s desire to rule, conquer, and influence carries the agenda to fulfilment. Since then, the effort to unify both churches have either been fruitless or on the “agree to disagree” term.

The central theme of Christ’s gospel is the unifying grace of God that restores the relationship between God and mankind. This has always been true even from the time of patriarch, the prophets, and all the way to the time of the apostles reaching out to the end of this earth – emphasising the restoring grace. The church of Corinth struggles not with the opposing theologies (if so, Paul would not commend the Corinthians for their effective Christian witness in verses 5 – 6) but rather, the tugged of different personas, namely Paul, Apollos, Cephas (Peter) and Christ (in verse 12) among the Corinthians. It seems that the greater focus for the Corinthians at that time was to compete with one another on who is their teacher/pastor. Worse still, they would probably pit the personas with each other saying who is the greatest. This situation is not far-fetched from our modern-day church.

How many times has the church divided among the congregations because of their “devotion” in following their favourite pastor (s). Paul’s rhetorical questions in verse 13 should be addressed to our congregation from time to time if and when they exhibit the same notion within the community. The answers to those questions in verse 13 certainly a big “NO” and yet, often time, we, pastors acting or subtly suggesting that we are the Christ of the church. As the world focus on leaving behind a legacy, a mark in history, as we step in to the position that can influence the masses, we too could not escape the temptation to work in the way that the world does – creating legacy, leaving a mark to remember. This effectively taking the cross of Christ from the centre of the church’s community. This in turn would make the Christian testimony of the church ineffective.

It may not sound like a big deal to us. But here is the perspective for us to ponder; Christ set an important mission for the apostles in Matthew 28:19 – 20 to go and make disciples – making a different to the world that has normalize the fallen state of humanity – but instead of making a different, we become one with the world as to not ruffles the feather of cultures and norms of the community. How we do it? Paul hinted in verses 14 – 17 that his ministry has become the measuring stick to some of the Corinthians. Instead of focusing on the Name that they are baptized into, they focused on the one who is doing it for them; instead of focusing on the gospel truth, they are focusing on the eloquence of which Paul is not proud of but rather avoid for it will diminish the transformative power of the cross of Christ (verse 17).

Have we made the same mistake or falling to the same danger as the Corinthians did? Have we turn our worship on our pastors instead of the One Lord that we professed in faith? The call for repentance is not an understatement here. If it is so the case for our church, we are urgently need to repent. Let me be very clear here, it is not the charisma of the pastor or his eloquence that guarantees the change of our heart, that could move our hearts to worship God. But it is, and always be the gospel truth in which to those who are saved, becomes the transformative power of God (verse 18). In other words, Christ is the central theme of the ministry, not us as mere tools of the gospel. It is so easy, especially in our culture (Dyaks) to offer patronage to someone important such as priest, minister, etc., and by bringing that culture into the church, we effectively dishonouring Christ, who is our One and only Patron. To Him that we should offer our gratitude, His name alone we should defend and be proud of, and His gospel truth should take precedence in our lives as Christian.

As we enter the season of Epiphany as well as dedicated Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, let us ponder on our shortcomings to become the effective Christian witness to our community and pray for God’s transformative power in His gospel change us daily into His image to be more effective, not only as the church but individually, witnessing to the truth to the end of the earth until Christ comes again. Amen.