Sunday
01/26/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title:
“No Divisions Among You”
Old Testament
Scripture: Isaiah 9:1-4
New Testament
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Gospel Lesson: Matthew
4:12-23
Friends, brothers
and sisters, welcome once again on this the Third Sunday after the Epiphany. Three
Sundays after the Wise Men or Magi visited Jesus. They came one way but left
changed forever.
So, I heard this funny story a few years back. I can’t
remember exactly where this story came from, but it was a story about a sports
coach. I think the coach was a basketball coach. This coach had a team of middle
school boys, and these boys had just beaten their archrival that they had continually
lost to for years. The victory was a major upset. The coach was so proud of
these young boys, how they played, and that they showed good sportsmanship.
At the last practice prior to this big game and this big
victory, the coach told the team that if they won the game, that he would take
them all out to eat anywhere they wanted for dinner. The basketball game ended
at about 4:00 pm, and the coach had everything worked out with the parents and
the kids to go to dinner.
What the coach did after the victory in the locker room,
was give the boys 10-minutes after the game to discuss and to decide where they
wanted to go and eat. The coach asked them to vote on it and come to a consensus
on where they were going to go to eat.
So, ten-minutes went bye, the coach had left the locker
room, and when he returned, the students were going to tell him where they were
going to eat.
As it turns out, when the coach came back, the boys were
arguing, and no consensus was reached. After the coach tried to get the boys to
vote right then, there was still no consensus. As a result, the coach lost his
cool, he raised his voice, and he said, “I have just decided, where we are
going to eat!” The locker quieted down, and the boys got on the bus with the
coach and headed to restaurant. It was pretty quiet on this bus ride. Everyone
went to dinner, and then the parents picked up their kids and brought them
home.
The reason that I find this funny, is because the coach was
fair, he asked for a voted upon democratic consensus, and it did not work. The
big take away for me here, is that just because we are handed all the power in
the world, doesn’t mean we will do well with it. Can we work together? Can we
play well with others?
When Moses went up the mountain to receive the
10-Commandments in the Book of Exodus, for example, he left his brother Aaron
in charge. While Moses was gone, Aaron allowed the Jewish people to worship a
golden calf and to party wildly. I also think of the Tower of Babel story, when
the people attempted to build a tower to God. Unsuccessfully of course.
Perhaps the basketball coach in the story that I just told
you, should have put more parameters on his students around picking a place to
go to dinner. The coach’s very fair and easy to follow plan was a disaster.
As humans, when we are left to own devices and not given enough
direction, we often don’t have a good track record. We know what to do, and
what we have been asked to do, but sometimes we just don’t do it. Are there
rules? Or can we just do whatever we want?
In our reading from this morning from 1 Corinthians once
again, the Apostle Paul in part is telling the church in Corinth to continue to
teach and live the faith he taught them through Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul
said that he wanted unity. Nothing is worse for a church than division and
disunity. Being divided and not loving each other, and not being united can
really harm a church. We are called to love and cherish all people.
Our unity is not only in relationships though. Our unity is
centrally first and foremost in Christ. We here a little bit of this reality
once again in our reading for this morning from the Prophet Isaiah 9:1-4. Once again,
this scripture says:
“But there will be no gloom for those who
were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of
Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious
the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The
people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a
land of deep darkness—on them light has shined. You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden, and the
bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on
the day of Midian” (Isa. 9:1-4, NRSV).
In this scripture predicting the coming
of Jesus, we hear of the love and the unity of Christ. We hear that darkness
will give way to light, that joy will increase, and that the love and unity of
Christ will prevail.
Getting back to our reading for this
morning from 1 Corinthians once again, the Apostle Paul tells the church on Corinth,
that we are to have “No divisions among you.” We are supposed to get along, be
united, and work together as a church.
Part the of the one-year leadership
training that I have been participating in at our Upper New York Annual Conference
Center, is designed to help us pastors grow in leadership and to grow our
churches in discipleship. Specifically, create a unified mission in our churches,
raise up leaders in our churches, and develop more flourishing ministries that
will grow and develop the church. This in turn will help the people of the
church better serve and transform Sidney and the world. What I have been
thinking about for this church, is that we exist to “Connect people to Christ,
to Equip them for service, and to send them forth to serve Sidney and the world”.
In order to fulfill the mission of this church, it is important to have “No
divisions among you.”
Now this morning, I don’t think that
the Apostle Paul is talking about political parties, or personal preferences, instead
he is talking about why the church exists. He is talking about the church
teaches and believes. In looking at our scripture from 1 Corinthians once again
for this morning, it says:
“Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,
by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that
there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and
the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there
are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of
you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to
Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified
for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except
Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I
did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether
I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim
the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not
be emptied of its power. For the message about the cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the
power of God” (1 Cor. 1:10-18, NRSV).
So,
the Apostle Paul encourages us to be in agreement with one another. We don’t
have to be in agreement about political parties, sports teams, our favorite
food, and etc. We are to be in agreement though and of the same mind about the
purpose of our faith and the mission of the church.
What
the Apostle Paul cites this morning is that some people in the church of
Corinth, are not following Christ directly. Instead they are following Paul, or
Apollos, or Cephas, or Christ. The Apostle Paul then asks the people of the church
in Corinth if Christ has been divided. Paul asked if it was Jesus who was crucified
for them, or was it Paul? The Apostle Paul said that in Corinth he only
baptized Crispus and Gaius, and the household of Stephanas, and that he didn’t
baptize them in his name. The Apostle Paul said that he was called to proclaim
the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was called with God’s help to bring people to
Christ. He wasn’t called to bring people to him, or to another church leader,
but to Christ.
The
center of our Christian faith our church, and the mission of our church, is
Jesus Christ. The primary calling of our church is to mission to make “disciples
of Jesus Christ”. We are called in various ways to lead people to Christ, and
then equip them to transform Sidney and the world. We are not just getting
people to accept Christ and stopping there, but we believe that powerful transformation
is possible through Christ.
We
are then to be united in Christ. We don’t need to agree on everything, but we
should agree on being in Christ. Christ is our Lord, our redeemer, and our
savior. The church, the core of the Christian faith, has for two-thousand years
revolved around that central truth. Do we know Jesus? Do we love him? Do we live
for him and others? A new life in Christ is what we as a church are called to
lead people into. People that need hope, who need newness of life, and who need
to be made whole. When people are then freed from sin and guilt, they can boldly
transform the world. This is what I believe that the Apostle Paul meant this
morning when he said to have “No divisions among you.”
For
me, I want to be in a church that profess Jesus as Lord, and that lives this out
in radical and powerful ways. A church that loves and treasures all people and
professes Christ.
In
looking at our gospel of Matthew reading for this morning once again, Jesus,
like last Sunday’s gospel reading, calls his first disciples. Let look once
again at our gospel of Matthew reading. It says:
“Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he
withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the
sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken
through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Land of Zebulun, land of
Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the
people who sat in darkness have seen a great
light, and for those who sat in the
region and shadow of death light has dawned.”
From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has
come near.” As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who
is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they
were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will
make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As
he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his
brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he
called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.
Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in
their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing
every disease and every sickness among the people” (Mt. 4:12-23, NRSV)
The first
thing here, is that Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist has been arrested and will
ultimately be beheaded. When you are preaching holiness and repentance, some
people just don’t like to hear that!
The gospel then
says that Jesus withdrew to Galilee and “made his home in Capernaum by the seas.”
We are told that Jesus did this to fulfill what we read for this morning from
the Prophet Isaiah 9:1-4.
After
connecting this gospel reading to our reading from the Prophet Isaiah for this
morning, we are told that Jesus began preaching repentance. Essentially, Jesus
is telling people repent, to turn to God, and that kingdom of heaven has come
near. Jesus then calls Peter and Andrew to be his disciples. Jesus tells Peter
and Andrew that he will make them fishers of men.
Jesus then
calls James and John, and with these four, Jesus went throughout Galilee,
teaching in the Jewish Synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of
God. Lastly, we are told that Jesus cured every disease and sickness among the
people.
What Jesus
taught, who he was and is, is the center of the mission of the church. We exist
to bring people to Christ, so that they might be transformed, and then
transform Sidney and the world. To best of our abilities then, we can be
accomplish all of this, when we have “No divisions among you.”
Friends, we
will never have all of the same opinions on everything, but we will all always
have the same Jesus. May there be “No divisions among you.” Amen.
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