Lent 3 Unity in Christ 1 Corinthians 1:10ff

Liturgical Date: Lent 3 Date: March 10, 2012 Rev. Paul Schlueter Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 Prior to this past week, most of the world had never heard the name Sandra Fluke. But now, after recent events, her name has been on the lips of virtually every news anchor across the country not to mention the subject of political columnists from perspectives all over the spectrum. In case you haven’t heard, Ms. Fluke testified in a hearing having to do with health care. She was then insulted over the air by talk radio host Rush Limbaugh. Later she was consoled by President Obama. And every political columnist has had an opinion about the issue since then. There have been accusations and name calling to say the least, against Ms. Fluke, Mr Limbaugh, Pr. Obama, and everyone in between. Whitehouse spokesman Jay Carney said that “It is (a shame) that our political discourse has become so debased.” I think we could all probably agree about that. Public, and political discussion is all about character assassination. It’s all about name calling, tarnishing reputations, lies, false perceptions, whatever it takes to run down the other guy so that you can win. Just look at the way Romney and Santorum have gone after each other leading up to this past Tuesday’s primary election. I’m Mitt Romney and I approved this message. I’m Rick Santorum and I approved this message. They shouldn’t. And neither should we. Because this is not the way people should talk to each other or about each other. But they do, and so do we. We might not do it over the airwaves or in print the way the media does it. It might not be in front of a lot of people. But we still do it. Our text is from Paul’s first letter to the Christian church in Corinth. The theme of the entire book is laid out in verse 10 of chapter 1, a few verses prior to where our text begins. It says this: “I exhort you brothers through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all say the same thing and that there be no divisions among you but that you be of the same mind and have the same thinking.” In the next verses Paul lays one such division: it would seem that the church played favorites with its pastors; Peter, Apollos, Paul. One personality, one pastor played against another. Paul scolded them and said that making the gospel about the preacher “emptied the cross of its power”. 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. Paul’s message is quite simple: divisions, fights, slander – those are things that happen out in the world. That’s how the world does it. You aren’t like the world. You are different. You are Christians; redeemed by Christ on the cross. Christ crucified is the wisdom of God. The world doesn’t have that wisdom. The world doesn’t even understand that wisdom. Instead, the world makes up its own wisdom because they don’t have any place else to find anything better. But you do. You have the cross of Christ. And this makes all the difference. The cross of Christ makes all the difference because it joins every one of us together as one family. It makes all of us the same. Elsewhere Paul will say that there is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. We are all the same. And when he says that we are all the same he means that we are all sinners. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This being the case, it is rather silly for us to condemn each other. Jesus says before you worry about the speck in your brother’s eye, get the plank out of your own. We point fingers, we condemn, but we are all guilty. We are all sinners. Take that political controversy we mentioned. Sure Rush crossed the line and what he said was terrible. But, then again, the lies that these people tell about each other, the subtle twists and half truths that they use to ruin each other’s reputations is just as bad. They are all guilty. Likewise with us. When we talk it up about a brother or sister, straining the speck from someone else’s eye we have just inserted a plank into our own. If we would just stop before we spoke, if we would just remove that plank, we would probably build a house with all the lumber. Paul is right. We are all sinners. We have all missed the mark of God’s glory. But we are united in another way. We are sinners, but we are not just sinners. We are forgiven sinners. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, but we are also justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (Rom. 3:23) Jesus died. He died for us. For every last one of us. All of those sins that we love to point out in each other, and all of those sins that we try to cover up in ourselves, they have all been forgiven. Washed away. Paid for by Jesus through his innocent suffering and death on the cross. Aha! There it is! The wisdom of God! The great equalizer that forces us to fess up to our own guilt so that not one of us is better than another, but that immediately cleanses us of that guilt so that not one of us is worse than another. All have sinned. All are forgiven. It’s all by grace. It’s all a gift. It’s all done by Jesus for you! Paul builds his theme for 1 Corinthians on this unity that we have in the cross of Christ. He does it with his use of one specific, special little word. He says, “I urge you brothers.” “Brothers” he calls us. Adelphoi in Greek. It’s a a family term. Notice what he doesn’t say. He doesn’t call us acquaintances, he doesn’t say friends, he doesn’t say companions or comrades, he doesn’t even say fellow Christians. He says brothers. He joins every one of us together under one roof, and under one house and under one family because by virtue of our faith in Christ and by virtue of our baptism, that is what we are. When Christ called us by His Spirit to faith he called us to be members of his own family, Christ has called you and you and you and you and all of you his brother, his sister, so that he is your brother and so that your father is his Father. And just like adoption is a sign and guarantee of son-ship for one who is born and brought into this world as a member of another family, baptism is your sign and guarantee from God that you are in his family. Your were out, now you are in. And there is nothing that can take that gift away from you. Now, because you are called by God to faith in him and because you are called to be members of his own family therefore you are all family together. Brothers and sisters in Jesus. This changes things. It changes everything. It changes how we live life together, one by one and two by two and church by church. “Let there be no divisions among you.” Says Paul. Schisms. Things that you do to each that causes another to stumble. Don’t push someone to sin. Don’t push someone to anger. Don’t push someone to frustration or bitterness. Don’t push back against someone to who has pushed at you. Don’t be so quick to anger, quick to fight. Turn your cheek. Carry a burden. Be called the fool for not lashing out or proving yourself right. Show love, humility, gentleness, honor, longsuffering, faithfulness, kindness, self-restraint, forgiveness, mercy, generosity, joy, patience, because these are things that Jesus shows to you. Paul says “We preach Christ Crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles but to those who are saved, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Every single one of those traits that we are seeking to emulate and that was just listed were given to us as Christ suffered and died on the cross. Consider the list. We started with love – God so loved the world that he gave his only son. When Jesus was given, he was given to die to save you and to preserve you. Humility – Jesus was the son of God. Yet he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. Instead he emptied himself and became as man and was obedient onto death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:6-9) Gentleness – when Jesus was treated roughly and manhandled and pushed and shoved he never once pushed back or lashed out. He could have called down legions of angles to come to his defense, he could have torn his tormentors limb from limb, but he did not. Instead he was led like a sheep to the slaughter. Longsuffering. Jesus endured. When it came to the rejection the scorn, the physical beatings, the abuse, the hatred, the pain; Jesus endured it all without questioning, complaining, fighting, pouting, lashing out. He just simply endured. Faithfulness – His own closest friends all ran away. They were too self-absorbed and terrified to even stand by and watch. Jesus was abandoned. Yet in this hour of solitude, when he and he alone carried the sins of the world he looked down and saw him mother. In faithfulness to her he gave his disciple John the duty to watch over her and provide for her. Kindness – weighted down in his own suffering he still looked over to the men hanging beside him and consoled them – today you will be with me in paradise. Self-restraint – he had every chance and opportunity to challenge the lies of his accusers, to put back the raised fists of his attackers, to gain his freedom against those who stood in judgment but he did not. Forgiveness, mercy – even when he was suffering at the hands of his enemies he pleaded with the father that he forgiven them. In our own speech our catechism directs us to put the best construction on everything. We know how hard this is to do, especially when we have reason to doubt the efforts or motives of another. Father forgive them for they know not what they do? Did they really not understand that they were committing murder? Did they really not comprehend the weight of their sin? Jesus knew their hearts, but he still pleaded that God would have mercy on them and explained their sin with understanding. Generosity – is there any greater or more generous gift than for someone to give his life, to suffer every shame and inhumanity known to man and even to suffer God’s rightful wrath against his sin filled creation? This is the generosity that Christ has for us. And don’t you see? When Paul says we preach Christ and him crucified, when he in our text speaks of the wisdom of God and the power of God, when he speaks of the unity and the like-mindedness that we have in Christ, it is all there in that word of the cross. The word of the cross that destroys the foolishness of those who are perishing. The world around us – they are so worried about the life they have built or are trying to build for themselves that they have to do anything to achieve it or to keep it. And so they destroy one another other. They criticize, they condemn, they point fingers, they call names, they injure, they kill, they destroy, all in the name of their earthly kingdom. But we have something better. We have Christ. We have the cross. We have love and mercy and gentleness and kindness and longsuffering and patience and humility and faithfulness and everything else all right there. Given to us, used by the Lord to draw us to himself and to his perfect kingdom. The world doesn’t get it. But we do. God loves us. We love each other. There is nothing else that matters. Amen. And now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen