Making Much of Man Makes No Sense

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 quarreling 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. – 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 ESV

It was A. W. Tozer who said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us” (A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy). Our theology will have a direct impact on how we live our lives, and a faulty view of God will end up dramatically influencing our behavior. That was the situation in Corinth and the reason why Paul mentioned God six times and Jesus Christ ten times in the first ten verses alone. He was refocusing their attention back to the nature of their relationship with God the Father and His Son. They were members of the church of God. They belonged to Him, and their very existence was due to Him. Their salvation was the result of His grace and the sacrificial death of His Son. They enjoyed fellowship with God because Christ paid their sin debt with His own life. So, they owed all that they were to God and His Son.

Yet, they were guilty of worshiping men and had become a house divided. It had come to Paul’s attention that divisive cliques had developed within the church in Corinth. People were taking sides and aligning themselves with different leaders, claiming superiority based on who it was that they followed. Some bragged about their relationship with Apollos. Others claimed allegiance to Cephas (Peter). Much to his dislike, some boasted that Paul was their leader. Then some claimed the high road, claiming to be followers of Christ. The end result was petty arguing and prideful posturing. They had missed the point. It wasn’t supposed to be about Apollos, Paul, or Cephas. None of them had been crucified to pay for the sins of mankind. And neither Apollos, Paul, nor Cephas were preaching their own message of salvation. Instead, each was acting as a messenger of God, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ.

Paul believed that a proper view of God should produce proper behavior. If people had an accurate understanding of God and a future-based focus on His plan of redemption, they would not put all their hopes in this life. They would be less likely to make more of the messenger than the message. God had been using Paul, Cephas, and Apollos, but they were simply the bearers of the good news of Jesus Christ. However, the Corinthians had turned these men into celebrities, and this growing cult of personality was dividing the church. The worship of man was inadvertently replacing the proper worship of God. Without realizing it, the believers in Corinth were boasting in men rather than God and attributing their salvation to men, instead of God. This human-based emphasis tended to focus their attention on the here-and-now rather than the hereafter. Arguing over the significance of who baptized them had become far more important to them than why they had been baptized in the first place. They had given their favorite preacher more prominence than they rightfully deserved, and Paul was going to make sure that they saw the error of their way.

The Corinthian believers were just as susceptible to hero worship as we are. They were making much of the messenger, with some naturally attracted to Paul while others found Apollos more appealing. Some found Cephas’ style more to their liking. But they had all allowed their personal preferences to become points of contention, leading to division within the church. They were elevating style over substance. But Paul was determined to make more of the message than the messenger. In the very next chapter, he writes,

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. – 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 ESV

It wasn’t about Paul’s preaching style or oratory skills. It wasn’t about his persuasive powers or ability to craft a clever sermon; it was about Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The focus of the message of the gospel is, as it always has been, the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is about the God-ordained, Spirit-empowered transformation of men’s lives who have placed their faith in Christ, the one who died in their place and on their behalf. When we care more about the messenger than we do about the message, we become guilty of idol worship. When we prefer style over substance, we move from having our hearts transformed to having our ears tickled. We want to be entertained and satisfied, rather than sanctified. We find ourselves living for the moment, hoping our favorite preacher will keep us interested for an hour, while God would rather have us living with a much loftier goal: Our ongoing sanctification and future glorification.

One of the most dangerous enemies of the body of Christ is any kind of division or internal strife that creeps into its midst. Infighting and internal dissension can be highly destructive to the unity of a local fellowship. That's why Paul immediately addresses a situation going on within the body of believers in Corinth. News of the quarrels taking place between believers forced Paul to deal with it at the very beginning of his letter. Paul doesn’t go into great detail regarding the cause of these factions, but it probably had something to do with the role each of these individuals had played in the conversion of the various church members. If someone had been led to faith by Apollos, they naturally held him in high esteem and viewed him as their mentor. If Paul had been the one to lead them to Christ, they would have developed a natural affinity and affection for him. So people were more than likely choosing sides based on the role these men had played in their spiritual birth and development. It had led to arguments and an unhealthy situation within the church.

But Paul calls them out, exposing the danger of their infighting, and demands that they seek unity. He pleads with them, "Be of one mind, united in thought and purpose” (1 Corinthians 1:10 NLT). There was no place within the body of Christ for factions of any kind, especially man-centered "fan clubs" that seemingly elevated individuals to the same status as Jesus Himself.

In the case of Corinth, some of these people were calling themselves followers of man, rather than followers of Christ. Somewhere along the way, they had missed the point. Paul, Cephas, and Apollos were simply tools that God had used to bring the gospel to the Corinthians and assist them in their spiritual growth. These men were essential to the process, but were never intended to be afforded rock star status. But it happens all the time. Cults of personality exist in churches all across the country, with people becoming followers of men rather than followers of Christ. In larger churches with larger staffs, you can end up with factions based on the particular minister or ministry heads and the role they play in the lives of various individuals. Younger people can end up with a natural affinity for younger pastors. Older members of the congregation might tend to prefer a minister closer to their age demographic. If a particular minister played a role in someone's salvation, it is only natural for that individual to hold that pastor in higher regard. But all of this can lead to divisions and a lack of unity. Again, that is why Paul appealed to them to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.

Unity and division were common topics in many of the letters Paul wrote to the various churches he helped to found. Disunity was always a threat to the integrity and health of these new congregations. In his book, The Story of God As Revealed in the Holy Bible For All Mankind, Raymond Anderegg writes, "…the apostles make it clear that two of the biggest threats to the kingdom of God are false teachers and division within the Church, and both threats are treated as equally important. Thus, two of the worst sins a Christian can commit are to reject the gospel of Jesus Christ for another gospel (religion) and to cause strife and division among our brethren, the body, or Church, of Christ."

Disunity is destructive. Division is deadly. It robs the church of its power. It diminishes the body of Christ's influence among the lost, providing the enemy a foothold and an opportunity to sow strife and dissension in place of love and forgiveness. Christianity is not a man-centered religion based on personality, but a Christ-centered faith based on His sin-defeating work on the cross on our behalf. When we start making the church a cult of personality by making much of men, we diminish the sufficiency and singularity of Christ as the sole focus of our faith.

Father, from the very beginning, humans have struggled with a self-focused obession that strives to make ourselves the point of the story. We tend to worship ourselves or someone else instead of You. We find it easy to make much of men and elevate them to positions of prominence and importance because it gives us hope for ourselves. But it was never meant to be about us. We make lousy gods and even worse saviors. We are incapable of providing long-term, sustainable help and hope for anyone, including ourselves. That is why You sent Your Son, and we are to make much of Him. We are to worship Him and Him alone. Forgive us for the divisions and silly factions we create based on personalities. Help us remember that we are followers of Christ and no one else. Create in us a unity that is focused on Him alone. Amen

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A Worthy Aspiration.

1 Timothy 3:1-13

This is a trustworthy saying: “If someone aspires to be an elder, he desires an honorable position.” – 1 Timothy 3:1 NLT

All men aspire to something. They each have goals and ambitions for which they dedicate their time, talents, and energies. For some men, having a successful career is their greatest ambition and it impacts their entire lives, as they spend every waking moment attempting to make it happen. A few men have legitimate and realistic aspirations for making a name for themselves in the competitive world of sports. Then there are those who simply aspire to be good employees, fathers, husbands, friends and members of the community. But Paul would give us a different aspiration. He would encourage us to aspire to something of a slightly higher nature. It is a job with few perks, a lot of responsibilities, high expectations, no income, a certain degree of anonymity, and some pretty lofty hiring guidelines.

The job Paul would have us consider is that of an elder in the local church. He states, 'If someone aspires to be an elder,he desires an honorable position." The word he uses that is translated "aspires" is the Greek word, oregō which means "to stretch one's self out in order to touch or to grasp something, to reach after or desire something." But it had another meaning as well: "to give one's self up to the love of money." In fact, Paul uses this secondary meaning in chapter 6 when talking about the love of money. "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows" (1 Timothy 6:10 NLT). It's interesting that one of the qualifications or characteristics that Paul gives for an elder is that he must not love money, because money will become his aspiration.

Instead, Paul tells Timothy that it is a good thing to aspire to be an elder. But it would seem that Paul's emphasis is less on the idea of a position or job, than on the qualities of the kind of man who would be recognized to fill it. Paul does not go into great detail on the job description of an elder. Instead. he points out the character requirements necessary to be considered as an elder. And I would argue that these qualities should be the aspiration of every God-fearing, Christ-following man in the church today. The Greek word Paul uses is episkopē and it means "overseer." Paul seems to use it almost synonymously with another Greek word, presbuteros, which typically gets translated "elder." Both words convey the idea of someone who has authority for and responsibility over the spiritual well-being of the flock of God. In the book of Acts, we have recorded a meeting between Paul and the elders from the church in Ephesus where he warned them, "So guard yourselves and God's people. Feed and shepherd God's flock--his church, purchased with his own blood – over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you as elders" (Acts 20:28 NLT). Elders had a high calling and a lofty responsibility to guard both themselves and the people of God. Therefore, they had to be godly men of strong character and impeccable morals. They didn't have to be perfect, but they did have to strive to be blameless and above reproach in every area of their lives. It is interesting that the characteristics that Paul lists cover just about every area of a man's life. An elder had to be a man with no compartmentalization in his life – no hidden or secret areas. His home life was just as important as his church life. Every one of the things that Paul lists would have been easy to assess and ascertain – by just about anyone in the church. The qualities Paul lays out are visible or external, open for anyone and everyone to see and evaluate. But they reflect an inner character that flows out into every area of life. The kind of men who were to be considered as elders were men whose hearts had been are were continuing to be transformed by God. They were men who were living under the control of and in the power provided by the Holy Spirit.

But shouldn't the qualities and characteristics Paul outlines be the aspiration of every man? Why wouldn't every man of God aspire to live the kind of life Paul describes, whether he ever gets appointed as an elder or not? The church needs men who are above reproach, faithful to their wives, self-controlled, wise, with good reputations, hospitable, moderate in all things, gentle in spirit, the spiritual leaders in their homes, and respected in their communities. The local church should be filled to the brim with men who are viable candidates for eldership. Remember, Paul told Timothy that if a man aspires to be an elder, he desires an honorable position. To aspire is "to stretch one's self out in order to touch or to grasp something, to reach after or desire something." What we should desire as men is not the role or responsibility, but the character of an elder. The position is honorable because the men who occupy it are honorable. Their character is Christ-like and holy. They are not perfect, but they are men who are willingly and regularly being perfected by God. The church needs more men like that today.

Father, some of us aspire for a position more than we do the character required to qualify for that position. We want to be recognized as something and fail to realize that our character is what qualifies us for that for which we aspire. You desire all men to aspire to live their lives in such as way that they naturally qualify to be elders in the local church. Raise us a generation of men whose lives qualify them to shepherd Your flock. We need shepherds today. We need men who, like David, are men after Your own heart, who love Your sheep just as much as You do. Amen.