July 1
/1 Corinthians 1:1-17 / Read
Disunity, at best, compromises the life of a community. At worst, it kills it.
The Apostle Paul wrote the letter we call 1 Corinthians to Christians in the Greek city of Corinth. It was a place he had spent considerable time and a people he had invested in personally. He had brought the Good News of Jesus Christ to them and had instructed them how to live out that Good News as he lived among them.
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians as a response to the disunity that emerged in the Corinthian church after he left to continue his missionary efforts in other cities. The location and function of Corinth made it a cultural melting pot that was stratified along many lines. The social, intellectual and economic distinctions between people bled into the church; the desire to be right/superior above all else led to disagreement, arguing and judgement of one another.
Paul pleaded with the Corinthians that this could not be. He urged them to resist the temptation of focusing on things that were secondary and to instead focus on he who is primary - that is, Jesus.
Throughout his introduction, Paul reminded the church of their shared identity in Christ (see vv. 1-9). Their holiness, their blessing, their gifting, their relationship with God and, ultimately, their salvation was all because of Jesus. It was given to them freely by grace and given equally to all believers. Their differences had nothing to do with what they had received because the grace of God is given indiscriminately in Christ.
Paul seems to exclaim in vv. 13, “Is Christ divided?” to which the obvious answer is, “Of course not!” Since, then, all true Christians are in Christ, they must live in unity.
The defining work of the Church is two-fold: To live in their identity in Christ and to live out that identity as his representatives in the world.
Is your primary identity that of a child of God who shares Jesus’ position with the Father? To what degree are you aware of all that you are and all that you have in Jesus?
Is there an area of disunity between you and other believers, particularly those within our church? If so, what is the root of that disunity? Are you annoyed or frustrated? Are you fighting for your preferences over those of another? Are you comparing and competing?
What will it look like for you to promote unity in Jesus’ church? What needs to happen for you to live into your true identity in Christ? What might you have to die to?