Church Unity Through Church Identity

Transcript

Church, thank you so much for the privilege that it is to join you this morning, Trinity Church, in worship. I’ll say more about this later, but I genuinely love this place and these people. I love the privilege that it is to open God’s Word with you. So we’re going to be, as Sam said, in 1 Corinthians chapter 3. We’re going to look at verses 10 through 23 here shortly. But I wanted to open by simply asking you, how’s 1 Corinthians going? You guys okay so far? Just buckle up. It’s a wild ride, for sure. And it gets in our business as local churches. 1 Corinthians leaves no stone unturned, and it will make us all uncomfortable if we have any ambition at all for our church to be a healthy church. It just gets in our face. And the primary practical principle that we receive from 1 Corinthians that I would invite you to remember as you make your way through the entire thing

is that local churches become very ugly when they forget who they are and what they’re for. Local churches become very ugly when they forget who they are and what they’re for. And this is not a 1st century phenomenon. You know that, right? Nor is this some kind of abstract idea that local churches can somehow lose their way. For example, the local church that I am privileged to serve will turn 150 years old this year. And that’s incredible. But that is completely due to the grace of God. And it is a testament that He obviously has unfinished business with our church. Because our church’s history is objectively rather ugly, messy, nasty even. A church that has a half a dozen church splits over that time. Over everything from disagreement over theology to pastors dishonestly using church funds to failed hostile takeovers by associate pastors and disgruntled factions within the congregation.

In our community, and I know this to be a fact because I grew up in my community not going to church, our church had a horrible but true reputation of being a place of gossip, judgmentalism, and snobbery. And throughout our history, our church has just simply been a dystopia of dysfunction and disunity throughout that 150 year period. And when I hear some of the nasty stories of those times, and I do not seek them out but I have heard many of them, I feel the question boil up inside of me. How can people who belong to Jesus act this way? Right? How can they? If they belong to Jesus, how could they ever find themselves living in such ways? And that’s the right question. That is the right question. And the right answer is, they don’t. They don’t act like that. And that’s why we all sense in the center of our hearts that something is wrong

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Become What You Are

when we see people who claim to be Christians act in such ways. And this is why the Apostle Paul’s method for addressing the division in the church of Corinth is to simply remind them who they are. That is what he does. There’s no bait and switch. There’s no threats. There’s no manipulation or bribery. His teaching could be summed up with, become what you are. Because what you are is beautiful, not ugly. Because what we are going to see in the passage that we’ll look at today, the church realizes our unity when the church remembers our identity. The church realizes our unity when the church remembers our identity. In our passage today, the Apostle Paul is going to essentially wrap up his plea that he began way back in chapter 1 verse 10. Look there with me real fast. He says in chapter 1 verse 10,

I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, 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 same judgment. And then he goes into the details of what exactly it is they’re arguing about. Some of you guys are saying, I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas, I follow Christ. And then he asks in verse 13, is Christ divided? And this morning he is essentially going to bring his plea for unity to a close before he moves on. And so I’m going to read now the passage that we’ll spend the rest of our time in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 starting in verse 10. Would you look there with me? Hear the word of God. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder,

I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him,

for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may become wise, for the wisdom of this world is folly with God, for it is written, He catches the wise in their craftiness, and again, the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile. So let no one boast in men, for all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future, all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s. And this is God’s Word. We’re going to make our way through this passage and kind of break it into three different parts. So we’ll look at verses 10 through 15, 16 and 17, 18 through 23,

Built on Christ Alone

so you can kind of know where I’m heading in all of this. So the first thing that we’re going to see that Paul makes explicit, and really everything else that he teaches about the local church throughout the entirety of 1 Corinthians, he takes from this idea that he displays very explicitly in verse 11. The church of God is built on the Son of God. And so Paul here is going to run with the imagery of the local church as a building. He is going to first begin as a sort of general building, and then later on in the passage he’s going to get much more specific. But he says the foundation, the church of God, is built on the Son of God. And in verse 11 he makes that plain. No one can lay a foundation other than which that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

What I love about the apostle Paul, and what I long for my own heart, is that Paul constantly reminds the people that he is leading, that he is teaching, that it is not about him. He is, Paul could not be clearer, he is not the foundation. It is not being built on Paul. Paul sees himself as one who lays the foundation. He is the blue-collar worker who was called to the project first. And he is laying the foundation. And that goes for the rest of all local churches over all time. No church was ever meant to rest on the shoulders of any one human being. Ever. But neither can the strongest, most competent, mature, impressive congregation hold themselves up either. If we are resting the weight of any local church anywhere at any time on people, we will smash them. The church will smash them.

And that’s why Paul is clear. Christ is the only foundation. Because he is the only one capable of holding up anything that will actually last. And brothers and sisters, we have to stop trying. We have to stop trying to find another particular thing that is going to hold up the Lord’s church. We can’t. No amount of good works. No general sense of morality. Certainly no political affiliation. Or some brand new policy. No worldly ideology. Nor will a Christless Christianity hold up the Lord’s church. Where we sort of do Christian things without Christ as the foundation. None of it can hold up his church. Because it was never meant to. It was never meant to. Christ is the foundation. And what does this even mean? What does it mean that Christ is the foundation of the church? I love metaphor. And I appreciate metaphor. But sometimes when you start off a sermon with metaphor.

And you don’t explain to everybody what you mean by it. Somewhere in the middle someone just gets lost. Like alright, he just kept talking about the foundation. I have no idea what he was even meaning by that. And so I want to tell you at least four things that it means that Christ is the foundation of the church. And Paul has already said these. This is in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. The first is that in verse 4. Paul makes super clear. Jesus is the initial grace we receive from God. In verse 4 of chapter 1 he says. I give thanks to my God always for you church. Because the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus. So from the get go. What the apostle Paul wants the church to understand is. Is that Jesus is their access to God. God has given them grace to know him.

And it is given to them through Jesus. So before we even trust in Jesus as our savior. He is already the means of grace by which God is going to call us into salvation. And then second. We see and Paul is emphatic about this in various places. But verses 21 through 23 in chapter 1. Jesus crucified is the message that we believe and receive salvation. That is the message. Jesus his finished work. There is no other message. That’s the message that saves. Anybody who would wish to come into a relationship with God. Who would wish to have their sins forgiven. Must trust in Jesus as the only savior. The means by which God saves sinners. So then three. It’s not just that he saves us and leaves us on our own. In chapter 1 verse 24. Listen to what this says. But to those who are called.

Christ is the power of God. And the wisdom of God. That is for us now. We don’t need to go and search for more power. More strength. More wisdom somewhere else. It is in Jesus. Even now. So by Jesus God calls us to himself. Through Jesus he saves us. And now through Jesus he empowers us. And gives us wisdom that we might function in this world that we are in now. And he is not done. Chapter 1 verse 7 through 8. The fourth thing is that Jesus is the one who sustains us. And will come for us at the end. So all I want you to see in running through all of that from chapter 1. Is to say from beginning to end. And everything in between. It is all about Jesus. We don’t veer from that. We don’t search for something else. We don’t claim other functional saviors.

Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. He is the foundation of all things that we build ourselves upon. He is everything. He is the beginning and the end. And so let me stop here and ask you Trinity Church. Do you functionally believe this? Like this could come across as just very corny. Right. And almost cliche. That I’m just saying it’s all about Jesus. Well amen. Like who’s going to argue with me. Right. But I mean do you functionally believe this? Does it show in your real life. Where the rubber meets the road. In your day to day. Your Monday through Friday. Does it show and demonstrate itself in your life. That Jesus alone is the foundation that can hold up not just your church. But your life. Does it show? Is it demonstrated? And as Paul speaks of the church as a building. He runs with this metaphor in at least two ways.

Many Builders, One Foundation

Okay. The first he says in verse 10. In the church there are many builders. In the church there are many builders. So verse 10. According to the grace of God given to me. Like a skilled master builder. I laid a foundation. Now someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. Now Paul here is very clear that he laid the foundation. But now you’ve got other people building on it. And some commentators want to see the work of teachers in the church exclusively here. And that’s fine. As you read on you will see that this is definitely a very scary passage for teachers. Who would want to teach the Lord’s people in the Lord’s church. And so definitely apply it to teachers. And we’ll talk more about that later. But later on in this passage in verses 16 and 17.

It’s obvious that Paul is giving general description of the whole church’s identity. And so I think it’s probably best to see fitting. I think it seems fitting to have this warning of let each one take care how they build. To apply to the whole church. And be a part of the identity of all that call themselves members of that local church. So what Paul is saying is I laid the foundation. That’s my role. I was out there hands and knees setting the foundation. Putting the rebar in. But then I left. And now someone else is building. So he preached. They believed. The church was established. Now others are building on it. Now I want you to know and read in Paul here. This is a good thing. This is an expected thing. He is not angry that others are building on the foundation. In fact, laying a foundation without further construction is kind of silly.

And kind of a weird idea. That he would just leave it as a foundation. He expected that people would build on it. So I think when we read him give his warning. Take care how you build. I don’t think we read that with like a corrective or rebuking tone from Paul. But I do think we should read probably a nervous tone. Kind of a cautious one. Of like I did lay the foundation. The foundation is solid. It is right. It is true. Now please take care how you build on that foundation. I love how some translators translate that take care as be careful. Be careful how you build on it. Pay attention to how you are building on it. And I love this. And let this challenge us church. Think about it. Be intentional about how you are building up your church. When we come into church so often I think we just do stuff.

We don’t think about much. We kind of just like okay I’ll go and do that because this needs doing. And then I’ll go about doing this over here and I’ll do this. And like we’ll get years into our walk with Christ. Years into a membership of a local church. And we haven’t even like thought about really what we’re even doing there. What it is that maybe we’re called to do. Or gifted to do. Or what the Lord would have us do. How would we build? And that’s what I want to challenge you with. Trinity Church. How are you helping to build up your church on the foundation of Christ? Can you think about that? Can that just not be just like a sermon like question. Rhetorical question that I like ask just because I need to. I really want to ask you. Like think about it.

How are you using who you are. What the Lord has given to you. To build up this local church on the foundation of Christ. What are you doing? And I think there’s two reminders here. Two beautiful reminders here. First, I think this is a call to remember that we are all coworkers on the same project. Same goal. Building the same thing. Regardless of our roles. There’s no hierarchy here. For the church, I think what we need to remember is that the goal needs to be the project. Not the accolades. Not the title. The goal is the project. That the church would be built up. That it would be healthy. And that it would reach people who don’t know Jesus. That it would be a place where people who don’t know Jesus can come in and be introduced to their Savior. And get saved. Like that’s the goal.

The healthy building up of the church is the goal. That’s the project. So whatever we are and whatever we have, let’s give it and throw it at the feet of Jesus to build up his church in a healthy way. The second reminder is remember that whatever we collectively build should honor the character of the foundation. Whatever we’re doing. Whatever we’re building. Whatever we’re giving our time and energy to. It has to bring glory to Jesus. We’re building on Christ. So what we build. How we build. Needs to reflect Jesus. And then in verse 12 he has these words. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, and hay. Each one’s work will become manifest. For the day will disclose it. Because it will be revealed by fire. First thing I want to point out here first is there’s a freedom here.

Like it doesn’t say at all that we’re going to be forced to use our gifts in any one particular way. We can use them. The vast variety. The beautiful variety. And what he’s calling us to do is build them up. Build up the church. But we’re being warned here to care about the quality of our work. Build something that will last. Build with gold. What is what he’s saying. Build with gold not straw. And what this teaches us. And I’ll let this sink into your hearts brothers and sisters. It means that we cannot do whatever we want. It means that there is a way of using our gifts that is building with straw. That is just going to get, as we’ll see in a moment, it’s just going to get burned up. And so we have to actually think about what would it mean for me to build up on the foundation of Christ.

Build up my church with gold. What would be my highest quality work to build up on the foundation. And what he says is this: for the church there is one judgment. There is one judgment. And I say for the church very intentionally. We are not dealing with unbelievers here. Okay. This is not hellfire and brimstone type of sermon for the unbelievers to sort of scare them into relationship with Jesus. And we know that because what Paul says here in verse 15. He says if anyone’s work is burned up he will suffer loss. Meaning he will not get the reward. Though he himself will be saved. He’s still going to be saved. But only as through fire. This is going to be full walking through. Walking up to Jesus in the last day. Just stinking like smoke.

Going to get there. He’s going to be in heaven. He will be a brother forever with us. But he is going to stink like smoke. That’s what he’s saying here. So we’re not dealing with unbelievers. We’re dealing with a Christian who forgets. We’re dealing with a Christian who stopped caring about the quality of his or her work. And I think that’s very important. Because now, brothers and sisters, it’s you that we’re talking about when we talk about this day. That is going to disclose our work. And reveal it by fire. So this is the last day. This is standing before the Lord. And this is, he says the judgment is going to be something like fire. And what it’s going to do is it’s going to burn away everything that is hiding everything that we are ashamed of. And he said there’s going to be a revealing.

So all of our twisted motives. You know, where we kind of put forth our best face, best foot forward. But we had all these twisted, selfish motives. It’s going to reveal on that day what we actually wanted. The reasons we were doing what we were doing. And it’s going to reveal the long-term damage of our short-term solutions. We didn’t think about anything. And we’re going to actually see what transpired because of it. To sum it up, it’s going to reveal our selfishness. It’s going to reveal everything that we did in the wrong way. Not for the glory of God. And it’s going to reveal that it was built with straw. And it’s going to be burnt up. And so what he’s saying here is time will always tell eventually. Time will always tell eventually. And friends, we need to trust this. We do. We need to trust this because too often we spend so much time living cynically suspicious of everything and everyone.

We’re constantly trying to weigh motives. We’re trying to figure out what’s somebody’s angle all the time. Especially if we’ve been in the church for a long enough time, man. We are understandably cynical in a lot of ways. Right? But what this is teaching us, let this be an encouragement to us that the fire is going to sort it all out. It’s going to sort it all out. We don’t have to sit here wondering all the time. So many people will take so much time, take so much energy and resources, ranting and raging against ministries or pastors or preachers and things like that. It’s just like, man, the fire is going to sort it all out. We’ll figure it’ll all be good. It’ll all be okay. And besides, we have a severely limited and deficient view of motives and results. Right? Like we can’t see that.

We don’t know, let alone very little insight to the will of God and how he’ll actually use what is taking place. We need to be humble enough to confess our limited understanding of why people are doing what they’re doing and where it’s all actually going to go. So the warning, when fully understood, functions as a two-edged sword. I think it’s meant to provoke fear in the teachers specifically who will be judged. I don’t think you can get around that. I think Paul is being very, very clear. Teachers who are leading people astray, who are dividing up the church, you are going to stand before the Lord and the fire is going to reveal why you did what you did. Don’t build with straw. So I think it’s a very, very strong warning to the teachers who are dividing up the church.

God’s Temple Among Us

But I also think it is meant to provoke humility in the church as well who are sort of generally prone to judge the teachers as well. As we’ll see at the end, they’re constantly like, this teacher is better than that teacher and I want the best teacher. This provokes humility in the church as well to say, hey, I don’t know. The fire is going to sort all that out later. So for us, church, what I think this does, and I hope that this is encouraging, for us, let us cling to Christ. Let us desire Jesus. Let us preach Jesus. Let’s worship Jesus. Let’s love Jesus. Let’s build up the church on Him, unapologetically focused and fixated on Him. And His work of death and resurrection and church, let’s become who we are. Because as Paul declares next, what we are is like unbelievably breathtaking. Look at verse 16.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s spirit dwells in you? The second thing that we see in this teaching is that the church of God is filled with the presence of God. And what I want to remind us of here, and there’s no way around this, Paul is talking to a local church. I think too often, too often, we think of when we read church, we think of like, okay, all Christians everywhere all the time. That’s not what Paul is doing here. He is saying, red-blooded, real-life, human Christians in Corinth, you are the temple of God. Dwelling among you is the very presence of God. So the local church, he kind of switches metaphors here. The local church is not just a general building, but a specific building, the temple. And so I think what we’re invited to do is to think about all the ways, what does it mean for a local church to be the temple of God?

What does that mean? I think a couple of things is, first of all, it provides dignity for a local church. Because what that says of us is, what that says of you, Trinity churches, you belong to God. You’re His. He is pleased to have His presence dwell here with you, among you. He’s here in a very real and intentional way. God’s here. And then it also, I think, provides for a local church expectations. You are meant to be holy. He even says that, for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. We have no business getting muddied up with nonsense. We are meant to be set aside for the glory of God. That’s why we’re here. And in that same vein, I think not only does He give dignity and expectations, I think He gives us purpose. Which is the thing I want to point out.

In the church, if we’re a temple, in the church, there must be worship. That’s what we’re here for. There must be worship. The temple is the place where the people of God gather for the exclusive purpose to meet with and worship God. That’s what you’re here for. You are called, you are gathered here this morning to worship God. Our churches do not exist for any agenda of any particular person or any particular group. We gather together to know God. And on a very practical level, I believe this with all of my heart. I believe someone, if we are the temple of God, as a local church, as flawed and as broken as we are, as still figuring it out as we go as we are, I believe that someone should be able to come in this room seeking God, pursuing God. And they ought to, without good words to describe it, without even really knowing what’s going on,

they ought to, they will sense God is here. It’s here. And they should just know that they can get in on it. They can know this God that they are sensing is here. They don’t have to have words. They don’t even have to necessarily know if they want to get in on it or not. But they need to know for certain, if they wanted to, they can, and that God is here among us. What a beautiful and powerful call, Trinity Church, for a local church to have on our existence. And what did they do at the temple, right? Keep thinking about the metaphor. What did they do? They brought their offerings, their first fruits. They sang songs together. They renewed their covenant with God for another year. They got their sins forgiven. They brought their lamb and their goats. They shed the blood to have their sins atoned for another year.

That’s what they came for. They brought offerings. They sang. They renewed their covenant. They got their sins forgiven. Do you see, Trinity? You are a church that worships God. We’ve done these things today. You are the very presence of God here together. He is here with us. I’ve got to tell you, I love coming here. I know that’s a little bit like just personal and kind of a side note from the sermon. I make efforts to come here. I come here when I’m just in the area and I have my family with me. But I come because, Trinity, you worship God. I have, certainly, I have some of my dearest friends in the whole world are members here at this church. Yes. But I come, and I want my family to experience, too, the worship of God that is here. Trinity, you worship God. And that is what you are meant for.

That is why you are here. That is what you ought to be doing. And the idea of the local church being the temple of God, that does. It gives dignity. It gives expectations and purpose. But it’s also meant to comfort the church as well. Because the next promise that we see is, for the church, there will be safety. There’s safety here. Look what he says. And it’s strong language. Verse 17. If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. Whoa. Some strong language, right? And so we’ve got to dig in. What does he mean by destroy? I mean, what comes to mind immediately, right, is like lightning from heaven just, bam, and like destroying, right? Destruction. And that doesn’t really happen. So either we’re being overly, overly metaphorical here, or he means something else by this particular type of destruction. And this word is probably better understood as something like corrupt, okay?

And in Jewish thinking, the temple was corrupted or destroyed when anyone defiled or even remotely damaged anything in it. Or if the workers neglected their duties. So one Greek lexicon defines this word here as used in 1 Corinthians as to lead away a Christian church from that state of knowledge and holiness in which it ought to abide. To lead away a Christian church. And you actually see this in the ways that the Apostle Paul uses this same word in both his letters to the Corinthians. So in 1 Corinthians 15.33, you have the very famous saying, do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals. That word ruins, same word as destroy here. And in 2 Corinthians 11.3, he writes of them there, I’m afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

Same word, ruined, led astray, corrupted. So what is Paul saying here? What is Paul saying when he says, hey, you destroy God’s temple, God will destroy you. What is he saying? He is saying there are consequences from God for corrupting God’s church. Someone bent on the ruining of God’s church. What Paul is saying is will go on to be ruined, ruined. And I hope that comforts you, church, because what Paul is promising here and he does, this is a message throughout a thread that makes its way through the entire Bible is nobody gets away with anything. Nobody will get away with anything. It will be dealt with. It won’t look like maybe what we want it to look like. And that’s OK. We’re bad at it anyway. Right. I don’t want to be trusted with fire or judgment. I don’t want that responsibility. But I take a lot of comfort and I hope you do, too, that God will take care of his church.

He will. And this is an intense warning, I think. But I think it’s meant to comfort us. God will care for his church. He sees all he knows all and he will act on her behalf. I know it will often look different than maybe we would want it to. But the promise is there and it is firm. He will act. You bet you if you are bent on destroying the Lord’s church, what the promise that he makes here is he will ruin you. And as if it is not enough. OK, this is about to get crazy. You ready? As if it is not enough that the local church is filled with the very spirit of God as the temple of God. Paul finishes this section with an over the top promise. And I mean over the top. What I’m about to say would sound like blasphemy if it were not in Scripture.

All Things Are Yours

OK, this sounds like the craziest of teachings. If it were not here right here in the Bible in black and white promise to the people of God. The third thing that we’re going to see this morning is the church of God is given all the possessions of God. Heresy, right? That sounds like blasphemy. Like we everything God has is ours. Everything God owns belongs to us. Well, listen to what he says. He says all the way down. The Lord knows verse 21. So let no one boast in men for all things are yours. Doesn’t matter if they’re teachers or it’s the world or it’s life or death or the present or the future. All are yours and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s. All things are yours. That’s the promise here. Why is he making this promise to us specifically? Well, let’s back up a little bit.

Verse 18. He says, let no one deceive himself. OK, if anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. And the implication here is not that they are being tempted to deceive themselves. The implication is that they are deceiving themselves and need to stop. You are deceiving yourselves. That’s what you’re doing. Please stop. And so the first thing that we see here is in the church, there is true wisdom. At least there ought to be. OK, and he has made this case already in first Corinthians. This has become a big deal because they’re believing that they are so smart, so wise. And that they know what is best all the time. And so Paul consistently needs to correct them. And this is kind of a still a two sided warning. This cuts with a double-edged blade.

First, it is a warning to teachers who are presenting themselves as the wisest, most impressive, most talented, most knowledgeable. It’s a warning to them. Stop deceiving yourself. You’re not all that awesome. You’re acting like the world acts. Stop. But it’s also a warning to the congregation who believe that they were so wise that they knew how to choose the best, godly, most anointed leaders. Right. They liked Paul until Apollos came and he crushed it. Right. Just an amazing sermon. Amazing preacher. And it’s like, oh, no, no, no, no. That’s what we need right there. Right. And then other people who heard Peter, they’re like, oh, no, Peter’s Peter’s our guy. Right. And so it’s a warning to them. Stop deceiving yourselves. See, what he’s saying is you’re thinking like worldly people or, as Thomas put it so vividly last week, you’re acting like big babies.

Paul is saying you are not living like people who know God. You have forgotten who you are. He’s saying you are dividing over teachers and leaders like the world does. That’s what they do according to their wisdom. But what Paul says is that wisdom is stupid when it comes to God. And you know that it is stupid when you know God. And then he tells them why. OK, and I want you to catch what Paul’s logic is here, because it’s mind blowing, saying you guys are like you guys are fiddling around. Right. With all like these human teachers, you’re arguing, you’re bickering, you’re dividing over these human teachers. But when in reality they are all yours, it’s ridiculous. You don’t got to pick sides like they’re all yours. It’s all given to you. And not only teachers, the world is yours. Life, death, past, present, future.

It’s all yours. Why? Because you are Christ and Christ is God. It is all yours. And so the last thing we see is this: for the church, there is and ought to be true confidence. Who we are is allowed to function and live within a true confidence. What do I mean by true confidence? Well, Paul is dealing with two foolish, flimsy places of confidence. OK, ridiculous things. So first, in verse 18, he says, anyone who thinks he is wise, this is confidence in ourselves, which is just an absence of self-awareness that leads to false confidence. Come on, you know you. And I’ll just say this to us here today. We know us, right? Are we really going to be confident in ourselves? Are we really going to act like we are oh so wise? Come on, you’ve seen you make some pretty dumb choices, right? Are you really going to bank your confidence on you?

Don’t. Paul says that’s foolish. That’s what the world does. But then he goes down in verse 21 and he says, so let no one boast in men. And this comes not from a place of like lack of self-awareness or arrogance. This comes from a place of insecurity. This is saying I need the best teachers in order to have confidence. I need the right situation, the right, impressive, wise teacher in order for me to have confidence. And what Paul says is brothers and sisters, that is too small, way too small. Your confidence must come from all that belongs to you in Christ. Everything is yours. And I love D.A. Carson summed this up by saying, if we truly belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God, then we belong to God. And everything belongs to our heavenly father and we are his children. So everything belongs to us.

And again, if that wasn’t here in black and white, that sounds like blasphemy. And yet it is an absolute, explicit, beautiful promise from your father to you. So the church, so brothers and sisters, please let me plead with you. Give up all today, right now and here. Give up all temporary, flawed places of confidence. Bank it all, bank everything you are on everything that is promised to you from God in Christ. Bank it all on him. The church is built on the son of God. It is filled with the presence of God. It is given, the church is given all that God owns. This is who the church is. This is what you are as a local church. This is what you are. And Paul’s word to the church, all local churches then, is become what you are. Become what you are. You’re built on Jesus.

You’re filled with the very spirit of God. You are given everything that God owns. It is all yours. Do not settle for less. Why would we settle for less? And then the final question today in this plea for unity is simply, why? If unity is so difficult, and you know that it is, and you are going to see how difficult it is the more that you make your way through 1 Corinthians. If unity is so difficult, if it is so messy, if it is so heartbreakingly frustrating at times, what is our motivation to fight for it? And ultimately I would say, it is that unity honors God because it glorifies his son. When the church of God is unified, the son of God is glorified. And Jesus himself prayed in John 17, The glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one.

And so my brothers and sisters, as you continue in your series in 1 Corinthians, try not to forget that primary principle. Local churches become very ugly when they forget who they are and what they’re for. And please remember this, and please believe that the opposite will always be true. Local churches are the most beautiful places in the world when we remember who we are and what we’re for. Please Trinity Church, be what you are. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, thank you for the privilege of being here and gathering around your word. Thank you for your word to us, God. Thank you for how it instructs so many areas of our lives. Thank you, Father, that it is direct evidence that you know we need you. We need you. We need you to shepherd us. We need you to guide us. We need you to help us.

Father, thank you for your word. And I pray over Trinity Church, Father, that this would be a place that is striving to become what they are. A unified people that brings glory to your son. I pray for that in his name. Amen.