Our Sad Divisions Cease

October 19, 2025
Our Sad Divisions Cease
Sermon Audio

CENTRAL TEXT: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

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. 

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 100 

LEADER: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! 
Serve the Lord with gladness! 
Come into his presence with singing! 

ALL: Know that the Lord, he is God! 
It is he who made us, and we are his; 
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  

LEADER: Enter his gates with thanksgiving, 
And his courts with praise! 
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

ALL: For the Lord is good; 
His steadfast love endures forever, 
And his faithfulness to all generations.  

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH: The Apostles’ Creed

LEADER: Followers of Jesus, what do we believe?

ALL: I believe in God the Father Almighty
Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord;
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
Born of the Virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, died, and was buried;
He descended into hell;
The third day he rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
From there he shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit;
the holy catholic Church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Word of the Lord

ALL: Thanks be to God

CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER: 

CONFESSION OF SIN: Adapted from The Worship Sourcebook  

ALL: Holy and merciful God, by the power of your Holy Spirit we have been drawn together by one baptism into one faith, serving one Lord and Savior. But all too often we have torn away from one another. Forgive us, Lord. Where there is discord in our hearts, bring peace. Where there is confusion, bring clarity. Where there is contempt, bring love for one another. May your gospel of grace compel us toward one another amidst our differences, preserving us in unity, as one body of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. 

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Ezekiel 36:25-26  

LEADER: I will sprinkle clean water upon you,
and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, 
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
A new heart I will give you,
and a new spirit I will put within you;
and I will remove from your body the heart of stone 
and give you a heart of flesh.

ALL: Amen.

BENEDICTION: Romans 15:5-6

LEADER: May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6 that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

ALL: Amen

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

Psalm 133
Matthew 10:4
John 10:1-21
Romans 12:9-21
1 Corinthians 3:1-23
Ephesians 4:1-16

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

  1. The last live sporting event you went to, go. What were the fans like? If you picked a side, how invested were you in your team? How could that metaphor apply to Christ’s Church? Are you on the “same team” with other believers? 
  2. What does Paul say that there should be none of according to verse 10, disunity or disagreement? What’s the difference? 
  3. Try to remember the last time you disagreed with a fellow believer. How did the disagreement turn out? Did you feel like the other person was listening? How would they answer that question about you? 
  4. To what two things does Paul appeal to maintain our unity in Christ? How should that affect how we disagree with other believers? 

QUOTES:  

In the great things of religion be of one mind; and where there is not unity of sentiment, still let there be union of affection. Agreement in the greater things should extinguish divisions about the lesser.
- Matthew Henry
Pursuing unity in the church does not mean we stop caring about theology. But it does mean that our love of theology should not exceed our love of real people, and therefore we must learn to love people amid our theological disagreements. 
- Gavin Ortlund
Where the Spirit of God is there must be love, and if I have once known and recognized any man to be my brother in Christ Jesus, the love of Christ constraineth me no more to think of him as a stranger or foreigner, but a fellow citizen with the saints. Now I hate High Churchism as my soul hates Satan; but I love George Herbert, although George Herbert is a desperately High Churchman. I hate his High Churchism, but I love George Herbert from my very soul, and I have a warm corner in my heart for every man who is like him. Let me find a man who loves my Lord Jesus Christ as George Herbert did, and I do not ask myself whether I shall love him or not; there is no room for question, for I cannot help myself; unless I can leave off loving Jesus Christ, I cannot cease loving those who love him. 
- Charles Spurgeon
We want not an amalgam or compromise, but both things at the top of their energy; love and wrath both burning. […] I need not remind the reader that the idea of this combination is indeed central in orthodox theology. For orthodox theology has specially insisted that Christ was not a being apart from God and man, like an elf, nor yet a being half human and half not, like a centaur, but both things at once and both things thoroughly, very man and very God. 
- G.K. Chesterton

BOOKS / DOCS

Gavin Ortlund, Finding the Right Hills to Die On: The Case for Theological Triage
Gavin Ortlund, The Art of Disagreeing: How To Keep Calm and Stay Friends in Hard Conversations
Chris Watkin, “The Third Way Is Dead. Long Live The Third Way”