Unity In The Cross Transcript

Last week. I know I dove into a lot more about general conference than I was initially meaning to, but the whole purpose of that was to talk about this idea of what do we do with the other? In our culture today, the other is feared, it is kept separate. There is a desire? Okay, they exist, but they should not have power. They should not change things, or they should not have power. They should not change things or they should be kept out completely. We need to remain singular, we need to remain unified, we need to remain united and anything that threatens that should be seared, should be fought against, should be resisted, should be limited. That is the message in the culture around us, against anything that is different. And in some ways and in some cases, that message has crept into the church and how we as Christians deal with one another. 

As we as Christians live and function in the political world. Fear has overtaken. Fear is driving what we say and what we do or whether or not we speak at all. It's not what God has designed his church to be, has designed his church to be. He has given us a voice, he has given us a hope, he has given us a mission to uphold and we let the divisions in the world stifle that, we let our witness be muddied because of things that have nothing to do with the gospel of Christ. We live in fear, and the news cycle and everything else that we can watch and turn into every hour that we are not in church or not reading scripture or not talking to other believers, is designed to feed in to that division and that fear, partly because it draws attention, it keeps your eyeballs, and so we, as Christians, have to find a way to live better than that. We have to find a way to quell that fear. We have to find a way to welcome the outsider, to welcome the diversity, to welcome the stranger, instead of fear it and keep it at bay. 

In today's passage, we hear of Paul writing a letter to the Corinthians, a church that was started because a group of Jews in Rome were expelled from Rome, and they found their way to Corinth. Now Corinth can best be described as the Las Vegas of the ancient world. What happens in Corinth stays in Corinth. It was a central trading hub on the sea from the east and the west and roads from the north to the south. There were people of intellect and wisdom arguing philosophy and religion. And then there were the working class, the traders and the sailors, bringing everything that a transient lifestyle where you're not tied to place will come with it. All of this division, all of this disparity or plurality of beliefs and behaviors existed within this city that Paul is writing to, in this city where there is this church taking root. When we think about it that way, we realize that the church that Paul is writing to sounds a lot more like the world today than we imagine it Our world 50 years ago, 100 years ago. And Paul is writing to a group of people reminding them that they are united in Christ, that Christ is the one in whom their hope relies, christ is the foundation of their faith, the perfecter of their faith, and that they need to stay united in Christ. 

But people were beginning to forget that he goes through this list. I hear some of you among you quarreling, probably jockeying, on who is more important because of who baptized them or who led them to Christ. Well, I belong to Apollos. I belong to Apollos, I belong to Paul, I belong to Cephas or Peter. They were measuring themselves according to the world's standards by who led them to faith, and it was creating division. And again we see that today there is so much division among Christian denominations and we claim it because we know who we came from. Oh, I belong to John Wesley, I belong to Calvin, I belong to Zwingli. I belong, I belong, I belong. We forget who unites us. We focus on the divisions, and the division happens even inside the church. I wish I had written down a list of the pastors in our history when various people in this room joined under. I remember when so-and-so was here and I came to this church when he was here, and that was the heyday, and the church should be like that. And I came to this church when he was here, and that was the heyday, and the church should be like that. And I remember when this pastor was here, and that was the heyday. That's when I came in and the church should be like that. Vision arises, we live out, our mission is called over. We forget that all of those pastors and all of those, the people that started our various denominations, the people that baptized people in Corinth, did so in the name of Christ. 

Paul's stream of conscious writing in this letter always catches me off guard. I am glad I never baptized any of you. Well, except for this person and this person and well, there was this family as well, and I don't think there's anybody else. It's what he writes and you're like, why in the world would he make that bold statement of saying I'm so glad I didn't baptize any of you so none of you could say that I belong to Paul? But I think what he's writing is, but I think what he's writing is brilliant. I think what he's writing and what he's saying by doing this is showing that it does not matter who he baptized and who he did not is of no importance. What matters is that they were baptized. By writing it off saying I think I did this first and I think I did that family and there may have been a few more shows that what truly matters is they have been united. If and so he gives this exhortation let there be no division among you. May you be united in Christ. 

Now some would read that and say well, everybody has to think alike and do alike and everything. Everybody has to believe the same things same way and function in the world in exactly the same way so that everyone can be united. But what if it doesn't have to be? What if our unity is not based on our beliefs. What if our unity isn't based on our actions, isn't based on the things that we do? If that's the case, there's a lot more room in the church for diversity. There's a lot more room in the church for the other. There's a lot more room to like in the world of Corinth, where people would talk with one another, they would grow together, they would challenge one another. 

They say, well, this is how I read this passage. No, but this is how I read that passage. Well, why do you read it that way? Why does that way of reading it give you life? Well, this is why it lifts my soul. Why do you get life from the way you read? Why do you think this passage leads you to act in the world in this way? Read it in terms of this other passage, and I feel that that's the right way for me to live. 

We cannot sharpen one another, we cannot compel one another to grow if we don't have those conversations born out of those differences that come from our experience, that come from what we have learned and received, that come from the traditions that we come from, that come from what we have learned and received, that come from, the traditions that we come from Maybe people in this room that trace themselves back to non-United Methodist beliefs and they bring a voice that can speak to us Methodists and, I hope, vice versa and in that process we grow more in love with Christ. We learn to grow more in love with Christ, we learn to grow more in love with one another and we learn that diversity, that difference, isn't something to be feared and fought against as if it could destroy us, but that we are united in Christ. Christ unites us and nothing can shatter and break what Christ has knit together. We bring different experiences and traditions and we are made stronger by focusing on what unites us, and that is the one who died for our sins, rose again and calls us to follow him, laying aside everything for his sake, who dispels all fear, who gives a lasting peace and joy and who seeks to bring healing to those who are hurting. If we live out that faith, we live out that unifying reality in our lives, in our ministries, and we bring healing and hope to a broken world, we have truly done what Christ has called us to do and we will have shown the world a church that is not driven by politics and fear, one driven by hope and love. 

There's a quote that's attributed to theologians, from Augustine to John Wesley In essentials, unity In non-essentials, liberty In all things, charity. The essentials is Christ. In not essentials, may we learn from one another, grow together, exist and eat and break bread together, but in all things may we treat one another with love. Wesley said, if we cannot all think alike, all love alike. And is there any greater thing that will be got more love? It's a re-centering that we need to place ourselves in, to center on Christ, to grow in love, in diversity, and to cherish Amen.