Robin Hardy Online
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The Church at Corinth was being torn by division. Not least of their troubles was the division over pastors. It reads like the story of a Baptist Church. This letter was written to unify them.
I. They Were to Live Together
1. His exhortation was for a better fellowship. They were brethren. They worshipped the same God. They had many things in common.
2. This unity is the basis of success in all things. In domestic life. Why so many divorces? Incompatibility, broken fellowship, drift apart. In business life. Can partners in business get along, this is their first problem. In religious work. As the group is increased, difficulties are multiplied.
3. The individual is the pivot on which all turns. The individual must maintain his individuality, yet the individual must be lost in the whole. Individual soldiers make the army, but the individual is lost in the whole, so with the brick in the wall. So with the member in the Church.
II. They Were to Work Together
1. The whole universe works together to produce a blade of grass. Every law of nature helps.
2. The whole host of redeemed are called upon to join hands in serving God. Rom. 12:4, compare the members of a Church to the members of one's body, what harmony there is. No quarrel between the hands, etc. The text calls us all farm hands working for the same owner and master. It also compares us to the various pieces that go into a building, many pieces joined together. As the letters of the alphabet helping each other, tell the story of mankind.
III. They Were to Reap Together
1. Paul, Apollos, Cephus, all helped them, but it was God who gave the increase. None could succeed within Him.
2. Many help to make the Church a success, the Sunday school, the revival, no one could succeed by himself.
3. God will reward each as he deserves.
from Sermons in the Making by W.W. Melton, posted March 23, 2008
