Agreeing

I Corinthians 1.10-17

I tore a sweatshirt into several pieces on Sunday. Its was fun, but it left the sweatshirt totally useless.

When a church is divided, when it is torn in pieces, it is rendered useless and unable to accomplish the grand plan God has for it.

Back in the first century the church in Corinth had been torn into four rival factions. There was a group that followed Paul, another that followed Peter, another that followed Apollos, and another that claimed to only follow Christ. These groups bickered and argued and fought and were hostile with each other. It was ugly. Paul was not happy.

Today we are a bit torn as well. We have parts of the church that follow Calvin (Presbyterians), others who follow Luther (Lutherans), others who follow the local leader (Baptists), and others who follow Wesley (Methodists).

Is this bad or wrong or evil?

Not necessarily. We all have preferences of style and culture. We all have different tastes in music. We all have different leadership styles that appeal to us. I may think one leader is cool. You may think another leader is cool.

It's OK to prefer one denomination over another. It's OK to worship in different ways. It's OK to have different heroes and leaders. But it's not OK to bicker and fight and be hostile. And there are many, many things that we all need to work together on: things like local mission, caring for the poor, and community development.

Paul's word to us is to agree as much and as often as possible. So agree!

Here are some addition passages to check out: I Corinthians 12.25-26, Romans 16.17-18, and Philippians 4.2-3.