Now every Lord's Day you see in the bulletin our mission statement and it begins with the mission of the Hernando A.R.P. Church is to glorify God. That's why we're here. That's our reason for being as a congregation. Previously, two weeks ago, we talked about God, God's faithfulness, and our fellowship, which springs from God's faithfulness. Scripture reading for that was 1 Corinthians 1.9. Last week, we also discussed the spiritual reality that those abiding in Jesus Christ are loved by God. loved by God with a love that is eternal. Today I want to focus on verses 12 and 13 of 1 Corinthians 1. In verse 10 we have a plea from the Apostle Paul that there be no divisions among you. Initially in verse 10 we have the phrasing that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and judgment. a plea for like-minded Christian unity. But verse 11 reveals that instead of there being like-minded, solid unity, there were contentions, there were serious divisions. And verses 12 and 13 specify and address that. Now I say this, that each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, or I am of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? It's the word of God for us, the people of God. Let us again look to God in prayer. Father in our God, may the weak words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be transformed and be pleasing in your sight to the praise of your glory in Jesus Christ, in whose name this prayer is made. Amen. Let's begin with the matter of the ecclesiastical situation in the United States of America as being completely different from that in the first century AD. That time churches were brand new. or they developed out of Jewish synagogues as the consequence of persecution. In that era, there was no church on every corner. Many groups worshipped in homes or in hiding places because of the persecution. And periodically we read that in the Book of Acts, when God was especially at work, there was spectacular blessing poured out upon all churches, all Christian congregations of a region. Acts chapter 9 verse 31, then the churches throughout Galilee, Judea and Samaria had peace and were edified and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit they multiplied. Now Some translations render it, then the church throughout Judea and Galilee and so forth grew and were multiplied and had the comfort of the Holy Spirit. And the nuance of some translations is that the overall church in that region prospered. But there's another reference. Acts chapter 16 verse 5 which says so the charges were strengthened in the faith and they increased in number daily and in Acts chapter 16 verse 5 all translations render it the churches each one Now all congregations benefited spiritually and numerically. We have no occurrence in Scripture of any sheep stealing taking place by any congregation. No Christian congregation, we're told in Scripture, prospered at the expense of another congregation numerically. And we have a dramatically different context today. And as we're aware, and as we've discussed this before, we have many different denominations in our country, and more than a few congregations in each denomination. We have a glut of churches. And speaking from a purely pragmatic standpoint, each one is vying for the attention and competing for the money of the American consumer to the point where some have described this context as being the stained glass jungle. And yet, a stained glass jungle was non-existent in the early Christian church. So there's a totally different ecclesiastical context and situation for the church in America in the 21st century. Nevertheless, for all that. In the first century, a sinful human tendency manifested and asserted itself, exalting human leaderships, human beings above the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in both 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Paul refuted false teachers. charlatans, false teachers, those undermining his authority, those who endeavored to discredit his apostolic teaching. Paul had that to contend with. However, an additional danger involved Christians becoming more enamored with true teachers than with the Messiah. And the timeless danger of that has been articulated very well by Warren Wiersbe. Warren Wiersbe points out, with reference to our text, instead of emphasizing the message of the word, the Corinthians emphasized the messenger. They got their eyes off the Lord and onto his servants, and this led to competition. Paul will point out that there can be no competition among true servants of God. It is sinful for church members to compare pastors or for believers to follow human leaders as disciples of men and not disciples of Jesus Christ. And Wiersbe goes on to say, Only Jesus Christ should have the place of preeminence. Now this is a troublesome issue for conservatives. Those who would shun a liberal interpretation of God's Word, those who would refute Godless worldviews, nevertheless can fall prey to the lure of personality cults. Verse 12, 1 Corinthians 1, each of you says, I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, or I am of Cephas, that is Simon Peter, or I am of Christ. In no way is Paul bashing Apollos or Cephas, but he is repudiating the worship of himself and others within the church. And he keeps on repudiating that wrong habit. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians 3, you're going to be reading verses 1 through 6. 1st Corinthians chapter 3 and he's very blunt very direct very confrontational here in 1st Corinthians 3 verses 1 through 6 And our brethren could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal as to babes in Christ I fed you with milk and not with solid food, for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able, for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal in behaving like mere men? For when one says, I am of Paul, and another, I am of Apollos, are you not carnal? Who then is Paul? And who is Apollos? The ministers whom you believed as the Lord gave each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. Paul is adamant on this point. God should get all the credit. Much of the time he does not. A fallible human being is placed on a pedestal and how people enjoy placing fallible human beings on a pedestal. And in present day America, people come across as being more excited about a preacher or a leader or a church activity than about the unique Son of God. And I keep bringing this topic up because I keep hearing about it and I keep hearing it. And you talk to people of a successful, flourishing, prosperous church, and not all the membership is guilty of this. And not all the membership does this. But a lot of the membership mentions people or programming and they seldom, very rarely, actually mention the precious, priceless, supreme name of Jesus Christ. They gush over the preacher. You gotta hear him. I don't know what the scripture was, I don't know what the topic was, but you gotta hear this guy. or they breathlessly venerate a Sunday school teacher and say there is none better. And meanwhile, while all this is going on, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God dying for sinners and saving them by His blood, all that's downgraded. In the name of Jesus, is lost sight of. And we have a corrective put forth in 1 Corinthians 3, the start of verse 21. Let no one boast in men. Don't do that. Paul keeps at it in chapter four. He introduces this concept of servanthood, and he offers a reminder in verse four that he himself will be judged. And then in verse six of 1 Corinthians 4, now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. And Paul is even more direct in Galatians 5 after he contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. In Galatians chapter 5 verse 26 says, let us not become conceited provoking one another and envying one another. Personality cults boil down to behaviors of envy and conceit, provocation. And people brag about other people largely because it gives them pleasure to brag. James chapter 4 verse 1. Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires of pleasure that war among your members? Now, it's possible, it's actual, for Christian congregations to flourish, to thrive, while giving God the glory every step of the way for His great blessing in Jesus Christ. Such a thing can and does happen in big churches. All too often, though, the pattern a boasting about a leader or a choir or a program ends up shortchanging Jesus. We Protestants rail against Roman Catholicism for the veneration of the Pope, and rightly so, especially this Pope. While too many of the same Protestants venerate a human idol or human idols in place of the heaven-sent Savior. And you've heard this before, you'll hear it again. It's one thing to convey encouragement and gratitude to God and appreciation to a fellow servant of Jesus Christ, but it's quite another to worship fellow servant of Jesus Christ in place or more than the King of Kings. John Calvin writing centuries ago remarked on verse 12 He said this, Paul's object is to maintain Christ's exclusive authority in the church so that we may all exercise dependence upon him that he alone may be recognized among us as Lord and Master and that the name of no individual be set in opposition to his. Paul does not suffer men to have such preeminence in the church as to usurp Christ's supremacy. There is, it is true, a certain degree of honor that is due to Christ's ministers, but Christ shall nevertheless be the sole master, the sole master and looked upon as such. Arguably this topic may have very little bearing on most of you, maybe all of you. But more than anyone here I know, and in my heart, I need to be careful about not elevating my positive Christian role models too much. I gotta be careful that elevating my spiritual heroes to the status that the Savior alone deserves and occupies. Then we go to verse 13 of 1 Corinthians chapter 1. We have a series of very important questions. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? It brings to mind the Great Commission, doesn't it? Matthew chapter 28, verse 19, that there is in Jesus, before his ascension, Matthew 28, verse 19, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, in the name of the Son, in the name of the Holy Spirit, in the name of the Triune God. You've heard this before, when people join the ARP church, they don't just join a congregation, they do that. But in addition to that, they also join a denomination. And yet, they're not baptized in the name of the congregation or in the name of the denomination. They're baptized in the name of the Triune God, who saves His people. exclusively by way of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the central figure of baptism. And we go to Acts chapter 2, we read about the sermon on the day of Pentecost that Peter proclaimed, and Peter centered that sermon on the person and the work of the Savior who is Lord of all. In Acts chapter 2 verse 38, Peter told this Jewish crowd repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus and you will have remission, forgiveness of sins and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 3 Peter and John encountered a crippled beggar asking for money in verse 6 Peter told him silver or gold I do not have but what I have I give you he said in the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise and walk that's exactly what happened crippled beggar immediate healing And rather than capitalizing on his newfound celebrity status, possibly, Peter kept proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. And in verse 12 of Acts chapter 3, he pointed out to people, why do you marvel? Why do you look intently at us as if by our own power or godliness we made this man walk? And he deliberately steered the conversation, the focus, the attention from himself to the name of Jesus. And at the start of verse 16, reading his name, Jesus' name, through faith in his name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. And later on in Acts chapter 4 when they were brought before the Jewish council, the Sanhedrin, Peter said, Let it be known to all of you that by the name of Jesus Christ this man stands before you whole. It's the power of Jesus' name. Acts chapter 19 verse 5, During the ministry of the palace of Paul, interacting with people. In Acts chapter 19 verse 5, when they heard this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And in our text today, Paul is clear, he's not crucified for the salvation of these Corinthian believers, nor were they baptized in the name of Paul. And instead of subscribing to any personality cult, these believers were to rejoice in the personality and in the glorious name of Jesus Christ, our victorious Redeemer. He alone, He exclusively deserves our full allegiance and our boasting. And today we confess, we celebrate. Spiritual reality that Jesus Christ is the head and the king of the church because he is supreme and his name is above every name. And we affirm along with Colossians 1 verse 18, he is the head of the body of the church. He is the beginning, he is the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence. My dear friend the late George Lauderdale in his word saying rendition of 1st Corinthians chapter 1 pulls together some of the themes in this chapter and we conclude with his words. Thank God Christ's gifts in you abound till in his day you are blameless found. heed my appeal, learn to agree, your church division should not be. Salvation in its proper view gives Jesus all the glory due, for by his cross we came to live, exactly nothing could we give. In man we've boasted far too long, insulting God, horrendous wrong. Did Jesus let us praise, express His worthy name with joy, confess? Let's pray together. Father in our God, I delight in this congregation. We are remarkably united on the things of Jesus Christ and I just pray this would continue. and that we each one would have our devotion to Jesus enlarged and expanded because of who he is and how deeply and everlastingly we are loved through him by you. And I pray this all in Jesus' perfect name. Amen.