Picture This...

Imagine with me if in a church someone had got busy and converted a bunch of Pakastanis to Christ and someone else had converted a group of bikers. And you walked in that church and all the Pakastanis were sitting separately together and all the bikers were sitting with each other… Anglos, Hispanics, etc.

What would you think about that? You might think that church was divided and segregated.

That’s kind of what was happening in the church at Corinth. Some were trying to distinguish and differentiate themselves by who they were baptized by… Paul, Apollos, Cephas, Christ. In other words… I am superior to you because my baptizer is superior to your baptizer.

Paul said they were full of “jealousy and strife” and as such were failing as a church which according to God’s plan was supposed to demonstrate love and unity to the world.

That sort of division could lead to a division of the church itself a la Acts 20:28-30, in which “grievous wolves” drew people away to start a new church. New churches such as the “Followers of Paul” church, etc.

It’s nice to associate with other Christians who might have a similar culture (racially) or to associate with other Christians who have similar hobbies… such as riding Harley’s but we have to be careful how we present ourselves to the world because we might appear to be divided and not united.

As members of a congregation lets develop relationships with all of our other members. Members who are racially different, old and young members, male and female, etc. so that we can demonstrate to the world the wisdom of God that in spite all of our differences we share the commonality of Jesus Christ which is life changing.

Lets be diligent and cautious about presenting the right picture to the world because you might only have one shot at it.