Week 4 Day 3

1 Cor 1:10-17
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10 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, t in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized in my name. 16 (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
 
Who do you follow?  It’s a serious question, do you follow John Piper?  What about Jack Hibbs?  Maybe it’s some other big name preacher or maybe it is me, pastor John.  It is one thing to believe that a particular Bible teacher or preacher is good and faithful to Scripture, but be careful that you don’t confuse a preacher or teacher with Jesus. 
 
That is part of what happened in Corinth.  Some followed Paul and some Apollos.  There was a sort of apostolic stardom that had taken the hearts and minds of some.  The result was division and not unity.  The foundation of the church is Jesus, not any particular preacher who talks about Jesus.  This is essential to remember!  The truth is this, church is hard.  It’s hard because we get distracted and take our eyes off of Jesus (Heb. 12:1-2) and put them on a preacher or teacher. 
 
In order to keep unity in community everybody needs to keep their eyes on Jesus.  How do you do that?  Hold tightly to the core doctrines of the faith and hold loosely the secondary or tertiary doctrines of the faith.  It isn’t about who baptized you, but who saved you and only Jesus saves.  Take some times to think this through, who are you committed to?  Is it Jesus or some Bible teacher or preacher?  That doesn’t mean you jump from church to church or place to place, or teacher to preacher.  It does mean that it is important to ground your faith in Jesus.