Sermon: Division in the Church

1Cor. 1:10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
1Cor. 1:11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.
1Cor. 1:12 Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”
1Cor. 1:13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
1Cor. 1:14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
1Cor. 1:15 so that no one would say you were baptized in my name.
1Cor. 1:16 Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.
1Cor. 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

The Apostle Paul was outraged that the church in Corinth had become so fragmented that he urges them in the beginning of the letter to be unified around the gospel. I wonder what Paul would think of the church of North America in the 21st Century? One website that tracts Christian denominations suggests that there are over 635 different denominations in the US alone.

It would not suprise me that Paul would have strong rhetoric for us today. We need to take seriously this warning from Paul not to be divided.