Building Unity

Nehemiah 3:23-32; 1^st Corinthians 3:8-17

Rev. Chris Harbin, Rocks Baptist Church—Pamplin, VA

14 August 2005

Unity is a product of corporate need. We draw together when we sense our need for one another. In a society that hails individualism, personal rights, and personal independence, how do we build unity? How do we join together in recognition of our need for one another when the world around us promotes a rugged individualism?

Corinth was a mess. Julius Ceasar had re-established Corinth as a colony in 44 B.C. It was a place of opportunity, as freedmen could engage in enterprise, building wealth in upward mobility. Corinth was a city of two ports and a way station for more than just merchandise. Cargos from ships were reloaded upon others to send to new destinations. Merchants came from all over the Roman Empire. They brought their foods, but also their ideas, superstitions, and forms of worship. Philosophies abounded with varied teachers pushing their wares of thought and meaning. It was in this context that the believers struggled to understand and live out the demands of grace in the gospel.

This was apparently a gentile church, more than the others. There were greater difficulties for the believers to overcome, as they did not share the ethical and moral background of the Jewish people. As they learned of grace, they needed to learn God’s expectations regarding behavior as well. Believers struggled in the pluralistic context of Corinth to understand and apply the gospel to their lives.

Corinthian society was in a state of flux. Amid the multiplicity of philosophies, deities, and truth claims, there were social changes with unexpected consequences. There was the nouveau riche. The free slaves with the chance to advance had done well in the opportunities that Corinth afforded. This was a city of cutthroat competition in the commerce between the two ports on the isthmus. As people moved up the economic ladder in the economic opportunities afforded, there were few checks on the motivating force of greed and self-service. New-found opportunity to raise one’s living standards overlooked any sense of social and interpersonal consequence to unbridled self-advancement.

Upward mobility had been the rule of the day over the century since Roma had rebuilt Corinth. It was the land of opportunity with freedom to do for oneself and little thought for others. Greed was the master of economic opportunity where those with lesser scruples claimed power and progress for their own benefit. It was not intentional, but the system of economic opportunity called the opportunists to the fore, allowing them to establish the rules of competition in the Corinthian world.

It was not all bad, but the consequences took some unexpected turns. The system turned greed loose from restraint, building islands of wealth in a sea of misery. Advancement was the order of the day, downplaying the plight of those used or abused in the process. In a sphere in which so many had risen from slaves to merchants in one or two generations, social standing and economic prosperity earned fresh importance. Self-importance was the all-absorbing norm. Corinth was not ruled by self-control, but the domination of others.

This attitude regarding the importance of self spilled over into the life of the believers. It was a major force at play in the clashes between those claiming to follow Paul, Apollos, or Cephas. It was also at the heart of the other means of division and dissension. Isn’t it always? Most arguments have to do with getting our own way or showing up in a better light. They are concerns over self in some way or another—my toys, my rules, my desires, my profit, my way. They could have learned a few things from Nehemiah.

Nehemiah is in many respects a story about placing the common good above my own. Rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem was a daunting task, but working together for the common good made it possible. There were the distracters and those who wished the job not to be accomplished. As the people focused jointly on the task at hand, however, they managed the project in 52 days. It was possible, because they looked beyond their personal issues to accomplish something greater than themselves.

Such is Paul’s reminder to the Corinthian believers. In calling them to unity, he asks them to take their focus off themselves and remember the task to which they were called. This was not the norm of the day for Corinth. This was counter-culture and clashed with the economic patterns of the day. While the people were proud of what they were becoming and the status they were achieving, Paul wanted them to remember whose they were. He wanted them to remember the importance and primacy of God’s grace in calling them and the fact that they now belonged to God.

For all the claims of status and freedom and economic ability in Corinth, Paul begins the letter claiming not to be free, but an envoy—an apostle of Christ Jesus. In contrast to the philosophers of the day, Paul does not teach his own thought. He promotes Christ Jesus. In contrast to status resulting from what the individual can accomplish and achieve, Paul speaks of what God has accomplished, casting himself simply as the servant of God.

In chapter three, Paul addresses the issue more directly, focusing from accomplishment that gratifies self to that which serves God. Paul reminds the believers in Corinth that the true issues are not what one can accumulate in this society, but what one can accomplish for God. Further, he addresses the issue that it is not so much the quantity of service that matters as the quality or purity of our service.

If the Corinthians were proud of being freed from slavery, Paul was preoccupied with serving Christ faithfully. If they were proud of which Christian leader they followed, Paul was concerned with remembering that he was nothing more than a laborer in God’s service. Deep down, those things the Corinthians deemed so important were non-existent issues from God’s perspective. They were focusing on self, when God wanted them to look beyond to selfless service.

When Paul wanted the believers to unite, he did not expect them to agree on all issues. He did not ask them to give up their identity. He asked them to set aside selfish desires for importance, prominence, and benefit in order to engage in joint service to God. He asked them to remember that they belonged to Christ Jesus and were not free to serve self as Lord.

Unity requires submission. It demands that we submit personal desires and goals to some higher ideal. Unity requires that all our efforts aim at fulfilling God’s will instead of our own. It requires that we agree on one direction, working side by side to accomplish one goal. It requires that self be placed in submission to God, that we might accomplish His purpose rather than our own. Are we up to the challenge of uniting to accomplish God’s will?

—©Copyright 2005 Christopher B. Harbin

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