St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church                    Hudson, Florida                                                     February 28, 2010

Sermon by Pastor Kenneth F. Gruebel

Is This Any Way to be the Church?

Now Cut That Out

I Corinthians 1:10-17 (NRSV)

Conflict has always fascinated me!

When I was in high school I participated in organized conflict . . . it was called football.  The coach would scream, “Gruebel, keep your eye on his mid section and drive your shoulder into his gut.  Drive Gruebel, drive, you’re not dancing with him you’re tackling him.”  When it came to the day of the game the coach would give stirring speeches to fire us into a frenzy to win, one for old Harborfields High!  “You’ve got to be leaner and meaner” he’d say, “Do you want to be known as pansies?”  “No sir,” we’d all shout.  “Who’s going to hit harder?”  “We are!” “Who’s going to block tougher?”  “We are!”  “Who wants this game more?”  “We do!”  The problem was I could never get myself all worked up by all this “rah rah” stuff.  It always seemed rather silly to me which is probably why I was always on the third string playing the position of “left out”.

When I became a pastor I participated again in organized conflict.  It was called . . . church.  I heard such stirring words as:  “Don’t you ever preach a sermon like that again” or “We pay your salary so you better darn well do what we tell you.” Or “If that high school group of yours spills soda on the carpet in the Women’s Parlor one more time I’ll have your head on a silver platter!”

Conflict in life is nothing new is it?  From the teenager who blares music too loud in the house, to the major issues of the day like abortion, homosexuality and euthanasia, we are surrounded by conflict.

Conflict in the church is nothing new either.  As soon as churches were created there was conflict.  In fact the very first thing that Paul addresses in his letter to First Church Corinth is their conflict.

The church was only five years old and already they were feuding with one battle after another.  Apparently they had begun dividing themselves into factions as followers of Paul or Peter or Apollos or Christ.

We don’t know for sure what all of this meant but we can take a good guess.

Paul’s group was probably composed of mostly Gentiles who probably were original converts and founding members of First Church Corinth.  With Paul now gone from the scene perhaps they felt that his authority or teaching was being undermined.  The Apollos faction probably consisted of church members who were drawn to the preaching of Apollos, since he is described in Acts 18:21-28 as being “eloquent and mighty in the scriptures, fervent in spirit, and bold.”  In other words he was a ham!  The followers of Peter were probably Jewish Christians who more than likely had deep roots in the faith of their ancestors.  Those who claimed to be followers of Christ, may have been moderate trying to steer a steady course in their faith or they could have been a self – serving group whose real fault was not in saying that they belonged to Christ, but in acting as if Christ belonged to them.

I love the way Paul responds to them.  He says to them, “Is Christ divided into pieces?  Was Paul crucified for you?  Were you baptized in the name of Paul?  I am thankful that I didn’t baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius.  No one can say, then, that they were baptized as my disciple.  (Oh yes I did baptize Stephanas’ family, but I can’t remember anyone else.”)

(I Cor 1:13-16)

By treating apostles and preachers as though they were rivals in a popularity contest the congregation in Corinth missed seeing the “big picture” . . .  they missed seeing the forest through the trees.

-          If I were Paul I probably would have said, “Now cut that out!”

However, it would be very wrong to conclude that the church should never have any conflict.

For a church in which there is never any conflict would present a strange contrast to the life of its Lord,

who sent the rich young ruler away unhappy,

             who drove the money changers out of the Temple,

                         who called the scribes and Pharisees liars, thieves and hypocrites

                                  and who refused to placate the ambitions of his disciples. 

Our Lord once said,

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.”  (Matthew 10:34-36)

Conflict occurs in the church because we care deeply about our faith and the church.

Whenever I think of conflict I think about the time my former church divided into factions and cliques because one day I got up on a step stool like this one. 

Like First Church Corinth my former church was a very new church, probably around 10 years old at the time of the conflict.  Our sanctuary was also our main meeting room and our fellowship hall.  We held two services on Sunday morning with an average attendance of maybe 80 or 90 at each service.  As time passed however, more and more people came to the first service so that there were 140 to 150 people worshipping.  We had no raised chancel, as we do at St. Mark’s; everything was on one level, so as attendance increased at that service people sitting in the back couldn’t see me and I couldn’t see them.

So one day during announcements I got up on a stool for a minute or two to see if that would help people see me better.  My thought was to get a couple of portable platforms so that we could put them up or take them down as needed.  Little did I know or realize what a conflict I had just unleashed.

“He’s trying to change our church!  We believe in the priesthood of all believers, the pastor should not be separated from the congregation, by a platform.  Who does he think he is being so high and mighty?  (This was an 8 inch platform).  If the platform goes up I’m going out the door and I’m never coming back!”

For a while I ignored it, but it kept getting more and more heated.  Phone calls were being made, sides were being taken, pro platform, anti platform, pro Gruebel, anti Gruebel.  Finally one Sunday I preached a sermon on the conflict of the platform.  It seems silly now, but at the time the future of the ministry of that congregation was threatened.  Fortunately we kept our eye on the big picture and with some patience, tolerance, understanding and some give and take the conflict eased and the church regained its focus.

As Paul would put it, be completely united with only one thought and one purpose.

I am thankful, very thankful that St. Mark’s is no longer beset by bitterness, animosity and conflict as it once was.  No one has wanted to punch me in the nose for a couple of years now.

Do we have problems at St. Mark’s?  Sure we do!

Do we have differences of opinion?  Yes we do!

Do we sometime hurt and irritate each other?  Absolutely!

But unlike First Church Corinth I believe we have become united with one thought and one purpose:  To share in word and practice the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

How do I know? By your outreach through

-          The Food Pantry

-          The Rummage sale

-          Santa Faces

-          School Supplies

-          The support for our seminary student Debbie Confalone and Support Our Soldiers, not to mention Step Up to Opportunity.

I can tell by how you walk into the Sanctuary and by how you greet each other before worship.

I can tell by the letters and cards you send and the calls you make to each other.

I can tell by your laughter and tears.

I can tell by your generosity and the questions you ask.

I can tell by the way you sing and the way you pray.

I can tell by looking in your eyes.

You know the secret; you’ve found the answer; you are united in one thought and one purpose.  I just wanted you to know I’m proud to be your pastor.