by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
There is a command in I Corinthians 1:10 that deserves our attention. How do you get a group of people who are divided in their affections and interests and preferences to be of the “same mind and the same judgment<\/em>“? And, by extension, how would we make sure that, as individual Christians, we are doing our part to make it happen?<\/p>\n First, it won’t happen if we don’t want it to, and if we are selfish or self-centered instead of Jesus-centered. The first step in this context was to quit thinking in terms of your favorite preacher and your devotion to him (I am of Paul, Apollos, Cephas; put your modern favorite preacher in there, too), and to start elevating the mind that exalts only Jesus. Remember, He was the one who was crucified for you, and you were baptized in His name (I Corinthians 1:13f). Thus, it was a commitment to Him, not to some man. How does Jesus want you to think?<\/p>\n Paul’s mindset was that he should do nothing or say nothing that would make “the cross of Christ of none effect<\/em>” (I Corinthians 1:17). The cross has the right effect when it centers our thinking on what this event was all about. It is the cross that “draws all people to Himself<\/em>” (John 12:32).<\/p>\n Our minds and hearts must know Jesus and the meaning of the cross, and let the cross have its full effect on our hearts. It should be so powerful and effective that “it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me<\/em>” (Galatians 2:20).<\/p>\n Paul had this mind: never to exalt “excellence of speech<\/em>” or “wisdom<\/em>” (the impressive wisdom of the world) over Jesus.\u00a0His mind was “I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified<\/em>” (I Corinthians 2:2). He tried to make his manner of presentation be in the background. He was trying to get their attention on Jesus, not his style or eloquence. He did not want people to be awed by him, but awed by who he was describing, Jesus. Now, there is more to having the same mind and having the same judgment, but if these things are not in place, it will never happen. And, it is sinful not to think this way. I don’t believe that any of us can go to heaven without the same mind that Paul is describing here. It is a great unifier when people are divided.<\/p>\n We are basically talking about a scene of soldiers making sure the flag does not fall into the dirt. We cannot let the cross of Jesus fall to the dirt as we do battle with the forces of darkness. All else we can do without, but we cannot do without the cross of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n In order to be of the same mind as Paul, we would have to believe the same thing Paul believed. Did you know that God did not give us but one choice as to what to believe? There is “one faith<\/em>” (Ephesians 4:4), and it is that which was “once delivered to the saints<\/em>” (Jude 3). The cross of Jesus is central. It is the rallying point of all who know what it is about and who have been powerfully changed by it in heart and mind that they will say as Paul, “I am crucified with Christ<\/em>” and “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me<\/em>” (Galatians 2:20).<\/p>\nIf the old self-centered will has not been put to death in some members of the church, while some members are totally on board with letting Christ live in me and through me, then the church will be divided and remain divided.\u00a0It is impossible to fulfill the command to “be of the same mind and the same judgment<\/em>” (I Corinthians 1:10) when the cross has been made of “no effect<\/em>” in some members, and with other members it has powerfully changed their minds. Some have one idea of what they would “like to hear,<\/em>” and others want to hear the Spirit (anything and everything that the Spirit has revealed). Some do not want much scripture (the things of the Spirit). They think the preaching should be in the way of human wisdom. Paul purposely avoided this mindset so that their faith “would not be in the wisdom of men.<\/em>” There are those who think all public preaching should be an all-positive pep-talk. You can talk about biblical topics that address sin and “doctrinal” things in another setting, but in the main assembly, they think that they know what topics “should” be preached and which topics “should not” be preached in the assembly. Human wisdom guides them, not the Spirit of God.<\/p>\n In their human wisdom, they think they know how the preaching “ought” to be, and if the preaching is just a bunch of scriptures and how they apply, then “human wisdom” is afraid that this will be a “turn-off”, or heaven forbid that it embarrasses us if we have visitors. Human wisdom has its own “mind” about how things “should” be in the preaching. Those people who want the things of the Spirit will want the Bible. If the preaching is not from the Bible, and the Bible is correctly handled and reverently taught on all topics, those who expect Biblical teaching are not of the “same mind” as those guided by human wisdom and who want to impose their will upon the preaching.<\/p>\n Paul exhorted Timothy to “preach the word<\/em>” and do it “in season<\/em>” (when people are hungry for it) and “out of season<\/em>” (when people want something else) (II Timothy 4:1-4). In order for each Christian to “be of the same mind and the same judgment,<\/em>” and this is a command, not a mere suggestion, each one must have the mind of the Spirit, not the mind of the flesh that is based on human wisdom.<\/p>\n Are you on the same page with Paul? Do you want “the things of the Spirit<\/em>“? Or, do you want to impose your will upon the church, and especially what you desire from the preaching? Try to think like Paul. If you learn to think like Paul, you will not get caught up in the wrong mindset. Paul agreed to preach only the “things of the Spirit.<\/em>” If each of us gets on the same page with Paul, then we will have the same mind and the same judgment. Otherwise, we can’t and won’t.<\/p>\n When Paul commanded, by the Spirit, that we be perfectly joined together “with the same mind and the same judgment<\/em>” (I Corinthians 1:10), there is personal responsibility that each person bears to do their part to make it happen. Paul does not give us an impossible task. Yet it is a task that calls for full cooperation from each member. There are several dead giveaways that not <\/b>every member is\u00a0<\/b>cooperating with this command. In the text and context, some members are drawn to preachers rather than to Jesus. Jesus can tell us outright not to think of men above what is written (I Corinthians 4:6), and members will not see how it applies to their case.<\/p>\n The goal of “the things of the Spirit,<\/em>” the revealed word of God, is to give us “the mind of Christ<\/em>” (I Corinthians 2:16). We have “that which is written<\/em>” (I Corinthians 4:6) to help us learn the “mind of Christ,<\/em>” and that <\/b>is the “same mind<\/em>” that every Christian is to have. To the Philippians, Paul wrote: “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus<\/em>” (Philippians 2:5), and then He showed the example of Jesus not being selfish and retaining His position but taking the form of a servant. So, we are to look at Jesus’ example and learn how He thought and what He did to bring unity and harmony between God and man, and then we are to copy what we see in His example and become servants to help each other go to heaven. But every member has to be busy learning “the mind of Christ<\/em>” and then implementing “the same mind.”<\/em><\/p>\n A church cannot have unity and harmony when people have different mindsets and are not working towards the same objective. Paul summarized the brethren at Corinth as “carnal” and not “spiritual” (I Corinthians 3:1-3). The evidence of that was that there were things like “envy,” “strife,” and “divisions,” and these were clear indicators that they had not grown into the image of Jesus, because they were not thinking like Jesus and were not learning to think like Jesus. Unity and harmony are not what happens to some “lucky” groups. It is what certain groups decide to learn together and follow together.<\/p>\n The goal God has for us is that we “grow up in all things in Jesus<\/em>” to “the knowledge of the Son of God<\/em>“, “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ<\/em>” (Ephesians 4:13). To have the “same mind<\/em>,” there has got to be a lot of personal growing up. There is way too much “carnal” and selfish and childish thinking among too many members at Corinth and in a lot of churches today. Paul is not commanding the impossible, but he was talking about the improbable at that church. The majority changed (II Corinthians 2:6), but several did not. If we can even get the majority to be on the same page, seeking to know Jesus and to develop His mind in our minds, we would be so much better off and a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n There was the problem at Corinth of over-elevating certain preachers (Paul, Apollos, Cephas) and under-elevating Jesus Christ. The proper way to evaluate men is to think of them as “servants” of Christ (I Corinthians 4:1). They are trying (or should be trying) to get people to know and love Jesus above all else. Don’t be drawn to their personality, style, or eloquence so that you are drawn to them instead of Jesus. If they leave, it should change nothing about how you serve Jesus and His people, because you are all about Jesus, not the preacher.<\/p>\n Some members are weak because they were converted to the preacher instead of to Jesus. If that preacher is in town, they are sure to go, but rarely, if ever, show that kind of enthusiasm at the home congregation. They will travel miles to hear brother so and so, but what has happened about getting excited about the gospel of Christ, just because it is itself such a wonderful treasure? “What is written” is the thing that should be elevated above those who preach it (I Corinthians 4:6). When we are “puffed up on behalf of one<\/em> (preacher) against another,<\/em>” we are causing division and showing ourselves to be immature, carnal, and childish. “The same mind<\/em>” would mean everyone trying to learn all they could about Jesus and to think and act like Jesus. It is believing that “that which is written<\/em>” can give us “the mind of Christ,<\/em>” and when each person feels the same way about Jesus and “that which is written,<\/em>” we begin having “the same mind and the same judgment”.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton There is a command in I Corinthians 1:10 that deserves our attention. How do you get a group of people who are divided in their affections and interests and preferences to be of the “same mind and the same judgment“? And, by extension, how would we make sure that, as individual…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[787,456],"class_list":["post-95508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-equality","tag-unity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":95508,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? 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\nSo, the first thing is to make sure you are going to be of the “same mind<\/em>” as Paul. Paul had the mindset expressed in what the Spirit guided him to write. A congregation of people cannot be of the same mind with each other if some are getting ideas and outlook from “persuasive words of human wisdom<\/em>” (I Corinthians 2:4,5) while others are getting their ideas and outlook from the “words of the Spirit.<\/em>”\n