Read for This Week’s Study
1 Cor. 1:12–17, Rom. 1:29, 1 Cor. 1:10, 1 Cor. 3:1–4, Phil. 2:5–8, 2 Cor. 11:23–28, Col. 1:24.
Memory Text:
“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment” (1 Corinthians 1:10, ESV).
Those who observe wildlife know that some creatures live in packs, in herds, or in groups, all of varying sizes. From wolves, to dolphins, to even army ants, these creatures stick together. Chimpanzees are especially known for their tight-knit social bonds, sometimes existing in groups of 15 to 150 fellow chimps. However, these relationships are not always harmonious, and sometimes the chimps fight among themselves.
Humans are somewhat like that as well; that is, not only do they tend to exist in groups, but they sometimes fight among themselves in those groups. And that’s a reality even in our churches! Cliques form, often around some kind of charismatic leader. And, even worse, sometimes one clique does not get along with others.
Have you ever seen that in your church? If so, then you have an idea of an issue Paul faced in Corinth. This week we will take a look at 1 Corinthians 1–4, where the apostle Paul deals with the problem of quarrels in the church and how to overcome them, namely, through unity in Christ.
*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 18.
Supplemental EGW Notes
I urge our people to cease their criticism and evil-speaking, and go to God in earnest prayer, asking Him to help them to help the erring. Let them link up with one another and with Christ. Let them study the seventeenth of John, and learn how to pray and how to live the prayer of Christ. He is the Comforter. He will abide in their hearts, making their joy full. His words will be to them as the bread of life, and in the strength thus gained they will be enabled to develop characters that will be an honor to God. Perfect Christian fellowship will exist among them. There will be seen in their lives the fruit that always appears as the result of obedience to the truth.
Let us make Christ’s prayer the rule of our life, that we may form characters that will reveal to the world the power of the grace of God. Let there be less talk about petty differences, and a more diligent study of what the prayer of Christ means to those who believe on His name. We are to pray for union, and then live in such a way that God can answer our prayers.
Perfect oneness—a union as close as the union existing between the Father and the Son—this is what will give success to the efforts of God’s workers.
Complete union with Christ and with one another is absolutely necessary to the perfection of believers. Christ’s presence by faith in the hearts of believers is their power, their life. It brings union with God. “Thou in me.” Union with God through Christ makes the church perfect.
He who seeks to serve others by self-denial and self-sacrifice will be given the attributes of character that commend themselves to God, and develop wisdom, true patience, forbearance, kindness, compassion. This gives him the chiefest place in the kingdom of God.
Nothing can perfect a perfect unity in the church but the spirit of Christlike forbearance. Satan can sow discord; Christ alone can harmonize the disagreeing elements. . . . When you as individual workers of the church love God supremely and your neighbor as yourself, then there will be no labored efforts to be in unity, there will be oneness in Christ, the ears to report will be closed, and no one will take up a reproach against his neighbor. The members of the church will cherish love and unity and be as one great family. Then we shall bear the credentials to the world that will testify that God has sent His Son into the world. Christ has said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”—Reflecting Christ, p. 200.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.