1 Corinthians 1. Sports fans know that the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four is this week. I will be wearing my Florida jersey and cheering for the Gators; and many of you may do the same for your favorite team. It’s a huge week in the annual calendar of college sports! We watch and cheer, harass our friends who support the opposition, and trash talk all week… of course we’d like our team to win but, in the end, it is about watching some really good basketball.

In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul writes about the conflict between groups who are arguing that they follow Paul, Apollos, Cephas/Peter, or Christ (1 Cor 1:12). It’s not quite the Final Four, but kind of… the Apostle Paul founded the church in Corinth in Acts 18, and he spent about 18 months there teaching, discipling new believers, and training up church leadership. When Paul left Corinth, he sent Apollos there to continue teaching. Somewhere along the way groups in the church became divided and attached to the particular teacher who had trained them.

This lack of unity, and various conflicts in the church, was the main reason Paul wrote two letters to the church at Corinth. (I recently heard a conference speaker call Corinth “a dumpster fire of a church” which really made me laugh. He was not wrong.) Paul writes, “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 Cor 1:10).

The church cannot be effective as an outpost of the kingdom of God – as people who bear witness to the gospel and share the good news – when there is great division. If you’ve ever be part of a church, a family, or any group that is mired in conflict you know this to be true. While people are busy arguing about various rights and wrongs, the really important thing – the mission that brough them together in the first place – is typically lost.

Paul asks, “Is Christ divided?!” (1 Cor 1:13) Paul reminds them that the church is a community that is to be centered on the gospel, on Jesus and his message.

Think of a recent conflict in your family or community. How might you have contributed to the conflict? Did you take sides, speak untruthfully or without care for others? Did you repeat things that were unnecessary or hurtful? What can you do to bring greater unity to your community? How can you contribute to staying focused on the gospel and the role of the church as an outpost of the kingdom of God?