1 Corinthians 1:10-18
February 1, 2026
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, Oakland, CA.
Did you know that when surveyed, the reason people don’t come to church is because they see the church is always quarreling. In 2024, 74% of people see the church in conflict. Somewhere between 23-25% of pastors leave a church as the result of a conflict.
At First Chinese, San Francisco, Dr. James Chuck served as pastor for over 40 years! When I was called in 1998, people said, “You are going to James Chuck’s church!” As beloved as Pastor Jim Hopkins was here at Lakeshore or I was at First Chinese, these are not our churches.
Corinthians
After expressing gratitude for what God has done among the Corinthians in the past and his hope for God’s work among them in the future, Paul confronts them over their present situation. At this church, there were a variety of backgrounds: rich and poor, Jew and Greek, slave and free, a lack of any bonds of ethnicity or family that might hold them together.
The people at this church were divided into different groups. “I belong to Paul.” “I belong to Apollos.” “I belong to Cephas.” Even, I belong to Christ.” Paul said, “Has Christ been divided?”
Paul said it wasn’t him who was crucified for them but it was Jesus Christ.
These factions didn’t necessarily reflect different theologies, but the kind of quarreling that was common in ancient days and perhaps today. The quarrels were over jealousy, loyalty, or claiming truth. They were “self-interest” groups putting the individual first at the expense of the community.
Have you come across wild turkeys where you live? You know that they are very fierce in protecting their turf. When you dare to approach them, in addition to their sharp clucking, they spread out their feathers to make them look bigger and intimidating. They look puffed up.
At the heart of the problems at the Corinthian church is that members are “puffed up” against each other. Some of them claim in their eyes that with their rhetorical abilities and human wisdom, they should be more important than that of others.
Paul has established churches that exhibit a variety of viewpoints and is now calling his listeners in Corinth to overcome quarreling and jealousy that have undermined the community. He said, “have no divisions, be together in one mind and one opinion.
Here, Paul is not saying for them to all say the same thing, not uniformity, but having the one mind and one spirit with the common commitment to Lord Jesus Christ as sisters and brothers.
Last Sunday, we had our Church Annual Meeting when one might guess there would be conflict, quarreling, and even jealousy! We are happy that conflict didn’t happen to this community of sisters and brothers in the name of Jesus Christ!
Divisions in the Church
But we know that there are divisions perhaps more hidden rather than on the surface. Sometimes, the divisions we see in the world seep into the church. For example, in society, the problem of elites who have power and hierarchy creates conflict because they may know or may think they know more than others as the result of their privileges.
Division is formed between those with natural qualities or talents versus those who didn’t have the opportunity to develop their own. It’s their way or no way.
Some people are valued for what they know and what they can do because of superior knowledge and power—whether spiritual, commercial, cultural, scientific, or technical.
Such elites may boast about their status, cultivate dependence of others, and indulge in the honor and benefits that others give to them. Self-interest becomes the rule. Division, difference, and dependence result in resentment and dissension. This division is between those who are privileged and those who are under-privileged.
Paul’s call for “no division among you” shows the purpose of God’s work in Christ is reconciling the world and bringing peace.
At First Chinese in San Francisco, there is a Chinese-speaking worshipping congregation and an English-speaking worshipping congregation. We worship separately in order to hear the Good News in our native languages but we belong together as one church. Like any church maintaining this identity is hard; we have had schisms in the past; people have left. Even when I try to tell them that they are two-sides of the same coin, they are not always all in one accord.
This division is between those who have identified the US as home and those who still remain rooted in the Asian places where they came from. We strive to belong together even when from a distance we all look Chinese or Chinese Americans!
Do we as Lakeshore belong together?
We are “welcoming and affirming” of LGBTQ people because we believe that God made us all beautiful in God’s own sight even when other faith communities are not yet there in realizing that all people are still God’s people.
We sing out of the Chalice Hymnal and the African American Heritage Hymnal because we embrace one another while we are still learning each other’s heritages and traditions.
We believe our ministry is out on the streets in front of the Grand Avenue Theatre as well aspersonal faith formation is key to building up the Body of Christ but sometimes we find tensions here.
We found from our Koffee Klatches that some want to sing contemporary praise songs while others believe that only hymns in our hymnals have meaning for us.
These potential divisive issues can easily tear us apart.
But the good news is that these theological, cultural, and ethical disputes; these controversies over Christian practices and how we do church are all in Christ. When we present any of these positions as closer to being right than another, we fail to recognize those whom we have issues with.
Jesus Christ is not the problem but our groupings, causes, political parties, self-interest perspectives are. Can we see that Christ is in all of this?
African American Heritage
Regardless of where we have come from to become a part of the Lakeshore family, we are in Christ and Christ is in us.
When I was growing up in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, I went to the Patrick T. Campbell Junior High School. By that time, the majority of the students were Black. My homeroom teacher was John Anderson Joyce. He was Black, stood tall and proud.
Like today is the beginning of February, it was Black History Month so we were studying and reading Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois, and the life of George Washington Carver. But when Mr. Joyce came to me, he told me that I wasn’t Black. He asked me if I knew what race I was. He knew about me but was wondering if I knew about myself.
When I told him that I was Chinese-American, he gave me a book, written by Lin Yutang. I didn’t know who in the world is Lin Yutang at that time but I soon discovered that he was a Chinese writer, linguist, and an inventor who taught at Boston University.
He wrote, My Country and My People (1935), produced an English-Chinese dictionary, and invented a Chinese typewriter that was patented in 1952. As my friends were giving reports about Douglass and Washington and others, I gave my report on Lin Yutang!
As a 9th grader, Mr. Joyce knew that I needed a mentor to whom I may aspire to become. While I may know about Black American history and heritage, Mr. Joyce knew that I would become more complete if I knew Lin Yutang.
Was it important for my education to learn about Black history and heroes? Yes, and I am a more enlightened person because of that. But learning about Lin Yutang, I am also more complete in becoming who I am today. At Lakeshore, we see Christ in everything that we do and in every person here.
Beginning today, Lakeshore celebrates African American Heritage with guest preachers, special exhibits, soul food, hats day, and many more events. We have a wonderful opportunity to learn and dwell in African American heritage that will make us more complete. African American history is American history too.
Together at Lakeshore
Paul wrote about baptism with the point that if someone was to be baptized by someone or another that the new Christian would be more significant or not. Paul asked, “Were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
Paul challenges that by saying that he didn’t baptize any of them except Cripus and Gaius. He proceeded that he baptized the household of Stephanus but beyond that he didn’t know of any other.
Paul then said, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.” The focus has always been on the gospel, the power of the cross of Christ.
Not Pastor Carolyn, not Pastor Allison, not Pastor Don, but only on the gospel of Christ Jesus who died on the Cross which many called foolishness but for us is the power of God. The saving power is God’s and no one else.
This month we are saying that African American history is American history; our history. We are saying that African American heritage is rich and worthwhile that all of us as God’s people can learn and appreciate African American heritage too, together!
We will undoubtedly see differences and perhaps divisions at Lakeshore but we pray that we will also strive toward being the beloved community that in the oneness of Jesus Christ, that “we belong together.”
Truthfully and faithfully, sisters and brothers, we all belong together in God.
Let us pray.
Lord, lead us to see our differences and at times, our divisions mainly as a reflection of the beautiful diversity of your creation. We are indeed, stronger and a more gifted community when we learn together and share our faith and entrust our lives in one another. In Christ, we belong together to proclaim Good News in Oakland and in the world. Bless us as we serve as the hands and feet of Christ, in his name we pray. Amen.
Communion
We come, not because we are worthy; not for any righteousness of ours; for we have grievously sinned and fallen short of what, by God’s help, we might have been.
We come, not because there is any magic in partaking of the symbols of Christ’s body and blood.
We come, not from a sense of duty but with a deep appreciation for this blessed means of grace—the highest privilege of Christian worship.
We come, because Christ bids us to come. It is his table, and Christ extends the invitation.
Bread
The Lord Jesus Christ on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Let us pray. Thank you, Lord for this bread as we remember that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Amen.
Cup
In the same way also the cup, after supper saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Let us pray. Thank you, Lord for this cup and bless us who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness for we shall be satisfied. Amen.
After the Supper
Dear God, for just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. By the one Spirit, we were baptized into one body—Jews and Greeks, slaves and free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. Bless this time to remember you, O Lord. Amen.