Paul Had A Dream

(This sermon was originally delivered during the chapel service at Luther Seminary the day after Martin Luther King Day, Jan. 16, 2007)


Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:10-17

Forty-four years ago, a man named Martin Luther King, Jr. stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and uttered these immortal words: “I have a dream.”

For Martin Luther King, his ultimate dream was that blacks and whites, Jews and Gentiles, Protestant and Catholic could come together, hold hands and sing “Free at last, free at last. God Almighty, we’re free at last.”

I have a dream, too. A dream that is nearly two thousand years old, passed down through the annals of history from a Jewish convert to Christianity named Paul. It would seem to be a smaller dream than the dream of Martin Luther King’s, because this dream only calls for the coming together of a specific group of people known as Christians. My dream is Paul’s dream…a dream “that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”

The irony is, Martin Luther King’s final, ultimate dream cannot happen unless Paul’s dream comes true. A Protestant and a Catholic coming together to hold hands would be great, if we could just get Protestants and Protestants to come together, or Lutherans and Lutherans to come together.

One of the things I love about the Bible is its ability to reach across two thousand years of history, and is still able to address some of the same problems we experience today. Two thousand years ago, Paul wrote to the church of Corinth distraught over the fact that the church there seemed to be dividing over the different teachers of this new religion called Christianity. Apparently, there were differing opinions, practices, and theologies among its members. People were factioning off behind their favorite teachers—imagine that.

Now we don’t know what the divisions were about exactly. Perhaps these teachers were highly charismatic and developed “groupies” that followed every utterance they ever spoke. Perhaps it was over the practice of speaking in tongues discussed later in the letter—can’t imagine that one being a topic for deliberation in this day and age…And gee, have we ever heard this one: Well, we really belong to Christ, but we’re not so sure about you guys.

Or maybe, it was over the meaning of baptism… hence why Paul is so grateful he didn’t baptize many of them. “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel.” Could it be that Paul is saying it is the Word, the gospel of Jesus Christ, that is important, and a community should not be divided over sacramental practices?

The names may have changed, but apparently arguing and divisiveness within the church has not. There can be no doubt that our denominational differences perpetuate this same sort of disunity that Paul deplored. Look at how we choose to identify ourselves most of the time. “I belong to Luther, or Calvin or Wesley…”or even the trump card, that I belong to the Church of Christ.

In fact, do we not still have a tendency to say we follow “Pauline” theology? Paul would undoubtedly be appalled by such a statement. For was Paul crucified for you? Was Luther crucified for you? Was Calvin crucified for you?

It’s a rhetorical question… the answer is no.

There are many issues out there that seek to divide us, that seek to tear at the very fabric of our faith. And while on the broader scale denominational differences seek to separate us, I think most would agree we need go no further than our own home congregations or this seminary to see this at work. Most of us have experienced first-hand the damaging effects of a congregation that factions and quarrels among itself. Worship wars, sexuality issues, who’s on the church council... How do we expect the larger church as a whole to agree, united in one voice when we can rarely get a single congregation to be united in the same mind and purpose?

For that matter, we can’t even get a group of seminary students and teachers to agree most of the time.

Yet, Paul is calling us to do just that—to be united under the cross of Christ. For it is not Paul’s testimony, or my testimony, or even your testimony that unites…but it is the testimony of Christ among us that strengthens and unites us.

This does not mean we must all worship in exactly the same way. For as Christ told the Samaritan woman, the time was coming when worship of the Father would not be on a mountain or in Jerusalem, but it would be in Spirit and Truth. Those were the only stipulations he put on worship. This does not mean you don’t have differing opinions on certain points of Biblical interpretation. This does not mean you don’t stand up and correct wrongs in the church. Paul himself corrects and instructs.

But the moment the reason for correction or instruction becomes anything other than Christ himself, we have focused on the wrong thing, we have put our faith in the wrong thing. We’ve put it in our traditions, in our own personal agendas—and for the sake of these, we make void the Word of God. Anything other than Christ himself, crucified and resurrected, is foolishness, ridiculous fodder. All of the wisdom we seek at this institution is foolishness and of no import if the gospel is not front and center.

You will also note Paul does not say unite for the sake of expediency or for the sake humanitarian tolerance—but for the sake of the gospel. Now this proclamation may lead us to these other things…and indeed, the gospel itself SHOULD lead to these other things.

But it is on Christ that all other matters must revolve. All of what we are doing here, reading, writing, studying…is for the sake of proclaiming to people their sins are forgiven through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “For all of have been enriched in him in speech and knowledge of every kind…And you are not lacking in any spiritual gift.” Because your sins are forgiven through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through the blood of Christ, you have been set free to be children of God, to unite in one voice of proclamation.

For if we unite under the cross of Christ we may one day sing with a loud voice that we are “Free at last, free at last. God almighty we are free at last.” Free from the quarrels and denominational strife, free from the bondage we place ourselves in when we look at another Christian and hold them in contempt.When that happens, we will at least have begun to fulfill Martin Luther King Jr’s much larger dream of black and white, Jew and Gentile, Protestant and Catholic coming together.

Therefore, “I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose.”

Amen.