Third Sunday after epiphany

Message: Love Refuses Division and Calls Us Into One Mission

Texts: Isaiah 9:1–4; 1 Corinthians 1:10–18

Introduction

Good morning, church.

When we hear the word division, we often think of arguments. We picture disagreements, strong opinions, and hurt feelings. But Scripture pushes us deeper. The Bible suggests that division is not only a social problem. It is a spiritual problem.

Because division is rarely just about ideas. Division is about what we trust. It is about what we love. It is about what we place at the center.

Today we have two readings that speak to that center. Isaiah talks about a people living in darkness who see a great light. Paul speaks to a church that is splitting into camps and asks one hard question: “Has Christ been divided?”

These two texts, together, tell us this: God does not heal division by forcing everyone to think the same way. God heals division by giving us a shared light, a shared center, and a shared freedom.

1. Isaiah: God begins with light, not with control

Isaiah 9 begins with a promise to people who feel like they are living in the shadows. They are worn down. They are threatened. They are uncertain. And God’s first move is not a lecture. God’s first move is not a rulebook. God’s first move is light. “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”

Light is a simple image, but it is theologically deep. Light does not argue with darkness. Light does not negotiate with darkness. Light simply shows what is real and where to walk.

That means something important for us. God does not wait until life is cleaned up and organized. God does not wait until everyone is calm and reasonable. God comes to people in confusion and fear and says, “Let me show you the way.”

Then Isaiah says something even more specific. God breaks the yoke on their shoulders. God breaks the bar across their back. God breaks the rod of the oppressor.

Notice what God breaks. God does not break the people. God breaks what is crushing them.

This is how God addresses division and despair. God does not create unity by pressing people down harder. God creates unity by lifting burdens, by freeing people, by making space to breathe.

In other words, the light of God is not only comfort. It is liberation. It is not only a feeling. It is a new reality.

So Isaiah is not saying, “Cheer up, things will be fine.” Isaiah is saying, “God is doing something real. God is loosening what binds you.”

2. What darkness does to a community

Now, if we stay with Isaiah for a moment, we learn something about darkness. Darkness does not only hide the road. Darkness also changes how we treat each other.

When people are afraid, they pull inward. When people are stressed, they protect themselves. When people feel threatened, they look for someone to blame. Darkness makes us suspicious. Darkness makes us quick to label. Darkness makes us eager to separate the “good ones” from the “bad ones.”

So division often grows when a community is living under pressure. Not only pressure from outside, but pressure inside the heart. Fear. Exhaustion. Shame. Anxiety.

That is why Isaiah’s promise matters so much. God shines light not just to give information, but to heal what fear does to a people. God breaks the yoke because bondage and division often travel together. When people are bound, they start to bind each other.

3. Corinth: when the church starts living in the dark

Paul is writing to a church that has started living like that. Not because they lack gifts. Not because they lack energy. But because they have lost their shared center.

They are forming camps. “I belong to Paul.” “I belong to Apollos.” “I belong to Cephas.” “I belong to Christ.”

At first it sounds like church politics. But Paul is addressing something deeper than preference. When people say, “I belong to this leader,” they are not only describing their taste. They are building identity. They are finding a safe place to stand. They are saying, “This is my group. This is my kind of Christian.”

Paul does not simply say, “Stop it.” He asks a question that exposes the spiritual mistake. “Has Christ been divided?”

That question is almost shocking. Because the answer is obviously no. Christ is not a piece of property to be divided up. And that is exactly the point.

When the church divides into camps, it acts as if Christ belongs to one group more than another. It acts as if grace is a badge and not a gift. It acts as if faith is a weapon and not a surrender.

Paul goes to the heart of the problem. The church is replacing the center. They are putting people, personalities, and slogans where only Jesus belongs.

4. The cross as the shared center

Then Paul says something that sounds simple but is full of power. “Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied.”

Paul is saying: You can talk in such a way that the cross becomes empty. You can argue in such a way that the cross becomes decoration. You can win debates and lose the gospel.

Because the cross does not support our pride. The cross destroys it.

The cross tells the truth about all of us. We are not saved because we were correct. We are saved because we were loved.

The cross brings everyone down to the same ground. Not to shame us, but to free us. It says, “Stop pretending you are above others. You are all receivers here.”

That is why the cross is the center that creates unity. Not unity by control. Unity by humility. Not unity by forcing agreement. Unity by giving us the same posture. Open hands. Repentant hearts. Grateful lives.

When the cross is at the center, we can disagree without despising. We can speak honestly without pushing people out. We can hold convictions without using them to crush others.

5. Isaiah and Paul together: light and cross

Now, put Isaiah and Paul together. Isaiah says God shines light in darkness and breaks the yoke. Paul says God places the cross at the center so the church will not break itself apart.

What do we learn? We learn that God’s light is not just a warm feeling. God’s light has a shape. And that shape is the cross.

The cross is how God shines light on our hearts. It shows us what fear is doing. It shows us when our group identity has become an idol. It shows us when we are using religion to feel superior.

And at the same time, the cross breaks the yoke. The yoke of needing to be right. The yoke of needing to win. The yoke of needing to protect ourselves by pushing others away.

The cross frees us to be a people again.

6. What unity looks like, in simple terms

So what is Christian unity? It is not pretending we have no differences. It is not flattening everything into “It doesn’t matter.”

Unity is a community that can say: “We belong to Christ more than we belong to our side.”

Unity is people who stay at the table. People who keep worshiping together. People who keep serving together. People who refuse to turn brothers and sisters into enemies.

Unity is not the absence of tension. Unity is love that can carry tension without breaking relationship.

And that is only possible when the center is clear. Not me. Not my group. Not my favorite voice. Christ crucified.

7. A practice for this week

So here is a simple practice for the week.

Choose one relationship where there is tension, distance, or difference. Do not try to win. Do not rush to fix everything. Instead, do one cross-shaped thing.

Listen longer than you speak. Ask a gentle question. Pray for that person by name. Send a message that keeps the door open.

Something like:
“I want us to stay connected.”
“I care about you.”
“I may see this differently, but I do not want to lose you.”

That is not weakness. That is spiritual strength. Because it is easier to leave. It is harder to stay in love. But that is exactly what God does for us.

In Isaiah, God comes into darkness. In the cross, God comes into our brokenness. God does not walk away.

Conclusion

Church, division is not only a disagreement problem. It is a center problem.

In Isaiah, God shines a light and breaks the yoke. In Corinth, Paul calls the church back to the cross, the center that cannot be divided.

So today, we ask a different question. Not, “Who is right?” But, “What is at the center?”

If the cross is at the center, love refuses division. Love stays. Love frees. And love sends us together.

May God give us that light. May God break every yoke. May God make us one people again. Amen.