Be Like-minded

Part 2- When and why did we become divided?

Why do people become divided in any situation? This usually happens when someone wants to do something different than what was originally agreed upon. In secular situations such as a business, this can be for the good of the situation sometimes if it will benefit employees or make the company stronger. However, it can be bad if it is taking benefits away from employees and causing division and chaos in the company. In a successful marriage, both husband and wife need to agree on most everything, all the major subjects anyway, religion, children, and money probably being the top three. There are always going to be minor disagreements, but as a couple they can work through those things. It’s one thing to try and change things in a company, or even in a marriage when dealing with a financial budget, but it’s another thing entirely to try and change doctrinal teachings or change the pattern of the Lord’s church. In the book of Acts, there was only one church. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it”. The “rock” Jesus was referring to in that verse was Peter’s confession that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16) Jesus said He would build His church, singular. So what happened? Why are there all these different churches teaching different things?

To answer the question of when division in the church started, division started in the first century when the church was established, because Paul had to address it in 1st Corinthians and Galatians and it is still running rampant today. Jesus warned about the coming of false prophets who would come as wolves in sheep’s clothing. (Matthew 7:15) Whether they are called false prophets or false teachers, they have the same goal, to change God’s word and cause chaos and confusion. They may look harmless on the outside but gradually and with subtlety, they will try to establish their own will instead of God’s will. This is called self-imposed worship and it is preached against in Colossians 2:23. It is simply when people do something in worship that is not for God, but for themselves. Our will should not be entering into the worship of God. What we want does not matter. The verse says this type of worship has the appearance of wisdom but is of no value. In Romans 16:17-18, Pauls warns the Christians in Rome, “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.” Paul said there would be people who would come along who would want to do things their own way. They would want to serve “their own belly”. He warned that they would be charismatic in their speech and would deceive people with flattering words. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 also addresses false teaching, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. Anything that is contrary to God’s word is a fable when it comes to religion and the church. They might say something like, “well God didn’t say we couldn’t do this, so that means it is ok to do it” or “this is not a salvation issue”. Friends, I’ve never read either of those statements in the Bible from God, Jesus nor the apostles. And remember, this all started in the Garden of Eden with Satan being the first false teacher. Remember how Satan deceived Eve in the garden? This is how he did it. He made her ears itch. He tickled her ears with things she wanted to hear. And he used one little three-letter word to finally convince her. He used the word NOT. He said to Eve, “You will NOT surely die.” Then it spread. Eve went and became a false teacher herself and told Adam what Satan told her and he believed her. This is how false teachers operate. They may change one word of the Bible and it can change the whole meaning of a verse. They get one person to believe it and then it spreads to another person and before you know it, it has overtaken thousands. But friends, let’s not forget that every word in the Bible is inspired and of the utmost importance. We can’t cherry pick what we want to follow, and we certainly cannot ignore things the Bible says that are made very clear. Some people seem to believe that we as humans can make worship better or more pleasing to people so that it will be more entertaining and draw more people in. But how can we improve upon what God ordained in His word through His apostles in the first century? And the church should not be in the business of entertaining people to get them to come. And what good does it do to draw thousands of people into our assembly when the entire truth of the gospel is not being preached? And is worship about me and what I want? Is worship about my entertainment? My emotions? My feelings? My wants? I believe everyone who reads this would answer that worship is about God and what He wants from us as His children. We should glean so much joy from worshiping our Creator, but we have to make sure that what we are doing is authorized by God and use His Word to guide us in our worship. After all, who is our audience during worship? Our Father in heaven is our audience!  

Does it matter to God how we do things in our worship? Does it matter to God how we claim to be saved from our sins? Let’s always remember that God is about details. God is specific. Look at all the specifics that He gave to Noah about building the ark. What if Noah had used a different kind of wood? Would he and his family have been saved? Look at all the specifics that He gave Moses about the building of the tabernacle. What if he hadn’t built to every specification that God instructed? Would God have accepted their worship if Moses hadn’t followed God’s instructions on how to build His house? Look at the specifics that God gave the children of Israel when they went into various battles. Do we remember what happened when King Saul didn’t fully obey God in the battle with Amalek? God took the kingdom from him. (1 Samuel 15) And also, in the battle of Ai when Achan took spoils and went against God’s instructions to utterly destroy the city, what happened in that battle and what happened to Achan? They lost the battle and Achan was killed. Remember Nadab and Abihu. What happened when they didn’t use the specific fire that God wanted for the altar? They were consumed by fire from the Lord. (Leviticus 10:1-2) Now…what happened at Jericho when the children of Israel did fully obey God? God’s people gained the victory!! (Joshua 6) The old testament is for our learning. (Romans 15:4) We can learn so much about God by studying the old testament. These examples show that God wants things done His way. If God was detailed and specific back in old testament times, would it not make sense that He would be detailed and specific now? Nothing about God has changed. He is our Creator and He wouldn’t give us His word for us to interpret it any way we see fit. Now I don’t say any of this to judge anyone else because I am certainly not the judge. And I am far from perfect and I need Jesus’ blood to cleanse me daily just as much as anyone else. Without Him I would be lost. No human on earth is the judge. Only God is the judge and His son is our mediator if we are in Him. I have no right to judge any other person because I am a sinner in one way or another, just like everyone else. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) However, I can judge or discern if certain behaviors, actions or words spoken are right/acceptable or wrong/unacceptable by using God’s word as my measure. The only way to really know what we should and should not do in any situation in this life is by studying God’s word and applying it to the situation. He wants us to be willing to spend time in His Word and not take any person’s word for what is acceptable and what is not. He wants us to rightly divide His word. (2 Tim. 2:15) This means we study it, keep it in context, teach the whole truth of it, and live it. After all, it is the standard and pattern that we should follow for salvation, for worship, and for our Christian walk through this life. 

Let’s take a look at what the apostles had to say about unity in the Lord’s church back in the first century. The church at Corinth had become divided on many things. First Corinthians was certainly written with tough love to the Christians at Corinth. Paul gets right to the point in 1 Corinthians 1:10, “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” Paul is literally begging them to be unified. How can we be “perfectly joined together” if we are in disagreement on so many things? 1 Peter 3:8 says, “Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous.” Here the apostle Peter is calling for brothers and sisters in Christ to be of “one mind”. This verse is in direct opposition to any sort of division over doctrine. In Philippians 1:27, Paul again calls for Christians to be like-minded,  “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel….” This verse calls us that are in Christ to “be worthy of the gospel of Christ” in our conduct. How do we be worthy? We stand fast in “one spirit” and “one mind”. We strive together for THE faith, singular! Paul, again in Philippians 2:1-2, “Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”  If we are to have any blessings in Christ we have to be like-minded in the one true faith of the gospel. We have to be like-minded with Jesus and the apostles and be of one accord with what they taught us. And my favorite verses regarding oneness among Christians is found in Ephesians 4:4-6, “There is one body and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” The “one body” that Paul is talking about is interchangeable with one church. The “one faith” is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The “one baptism” is the baptism into Christ for the remission of sins. (Acts 2:38) That one baptism is also how we call on the name of the Lord. (Acts 22:16) If you want a beautiful explanation of baptism, then go read Romans 6. The entire chapter explains the meaning of baptism and it is absolutely beautiful! The apostles preached for unity in the church and against division. And since we know that everything that the apostles wrote was inspired by God, we know that God Himself wants unity, not division. What else do we need to prove that unity is essential in the church? Finally, I want to present Galatians 1:6-7, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.” Here it is! Some of the Christians had turned away because they listened to false teachers. When did division start? It has always been a problem. Back then, it was mainly Judaizing teachers who were trying to get Christians to still keep the old law. For us today, it is a whole plethora of different doctrines and practices. Paul is expressing how surprised he is that these Christians are being confused or “troubled” by false teachers who are “perverting” or changing the gospel of Christ. Paul is very straightforward in Galatians 1:8 and 1:9 and says basically the same thing twice, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.” Wow! Paul says this very serious statement twice for good measure to make sure and get his point across. He says not to listen to anyone who tries to change the gospel of Christ, even if it’s an angel or even if it is Paul himself or those traveling with him! All of these verses in this paragraph make it very clear that God wanted unity in His church in the first century.  Why would He feel any different today? Nothing about God has changed and nothing about God’s plan has changed. Let’s look back at John 17:20-21 that I quoted in part 1 of this post. Jesus is praying for all who believe in Him to be one with Him and God the Father. This tells me that simply believing in Him is not enough. If that were true then this statement by Jesus wouldn’t have to be made. Jesus could see all this division coming. He knew it would happen. Being one in Jesus is more than saying we believe in Him. We have to obey Him. We have to live for Him. We all have to be like-minded in how we obey Him and live for Him. Jesus also gives the reason why we are to all be one. It is so people will believe in Him. He knew that the only way to truly save the world was through unity. When everyone is teaching something different, what are people supposed to believe? This confusion makes it harder for people to find the real truth. If everyone would just decide to follow the Bible without adding to it, taking away from it or twisting it to suit themselves, then we could have unity. Someone might say it’s impossible, but with God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)

To conclude on a personal note, I want to be somewhere that is giving me a book, chapter, and verse from God’s word, to prove that what is being taught is truth from God’s word and therefore is approved by Him. I don’t want to take any chances with my soul. And I don’t want to ever be afraid to speak up for the truth again, because that is what my Creator expects me to do. I used to be afraid to speak up for fear of offending someone. But….. I have to remember 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hasn’t given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” I can’t be afraid to speak the truth in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16) I write about the truth of what the Bible teaches to the best of my ability, BECAUSE I love people. And if I truly know about Jesus who can save someone’s soul and I know what the Bible says we have to do to be saved and I don’t tell it, then I am not doing my part in taking the truth to the world. The religious world and the world in general expects us to accept doctrines and practices that the Bible simply doesn’t teach. Because we don’t, we are considered to be judgmental and rigid. According to the world, because we don’t accept sins that the Bible clearly condemns, we are accused of being intolerant and even hateful. I don’t judge or condemn, and I certainly don’t hate any person, however, I will not tell someone that what they are doing is right when it is not done with God’s authority or when the Bible straightout says it is wrong. So friends, please study and look for yourselves and don’t take chances with your soul. And certainly don’t take my word for it or trust feelings and emotions to guide you. Satan is deceitful and can use our emotions and feelings against us. Remember, he can appear to be an angel of light. (2 Corinthians 11:14) We may feel like what we are doing is right, but does God’s word back it up?  Let’s use only the word of God because it is all we have in this world to guide us into all truth. (John 16:13) Jesus says to the woman at the well in John 4:23 that the true worshipers will worship God in spirit and truth, and He says that God is seeking those true worshipers to worship Him. Then in John 4:24 Jesus says, “God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” One last question, are we worshiping in both spirit and truth? Only God’s word can measure whether we are or not. I hope I have given everyone who reads this post some food for thought. Should we be divided? Think about it honestly. Every post I write is something that is weighing on my heart and written with love for all of you who read it. 

1 Corinthians 16:14 “Let all that you do be done with love.”

Have a wonderful Lord’s day tomorrow and an awesome week ahead! Thank you so much for supporting me in my writing! 

Friends, here is God’s plan of salvation for anyone who needs to hear it:

• We have to hear His word. (Romans 10:17) 
• Upon hearing the message of Jesus, we believe it. (Mark 16:16) 
• Then, we confess Jesus’ name before men. (Matthew 10:32) 
• Next, we repent of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19) 
• Finally, we are baptized into Christ for the remission of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:16, Romans 6:3-4, Acts 22:16, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Galatians 3:26-27) After baptism, God adds us to His church. (Acts 2:47)
• Then, we remain faithful in our commitment to Christ until death. (Revelation 2:10, 2 Peter 2:20-22)