Division in the Church
The simple answer to the question-why is the church divided- is found in what Jesus said to Peter after He showed him that He is able to do the impossible, when Jesus said to him to throw the net out on the other side. When Jesus said to Peter to follow Him, and that Jesus will make him a fisher of men, the battle for souls was initiate. The enemy want a divide church for he knows that if we are united in faith in Jesus Christ, nothing will be impossible.
The root cause of Division
(jealousy, strife and factions)
Looking at the Bible, there is a story that we will not consider as a story of division, but rather a story of faith and victory. But as we consider the story, we will see that division and the cause of division is rooted in jealousy based on own ego and pride, which is the virtues of the enemy.
The story of David and Goliath, let our heart beat with excitement and the desire to walk in faith as David did, he placed his life in God’s hand knowing that he could trust in God to give him an unlikely victory. But the aftermath of the story is the root of division. Saul heard the voice of people accrediting David with more victories than himself, instead of embracing the victory for Israel by God, he became jealous.
In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul explained that “insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren’t you fleshly, and don’t you walk in the ways of men? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” aren’t you fleshly? Who then is Apollos, and who is Paul, but servants through whom you believed; and each as the Lord gave to him? I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase”.
(self-centeredness)
Another aspect of division is self-centeredness where we focus on our own agenda and emotions without considering God’s purpose and plan. If we consider Matthew 16:22-23 “Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” Based on Jesus rebuke, we know that self-centeredness instead of being God-centred is another way the enemy use to bring division.
Then there is the example in Mark 14:3-6 “And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work on me.” In this passage we se that this women made a love offering unto Jesus, but the division came in due to lack of a God-centred approach as they consider the woman’s offering unto the Lord, rather thinking about self and using it.
What did Jesus say concerning His church
The mentioned examples, I believe the root cause of division within the church resulting in a church focused approach rather that Kingdom first focused approach. When Jesus send the disciples out in Luke 10 the focus was on the Kingdom of God, the house was only a means to an end, and even after their departure would continue to be just that, a means to reach people for God’s Kingdom in Jesus Christ.
Then in Matthew 10:7-8 we read “And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give”. The mentioned phrase “freely you received, freely give” can be justified and explained in different ways, but for me it meant what Jesus said. We received the gift of salvation freely, and in the same way we must give it. The church focus approach requires money and this need for money is a another dividing factor. Giving is not the problem, but if a person give to the Lord an offering in love and faith like the women with the alabaster box of ointment, the church sometime react as Judas Iscariot putting themselves in the place of the Lord.
In John 17:18-21 Jesus asked the Father that “As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
The great commission that we received from Jesus in in a specific order for a purpose, namely that if we follow the order, there will be no division within the church. Matthew 28:20 “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”
– The first part is to make disciples, meaning to make followers or pupil of Jesus as the Son of the one and only true Living God, this part has nothing to do with denomination or church affiliation, it is about the Gospel of Salvation.
– The second part is to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, meaning to be immersed in the character and authority of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit so that the one being baptized can know God as mentioned in Jeremiah 31:33 and confirmed by Jesus in John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”. John 14:26
– The third part is where we encourage obedience to God’s Word based on what Paul said in Ephesians 2:19-22 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
The church in Act’s as an example
And now, Lord, behold their threatening: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. Acts 4:29-32
In Acts 18:24-27 we read of Apollos who was a believer, passionate to serve the Lord in going and proclaiming the good news, even though he was not well trained. We read how the members of the church (as the body of Christ) recognized his passion and love for the Lord, and help him to understand without stopping him. “Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by race, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus. He was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside, and explained to him the way of God more accurately. When he had determined to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him, and wrote to the disciples to receive him. When he had come, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace;”
In the mentioned we see a church with a desire to do God’s will and then we see how they support each other in bring it to fulfilment, through a relationship with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ as they united in prayer. The one thing we could not accuse the church in Act’s of is a lack in zealousness for souls to populate Heaven. Paul even said in 1 Corinthians 11:1 to be imitators of him in the way he follow after Jesus in proclaiming the gospel.
The church of today
A divided church where each denomination or group is focus on discrediting the competition in order to be known as the church that proclaim the truth. Knowing that there is only one truth, Jesus said “The Word is the truth” and Jesus is the Word that became flesh. The fact of the matter is that through theological drift, the church drifted away from Jesus and the truth.
Within the history of the church we see division even to the extent of the church persecuting the church, with the root cause being the same as with the Saul and David, jealousy and strive. The word “theological drift”, based on using assumptions concluded on account of the Word of God as a facts, resulted in division based on the error of not going back to the root, the Word of God.
Recommendations
The church try to be a mediator, and the church have not been commissioned to be a mediator but to make disciples of Jesus, called to draw people unto Jesus so that they can come into a relationship with the Father and His Son. John wrote in 1 John 1:1-3 ?That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 11:1 “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ”. This word is taken out of context, misleading people into becoming followers of people. I believe based on all Pauls writings that he is asking people to imitate him as he follows after Jesus Christ, living according to what Paul said in Galatians 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”
If we as the body of Christ, start by focussing our attention on the commission we received from Jesus, the Kingdom will manifest in righteousness as we walk in the righteousness of the Son of God.
I believe that Jesus went to the Tempel and threw all out, those who were buying and selling, because their focus was not on God’s house as a House of Prayer. Jesus came into this world to redeem us back into fellowship with the Father not in the likeness of Moses who was a mediator to relate God’s Words to the people because of their fear, no Jesus became the Way, the Truth and the Life so that all can come into fellowship with God. The book of Acts 2:42 said “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers”.
In Haggai God referred to the brokenness of the people as each focus on their own house (church) rather than on God and His House as a House of Prayer. In God’s House as a House of prayer there can be no jealousy or strive as each one come into relationship with God and receive from God. Peter walked on the water because he trusted the call of Jesus, his doubt was not solely his own, if he was alone in that relationship with Jesus it might have been different. Paul and Sillas did not wait on other to come to their rescue, they knew God and His Son and entered in relationship with God resulting in the prison door opening in a miraculous way.
The one thing that I have been struggling with, is to understand the division in the church. Most other religions teach that we need to perform to some extend to be acceptable, but we know that Jesus Christ paid the prize for our redemption. We have been redeemed not by our effort, but on account of faith in what the Blood of Jesus Christ did for us, we have been sanctified, redeemed, justified ext. None of us can be accredited for our own salvation, it is a gift from God that we received by faith.
If all of us could remember the day we were saved by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we would not recount the perfection of the denomination or the pastor. We would recall the Love of God poured out on us through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ. For me, the consequent result of being saved was an overflowing joy and desire for others to experience the same love, as they receive Jesus Christ through faith as the perfect gift of God.
One way I could explain what I mean is through a dream I believed the Lord showed me. In the dream I saw the river of Living Water and how people started to make their own canals to redirect the water. In this man made canals their were doors that open up to allow some water to flow from the canal to dams that was situated behind the doors. These dams had cheese in them that would lay eggs for the owners to sell and make money. As I walked along the canal I could see that the further away we move from from the River of Living Water, the murkier the water gets, to the point that you could not see through the water. Then someone told me to get into the water, I told him that I am afraid for there might be crocodile in the water, as he reassure me I went into the water. While in the water we passed underneath a bridge and on the other side as we get out of the canal I could see people lying underneath crocodiles, the people were alive but as if being under a trans. The person with me then explained that the water drawn from the River of Living Water gets contaminate by people’s opinions and doctrines, mesmerizing the hearer to the extent that they think they are alive. As I asked the what should we do, the person said that we should build a dam in the River of Living Water so that we do not alter the flow but only to allow the overflow to run into the River of Living Water.
I believe the dam in the River of Living Water is a House of Prayer.
Paul also said that we are God’s building and each one must build in faith, as Jesus said when the disciples asked Him what is the work of God, Jesus simply said to believe in Him, meaning we must trust in His ability and not consider our own inability.
If Peter and the disciple in the boat would be considered as the church, Peter walked on the water demonstrated the faith by which we should live. The bible however tells us that as he took his eyes of Jesus and looked at the waives he started to sink, as his faith were replaced with fear. I wonder about the possibility of the other disciples being instrumental in encouraging his fear rather than his faith. Hypothetically, what would have happen if they focused on Jesus ability to make Peter walk on the water and encourage him to look at Jesus and walk by faith and not by sight.
When we come together in prayer, not a prayer meeting but praying, the focus of all participants move towards Jesus and His ability, encourage one another through a simple confirmation “Amen”. This is wat I believe the answer is, a church devoted to prayer and not devoted to their church or denomination.