Divided We Fall

Scripture Reading:
1 Corinthians 1:10 "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."

In all the world, with its immense woes and tribulations, its shortcomings and uncertainties, one would think that the church of Jesus Christ would be a forever sure and stable place to be.

Well it isn't, at least not all the time and for some not much of the time. Notice I said "the church" not its Author and Leader! Make that abundantly clear before reading on.

I haven't been writing much lately because I have been busy with things that I should put aside and being tired a lot from the inside as well as out. A lot is on my mind. I am not very encouraged when I look at the American church today. What's happening is that when we get tired and sometimes very discouraged we form "cracks" in our lives that affect the lives of others. Small sins creep in that erode us.  Now for the speculative, I am not confessing to some great moral failure to the praise and grace of God it has not happened to me, and I pray it will not.  The problem is that the wearied stress marks of the things we think are negligible such as grumbling, disputing, mistrust, selfishness, murmurings, and a host of  others affect us all.  We as individuals affect the church because guess what, we as individuals make up the church. So when we get off track its like we begin to pull others down with us.

When we let ourselves become the objects of self rather than the heart committed servants of God we wreak inward turmoil in the body of Christ. This turmoil is like any on of us coming to church with a sharp two head woodsman axe. We pick a corner or wall of our nice building that took so very long and hard to build and start chopping away! We become unknowingly bent on self mutilation that our senses fail us. The literal thought of any of us doing such a thing would never occur to us, but spiritually that is what we do when we let someone, something, or some emotion that is not from God rule our hearts and divide our brethren.
Oh that we WAKE up and see that we are hurting each other to say nothing of how much we grieve the LORD and entertain Satan.

You know I enjoy a good cheeseburger, my favorite bought burger comes from Burger King, it can't be beat! Only thing is, Burger King came up with a slogan over two decades ago, "Have it Your Way." Now that is great when choosing a cheeseburger, but its disastrous when we apply that principle to our Christian life which eeks out into the corporate Christian church.
This church is the LORD"S CHURCH and all of our attitudes and self centered actions and anything you can think of that does not glorify Him, that does not put HIM FIRST says "Lord go and stand over in the corner while I have it my way." The concept of ME church must end in America. "Me Church" is that growth which we have brought in that has hushed the preaching of the penetrating Word of God for a feel good sermon. The same has reduced our once heart felt following of Christ to a bureaucracy of legalisms. Worst of all, "Me Church" divides a united body into factions.

We should never spar about matters that have their roots in what WE want rather than what God wants. The Hymn writer reminds us that "we are not divided, all one body we, one in hope and brotherhood, one in charity." So often we say in our hearts, "I want this to be so, or, I think that 'our' way is best." We say we include God, but He is so eclipsed from our own voice we deceive ourselves and mock His Name.

But when God's people are divided, there is even a greater problem than the internal turmoil...we turn away the lost. Do you know the sinful world watches the church with a sharper eye than the hawk? They may not come out and say it, but I tell you most assuredly that the world wants fulfillment in life and they hear we have it, but want to see it for themselves in action from us. When they hear stories and see the church of Christ have divisions and disputes among us, all one remark is echoed in their hearts: "You see, the Christian has no better hope than we do, why should we give our lives over to this Jesus?"
The message of Eternal Hope cannot be effectively delivered if we are not living in it and applying it in this world.

Folks, the time is short. I know preachers have been saying that all your life, but its true nonetheless. Before our Lord comes we MUST endeavor to have unity in Christ and one another for our sakes, the lost sake (which is our commission to win them) but most of all for Christ's Sake.

The readers of this blog is wide based over the United States and in parts of Europe to the praise of My Lord, but I say this because the divisions are everywhere. They are in your church, they are in my church. To the smallest degree and to the largest degree, Satan wants us divided so our mission in the world will be stained.  What can we do when we see the Unity of the brotherhood in Christ begin to deteriorate????
1. Pray for peace and forgiveness, individually and corporately.

2. Pray that God would cause us to remember that the church is not to be run by factions, but by the Master.

3. Examine. We cannot be the church God intended if we skip our own problems. We must vitally and wholeheartedly look at our lives and see what does not add up to the Word of God and be willing to ADMIT it. Don't pretend to be innocent and everyone else wrong.

4. Surrender, a word by default we don't like. Surrender ourselves to a committed life that ONLY glorifies Christ and not us indirectly or directly.

5. Heal. If we have something against another or a group, ask forgiveness.

6. UNIFY. This simply means everyone get back in line and look towards Christ and not to ourselves, thereby we are helping ourselves and bring glory to Christ.


A divided church is likened unto cancer in the body. Don't let it overtake us as individuals or as a corporate body, there is too much at stake and so little time left in the world.

Lord, our lives, our work, our church is to be about you. Please help us to be unified in You and not placate the flesh as it is so easy. Help me to do my part in making the body of Christ a shining example of what You alone can do in the life of a person and a church. Help us Lord. Amen.