“A house divided against itself will fall.” Luke 11:17
When the Lord Jesus taught all who listened for his three year ministry on earth, he never once said, “And after lots of people accept the truth of the gospel, it is important that you build many church buildings and split up into thousands of denominations. Don’t worry about unity, I’ll fix that later!”
The followers of Jesus were known as “The Church.” Not the churches! From the beginning, those who believed in the message of salvation taught by Jesus and then the apostles were changed into unified believers who met in different places. They were also referred to as followers of The Way—Acts 22:4 and the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27).
Today there are thousands of Christian denominations in America and all over the world. Men of God who guide these church organizations are content to be separate from their fellow believers, to maintain multimillion-dollar budgets as they “build bigger barns.”
John 17:20-23 I’m praying not only for them But also for those who will believe in me
Because of them and their witness about me. The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, so they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me. The same glory you gave me, I gave them,
So they’ll be as unified and together as we are—I in them and you in me. Then they’ll be mature in this oneness, and give the godless world evidence that you’ve sent me and loved them in the same way you’ve loved me. The Message
Romans 12:3-5 Because of the grace that God gave me, I can say to each one of you: don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Instead be reasonable since God has measured out a portion of faith to each one of you. We have many parts in one body, but the parts don’t all have the same function. In the same way, though there are many of us, we are one body in Christ, and individually we belong to each other.
Ephesians 1:22-23 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.
Ephesians 4:1-6 Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. You are one body and one spirit just as God also called you in one hope. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all who is over all, through all, and in all.
Ephesians 4:11-16 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
In the secular world, people greet new acquaintances with a question formed something like this, “And what do you do?” or “What line of work are you in?” We do this to determine something about the person. Are they clever? Are they talented? Are they wealthy? Should I feel intimidated?
But in the church world, we ask, “What church do you attend?” This is the fatal division question. Are you charismatic? Pentecostal? Formal? Conservative? Do you believe in the gifts of the Spirit? Are you baptized in the Holy Spirit? Once saved, always saved? Does your church use musical instruments during worship? What day of the week do you meet? DIVISION!
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