Divisions In The Body

Divisions In The Body 

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; as the dew of Herman, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore” (Psalm 133)

Loving what God loves and hating what He hates never comes easy. Do you know why? Most of the time, our agenda and His are not moving the same way. It’s the age old conflict of a child’s will versus the will of his father. One of the first things learn to say after mommy and daddy is “I want Or Give Me That” They have their own agenda, and he was intent on getting his way. What impressed me is that this was the very behavior I had observed in his mother a generation before, and I’m confident was in his mother’s father (myself) as a child.

Long ago the writer of Proverbs gave us a list of what God loves and what He hates. I wasn’t food choices or the music genres, but habit patterns of His children which He finds completely unacceptable. “These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him” wrote Solomon and the seventh in the list is “he that soweth discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6:19). “Sowing discord among brothers” is the way another translation puts it is a trouble maker, someone who gossips (on their phones for instance), and a person whose inflammatory comments divide people against each other. It happens in the office, in clubs, in organizations, and certainly in churches and fellowships. This also happens in families when a family member decides to take someone’s side no matter what they do or say and they are unwilling to get both sides of a story.

Someone once said, “Living with the saints above may be glory, but living with the saints below is quite another story.” The New Testament letters are filled with strong words for those who create division among brothers and sisters. To the Romans Paul wrote, “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple” (Romans 16:17-18). In the introduction to his letter to the Corinthians Paul was extremely displeased that the church had been split into four factions, each of which felt that they were superior to the others. What God hates is not the individual who raises his voice in maintaining purity of doctrine but the individual who maliciously and wrongly divides usually by what he says.

A pastor friend of mine tells about a deacon who used to accost him almost every Sunday just as he was to go on the platform to preach, saying, “Pastor, I don’t care what people are saying about you, I still love you!” And he would think, “What are they saying about me?”

“Christians don’t gossip,” says my daughter, Bonnie, “they just share prayer requests about other people A LOT.”

Uh-huh, yea RIGHT!

Remember the admonition of Solomon: God hates the troublemaker who spoils the peace and divides the body through inferences, gossip, and innuendoes. (Proverbs 6:16, 19)

Divisions result from ego and insisting on your personal will rather than asking, “Lord, what is your will in this issue?” Instead we become willing to divide a church, an organization, or a group, and our families insisting that we are right. But be sure before you create disharmony that your concern is the same thing that concerns God, not simply an extension of your own individual selfish will. Hating what God hates means we strive for peace and oppose division pitting brother against brother. It’s still true. God hates those who sow discord among brothers.