Division in the Body

Well, let's take our Bible. Let's turn back to the verse that we read earlier, 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Now, I did mention that we will go to Galatians 5. We'll go to Galatians, or excuse me, 1 Corinthians 11. Should be easy for you to turn over to 1 Corinthians 11. Maybe mark those verses. We'll turn there. There are just sometimes I want you to read verses, look at them with me. And I will mention a couple of others. You write those down. This all comes together to form the message that the Lord wants to give us. Now, I think most everyone here knows that we have put our series through the Sermon on the Mount on Hold.

And we're looking at one large subject. And what I mean by one large subject, we're looking at what it means to live life in the body of Christ. I've titled this series, Life in the Body. It's all about living life as Christians in a local body, living in the family of God, knowing how to behave, knowing our place. And for some of you, this is going to equip you and correct you. For some of you, this is going to educate you. This is all for a purpose. And for many of you, this will answer even some questions. And this morning, we're looking at a very interesting subject, but a needed subject.

We're looking at the subject of division in the life of the church. Now, last week, last week we were in the book of Corinthians as well. We were in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verses 12 to 27. We looked at that message that I called "One but many." That title of the message was "One but many." Of course, this is a famous teaching. These are very familiar verses. This is where Paul describes Christians in a local church as a body. And we saw that Paul was using the human body to illustrate a lot of vital teaching concerning life in the local church. Now, I can't say it enough.

I can't repeat it enough that we must get what Paul was teaching here in 1 Corinthians 12. We really didn't do it justice, I promise. But this needs to be seared into our minds and in our hearts and in our understanding. We need to go back to it over and over and over so that we don't forget. And I want to give us a short but sharp reminder because all of this ties together. It's a purpose in everything that we're doing this morning. In chapter 12, just two verses, verse 12 and 23, we learned that born-again Christians have a supernatural spiritual union with Christ.

And as a result of that, we have a supernatural spiritual union with each other. See, the each other are born-again individuals in a local church. That's the body. Paul says in verse 13 that we are a Holy Spirit baptized into Christ. Holy Spirit baptized into Christ and even into each other, the body. And we need to see that Paul uses this word baptized for a reason. One of the commentators that I studied the past few weeks, it just didn't find its way in last week's message. He pointed out that secular Greek sources in their day described a sunken ship as being baptized. That might surprise you.

That ship was not only submerged in the water, but the ship was totally overwhelmed by the water. You get the idea. It's a sunken ship. That ship was in the water and the water was in the ship. And that commentator points out that that was Paul's message. That was Paul's point here in using this word baptized in the verses. Christians are spiritually submerged into Christ. They are in Christ and Christ is in them. And he goes on to say that the same goes for Christians and the body. You see, Christians are immersed into each other. They are immersed into the body.

And spiritually speaking, we are immersed in the body as well as immersed into Christ. And see, this gives us insight. It helps us see that Christianity is more than just a profession of faith. And this helps us see that church membership is more than just a name on a card in a filing cabinet somewhere. I express what Paul was teaching by saying we are one body, but many individuals. I repeated that over and over on purpose. We are many different members, but one body because we're baptized in the Christ and we're baptized into the local body of believers. This is a super natural work of God where God does this. And this is experiential.

See, this happens to us and in us. And when and if this truly sinks in, when and if this is seared into our mind and into our understanding, we will see that that's why we need each other. Remember, Paul taught us that we need each other. Yes, we are different from one another. Paul points out the differences. We are individuals, but we need each other and we are to care for one another. Paul shows us because we are supernaturally baptized into Christ and we are supernaturally baptized into the local body. We need each other. We got to care for one another. Oh, we're all different, but yet we're one.

And listen, folks, that is why any individualistic attitude and behavior is sinful. How can the I remember the analogy? How can the I say to the foot, I don't need you? That is why any attitude or behavior of superiority is sinful. How can the mouth say to the arm, I am more important than you? Oh, a part of the body can strike out on its own. A part of the body can think of themselves as better than others. But those attitudes and those behaviors are not from Christ. No way. Paul shows us that. And see, we must have this in our minds. We must have this teaching in our hearts.

If we're going to get what the Lord wants to teach us this morning, this all builds together. I thought about an algebra illustration. It all builds together. Sorry to bring up a bad subject. It all builds together, folks, and we need to get this. I want us to turn our attention back to the Corinthian church, back to this Corinthian church situation. Last week I mentioned that some in the Corinthian church were abusing the spiritual gifts, especially the gift of tongues. Basically, there was a group that was exalting the sign gifts above the other less showy gifts. And the result was division in the body.

You see, they had this prideful group. They had the show off group. And then you had those who felt lesser. They felt insignificant because they didn't have those showy gifts. You might not know it, but if we're going to describe the Corinthian church in one word, one word, that word would be divided. Divided. You see, the church was divided. It was suffering from divisions. These were divisive people. There were divisive groups. There were all types of divisive ideologies all in the church. And if we examine the divisions in Corinth, we will see that there are nine different divisions in the church. Nine. Yes, nine.

Now some were larger and more obvious, but there were a whole host of different problems in the church that produced all kind of divisions. Some were large and some were a little smaller and maybe they can be overlooked. I'm going to be real quick here, but listen. First there was a division over leadership. We read that earlier. We're going to study that a little more in depth here in a moment. Second, there was a division over immorality in the church. See, there was an immorality in the church that even the pagans condemned and there were some that disagreed with that immorality in the church. So there was division there.

Then there was division because Christians were suing one another in pagan courts. Now that's a division, a big one. Then fourth, there were divisions concerning teaching on marriage. They had some strange views on marriage and celibacy and that created division in the church. Oh, there was a large division over meat sacrificed to idols. Some said it was okay to eat those meats while some said it was a grievous sin. And then the sixth division, it was over conduct of women, some unbiblical conduct of women in the church. Then there was the division because of the abuse of the Lord's Supper. I've already referenced that.

And then the eighth division, there was the division over the abuse of spiritual gifts. You've touched on that. And then the ninth division, it was a division over erroneous views concerning the resurrection. That was a theological division. You know what's really sad? There are many words we can use to describe this church. You could call it a carnal church. It's carnal. You could call it a worldly church. They'd let Corinth come back into the church. You could call it an immature church because Paul deals with their immaturity. But probably the most accurate one word description of the Corinthian church would be divided. Divided.

This was a very, very divided church. Now I want to say timeout with a message. Right here is where all of us would say, Lord, I want to move my membership. I don't want to be a member of this church. If you were enduring all of this, you would want to leave. I mean, really. If you go back on your own and study all of these problems, you would say, this is a very problematic church. Why would I even want to be here? Well, Paul didn't have that attitude. And I'm very thankful. Now this morning I want us to examine the first problem. The first problem that Paul deals with, the first division in the church.

And see, they were all divided over leadership. One commentator that I read called it cliques at Corinth. That kind of has a ring to it. He called it cliques at Corinth. It sounds like the title of the song, maybe the title of the message. See there were cliques, there were parties. Really that's too soft. There were factions. There were divisions that it all formed around who they were going to follow. Well that leads me to the title of the message. I want you to get the title. My title isn't quite as catchy. Of course, if you want to change it to cliques at Corinth, that's okay. But this is all about divisions in the body.

We've learned about the body last week. This is division in the body. I want us to go back and read the verses. Because I want the verses to be in our minds when we begin to divide them. And we're going to get to them in a moment. Verse 10. "I appeal to you brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and same judgment. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's householder people that there is quarreling among you my brothers." Two times he calls them brothers. Verse 12.

"What I mean is that each one of you says, 'I follow Paul,' or 'I follow Apollos,' or 'I follow Cephas,' or 'Peter,' or 'I follow Christ.' What does Paul say? Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Grecpus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. I did not baptize also the household of Stephanus. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else. For Christ did not send me to baptize." That's why he didn't keep a list.

"But to preach the gospel and not with words of eloquence or wisdom, least across of Christ, will be emptied of its power." Now I want to explain what is happening here in this situation. We can call this a description of the division. We could go a lot further here. We could make this shorter, but we need to get this. This is a description of this particular division. Here Paul is writing to squelch this division, all surrounding who they say they're following. Actually, from chapter 1 verse 10 all the way to the end of chapter 4, Paul is dealing with this one problem.

You see there was a factious spirit and movement that had risen up in the church, and it all centered around who these people followed, who they said was their leader. We read it earlier, some from Chloe's household had come and made Paul aware of the problem. And now these different factions here, they were clearly identifiable. The groups were clearly defined, but they had not yet outwardly separated from each other or separated from the church. The divisions were well known, they were well defined, but they were still gathering together. They had not openly renounced each other yet.

Although they differed in doctrine, although they differed in their allegiance, they were still at least gathering to some degree. Now Paul outwardly, notice outwardly, names four different factions, four different groups, four different cliques. Cliques is a little too soft in my opinion. First those who boasted that Paul was their leader. This is the Paul party. Right away those who boasted that Paul was their leader. Now no doubt this group rallied around Paul because he had brought the gospel to them. This group would have been mostly Gentile, probably all Gentile, because the Corinthians were a Gentile people.

In a sense they owed their salvation to him, but it seems that they were committing themselves to Paul in a very unhealthy way. One writer said it like this, this group was more Pauline than Paul. Let that sink in. They were more Pauline than Paul. Now some scholars speculate that this self-appointed party of Paul, they believe that this group was the ones in Corinth in the church that wanted to turn the grace of God into a license for sin. There was a group in the church that was using their freedom in Christ to excuse sin. That was a big problem. So we have the party of Paul.

They made Paul more Pauline than Paul and they exalted Paul in a way that Paul never would have exalted himself. They were committed to Paul, but in an unhealthy way. And then second, those who boasted that Paulus was their leader. Those who have boasted that Paulus was their leader. This is the Apollos party. Now we know a lot about Paul, but we do not know a lot about Apollos. We do have a brief description in Acts chapter 18 verse 24. Now Apollos was a converted Jew. He was from Egypt. He was Alexandrian. And we are told that he was a very eloquent speaker and preacher. We are told that he was very, very well versed in the scriptures.

And most likely he was very, very educated. Alexandria there in Egypt was one of the most respected university cities of the day. Now some scholars speculate that this self appointed party of Apollos was the group there in Corinth that was trying to make Christianity mostly intellectual. Some believe that this group represented that group in the church that wanted to turn Christianity into more of a philosophy than a true religion. So we have the party of Apollos. They ascribe more acclaim, more authority to Apollos than Apollos did because Apollos was not a leader in this division. He is never implicated as being guilty.

He was innocent just as Paul was innocent. So this group exalted Apollos in a way in which Apollos never would have exalted himself. And then third, those who bragged that Cephas or Peter was their leader. Those who bragged that Cephas or Peter was their leader. Now this is the Cephas clique. Cephas clique. We know who Peter was. He was one of the 12 disciples. He was the great apostle to the Jews and he was headquartered there at the church at Jerusalem. Now there is not any evidence, direct evidence that Peter ever visited Corinth. But some say that it was possible that this group had been influenced by Peter.

Maybe he did travel to Corinth. Maybe they traveled and were under his influence. Now it is possible that there were some Jewish Christians that had come from Jerusalem there to the Corinthian church. Whatever the connection, we do see that Paul uses Peter's Jewish name Cephas. This leads some scholars to speculate that this group believed in observing those Old Testament Jewish laws in an unhealthy way. There is evidence that Jewish legalistic tendencies existed in some there in the church. And we see that in the debate over foods in chapter 8 and 10 deals with that subject. So we have the Cephas clique.

They ascribe more position and more prominence to Peter. And Peter never would have agreed to their position. And then fourth. We have those who bragged at Jesus. The Lord Jesus was their leader. This is the Christ clique. Now we know who this is. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now we have some possible insight into the belief and teaching of this group from 2 Corinthians. Scholars believe those from this group prided themselves in their Jewish descent. Some speculate that this group may have been those who came to Corinth with letters of recommendation maybe from the land of Israel.

It could be this group or those who claim to be apostles of Christ and ministers of righteousness there in 2 Corinthians 11. So no matter who this group is, it is clear that they had an unhealthy attachment to Jesus. Now that sounds strange. To me it is no doubt that this group of Jews mentioned in 2 Corinthians represents this group. It appears that they have an unhealthy perverted allegiance to Jesus. And no doubt I believe they are perverting the teaching of Jesus. Now what's my point here? I'm not just trying to give you a lesson in who these groups and people are. I wanted us to see the first problem that Paul addresses.

A very serious problem of division. These are great factions. And I wanted us to see the depth and the breadth of it all. In all of the doctrinal issues scholars believe were attached to these factions. You see these were real doctrinal theological problems all stood around this unhealthy allegiance to these leaders. So they were very divided. I think you see it more now. This was a very divided church. And it seems that this church in Corinth was on the verge of complete ruin. Every now and then I'll do this. Just take a little liberty. I kind of call it my Holy Spirit imagination. I mean just imagine how this church is on the verge of ruin.

In my mind they were one business meeting away from a blow up and half the church leaving. Anyone seen that before? In my mind and thinking it would take the right family in the church to start a mass exodus of people. In my mind and thinking maybe the leading family of the Cephas could take over any day. In my mind and thinking listen that a polished party all they needed was to gain a few more in number and then they could push the other groups out the door. In my mind and thinking all it would take is one or two things to happen and this bad doctrine from one particular group could completely envelop the church.

Let's see all of this brings us to one point. I did all of this to bring us to one question and the question is this. This is the question of the sermon folks. What does God have to say about division in the church? We got to ask this question. How does God view division in the life of the church? And that is what Corinth was all about. It was division all in the church and the divisions spoke to so many other sinful problems. Now I want us to answer that question from a few verses like I said earlier. Now some of you may be surprised about what God says here about division. So number one.

Number one in our outline I want us to see that divisions are forbidden. That's pretty obvious. Divisions are forbidden. Now we could see this in many places in scriptures especially if we study all of the problems that led to division in the Corinthian church and some other places. The New Testament is full and the old. But here I want us to see what Paul says about the division surrounding this leadership. Here in verse 10 Paul says that there should be no divisions among them. There should be no divisions among them. And he calls this group to do two things. First he calls them to agree. He calls them to agree. Look back at verse 10.

"I appeal to you." Some translations say urge. "I urge you brothers by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that all of you agree." Now the meaning of this word agree is simple to understand. It simply means to say the same thing. Here Paul is urging these four factious groups to work to agree. He is calling these clear and defined parties to work together in their thinking, in their doctrine and in their beliefs. Now this is not a superficial surface agreement. He is calling them to sit down. He is calling them to work hard. He is calling them to repent and to concede.

He is calling them to iron out their different doctrines, their different beliefs, even their allegiances so that they could truly agree in all matters. He was not calling them to simply live together and get along. He was not calling them to kindly tolerate each other. He was calling them to agree in all of these matters. And then second he calls them to think the same way. Go back to the verse, verse 10.

"I appeal to you, I urge you brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you," here we go, "but that you may be united in the same mind and in the same judgment." Now notice this teaching is after the part about division. The division part is sandwiched in the middle of the verse. Now here we have two key phrases, same mind, same judgment. This goes past, saying the same thing here Paul is building. Here Paul is calling them to a genuine unified thinking and judgment on these matters. Let me say that again.

He is calling them to work hard to get to a genuine place where they are unified in their thinking and in their judgment on all of these matters. Paul wasn't wanting mere words. He did not want them to say they agreed, but deep down they kept their disagreements and their differences. He wanted them to work through their differences to a true harmony and thought and in judgment in these matters. He wanted them to agree in doctrine and in their views on leadership and in practice. So Paul is saying that these divisions are not of God. They are not of God. He is calling them to sit down. Imagine getting these guys together.

He is calling them to come to the table and work towards agreement in all of these matters that divide all of them. He is calling them to think the same way, to make the same judgments and ultimately to say the same thing in great harmony. He is calling them to bury the hatchet and work it out, be united in everything. Real quickly, I want you to notice the manner in which Paul does all this. First he urges them as brothers. Two times he calls them brothers. This is a kind and gracious urging. See the basic meaning of the word appeal, the New American uses the word exhort. It means to come alongside. It means to help.

You see, he wanted to come alongside these groups. He wanted to help them in this work. He didn't want to just write and leave them. No, he wanted to get down to the nitty gritty of the work with them. But then second, Paul uses authority. He calls them to do this work in the name of Jesus. See this speaks to Christ's will. This points them to Christ's character. This points them to Christ's authority as Lord and master over the church, all that he is. This means that Paul is calling these factious groups to do this work in the name of Christ, in a Christ-like manner in every way.

And he's saying, "Oh, I'll come right alongside with you all the way through the journey." And also he's calling them to balance. See look at verse 12. What I mean is that each one of you says, "Oh, I follow a Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "Oh, I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? See he is calling them to a balanced allegiance to all of these men, all of these leaders, even Christ. Paul is calling them out in this imbalance here and how they view these leaders in a sinful wrong way. He's calling them to unity. We see this in verse 13. See he is calling them to that oneness, that oneness in Christ.

We studied that last week, folks. He hadn't gotten to that part yet, but we know that's where he's going. He is focusing on that oneness in the body and then he is calling them to the gospel. Look at verse 17. "For Christ did not send me to baptize." What is he saying? It's not about baptism. It's not about who baptizes. What does he say? "For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel." And see he is reminding them that it is Christ and the message of the cross that is the most important message of all.

And if you'll notice what Paul does through the remaining chapters dealing with this subject, it's all about the cross because he is taking them back to the gospel. Now what's the lesson here? Our lessons? It's really a lot. The simple, the major, the overarching lesson here is this. Division is a serious sin. Paul says it shouldn't be in the church. Right away Paul is saying that this should not be here in the church. And Paul shows us just how sinful factions and factious people are. And that's why we need to look at a few more verses. Now here's where I want us to turn to the book of Galatians. Galatians chapter 5.

But I want you to read these verses for a reason. I want you to put your eyes on them for a reason. Galatians 5 starting in verse 19. Some of you are familiar with these verses. Now the works of the flesh, the sinful nature are evident. Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things alike. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. And I want you to see what is important. Notice where Paul groups these sins and how he groups these sins.

He puts factions and factions people right here with all types of other sinners, sorcerers, rivalries, drunkards, all of these sins are combined. He puts factions and factions people in a very dark group. And listen folks, right here in this Corinthian example, we have a few valuable lessons here. Factions people almost always do what we see in these verses. You need to remember these little lessons. First of all, they always try to justify their cause. They always try to justify their cause. This group did. Oh, I follow Paul. He was the one that came and evangelized. He's the father of the church. I follow Paul. They're justifying.

Some of them said, I follow Apollos. Scholars tell us that Apollos was the pastor after Paul. And he did a great work there. They jumped up and said, oh, Apollos was the best pastor. You see, they always justify their cause. And then they almost always center their division around doctrine or leadership or both. They almost always center their division around doctrine or leadership or both. What was behind these divisions was their doctrine, was their theology, was their work view. And then they almost always have a respected leader or leaders.

See, the Cephas group, they jumped up and said, oh, our leader is Peter and he is the apostle of the Jews. He's there at the mother church at Jerusalem. See, they believe that garnered them respect. So what we must see is division is forbidden. It is sinful. And listen, division will always diminish the work of the church. It will damage the work of the church. And if it's left alone, it will destroy the work of the church. Well, let's move on. I want us to see our second major truth. Our second major truth. I want us to see that divisions serve a purpose. Divisions serve a purpose. Now this is where some of you may be surprised.

And this is where I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. I want us to read verses 17 and 18. Now this is the division around the Lord's Supper. I'm just going to read three verses, verse 17. But in the following instructions, I do not commend you because when you come together, it is not for the better, but for the worse. For in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. See, the visions again. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions. There must be divisions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.

Now here we have one of those other big divisions in the church. What is happening here is quite simple. Those in the church that had plenty, they were abusing the Lord's Supper and they were leaving out the less fortunate and that spawned other sins and other consequences for those sins. Now here in this situation, Paul gives us three things that we need to see. First he condemns the division. Didn't we see that in verse 18? He condemns this division. Now what is happening is simple. Those in the church that had plenty, they were more affluent. They were abusing the Supper and they were leaving out the less fortunate.

There were some who were eating and drinking at the Supper at the celebration and the scripture says while the others were going hungry. In here he points out the division caused by the abuse. Paul shows that the sinful abuse of the Supper was dividing the more wealthy from the poor. See, their abuse of the Supper was literally dividing the church by class and wealth. You know if we follow the rest of the story, some people were getting sick and dying. Some were dying because of this sin. And then second he states that divisions are a must.

Notice verse 19, "For there must be factions, divisions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized." Now this verse literally says that divisions are necessary in the church. Now this leads us to a question. If divisions are sinful, how can they be necessary? Doesn't that seem contradictory? See this seems contradictory but this speaks about what scholars call a divine necessity. These are divinely determined events in the church and Paul knew that.

One commentator said it like this, "Paul was a spiritual realist here." Although he knew factions in the church were sinful, Paul, he knew men were sinful and he knew that men were divisive, but he also knew that God had a purpose for allowing divisions in his church. So Paul is saying that God has ordained these events for his purposes and for his plan in the church. Now again this seems contradictory, but we must see God's sovereign plan in it all. A good parallel is this. Just like the sinful crucifixion of Jesus was God's foreordained plan, divisions are foreordained by God as well. So we must see that divisions in the church are a must.

God has a purpose and God has a plan. And then third, Paul explains that divisions prove people. Divisions prove people. I want to read verse 19 again. "For there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized." There's a key phrase here in order that. This speaks to God's sovereign purpose here. God allows division in order that he might test people and that he might reveal who and what these people are. See it's the same, the same language is used of metal workers in their day. They would test a metal with fire to prove it, to test its purity, to see if it was genuine.

And there are two things proven and revealed concerning these people. First, the sinful are exposed. That is what factious people are. Sinful. The sinful are exposed. So the division is a test to expose the sinful. The reactions to the circumstance prove this group, prove these people as sinful. No matter how they articulate their doctrine, no matter who their leader is, no matter how noble their cause may seem, their division and their reaction to the division prove them as sinful and they are not fit for use in the church. And then second, the godly. They are exposed. This is the opposite. The division reveals the godly in the church.

They do not act out in division and sin. See they are tested and they are revealed as genuine. Their reaction reveals that they are fit for use in the church. So notice what we have. Paul condemns divisions and factions. But Paul knows that divisions and divisive people must come into the church. Paul understands God's divine plan and purpose for division. Paul explains that the division is a test. It is to reveal those who are genuine and those who are not. He explains that division reveals who is useful to the church and who is destructive for the church. Unfit for service.

Now just like before, there are quite a few lessons that we need to see here. First of all, first of all, we must see that factions must come. Earlier we learned the big lesson and that is divisions are sinful. But here the big lesson is we must see that factions must come. Divisions are necessary. Factions people, factions men, factions women who divide, they must come into the church. It is God's divine plan to prove and to purify. And folks, it is a painful plan. And for us, we must see division and divisive people working in the church as horribly sinful, but it is of God.

But listen, when division comes into the church and when people we know and people that we may even love divide, listen, and they won't even be corrected. Look, it is a fire and yes, that fire burns, but we must welcome that fire. We welcome the fire because we trust God to bring the fire to purify his church. What? For greater usefulness. We must take notice. We must watch. We must see how people take the test. We must see how people react when divisions come, when they are corrected with the truth of God's word from the leaders of the church. See, we must see how they react when those bring correction into the life of their, in their life.

So we must take careful care to notice. See we must see and recognize that ultimately it is for one purpose, to prove who is useful, to prove who is fit, to prove who is not useful, and to prove who is not fit. And all of that comes together for God's plan to make his church better. So division has a divine purpose. God is revealing who is approved and who is not who is useful and who is not those who are a blessing to the church and the work of the church and those who are harmful. Now I want to take a minute or two. I want to back off from of our verses.

I want to make some statements and ask a few questions that will help us live all of this out properly. The message and what we've studied is the foundation from which we work. And you really need to get this. So pay close attention. This is very important. First, division is a sin. You might say, "Pastor, you've said it." It needs to be stated again. Division is a sin. It is always a sin. It doesn't matter the leader. It doesn't matter the doctrine. Division in the church is disruptive and if it is left unchecked it will destroy the work of the local church. Didn't we see that in 1 Corinthians 3.3?

We read the passage in Galatians 5 for a purpose. That is a horrible sin grouped there with a list of other horrible sins. And Paul says those who practice those things will not inherit the kingdom. So division is a sin. But second, divisive people are sinful. Divisive people are sinful. If someone is divisive and then corrected and they repent, well guess what? They are repented and that's good and that is fine. And they are to be loved and they are to be forgiven and they are to be embraced in the work and the life of the church.

But if someone is divisive and they will not be corrected then they are sinful and they are unfit and they are harmful and they are dangerous. And divisive people who will not repent of their division are sinful. And then third, divisive people should be avoided. Divisive people should be avoided and you need this. Romans 16 verse 17 to 18. What does Paul say? To the church now. I appeal to you brothers to watch out for those who cause divisions. Watch out. They create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught. Avoid them. See watch them and avoid them. Verse 18.

For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ but their own appetites and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. So we need to watch out. We need to watch what they do, listen to what they say, see how they act and we see their motives and why they do what they do and we cannot be naive. And then fourth, divisive people ultimately should be put out of the church. That's going to surprise some of you. That's going to surprise some of you. If someone or some people are divisive and they are not repentant, they are to be put out of the church. It's called church discipline.

That's one of the subjects we're going to deal with in this series. It's not something that we enjoy but it is a must. Notice what Titus, Paul says to Titus chapter 3 verse 10 and 11. As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice. In other words there's a process. You go graciously, humbly, patiently after warning them once and then twice he goes on to say have nothing more to do with them. There's the implication of division they're put out knowing that such a person is warped and sinful and he is self condemned. He's not useful to the church, he's harmful. This is hard. This is sad.

It's no fun but it is a must. Now all of this, we could have preached for days and weeks on this subject but all of this in line of what we studied last week, see folks we're the body. The local church is the body, members of a local church have been baptized into Christ and baptized into the local body. This is a supernatural work of God. This is an experience of God. In any attitude or behavior of independence is a sin. Didn't we learn that last week? Any attitude or behavior of superiority it is a sin. Paul says we're to care for one another. Oh we're many different individuals but yet we're one body.

We're one body that is comprised of many different individuals and we need one another. So how in the world can we divide? How can a part of the body divide and disrupt and destroy the body? Years ago when I was in youth ministry I ministered to all kinds. I didn't care who they were, where they came from. Same way with adults. Years ago I ministered to a young man who had some very deep serious spiritual problems. On the surface some people might not have ever seen it. This young man was involved in some very abusive behavior, cutting his body, mutilating his own body. And ultimately it ended in suicide.

Now I know someone in the funeral home business and they knew I ministered to the family. And he said to me, "Chris, when I saw the body it was unbelievable the damage." He said there wasn't an inch over his body that wasn't cut. Cutting himself. Think about how diseased and warped and unnatural and sick that is. See folks when division comes to the body it is just that sinful. It is just that grievous. Division is the body attacking and destroying itself. But division is the work of God in the body. Look at that great mystery. The local church and it is for greater usefulness if it's handled properly. But what have we looked at this morning?

It's all part of the series. Life in the body. This is knowing how to live in the family of God. Division is an ugly reality. It's a great sin but sometimes a necessity. And it's all part of the life. Life in the body. Life in the church. So let's pray. Let's commit this to the Lord. We're going to sing one song committing what we've studied to the Lord. I want to make a few more pastoral comments and then we will close.