This Sunday I was fortunate to get to go to church here at the YMCA of the Rockies. Though I was working, my boss let me and my fellow worker clock out for the two hour service. It's good to be working for a Christian employer!
The service was different. It was fairly small and informal. Everyone sat around in a circle and we sang songs, accompanied by the chaplain's guitar. When the passage was read, everyone was invited to pitch in on the interpretation. It was more like a Bible study than a normal church service. In fact, it was a lot like the "house church" gatherings my Team used to do at Summitview (fond memories, *sigh*).
The passage was Luke 11:14-28, but much of the focus of the talk was on verse 17: a famous passage once quoted by Lincoln, but originally by Jesus, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls."
In the immediate context, Jesus is quoting the passage to show how ridiculous the Pharisee's accusation is, that He is performing exorcisms by the power of demons. "If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?" Christ asks. Since the idea of a civil war among demons is ridiculous and would quickly ruin them, Christ cannot be casting out demons by using demonic power. His power must be coming from God.
But Christ's observation has broader applications than simply proving that exorcisms cannot be performed by demonic power. The chaplain pointed out that "divide and conquer" was originally a Roman maxim, a strategy they used to conquer the then-known world. It is also a strategy not unknown to our Enemy, Satan. Satan certainly is not divided against himself, allowing demonic power to be used to counter his own purposes. God is never divided in His purpose and plans. But we humans, we Christians, are divided into an estimated 41,000 denominations. I wrote earlier that there was a certain wisdom to sects, in that different denominations with their differing focus' and styles allowed the true diversity of the Body of Christ to become apparent. I still hold to that. I still celebrate the fact that there is one church here in the Rockies where I go and sing to guitar music and have an informal Bible study, and another church where ancient hymns are sung to organ music and a formal sermon is delivered. I celebrate the fact that we have Evangelicals who are good at evangelism, Methodists who are known for their social work, Creationists who labor to see God in the disciplines of science, and Charismatics who celebrate the bountiful gifts of the Spirit (and that none of these groups are necessarily mutually exclusive). There is great wisdom in making the body out of many different cells, forming diverse organs--so long as they remember they are one body. Sadly, in Christianity, many of the divisions are very real. There are people in each of the denominations who will tell you that their denomination is the only real Christian church and that everyone else who follows Christ is going to Hell (and they'll say it proudly: after all, they managed to find the real church). Others don't take it so far, but still firmly believe that whatever denomination they belong to is inherently better and more loved of God and more effective for Him than any other. But there is nothing spiritual about this religious bigotry: it stems from pride, from the flesh. When the universal Church is divided into various squabbling branches, it fails to be what God intended it to be, and non-Christians take note and mock. Satan wins, as the chaplain pointed out. When we divide, he is free to conquer.
But Christians don't just divide along denominational lines. At bottom, the unity of the Spirit is something that individuals either practice or break. We fight among ourselves. We argue over stupid things. We call each other names, we accuse each other of wrong--not out of love to correct and build up, but out of anger in order to tear each other down--, we take our problems to others instead of to each other--we gossip, we slander--, we lie to each other, defraud one another, or just plain hide from each other--whether literally by going up into a monastery to get away from one another, or figuratively by keeping our faith and our lives hidden even among other Christians who might benefit from our experiences. Christ prayed for unity before He went to the cross, when He could have prayed for anything. He prayed for us to be united together as one several times...and not once did He mention whatever issues or differences we think important enough to break peace and fellowship over. But we have different priorities: we divide, and Satan celebrates.
But there is more at stake when we divide than simply failing to be what we, as Christians and as the Body of Christ, should be. When Christ said that He actually performed exorcisms by the power of God--the God the Pharisees claimed to serve--He implied that they were trying to divide "God's side" against itself. But He took it further: "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." The Pharisees weren't just brothers on the wrong side of a civil war, they had made themselves enemies of Christ. Is it possible that we do the same when we divide? Christian unity is a huge part of Christ's purpose and plan--the identifying feature of those who know Him, according to some passages. Love between Christians was the last and most repeated command that Christ ever gave. When we work counter to unity, counter to love, we are really working counter to Him. We are not merely failing to defeat His enemies, we are working for them.
May God have mercy on us and unite us as one.
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