It’s Time to Examine Your Own Heart - Addressing Division in the Church

Well, I wanted to jump on here and share a simple message with you concerning unity in the body of Christ, and I want to emphasize biblical unity. If you're like me, then you've noticed that in this season that there is great division in our world. People are stirred up to the point of anger over anything and everything, and the enemy is sowing seeds of division, and this sadly is even affecting the church. Now, when I say biblical unity, it's important that we understand the fundamentals of the faith, because I want to say this right up at the top: there is such a thing as ungodly unity. We are not to unite with those who preach heretical teaching. We are not to unite with those who deny that Jesus is God. Now, there are other things, of course, that I will list as fundamental, but I want you to hear this message and allow yourself to be challenged because we want to balance some things here. There are 2 extremes. On one hand, there are Christians who are living under such fear, such paranoia, and really trapped in their own pride, in their own egos, and so they criticize anything and everything that isn't aligned 100% with their preferences. And of course, we want to reject that. That's divisiveness. That's of the devil. Many Christians are doing the devil's work while claiming to be defending the faith. And then on the other hand, we have Christians with no standards who embrace anything and everything. Every wind of doctrine just moves them here and there, and they have no solid foundation upon which they can base their lives and their beliefs. And so we need to avoid both extremes because neither extreme is of the Holy Spirit. Neither extreme is of God's heart. And listen to me, Spirit family, I'm coming to you because I want to make sure that there is purity in our movement. The Lord has given to us a beautiful movement, a touch of the Holy Spirit's power that we've been given to steward. And if we are going to see this movement advance, if we are going to see the power of the Holy Spirit continue to spread, throughout the churches in the world and throughout the world itself, then we have to be grounded and we have to make sure that we are not practicing ungodly division and make sure that we're also not practicing ungodly unity. We need to have balance. And this is going to challenge you because maybe there are some areas that you're being divisive, but you don't realize that you're being divisive. So let's first take a look at the fundamentals of the faith. These are the beliefs concerning the Christian faith that are really at the core of who we are. If someone rejects the foundations of the faith, then they are by definition not a Christian. So let's take a look at a few. I won't have time to cover all of them, but I'll give you some examples here just so you can get an idea of what this foundation looks like. Things like belief in God the Father Almighty. Matthew 6:9, Jesus tells us, pray then like this: Our Father in heaven. So of course, we have to first acknowledge that God is our Father. We have to first acknowledge the existence of God. Belief in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. John 3:16 tells us, for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. We believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. Matthew 1:18. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. So Jesus was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit. The death and the burial of Jesus. 1 Corinthians 15:3, I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures said. So there we see the atonement. We see the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He absorbed the wrath of God, and whoever places their faith in him, they won't perish. That's a fundamental of the faith. The 3rd day, Jesus rose again from the dead. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 4, that he was buried, that he was raised on the 3rd day in accordance with the Scriptures. Jesus ascended on high after his resurrection, His bodily resurrection, and he sat himself at the right hand of the Father. Mark 16:19. So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. We, of course, believe in the Holy Spirit. We believe in everlasting life. We believe in a literal eternal heaven and a literal eternal hell. We believe in the inerrancy of Scripture. We believe in salvation by grace through faith. We believe in the identity of Jesus, the sinless perfection of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, the ascension of Jesus, the return of Jesus. We believe Jesus is God. These are fundamentals of the faith. Now, if someone errs from these truths or contradicts these truths, now they are altering the foundation, and that is where you get heresy. There's a saying that I mostly agree with, but I, of course, don't want anyone to take advantage of it and become abusive and then start spreading strange doctrines because of it, but I'll give it to you anyway. Just understand that it's not a license to just go teaching whatever you want. And that is that, that all heresy is error, but not all error is heresy. Now again, that doesn't mean that you can just go on preaching strange things and anything that comes to your mind. That doesn't mean that you can cast off the boundaries of context. That doesn't mean that you no longer have to rightly divide the Word of God. It just means that sometimes we differ on things that aren't central to the faith. Now, every biblical doctrine is important. I'm not going to sit here and say that there's anything that is in Scripture that is unimportant, but there are at least areas where we can disagree and not condemn one another as heretics or false teachers, or worse, say that someone isn't saved because they don't agree with us on this. Now, I want to talk to you a little bit about what it means to defend the faith, but First, let me mention that if you're enjoying this teaching, make sure to leave a like to help it spread further. And also, don't forget to subscribe to my channel so that you and I can stay connected so that you can continue to receive these teachings. Okay, let's go into point number 2 here. I wanna talk to you a little bit about what it means to defend the faith, because this concept of defending the faith is something that people have stretched to an extreme. And often they stretch it to an extreme out of fear, out of egocentrism, out of pride, out of the need to win an argument, out of this desire for people to think them to be an intellectual. But let's take a look here at Jude 1:3-4. Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. Now stop there for a second, because usually what happens is Christians will take this particular verse, they'll remove it from its context, and then they'll use it as fuel for their rampage against ministries and Christians that they personally dislike or that they're not comfortable with. But verse 4 gives us a clarity on the context. And remember this, context matters. This isn't a generic open-ended suggestion, suggestion to go on blasting fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. This is a very specific instruction here. Look at verse 4. I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches. saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now, notice here that this command or this exhortation to defend the faith wasn't in regards to some peripheral doctrine. This was in regards to a very fundamental contradiction with a foundational truth that has to do with the Christian faith, namely that there were individuals saying that you can live an immoral life because of the grace of God. So again, this isn't some generic open-ended instruction. This is specifically having to do with condemning people or condemning the teaching of people, or maybe both condemning the teaching of people who are encouraging believers to go on sinning. And they're very clearly denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. So let's look at another text that's often used in this manner. And this is typical of these texts. You'll find that with a little bit of study, you can see the context and find that these are specific addresses of very specific problems. And again, not an open-ended command that we can just use to wage war against fellow believers who we have disagreements with on the peripheral areas. Look at Galatians chapter 1. I'll begin reading at verse number 6. I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the good news. This is very intense here. Verse 7. But it's not the good news at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Verse 8, let God's curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of good news than the one we preach to you. I say again what we have said before, if anyone preaches any other gospel than the one you welcome, let that person be cursed. Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant. So what exactly was being addressed here in the book of Galatians? Well, in the book of Galatians, the problem of legalism was being addressed, namely that certain individuals were insisting that God's people go back to relying upon the law and the fulfillment of the law to acquire salvation. So again, with a little bit of study and observation, we look at the context, we can see that this is not an open-ended command or an open-ended criticism that we can just lob at fellow believers who differ with us on certain areas. For example, let's take methodology into account. Methodology is important and methodology should be glorifying of God, but I've heard certain Christians criticizing other Christians because they have lights in their sanctuary during worship, or because the stage is set up with an LED screen, or because the music is dialed in with certain sound equipment. And people become upset about these kinds of things. And I understand that Christ is sufficient. No one's saying he's not. But then often you'll find that the individuals who condemn the use of technology to communicate the gospel Or to, you know, create a presentation that's pleasing to the eye. They'll celebrate things like cathedrals. They'll celebrate some of the ancient artwork. And I often think, wait until they read the Book of Revelation and they see just how glamorous God's throne is. But again, this would be a question of methodology. So, for example, I also see people criticizing youth ministers. who maybe use a game or two to help entertain the kids. And this is somehow supposed to be something that we condemn each other over. But we're talking strictly about methodology. Think also of the gift of tongues. I believe speaking in tongues is for today. Others do not. I believe that healing is for today. Others do not. But are these areas of division? Are these areas where we can condemn one another and say, well, you believe in tongues and I don't? Or I believe in tongues and you don't, and therefore you're a heretic. Therefore you're a false prophet. Therefore you're someone I should divide from. Well, not necessarily. So again, methodology is not a reason to condemn one another. The subject of the gift of tongues is not a reason to condemn one another. The subject of the gift of healing is not a reason to condemn one another. Take also, for example, the subject of prosperity. This is a hotly debated topic. There are millions of Christians like me who believe that as we give, God blesses financially. Now, this is something that we think that there's a biblical framework for in Scripture, but whether you agree with that or not isn't really the issue. The issue is, is money an important enough subject to divide over? Are we really going to call someone a heretic because they give believing that God will increase their resources, that they might continue to be a blessing to other Christians? Well, I don't think we should, because again, I think, first of all, there's good reason to believe that in Scripture. But second of all, even if there is a point of disagreement on that, this isn't a reason to condemn one another. Or what I'll see done is often, let's say I believe in sowing and reaping financially. Okay, someone may take that belief of mine and then try to make it seem as though that's my gospel message when it's not the gospel message. It is a peripheral doctrine that I believe aside from the gospel. And so there are many different things like that that we have in the church. Here's another example: pre-, mid-, and post-tribulation. There are various different points of debate on that subject alone. The once saved, always saved debate. That one will go on for centuries should the Lord tarry. Different manifestations of the Holy Spirit's power. These are things that are hotly debated. Are these reasons to divide the church? Absolutely not. And again, I think it's a mistake to take what someone preaches about a peripheral doctrine and then to try to label them with that as if that's their central message. For example, whenever I talk about miracles, I often see comments, and this isn't just me complaining about it. I can give you only examples of what I've seen in my experience. Let's say myself or even another preacher friend of mine talks about miracles. It's so predictable. You will see comments on the thread saying it's not all about miracles. We don't serve God for miracles. The Bible doesn't promise everyone will always get a miracle. And I think that's interesting because that's somewhat of a caricature of what's actually being said. Just because I talk about miracles doesn't mean that miracles is the center of the gospel that I preach. Just because I believe in prosperity doesn't mean that prosperity is central to the gospel that I preach. These, again, are peripheral doctrines, and we have to stop labeling each other like that. So. Even in my heart, I have to make sure I'm not doing that to fellow believers, where they teach one issue, and then I don't want to label that believer, that teacher around that one specific issue. We have to realize that the gospel is simple and central. The fundamentals are simple and central, and the things that we believe and debate aside from those are not reasons to divide the church over. Or another example here I have written down, let's take like topical or expository. You know, there are some people who will leave a church because the pastor preaches topics instead of verse by verse. And I'm thinking, so long as the topic that they're preaching is derived from Scripture and it's true and it's edifying, what does it matter the format of the teaching? Now, I love expository teaching and topical preaching, but you know what? As long as truth is being ministered, as long as it's sound doctrine, as long as it's edifying the church, whatever format that comes in is fine by me. Now, this is where we get into legalism, because if we're not careful, we begin to preach a Christ-plus doctrine. It's Christ alone. It's not Christ plus you have to agree with me on every bit of doctrine 100% or you're not saved. It's Christ alone. And if we're not careful, we will fall into that kind of legalism. So be very careful. Listen to me now, Spirit family. Be very careful with this kind of rhetoric. Be very careful with satanic division. Because often it parades itself as care and concern. Often it parades itself as the hero. And to me, this is just self-righteous virtue signaling. In other words, you may hear it said, well, I'm just sharing this because I care about the body, or I'm just sharing this because I don't want people to be hurt, or I'm just sharing this because it's something that I have a responsibility to do. And really, you have to ask yourself, what actually is the motive? Because so long as you're preaching Jesus, so long as you're centered on the fundamentals of the faith, you can trust that God is going to move in that person's life as they hear the teachings of Scripture. And again, my heart for the body of Christ isn't that we embrace ungodly unity. That would be to violate again one of the fundamentals of the faith. But my heart is that we would have the maturity, we would have the level-headedness to embrace one another even in our differences. Not in every difference because too different and then you get into heresy. But again, I'm not gonna condemn someone just because they don't believe in sowing and reaping. I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna condemn someone just because they don't pray in tongues. I'm not going to condemn someone just because they don't believe that healing is for today. I'm not going to condemn someone just because they struggle with doubt to the point where they have trouble accepting when the Holy Spirit's power is moving. And we as the body of Christ have to be gracious to one another, and it starts with us. It starts with me. It starts with you being that community of believers who is gracious, who is merciful, who is mature, who isn't frantic and panicked and reactive and fearful and paranoid, but they have level heads. They see with spiritual clarity, and they can see their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ despite some of these things that we might disagree upon. In John chapter 13, verses 31 to 35, we read: As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus said, the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory, and God will be glorified because of him. And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once. Dear children, I will be with you only a little longer. And as I told the Jewish leaders, you will search for me, but you can't come where I am going. So now I am giving you a new commandment: love each other just as I have loved you. You should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples. Now, the response to this is going to be rather predictable. There may be some who'll say, well, true love would be speaking truth, and I agree with that. But the truth is that we're not going to agree on everything, and we have to respect the variety within the body of Christ because we may come to varying conclusions, not on the fundamentals. I want to— I'm going to keep repeating that. I know I'm being ultra clear on that, but I want to make sure I'm ultra clear. Not on the fundamentals. There's no comp— there's no room for compromise on the fundamentals. I'm talking about those things that are peripheral. I'm talking about those things where there's good arguments on both sides of the fence, where there's biblical framework for both perspectives. And when we get to heaven, we're going to find out all of the ways we were right and we were wrong. But in the meantime, Let's stop trying to win arguments and get back to winning souls. I'm not talking about ungodly unity. I'm not saying we should have no standards. I'm not saying we should unite with anyone and everyone who professes Jesus. But I'm also saying that we shouldn't participate in the fear-based legalism that is division, where because you differ from me on one of these side issues, I'm gonna call you out and I'm gonna divide from you. Let's not be that. Let's rise above that. Let's show the world what the power of the church is. I believe that the church is most powerful when it is most united on Christ. You know, with all the things that are going on in our world, all of the darkness that's trying to advance, we need to join arms with one another. We need to join hands with one another. We need to link hearts with one another. We need to march forward proclaiming the name of Jesus and stop being distracted by all these side debates. Listen, if that's you, you need to come out of that. You need to repent because that is not of God's Holy Spirit. It may seem right. That's the thing about deception. It sounds so good, doesn't it? Sounds so righteous. It sounds so noble. But in the end, it's not of God. And as I pointed out here, often many of the scriptures that are used to justify the immature tantrums and combativeness really in context don't give this open-ended, you know, ammo for attack. It really is talking about very specific things, the scripture. So we have to have, as I said, the maturity, the soundness of mind, that trust in Christ as we move forward, united in Christ on the fundamentals of the faith. So Father, I pray you would help your people do it. And Lord, if there's been any way where we have been contributing to the divisiveness, we repent. And Lord, we commit. I want you to commit right now. Lord, we commit to uniting with fellow brothers and sisters who are not against us. For if they are for you, then we should be for them. Father, we thank you for giving us wisdom and maturity, for you've not given us a spirit of fear, but power, love, and a sound mind. May they be guided by the precious Holy Spirit. In the name of Jesus, we pray. And if you're gonna commit to to, to being done with the divisiveness, I want you to type a big amen in the comment section. Listen, I need your help as the ministry continues to advance and grow. Our movement is growing. 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