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Division
Jesus said, “...Every kingdom divided against itself
is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.” Lk.
11:17
Perhaps the most
widespread complaint of our contemporary society is against divisiveness.
Unfortunately, the repulsion toward divisiveness never seems to compel anyone
to flip to the other side; even for a brief visit.
Paradox of the Christian
faith:
The Word of God compels us toward unity. See Ps. 133, “Behold how good and pleasant it
is when brethern gather
together in unity.”
Yet the Word of God is divisive, Heb. 4:12, “For the word of
God is living and
powerful, and sharper than any two- edged
sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit…”
There is such thing as
good division and bad division.
God will
never allow us to be unified in our unrighteousness.
We turn to the Old
School Master to get a snapshot of this.
Read I Kings 11:1-13 and 12:1-24
This was a significant
turning point for the Children of Israel. Back in I Samuel we see how the band
of eleven tribes, plus Levi, became unified under the leadership of the prophet
Samuel, but then demanded a king (I Sam. 8). The nation remains unified under
the reign of Saul, David, and Solomon, but then divides under the reign of
Rehoboam. This occurs roughly
between BC 1051 and 931
Important Note: This division was orchestrated by God I Kn.
12:24
This is similar, in pattern, to the Tower of Babel; Gen.
11:7
We would consider is
“good division” when righteousness separates, or divides from unrighteousness.
II Cor. 6:14,15 “...what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion
has light wit darkness?
And what accord has Christ with
Belial?
We may consider the
Reformation, and the American Revolution as examples of good division.
Church; Strong’s G1577, “ekklesia” – called out
An example of bad
division can be found in I Cor. 1:10-13
vr. 13, “Is Christ divided?”
Divisiveness for the
sake of pride, or gain on the part of both parties, wherein no righteousness
precipitates out is bad division.
In our currant state of
over thirty thousand Christian denominations,
it seems likely that righteousness may, somehow
gotten lost in the shuffle.
In Isa. 58:12, the
foreshadowing of Christ is called, “the Repairer of the Breach.”
Col. 3:14,15 “But above
all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the
peace of God rule in your hearts”
Eph. 4:2,3, “bearing
with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the
pond of peace.”
Wesley said, “Orthodoxy,
or right opinion, is, at best, a very slender part of religion. Though right
tempers cannot subsist without right opinions, yet right opinions may subsist
without right tempers. There may be a right opinion of God without either love
or one right temper toward Him. Satan is proof of this.”
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