On Divisions in the ChurchMy Understanding: Paul’s description of the Corinthian church sounds much like the church in America today. The church is worldly, for the most part, and is filled with spiritual infants who have not grown to maturity in Jesus Christ. In Paul’s day, as in our day, too, the problem was that the people had become followers of men instead of becoming mature disciples of Jesus Christ. Now, in their case, the men they were following appeared to be true disciples of Jesus Christ who were not leading the people the wrong direction spiritually, so they had that in their favor. Yet, as human beings, they got caught up in following the men more than they followed the God who was behind the men, and that is what Paul thus had to address with them. Because they followed the men, they became divided over which man was the better to follow, not realizing that the men were just servants of God doing their assigned duties. The men were not to be the focal point of the people’s attention and admiration; rather they were to see that it was God behind the men.
1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men?
5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.
18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 21 So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.
Another problem exists within today’s church that is of even greater concern, I believe, than what Paul was addressing in his letter to the Corinthian church. They, at least, were following godly men who were teaching them the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as far as I know. Today we have many men (and women) within the church who are teaching a false gospel and who, themselves, are followers of men over and above being followers of Jesus Christ, so they are leading their people, as well, to be men followers. They have adopted the teachings of men, men’s philosophies, men’s marketing schemes, et al, as their guides for how to build Christ’s church, only what they are building is not the Lord’s true church, but rather they are building social clubs, businesses and corporations of men based upon human philosophy, thinking, reasoning, human counsel and wisdom instead of godly wisdom and counsel as found in God’s Holy Word.
I don’t know at which point the church of Jesus Christ in the USA (not speaking here of a denomination but of the body of Christ as a whole) transitioned from following the teachings of scripture to following the teachings of man primarily, or allowing man’s teachings to determine our understanding of scripture. Perhaps this has always existed within the church via denominationalism, church doctrines and church literature used to teach the Bible, yet I believe this problem has grown so much worse in the past 20 years to the point where people depend upon the church and church leaders so much for their understanding of scripture that they allow men’s teachings often to supersede the teachings of scripture without even realizing it, because it is so subtle. I find so many “Bible study” groups studying books written by men (not God’s God-breathed word) instead of studying the pure scriptures, and this has led, I believe, to the infiltration of false doctrines within the church.
As well, today’s church appeals much to the flesh of man, and it desires to attract the sinner to the church via worldly methods so that they are attracted by the flesh of man. Many are watering down the gospel message to make it more appealing to the sinner and more palatable so that more people accept its false gospel. It is being taught that repentance and obedience to Christ are not necessary for salvation and that God is pleased with us no matter what we do, so this completely removes guilt for sin and the need to turn from sin, thus it leaves its followers still in bondage to sin. They forget that all through the New Testament, beginning with the teachings of John and Jesus, that we are taught that we must repent or perish in our sins. We must obey God, for if we do not, we are not truly his. Yet, this false gospel tickles men’s ears and makes it easier for them to accept Christ, but the Christ they are accepting is not our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, because he requires that we repent; that we turn from our sin and that we follow him in obedience.
Since the church has adopted so much of men’s teachings, philosophies and marketing techniques for attracting the world to the church, the church itself has become just like the world and thus we have a very worldly church today that is in great need of revival and of God to come and to refresh our spirits and to revive our hearts and to make us more like Jesus and less like the world. We need our Lord Jesus to move us in our spirits to want to serve and obey him in all things and for him to be our hearts’ one desire above all else. We need to have our Lord create within us pure hearts that are fully devoted to him so that his love and power can be lived out through our lives so that we may be his witnesses in being lights for the gospel of Jesus Christ to a world dying in their sins.
Paul said that we should each be careful in how we build upon the foundation that Jesus Christ laid down for us to follow and to build our lives upon. First of all, we need to make sure we are building our lives upon the right foundation, i.e. Jesus Christ, and that we are not building our Christian lives based on lies, deceptions and false gospels. When we have the right foundation, then we need to make sure we are hearing the Lord’s voice and that we are walking in obedience to him and that we are not being led astray in our pure devotion to the Lord by becoming men followers. One day we are all going to be judged and our work will be shown for what it is, because the day of God’s judgment will reveal our works with fire and the fire of God’s judgment will test the quality of each man’s work.
Though I don’t completely understand the receiving of rewards in heaven for what we do on this earth, the scriptures do teach that we will receive rewards according to our faithfulness and obedience to our Lord in doing what he has assigned each of us to do. And, I know there will be some who, though genuinely saved, will not have much to show for their Christian lives, and will be saved only as ones escaping from the flames. May that no be true of any of our lives. May we live lives pleasing unto God and impact our world for Jesus Christ and his full gospel. And, may we, as well, not count on being one of the ones just escaping the flames, either, because we may not have the right foundation to begin with.
The Bible says that the true church is the people of God who are true believers in Jesus Christ. The church is not a building or a business or a corporation or a social club. The sanctuary of God is not a room in a church building and we do not enter into God’s presence or into the “house of the Lord” when we enter a church building. The house of the Lord is in our hearts, his sanctuary (the Holy of Holies) is in our hearts, and we come into his presence when we worship him in spirit and in truth. When we buy into the idea that a building is the church or a business is the church and we become followers of men more than we are followers of Christ, then we experience the breakdown of what the true church really is and should be. When we follow the wisdom of this world and men’s philosophies for how to build the church over and above following the word of God, then we are destroying God’s church, his temple, i.e. the relationship intended between Christ and his church.
This calls for wisdom! We need to prayerfully consider before Almighty God where we have become followers of men over and above being followers of Christ, and where we are building upon flimsy foundations laid by men instead of building our Christian lives upon the only true foundation for our lives, i.e. Jesus Christ. We need God’s wisdom and discernment to know where we are following after the wisdom of this world, thinking we are following God’s wisdom and counsel for his church. We need to be discerning of the craftiness of men who scheme against us and against the church and who are leading the church to destruction via their false teaching. We need this wisdom and discernment so that we are not caught in Satan’s traps and are overtaken by men’s teachings, thinking we are following Christ, because Satan is the great deceiver and his goal is to deceive Christ’s followers.
I pray that we would all pray to God for much discernment in these days ahead of us to know what is of God and what is not of God so that we are not followers of men and of a false gospel but we are true followers of Jesus Christ and of his gospel message. And, I pray that we would all pray for our Lord to refresh our spirits and to revive our hearts so that we are walking in humble obedience to him and to his will for our lives. This is my prayer:
Refresh My Spirit, Lord / An Original Work / August 8, 2011
Based off of Psalm 51 & Matthew 11:28-30Song Lyrics @ Public Domain
Refresh my spirit, Lord. Revive my heart today.
Move me to serve You, Lord in all I do and say.
Be my heart’s one desire; my spirit set on fire
In pure devotion, Lord, to love you and obey.
Create within me, Lord, a pure heart, this I pray,
So I can worship You and yield to You always.
May all Your love and pow’r be lived in me, I pray,
So I might love as You; be Your witness today.
Jesus says, “Come to me all you with heavy hearts,
And find in me your peace, and give to me your all.
My yoke is light to bear, ‘cause I paid for your sin,
So you might be set free, and purified within.”
Audio, song lyrics and sheet music:
https://sites.google.com/site/psalmshymnssongs/home/songs/refresh-my-spirit-lord
Song on video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlPBpizIc04
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