Division Hinders Our Commission

The greatest challenge for a pastor is, people. It is amazing to me how people can so quickly turn on one another. People who gossip and complain often times do not realize that they are being used by the enemy to bring division to the fellowship of believers. Often times, this kind of destructive behavior starts with people who lose their connection with the fellowship for whatever reason. Unity is broken when we yield to our carnal nature and let our emotions get the best of us.

My prayer is that people will learn the power of unity. Unity is necessary for any group of people trying to accomplish a particular task.

The power of unity can be seen in Eccl 4:12 which says, "Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken."

No matter how much a local church has going for it, division can negate it’s vision.

The word division is constructed of the word vision with the prefix "di", which means, "double".

Double vision can be dangerous. If you are seeing two of everything you need to make a trip to the eye doctor. If there is disharmony in the local church you need some spiritual doctoring.

One of the conditions for unity: "Speak the same thing." (1 Corinthians 1:10)

There must be unity in speech if a local church is to make an effective impact for God.

The Bible is not saying there isn’t room for disagreement among good Christians. Rather, we are encouraged, even when we do disagree, and we will, to speak in such a way as to promote harmony.

Your motive for speaking and how you deliver your words are just as important as what you say. Be careful of a critical spirit. If you find your self hyper-critical of everything done in your church and others in your church, there are two options:

1.) The church may need your positive contributions to turn in the right direction, or,

2.) You may need to change your attitude. Ask yourself, "Is there something else going on in my life right now that has me angry or discouraged? Am I taking my frustration out on others in my church?

There must be unity of thought if a local church is to have an effective impact for God.

Once again, unity and uniformity are not the same thing. God has given all of us different perspectives to bring to the table.

Proverbs 11:14 "Where no counsel [is], the people fall: but in the multitude of counselors [there is] safety."

A church may look beautiful and have the latest technology, latest innovative programs and sharpest presentations, but without unity it will come apart at the seams.

How can we accomplish this objective? How can we be "perfectly joined together in the same mind?"

We can all spend a lot of time in the Bible and by reading the same thing we will have a greater chance of unity.

We can worship together consistently, serve together regularly, pray together faithfully, and fellowship together constantly.

God’s purposes are greater than our minor differences in the local church. What will really matter in the end is whether or not we accomplished God’s purpose for the church.

God Could Not Be Glorified If We Chose Him

The Bible teaches that we are dead in trespasses and sins since the Fall (Ephesians 2:5). It says that the mind of the flesh does not submit to God's law—indeed it cannot—and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you (Romans 8:7-9).

Paul divides the world into two groups: those who are in the flesh and those who have the Spirit. He says that those who are in the flesh (that is, everybody apart from the new birth) cannot please God (Romans 8:7-8). And in 1 Corinthians 1 and 2 he says that the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit because they are foolishness to him.

The only question left after a group of scriptures like that is whether or not that inability, that "cannot," is blameworthy or not, In other words, does it release us from the penalty of sin, or does it insure that we cannot escape it by our choice.

The Bible is pretty clear that the corruption of our own hearts is so profound, that it renders us incapable of doing or desiring anything good. It indeed intensifies our guilt rather than relieves us of it.

My inability to do good apart from the Holy Spirit does not free me from the penalty of my sin. It is an inability that is rooted in my rebellion. My rebellion is so great and so strong that I cannot see Christ or hear the gospel as beautiful. Rather, it is a stumbling block or foolishness; and until I'm called, awakened, born again, I cannot see it as beautiful.

So what I believe about free will is that I am free to do whatever I please, and what I please is to sin. Therefore I'm going to be damned by my free will. I must be rescued from the bondage of my free will in order to see and hear God for who he is.

Paul says in Galatians 5:1, "For freedom Christ has set you free. Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." True freedom is being set free from a bondage which only results in death. This is why we must be born again.

The evidence of a born again person is that, after the new birth, we want to do God's will. It is that freedom we act rationally according to what really exists. Thus, God gets all the glory for the liberation that he performed on our behalf and for the praises that we now bring him, not as people who are enslaved to sin, but as free people who are seeing the world for what it really is.

So I don't believe in free will if you define it as man's ultimate self-determination. I believe free will as, "you can do whatever you please." Before you're born again what you please, is self destructive and sinful. After you're born again, what you please is the will of God. So in both cases you have free will in that definition.

I realize that many others do not see free will as I do. They believe in a freewill defined as "man's ultimate self-determination." I don't think there is any such thing, especially since the fall of Adam when his self-determination forever bound mankind to sin and death.
Thank God, He chose us.

Writing My Personal Meditations

To this point in my blog writing experience, I have merely added portions of messages that I have preached or taught or articles from other sources that I have found insightful. I have decided to begin the practice of writing my thoughts as I am working through the process of knowing God and making Him known.

Tonight will be a nice beginning. I have been reading a book by John Piper titled "The Pleasures of God." A wonderfully deep and life changing read. In my reading time, my mind began to wonder why people don't or can't see God the way he really is. Most people have a view of God that comes from their heritage and tradition rather than from true revelation of the scripture. For example, I have met many people who do not give God credit for their "salvation" which is really no salvation at all. How can anyone, with half spiritual eyesight not understand that they had nothing to do with God calling them to be saved.

I think its very important that we begin realizing that God is God, and that he is perfect and complete in himself, and that he is exceedingly happy in the fellowship of the Godhead. He does not need us to complete his fullness and is not deficient without us.

I know that this thinking goes against the grain of much of the church, but never the less, if we can see it as true, then we would better understand his sovereign grace and love. Unless we see God in this way, when we hear the gospel, we will fall for the trick of thinking that we are the center of the gospel. We will feel that our value is the driving force of the gospel, rather than God's value being the driving force for the gospel. In other words, we will see the gospel as God's need for us, rather than the gospel and God's sovereign grace being exactly what we sinners need in order to be rescued from death.

What makes the gospel good news for us is that God is all that we need. He does not need us, and as a matter of fact, he is estranged from us because of our sin. But as Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, "but God, because of His great love," made a way for sinners to be reconciled to Him. This is done by the Spirit, to whom he chooses, it is a gift of God.

God is the center of the gospel, he was not motivated by our value, he was not coerced or obliged to offer this powerful gift. The gospel is truly a gospel of grace!