Causes of Division

I can't get blogger to upload the next series of photos, so I will offer the verses that are on my mind today. They are on my mind today because we are coming upon the 1 year anniversary of the week that God showed these verses to me and Terry...independently...while he was at Boy Scout Camp with Tim and I was at the Bloomington pool with the girls. They played a significant part in leading us last August.

Division or "faction", believe it or not, can unknowingly (or knowingly!) be caused by those who speak out against it! When someone says, "You have to be committed for life to 'our movement,' or our church" they are in reality dividing the body. They are causing division.

First of all, using the phrase "our movement" is in reality saying, "I am of Apollos". Read on to see what Paul writes about that. And, secondly it is saying "We have a special calling from God that is different and better than all the other Churches and church associations in the world." It is elitism. It is wrong.

Here's what God says about division:

I Corinthians 1: 10 - 13

10 I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 11 For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. 12 What I mean is that each one of you says, I follow Paul, or I follow Apollos, or I follow Cephas, or I follow Christ. 13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?

And,

I Corinthians 3: 4 - 9

4 For when one says, I follow Paul, and another, I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human? 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.