The Remedy to Church Division (Part 1)

Dear Bethelites,

There are a few things that can hurt and weaken a church such as in-fighting and disunity amongst the members.  Indeed, divisive issues and divisive people have a terrible effect on the church, and both have to be avoided at all cost.  The puritan John Flavel once said, “What! At peace with the Father, and at war with His children?  It cannot be!”  Another puritan Richard Baxton said, “He that is not a son of peace is not a son of God.”  Instead of being troublemakers, believers are to be peacemakers, as this is in line with what our Lord Jesus has taught us in Matthew 5:9, Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Previously, we had discussed that the Corinthian church was divided over who was better, Paul, Apollos or Peter?  You may be thinking, “Why do the Corinthians have to fight over who is better?  Does it really matter if Paul is better, or Apollos is better?”  The same question some may be asking, “Why do sisters fight amongst themselves in the fellowship tea over who is more capable of cooking a better dish?  Or which Sunday school teacher has more students?  Or who can do a better job with the flower arrangement?  Or who can organize a more interesting program?”  The reason why most people fight and create divisions in the church is because of pride.  Pride itself is a terrible sin, but spiritual pride is the worst because it will destroy the church. The church is supposed to be a testimony to the unbelieving world; instead, she becomes a stumbling block.  That is one of the worst things a believer can do to tarnish the cause of Christ.

However, it is possible for a believer to fall into the sin of dividing the church; therefore we must take heed from the Word of God so that we will not fall into this sin.  Thus, in our following pastoral chats, we want to focus on this theme, “The remedy to church division.”  The remedy to church division is to obey what God has commanded us, and the first exhortation is to let no man defile the church.

Let no man defile the church

God’s people ought to have a reverential view of God’s church.  Paul began with a rhetorical question in 1 Corinthians 3:16a, Know ye not that ye are the temple of God….?

Notice the phrase temple of God was mentioned three times in verses 16 and 17, which emphasized its importance. The Corinthians understood this term because they were living in the midst of Greek culture, thus they were familiar with the idea of the local temples which were great magnificent buildings.

For example, in the city of Corinth, there was the temple of Apollo which was built around the 7th century BC.  Today, people who visit Corinth can see the ruins of the temple, with 7 of and the original 38 columns still standing.  A temple is a place of worship, and if the pagans would greatly revere the worship of a deity in the temple, how much more the believer would revere it if it was the temple of God?

That was the picture which would come into the minds of the Corinthians when Paul said ye are the temple of God.  The word ye was in plural not singular; Paul was not speaking about the individual being a temple of God, but here he was speaking about the church, collectively.  The church was the temple of God!

Dear friend, there is something very special about a group of believers coming together to assemble as a church.  As an individual, he is not a church, but when he is joined with the other believers together, they are a church, a body of believers, who worship the one living and true God.  The believer does not join other believers to quarrel, fight and divide the church and be a bad testimony.  It is a horrendous testimony when people would say about a particular church, “I know that church.  The people there are fighting all the time.”  Do you know how difficult it is to invite people to the church and share with them the gospel when they already have this preconceived idea that it is a problematic church?  We must never do that to the temple of God, which is the church!

Look at the second part of the question, 1 Corinthians 3:16b,...that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Here again it was in plural (you), referring to the church.  The Spirit of God dwelt in the church.

Let us take a moment and consider this.  As believers, we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. How amazing it would be when all believers come together collectively as a church to praise and worship God!  The church is where the Spirit dwells in a very special way.

If the church is the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in the church in a very special way, would God not defend and protect His church against any attack or abuse? Most certainly!  Therefore, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:17, If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.  In other words, Paul was saying to the Corinthians, “That is what you are, or that is where you belong to.”

The original Greek words for defile and destroy are the same.  Isn’t that the most shocking statement?  If any man destroys the church, God shall destroy him!  The one whom God would destroy is surely an unbeliever because no true believer would be destroyed by God.  But the same is also true; no true believer would do anything to destroy the church.  The church is made up of the body of believers, of whom Christ has died to save and to sanctify, and every one of us is holy and precious in His sight.  Therefore, God would protect the church!

Before we do or say anything that would threaten and destroy the unity of God’s church, we have to be extremely careful.  If we stir up any trouble within the church; criticise anyone, create confusion amongst the believers, send emails or make phone calls or invite people to our homes for meals with the intention of sharing divisive ideas or motivations, we have to bear in mind of this serious consequence we would have to face.  If any man destroys the church, God shall destroy him!  Let us not play the fool with God’s church. Causing division will be dealt with by God severely because it is His church.

With love in Christ,

Pastor Paul Cheng

(To be continued in the next pastoral chat)