The Remedy to Church Division (Part 2)

Dear Bethelites,

Indeed, division issues and divisive people have a terrible effect on the church, and both have to be avoided at all cost. The way to avoid falling into the sin of dividing the church is to take heed from the Word of God. Therefore, as we focus on the theme, “The remedy to church division,” we had considered the first exhortation that is to let no man defile the church. Today, we will ponder on the second exhortation.

II. Let no man deceive himself

1 Corinthian 3:18 says, Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

The word deceive is the same word used in 2 Corinthians 11:3 when the serpent deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden. But here, it is not being deceived by Satan or someone else, but being deceived by oneself. Instead of being wise, they deceived themselves.

People who create divisions and troubles in the church are carnal. They think they are able to see the issues that others do not see, or able to resolve those issues that others are unable to. But their way of resolution is no solution at all because they are simply creating more trouble within the church. They think they are smart enough to know what to say, who to influence, and when and where to start an issue within the church. Especially, if they are very successful people in the secular world, and they are articulative and argumentative, they tend to think of themselves as “wise people.”

Have you ever heard someone say to you, “Well, you should not be so foolish, and you cannot just accept everything the church says. You must fight for your rights. If you keep quiet, you become a fool.” We are not referring to matters which are wrong or unbiblical, but even in the case of something one feels is not right within the church, there is always a biblical approach. For example, one should apply the principles in Matthew 18:15-17 where you approach the person one-on-one, and if it cannot be resolved, subsequently you bring along two or three witnesses, and when it still cannot be resolved, then you bring the matter to the church, and finally church discipline has to be executed. Real wisdom is when a man or a woman does not mind being called a fool in the eyes of the world.

Real wisdom is when a man or a woman will turn to the Scriptures and say, “I cannot do this because the Bible says so.” Even if the people say, “Come on, you do not have to be foolish to do everything the Bible says.” Well, your response should be, “In that case, then I would rather be foolish.” That was why Paul said, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. In other words, let him be a fool in the eyes of the world so that he can be wise in the eyes of God. The question is, “Would you rather be a fool in the eyes of the world but wise in the eyes of God?”

Verse 19 says, For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. Here, Paul was not talking about things such as business, mathematics, science and technology. A man can be very knowledgeable in those things. Paul was speaking about human wisdom becoming foolish and useless in matters concerning God, salvation and spiritual truth because human wisdom has no way of discovering and understanding divine things.

When a man becomes proud and thinks of himself as wise, that is when his pride will cause him to voice his own opinions in everything including spiritual things. He will start to express his own ideas about the gospel, church and Christian living, and he thinks that is wisdom. God said that is foolishness. The original word for foolishness (moria) is from where we get the English word for moron.

The phrase, for it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, was a quotation from Job 5:13; a speech given by Eliphaz. The word taketh has the idea of catch. What it means is that God is able to catch them at their own wisdom; and their wisdom is nothing to God but craftiness (or trickery). God is able to prove that those are not words of wisdom but words of trickery or deceit.

Do you think God does not know? God is omniscient and perfectly wise! Verse 20, And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. When a man tries to attack His Word, or provides alternative ways to His Word as answer to sin, or uses psychology as the answer to family or marital issues, God knows! God knows what men are thinking, as He says, they are vain (meaningless and useless).

Dear friends, the church must be built upon the Word of God. When the Bible is not the sole authority of the church, then men’s opinions, ideas and thinking would become the authority. There are no two ways about it; either it is God’s way or anything goes. Take a moment and consider this. A church is made up of all sorts of people. There are people who are dissatisfied unless they can express their opinion on virtually everything. There are people who are unhappy unless they take the opposite side from the majority. There are people who simply want their voices to be heard. There are people who want to be admired for their views and suggestions. There are people who always must win in an issue. Who should we listen to? Let no man deceive himself! Let us rather be a fool in the eyes of the world, and be wise in the eyes of God! Let the Word of God be the sole foundation and authority of the church!

With love in Christ,

Pastor Paul Cheng

(To be continued in the next pastoral chat)