Is Christ divided?

My friends, can you tell me why there are lots of denominations in Christendom? Can you tell me which denomination is the most biblical one? Can you tell me why there are lots of different name of churches in one street? Can you tell me the reason why people start putting their names as the name of the churches? Each time I heard sermons about doctrinal issues, the preachers will say, “According to the tradition of the church, baptism by sprinkling is not baptism at all, only by immersion,” or “You must speak in tongues if you want to join our church,” etc. Why people should follow the tradition of the church or rules of men, instead of the Bible?

Bible said, “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits (Hebrews 6:1-3). So, brethren should we continue quarreling ourselves about the Word, about the doctrine of baptisms (immersion, sprinkling, etc)?

What about speaking in tongues in the church? Should the whole community of the church speak in a tongue at once? Bible said, “If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God (1 Corinthians 14:27-28).” “Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind (1 Corinthians 14:23)? But why I hardly see the churches which follow the instruction of the Bible, can’t they count? Are they really out of their mind? Does not the Bible clearly state ‘at most three’?

My friends, do you know what the last dying prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ was? He wants His Church to be one as He and His Father are One. His eternal will is to present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27).

Jesus prays for all believers, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one, I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me (John 17:20-23). Jesus also said, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or houses divided against itself will not stand (Matthew 12:25).”

But what exactly happen in our Christendom right now? Can the world see that we are one? Can the world see God’s love toward them through us? Are we fulfilling Christ’s dying prayer? The fact that we are not one, the fact thatwe divide among ourselves through many denominations are not Jesus’ will. Each of us says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ”. Paul knew it very well and for this reason he rebuked them sharply, “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul (1 Corinthians 1:12-13)?”

Each one of us proudly says, “I am of Martin Luther (Lutheran),” or “I am of John Calvin (Calvinist),” or “I am of Arminius (Armenian),” or “I am of John Wesley (Methodist),” or “I am of Menno Simons (Mennonite),” or “I am of General Booth (Salvation Army), or ”I am of John Smyth (Baptist Church),” or “I am of Holy Spirit (Pentecostal Church and Charismatic Church),” etc. Many of us didn’t realize that we are dividing the Body of Christ, that we are carnal, babes in Christ. Were Wesley, Luther, Simons, Booth, Moody, Arminius, Calvin crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Wesley, Luther, Simons, Booth, Moody, Arminius, Calvin?

Paul said, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food, for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able, for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, not he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers, you are God’s field, you are God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:1-9)”.

We are full of ourselves, we are short-sighted, and we are proud people. Do you know that sectarianism is carnal? It comes from our flesh and it could hinder us from entering the kingdom of God? “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outburst of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).”

So, if you really love Jesus, if you really a servant of God, you will honor His Word more than the tradition of the church or rules of men, will you not? He wants us to be one with other believers. How? No matter which denomination they come from, as long as we see Jesus in them and we believe that we have Jesus in us, we are one, and we are the Body of Christ. How about our different theological views? How can we co-operate with other denominational churches? Bible said, “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend (Proverb 27:17).” God uses brethren around to sharpen us. So, when we see something in opposite, why don’t we in humility and in love, kneel down and ask God to enlighten us? For we know in part and we prophecy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of three is love (1 Corinthians 13:9-13).”

Does the love of God, peace from our Lord Jesus Christ reign in our heart? Do you know when two or three believers gather together in Jesus’ name, He is there with us? He who is Perfect will do away anything that divide us as brethren and by doing it, we will grow mature, no more as a child who need milk, but as a man, who eat solid food. Praise God!! But if we are always being subjective; believing that we are something, which in fact we are nothing… we would always divide the body of Christ. In other words: we are still babes in Christ, spoke as a child, understood as a child, thought as a child. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil (Hebrews 5:12-14).

I would also say that believers who never have fellowship with other brethren, who think highly of themselves, who believe that Holy Spirit only teaches them and speaks to them more than to the others are the poor Christians. They are the lone-rangers, the lonely prophets. They have lost their contact with the church, the Body of Christ. Do you understand what the body means? Can eyes hear? Can ear see? Of course not, right? And for those lone-rangers, assume that they are just an eye… do you think that they can do all hearing, smelling, walking, talking, breathing, thinking by themselves without helps from other body-parts? Have you ever seen a real eye with height 1.80 m and weight 80 kg? Never, right? For such thing will never occur in life, but spiritually speaking: we see many of them around us. What will happen if eye choose to be independent from the body? They will surely die.

My friends, let us walk toward perfection, hand in hand fulfilling the last dying prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ to become one, no more dividing His body, forget about denomination, about traditions of the church. I don’t mean that you should separate yourselves from any denominational churches and create a new denomination, called ‘non-denominational church’. That’s just the same principle; we are dividing the body of Christ. How then? What God exactly really wants? Bible only says about local churches. Corinthians (church of God which is at Corinth), Romans(church of God which is at Rome), Ephesians (church of God which is at Ephesus), Church in Thessalonia, Church inPhilippi, Church in Smyrna, Church in Pergamos, Church in Thyatira, Church in Sardis, Church in Philadelphia, Church in Laodicea, etc. All of them are the name of the cities. God wants local churches, not Billy Graham’s ministry, Joyce Meyer’s Ministry, etc.

If we live in Rome, no matter what denomination our brethren in Rome come from, as long as they have Jesus and we have Jesus, we are one and when we move to Milan, we should join with other believers in Milan worshipping God. We leave the Church of Rome and join Church of Milan, they are the same, just different name of place. That’s what God really wants. Can the church bigger that a local city, like Church of England, Church of America, or even worst, Roman Catholic Church (who rules over the world within one gigantic system)? No, there is no smaller or bigger than local city church.

Some people will say, “Yes, that’s biblical. But how can we realize it? We can’t see those kinds of churches.” My friends, you may not see it right away but I believe that God is bringing that to happen so that He will present to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:27). He will do anything necessary to make that happen, even through persecution, natural disasters, wars, false prophets, false teachers, antichrists, heresies, etc.

I believe that this time is time for purification of the church. God is purifying His Church and we will see those denominational churches will come hand in hand bringing the Kingdom of God here on earth, and there will be no more division of the Body of Christ, but we will become one as Christ and the Father are One so that the world will know that the Father loves them as the Father loves Jesus. God bless you all.

Alvin Su (AS)