Divided

Monday, October 16, 2023

But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted.  They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires.  These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.  But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life.  In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.  Jude 17-21

Jude warns that divisions in the church would be a constant threat to the spiritual health of Christians because war-like conditions are brought about when selfish ambition takes over.  If you have followed Christ, and been part of the church, you understand; despite the smiles on Sunday, there are spiritually shell-shocked believers in every pew.  And, the truth is coming to the surface, no matter how much we learn about interpersonal relationships and personally-toxic behavior, and no matter how many sermons are delivered on unity and kindness, the division in humanity is growing deeper, breaking-up more homes, closing the doors of more churches, and spewing hatred into every seam of life’s fabric.  

According to Jude there are two characteristics that are present in a human being who causes division of any kind:

1.    Selfish ambition – people who honor their personal desires above any person or sense of morality.  They only care about themselves.

2.    Ichabod – the Hebrew word which describes the absence of God’s Spirit.

These two telltale signs are related and always bound in the heart of the ungodly.

Jude says the antidote, or immunization from this condition is to build each other up in [our] most holy faith.  This is the open door to patience in prayer, the willingness to let the lesser things of personal ambition fall by the wayside, in favor of progress in God’s Kingdom.  That, says Jude, is the only way to remain spiritually-safe, living-into God’s love.  So then, what does it mean to live-into God’s love?  Glad you asked.  I grew-up in the 1950’s-60’s.  It was the heyday of Billy Graham’s crusades.  The whole emphasis on church growth was personal salvation…the revivalist mode.  We cannot in good faith deny the need for that; it is the entry door to God’s house and family.  However, being born-again presents the picture of a new infant.  In matters of the Spirit that is good, and it can be disastrous.  It’s necessary and wonderful to be born, but to stay an infant means a lifetime of dependency.  Arrested growth is not desirable; it is a death sentence to God’s blessing of maturing in your relationship with Christ and others.  Infants have a milk diet, but not forever; they graduate to adult food…with good reason:

Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation….You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple.  He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God for great honor.  And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple.  1 Peter 2:2-5

The grown-up baby stones, gathered, and strategically-placed together by the Master Builder, become stronger by the support and strength of communal effort.  A common slogan you’ll hear these days is Together We are Stronger.  That’s true in any sense, but it is critically-vital for the church, and God’s Kingdom.  Without denying-self and personal ambition, in favor of taking-up Calvary’s cross, the church will be as empty as more promises from Washington, D.C.

For You Today 

Discipleship – growing into a mature relationship with Christ and other believers, is what’s on the agenda today, and every moment until God calls us home.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©