Being much concerned about the rise of
denominations in the church, John Wesley tells of a dream he had. In the dream,
he was ushered to the gates of Hell. There he asked, “Are there any
Presbyterians here?” “Yes!”, came the answer. Then he asked, “Are there any
Baptists? Any Episcopalians? Any Methodists?” The answer was Yes! Each time.
Much distressed, Wesley was then ushered to the gates of Heaven. There he asked
the same question, and the answer was No! “No?” To this, Wesley asked, “Who
then is inside?” The answer came back, “There are only Christians here.” (1 Cor.
1:10-17)
Satan loves to divide the church over
issues – some are essential and others are not. While some divisions among
Christians are obvious, others are subtler. Why does God allow it? Is it
because He wants to make it hard on us? Or are the reasons as old as the church
itself? Satan has always been involved in the church. It is notable that the
first place Jesus cast out a demon was in the synagogue, which was the Jewish church
at that time (Mark 1:23-27).
The devil has always been at work in
the church. Perhaps, he felt if he couldn’t beat them, he would just join them.
His ways are subtle, so it is important to see how he has caused such division.
With this in mind, let us explore the four methods of this master tactician and
how we can overcome his influence.
1.
Inability to
Understand God’s Paradox
Honest people who are sincerely
seeking God can come up with very different notions about the teachings in
the Bible.
This is because God has purposely put paradox in Scripture. He doesn’t want us
to approach Him simply through knowledge alone, but rather through
childlike faith.
It is His paradox that confounds knowledge and the wisdom of the world.
Here are a few paradoxes in Scripture: law and grace; predestination and free
will; one God in three; Christ as God and Christ as man; salvation by grace and
work out your salvation with fear and trembling; judge not and he who is
spiritual judges all things (Isaiah 55:8-9).
If I only believe in the law of God,
I may become motivated by fear of God, which affects my intimacy with Him. If I
only focus on grace, I may not fear the consequences of sin. Both sides of the
paradox must be balanced by each other. The Corinthians received the message of
grace and then began to sin with reckless abandonment. They believed they were
no longer under the law. The result was death and sickness in the Corinthian
church (1 Cor. 11:30).
In the same way, Jesus taught us grace and love, but was unwilling to cast
aside God’s law (Matt 5:17-19).
Every doctrine that divides the
church has paradox in it. We will begin to know the true spirit of God when we
can embrace both sides of the paradox by faith. Only then can we say all things
are predestined and yet I have free will to choose. Only with God is such a
thing possible. We say that we believe, with God, all things are possible, but
then deny that paradox is possible. Childlike faith has no problem accepting
the impossible. When Christians begin to appreciate each other’s viewpoints
without feeling threatened, we will no longer be separated by the paradox of
God; we will be united in the spirit of love.
End of Part 1
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