1 Corinthians 11:17-18
But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it.
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The apostle Paul after his greeting in the first letter to the believers in Corinth starts today's wonderful, Spirit led instruction to the church about having a right, godly, relationship between husbands and wives. That was the foundational group of the church. The very first “church” was simply Adam and his wife in the Garden. God, man and woman!

That went awry when the woman, on her own, had a conversation with the serpent of old and disobeyed the Lord and then enticed Adam to join her. And rather than correcting her he joined her in that evil and then blamed both God and her for his sin. "The woman You gave to me she gave me from the tree, and I ate." {Gen.3:12} Everybody but him! That was surely division.

Now, Paul is exhorting and warning the people of God about having divisions in the church, which still even to this day would separate us from God. Satan is still hard at work attempting to destroy the people of God and the kingdom of God. Jesus Himself had stated clearly that any house, city or kingdom divided will not stand. {Mat.12:25}

Consider the fact that when Jesus prayed as He faced His death on the cross to unite us with the Father He asked, “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” {Jn.17:21)

As I write this now in the closing weeks of this year I am blessed to have been called to share the love and the word of God for nearly fifty years in many, many countries on five continents, and yet I am so troubled by the incredible division that I see in the Body of Christ!

There are so many, many denominations even though there is only one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. {Eph.4:4-6}

There is only one name given by which men may be saved just as Peter proclaimed before the rulers and elders of the people. {Acts 4:12} That name is Jesus Christ, not catholic or baptist or presbyterian or....fill in the blank. There are literally hundreds to choose from! We need to stop boasting in our denominations and rather fall on our faces and repent of our divisions that are the root of our denominations—not boast in them.

Before you respond to that it might do you well to consider the words we find in the letter to the church at Rome by Paul, moved by the Holy Spirit; Romans 14:1-13. It is an anti-division moment. Yes, do it!

"See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;” (Colossians 2:8-10)

TEST EVERYTHING BY THE WORD OF GOD