The True Light

In all churches there will be divisions. It’s the reality of the Christian life. Even though divisiveness is wrong, division is completely normal. Divisive people seek to separate friends, spouses, and siblings. They'll split a church too. Rivalries, factions, and sectarianism are sins.

Division, on the other hand, is the reality we live in. Division is as common as day and night. Indeed, God is the author of division. He divided the day and the night on the first day of Creation.

God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was evening and there was morning—the first day (Genesis 1:4-5).

Light and darkness are God's real-life scientific signs for right and wrong. They signal truth and lies, holiness and sin. We live in a dichotomous world, a world of two distinct paths. Jesus described it as the path leading to life and the path that ends in death.

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it (Matthew 7:13-14).

Jesus, who was with God at Creation, was there to create that Genesis 1 light. He has life. He possesses it--and the life he gives is called the true light.

In him [the Word, the preincarnate Christ] was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it... The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the World (John 1:4, 9).

Be Ye Separate

Unfortunately, many brothers and sisters in our churches turn away from the light, and towards sin. When we refuse to join these backsliding brethren, we sanctify ourselves--we make ourselves separate. When we mark the clear division between light and darkness, and establish the difference between right and wrong, we have done the will of God. It's the right kind of division--the day/night kind God established.

Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God (Leviticus 20:7).

I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy (Leviticus 11:44).

… it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’ (1 Peter 1:16).

‘Come out from them and be separate,’ says the Lord… (2 Corinthians 6:17)

The word holy means "set apart, distinct." When we 'come out from' sinners, and separate ourselves, it is the act of sanctification, a kind of division. It is dividing what is holy from what is profane. God commands this "good division."

Possible Harm in Division

Even if it's the "good division" that comes from a desire to do God's will, division in a congregation can be harmful to new believers or immature Christians because it might scare them. It might shock them out of fellowship. It may cause them to stumble in the Faith and to stray off the narrow path.

Do you remember how many times in the story the Pilgrim's Progress Christian was tempted to forsake the narrow path? How many deceivers and hypocrites tried to strike up a friendship with him on the way to the Celestial City? How many times did he drift off the path?

Enemies Will Criticize Us

Division also gives non-believers a reason to criticize the Church. The enemies of God are always quick to point out the Church’s flaws and imperfections. Just as a jealous young woman will be quick to point out the blemishes of a competitor in a beauty pageant, those who hate Christianity will highlight every flaw in the Church.

However, like Esther, we will win the Kingdom beauty pageant. The Church is the fairest of all. Someday, as the Bride of Christ in Heaven, we'll avenge ourselves of those who would destroy us. God's people always prevail in the end. Didn't Esther avenge the Jews by revealing the genocidal schemes of Haman?

The point is that even though outsiders criticize the Church, our victory is guaranteed and we do not need to worry about what others say. We only need to worry about pleasing our King, Jesus. If they say bad things about the church, let them. They cannot see what's happening on a spiritual level. Then don't understand holiness.

God’s Approval

The good kind of division gives God a golden opportunity. Amazingly, through it, he does something extremely important. Through division, God manifests his approval on whom he wishes. He makes a distinction between those who he approves, and those who he disapproves.

… your meetings do more harm than good. In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God’s approval (1 Corinthians 11:17-19).

When God demonstrates his approval of one church group over another, there’s no debate. There’s no more argumentation. God shows us what he thinks.

Do you remember how God turned Aaron’s rod into a snake? Do you recall how it devoured the rods of Pharaoh’s magicians? What did that mean? It meant that God approved of Aaron.

Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.

Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake.

But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs (Exodus 7:10-12).

Do you remember how God approved of Elijah’s sacrifice by sending fire from Heaven? The priests of Baal were humiliated and were slain on that day! God sent fire from Heaven to show his people that Elijah was his chosen prophet. In the same way God places his approval today on those he chooses to lead his people.

Where No Unity Exists

Division will occur. ‘There must be differences among you…’ says Paul. But division exists in Christian circles only for God to make a distinction between groups. We must aim at keeping the unity of the spirit (Ephesians 4:3). That's what we work for. True Christian always aim at unity.

But what if the true unity, unity as God defines it, is non-existent? What if the unity of being one Body in one Spirit, with one Hope, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, and one God never existed in the first place? Then what do we do? People want to walk away from us, but we never had the unity of the spirit.

What if, for example, you are friends with someone who also calls themselves Christian, but they don’t have the same Hope you have in the Kingdom? What if their hope is church growth? What if they don’t have the same Faith you have in the sound doctrine of the apostles, and they follow theological trends like the prosperity Gospel or faith alone? What if those people want to leave your fellowship?

What if they have never received the one Baptism, the Baptism in the Spirit? They never had any spiritual gifts. And what if they do not believe in the One God and Father? What if their idea of the One God is the “Godhead,” as they define it: “three Persons in one essence?” What if they say they're leaving your fellowship, but they do not believe that the One God is the Father?

We should avoid division altogether, but the reality is that God will differentiate between different groups. When people go the way of lies or sin, we’ll need to separate yourself from them.  

Move Away from Their Tents

The story of Korah proves that there comes a time when we must get away from the company of sinners. God gives sinners time to repent, but if they don’t, then he will put judgments on them. Korah thought that he should be allowed to carry out the priestly duty, a duty God had only given to Aaron.

Moses heard this, and he asked God to make his divine choice known. Moses invited God to demonstrate his choice between Aaron and Korah.

And Moses said to Korah, ‘You and your entire company will be before Yahweh tomorrow: you, and they, and Aaron. Each one take his censer, and put incense on it, and you will present it before Yahweh. And each of you bring his censer, two hundred and fifty censers, you and Aaron, each his censer...’ 

Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the community, saying, ‘Move away from the dwelling of Korah…’” And it happened… the ground that was under them split open. The land opened its mouth and swallowed them up with their houses and every person that belonged to Korah and all the property.

They went down alive to Sheol, they and all that belonged to them, and the land covered over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly... And fire went out from Yahweh, and it consumed the two hundred and fifty men presenting the incense (Numbers 16:16-17, 23-24, 31-33, 35; LEB).

God made his choice clear.

The warning God gave to the people ‘Move away from the tents of sinners’ applies to us today. This is what we all should do—just remove ourselves from factitious groups. Avoid them altogether. Never join a sectarian group, one that prides itself on its rebelliousness. Rather, fellowship with those who honor authority.

Test Their Fruit

Jesus said that to know whether a prophet is sent from God or not, we must test their fruit. Does your pastor bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit? Do they have love, peace, and joy? What about the fruit of good works, the fruit of evangelism, the fruit of obedient children, an orderly household, or the fruit of lips that praise God’s name?

Many on-line or television preachers don’t even get close enough to other people for us to witness their personal life. Nobody has been to their homes, so are they hiding something? Maybe they’re just unwilling for people to test their fruit. If so, then they have no integrity.

Do not allow yourself to be deceived. It is your responsibility to test and examine the lives of the teachers you follow. It will be impossible for you to do this if you only know your teachers through television, internet, or radio.

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them (Matthew 7:15-16).

According to Jesus’ rule, it doesn’t matter how eloquently a teacher speaks. It doesn’t matter how smart they are. It doesn’t matter how popular they are or how they are dressed. They must demonstrate fruitfulness. Primarily, they should demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit.

... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control (Galatians 5:22; LEB).

It is always dangerous to follow a religious leader who is angry. Why is it so dangerous? Quite simply, if you follow him, you will learn his ways. Learning his ways is falling into a trap. You will eventually get stuck in the same sin he has.

Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul (Proverbs 22:25; NKJV).

Three Strikes and You're Out

Instead of being a friend to angry people, deal with them. Confront them before their anger turns into divisiveness.

And if you are bold enough, deal with divisive people according to God’s instructions—the ones we hear Paul give to a pastor named Titus. Titus was a young man, like Timothy. Paul called Titus a true son in the Faith. Once Titus went to Jerusalem with Paul and the Jews opposed him agressively. He knew that divisiveness existed. He saw it firsthand from a young age.

Paul told Titus to warn a divisive person in the church, but only to do it twice. If Titus was to have witnessed no repentance in a divisive person after the second warning, Paul charged Titus to avoid that person altogether.

Warn a divisive person once, and then warn them a second time. After that, have nothing to do with them. You may be sure that such people are warped and sinful; they are self-condemned (Titus 3:10-11).

Tolerance of divisive people in Christian churches must be low. If tolerance for divisiveness in churches is high, then the divisive people in our churches will cause many immature Christians to stumble.

We have to deal with division, and we have to deal with it God's way.