Dealing with Disunity in Christ's Church (Pt. 1)

The Lord is orchestrating a beautiful song to be played to the glory of His grace as He works in and through His beloved church.

For me, at my local church, it is a joy just to be a part of the unity and fellowship we share in Christ Jesus. The spirit of unity is refreshing, and the love the leaders have for each other is evident. Our purpose and vision for the future is united, and the gospel is being ministered to people, both doctrinally and practically. It has taken some time and experience for our church to mature to this level, and we do not take our unity for granted.

We know Satan – our crafty adversary — is always maneuvering to spoil the beautiful harmony the Spirit of God plays by striking a discordant tone inside the church. Scripture and church history reveal that Satan harnesses a number of weapons in his arsenal against gospel preaching churches. Call them “The Devil’s Darts” or “Deadly Sins”; they are formidable and often effective against unity.” They include things like defamations, egotistical assertions, confusion, bitterness, and direct demonic attacks.

Wise and alert church leaders will attempt to stay ahead of the enemy and preclude problems before they commence. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:11 “… so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.”

Disunity is one of Satan’s schemes. Disunity disrupts the fellowship of a local church and hinders the progress of the gospel. Disunity sours the service of the saints and hurts the church’s witness to the world. That is why church leaders and everyone who loves the church, should be concerned about maintaining the local church’s unity.

1 Corinthians 1:10-17 contains a number of insights to help us all guard the unity of the church. By first teaching the Corinthian church about the value of unity, the Holy Spirit has provided a goldmine of practical instruction about how to preserve Christian unity.

The Scripture reads, “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void."

In the opening verses of 1 Corinthians right before this section, Paul stressed the common bond all believers have in Christ. He mentioned in v. 9 that Christians are called into fellowship with Christ. He did that in the context of a written thanksgiving to God which covers 1:4-9. In v. 10 Paul sadly revealed that even though the Corinthians believers were called into joint fellowship with Christ, they were not acting like it. They had dissension in the body. Life in this church was not unified. The Spirit’s music had been disrupted.

To remedy this disunity, from 1:10 all the way to 4:21, Paul writes a clear and identifiable section in which he corrects this sin problem at Corinth – a sin undoubtedly stirred up by Satan. It was a sin that was rooted in spiritual pride by those congregants who were valuing human wisdom, status, and glory above the wisdom of God shown in the cross of Christ. Like many believers today, the Corinthians had believed in the cross of Christ, but they did not perceive its humble wisdom. They did not see how the cross of Christ should unify our Christian relationships. Their theological knowledge had not sunk deep enough to transform their attitudes and practices. Therefore, starting in v 10 Paul appealed for unity.

This text provides us with Four Strategies to Deal with Disunity whenever it begins to rear its ugly head in a local church. In the next few posts we will look at each of these strategies. Stay tuned.