Day Thirty-seven

“For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another,
‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not mere men?” (1 Cor. 3:4)

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:10–17; 3:1–9

Regarding His church, nothing means more to Christ than unity; obviously Satan’s priority work is division. The enemy already knows the gates of hell cannot prevail against the church (see Matt. 16:18), so instead he attacks from the inside.

Satan knows that Jesus said, “Every . . . household divided against itself will not stand” (Matt. 12:25). Though Satan cannot overcome the church as a whole, he wreaks havoc and excludes many by cultivating division from the inside out.

In Joshua 3, God told Joshua and the children of Israel how to enter the promised land. The Israelites had grown comfortable in their “camps,” but when the waters parted, they had to cross as one. As God promised, the waters heaped and “all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground” (Josh. 3:17).

As God yearned to take the Israelites to the place He promised, Christ yearns to take His church to her place of destiny. One day “she” will rule with Him on earth and take her privileged position as the bride of Christ. Until that time, He wants to mature His church and work mightily through her in this age.

If I may say so gently, it’s time for the church to grow up. We desperately need to break up a few camps in Christ’s church and let Him move us on to maturity. We have denominational camps, fundamentalist camps, conservative camps, moderate camps, liberal camps. We have camps within a camp. Our church staffs, meant to be examples of unity, are often replete with camps. Church members stand behind this minister against that minister—the division goes on and on and on.

The church in Corinth was acting like a pimple-faced school girl who couldn’t decide which “guy” she liked best. The Corinthian believers were at odds over whether to follow Paul, Apollos, or Peter. Never one to mince words, in effect Paul said: “The question is whether or not you follow Christ! No one else matters!” In other words, break up the camps and move on to maturity!

By no means did Paul call for a church with no human leadership. He proposed a church with no human lordship. Let’s allow God to turn our hearts inside out. Do we have human leaders we respect—or human “lords” we worship? Are we in Christ’s camp and His alone? Or have we lined up to swear by a flesh-and-blood leader? Oh, believer, be very careful to whom you swear your allegiance. Peter, Paul, and Apollos were all trustworthy leaders; yet God’s Word still warned the early church to refrain from dividing in camps behind them.

Christ is the Head of the church, and we are unified only as we all bend our knees to Him. May we be “brought to complete unity” (John 17:23).