“But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” Luke 11:17-18a ESV
Reflection: can you spot any internal division within your church?
I was reading an article in a local newspaper from my hometown yesterday about someone I knew in my youth. He had decided to leave the church we both grew up in. In fact, the article explained that he wasn’t alone. Almost 100 members, mostly of younger generation, have decided to leave. Why, you might wonder? Because the church has decided to keep and stand on the biblical view of marriage. It is very encouraging to see that the church has taken such a firm position aligned with the Bible, even with the attacks that come as a result. And, while it is sad to see some people leave, it is also good because with such an internal conflict and division, the church would not be able to stand.
Now, I do find it immensely disappointing that, instead of leaving the church quietly, this person decided to engage a secular media platform with significant influence in the area to tell his side. I suspect his only goal is trying to damage the church on the way out. But we have to ask ourselves, where is this non-biblical view coming from? It is not taught in that church. So how can 100 members end up with such strong secular views, overriding the Bible and the church? And we all know that marriage is just one battle the church is in the middle of these days.
I suspect the answer is twofold, and actually pretty obvious .
First, we see a very strong secular influence across society. We are bombarded with secular thoughts, beliefs and ideas, all the time. It is pushed through school, social media, politics, business, advertisement, entertainment, and so on. And on top, it is also pushed non-stop through private devices such as our phones, computers and TVs. People are literally getting programmed what to think, unable to reason on their own even on very obvious topics.
And secondly, the church has become very weak in our society. Sometimes not standing up for Christ but instead trying to please the masses. One of the strategies of the enemy has been to infiltrate the church with an idea of “tolerance”. Making the church believe it is powerless. That God loves the sinner, and therefore He is tolerant of anything action the sinner does. But of course that is not biblical at all. God is Holy, and His kingdom cannot co-exist with darkness and evil. Not even with sin.
So what are we to do?
We see over and over examples of Jesus “cleaning house”, as in the temple, calling people to leave their lives of sin, casting out demons, as in Luke 11:14-28. And he makes it clear that you cannot have a “house divided”; it will fall if not dealt with. And here the word “house” has at least two meanings – for us individually as a temple for the Holy Spirit, and for the church; the body of believers. This means we individually need to recognize whether we have any conflict within ourselves that go against the word of God. We must reject and root out this infiltration that go against the word of God, which also means to adjust what secular source we listen to. Secondly, we must root out all the evil infiltration in our churches, even if it feels like a battle. Because it actually is.
In the end, we need to keep and stand on the word of God alone, as Jesus taught us. “But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”” Luke 11:28 ESV