UNITY OF THE CLIQUE?

“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” Ephesians 4:1-6.

Unity of the Clique? No…it’s Unity of the SPIRIT!

THERE IS ONE BODY… ONE SPIRIT… ONE HOPE… ONE LORD… ONE FAITH… ONE BAPTISM… ONE LORD and ONE GOD AND FATHER.

So why can I go to any given urban area and find dozens if not hundreds of “divisions” - “sects” - “denominations”? Because of disagreements??? Disagreements about what? ...that Jesus is the Christ and Savior? Of course not. Who in any given Christian church disagrees with that?

Unity of the SECT? No…it’s Unity of the Spirit!
I will pick on an all-american city such as… eenie-meenie-miney-mo… Dayton, OH, because I used to live there. There are 111 “Baptist churches” listed in churchangel.com in Dayton, OH . That’s just the Baptists! There are 28 Catholic churches listed. How different can one catholic church be from another? There are 29 listed who call themselves “Church of Christ”.
How about “Pentecostal”? 5 Pentecostal; 2 Christian Science “churches” (if you want to call them that); 43 Non-Denominational.

"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

Phil. 2:5-8

The divisions are way too obvious, even though the declaration is “we are united”. NO WE ARE NOT! The world and satan laugh at the petty differences. Yes I know, with some there is heresy and apostasy. No Doubt! And we do well to separate from them. We would do even better IF there was clear evidence of believers on the one hand, and on the other, the heretics. But what I, and the world, see is separation among ourselves… separation from each other. You can’t tell “the forest from the trees”. But more importantly, we have divided ourselves (believers, faithful).

You want to be a “Baptist”- meet with other baptists - unite as baptists? What makes you different than, for example, Independent Fundamentalists? Another wants to be a Methodist and then later decides to split away as a “Reformed” Methodist. Others declare, “we are governed by elders therefore we should call ourselves “Presbyterians”. The Holy Spirit addresses this as Paul speaks to us,

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?” 1 Cor. 1:10-13. 

Twice in two verses Paul addresses the reader(s) as “brethren” (members of the same family); Adelphos: a fellow believer, united to another by the bond of affection. And he BEGS “that there be no divisions among US, but that we be perfectly joined together in the SAME mind and in the SAME judgment”.

"I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field; you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it." 1 Cor. 3:2-10

Even by the end of the first century, the divisions had started. In fact, as we read in our 1 Corinthian verses, Paul had to deal with it himself. What we should soberly do is to consider prayerfully that the divisions that started in the first century have fragmented the "one faith" to over 33,000 divisions …and counting! What are the disagreements? In many cases it is whether to use the KJV or the NIV… or whether to allow guitars, or not, or dress code... or race. Do you get my point? To be sure, there are weightier matters of disagreements. But would it not be better to wait on a “word” of unification; of edification? Would it not be better to search the scriptures and pray for enlightenment “together”? as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ… AS THE REDEEMED!

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” Hosea 4:6.
How do you define “Christian”? What has to occur in order to be a Christian? I will let you define that for yourself, but after that… isn’t everything else a “learning process”? Why do we split up? There is no growing in separating. You want to talk about Power, UNITE!
You want to talk about Power in the Spirit, UNITE in the Spirit!

“Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” 1COR 1:10.

If we can not do this, read again what Paul had to say in 1Cor. 3:3... 

“For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men”.