Several years ago I was ministering in Chicago. It was during the winter, and the weather was cold. Unusually cold. The night time temperatures were -50oF. Did I mention that it was really, really cold?
One evening as I was watching a local news broadcast, the meteorologist did something I’ve never seen before. Broadcasting live from outdoors, he took some bubble-blowing liquid and blew bubbles. No, he wasn’t crazy. There was a reason for his seemingly silly antics. When the bubbles hit that icy cold air (did I mention how cold it was?), they froze instantly. Then he popped each bubble, and it shattered into tiny crystals. It was fascinating.
Of course, when I got home to where I live near St. Louis, Missouri, I had to try it. Although not quite as cold as it was in Chicago (our evening temperature was a balmy -10oF), it was still cold enough to freeze the bubbles. I took our kids outside in their pajamas and winter coats (my wife thought I had really gone off the deep end) and showed them the frozen-bubble-blowing trick. They loved it. When we broke the bubbles they burst into thousands of beautiful crystals. We took great delight in watching those crystals float gently to the ground, never to be seen again.
We in the Body of Christ have an enemy who clearly takes great delight in breaking us apart. His goal is for us to be divided so that we are weakened. There are few things he would rather see than for us to float aimlessly away from the Body of Christ, never to be seen again.
This morning I was reading the book of Titus. It’s a short letter written by Paul to Titus, his “true son in our common faith.” As I read, a particular passage jumped out at me. “Warn a divisive person once, and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You can be sure that such a man is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned” (Titus 3:10-11).
Wow! After I read these verses, I thought, “Paul, why don’t you tell us how you really feel about this topic. Don’t hide your emotions. What’s your true opinion?” Of course I’m being facetious. Paul clearly articulated his honest thoughts in these verses. Words like “warped and sinful” don’t need much interpretation, do they?
The context of these verses is talking about how we as believers should interact with one another. Paul tells us that a person causing division gets two warnings and then is shunned. He goes on to say that such a person is self-condemned. Those are strong assertions. He does not, however, suggest any possible exceptions to these rules. He does not offer thoughts on times when being divisive might be acceptable. There are no footnotes about occasions for proper divisiveness. He is clearly telling us that being divisive is sinful.
As human beings, we have a tendency to rate sins the way Olympic events are rated. We rate things like adultery or embezzling church funds as 9.0 or higher. Divisiveness, however, we would probably only rate as 2 or 3. We don’t see it as sinful as many other things. God clearly does not use the same rating scale that we do.
Galatians 5:19-21 lists out “the acts of the sinful nature.” Of course, there are the things that we would all expect in such a list: sexual immorality, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, and hatred. However, right along with those things are listed discord, dissensions, and factions. These things are just as objectionable to the Lord as the others.
Our Bible verse for today tells us that love does a number of things. “It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” It seems obvious to me that we in the Church rarely operate in the realm of “always” mandated by this verse. What would happen if we indeed had that kind of attitude toward one another? What would the people of God be like if we truly always protected one another, always trusted one another, always offered hope to one another, and always helped each other persevere through difficult times? Would we be different than we are now? Of course we would.
Let’s get personal. Let’s talk about the worship ministry of your church. I know as well as you do that creative, artsy people can sometimes be difficult to interact with. However, as I mentioned earlier, there are no loopholes in Scripture that allow us to be divisive. Dealing with difficult people does not give us an excuse. Sorry.
We have an enemy who wants to shatter us just like those frozen bubbles. Right now, in your own heart, with the help of God Almighty, make a new declaration to refuse to be divisive. Instead, reach for the level of “always” in expressing love for one another.