Magnifying Differences
Satan is a master at magnifying differences. People love to argue opinions, and Satan loves to provoke it. Differences create divisions. Divisions sow discord. Discord destroys unity. Lack of unity fuels conflict. Conflicts disrupt focus. Lack of focus wastes valuable time. Time wasted is time gone and before we know it, life is over and whatever we thought we might do for God is out of reach. If Satan cannot have your soul, he certainly wants your life so God cannot use it for His glory.
It is important to say first and foremost that there are doctrines that should frame fellowship and there are doctrines that should not. For example, the blood atonement is a doctrine that is fundamental to fellowship. If a person believes the blood of Jesus Christ is essential to salvation (and we do!), there can be no unity with one who does not believe that. This is a fundamental doctrine and such doctrines should and do divide people. But there are other things that need not cause division. I think most Christians keep a mental list of teachings that he or she considers important enough to stand firm on, and even defend. We can see an example of this in the case with Paul, Barnabas, and Mark. Paul considered it necessary to separate from Mark because Mark chose not to finish the missionary journey with Paul.
Acts 15:36-40 And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.
To Paul, this was an issue that warranted separation. But to Barnabas, it was not that serious. The result of such a difference of opinion was breaking of fellowship (Acts 15:39). I think the only one who profited from this was Satan. He loves to divide the brethren. It is one of his strategies, to magnify differences in order to sow discord and ultimately divide and conquer. Sadly, that was the last time we ever heard of brother Barnabas.
Satan has no new tricks. He is still magnifying differences today. Christians fight among themselves habitually over petty squabbles of differences of belief on opinionated topics. It all goes back to what each Christian feels is a doctrine worth dividing over. What seems ridiculous to me is that the majority of these disputes are over teachings that have no bearing on fellowship and no business becoming fellowship issues. But such is human pride, that unless you believe everything the way I believe, I have no time for you. That is the attitude.
When I was a very young Christian over thirty-five years ago, a man severed fellowship from me because I would not debate him on a particular pet doctrine of his. His pastor taught one thing and mine another. I told him that I would not debate him on a subject that had no bearing on the Christian walk. What good would that serve? Well, his answer was to separate from me because I would not, “open the Scriptures with him.” How sad that any Christian would get angry and argue over differences of belief on trivial things like their favorite little pet peeve. Getting back to Satan being a master at creating attention to differences, we can see this again with the church at Corinth.
1 Corinthians 14:26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
What should our attitude be concerning doctrinal differences that do not warrant severance of fellowship? I think it should be, “Let all things be done unto edifying.” In other words, we should ask ourselves if magnifying our pet belief in such-in-such causes division, will that result in edifying? And yet, so often Christians find it so very necessary to have others agree with them 100 percent on everything. I think PRIDE can be the only legitimate reason, and we know that pride is associated with Satan in the Scriptures.
There will never be a day this side of heaven when all Christians will agree on everything. I have found that few Christians are versed enough to truly tackle the other side of their little issue anyway. A popular tactic is to use straw man arguments (contrived accusations made about those who do not believe the way we do) in order to make the opposite arguments sound weak. This sort of thing happens all the time. Actually, many Christians inadvertently pick up somebody else’s beliefs along the way and decide to accept it without question, and that is how they come to inherit their pet beliefs in the first place.
Romans 14:5b … Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
The Bible teaches us to prove what we believe. What the Bible does not teach us is to try to persuade the minds of others on pet beliefs. If Christians could just be content with being persuaded in their own minds, life would be better in our churches. I wonder how many preachers would rest better at night knowing that the members of the church are mature enough to keep their pet doctrines to themselves for the sake of unity and progress in the overall work of God? Do not forget my opening statements. I am not referring to major doctrinal truths. I am talking about the minor things Christians tend to think are major when they are not.
Satan is the winner because we are often no different than the church at Corinth. They all had their own little doctrine that they wanted to live and die for. Each one thought their belief was essential to faith and fellowship. This was the immaturity that prevented Paul from speaking to them as unto spiritual (1 Corinthians 3:1).
We all know how differences between a husband and wife can cause turmoil in a home. How much more can differences between the brethren cause turmoil in the church? The truth is, if each Christian limited himself or herself to fellowship with Christians who believe exactly as they do on every single subject, Christianity would be a lonely experience. All Christians differ on various things. We must be willing to look at our list of beliefs and divide the essential from the nonessential. Which doctrines should we separate fellowship over, and which should we smile and keep to ourselves for the sake of unity? Our decision will reveal how spiritual we really are.
It is always amazing to me how Christians justify what I will call preaching from the pew. They do not believe some minor point of Bible interpretation the same way the pastor does, and they just cannot let it lay. A spiritually mature Christian will make the decision to either sit under a preacher and agree to disagree (because the disagreement is not serious enough to divide fellowship), or go to the preacher and voice the concern that such differences are not acceptable to continue fellowship, which would lead to the person changing churches in a godly, Christian manner. This would be proper and right as a believer with Christian liberty. Unfortunately, not every Christian is spiritual, and so the congregation and the preacher are left to deal with Christians who are too convicted and too childish to keep things to themselves for the sake of unity.
When I sat in the pew, I always stood up for the preacher even when I thought he was wrong. Now wait, let me explain myself before passing judgment. I have been in churches where I did not see eye-to-eye on everything my pastor believed. When it came to doctrinal differences that were not a fellowship issue, I kept my opinion to myself. On one occasion, I even adopted the position of my pastor (not in hypocrisy but for the sake of unity) so as not to cause division or the appearance of it. This is what I did.
1 Corinthians 8:13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
Considering that verse, let me relate a story. I sat under a great man of God that taught the Old Testament dietary law was applicable for believers today. I did not truly believe this, and I have Scripture to back up my position. but I also did not serve a pork roast to the church members when they visited our home. In fact, for six years my family chose not to eat pork. Since I was not going to starve on chicken and steak, I decided that I would rather suffer myself to be defrauded (1 Corinthians 6:7) rather than be a source of division on the issue. Later, when I was no longer under his ministry, I told the preacher what I did. Is it any surprise that he was thankful? What we chose to do edified the saints and kept unity in the church. Plus, it did not hurt me and my family one bit. What I did not do was preach in the pew to the other church families how I disagreed with the preacher. That would have caused confusion and conflict.
When I was a pastor, I had to deal with Christians who see nothing wrong with pulling church members aside and magnifying their difference with me in someone else’s ear. Some that had done this made the mistake of whispering to Christians who are more spiritual than they are and who fear God more than they do. I ended up finding out about their whispering and watched them hop from member to member as I pondered why they smiled at me one minute and avoided me the next. If it was not so serious it would be comical. Sometimes laughing is the only way to relieve the stress of such back-biters. What can a preacher do but watch and wait for the inevitable showdown. When the dust settles, guess who ends up becoming the villain? You guessed it, the preacher!
Our last ministry was not without differences of opinion. We had them. I am thankful there were people in our church who realized that such differences are not essential to salvation or Christian service. I am glad they agreed to disagree and left it at that. Praise God for maturity and charity. Here are some helpful thoughts that I hope will be helpful on this topic.
Christians Are Not Accountable For the Beliefs of Other Christians.
With the exception of pastors who must give account for their flock (Hebrews 13:17), and parents who must train up their children in what they believe is right (Proverbs 22:6), Christians need not feel responsible for the doctrinal “errors” of others. when a Christian is confronted by another Christian in the church who is confused about a teaching, the best thing to tell them is to study the Word of God and ask the pastor if they have questions. This ought to be the attitude, especially if their own belief contradicts the pastor. God never meant for the sheep to lead the sheep. That is the job of the shepherd. One can voice his or her belief without turning the conversation into a Bible-study against the man of God. I would not want to be found guilty of that.
Christians Are Not Accountable for the Beliefs of the Pastor.
I mention this separately only because it is common for Christians to stir up something because the preacher does not with them about their pet belief. If a Christian sits under a man of God that does not agree with them on every little thing (this probably applies to most Christians), they do not need to feel obligated to straighten out the preacher or worry about God chastening them for the disagreement. Please remember that I am not referring to the doctrine of salvation or any other major doctrine. Either the Christian should agree to disagree or they should move to another ministry. God never called the sheep to correct the shepherd. Those that believe otherwise should familiarize themselves with three men named Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who thought nothing of correcting Moses (Numbers 16). God took care of Moses more adequately that those guys could ever have done! God also took care of them, if you know what I mean.
Christians Are Accountable to Love the Brethren and Maintain Unity.
What we are required to do is to maintain unity in the body and charity among ourselves.
1 Corinthians 6:7 Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
We should never let Satan magnify our differences to the point of separation of fellowship if that is not necessary. I honestly believe that Paul learned this later in life, for we find him asking for Mark near the end of his journey.
2 Timothy 4:11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry.
Believers need to realize that fellowship is more important than pet beliefs. Yes, it is often necessary to break fellowship when it comes to major theological doctrines that define what kind of Christian we are. But will we be so carnal, so selfish and so prideful as to let the lesser beliefs separate us from those who otherwise would benefit from our fellowship? This is Satan’s plan and program. Let us not give in to the one who wishes to divide brethren of like precious faith. If doctrinal differences are so great, we ought not to be in fellowship in the first place. If the differences are small, we ought not to make them large. Concerning pet issues, the test of fellowship is simple. If brother or sister so-in-so agreed with me on my pet belief, would I see any reason to sever fellowship? If the answer is “No,” we are making more of the issue than we should. In other words, if others agree with us on the “fellowship doctrines” (doctrines that should divide fellowship), we would be wrong to make a minor issue a reason for separation.
Instead of magnifying differences, we ought to magnify Jesus Christ! One day we will all certainly agree on everything. But, it will not be my beliefs or your beliefs or anyone’s beliefs. We will all agree 100% with Jesus Christ and His Word. Until then, let us work together for the cause of Christ and get the job done for Him!
Psalms 133:1 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!