Divisions Are Not Always Bad

By: A.W. Tozer When to unite and when to divide, that is the question, and a right answer requires the wisdom of a Solomon. Some settle the problem by a rule of thumb: All union is good and all division bad. It's that easy. But obviously this effortless way of dealing with the matter ignores the lessons of history and overlooks some of the deep spiritual laws by which men live. If good men were all for union and bad men for division, or vice versa, that would simplify things for us. Or if it could be shown that God always unites and the devil always divides it would be easy to find our way around in this confused and confusing world. But that is not how things are. To divide what should be divided and unite what should be united is the part of wisdom. Union of dissimilar elements is never good even where it is possible, nor is the arbitrary division of elements that are alike; and this is as certainly true of things moral and religious as of things political or scientific. The first divider was God who at creation divided the light from the darkness. This division set the direction for all God's dealings in nature and in grace. Light and darkness are incompatible; to try to have both in the same place at once is to try the impossible and end by having neither the one nor the other, but dimness rather, and obscurity. In the world of men there are at present scarcely any sharp outlines. The race is fallen. Sin has brought confusion. The wheat grows with the tares, the sheep and the goats coexist, the farms of the just and the unjust lie side by side in the landscape, the mission is next door to the saloon. But things will not always be so. The hour is coming when the sheep will be divided from the goats and the tares separated from the wheat. God will again divide the light from the darkness and all things will run to their kind. Tares will go into the fire with tares and wheat into the garner with wheat. The dimness will lift like a fog and all outlines will appear. Hell will be seen to be hell all the way through, and heaven revealed as the one home for all who bear the nature of the one God. For that time we with patience wait. In the meanwhile for each of us, and for the church wherever she appears in human society, the constantly recurring question must be: What shall we unite with and from what shall we separate? The question of coexistence does not enter here, but the question of union and fellowship does. The wheat grows in the same field with the tares, but shall the two cross-pollinate? The sheep graze near the goats, but shall they seek to interbreed? The unjust and the just enjoy the same rain and sunshine, but shall they forget their deep moral difference and intermarry? To these questions the popular answer is yes. Union for union's sake, and men shall brothers be for all that. Unity is so devoutly to be desired that no price is too high to pay for it and nothing is important enough to keep us apart. Truth is slain to provide a feast to celebrate the marriage of heaven and hell, and to support a concept of unity which has no basis in the Word of God. The Spirit-illuminated church will have none of this. In a fallen world like ours unity is no treasure to be purchased at the price of compromise. Loyalty to God, faithfulness to truth and the preservation of a good conscience are jewels more precious than gold of Ophir or diamonds from the mine. For these jewels men have suffered the loss of property, imprisonment and even death; for them, even in recent times, behind the various curtains, followers of Christ have paid the last full measure of devotion and quietly died, unknown to and unsung by the great world, but known to God and dear to His Father's heart. In the day that shall declare the secrets of all souls these shall come forth to receive the deeds done in the body. Surely such as these are wiser philosophers than the religious camp followers of meaningless unity who have not the courage to stand against current vogues and who bleat for brotherhood because it happens to be for the time popular. "Divide and conquer" is the cynical slogan of Machiavellian political leaders, but Satan knows also how to unite and conquer. To bring a nation to its knees the aspiring dictator must unite it. By repeated appeals to national pride or to the need to avenge some past or present wrong the demagogue succeeds in uniting the populace behind him. It is easy after that to take control of the military and to beat the legislature into submission. Then follows almost perfect unity indeed, but it is the unity of the stockyards and the concentration camp. We have seen this happen several times in this century, and the world will see at least once more when the nations of the earth are united under Antichrist. When confused sheep start over a cliff the individual sheep can save himself only by separating from the. flock. Perfect unity at such a time can only mean total destruction for all. The wise sheep to save his own hide disaffiliates. Power lies in the union of things similar and the division of things dissimilar. Maybe what we need in religious circles today is not more union but some wise and courageous division. Everyone desires peace but it could be that revival will follow the sword.

ByFaith Online Magazine about Disability Ministries

In the Church Those With Disabilities Help to Make Us Whole By Stephanie Hubach

One Church with Good Disability Ministry

Various PCA Churches around the country have special ministry programs I want to study from somday: Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPC) RPC is becoming well-known for ministering to and alongside of individuals and families affected by disability.

Where Is God Ministries

Where Is God? was designed to help friends and family develop a better understanding of disabling illness and injury. It also helps us to take a deeper look into the Word and acknowledge the tremendous faith our brothers and sisters have, through God's hand. Where Is God? provides helpful links to sites and organizations of several diseases, disorders and conditions, as well as a support board. Founder and President, Wayne Connell, saw the need to establish Where Is God Ministries as a place of compassion and understanding for believers living with chronic illness and pain. His inspiration came from his wife, Sherri, who became disabled in 1991 due to Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and Late-Chronic Lyme Disease. Wayne's goal is not to create a sense of pity, but compassion for their losses and awareness of their incredible faith, despite their circumstances. Included: Articles by Joni Eareckson Tada and others.

Transferring My Will

In the past few years, I have learned that all Jesus wants from me is to love Him and submit to Him. He simply wants me to allow Him to be in my life by transferring my will to His will. A.W Tozer's quote made it very clear to me, "The Lord will not save those he cannot command." By surrendering my will to Jesus will not solve my problems. I realized that when I allow Him, my life is more peaceful and more enjoyable. I noticed that. Even though God will not take away my problems but He always been there for me when I am facing problems. I am still having problems but very very peaceful. I need to work on my prayers and start my prayer by transferring my will to His will. The best prayers have often more groans than words. John Bunyan We pray for the big things and forget to give thanks for the ordinary, small (and yet not so small) gifts. How can God entrust great things to one who will not thankfully receive from Him the little things? Dietrich Bonhoeffer When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy. Corrie ten Boom When I say 'hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come," I should be adding in my mind the words "in and through me," and so giving myself to God afresh to be, so far as I can be, the means of answering my own prayer. And when I say "thy will be done," I should mean this as a prayer that I, along with the rest of God's people, may learn to be obedient. J.I. Packer

Fourth Commandment: Sabbath

I have been studying the 10 Commandments and I had no problem with 9 of them except for one. Commandment #4. I understand that God rested on the seventh day as a pattern of work six days and rest one day which is binding for everyone since God did not rest for Himself, but for us. Jesus Christ taught the fullness of the spirit of the Law compared to the letter of Law. The rest which the old Sabbath promised has come in Christ: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). The shift from the Jewish Saturday Sabbath to the Resurrection Sabbath of Jesus Christ is evident through various New Testament texts. It is my belief that sabbath (a day of rest) to the pattern of work six days and rest one day. There are people who work Saturdays and Sundays. And rest one day during the week. They even worship on a different day. Those who restricts God's Grace for christians observe the Sabbath with rules and regulations. The definition of legalism is a strict, literal or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code. In Hebrews 4 simply means that a believer can have a Sabbath rest at any day of the week. Hebrews 4:11 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. The Sabbath observance was a part of the ceremonial law of the Old Testament, along with such things as circumcision and eating restrictions. These ceremonial laws showed that the Israelites were set apart (sanctified) from all other nations (Exodus 31:12, 13). The New Testament shows that all ceremonial law (restrictive eating - Timothy 4:4, 5), circumcision - I Corinthians 7:18, and Sabbath-keeping - Colossians 2:16, 17) was fulfilled in Christ, and our need to observe it for justification and sanctification abolished. We are even warned against Sabbath-keepers who want to judge others for not keeping it: "Let no man judge you...regarding...sabbaths" (Colossians 2:16). Keeping the Sabbath day holy is a commandment that requires a lot of heart searching. Jesus condemned the Pharisees saying "The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). Sunday is the Christian Sabbath because it is the day Christ arose. The Sabbath also was a day for God's people to gather together and Sunday is the day we gather as witnesses to the resurrection. Sabbath is a heart searching situation. I labor 6 days and take a day to celebrate God. Jesus is our Sabbath rest. After studying the Word... I am comfortable worshipping on Sunday. Simply because on the first day of the week that Christ arose and so the first day, Sunday, came to be designated as the Lord's Day. On that day the early Christians gathered to worship (Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10) as do we, and in doing so we celebrate Christ's resurrection. Christ's sacrifice for sin--Himself--was a "once for all" sacrifice. It needs never to be repeated. It is eternally effective. There is nothing wrong worshipping on Saturdays. I worship Sunday because Christ rose on the first day of the week. If anyone wants to attend Church on Saturday, it is God's grace and blessings. If anyone wants to attend Church on Sunday, it is God's grace and blessings.

Quotes

God will not hold us responsible to understand the mysteries of election, predestination, and the divine sovereignty. The best and safest way to deal with these truths is to raise our eyes to God and in deepest reverence say, "0 Lord, Thou knowest." Those things belong to the deep and mysterious Profound of God's omniscience. Prying into them may make theologians, but it will never make saints.... A. W. Tozer (1897-1963), The Pursuit of God We of the churches often gather our robes away from contamination, and thank God that we are not as other men. We don't despise God's name; in fact, we call upon it constantly to justify ourselves... If we object to meat-eating, we declare that God is vegetarian; if we abhor war, we proclaim a pacifist Deity. He who turned water into wine to gladden a wedding it now accused by many of favouring that abominable fluid grape juice. There can hardly be a more evil way of taking God's name in vain than this way of presuming to speak in it. For here is spiritual pride, the ultimate sin, in action - the sin of believing in one's own righteousness. The true prophet says humbly, "To me, a sinful man, God spoke." But the scribes and Pharisees declare, "When we speak, God agrees." They feel no need of a special revelation, for they are always, in their own view, infallible. It is this self-righteousness of the pious that most breeds atheism, by inspiring all decent, ordinary men with loathing of the enormous lie. ... Joy Davidman, Smoke on the Mountain But when once Christ had called him, Peter had no alternative he must leave the ship and come to Him. In the end, the first step of obedience proves to be an act of faith in the word of Christ. But we should completely misunderstand the nature of grace if we were to suppose that there was no need to take the first-step, because faith was already there. Against that, we must boldly assert that the step of obedience must be taken before faith can be possible. Unless he obeys, a man cannot believe. ... Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1905-1945), The Cost of Discipleship We are to believe and follow Christ in all things, including his words about Scripture. And this means that Scripture is to be for us what it was to him: the unique, authoritative, and inerrant Word of God, and not merely a human testimony to Christ, however carefully guided and preserved by God. If the Bible is less than this to us, we are not fully Christ's disciples. ... James Montgomery Boice, "The Preacher & God's Word"