Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed. And a house divided against itself falls. (Luke 11:17)
How true are these words of Jesus. One spouse has an affair with another person. The other spouse finds out the truth. The marriage is destroyed by unfaithfulness. One business partner disagrees with the other. They each try to enact their own business plan. Neither works The business falls apart. The coach draws up a play to win the game. The star player has his own idea about how to score. The player forces the action and tries to win the game by himself. He fails. The team loses. Coach and player are divided. Team harmony is destroyed.
Take a look at Luke 11:14-26. Jesus drove a mute demon out of a man. The crowd marvels at the miracle. Who has the power to do such a thing but God.? You would think that such compassion would move the people to unite behind Jesus. Such is not the case. Some of those looking on claim that Jesus could only do such a thing with the help of "the ruler of the demons." Really? Would the devil want Jesus driving out the demons that oppose His message that the Kingdom of God has come? Nevertheless, the devil's goal is to drive a wedge between Jesus and those who need to hear the Lord's message of forgiveness and salvation.
It's not just unbelievers the devil has his sights set on, so to speak. The devil must dance around the fire every time he can create discord in the church. One church has two pastors. The devil tries to create division, causing people to line up in support for one or the other. What church can be effective when the church has drawn up sides? Two ministries vie for a certain place in the facility. Does the devil leave such a situation to work it out for itself? He stokes the pride of the leaders of each ministry so that neither give an inch. And the work which each ministry plans to do falls apart.
Church! Stand united! Church! Come together! Martin Luther had it right when he wrote, "The old evil foe now means deadly woe." A church that fails to stand as one, a church where ministries function as special interest groups, only concerned with their own work, will lose all effectiveness. And then, people who need to hear the Gospel only receive other messages, none with the saving power that points to Jesus alone who can forgive sins and give eternal life.
"United we stand. Divided we fall." Stand together, church! Stand with Jesus!
