GETTING UNSTUCK division and how it stunts growth #6

GREETINGS IN THE NAME OF JESUS:


  I wanted to end this series with some thoughts on how to finally get unstuck after we have spent some time dealing with so much that can bog us down as we try to follow the teachings of Christ under our own power.  1 Corinthians 3:1-9 finds Paul once again teaching on this idea of spiritual division, and how it stunts the growth of the Christians life and joy.  We have the chance to deal with this in one of two ways; we can deal with the truth of what God has said about what God has said about it or we can do what the majority of churches do by trying to justify division as a natural order of what interpretation of scripture deals with.

  Any time we start dividing ourselves into groups of people who demand to have their own ways instead of allowing God's Holy Spirit to govern the worship of God there will be problems.  I don't think many of us think about how easy it is for the enemy to lead us off of the main purpose for gathering together when we focus on our likes, dislikes, and comforts before we focus on pleasing and worshipping God.

  I spoke to you earlier about what it means to be spiritually perfected being a level of spiritual maturity rather than what we think of perfection as being, and I am only now seeing that so many who walk around in our churches are still only " Baby Christians" in spiritual maturity. Let's add on top of that a great number who are also Carnally minded as well...that means they are worldly-minded and find it easier to use a worldly-minded solution to a spiritually minded problem.  It is that which also causes a great amount of division within the church body.  When we don't see an answer in the word of God that we like many times we will try to invent a loop-hole that will create an escape for our sin much like what the Scribes and Pharisees did in Jesus ministry.
   
 Paul was constantly trying to get the church back into complete harmony with the Spirit of God by telling them of the need to concentrate on Christ alone as their goal of worship.  In so many ways Paul continued to speak of the unity of the body of Christ working together even though there were so many different moving parts. Unless we can work in harmony through the Spirit we will end up being crippled as a body and lost as individuals in the aftermath of the struggle and strife that will follow. When Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 3:14 he is not talking of losing our salvation, but he is talking about how the quality of our service will be judged by Christ, and what sort it is
( whether or not it will last).

We are each one commanded to bear fruit but we have no idea what we will harvest if we don't first know what the seeds are that we plant.  God is asking us to take a much closer look at that process because the time is drawing near for the harvest...are you ready?

  MAY YOU RICHLY BLESS GOD THROUGH YOUR LIFE IN HIM.




                                           THE UNWORTHY SERVANT