Titus 3:9-11 Division Kills Mission

And, you know, after 20 plus years, I could just be imagining it, but I could’ve sworn some of those parents that are a little bit too into ten year old sports gave a slight groan.

And that was it. I lost it.

I turned around with tears in my eyes, and yelled something to the effect of “Just shut up. Just leave me alone. I’m doing the best the I can!”

And as you’d expect, no one in the stands knew how to react to that.

So I made a fool of myself, got back into the box with some awkward hesitant claps. The pitcher threw the ball, and this time, I nailed it! Home run!

No. Come on. This isn’t a happy story. This is a shame story. I struck out, and Charlie Brown walked right back to the dug out.

And that is my last memory of baseball.

I think I’ve blocked everything else out, but apparently I need to remember that shame and embarrassment as if I don’t have enough already.

But there’s the point to that story. The reason I struck out all the time because I didn’t keep my eye on the ball.

Every coach will tell you, keep your eye on the ball. If you don’t you’re going to strike out every time.

And what’s true in baseball is true in church. If we don’t keep our eye on the ball, we are going to strike out.

And division in the church is one of the surefire ways to take our eyes off the ball.

We’ve all heard the horror stories. Some of you have even been in them.

A church split over some nuanced doctrine, contemporary vs. traditional music, or believe it or not the color of the carpet.

Division can take a healthy church, and take it off the rails. Make it ineffective for carrying out the mission of God.

Division is one of the greatest enemies of the church because...

Division Kills Mission

A healthy church must guard against division so it can focus on the mission of Christ's Kingdom.

So it can keep its eye on the ball, and make disciples.

And this is a timely word for us, because I believe this is how Satan will try to attack us next to stop the work God is doing here.

So let’s see what God would have us hear as a church with point number 1...

I. A Healthy Church Guards Itself Against Division

Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.

Division is one of Satan’s greatest tools to distract churches and pull them off mission.

If he can sneak in through false teacher or divisive person, that is a bomb that has worked time and again to kill churches and make them ineffective for the mission of Christ.

And that is what Paul is wanting Titus to avoid.

Paul sent Titus to Crete Titus 1:5 to put what remained into order.

To establish sound doctrine and disciple the saints.

Paul knew if Titus wasted all of his time and energy fighting endless arguments with false teachers and divisive people he would never actually have time to disciples the saints.

Yes, he needed to silence the false teachers. That’s what Paul told in in Titus 1:10. There are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced.

But that doesn’t mean Titus was supposed to spend every free moment fighting them. He was supposed to set the doctrine of the church, and move on to what God had given him to do.

Division is how churches take their eyes off the ball. God has told us to preach the gospel and make disciples. If we are spending all of our time fighting each other, that will never happen.

Paul knew Division Kills Mission.

That’s why he told Titus to avoid foolish controversies…for they are unprofitable and worthless.

And that’s our key right there. By using the words unprofitable and worthless, Paul is drawing a stark contrast between verses 8 and 9.

Between what Paul wants Titus to be busy doing, and what he wants Titus to avoid doing. Well what is that?

Titus 3:8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

So you see the contrast. These things are excellent and profitable for people whereas foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law are unprofitable and worthless.

That’s why Paul wants Titus to avoid wasting his time fighting them. They contribute nothing to the church or its mission.

And more than that, these unnecessary quarrels actually hurt the mission God has given to the church.

Well what are these things that are unprofitable and worthless? What are the things that takes a church off mission so that it is ineffective and itself becomes unprofitable and worthless for the world we are called to reach?

Genealogies

First, you have GENEALOGIES.

Paul is obviously not talking about the historical genealogies of the Old and New Testament.

Those are critical and tell us of God’s faithfulness to his people from generation to generation and ultimately culminate in the genealogy of Christ who descended from Adam, Abraham, and David to fulfill God’s promise to send a Messiah who would crush the head of the Serpent, bless all the families of the earth, and rule all nations in perfect righteousness, justice and peace.

These genealogies were like fairy tells fascinated the Jews. Stories and interpretations of heroic figures and bloodlines that weren’t grounded in Scripture. They were myths, passed down through the years, but ultimately pointless.

This reminds us the importance of grounding our doctrinal beliefs in the Word of God and not in traditions. We need to be like the Bereans in Acts 17 who examined the Scriptures to test whether what Paul was teaching this was actually in the Bible.

We want to be people of the Book who hold fast to the Word of God and ground all of our doctrine in the Scripture.

Speculative interpretation on nonessential issues should not be a source of division in the church.

The example I always give is eschatology. We shouldn’t fight about that. Amil, Premil, Postmil, all have been held throughout church history and there are Scriptural arguments for all of them.

What we need to agree on and fight for is the only three things about eschatology the church has ever come to a concensus on: 1. Jesus will return bodily and in glory, 2. He will raise all people, both the Just and the unjust from the dead to face judgment, and 3. Those who have trusted in Christ will enter into eternal life, those who rejected him will be sent away to eternal death.

Everything else is negotiable. We might disagree, but we shouldn’t let speculative, nonessential interpretations divide us like evidently these Jewish false teachers were trying to do.

Dissensions

Second, Paul talks about DISSENSIONS.

This is conflict and arguments that are the result of rivalries in the church.

Another word the Bible uses for it is strife. It is friction and bitterness in the body and Galatians 5:20 Pauls says its a work of the flesh.

Gal. 5:20 enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Dissensions can tear apart a church. Two people or two groups of people are in an argument and before you know it, everyone starts taking sides and are at each others throats.

Paul dealt with this in Philippians when he said I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord (Phil. 4:2).

Strife and dissension in the body kills the body and dishonors Christ who forgave us and said that the world will know that we are his disciples and that he was sent by the Father to save sinners by our love for and unity with one another (John 13:35; John 17:21).

Division in the body says to the world, God doesn’t save and reconcile sinners to himself because we don’t live reconciled to one another.

Quarrels About the Law

Then you have QUARRELS ABOUT THE LAW.

This was legalistic demands the Jewish false teachers were bringing into the church.

Earlier Paul said they were of the circumcision party, the Judaizers who basically said, if you want to be a Christian and be saved by the Jewish Messiah, you need to become a Jew first by circumcision.

This is not about obedience to God’s commands. We talked last week how Christian obedience to God’s Law is the fruit of Salvation. Its the natural outworking of genuine faith in Christ.

So today this would be religious scruples. Conscience issues that someone legitimately holds, but then takes their conscience, makes their conscience law for everyone else or else you aren’t a real Christian.

Or at least you’re not a godly Christian.

Taking something not inherently sinful and saying this is now a sin and no Christian should do it.

Things like drinking, homeschooling, hymns vs. contemporary worship. Stuff like that.

And these legalistic quarrels cause division in the body because instead of coming together to celebrate Christ’s righteousness and marvel together at his grace in saving us, the church starts fighting because we are too busy celebrating our own self-righteousness glorifying ourselves, judging everyone who doesn’t meet our holy, righteous standard.

Foolish Controversies

So you have:

1. speculative doctrines meaning doctrines that aren’t unimportant but aren’t essential for Christian Orthodoxy. They are open handed issues.

You have 2. Dissensions: Rivalries, strife, and bitterness between people in the church

And you have 3. Legalism: That is making your conscience law for everyone else in the church,

And Paul lumps all of these types of division under FOOLISH CONTROVERSIES.

For Paul, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the Law were all just a bunch of foolish, time wasting controversies once sound doctrine was established.

The word foolish is the word moras where we get the word moron and it could also be translated stupid.

And Paul’s point in using that word is to say it is seriously stupid for God’s people to waste their time fighting about them because either Scripture is clear on the issue and it is what it is, or, if Scripture isn’t clear, Than its an open handed issue that no one should be making dogma and dividing over anyway.

Division over issues like these is foolish because it distracts us from the work God has given us to do.

In 1 Timothy 1:4, which Paul wrote around the same time as he wrote Titus, Paul said this. Charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, 4 nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

Paul is saying don’t get sucked into division. Establish sound doctrine in the church, and then get busy with the stewardship God has given you.

In other words, get to work! God has given us a job to do!

And what is that? Verse 8. Insist on these things…These things are excellent and profitable for people.

Two times Paul says these things in Titus and both times its after proclaims the gospel of God’s grace in Christ that leads to salvation and good works.

So for Paul these things are the Sound Doctrine of good works. I.e. The gospel and discipleship. That’s the mission of the church.

The good news that Jesus Christ, the Son of God took on human flesh and lived a sinless life as a man. That he suffered and died as a man. And that he rose from the dead three days later so that everyone who believes in him would not perish but have eternal life.

And that believing in Christ means following Christ. Living a life of discipleship and obedience out of loving gratitude for all God did to save us by his grace in Christ.

The gospel and discipleship. This is the work God has given the church to do.

And if the church fails to guard against foolish controversies and divisions, they will spend all of their time fighting instead of faithfully stewarding the mission God has given them to preach the good news of the gospel and make disciples of all nations.

So for us, we need to guard against division.

We have a job to do. God has called us to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and disciple Northwest Arkansas so that God will be glorified in a redeemed church that faithfully follows him

If we take our eyes off the work God has given us to do, if we fall into the trap of foolish controversies and division we, ourselves, will become unprofitable and worthless.

And this is a word we, as a church, need to heed.

Not because I see these traits in you. One of the great joys in being your pastor is that you are a church that is on board with the mission of God.

No we need to heed this, because Satan hates this church. And he hates the work God is doing in this church.

And our doctrine is set. We are not budging from the Word of God. We will hold fast to it until our dying breath.

So the best way for Satan to take us off the battle field is to make us stop fighting as foot soldiers of Christ against Satan’s kingdom that enslaves men and blinds the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel and the glory of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4), and to start fighting one another.

Division Kills Mission.

And we, the saints of Reformation Baptist Church need to defend ourselves against it because Satan wants us off the battlefield.

He does not want Northwest Arkansas to be saved, and he does not want this church to be the epicenter of a gospel earthquake that sees revival break out and God’s Kingdom go forth.

Satan does not want our church and churches like us to evangelize, disciple, plant and revitalize churches, and bring the love, justice, and mercy of Christ’s kingdom to the nations because that is how God has chosen to save sinners.

But we are Christ’s church. And while the world rages under the throes of the Evil One, we are playing offense by the power of the Spirit.

We are moving forward proclaiming the good news of Christ, knowing the strongholds of hell, Jesus says, will not stand against us but will crumble and fall as Christ advances his Kingdom in and through His Church.

So we need to ask ourselves, how? How do we guard ourselves against division and disunity that threatens to take us off mission.

That’s point number two...

II. A Healthy Church Removes Divisive People

Titus 3:10-11 As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, 11 knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Literally in Greek a person who stirs up division is a “divisive person.”

This is someone is persistent in sowing the kinds of division and stoking the fires of foolish controversy that we talked about earlier.

They might be a false teacher who is teaching either 1. Teaching a doctrine contrary to the Word of God like the Jewish false teachers in Titus, or 2. Making a speculative doctrine dogma.

In fact, the word division comes from the Greek word hairetikos, where we get the word heretic.

So those that sow division are usually false teachers.

But in context a person who stirs up division isn’t limited to just false teachers although the church today would be much better off if we actually listened to what Paul says to do with divisive people and we kicked false teachers out of the church.

But lets not get ahead of ourselves.

A person who stirs up division could also be someone that pridefully seeks to put themselves first in the church, and uses strife and dissension as a weapon to get their way.

Or someone that is bitter and refuses to forgive another brother or sister in the church as God in Christ forgave us.

They could be a legalist who leads people away from God’s free grace in Christ, from sound doctrine, to another gospel that enslaves people to legalistic demands of the Law.

Ultimately a divisive person is someone who is constantly engaging in foolish controversies. Constantly sowing division within the body, and distracting the church’s time, energy and resources away from the mission God has given us to do.

Now this isn’t someone who is just asking questions trying to understand a doctrine.

Its not even a disagreement about some doctrinal issue or argument between two members.

Its persisting in those things that makes someone a divisive person. Its being warned, but continuing to sow division anyway.

That’s what Paul says. Warn them once, then twice, then have nothing more to do with them.

Paul says you exercise church discipline. You rebuke them with love and kindness, and call them to repent. You call them to strive for unity in the body.

In fact, the word warn is the same word Paul uses in Ephesians 6:4 about instructing children children in the fear and discipline of the Lord.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 says it like this. The Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

The goal in church discipline is not to hammer these people. The goal is repentance.

The goal is that they would repent and see the seriousness of their sin so that they can be reconciled to the body and that the body could show the love and grace God has given us in Christ and forgive them.

But, if a divisive person fails to repent, Paul says have nothing more to do with them.

The NASB says Reject them. Its to purposely avoid association with them.

Paul says shun them, keep away from them, have nothing to do with them, drive them out of the church.

Now this seems harsh. If someone persists in sowing division, you remove them from membership in the body, because their persistent sin makes it impossible for you as a church to affirm their testimony and faith in Christ.

Excommunication is how a church says, Brother you are in sin, and your persistence to hold on to this sin, makes it impossible for us to know whether or not you are a Christian. Your life is contradicting Christ and the gospel, and until you repent, you are not a part of the church.

That’s why Paul says knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

The word warped means that they are perverted, they have gone astray from Christ, and they are persisting in their sin.

Thus, they are self condemned.

The church is not the one that judges them outside of Christ.

Their unrepentant sin is what judges them.

Because the mark of a true Christian is not a perfect life. Its not never sinning. We all sin stumble and fall.

The mark of a true Christian is repentance. Its turning away from that sin and following Christ.

Now this raises a very important question. Who sets the standard for what is divisive in the church? Who defines what is sound doctrine that leads to a sound life?

Paul has already given an answer in the book of Titus.

Titus 1, appoint elders in every town, men who are able to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it (Titus 1:9).

The Scriptures define sound doctrine. And the elders rightly handling the Scripture set the doctrine of the church and define what is divisive in the church God calls them to oversee.

That’s why God appointed them: to rebuke those who contradict sound doctrine and defend the church from wolves and fractious people who would take the church off mission.

Because division kills mission. And how division takes root in a church is when divisive people are not dealt with in a biblical way.

Instead of sound doctrine and discipleship, the church gets distracted with foolish controversies that do nothing to benefit the work of the gospel.

As a result, time, resources, and energy that could be spent carrying out the Great Commission get hijacked by a few divisive people.

And the only way to handle it, Paul says, is to warn them once, then twice, and then you move on.

The time is short, we have work to do.

A healthy church must guard against division, remove divisive people from the body, and get busy with the mission God has given us to do.

And that’s point number 3...

III. A Healthy Church Focuses on the Mission

Now this point is not in our passage specifically, but it is underlying everything Paul writes in the book of Titus.

Titus 1:1-3 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior.

Paul wrote Titus for the sake of the faith of God’s elect, in hope of eternal life, which the world can only know through the preaching with which we have been entrusted when God our Savior and the Savior of the world commanded us to disciple the nations.

That’s the mission. Sound Doctrine and good works. Preach the gospel and disciple the nations.

This is why a healthy church needs to guard itself against division.

If we are spending all of our time fighting each other, then we are spending no time advancing the Kingdom.

We actually make ourselves unprofitable and worthless for what God has given us to do.

The mission of the church is to see the nations saved and worship Christ.

He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and Genesis 49:10 to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

I think most of us have too small of a picture of what God wants to do in this world.

I think we look at the Great Commission and think, Well, maybe we will save a few people. Most people will reject Christ, but there will be those chosen few.

And the assumption behind that is that when Jesus said make disciples of all nations, Jesus was giving us a mission of wishful thinking.

Of something that won’t actually happen.

But what bookends the Great Commission?

Matthew 28:18-20 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Does that sound like someone who expects to fail?

The reason Jesus said I am with you always is because it does sound impossible.

You mean God’s really going to save all nations?

Do you mean that all nations will really come to the mountain of the Lord, the throne of God’s Kingdom to learn his ways and worship him like Isaiah 2 promises?

You see, when Jesus gave us the Great Commission, he expected victory.

He expected to save the world.

That in him, all the families of the earth would be blessed just like God promised Abraham.

That God would establish the throne of his Kingdom forever just like he promised David so that in the Kingdom of God justice, righteousness, and peace would reign as far as the curse is found.

When Jesus said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, he was telling the disciples remember what God promised me in Psalm 2.

Psalm 2:7-8 The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.

In the Great Commission, Jesus says, The nations are mine. They Belong to me. I have purchased them with my blood. Go get them. Go tell them the good news of the gospel and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And then, Psalm 22:27-28 follows up on that promise and tells us exactly what that will look like. What Jesus expects to accomplish in the Great Commission.

Psalm 22:27-28 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. 28 For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations.

Jesus didn’t have a small vision of the Great Commission. He did not envision only a small remnant being saved.

He saw all the nations, the ends of the earth coming into his Kingdom. He saw all families of the earth worshiping before him.

Why? For kingship belongs to the Lord. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. And as sure as he is the Messiah, the anointed King of the Kingdom of God, this will happen.

I think the reason why so many of us have such a small vision for the Great Commission, why its so easy for us to say, that can never happen, there is no way all the ends of the earth will repent of their sin and turn to the Lord, there is no way all the families of the earth will worship before him, is because we have a small faith in God’s promises.

If God promised it, it will happen. Remember Titus 1, God who never lies. Faith to carry out the Great Commission is nothing more than faith in the promises of God.

Jesus is King. And God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:9-11).

Do we believe it? And is this true right now? Does every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth bow to Jesus?

Then we have work to do. And it starts right here in this church, and churches like us all over this world, gospel outposts planted behind enemy lines to preach the good news of Jesus Christ, disciple the nations, and advance the Kingdom.

The Big Secret of RBC is not really that much of a secret. We are trying to weaponize you.

Our goal is to weaponize every man, woman, and child for the Kingdom of God so that we would live out the Great Commission and carry out the work that God has given us to do.

That we would play our part in discipling the nations until all the families of the earth worship our Lord Jesus.

Now that can seem daunting. Even me. I feel it. How in the world are we supposed to do that?

Its hard enough to imagine our family member, friend, neighbor, or coworker, let alone Northwest Arkansas, let alone the World, be saved.

Let me give you two pieces of encouragement.

Lord’s Work

First this is the Lord’s work.

Jesus promised I will build my church (Matthew 16:18). That’s why he said he would be with us always. He’s building.

God has not called you to save the world. That’s His job.

God has only called you to be faithful in what he has given you to do.

We are all stewards. And a faithful steward manages what has been entrusted to them.

So what has God entrusted to you?

To follow Jesus.

Love your wife. Submit to your husband. Raise your kids in the Lord.

Be a faithful church member.

Repent of sin.

Share the gospel whenever you have opportunity.

Live as a Christian in your trade or vocation. Do all things as unto the Lord.

We follow Christ as faithfully as we can and trust God with the rest.

We do not need to be overwhelmed with saving the World. That’s not our job. That’s not our role.

We just labor faithfully and God works through us to build his Kingdom.

Maybe this will help. Think of the Kingdom of God as the perfect Lordship of Christ in every Sphere of life.

All of Christ for all of life.

That’s the goal. For all people and nations to worship Christ as Lord in every area of life. Well how does that happen?

Through discipleship. Through the church preaching the gospel so that more and more people repent of sin, worship Jesus, and submit to him as King of kings and Lord of lords.

And that means the Church is the army of the Kingdom of God sent out by the King to conquer the nations.

But Jesus doesn’t conquer the nations like the kings of the earth.

Earthly kings conquer with violence, war and by shedding the blood of their enemies.

Our King conquers through peace, reconciliation. By shedding his own blood for his enemies. He conquers with the Sword of his mouth which is the gospel, the message entrusted to the church.

And that’s why we exist. We are the foot soldiers of the Kingdom sent into the world to preach the gospel and disciple the nations. To see the Lordship of Christ reach as far as the curse is found.

But God is the one who grows the Kingdom because he alone can give the new birth.

We preach and disciple. That’s faithfulness. But God is the one who saves sinners.

And as hard as it is to believe, this will happen. The Kingdom of God will fill the earth. Christ will conquer all the nations and bring them into his Kingdom because God himself promises to do it.

Isaiah 9:7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

White Fields

The second piece of encouragement I want us to remember when we feel daunted with the task before us to disciple all nations, and so overwhelmed that we are tempted to throw our up hands and say Its impossible! Why even try?

Is to remember what Jesus said in John 4:35. Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the field are white for harvest.

Its easy to look out into the world and look at our culture and get discouraged. It feels like everything’s falling apart, and we are so far gone its easy to look out at the world and say there is nothing we can do to fix it.

Amen. We can’t fix it. But God can!

Instead of having a pessimistic view of Great Commission against what we are facing today, think of it like this.

Have the fields ever been whiter for harvest?

It is no secret that we live in a secular society. One that has forsaken God at every turn and hardened themselves in their sin.

One that says we don’t need God, we can save ourselves with wealth, comfort, pleasure, technology, government.

There is nothing we need God for.

But if the last year and a half has shown the world anything, its that they need God to live.

They know death is coming, and they are not prepared to face the Son of God on the Judgment Throne.

Hebrews 2 says that everyone outside of Christ is subject to lifelong slavery through fear of death (Hebrew 2:15).

The world has been turned upside down by this virus. We don’t live in the same world anymore. Why do you think that is?

Its because people in the world are terrified of dying. And everything from the news, government, to masks mandates preach that death is around the corner.

And I’ll be honest with you, they have a good reason to be afraid. Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

That’s why world is falling apart. They are looking for anything to save them. Government. Masks. Vaccines. Hand sanitizer.

Anything to deliver them from their fear of death. Anything to deliver them from the judgment they know is coming.

But the only thing that can save them is the One who conquered death, Jesus Christ.

Its true. God might be bringing our nation under judgment. Lord knows we deserve it.

But God might also be toppling the idols of our culture to show the world their gods are dead and can’t do anything to save them to drive them to Christ.

What if God is using all this chaos to show people they actually do need God.

He is the One mighty to save. And everyone who believes in Jesus Christ will not die under God’s judgment to suffer his eternal wrath.

They will be washed, sanctified, cleansed from all their sin by the precious blood of Christ.

God is making the fields white for harvest.

And Jesus has sent us out into the fields to preach the gospel. To tell the world, we don’t have to fear death. Our judgement and sin has been paid for by Jesus Christ, the One who abolished death and gives eternal life through faith in him (2 Timothy 1:10).

The Fields are white if we would only life up our eyes to see it.

If we would pray earnestly for the Lord to send out laborers into his harvest (Matthew 9:38), and go from that prayer and start working in the fields ourselves.

If we would pray earnestly, the Lord’s Prayer like we actually mean what we are saying.

Matthew 6:9-10 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

That is why we labor. That is why this church exists. That is what we are asking God to do each and every day.

But none of that will ever happen if we lose sight of the mission and give in to foolish controversies and divisions.

Conclusion

Division kills Mission.

We must do everything we can to keep our eye on the ball. To not strike out on what God has given us to do.

To remember it is his work, by the power of the Holy Spirit, but God has chosen to conquer the nations through his church.

Therefore, every healthy church must:

Guard against division,

Remove divisive people who distract the church from its God given calling, and

Focus on the mission to build Christ's Kingdom so that God’s elect would be saved and at the name of Jesus every knee would bow.

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Isaiah 45:20-23 Assemble yourselves and come;

draw near together,

you survivors of the nations!

They have no knowledge

who carry about their wooden idols,

and keep on praying to a god

that cannot save.

21 Declare and present your case;

let them take counsel together!

Who told this long ago?

Who declared it of old?

Was it not I, the Lord?

And there is no other god besides me,

a righteous God and a Savior;

there is none besides me.

22 “Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other.

23 By myself I have sworn;

from my mouth has gone out in righteousness

a word that shall not return:

‘To me every knee shall bow,

every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Is 45:20–23.

Related Media

Related Sermons