Divisions come out of different teachings, teachings other than God’s economy which is in faith; division is all-inclusive, for it includes all the negative things such as Satan, sin, worldliness, the flesh, the self, the old man, and evil temper.
According to Deut. 12-13 God hates division and apostasy, and according to Paul and John in the New Testament, we should stay away from those who are divisive and speak heresies.
God hates apostasy for it insults and damages the person of Christ; apostasy is in the Old Testament, and in the New Testament we have heresy, the denial of the incarnation of Christ or His redemptive work.
God hates division, for division destroys the Body of Christ as Christ’s corporate expression; division is brought in by different teachings, teachings other than God’s economy which is in faith.
Apostasy and division are hateful to God because they damage the entire economy of God.
On one hand we need to be liberal, open, general, and receiving toward all the believers, regardless of what day they feel to worship, what kind of food they eat, etc – we simply need to receive them even as Christ has received us, to the glory of God.
On the other hand, however, we need to mark those who make divisions and causes of stumbling contrary to the teaching we have learned in the Word of God, and we must turn away from them.
There are certain ones who speak different things – they speak things which are in the Bible, but they speak them in such a way to create division and make causes of stumbling; we should stay away from such ones.
We need to stay in the unique teaching of God’s economy and not go to the left or to the right; rather, when we meet some divisive ones, we need to turn away from them, and when we see heretical ones, we need to reject them.
The Bible is very strong in this matter, and we need to realize that this is very serious; Paul charges us to turn away from the divisive ones (Rom. 16:17) and the apostle John enjoins us to reject the heretical ones (2 John 9-11).
Like Moses in the book of Deuteronomy and like the apostles in the New Testament, we must be very strict concerning division and apostasy; we must keep the unique oneness of God’s people and the unique faith in the person and redemptive work of Christ.
Realizing that Division includes all Negative Things and Issues in Death, and remaining in God’s Economy
Division is not a simple thing; it is not merely the dividing of a group of people based on their preference or affinity toward a person or a teaching.
Division is all-inclusive; division includes all negative things such as Satan, sin, worldliness, the flesh, the self, the old man, and evil temper (Rom. 16:17-18; Titus 3:10).
The church as the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom. 14:17).
So if we are going to keep the oneness and avoid division, we need to enjoy Christ as righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
The way to get into the Holy Spirit is by calling on the name of the Lord, for no one can say, Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3).
When we call on His name with an exercised spirit and a turned heart, we are in the Holy Spirit, and we can enjoy Christ as righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
However, if we do not enjoy Christ as such a One, it is easy to be divisive, to teach something that is different than God’s economy which is in faith.
Division doesn’t just stand by itself – rather, it is related to the flesh, the self, and worldliness (Gal. 5:19-21; Matt. 16:23-24; 1 John 2:15-16).
We can testify from our experience in the church life that, whenever there’s division, there are the works of the flesh, the self is manifested, and there’s the love for the world and the things of the world.
May we pray that God would infuse us with Himself as love so that we would love God the Father with Himself as the love infused into us, and we would thus not love the world.
In all the things of our daily life, may we sow unto the Spirit and not unto the flesh; may we aim at the Spirit in everything so that we may reap eternal life.
If we sow unto the flesh, we will reap corruption. The flesh is not merely the corrupted body; the flesh is the uttermost expression of the fallen tripartite being.
The Spirit is the ultimate realisation of the processed Triune God; we need to live in the Spirit, enjoy the Spirit, and realize that the Spirit is versus the flesh.
If we are enlightened concerning the nature of division, we will see that it is related not only to all the negative things but it also includes all negative things; this is why God hates division and tells us in His word to stay away from those who make division.
In our history in the church life we have passed through turmoils, and we can testify that those who caused the turmoils – those who were the impetus of those turmoils – began to act in a way that we couldn’t believe, with the loss of a proper humanity, and all kinds of evil things came in.
To be in division is to be in death; Christianity is filled with death and darkness because the genuine oneness in life is lacking. Oh Lord! Being in division is something terrible, for it involves many negative things.
May we be saved from any division and be brought into the oneness in our mingled spirit under the teaching of God’s economy which is in faith!
Lord Jesus, we love You and we want to stay away from any division in the Body! Keep us in the unique and healthy teaching of God’s economy which is in faith. May we be enlightened concerning the nature of division and realize that it is related to and includes all negative things. Oh Lord, we want to reject division, stay away from any divisive ones, and remain in the genuine oneness in life in the Body of Christ! We hate death, Lord, and we want to remain in life under the healthy teaching of the apostles!
Different Teachings other than God’s Economy which is in Faith bring in Division
How does division come in and where does it come from? Divisions come out of different teachings, teachings other than God’s economy which is in faith.
In 1 Tim. 1:3-4 Paul told Timothy that he would remain in Ephesus to charge certain ones not to teach differently other than God’s economy which is in faith.
God’s economy is the apostles’ teaching (Acts 2:42), which is the unveiling of God’s New Testament economy concerning Christ and the church.
Whatever we teach should be measured not by whether it is wrong or right, but by whether it is divisive or not.
If the result of our teaching is that division comes in, we are not in the ministry of the apostles but speak things other than God’s economy which is in faith.
Only one kind of ministry builds up and never divides – the unique ministry of God’s economy.
When someone teaches different things from God’s economy, it kills people; teaching differently results in the tearing down of God’s building and it annuls God’s entire economy.
We all must realize that even a small amount of teaching in a different way destroys the recovery and can bring in division.
The only way we can be preserved in the Lord’s recovery in oneness is by remaining in the unique ministry of the apostles, the teaching of the apostles.
If we stay that we’re in the recovery yet we teach something so lightly – even in a concealed way – that is different from God’s economy, we sow the seed that will grow up in division. Oh Lord Jesus!
Even in the writing of this blog, my intention before the Lord is not to bring in division or speak something different than God’s economy which is in faith, but to remain in the unique teaching of the apostles and bring the readers into loving the Lord and seeing a vision of God’s economy.
May the Lord have mercy on us that we may be preserved in the eternal oneness by teaching the same thing in God’s economy, and not by speaking different things!
We thank the Lord that in the church life we have a controlling factor, which is a taste for the ministry of the apostles, a taste for God’s economy.
Even if someone comes in and teaches something different from God’s economy, we can’t take it, because we have a taste for the teaching of the apostles, and we cannot accept anything than God’s economy which is in faith.
The different teachings of the dissenting ones are “winds of teaching” used by God’s enemy to distract God’s people and carry them away from His economy (Eph. 4:14).
May we be no longer little children tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching in the sleight of men, in craftiness with a view to a system of error.
A teaching always issues in something, and if it doesn’t issue in the building up of the Body but in division, it is not the teaching of God’s economy.
Any teaching – even a scriptural teaching – that distracts believers from Christ and the church, is a wind that carries believers away from God’s central purpose.
The dividing teachings are organized and systematized by Satan to cause serious error and thus damage the practical oneness of the Body life. Oh Lord!
The different teachings are the major source of the church’s decline, degradation, and deterioration (see 1 Tim. 1:3-4; 6:3-5, 20-21).
When we speak only God’s economy which is in faith, the end of this charge is love; but when there are different teachings, division comes in.
When we are under the teaching of God’s eternal economy, the issue is love; we love the Lord Jesus more and more because we are continually under the teaching of God’s economy!
But if there are different teachings, we misaim the mark of God’s economy, which is our spirit.
May we exercise our spirit to contact God who is the Spirit, so that He can dispense Himself into us and carry out His economy in us and on this earth!
The teaching of God’s economy is the teaching according to godliness; when the Lord’s words of life are taught, particularly in certain aspects, they become the teaching that is according to godliness!
The living words of the Lord always bring forth godliness, which is a life that lives Christ and expresses God in Christ.
Amen, may we guard the good deposit which is in us, the deposit of healthy words, including the riches of life in God’s word which the Lord has stored in us!
Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit to contact You as the Spirit so that we may be infused with Yourself for the carrying out of Your economy! Amen, Lord, we want to stay under the teaching of the apostles, the unique teaching of God’s economy which is in faith, so that we may be preserved in oneness in the Body! We guard the good deposit of the healthy words in us, we remain in the riches of life in God’s word, and we want to live a life of godliness, a life of living Christ and expressing God in Christ! Amen, Lord, may we stay away from any different teachings and avoid division, and may we remain in the healthy, sound, unique teaching of God’s economy which is in faith!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, CWWL, 1984, vol. 2, “Elders’ Training, Book 3: The Way to Carry Out the Vision,” ch. 4, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 10, Avoiding Division, Which Is versus the Oneness That We Keep, and Rejecting Apostasy, Which Is versus the Faith That We Contend For.
- Hymns on this topic:
– God has called us for His purpose, / His economy so glorious, / For which He was fully processed; / Consummated now is He! / As the Spirit, He indwells us; / As our God allotted portion, / Working out His full salvation, / Making us the same as He is. (Song on, God has called us for His purpose)
– And we know whom we have believed / And are persuaded that He is able / To guard, through the Holy Spirit, / Our deposit to that day. / This good deposit is the mark / Of God’s economy, / Without it we will miss the aim / Of His recovery. (Hymns #1285)
– The faith is the economy, the economy of God / The household administration, the dispensing of our God / The truth is the contents, the reality of the faith, / According to God’s economy. / Godliness is a living that expresses / The divine reality, / An expression of God in all His riches / Full of all gravity. (Song on, The faith is the economy)
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