Titus 3:9 (ESV)
But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and
quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.
I read an article recently discussing the question of whether Goliath was
really nine foot six or was he really only six foot six. It’s an interesting scholarly
article, but if we decide to argue about it in the local church, we have become
divisive. “Avoid foolish controversies.” I wonder how many church spats God
would categorize as foolish controversies.
How little of what we think is important enough to fight over is really insignificant
in the eyes of God? If a person is offended by the abrasive manner of another
believer, and they demand that the abrasive believer be disciplined, which one
is being divisive? If we leave a church unless they change the music, who is
being divisive? If we chase off a pastor because he doesn’t do all the things a
previous, beloved pastor did, who is being divisive? If we insist on getting
our way concerning the color of the carpet, the time of the church service, the
number of Sunday School classes offered, or some other issue to which the Scriptures
do not speak, who is being divisive? In my experience, the large percentage of
church fights have nothing to do with anything of consequence. In other words,
most of what we fight about God calls “foolish controversies.” What if we
actually humbled ourselves and actually served one another? How might that affect
church life? How might that change our testimony before the world?
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