“There are six things the LORD hates – no, seven things he detests . . . a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”
~ Proverbs 6:16, 19
So far we’ve covered three ways in which seeds of discord are sown in the body of Christ.
The first is to tell others what someone else allegedly said about them.
The second is to misrepresent others.
The third is to judge the motives of another.
In this post, I’m going to address another. It’s what the Bible calls “heresy.”
The popular understanding of heresy is that it refers to false doctrine. But this is not entirely correct.
While heresy certainly includes the teaching of false doctrine, the Greek word translated “heresies” in the New Testament actually refers to creating a sect. That is, it’s the act of dividing a body of believers by persuading them to rally around a certain idea or practice . . . even if that idea or practice happens to be true.
Consequently, a person can be a heretic with the truth.
Let me give you a real-life example from a church I once knew many years ago.
Joe was a respected man in the congregation. One day, he began passing out literature to the other members. The literature argued that God wants every child of God to heal the sick and cast out demons. Most Christians believe that healing is in the Bible and that praying for the sick and casting out demons is a good thing.
So Joe believed something that was true.
Yet Joe began to evangelize his belief. He began having meetings in his home to teach people how to heal the sick and cast out demons. A decent number of the congregation attended, and they loved the meetings.
Subtly, some of the people who attended the meetings got the idea that those who didn’t attend Joe’s home gatherings weren’t interested in what God was chiefly interested in. Joe felt the same and unmistakably conveyed this impression to the group.
Friendships began to get strained between those who attended Joe’s meetings and those who did not. Mind you, everyone in the church believed in healing and casting out demons. But they weren’t agreed on how important it was or how much time should be given to it.
Consequently, judgments were made between those who were heavily into these themes and those who weren’t. In a few months, the church was headed toward a split.
What happened?
Joe was using his doctrine of healing the sick and casting out demons in a divisive way rather than in a way that built the body and encouraged unity.
The situation in Corinth where the Corinthian believers were dividing over their favorite apostolic workers is another example of using something good (in that case, extra-local ministry) to divide God’s people (see 1 Corinthians 1-3).
I’ve often said that a local church shouldn’t specialize in anything except Jesus Christ. And it should take the different aspects of Christ in their due season. We should never limit Christ to one or two truths.
To do so is to create a sect. (See my post on Getting Rid of a Sectarian Spirit Once and For All.)
In short, if we’re properly following the Lord, our spiritual instincts will tell us if we’re using a truth in a divisive way. And of course, teaching false doctrine and rallying the troops around it is another form of heresy . . . the one we most commonly hear about.
Lastly, gossip is another way in which seeds of discord are sown among sisters and brothers in Christ.
“A perverse person stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends” (Proverbs 16:28).
However, I cannot improve upon Jon Zens’ superb article on the subject, so I’ll just link to it here. You can consider Zens’ article to be Part V of this series.
My hope is that this brief series (which is admittedly very incomplete) will help local assemblies – regardless of the form or structure – to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” For Christ is not divided.
Thanks Frank, for this wonderful eye opening message to God’s people. The devil has used this subtle medium to cause uncountable division in Churches, especially in Nigeria. Am happy you addressed this satanic monster clothed in a simple garment, yet unidentified as “heresy”. I pray every gifted believer on the verge of breaking any Church will take this spiritual nugget seriously! You are blessed and lifted!
I belong to a fellowship-group in a traditional church. We meet once a week. God has opened my eyes for the house church movement or organic church. Do you mean to say that it is wrong to share in this group what God has showed me.
Excuse me for my english I am from Sweden
1. This post applies to ANY kind of church form or structure. So the type is irrelevant.
2. The post has nothing to do with sharing in a group. It has everything to with causing division among a body of believers. An example is given showing what that could look like.
Thanks for this series, for walking through this passage and breaking down what it actually means to sow seeds of discord. I think the idea of unity it buzzed about congregations a lot, without necessarily having a good definition. I have been in churches where it meant to always agree with the pastor (even when he is wrong on a fact). I have been in churches where it meant directional agreement in a very vague way. Your biblical description of what it actually means to be discordant is very different. I wish there was more biblical teaching like this.
Thanks for this. One of my pet peeves is no one knowing what ‘heresy’ really means. And when you hear what some people divide and hurl ‘anathemas’ over! I was thinking just the other day that even when John says to watch out for Diotrephes, it is because he was causing division.
Frank, I thank you very much for this series. You have reached into the heart of the great divider of the body of Christ. Your vital message in this series is so profoundly important to all of us in Christ, so much so, that I obviously fail to express the outstandingly dire and vital need of your words for the body of Christ in this day. Really and truly, thank you Frank.
Thx. for the encouragement.
Frank thank you so much for this series. Loved how concise you made this article and treating the concept of heresy as something I think Paul talked more about in his letters versus “false teaching.” Thanks again.
Thx. Paul often combated false teaching in his letters. The two main false teachings he addressed were legalism and libertinism. I sketch those out in “Revise Us Again.” Interestingly, those two false teachings are still very much alive today in Christianity.
Wow… this is the one I was unaware of. Great revelation here. Thank you.
We should always be aware that God can speak to us through anybody and we should always be willing to hear a word against what we are saying or doing. God is looking for us to be humble, broken, and teachable, no matter what position we may hold or how much we are looked up to by others.
I’m not sure how this fits into this post. I don’t see anyone disagreeing with that. The article is about gossip (which is a sin) and heresies which bring division (another sin). I would say that people who commit these sins need to be open to be corrected and repent of them. I guess that’s how it fits.
This was just awesome! I ended up leaving a small group after the gatherings turned into one small battle after another. The battles seemed crazy to me. One person would be indignant because she thought we were not singing enough. Another would interrupt people in the middle of saying something because she thought we should be spending more time in silent meditation. Another would be offended because she thought no one took her gift of prophecy seriously enough.
With all sincerity I tried in as peaceful of an attitude as I was able to say that none if this mattered. That it was Who we talked about and not how much we talked that mattered. That the order of worship made no difference, nor how much focus and attention we put on any one aspect of worship. That the only thing that mattered was WHO we worshipped. But I was responded to as if I were speaking a foreign language, at best. And in the end, the last meeting I attended was an all out brawl, with no mention of Christ whatsoever. Three and a half years of that was very discouraging and left me starving to hear the name of the Lord exalted and proclaimed!
Thanks for this series, Frank. I appreciate your reminders — especially the bit about judging people’s motives. I had been doing that (but privately) in a situation recently, and you brought it out for me so I could realize what I was doing and stop it before I messed up and spoke it aloud.
And this one is excellent. I hadn’t thought about truth (misused) being a heresy, but what you say makes sense. It is definitely something to keep in mind.
This has been a great series Frank! Thanks for sharing and reminding us to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
How timely that you linked to Zens’ article again. I had been drafting a post in my head and planned to come here to find it at some point soon.
Re: “In short, if we’re properly following the Lord, our spiritual instincts will tell us if we’re using a truth in a divisive way.”
One would also hope that we’d be open to realizing if we are or are not following Jesus correctly…because I think most people would say “of course I am following Jesus the right way”.
An, neat. Yes, that’s right; even those who cause great harm to others and even lie about them are often deluded into thinking they are following Jesus in those actions. That’s why Paul often said, “Do not be deceived” when he would talk about various fleshly behaviors. Even those that are clothed in pious rhetoric.
Exactly!
Excellent point.