God Seeks Unity, Satan Seeks Division

I’m making my way through the Gospel of John. I love chapters 14-17. If you have a red letter Bible, these chapters are full of red.

During Jesus’ prayer of chapter 17 it’s as if He steps out of the moment, looks into the future and prays for us as well. (v. 20) From this it would appear that God’s people are pretty much the same in every generation. We have the same problems, trials, responsibilities and opportunities as those for whom Jesus prayed.

One take away from the verses I share below is this ——

For unity to prevail among God’s people, they need ongoing sanctification by, and through, God’s Word of truth. Otherwise, disharmony, division, and disaster will be the inevitable. Satan will see to that.

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John 17

13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

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You can’t miss it.

Right from the Garden with Adam and Eve, we see Satan launch his long-lived tactic of divide-and-conquer. It started when one of them, Eve, succumbed to Satan’s alternative and disobeyed God.

Satan continued his goal of separation within the family by Cain killing Abel. And … his methodology and goal has never changed.

He seeks to divide families

and

He seeks to divide the family of God … The Body of Christ.

One evidence of Satan’s activity is Division. Satan is the great separator until … he has the prey right where he wants it and then … he’s gone as quickly as he came leaving behind a trail of carnage, wreckage and death.

A story ——

The years we spent at the first church I was assistant pastor were, by far, the happiest years of my life as a Christian. While there we helped start the Christian school that touched lives over the next 30 years. And we began to raise a family. It was there that Coy and Luke both started their life journeys as proud Southern Rebels :-)

Issues popped up in the church every now and then, of course, but the majority of the time we were a close-knit community of believers. People were getting saved. We had tent revivals on the five acres of land the church bought and eventually built the new church building upon. The outreach of the church and school was growing and had a noticeable impact on the lives of several people in that town and the surrounding area.

Fast forward ——

We had been gone many years when I was asked to speak at a special meeting the church was holding for the pastor’s 50th birthday. When I got there I noticed immediately things weren’t quite how they used to be. The spirit wasn’t the same. There was a palpable tension in the air.

Division had set in …

And it all happened because of a fellow they hired, who professed Christ as his Saviour, to be the janitor for the church and school.

Through a slow process he, for unknown reasons and highlighting nothing specific, began to sow seeds of discord against the pastor. (Mind you this was after the pastor’s many years of blessed ministry and service in the church.) Eventually it got to the point where, when I was there for the meeting, my beloved pastor asked me to go into the church with him to pick up something because he was afraid to go in alone. I was appalled and aghast. How did this happen?

When the meeting came, I presented the message I had planned ahead of time to preach. In it I personally expressed, truthfully and accurately, the life-impact my pastor and his wife had, and continued to have, on my family and me.

I also expressed that no one man is gifted with all that is needed to shepherd the flock of God. Pastors need the men of God in the church, like Aaron and Hur, to stand alongside him in the work of the ministry.

After I preached it was interesting to see who avoided me or hardly talked with me. I wanted to flush them out so that they would know I knew who they were. Eye contact was hesitant on their part. It was time for exposure and confrontation.

Now here’s the interesting point of all this:

After the pastor eventually resigned, because he couldn’t hold up under that continued strain, … the janitor left!!  It was like that person dropped in just long enough to reek his demonic havoc and then vanish.

In the aftermath of his departure, he managed to leave behind a church that never regained its life and vitality in the work of the Lord.  As I stated above: 

“Satan is the great separator until … he has the prey right where he wants it and then … he’s gone as quickly as he came leaving behind a trail of carnage, wreckage and death..”

But praise the Lord, the pastor moved on in the work of the Lord and is still faithfully serving His Saviour 40+ years later.

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As we’ve already seen in the Garden, Satan seeks to separate husband and wife. And quickly on the heals of that, Satan works on the family: Cain slew Abel. This is always his pattern. Satan seeks to destroy that which is meant to be the perfect picture, object lesson, of God’s love for His creation.

There are two sacred and special unions: In the physical, man and woman; in the spiritual, God and mankind.

*The uniting of man and woman, marriage, is in the realm of the physical for the purpose of bringing forth new life that can be yielded to Him for His use and glory.

*The uniting of God and mankind, salvation, is in the realm of the spiritual for the purpose of bringing forth new life through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit that can be yielded to Him for His use and glory.

It’s in these two realms that Satan is the most active. He seeks to destroy the family unit, the home; and, He seeks to destroy the spiritual family unit, the Body of Messiah.

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God’s people are involved in a battle, a war, against their very soul. Consider I Peter 2:9-12:

9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which WAR AGAINST THE SOUL.

12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. ——

Are we losing perspective on who we are and how we are to see ourselves as God’s children in the world?

We don’t belong, we don’t fit in, we are strangers and pilgrims who are being attacked at the very level of our soul. Think about that. There are spiritual forces seeking to burrow down into your soul and rip you apart from the inside out.

And … eventually …

If we don’t guard the welfare of our souls, we will no longer be capable of, or willing to, “show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

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How can we be on guard?

Plunge your nose into the Word of God like your very life, your very soul, your very essence as a believer is at stake … because it is. Anyone who’s been saved for any amount of time can tell when they start drifting away from God. But we will only admit that to ourselves when we look honestly into the penetrating mirror of God’s Word.

Hebrews 4 says:

11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

13 Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.

14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. ——

Do we “hold fast our profession” as earnestly as we should? Not sure? Let the Word of God discern the thoughts and intents of your heart for a while. Only then will you discern your true condition. We can fool ourselves, but we can’t fool the God of the Word.

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Are you close to God right now; or, is there a division forming between you and God and, by way of consequence, others? You know … don’t you?

If Satan thought he could cause the Lord Jesus to stumble through temptation, you can rest assured that he will do everything in his power to keep us away from God and His perfect will for our life.

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Two things to ask ourselves in closing:

*Do I know Christ as Lord and Saviour? —— Eternal unity with God is the blessing of those that do.

If so,

Do I live like it? —— Present unity with God is the blessing of those that do.

Remember ——

God Seeks Unity, Satan Seeks Division