A House Divided Cannot Stand
Mark 3:25
25 If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
Last week we began to clear a path through our front porch so that we could really roll up our sleeves and do away with all the trash or the hinderances from us having a truly great relationship with God and others…
Go to table with wadded up papers with the vice lists on them…pick up pride and rethrow it in the trash can…
Reach and pick up gluttony… nope not preaching on this one today
Toss on the floor…leaving that mess here for now…maybe I should put it in my back pocket…
Reach and get two Strife and Divisions and Dissension picture
That’s right today I am going to start meddling a little…sounds like fun doesn’t it…
Two elderly, excited Southern women were sitting together in the front pew of church listening to a fiery preacher.
When this preacher condemned the sin of stealing, these two ladies cried out at the tops of their lungs, "AMEN, BROTHER “When the preacher condemned the sin of lust, they yelled again, "PREACH IT, REVEREND"
And when the preacher condemned the sin of lying, they jumped to their feet and screamed, "RIGHT ON, BROTHER TELL IT LIKE IT IS... AMEN"
But when the preacher condemned the sin of gossip, the two got very quiet. One turned to the other and said, "He’s quit preaching and now he’s meddlin’."
As we go along in the series there will be sermons that will feel like I am “meddlin”…
but I am not I am simply preaching… about somethings that you may not want to hear but need to hear…
Toady we are going to talk about a real problem on many front porches…TITLE SLIDE
and we are going to look at this in several areas of our lives…Strife, Divisions and Dissension don’t just apply to the church its is also very much a part of every aspect of our lives…so lets begin with where we work
WORKPLACE TROUBLES
Anybody here ever have any trouble at work?
If you haven’t worked for a while, then remember being at work and there being trouble.
You do know that God gives us instruction on having a good work ethic…
Colossians 3:23-25
23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the LORD, not for human masters, 24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the LORD as a reward. It is the LORD Christ you are serving. 25Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.
2 Thessalonians 3:10
10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat."
God created man with the intentions that he will work… Genesis 2:15
That’s all well and good but there is always that guy or gal that just can’t find anything good to say about the workplace…
Tell of Tim at General Engineering…running a saw on 3rd shift…nobody giving me any problems…making more money than and had health insurance that cost me nothing including dental…but the guy on the other saw was miserable and all he did was complain…before long I found myself right there in the same boat…complaining…
Instead of feeling blessed that I was providing for my family I was miserable…now I have had many careers done lots of things that I didn’t like doing to make sure that I was able to pay my bills and put food on the table…
Being a complainer at work is not a good representation of Jesus now is it…all it does is breed strife and dissention in a place where you spend the majority of your life…
Family Strife/Divisions
Pictures
House
Living Room
Kitchen
Dining Room
Guest Room
Jacobs Room
Our Bedroom
Proverbs 17:1
Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.
I spend countless hours with families that are divided over many issues…I know the statistics show that the number one issue is money, but every time we dig into it, money is just the excuse for the strife and there are deeper issues…
Picture Unequally yoked…
(JOKE)A family was driving home after church and they noticed little Johnny was sitting in the back seat crying his eyes out. Mom asked him several times what was wrong, but he just kept crying.
Then finally he sobbed, "The pastor said he wanted us to be brought up in a Christian home. but I want to stay with you guys!"
One of the best toasts I ever heard at a reception for a wedding was the dad of a good friend of mine William Moore…His Dad Wayne raised his glass and wished William and his new wife a life with lots humor and forgiveness…
Most of our strife and dissension and division in our home comes from little annoying things that we allow to ruin our perspective…we become selfish and we try to change our Spouse into what we think they need to be…we do the same thing to our children…
Listen to me here…
ITS OKAY TO DISAGREE…
Leslie’s stepdad Bill Reames had the best outlook on disagreements…he refused to get into a fight…he said there is no profit for anyone and no one wins those fights…now they would get mad at each other from time to time but they didn’t have any of those knock down drag outs that last till sunrise…Picture
All to often we create our own division and our own strife and its all due to selfishness…
Kids are great dividers but parents need to spot it and not allow it…
That’s enough about the family life let’s move on to
CHURCHY DIVISIONS or STRIFE
Surely there is never any hurt feelings or opinions in the church…
The story is told of a man who was shipwrecked and lived most of his adult life alone on an obscure island on which no other human being had ever set foot.
After many years of isolation, a ship came his way and a rescue party was sent ashore. He welcomed them, of course, then proceeded to show them around.
Pointing to a small log cabin, he said, "This is my house. I built it with my own two hands." Then he showed them a second building.
"This is my Church," he said. "I built it with my own two hands."
Then he showed them a third building, saying, "This is the Church I used to go to."
That happens all the time…people come to church with expectations that no church will live up to…its impossible for any church to get everything on your check list right…
There is nothing worse than looking around after church is over and we have baptized someone and see a small group huddled up in a corner or in a Sunday School room complaining…
Listen to me closely…there is no excuse for sitting around bad mouthing the church…If you are looking for something to complain about around here you will find it…but there is a lot more to praise God for than for you to nitpick…people are coming to know Jesus in this place and that’s what really matters…
As for the rest of us that love our church and Jesus Paul tells us in
Romans 16:17-18
17 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.
A very wise man once told me his response to people who were not happy with their church to go somewhere else and make them all miserable and leave these people alone…
Let’s look at one last place that strife and divisions…
Our Relationship With God
It is impossible to have a true relationship with God if we are always upset with everything else…
1 John 4:19-21
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Jesus himself says,
John 13:34
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
We are commanded to put others needs above our own…
Philippians 2:3-4
3 Do nothing out of SELFISH AMBITION or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
God expects us to put others about our own self…our relationship with God himself suffers when we become selfish in nature…
As you can see all areas of our life effect our relationship with God…Work, Family, Church, all need to be approached as if we were standing before the throne of God…next time you are tempted to complain or stir up trouble among people just say to yourself…
When I stir up DIVISIONS or STRIFE I am actually pushing myself away from my Heavenly Father!
So today we take Division and Strife and we throw them in can with Pride…
