S2E61 Homily 46.01.10-17 Sectarianism Is Sin

Welcome everybody. Welcome to today's homily forty six point zero

one point ten through seventeen. As we covered these eight

verses here in First Corinthians, an extremely important message for

today's church. And take note, I didn't say churches. And

when we say that today, that means denominations. Let's talk

about my hometown here of Reader, North Dakota. In Reader,

North Dakota, there's a Catholic church, there's a Lutheran church. YadA, YadA, YadA, YadA.

That's what we mean by churches. When we speak in

today's terminology, we're really subconsciously referring to different denominations. And

one thing is a resounding fact in these eight verses

of First Corinthians, chapter one, ten through seventeen that sectarianism

is sin. There's no such thing as denominations of the

Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's fiction. So you

need to really understand that there is no denominationalism. It's

really secretarianism, that's what it is. It's people that have

divided the Body of Christ. So that's pretty startling for

someone to hear it from because in today and this time,

that's just how it's done. It's literally done that way.

People have been born and raised and let's say the

Lutheran Church. People have been born and raised in a

Catholic Church, and they literally think they are the Church,

and they think that the other denominations they're not a part,

they are not one in Christ. This was never intended

nor ever happened in the first three hundred years of Christianity.

It's much like eschatology. Eschatology only had one model for

the first three hundred years of Christianity. It was historic premillennialism.

There was no other eschatology. It wasn't until the Church

was divided and sectionalized. That's what's really happened. We've been

toward to different sections that did not occur until after

the first three hundred years. So we need to understand

that it's very hard for us to read these verses

and accept in our hearts what it's really talking about.

Very hard for us to do today because this is

just a way we've been raised. So let's read these

verses with an open mind, realizing that these denominations are

dead wrong. They have divided the body of Christ, they

have created a schism. That's what the Greek word here

is used in these verses, and that means to rip

or to cut, to divide, to segu will create a section.

That's what it means. So remember that Marianath the Ministries

does all Bible studies in the New James version. The

reason behind that is the manuscript behind the translation is

the Addo Regia New Testament manuscript. So with that in mind,

from the New King James version, and I'll go ahead

and read the stands aheading here it is Sectarianism is sin.

Sectarianism is sin. Vers ten. Now I plead with you, brethren,

by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you

all speak the same thing, and that there be no

divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together

in the same mind and in this same judgment. For

it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren,

that those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.

Now I say this that each of you says, I

am of Paul, or I am of of Colors, or

I am of Cephus, or I am of Christ? Is

Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you

baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that

I buy baptized none of you, except Christmas and Guias.

Lest anyone should say that I baptized in my own name. Yes,

I baptize the household of Stephanus. Besides, I do not

know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not

send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not

with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should

be made of no effect. It's good to just get

it straight forward from the first reading, and that's how

it should be done. So take note that this Greek

word here, schism is very important. It's saying that the

body of Christ is being quartered. That's what it said,

That's what it meant. Now take note, how do we

know that. Please remember that the Bible always presents the

four antagonists, the tetriarchy of evil. Always take note in

Judges chapter nine with the riddle of the bramble King

there Judges nine, it gives the olive, the fig, the vine,

and the bramble. We go to Daniel chapter two. It

gives the head of gold, chest an, arms of silver, brawn,

and I are the four antagonists. Daniel chapter seven gives lion, bear, leopard,

and the dreadful beached with the little horn. Daniel eight

has the first horn, the second horn, the third horn,

and the fourth horn with the little spur on it.

In Jul chapter one, we have the cheering locus, the

swarming locus, the crawling locust, and the consuming locus. There's

always four. There are the four great antagonist empires, the

Assyrial Babylonian, the Medo Persian, the Greco Macedonian, and the

Greco Roman. There's always four antagonists. Always, always there is

for antagonists presented by the Bible, God's holy Word. And

that's exactly what these verses are saying. Take note that

it says, I am of paul Apollos, seaphist for Christ.

The household of God is being quartered, it's being divided.

This should give you insight and the clarity of what's

being talked about. This has obviously been devised by our enemy,

the enemy of our souls. Now very important for me

to bring up, because everybody's gonna want to know this.

Who is this Chloe? This Chloe is only mentioned here

and here the Greek is very particular. Take note the

New King James' version translated this as Chloe's household, that

is not in the Greek. That's not what it says.

In the Greek, it says under. It is the Greek

word in the Strong School Ordance fifty two fifty nine

it means to be under, So under Chloe. So is

this a proper name? Is it correct and translating household?

And what does the King James version? Let me switch

over here. The King James versions said them, which are

the uh are of the house of Chloe? Houses? Never

here in the Greek it literally means under Chloe. This

is saying those under Chloe. So let's step back. Do

we have any historical contact for this, Well, yes, we do.

The word chloe means green or young. Shoot, that's what

it means. Could it be saying here those who are

not sanctified, those who have not been filled with the

Holy Spirit? Yet I can't with authorities say that, but

it could be alluding to that green or young foliage.

Goes that are young are dividing. It is also highly well,

I can't say that either. I don't want to say

highly likely or highly probable. You need to understand that

Chloe is also one of the main epitaphs for demeterr.

So this Greek god demet Her. Of course, her worship

in basically involved the worship of the seasons, because you

have this this Greek myth that her daughter was captured

by eighties death and taken to the underworld. She goes

to find her daughter. Anyway, it's the it's the the

dying and resurrecting god Soka, and it's very important that

that prophetically you would realize why again it's being quartered.

Why again, there's four names mentioned here, Paul Apollos, see

this and Christ it's quartered. But it very well could

be that this is a name, and this is a woman,

and these people were meeting in her house. So just

take note. We have no real authority to say what's

going on here? What does that mean? Those under Chloe

We really don't know. We really can't discern that. But

the main point is is that they were being quartered.

And when he presents four different, four different sections, I

mean I should really stated modern terms denominations, but I

need to get it through your head that no, it's

not denominations, it's sections. You've been quartered. So these four sections,

as the body of Christ has been quartered, is very upsetting.

And take note here here the author makes mention that

I am glad that I didn't baptize anymore than I did,

because it's possible that those people I baptized they were

taking on my name instead of Christ. And it's very

possible that Apollos have baptized people. It's also quite possible

that Cephas had baptized people. So and it could be

possible that Apollos maybe lay his hands on them and

they received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but it

was Paul that had baptized them. So he makes it

pretty clear here that just because there's different workings going

on in the body of Christ does not mean there's

four different bodies. And take note that this last verse here,

unless the Cross of Christ should be made no effect.

He wanted to relay this that it's not about a

higher knowledge or mystery, so to speak. Here we have

this this idea from Second Peter, chapter one, verse sixteen.

For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we

made known to you the power and the coming of

our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye witnesses to his majesty.

So just because different Christians perform different functions, let's say communion,

let's say, if you come to my house once a

month and we we do communion, and I facilitate that,

that is no reason for anybody to say they are

under Matthew's that that is improper to do your dividing

the body of Christ. Now, what is the one place

that we know this is the case, when we know

how many different churches there are, and why there are

different churches? We got Revelation chapter one. This is where

the message is relayed most effectively, it says in verse

twelve of Revelation chapter one. Then I turned to seeing

the voice who spoke with me, And having turned, I

saw seven golden lap stands. Maybe I should read the

verse before it, verse eleven, saying I am the Alpha

and the omega, first and the last. Take no, the

Lord Jesus Christ uses quarters. He did it again. These

quarters are extremities. Take no, you have east as opposite

of west. You have north and the south. North is

opposite of south. Here he says alpha and omega first

and the last. He uses four different things to call

your attention that he has not been quartered, he has

not been divided. He is one in those four directions. Anyway,

let me finish, and what you see, write in a

book and send it to the seven churches which are

in Asia, Ephesus, So Maria, Paraglmos, Thieterira, Sardis, Philadelphi, and

let her see it. There is one church. There's one

Christ in seven different locations. There's only one church in Paragamos.

There's only one church in Philadelphia. There's only one church.

They're just separated by distance. They're only separated by distance.

It's the same church in a different location. So here

you get this idea, Verse twelve. Then I turned to

sing the voice that spoke with me, And having turned,

I saw seven golden lamp stands. And in the midst

of the seven lamp stands one like the son of Man,

clothed with a garment down to the feet, and girded

about the chest with the golden band. His head and

hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and

his eyes like a flame of fire. His feet were

like fine brass, as if we're fined in a furnace,

and his voice the sound of many waters. In his

right hand, seven stars out of his mouth went sharp

to its sword, and his countenance was like the sun,

shining in its strength. When I saw him, I fell

at his feet dead, But he said, but he laid

his right hand on me, saying, do not be afraid.

I am the first and the last. I am he

who lives, who was dead. And behold, I am alive

forever more a man, and I have the keys of

habies and death right. The things that you're seen, and

the things which are, and the things which will take

place after this, the mystery of the seven stars which

you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden

lamp stands. The seven stars are the angels of these

seven churches, and the seven lamp stands which you saw

are the in churches. So take note. This is most

clearly laid out here. He's making himself perfectly clear that

in the different locations they were still the same church.

There was not the Church of the There wasn't the Church

of Paul in Ephesus. There wasn't the Church of Apollos

also in Ephesus. There wasn't the Church of Sephus in Ephesus.

That's three different churches. Christ is making himself perfectly clear

there's only one church in one location. That's what it is.

If there are multiple churches in one location. Christ has

been divided. That is sin. There is only one church

in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's it.

So let's take a look at this here where I

am at. I've had a friend of mine goading me

along to start our own church. And to be very

forthright with you, we are going to start having our

own gathering here. We've already started having communion here at

our house once a week. Unfortunately, this brother is an

over an hour away. He's like an hour and twenty minutes,

hour and a half away from us, So this will

make it very difficult. It's almost like he needs to

start his own gathering. Where he's at. My gathering is hearing, reader.

This is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And reader.

So one of the things that he said to me

that really caught my attention because he is a truck

driver and he has funded the starting of more than

a couple of churches in Dickinson, North Dakota, and he

has become exasperated with them, realizing that that's really it's

not biblical. So he has stated to me, and he

said this comment. It really struck me. He said, I

do not want to start another non denominational denomination. And

at first that at first had caught me sideways them,

What did you say? He is used his tithe money

to start churches, and he says he don't want to

do that anymore. He is wanting to start tithing to

this ministry and get this ministry off the ground here locally.

So everybody needs to realize this that if you're a

Catholic and you want to start a gathering, that doesn't

mean you invite Catholics only. You need to invite the Lutherans.

You need to you need to realize that sectarianism is sin.

God never authorised the dividing of his body into so

called denominations. A denomination is a currency, it's not a church.

So this is very important and people realize this. If

you have found yourself in one of these sectarian buildings

and have come to the realization that this building you're

going to is not a ministry, it's certainly not a

ministry in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and

you have come out of the church building setting as

you move forward, realize who you're looking for. It is

of paramount importance that you realize when you meet people

out and about that even though they are lost, they

are holding to the beatitudes. It's those people that you

might want to invite into your gathering place, whether it

be your home or what are your neighbor's homes, It

would be good to start there. And that's exactly what

this friend of mine said. He said that his eyes

have been opened in that he thinks that we should

start inviting people who display good character, those people that

are displaying a righteous character, even though they're lost. You know,

they do not lie. They're nice, you know, they're they're

not they're not evil, they're not contentious. It's these sort

of people we should be inviting to our gatherings in

hopes of saving them and bringing them into the body

of Christ. Food for thought, Food for thought. We might

want to start thinking along those lines, because remember the

Lord Jesus Christ warns you very sternly that when the

apostasy comes, it doesn't come amongst the lost. It comes

from inside the church buildings. That is just a mayer

of fact. It's coming from inside the church buildings. I

hope you take this message to heart. I hope you

commit these verses to memory. I hope that you understand

that dividing the body of Christ is sin. There's no

such thing as denominations. There never was, there's not supposed

to be. And that should be your first hint. That

should be your first clue something is not right. And

I would suggest you do the same thing that I did.

Follow the money, go to the place you attend that

building and demand from their clergy where your tithe money,

and I mean every red scent where it went. What

I found is that some of my tithe money was

being sent to other organizations. When I investigated those organizations,

guess what I found. Those organizations were supporting planned parenthood.

So take some advice. If what's going on in your

local church building is not setting well with you, there's

a reason. Until next time, God bless, godspeed.