Day 5
Topic: What does Jesus say about A Divided House
Text: Matt.12:21-30
Overview
The Pharisees witnessed the miraculous changes Jesus was bringing to the people and believed that He was operating in the spirit of Beelzebub, another name to describe Satan. To them, this would explain how Jesus was able to cast out demons, because they were “His own kind”. In response to these accusations, Jesus reflected on this concept by asking the question of how “Satan could cast out Satan?” that any kingdom divided against itself will be destroyed, and any house divided against itself cannot stand.
This notion is to convey that when a house is fighting against itself, it can’t prosper or overcome the battle. Any victories will only be temporary and eventually will lead to losses and nothing good can come from it. When Jesus talks a house divided cannot stand, Jesus is illustrating the fact that success relies on unity.
LIFE LESSONS
Christians Must Be United, not Divided.
Why should Christians be unified? Well, the biggest reason is to remind a world in need of hope that the truest hope is found in Jesus and knowing He died on the cross so we could be saved from our sins and reunite with God again. This world will do all it can to destroy our hope for a better future, but Jesus reminds us that God has a better future for us on earth and in heaven.
However, if we are divided in our beliefs as the body of Christ, this shows the world and the unbelievers that it is better to be on your own than to believe in a God that allows such turmoil among His own people. God doesn’t allow it; we allow it when we don’t come together, rectify our differences, and unify to spread God’s love and hope to others.
Follow God, and Stand Together
He stated that “a house divided against itself will not stand,” making the point to the Pharisees, who were set on disproving everything that Jesus did and actually were causing strife among the body of believers.
The same understanding applies to believers today, as we are divided as a body over several elements of the world today. But if we continue to be divided over issues instead of united in following God’s teachings, our house of faith, truth, and love will not stand against life’s storms.
Now is the time for us to come together to stabilize our house to not let division unsettle it. For if we stand with Jesus, God will always keep our house together and know that life’s promises are nothing compared to the promises of God.
Keep away from Sin
Jesus mentioned that corruption divides the person between flesh and spirit. “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33). The infection, which threatens to destroy our relationship with God and our efficacy on mission comes from our own flesh, and it rots our fruit.
LIFE APPLICATIONS
Unity Begins with Families
Unity for believers must begin at the level of the family before it can truly characterize the Church. God created families long before He created the Church. He gave many specific instructions to families with the intent of unifying husbands and wives and children into a unit that would honor and reverence Him. His expectations were specific and straightforward both in the Old or the New Testament. Lk 10:27. Can you imagine how quickly God’s kingdom would grow if the Church was comprised of unified families obediently carrying out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission? If each individual family member, and each relationship represented within each family, would determine to live in unity, and if we were all committed to loving the Lord with a desperate passion, and to loving others as Jesus loves us…perhaps then, a watching world would be drawn to the Father. A family should and must begin with unity –connection, identity, building up of one another, etc. God has given much instruction to parents and to children about their relationships within their families. Only in unity are we able to carry out these relationships successfully, and in ways that are pleasing to the Lord. In order for unbelievers to truly know the love of Christ, they must see it in the unified, loving families that comprise Jesus’ Church.
Unity in the Faith
One hope… One faith… One baptism,” (Eph. 4:4-6) Unity in the body of Christ should testify to the unity of the gospel message. There is not more than one hope for salvation. There is not more than one object of faith who can save. There is not more than one baptism which identifies a born-again believer as a follower of Christ.
When believers in the church body are divided, it communicates to the world that the message of salvation in Jesus Christ is subject to amendment and/or discontinuity. The unity of the church body must model the unity of the gospel. No wonder Jesus was so adamant when He prayed “May they all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You. May they also be one in Us, so the world may believe You sent me,” (John 17:21). Our lack of unity as Christians affects the world’s understanding of the testimony about Jesus Christ.
LESSON OF THE DAY:
God’s desire is that His people walk in unity, but we are usually more interested in being right than in being one! We have not been faithful to reconcile ourselves one to the other by fervently seeking God in this regard. May we, as families, and as the Church, repentantly seek to be more interested in being one in Jesus, because that is right. “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me” (John 17:23).
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