Fighting the Wrong Fight

 "I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought." - 1 Corinthians 1:10

 

 

"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." - Ephesians 4:3

 

"My prayer is... that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you." - John 17:20-21

 

 

The early church had the same problem we do. In Corinth, they were fighting about who baptised them, who was the better preacher, who had the better spiritual gifts. Today we still fight about the same secondary things:

Baptism - how much water, when, in whose name.
Worship style - hymns vs. modern, loud vs. quiet.
Theology details - end times, predestination, spiritual gifts.

These things matter, but they were never meant to be the hill we die on. When we make secondary issues primary, we become a divided army fighting in the tent while the real battle rages outside.

Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4:4-6 what is actually primary: "There is one body and one Spirit... one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all."

We can have different convictions on baptism and still share one baptism into Christ. We can have different traditions and still have one Lord.

The enemy doesn't need to destroy the church if he can just distract us.

 

 

If we stopped fighting each other, what could we fight together?

Jesus was very clear about the real enemies:

 

 

 

 

Poverty and Brokenness: 

Not just lack of money, but broken homes, loneliness, mental health, addiction. In my city of Malmö and around the world, people are desperate for hope. Isaiah 58:6-7 says true fasting is to "loose the chains of injustice... share your food with the hungry and provide the poor wanderer with shelter."

Injustice: 

When we read the prophets, God is furious not about worship style, but about injustice. "Let justice roll on like a river" (Amos 5:24). The church should be the first to stand for the vulnerable, the exploited, the unborn, the oppressed.

 

Idolatry: 

Our biggest idols today aren't statues. They are comfort, success, social media approval, even our own correct theology. An idol is anything we look to for what only Jesus can give. We need to fight idols together by helping each other lift up Jesus again.

 

We were never called to fight to be right. We were called to fight for the lost, for the hurting, and for holiness.

 

Of cause we need to address what is “wrong theology”, what's clearly not biblical, so called false teachers, for sure we need to do that.

 

Unity doesn't mean uniformity. It means moving in the same direction

 

The world is not moved when Christians agree on baptism. The world is moved when Christians who disagree on baptism wash each other's feet and then go serve the poor together. That is supernatural.

 

Unity is not that we sing the same note. Unity is that we sing different notes that make a harmony.

 

But again!!!

Have you noticed it? I have to be honest.

Many can sit in a room with someone from another faith and be full of respect, curiosity, and grace. they say, "We all worship a God in different ways."

But then we talk about the church down the road - the one that worships a little differently, baptises differently, prays differently - and suddenly there is suspicion, sarcasm, and coldness.

 

Protestants – Catholics- Orthodox, against each other.

 

 

We have become more tolerant of other religions than we are of our own family.

We treat a stranger with more honor than our own brother. We should treat strangers nicely for sure though.

 

But you see the world sees it. And it doesn't make sense to them. Jesus said the world would recognise us by our love for one another, not by how open-minded we are to everyone else except each other.

 

 

We forgot who the fight Is against

Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 - our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

 

We are not called to fight other faiths. People of other faiths are not the enemy - they are people Jesus loves and died for. We are called to love them, serve them, and share Jesus with them with gentleness and respect.

 

But we are called to contend together for the gospel against real darkness - against hopelessness, deception, poverty, injustice, sin, and death.

When we spend all our energy fighting the Pentecostal church, the Lutheran church, the Baptist church, the Catholics down the road, we have no energy left to be light in a dark city like Malmö.

 

The devil doesn't mind if you have perfect theology, as long as you are too busy fighting your brother to ever fight for a soul.

 

Think about it today:

If someone from another faith visited both your church and the church you disagree with, would they see two rivals - or one family?

Unity doesn't mean we have to agree on everything. It means we recognise that the person who confesses "Jesus is Lord" down the street is closer to you than anyone else.

Family first.