I will present the following scripture that pretty much tells you what the Apostle Paul thought of this kind of division in the church. So that you get the drift of this quickly I will tell you he wasn't complementing the church at Corinth for what they were doing. This was correction and it was firm.
1 Corinthians 3:3-9 KJV
(3) For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
(4) For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
(5) Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
(6) I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
(7) So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
(8) Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
(9) For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.
And I will have you note that he was as upset with those who said, "I am of Paul" as he was with the ones who said, "I am of Apollos". Now allow me take verse 4 and rephrase it a couple times, hopefully to show how this applies today.
For while one saith, I am of Wesley; and another, I am of Simmons; are ye not carnal?
For while one saith, I am of Luther; and another, I am of Rome; are ye not carnal?
For while one saith, I am Pentecostal; and another, I am Baptist; are ye not carnal?
For while one saith, I observe Saturday as the sabbath; and another, I observe Sunday ; are ye not carnal?
For while one saith, I speak in tongues; and another, I do not; are ye not carnal?
For while one saith, I worship with music; and another, I do not; are ye not carnal?
For while one saith, I eat meat; and another, I do not; are ye not carnal?
For while one saith, I believe in the trinity; and another, I do not; are ye not carnal? (Yet both believe in the Father, son and holy spirit. How sad.)
For while one saith, I use the KJV; and another, I use the NIV; are ye not carnal? (Feel free to replace KJV and NIV with Geneva, Message, Beck, Williams, or whatever other translation you like.)
For while one saith, I have statues and art in my church to remind us of Him; and another, I believe it is wrong to have statues; are ye not carnal?
For while one saith, I use the old songs, the only ones that are right; and another, I use the new songs, the only ones that are relevant; are ye not carnal?
For while one saith, I am Indian; and another, I am French; are ye not carnal?
For while one saith, I am a man; and another, I am a woman; are ye not carnal?
For while one saith, I am a Pennsylvanian; and another, I am a Texan; are ye not carnal?
But the big question is not what "one or the other saith", but the attitude of our hearts. If we are willing to fight over one or more of these and a host of others too numerous to mention, are we not carnal? If we prefer some of these for ourselves because we are convinced in them, let us keep to it but let us not judge the other by our convictions. If you wish to keep the Sabbath on Saturday or SUnday, do it. But let me show you this.
Colossians 2
(16) Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
(17) Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Romans 14
(5) One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
I have been pulled back with this scripture in recent weeks because I have been critical of those who observed the Sabbath on Saturday. I herein publicly repent of that sin of judgment but for those of you who subscribe to this, do not construe it as considering your claims to this to have one more jot or title of validity than they did last month. It still doesn't fly but I have gone past this and I am calling those who are such to come past the carnality of it. Whether they observe the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday or in fact Thursday or Monday should mean nothing to me as much as when I observe the Sabbath should mean nothing to them. But if either of us tries to teach the other that they are wrong in the observance, we sin. Although I cannot see that either of us err in observance, if we contend and strive over this we err in wrongly judging our brothers and sisters. And if there is any sin in the observance there is a much greater sin, if that were possible, in the strife because it violates the scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself" which is at the core of the gospel.
There are other things that I listed above that fall into that same category, in fact I could take each one and show how wrong they are but I hope one example is enough. I just picked this one to expand on but I could have easily selected other issues like tongues and the trinity which probably fill out the top three points of contention.
The sad thing about the list above is that I believe for most here at least one of them will "trip your trigger" and get you upset. You will say, "But it is important to use old music, or no music, or current music, or this or that or whatever." And let me state that many of these, particularly the ones that identify us like "For one says, I am a Pennsylvanian; and another, I am a Texan;" are inherently not bad or evil nor are they even necessarily carnal. If I use the "I am a Pennsylvanian" so someone knows where I live, that is good. But if I use it as an item of pride it is wrong. And for the most part each of the above are thus.
If one of these does trip your trigger, repent. Get right with God and your brother. Just turn your back on the carnal nature and start living in the realm of the spirit. Paul described this as follows.
Galatians 5
(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
(23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
(24) And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Let us crucify the flesh and let it die and be alive in the spirit. I believe it is interesting that Paul uses a word that is usually used in a sexual note in this scripture, "lusts". This desiring to have our own way is really lust. It is not different to God than when it is used in the sexual sense, it is sin. And John said, "If we confess our sin he is faithful and just to forgive us of all unrighteousness."
Let us put off the old man, the carnal, let us put on the new man with the spirit.
