1 Corinthians 3:1-9 (NASB) says, “1And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? 4For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?

5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. 6I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. 8Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. 9For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” 

Some ministries appear to build their entire organization or “empire” if you will on defaming and degrading other pastors, evangelists and churches for the sake of defending sound doctrine! Others attack because they are jealous of not having same amount of people who are following them or by the world’s definition or standard of “success”. While every church has differences or may interpret various scriptures differently, we are without excuse to set minimal difference aside to unite together in prayer, worship and seeking God! If we believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, conceived of the Holy Spirit, died, rose again and will one day return, then we have a reason to not belittle each other in the faith because we are of the same body of Christ. The literal body of Jesus was wounded and bruised, but not one bone of His body was broken, indicating that we are to be unified!

Our greatest tool of evangelism is unity. In the longest recorded prayer of Jesus, He prayed, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:21, KJV). In other words, if we want the world to believe that Jesus Christ was sent by our heavenly Father into the world, then we have no choice but to come together. If we refuse to for whatever reason, we have missed the mark! God will always stamp His blessing on unity! Any tool of division is a direct act of Satan to war against Christ’s prayer to the Father! We have to break through the barriers of religion and manmade denominations to seek first the kingdom of God! 

The bottom line is when we keep Jesus at the center of what we do and seek for opportunities to unite together, then we give no room to attack other ministries. Criticism and accusation of other ministries based on differences can testify of a lack of a fear of God. If we truly love one another in the faith, then we will not go on this huge search to find fault in one another, but we will encourage, cover one another in prayer and grow together! 

This is the battle Paul was facing with the church of Corinth. When they should have been teaching and making disciples, they were fighting, arguing and bickering concerning who they were following, such as Paul or Apollos. It is similar to those today who say, “I am Pentecostal,” or, “I am Baptist.” Immediately, we place others and allow others to place us in this box of limitation, uplifting or degrading as a result of their main focus of belief that causes separation. Humbly, it is time for the church to repent, stop putting people on pedestals and focus their attention on God. Allow the Holy Spirit to interpret the Word for Himself! Do not magnify division, but exalt the name of Jesus and Him alone. Regardless of who pastors where or what ministry you support or function in, as long as we are fulfilling our role and God is giving the increase, nothing else matters!