Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
Woe unto the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come. But woe unto the man by whom it cometh.
Matthew 18:7
When you come together as a congregation, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it because it is necessary that there be heresies among you.
1Corinthians 11:18-19
This is one of the most sobering realities of life in Christ. Let me begin by quoting what Preacher Clark said during his sermon that Sunday afternoon: “You’ll never see a group [of believers in this world] with everyone right. It’s not even intended to be that way.”
This is the awful truth to which Paul was referring when he said that “there must be heresies”, and it is the same truth to which Jesus was referring when he said, “offences must come”. For His own wise purposes, God did not intend for His wise saints to gather and worship together on earth without having foolish brothers and sisters among them. It is necessary, according to both Paul and Jesus, for carnally-minded believers to be in the midst of the ones who are spiritually minded and to try their hearts.
There may be no way for us to make a final judgement about who is in the category of “the wise” and who is not. But we can do what needs to be done to make sure that we are not condemned as foolish.