Fractured?
A fracture by definition is a break or a crack in a bone. It occurs when a force is applied to the bone that exceeds its structural capacity. There are many different causes for the breaking of a bone. There are also many types of breaks. Upon looking this up, I was surprised to learn there are hairline, greenstick, closed, open, displaced (unstable), nondisplaced (stable), something called comminuted, and spiral fractures. The bone is part of the body and if part of the body is affected, the whole body suffers too. Regardless of the cause for the break or the severity of the break, each one needs treatment to repair the damage before the body can perform properly and operate up to its full potential.
This concept was recognized by Abraham Lincoln. In his 1858 senate campaign speech, he said: “A house divided against itself cannot stand”. He knew that the 1857 Dred Scott case and its outcome had divided the nation. Lincoln also knew the “body”, in his case, the United States of America, could not operate effectively when part of it was broken. It took a great deal of effort, a civil war, and the loss of many lives to begin the process of healing which the country desperately needed. Of course after the “cast” is applied to stabilize the broken bone, it takes time for it to fully heal. Sadly, a bone once broken, can be broken again provided enough pressure is applied against it.
Many attribute the above quote to Mr. Lincoln, who would serve in the Senate and then as President of the United States until his assassination. But these words did not originate with Lincoln. He was a student of the Bible and “borrowed” this concept from Christ Himself. In Mark 3:25 as Jesus was responding to the scribes who accused Jesus of having “Beelzebub”, and “by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils”. To this, Jesus said: “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.“ In the previous verse He also declared that a kingdom divided among itself cannot stand.
When Christ referenced a kingdom, He was speaking of the church for which He would die at the end of His earthly ministry. The beginning of Christ’s earthly ministry began after He had heard John had been cast into prison. We are told in Matt. 4:17 - From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That kingdom is the church as Matt. 16:18-19 clearly indicates. Peter had made the great declaration that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Jesus told Peter this had been revealed to him by the Father. Then, He said, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:”. Christ’s death on the cross would not stop Him. In fact, according to Acts 20:28, the church was purchased with His blood.
Additionally, according to Eph. 1:20-23, when God raised Jesus from the dead, He placed Christ “to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body”. Since the church is “His body”, all the members of the church are part of the “body of Christ”. In 1Cor. 12:25-27 the Spirit has the apostle Paul warn the Corinthian church regarding divisions within the body. This is in the context of the spiritually gifted within the church in the absence of the written Word. However, the premise remains. Christians are “the body of Christ, and members in particular” (27). And “there should be no schism in the body” (25). When division exists, a departure from the truth has occurred in part of the body. When a fracture occurs in the “body of Christ” the whole body suffers. We are reminded in Eph. 5:30, “we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” Then, we are assured in Eph. 5:32 that “This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”
Have “fractures” occurred in the church, the “body of Christ”? Of course they have. Near the beginning of the first epistle to Corinth, the Spirit had Paul warn these brethren of divisions in the church. 1Cor. 1:10 drives this point home and also tells what will prevent the stress and strain that fractures or divides the body of Christ. “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.” When the “house”, the “body”, the “kingdom”, all of which are the church, fail to speak the same thing, fail to be perfectly joined together in the same mind and the same judgment, there is a fracture. When this occurs, a part of the body is broken because it has departed from the proper teaching of the New Testament. In such a case, that part of the body needs repair.
This can only be accomplished by following the admonition delivered to Paul by the Holy Spirit and penned in Phil. 3:16 - Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. That “same rule” must be authorized by Christ as is seen in Col. 3:17 - And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. This is why in 2Cor. 6:17 the faithful brethren were told: “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,”. Don’t be fractured, broken, or in any way separated from God. Follow His Word and it alone. The reward awaits!
Dennis Strickland – Mooresville church of Christ
