The Church Is Not the Solution...If It's Part of the Problem
What the division inside the body of Christ is doing to the world outside it
ARTICLE AUDIO VERSION:
Note to reader: When I refer to the church throughout this article, I am not talking about a building. I am talking about every individual, blood-bought believer in Jesus Christ. That is what the church is.
It doesn’t take much to see that we are living in a divided time.
America is divided politically. Culturally. Socially. Families are divided. Communities are divided. Institutions are divided. Even simple conversations can turn tense in a hurry. People are quicker to react, quicker to assume the worst, and quicker to turn disagreement into hostility.
That much is plain.
But as serious as that is, I do not believe that is the deepest problem.
The deeper problem is the division in the church.
That is the part most people either miss or do not want to deal with. It is easy to point to the chaos in the culture, the anger in politics, the confusion in society, the outrage in media, and the general breakdown all around us. But underneath all of that is a spiritual problem. And part of that spiritual problem is the condition of the church itself as well as a deeper condition of the heart.
Because if the church is deeply divided, we should not be surprised that the world around it is too.
Jesus said it plainly:
“You are the salt of the earth... You are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:13-14)
The church is supposed to shine into the darkness. To reflect truth, humility, love, and holiness before a watching world. To show that there is another way to live. Another way to speak. Another way to handle conflict. Another way to walk in truth without becoming proud, harsh, and fleshly. Essentially, to be mirror images of Christ to the world around us.
But when the church itself is fractured, that witness is weakened. It loses its appeal and effectiveness. And when that witness is weakened, the darkness only deepens.
A divided church cannot shine clearly into a divided world. A prideful church cannot help a prideful culture. A church full of infighting cannot speak with power to a society or culture that is already tearing itself apart. If believers are carrying the same bitterness, the same tribalism, the same constant outrage as the world, then the world is not seeing light. It is seeing a religious version of the same sickness. That is a very serious matter.
The church is not called to blend in or be part of the spirit of the age. It is called to stand apart from it. To be faithful, holy, speak the truth in love and to walk in humility. Paul’s charge to the church at Ephesus was to make:
“…every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3)
That is not a passive instruction. It is urgent. It is intentional. And most of the church is not taking it seriously right now.
If there’s one sad fact, that’d be that believers divide quickly. They divide carelessly. Sometimes over matters of truth that genuinely do matter. But most times over pride, personalities, camps, tone, reactions, ego and so much more. In some cases, what gets passed off as discernment is not discernment at all. It is a divisive spirit hiding behind biblical language, degrees and titles.
Now let me be clear. Discernment, doctrine and truth matter—a lot! This is not a call to pretend that everything is fine or that differences don’t matter. They do! But there is a difference between standing for truth and having a divisive spirit. There is a difference between contending for the faith and constantly feeding conflict. There is a difference between biblical conviction and fleshly pride.
A lot of people no longer seem to know the difference, or turn a blind eye to it.
The church is not weak right now because it lacks information. It’s certainly not weak because it lacks access to teaching, platforms, voices, or resources. It is weak because much of today’s church has lost its steadiness, its resolve, focus, humility, its ability to hold truth and love for one another. The church—by and large—has lost its ability to speak clearly without sounding angry, proud, reactionary and egotistical. And when that happens, the light grows dim—very dim!
And pride is at the center of it.
“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)
That’s not just a warning for individuals. It’s a warning for the church. Pride makes people hard and defensive. It makes people talk fast and listen slow—often times not listen at all. It turns every disagreement into something personal and every correction into an offense. It turns what you prefer into what everyone else must do. Pride always wants to be right, but it will never bow to humility. And once pride gets hold of a person, a church, or a movement, division is not far behind — it’s already at the door. Sadly, for too many churches today, pride has already walked in and made itself at home.
James asked the right question:
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?” (James 4:1)
The answer to that question then is the same as it is now. The conflict on the outside is a reflection of what is happening on the inside. And until that is dealt with honestly, no amount of debate, correction, or platform will fix it. This has always been a matter of the heart. Jesus never let anyone stay at the surface. He always went deeper — straight to the condition of the heart.
That is why this is not merely a political problem or a cultural problem. At the root, it is spiritual.
If the church were more humble, steadier, more faithful, more grounded in truth, and less conformed to the spirit of the age, its witness would be stronger. And if its witness were stronger, that would change things. It’s really not complicated at all. That is what Jesus meant when He called His people the light of the world in Matthew 5:13-16. Light is supposed to shine. Duh, right? But what happens when the light isn’t shining clearly? The darkness has more room to spread.
The answer is not more noise, better branding, more lights and smoke, or bigger personalities with bigger platforms. It is not another celebrity pastor selling out arenas while his own congregation barely knows the real teachings in the Bible. It is not a hipper building, a better coffee shop in the lobby, a bigger bookstore, or a more impressive production. It is not chasing the next prophetic voice, the next revival movement, or the next conference circuit. The church has tried all of that—and continues at breakneck speed.
The fact is that as the lights got brighter, the truth got dimmer and dimmer. And the answer for the church to be the church again is repentance in a spirit of humility.
That is what this hour calls for!
The world does not need the church to mimic its anger. It needs the church to shine. It needs to see people who say they love Jesus, His Word and Truth to love one another. The world needs to see a church that speaks to one another without being cruel, angry or divisive. Who are not ruled by pride or baited into every fight. People whose lives actually look like Jesus. That is the witness we are called to be. In the world, but not of it.
Yes, America is fractured. But beneath that visible fracture is something even more troubling. The church itself is deeply divided. And a divided church cannot shine clearly into a divided world. It essentially becomes ineffective.
Now I know that is not the whole explanation for what is happening in society. But it is a major one. And until the church faces that honestly, we will keep treating the symptoms while ignoring the sickness closer to home.
So here is the call. Repent.
Not as a religious formality. As a genuine turning. Away from the pride, the ego, the camps, the celebrity, the noise, and the compromise. And back to Christ. Back to His Word. Back to His way.
Jesus did not leave the church a platform. He left it a commission. Go. Make disciples. Baptize. Teach. That is still the assignment. It has not changed. It does not need to be rebranded or reimagined. It needs to be obeyed.
The world is waiting—whether it knows it or not—to see a church that actually looks, acts and loves like its King. A church that is humble enough to repent, bold enough to speak the truth, and loving enough to lay down its pride for the sake of the gospel.
That church can still change the world. But it has to decide to be that church again.
Though the hour is late, the commission still stands.
Grateful you’re here.
— Pablo
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I couldn’t agree more. You are 100 percent spot on. We must never compromise Salvation by faith through grace in Christ alone, but where personal beliefs or speculation differ, we need to embrace the differences and build each other up.
Amen! Spot on brother!