We have already referred to different types of oneness. One type has a boundary greater than that of the Body; it receives even the tares. Another type has a boundary that is smaller than the Body; it is an organization, a sect. Still another type has a boundary that is as large as the Body of Christ, but within this boundary there are segregated squares. It is like a checkerboard. The boundary is as large as the Body of Christ, yet there are sects in it. Each minds his own business within his sphere. This is organized unity, not unity itself; it is an affiliation of oneness, not oneness itself. Although the boundary of this kind of fellowship is as large as the Body, there are still many sects within this fellowship. According to statistics in the 1930s, there were at least fifteen hundred of these little squares.
If the church should be divided into sects, God would surely have spoken of it clearly in the Bible. But God tells us in the Bible that the church is the Body. There is only one Body, and every member is joined to this Body. This is the only possible way to go. Even a machine or a car cannot be divided. If it is divided, it cannot function. Today many sects are striving to unite themselves. I feel compelled to point out the ground upon which such ecumenical boundaries are based.
The Bible says that the Body is made up of members. Therefore, the members are the basic units of the Body. Today ecumenical workers see the Body of Christ, but they are not willing to pay the price to take the fellowship of the Body. They emphasize the Body of Christ, yet the Body which they speak of does not have the members as its unit but organizations as its unit. The basic unit of Christian fellowship should be Christians. It is Christians who are joined together to form the Body. But the ecumenical affiliations of today take certain organizations as their basic unit. In other words, if there are five thousand denominations throughout the world, they say that there are five thousand basic units in the Body. This can only be called a fellowship of organizations.
The fellowship in the Bible takes individual Christians as its basic unit. I am a believer, and you are a believer. The two of us spontaneously have fellowship. Another person is a believer, and as a believer, you will have fellowship with him as well. The fellowship is always carried out on an individual basis. Today ecumenical workers lump believers together into organizations and then unite the many organizations. Something more has been added to the fellowship of the Body.
The Bible puts all of God’s children together in the Body of Christ. Together they express His Body on earth. But today men have united those with the same opinions, beliefs, and views. They have united men who respect the same persons and have formed them into organizations. As a further step, they try to form associations of different organizations. They are, in reality, first dividing to go along with man’s will and then uniting to go along with God’s intention. In this way they think that they have satisfied both sides! Fleshly sectarianism is allowed to remain, while Christian oneness is seemingly achieved. This is what ecumenical affiliations are all about. I say again emphatically that the only purpose for doing this is to give ground to the flesh. The Lord has shown us that division is a work of the flesh.
Brothers and sisters, you do not have to go to the denominations to find out that sectarianism is a work of the flesh. You can find this within yourself. If you have to go to other places to find this out, I question your spiritual condition before God. Human beings are prone to division. Everyone likes to separate himself from other brothers and sisters according to his own will. Today many people like to keep denominations on the one hand and try to arrive at some form of unity on the other. This is self-contradictory! They think that denominationalism can remain, and they try to preserve it. But then they join themselves to ecumenical affiliations because their conscience is bothered. This is to divide the Body first and then to try to unite it later.