Homeschool Helpers

Newsletter
Issue 150, April 25, 2010
From Homeschool Helpers
In association with Pass It On Ministries
By Dan L. White

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Division is the hardest of the four math functions to master.

When we taught math to our little ones, the order was adding, subtracting,
multiplying and dividing. Long division was the most dreaded problem in
basic math.

In human relations, division is also very difficult.

Galatians 5 lists the fruits of the flesh and the fruits of the spirit, in contrast
to one another. My wife Margie tells the story of when we were in college and
one night I helped her memorize the nine fruits of the spirit that Paul listed.

Gal 5:22-23 Modern King James

(22) But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness,
goodness, faith,
(23) meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Margie does not memorize easily and does not like to memorize, so my
getting her to learn that in an evening was a bit of an accomplishment, I will
say. However, the next day – the very next day -- in her Bible class, the
professor gave a pop quiz. That quiz only had one question: name the nine
fruits of the spirit of Galatians 5:22.

Sometime after that, she decided she definitely did want to marry me.

Right before the fruits of the spirit, Paul lists the fruits of the flesh.

Gal 5:19-21
(19) Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery,
fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness,
(20) idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries,
divisions, heresies,
(21) envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of
which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
One of the bad fruits that Paul listed is divisions, or divisiveness. That seems
a bit innocuous compared to adultery and fightings and murders, but
divisiveness is pervasive. People can’t get away from it.

I recently heard of a church group that seems on the brink of dividing. Even
if they don’t divide, they certainly can’t get much done because they are not
united spiritually. We may bewail such division and complain about not being
able to be one spiritually, but it has always been so. Paul wrote about that to
the Christianos at Corinth.

1Co 1:10-12
(10) But I exhort you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you; but
that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment.
(11) For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brothers, by those
of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.
(12) But I say this, that every one of you says, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos,
and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.

Those were the very first denominations. A denominator is a name that sets
you apart from all other Christians. In Corinth they came up with the
Paulicians, the Apollonians, and the Peterites. Paul told them they shouldn’t
do that. That means that all named denominations today are wrong, as hard
as that is to accept. Needless to say, the Paulicians thought they were better
than the Apollonians; the Apollonians felt more spiritual than the Peterites;
and the Peterites put down the Paulicians.

And that is divisions, the fruit of the flesh.

Divisions are particularly painful when they occur in families, but Christ said
it must be so.

Mat 10:34-38
(34) Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth. I did not come to
send peace, but a sword.
(35) For I have come to set a man against his father, and the daughter
against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
(36) And a man's foes shall be those of his own household.
(37) He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And
he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
(38) And he who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of
Me.

Luk 12:49-53
(49) I have come to send fire on the earth. And what will I do if it is already
kindled?
(50) But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am pressed down
until it is accomplished!
(51) Do you suppose that I have come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no,
but rather division.
(52) For from now on, there shall be five in one house divided, three against
two, and two against three.
(53) The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the
father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the
mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-
law against her mother-in-law.

How does this division happen between a father and a son or a mother and a
daughter?

It happens because one stands for the way of Christ and the other stands
against it. Today there is much co-habitation going on, and that word was
invented to describe it without condemning it. Christ does condemn it and
anyone who follows Christ directly will not accept it. Therefore, if your adult
child cohabits without marriage, you will not accept it, your grown child will
hate not being accepted with that sin, and you have deep division.

Human divisiveness is caused by somebody being separated from God. This

fruit of the flesh is only cured by being close to God. The anti-God public
schools cause great division in Christian families, because they teach the
children of Christian parents to hate God. They do this directly in the classes;
and indirectly in the uncontrolled culture. When the young people learn to
despise God, they learn to despise their Christian parents. This causes
conflict and division.

We have reached the spring, the time of most homeschool graduations. Each
year as we watch these graduation ceremonies, we are moved by the show
of love between the parents and their homeschool graduates. Instead of
seeing division, a fruit of the flesh, we see love, a fruit of the spirit. This is so
because the Christian homeschool students have been taught to love God.
To whatever individual degree, the parents love God; their children love God;
and the parents and children love each other. Division has been mastered.