Why is there so much discord and discontent among the brethren today?

Why is there no unity in the church?

Paul tells us there is one body and there are gifts given to individuals that are for the building up of the body in unity until we all are one in Messiah. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

The answer is very simple, but first we must understand some basic principles and truths that God intended us to understand.

Let’s go back to the beginning. Most of us are familiar with the story of creation. However, there are some very important points we must see before we can proceed.

God Created only good:

God gave Adam instructions on how he should live in the garden:

However, the adversary came along and planted a thought in the mind of Eve.

We see, however, from the Bible that in Adam all die.

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive."

(1 Corinthians 15:22)

Adam and Eve made their decision to decide for themselves what is right from wrong. This seed from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil has passed down from father to son, from generation to generation until today. We see the result of this all around us.

So what are we to do?

Wait a minute, is that all there is to it? No, yet some preach this very thing. Take a look around you. The evidence of disunity in the church proves there still is a problem. Paul, in the book Romans spends several chapters explaining the old life, or "old man", that used to be before Messiah (Christ). He then goes on to say how he must die daily to that old man [1 Corinthians 15:31] . "Dying to self" is resisting to the pulls and desires which started with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Paul says that deliverance from that old man is through Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) Rom 7:24 - 8:2. Many understand this and accept this. Yet there is still discord and grievances in the church. Why is that? To answer this we need to take a look at an average Christian (we will call him Joe) and how he overcomes his "old man". In explaining this, we are going to use the analogy of the two trees. Joe has accepted Yeshua as his Savior, and is attempting to improve himself; to keep from sinning by removing all the evil out of his "tree". Remember, this is the tree of Good and Evil. If one can remove all the Evil, all that is left is Good, right? Therefore, you end up with a good Christian who only produces good fruit. After all, if all the bad (evil) fruit is pruned away, and all the good fruit is left, isn’t that a picture of a good Christian? Well, many would say yes. Many attempt to do this in their life and are, for the most part, successful. Many are therefore satisfied with their standing with God. Certainly Joe is. He goes to church every week; he tries hard to apply the principles he hears in church. He reads the Bible and applies what he feels is applicable to his life, for his problems and for his situation.

Many are just like Joe. Many are satisfied with their standing with God and their Christianity.

So what is wrong? Why are there still so many problems in the church?

The problem is that many are living from the seed from the wrong tree. Too many are living their lives based on their own understanding; based on what they decide is "good" and what they decide is "evil" rather than what God says is good and what God says is evil. That is why there is so much discord in the church, and between Christians. Think about this for a minute. One church says it is okay to eat all foods. Another says don’t eat any meat. One church says homosexual lifestyles are okay while others are saying no.

Do you see the results, the fruits of living from the wrong tree? We are supposed to be living from the seed of the Tree of Life. Paul’s reference to the old man is the same as the analogy of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The cause of the disunity issue is: Everybody is deciding for himself or herself what is right and wrong. And when a group can agree on a few basic issues they form a church and hold to these issues (doctrines) to the exclusion of others, unless there is some common ground, and then they form an association.

The solution to this issue is to deny your self totally of the seed from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Another way to put this is give up everything you ever wanted, for the rest of your life, if it is from the wrong tree.

Does this statement seem right to you? Does this statement upset you? If so, what seed are you living from?

A wise man once said, Filter every thought you have through God’s Word. If it does not agree, then throw out that thought. So, let’s filter this thought through God’s Word.

David says God’s Word is Truth:

Yeshua says the same:

Let’s find the way to salvation.

Is believing in the name of Jesus the only requirement?

So we not only have to love God, but we are to keep His commandments. One of the commandments of Yeshua is:

Yeshua said to deny your self, He didn’t say to deny only some things. He didn’t say to deny self only for a period of time. He said deny your self, and follow me. We cannot live in two worlds; we cannot live from both of the seeds.

The statement "Give up everything you ever wanted…" includes not worrying about food, clothing and shelter. Yeshua said not to worry about such things. We are to be spending our time doing the will of our Father in Heaven; not getting more stuff, not buying the latest gadgets or the latest clothing fad. Yet resisting this natural pull of self is impossible for man. We cannot do this on our own strength and power.

In order to resist this natural pull, we need to be born again:

We need to be born again of the Holy Spirit, which gives us a new Seed. This new "Seed" is from the tree of life. In order to live only by this Seed, we need to give up our own will (which is from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, inherited from our fathers, from Adam) and do the will of the heavenly Father.

Yeshua gave us this example:

There is a parable by Yeshua, which may help explain this whole principle. It is the parable of the sower. This is in Mark 4:3-9. Most have heard this before. However, Yeshua’s disciples asked Him what the parable meant. His answer was:

In other words: You cannot understand any of the parables unless you understand this one. Yeshua then goes on to explain the parable.

Luke’s explanation goes this way:

The seed in the parable is God’s Word. You either accept it, or you reject it, just like the soil on the earth accepts or rejects seeds. You either receive the seed and produce fruit, or you just lie fallow and are unfruitful.

Who is the sower in this parable?

It is Yeshua.

Who is the Word of God?

It also is Yeshua.

Yeshua, in sowing the seed, is sowing Himself, God’s Word. If you reject the Word, you reject Yeshua.

There are two seeds, one from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, from which all of humanity is born, and the Seed from the tree of life, of which all that are born of the Spirit live.

There is only one true Seed; only one true Word:

There are two seeds, but the true seed is Messiah. We need to make this clear; if we live by the seed of our nature from the first Adam, we will produce bad fruit, but if we live by the Seed from Messiah we will produce good fruit. The fruit we produce comes from the seed in us. Inside the fruit that we produce --by doing God’s will-- is more seed. In turn, this produces more fruit. How can there be different laws for Jews and Gentiles if there is only one seed? Torah (God’s instructions to man, usually referred to as ‘the law’) is the seed. Torah is the Word of God.

The seed is through Isaac:

Abraham produced two sons, one through his own efforts (through the seed from the knowledge of good and evil) and one through faith (the seed of life). The one through faith is the one through whom the seed is produced. The seed (the Word of God {the sperm/the father}) needs faith (the egg {the mother/the bride}) to produce life. One without the other does not produce life.

Are we ready to be obedient to God; to do His Will? We are to be servants of God, not servants of our own desires and nature.

Why do you think Paul had to die to self every day? Because if he did not, he would be doing things of his own will; deciding for himself what was right and wrong. Instead, Paul had to take on the will of Messiah; by the grace of God to carry on in Spirit and Truth. We need to be servants to God, ever ready to do His will. Even earthly servants can give us an understanding of this.

Imagine a servant who loves his master, and his master loves him. The servant is willing to do anything for the master, not concerned about his own welfare, his own opinions, and his own ideas. Does this mean the servant lives a destitute life? No. A good master will see to the needs of his servant. A good master will take care of his servant whom he loves, and may even grant some of his servant’s desires and wishes. The "good master" is our heavenly Father.

We need to humble ourselves before our God, willing to do His will, denying ourselves of our will. We cannot do this though our strength but through the grace of our heavenly Father. We do this because of the love we have for Him.

So why is there no unity in the church today?

It is because we are following the wrong seed. When a person is born or in-planted with the true Seed he now has two seeds within. Every day we must make a conscience decision to die to the seed that came from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and yield to the Seed from the tree of life. When we do this our life begins to bear fruit that has more seed from the Word of life. Others can then partake of the same fruit and we have unity because we are all abiding in the same vine, which is Yeshua Messiah.

There is much more to being in unity in one body. We begin by humbly yielding ourselves to the will of the Father. Then we will be one in Messiah and with the Father.

Our prayer is to humbly ask the Father to remove any hindrance, which would impede our relationship with Him and His Son. That we will become sensitive to His leading in our life and the lives of those around us.