Max Lucado wrote many great stories ...and I have a collection of some of his short stories. One is a bit relevant to what I am attempting to say, which Max says much better ...and it is called, "The Watermaster".

It describes a desert village.

It did not tell of why they had chosen to live there ...whether there was at one time gold, or whether they hoped there still was.  The story merely begins by telling us that water in this desert village was scarce ...and like gold, in value.

In Max's story, one of the villagers, one day found a cavern on his property ...filled with water.  And at first, that villager joyfully shared the news of the water ...and freely shared the water.  But, as time went on, the villager started placing stipulations on his distribution of the water.

Water is vital to our existence ...and Jesus tells us He is the living water.

Jesus is vital to our eternal life ...to eternally live with Him.

That is why He tells us to tell everyone of the gospel ...

And so, we go out into the world ...and tell people about Jesus. We believe what the Bible says, concerning salvation ...and when we do go out, especially to those nations who have not heard, we share the simple gospel truth about Jesus.

Like I said, not every place, nor every person will show a thirst ...but, for those who do, we present the Living Water.

But, what happens next??

It may take a while, but ...

Yes, too often what happens is sort of like what happened in Max Lucado's story of "The Watermaster."  We begin to put stipulations on it ...and begin to add our own expectations.

What would have happened if when the disciples went out to spread the gospel, they did not address the certain things that were certainly wrong ...with problems cropping up, even amid the enthusiasm and excitement of the rapid growth??

What if the first churches had denominational differences?? 

Well, they had many difficulties early on ...but, they hadn't yet established denominational differences, with styles and stipulations.  They mostly gathered in homes.

The First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, Chapter 1, verse 11, " ...by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you."

Reading further, " ...that every one of you says, I am of Paul; and I am of Apollos; and I of Cephus; and I of Christ.  Is Christ divided?  Was Paul crucified for you?  Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?  I thank God that I baptized none of you ...lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name."

Verse 17, speaks on, "For Christ send me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel ..."

In Corinth ...people said they were of Paul, of Apollos, of Cephus.   Today, we say we have long moved beyond debates and differences ...to justified divisions and proud denominations.  God has always wanted His people to be a people set apart.  But, by what standard do we set ourselves apart??

We call ourselves Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Protestant,  Assemblies of God, Apostolic, Church of Christ, Catholic ...to name only a few.  And we do have distinguishing characteristics by which we go by these names (not color coded according to any distinction).  If I can say it another way ...if someone asks why we go to the church we go to, what do we say??  And if they say they go to church, do we simply say, "That's good!" ...or do we try to tell them about our church, and invite them to worship with us??

It is considered a good thing to have 20/20 vision ...but, how good is it what the mother of Zebedee's children envisioned, beginning in Matthew 20:20??

She asked of Jesus, requesting for her two sons that He would grant them the position of being able to sit next to Jesus when they'd enter His kingdom, one on the right & one on the left. My question is, how many churches feel they are already privileged to have a very similar & coveted status ...of being seated as the only true church??

Assuredly, it would seem right to move beyond the simple gospel.  We call it growth, development, and leadership ...and go from a childlike faith to a fulfilled adult.  

But, I think it is wise to offer a word of caution.  Be careful not to focus more on the fulfillment than on the source of it. Though we aspire to what we consider more genuine, when we look to what we feel is right ...what is left is perhaps less of God's righteousness, and more of ours. The apostles worked to fight against this, and tried to prevent it from happening.  But, happen it did ...not immediately, but it did happen.

The question is ...how do we not let it happen??

We must go back to ...to what??

The source of truth is God ...and our source of the understanding of Him, is the Bible.

We should spread the gospel throughout the world, with this in mind ...and Jesus in our heart.  And there are so many people involved in what we call the mission field, doing this very thing. But, those of us who don't go far ---and reach out to family, fellow church-goers, and our surrounding community ---how do we approach, or attempt to resolve those things we don't always see eye-to-eye on??

We say we should build confidence in our faith ...yet, we should also continually pray we don't go astray.  We should never feel immune to what has happened to others.  Instead, we should be eager to learn from what has happened ...especially to those we read about in the Bible.

Selah. 

(pause & consider)