Birds of a feather

Birds of a feather flock together.  This is an ancient saying that is said to have it roots back to ancient Greece.  There has been a bit of a crisp in the air especially in the evenings, a sign that fall is coming.  Fall usually means birds will begin their long trek to their winter grounds in the south.  Last fall, my first in this Calhoun County, I was amazed at the number of white pelicans that rested at the nearby Rip Rap.  The little ravines of water were coated in a sea of white as pelicans floated lazily along and fed on unsuspecting fish.  Within a week, they were gone. 

There is another saying about ducks.  If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck and congregates with other ducks, then it must be a duck.  I have been in church pretty much my whole life and have been involved in church ministry for at least 18 years and there is a destructive tendency found among church members: cliques.  A clique is a tight knit group of likeminded people.  It is interesting to know that the word “clique” derives from the French word that means to make noise. 

There is nothing wrong with friendship, in fact, the Bible encourages friendship and when it encourages friendship, it encourages right friendship.  Consider these verses from Proverbs:

One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. (Proverbs 12:26)

Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. (Proverbs 22:24,25)

Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)

The Bible is full of friendship such as David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, Elijah and Elisha, and Paul and Silas among other.

In the same way that the Bible encourages friendships, it also discourages cliques.  Cliques tend to cause division or trouble in the church or as the original French word would define it “make noise.”  Paul gives us a warning to watch out for them:

Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them.  For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. (Romans 16:17-18)

According to what Paul wrote above, these people are more concerned about themselves than they are the good of the church.  Commentator John Gill writes that their usage of smooth and flattering speech is handling “the word of God deceitfully.” 

In another letter, Paul writes:

  But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him (Titus 3:9,10)

Consider these words of James in his epistle

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (James 4:1-3)

Did you see why people fight and quarrel.  Because they are not getting what they want.  It is not a coincidence that Christianity is a matter of the heart as Jesus teaches.  Everything we are and everything we do is a reflection of the condition of our heart.  If we are bitter, then we have bitterness in our heart.  If we are selfish, then we our heart is focused on ourselves and not God.  If we are indifferent to others, then our heart is indifferent.  Paul even teaches us to preach the Word in II Timothy 4 because the time will come where people will find teachers after their own desires to satisfy their needs.  The key point is this, it is not what God wants but what we want that brings about quarrels. 

Now, let’s go back to the word clique.  You can tell a lot about a person by the kind of people they hang out with.  A duck hangs out with other ducks.  A pelican hangs out with other pelicans.  If you find yourself become a part of a clique, leave because as the wisdom of Proverbs tells us:

Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. (Proverbs 22:24,25)

What flock are you flying with?