At the back of my house, I have a door that used to open into an enclosed deck space.   Wood rot along with an earthquake did away with the deck, but the door still stands.   I keep that door locked, but to pass it you only need to step two feet to the left and you can walk around it.   My son asked me one time why I keep it locked.   I explained that as a dad, I must keep thermostats turned down, lights switched off, and doors locked, even the ones that are not attached to the deck anymore.  He failed to understand my dad logic. 

The theme this week is Jesus’ statement ‘I am the door’ from John 10:9.   Fortunately for us, Jesus is a much better door than my old door that used to lead to my deck.   He truly is a door that protects his flock. Today’s verses help us expand on this teaching.  The apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans contains a lot of good solid teaching.  As he concludes the letter in this chapter, Paul warns his readers to watch out for those who cause unnecessary division and promote wrong ideas.   They do this because they are serving their own selves by promoting personal agendas.   People who are naïve, young in the faith, spiritually immature, or maybe just unfamiliar with an issue are particularly susceptible to such divisive individuals.   

The church is referred to as the body of Jesus.  Jesus loves his church and wants us to be united.  There are certain core doctrines that we must stand for such as Jesus is God, Jesus is the only way to God, God exists as Trinity (woo boy that is a complex idea).   But a lot of what divides our churches are from much smaller issues.  Discussion is healthy but it grieves Jesus when we divide ourselves over small issues.   As Paul warns, certain individuals who serve their own hearts instead of Jesus can lead people astray and damage the unity of the church body.   Fortunately for us, Jesus stands at the door to our hearts and helps us guard against such issues.