Church Conflict

TONIGHT'S SCRIPTURE READING: Acts 15

Conflict among Christians is inevitable and should be anticipated.   Yet, many churches have trouble managing conflict.  I believe a major reason why this is so is because it is contrary to what we expect to find.  We think that church should be the one place where people find relief from the turmoil that is in our lives.  

People believe church should be an environment that is free of strife.  We're Christians; can't we all get along?  But this expectation does not take into account the fact that even Christians are still fallen people.  Though we believe in Jesus, we're still a mess.   The unrealistic expectation that believers in Christ will always live peacefully with one another only exasperates the problem when conflict does arise.

Acts 15 is a pivotal chapter;  in it the decision was made as to how Gentiles would be received into the church.  It was difficult for some Jewish Christians to accept that Gentiles could be brought into the church without first becoming Jews.   The conflict in the church at Antioch caused by the Judaizers' false teaching was no side issue.  The matter had to do with salvation itself.  This was not something where believers could just agree to disagree.  Salvation is an essential doctrine of the church.  This issue went to the very core of Christianity, and it had to be resolved.
When Paul heard about what the Judaizers were teaching, he became outraged.  You see Paul correctly taught that salvation is grace plus nothing.  Our simple response is to place our faith in Jesus.  To require one to follow the law, or to observe a system of religious rituals, is to add to the gospel of grace. 

Just how is church conflict to be resolved?   *Matthew 18:15-17* gives us a three-step method for resolving church conflict.
 
The situation to which Jesus refers is when someone in the church has sinned against us.  Our Lord instructs us to go to that person, and seek to bring about reconciliation.  Quite often, our attitude is, "He or she should come to me.  After all, I was the one who was wronged.  Why should I make the first move?  That person should come to me and apologize."
 
We are also to take the initiative whenever we have been the one who has caused the hurt or anger (*Matthew 5:23-24*).  So then, we should always take the initiative in resolving conflict, regardless of whether we were the one hurt, or we were the one who caused the hurt.

Step One: Go to the individual in private:

We are to go to that person alone.  This is because we need to preserve peace in the church.  If we don't handle the matter privately, and instead talk about it with our friends behind the person's back, gossip will spread throughout the church.  Factions will develop as people choose sides.  Thus, we must attempt to resolve the issue one-on-one.
Before we go, we should pray.  We need to ask God to help us approach the individual in an attitude of love.  Our purpose in meeting with him or her should be to both convince and restore.  We also want to reconcile with him.  We almost certainly will not succeed if we lose control of our temper, or if he cannot see love for him in our approach.  If the matter is resolved, give thanks to God.  If not, Jesus gave us a second step.

Step Two:  Seek the help of one or two mediators :

This mediator should be someone who is spiritually mature, and who will be objective.  He will not choose sides, but instead will try to assist in discovering what it is God is saying.  If, after meeting with a mediator, the issue remains unresolved, Jesus directs us to take a third step.


Step Three: Bring the matter before the church elders:

(*Acts 15:7-21*)  The Jerusalem Council began their meeting by spending a great deal of time discussing the matter of how Gentiles would be received into the church.  Peter gave a history lesson, recalling what God had already done among the Gentiles.  God already had fully received the Gentiles on the basis of faith, making no distinction between Jews and Gentiles.

Turning to the Judaizers, Peter remarked, "Why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear?" (vs. 10).   The purpose of the law was to make us aware of our sins, so that we would acknowledge our need of a Savior (*James 2:10*).

After Peter spoke, Barnabas and Paul began sharing all that God had done in bringing Gentiles to Himself during the first missionary journey.  Finally, James spoke, quoting from Amos  9.    James appealed to scripture to demonstrate that what God was doing among the Gentiles had a biblical foundation.  He then made a ruling on the matter of how Gentiles would be received into the church.  

Basing his decision on the authority of God's Word, which had been confirmed through the experiences of Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey, James declared the church must recognize and embrace Gentile believers as brothers and sisters in Christ.  He added they must not burden Gentiles by asking them to add to their faith either circumcision or obeying the Mosaic law.

Did you notice how James and the Jerusalem Council arrived at their decision?

They appealed to Truth.  They turned to the Word of God in seeking to discover the Truth of God.   They did not rely on their own thoughts and feelings.   What we think or feel about a matter can be wrong.  Only the Bible is authoritative.  It is our only reliable source of Truth.  When the Council looked at what had been taking place through the experiences of Paul and Barnabas, they saw that these experiences were aligned with scripture.

While affirming a law-free gospel, James also appealed to these believers to refrain from certain practices which particularly offensive to their Jewish Christian brothers.  "Hey folks, now that we've resolved this essential matter, we want you to know there are some things you need to be aware of.   So, out of love for them, just don't do these things."

When it comes to essential matters of faith, we need to be willing to go to the mat to defend these.  But there are some non-essential areas of faith where our convictions may differ.   Out of love for one another, we need to respect each others' convictions on those issues, and not do something that knowingly would hurt others.

We need to respect one another in order to promote harmony in the church.