Unity in Christ: Overcoming Conflict in the Church

I want to address the issue that Paul raises on dealing with conflict in the community of faith in the church. In the Bible, it starts out very peacefully in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve got along with each other. They lived in comfort with each other. They got along with God. There was God, Adam and Eve, and there were no fights, no quarreling, no distress, no discomfort. They just got along with each other. It was the world God intended for His creation. And then Adam and Eve decided that they would do what they wanted instead of what God told them to do. And the very first thing that happened to them was they looked at each other and they said, we're naked. And they wanted to shield themselves from each other. And then when God came, they began to blame each other. And conflict arose out of that one event. Conflict entered the world as a result of disobedience to God. People who said, I'm going to do what I want to do regardless of the consequences. And so conflict came between God and His own creation and between the people who were created. So from the very beginning of the world, creation, from the very beginning of creation, conflict has been a part of human experience. So it shouldn't surprise us that even in the Christian community that there is conflict from all different sorts of ways. Paul is writing to the church at Rome and he's talking about all the things that are going on in that church that cause conflict. There is two groups of people there whose history racially has not had a good record of cooperation, participation, or unity. The Gentiles, the non-Jews, and the Jews do not see each other as acceptable neighbors. They don't find each other compatible people. And yet there is in this community many churches. We look at this record, he writes, and it appears there are three to five different house churches, 60, 80 people maybe in each one of those, maximum. So there is a conflict between those who are of Jewish tradition and those that are non-Jews in their tradition. And Paul has written this letter to try to help them understand how they can see each other in a common way so that there's not that division and that conflict between them. He shows them that all of them have sinned, Jews or Gentiles. He shows them that the reason, the way to escape the consequence of sin is like Abraham who was a Gentile, a non-Jew before his circumcision, who was the father of faith for the people of Israel. So he came to trust God before he was even a Jew so that this background would allow them to see that all Jews and non-Jews have the same heritage, that is, we've turned against God, and all Jews and non-Jews have the same way to get back, that is, confidence or trust in God. And he describes this method by which they are to find some common ground with each other. And he asked them not to think the way the rest of the world thinks. Don't think like your neighbors think. Don't like your friends think. Instead, let your mind be transformed and learn to think as God wants you to think, to see people in the way God wants you to see different people. Now all of that sort of passed him as he's talking about the end of this chapter, beginning with verse 17 of chapter 16. Now he begins a warning, not about the Jews and Gentiles in his community, but about those who might come to cause division. I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teachings you've learned. Keep away from them, for such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of the naive people. No one has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you, but I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. So Paul is talking not now to one segment or the other of this congregation, but to all of them. He indicates that they are to watch out for divisions that are now caused by teachers who come to the group. In the early days of the church, they didn't have certified pastors, like ordained people we might say, who'd been trained. And they didn't have a way of contacting each other, so they had people who would travel from one town to another and say they're preachers, Bible teachers, and would give instruction to the people or preach to the congregations. The church had a difficult time with these people. Anytime you have an arrangement where people can come and make money or have an opportunity to make money, it generates in the minds and hearts of people a false purpose for doing what they're doing. There was an early document written called the Didache, which is simply a Greek word for teachings or the teachers, and in that book they were describing how the churches could help themselves defend against people who came who were not really good people to be able to talk to. In the book, the instructions given to be passed out to people so whenever they were testing someone or someone showed up that they'd have some way of knowing if he was a legitimate person. In the case of prophets, however, you should let them give thanks in their own way. Now you should welcome anyone who comes your way and teaches you all we have been saying. But if the teacher proves himself a renegade and by teaching otherwise contradicts all this, pay no attention to him. But if his teaching furthers the Lord's righteousness and knowledge, welcome him as the Lord. Now about the apostles and prophets, act in line with the gospel precept. Welcome every apostle on arriving as if he were the Lord. But he must not stay beyond one day. In case of necessity, however, the next day too. If he stays three days, he's a false prophet. On departing, an apostle must not accept anything save sufficient food to carry him to his next lodging. If he asks for money, he's a false prophet. If he does, he's a false prophet again. Every prophet who teaches the truth but fails to practice what he preaches is a false prophet. Everyone who comes to you in the name of the Lord must be welcomed. Afterward, when you have tested him, you will find out about him. For you have insight into the right and wrong. If it's a traveler who arrives, help him all you can. But he must not stay with you more than two days or, if necessary, three. If he wants to settle with you and is an artisan, he must work for his living. If he has no trade, use your judgment in taking steps for him to live with you as a Christian without being idle. If he refuses to do this, he is trading on Christ. You must be on your guard against such people. Every genuine prophet who wants to settle with you has a right to his support. Similarly, a genuine teacher himself, just like a workman, has a right to his support. Hence, take all the firstfruits of vintage and harvest and the cattle and sheep and give these firstfruits to the prophet, for they are now your high priest." The letter, the instructions given in the book were to help people discern the difference between people who are false and people who weren't. And when Paul ends this lesson, ends this passage, he is addressing that same kind of people that the book was written about. He's talking to people who come and cause division in the congregation because they are not true prophets or teachers. They've come instead to do something different. Now, the Bible is helping us understand that the purpose that God has in the world, as in the very beginning, was to bring unity and oneness to the people who are part of his creation. In the book of Ephesians, when Paul was writing to them, he let us know how this was to work. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he proposed in Christ, to put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment. He's talking about what God intended to do through Christ, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we are also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of his glory. The purpose, the writer Paul writes in Ephesians, of all that God is doing is to bring everyone in the world under a single authority, Christ. When there is one person and they are giving the instructions and everyone else is following, then oneness and unity result. That's what was in the Garden of Eden before the rebellion of Adam and Eve. So that God's ultimate purpose in all the world in sending Christ is to make Christ the Lord of all and the ruler of everyone. So whenever you have conflict, whatever it is, whatever circumstance it finds itself, it is the result of people not listening to the authority of Christ. Conflict is the result of not having one leader, but having many. So whenever you have people coming to your congregation, Paul is saying, you are to watch out for those who cause division. So if someone comes into the church and begins to teach or preach and you suddenly find that there are segments of the group that are gathering in one place and segments of another and suddenly there is tension and conflict between them, you are to see that the person who is causing this is not listening to God. For following Christ, following his instructions and direction brings unity and oneness among believers. Now, if you are not believers in the congregation, you can't count on that because everybody is following their own direction, but if you have a congregation of people who are listening to God, listening for what he wants them to do, and they ask him what he wants, he will tell them all the same thing. So when someone comes and their teaching or their work or their ministry causes division, it lets you know that something is amiss, either with the congregation or with the person who is there. And this person, if they put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teachings you have learned, you know that that's a person you shouldn't listen to. Now the obstacles you put in people's way, he is talking about things that a preacher might come and say are the right things to do. The Jewish people were, the Jewish Christians were oftentimes very attached to keeping the Old Testament law and the food rules that came with the Old Testament law. So if someone comes and starts emphasizing a part of the scripture that causes division to come, you know that this is not the direction and will of God. For the purpose of the teaching you have received brings you to Christ and should bring you together in oneness. So the evidence or the presence of conflict alerts you to the fact that something has happened that God does not want to occur. It could be on the party of one, on the responsibility of one person or two or three or both groups could be wrong. But it alerts you to the reality that Christ is not leading this group. Now in the church when we see conflict arise, this ought to alert us. It's not that we say, okay, we defeat this other person who doesn't say things the way I see them. But the conflict alerts us to the fact that God is not really guiding us in this matter. Now we can have differences of opinion and we can think in different ways. But if we're listening to God, even though we have differences, we should find reconciliation because he's not going to lead us to be in conflict with each other. This is a powerful biblical precedent for us. How does God intend to lead us in circumstances without conflict? It's by listening to him and being obedient to him. And when we do that, this thing disappears. So he says whenever people come to your congregation and they begin to teach and preach things and you discover that quarreling and conflict breaks out, you know immediately that this person is teaching something contrary to what you've been hearing and what you've learned. His instructions was keep away from them. Don't listen to people who stir up conflict. Don't listen to people who want to see opposition arise or want to be in conflict with the people around them. Because when they do, they're controlled not by the presence of Christ but by some other force in their own mind. He says we're to stay away from them for such people are not serving our Lord Christ. This is a powerful affirmation. People who generate conflict are not serving our Lord Christ. Now he means by that simply they're not allowing God the authority over what they think and feel. You can have differences with people around you. But if you stop and look at what's taking place, you can find common ground as to where you want to go. For example, in a church, everybody in the church should want to follow Christ. If you have some people that don't want to follow Christ, then you have a church that is not really controlled by Christ. So what he's giving us is directions to identify what the problem is and to avoid the people who are doing it and to let us know where it comes from. It comes from the fact that they're not serving or submitting to the authority of the Lord himself. But they're submitting, he says, to their own appetites. Now the word appetite simply means their stomach. That's really what it, their own stomachs. And it's kind of like describing people whose life is controlled by their physical desires. And the Bible translates this here by appetites, not to talk about the physical food or the physical appetites, but by the desires that they have. They have desires for themselves that control them instead of the Lord. The desire can be for fame, it can be for money, it could be for any kind of thing. But there's something that drives people that causes conflict. And it's something inside of themselves, a desire or a passion that they have for themselves. They may be the most, want to be the most important person there. They may want to have control. They may be feeling a need for people to look at them as a winner. They could be that they just want the money. He's saying that the source of conflict comes when we let our human nature drive our behavior. It can be any kind of thing in our human nature that we would have, but when we rely on our human nature, it drives us, then we find ourselves in conflict. How does this show up? It shows up by people saying, this is what I think we need to do. It comes from people who say, this is what I like. It comes from people who say, this is what I don't like. Well, it's true that we all have our likes and we all have our dislikes, but in the church, the primary issue we ask ourselves is what does Christ like? What does he want? What is his purpose for us? What is his purpose for the things that we're doing? You see, the Bible is not giving us the idea that the work of the church should depend on our own passions, our own desires, our own appetites, the appetite to be important, the appetite to be significant, the appetite to control. So he points the issue that the people who come to them, whoever they might be, if they cause conflict, it's because they want to have what they really want. That's the drive inside of them. The opposite of that is to say, we want to do what God wants us to do. Now, the picture he paints here is not just one that's unique to the church. It's really true in all of our relationships. So if you have husband and wife who are followers of Christ, there should be a way to find that common ground. If you have husband and wife and children, there should be some way in which you can find common ground if all of them are followers of Christ. But what happens to us is we start saying, I want this. And whenever you focus on your own desires and the satisfaction for yourself, it blinds you to what God really wants. And that is the source of the conflict that comes in churches. So he's saying, when these people come in and they do things that cause conflict in the church, it's because they're trying to accomplish something that benefits them or that gets them, allows them to have their way or allows them to have control. And because they're satisfying their own need, then they are God and they cannot follow Christ in this process. They'll do this, he said, by smooth talk and flattery. They deceive the minds of naive people. The people who are interested in getting their own way don't come into your house if they want to sell you something and say, I want to cheat you out of some money. That's not a good sales approach and no one would ever do anything if they said it. What they do when they come to sell you something is they compliment you. They try every way in the world they can to make you feel you're important, that you're smart, that you're intelligent. And then they try to get you to do what they want you to do. So whenever these people come in who are trying to take control or trying to seize control of the church, make it like they want it to be, they'll be people not who are offensive. They'll be nice people, kind people with good words. That's what he means when he talks about this. Smooth talking is basically used to describe something good. I don't think it's used anywhere in the Bible to describe something mean. And so they'll come in and talk to you in a very flattering way, in a very kind way, a very gentle way, and you will like them. And by the attention they draw to themselves and the relationship they build with you, then they move you from what Christ is trying to get you to do to what they want you to do. That's the secret of this success of those who are creating this problem. They'll use flattery to deceive you, and they'll deceive the minds of naive people. You notice in the Didache that the writer was saying you should test the people who come. The writer is talking about certain standards by which you should say this person is a genuine follower of Christ, and by which you can say this person is just in this for what they can get out of it. There are specific things by which you can test people. The writer is saying we can't, in following Christ, be naive and believe everything that people tell us, for we'll be led astray for sure. We should test that person against what the Bible says is legitimate for a spiritual leader or a spiritual person. Does their life reflect the character of God? Does their nature and behavior reflect the scripture? Are their teachings consistent with what the Bible has to say? Ignorant people who don't know the Bible enough to challenge that can be deceived and led astray. People who are naive and they believe that everyone who comes and says I love the Lord Jesus, you take them at face value, you're going to be deceived. We're to be careful to make sure that the leadership we have in the church, people that come to the church and become leaders, have the lifestyle and character of God in their life. The words oftentimes deceive us. We should wait to see what their character is really like. That's why when we're talking about trying to put people in roles of leadership, Sunday school teachers or in committees, we like to have a while for people to come to our church so that we can see whether or not their Christian life is really reflected in their behavior. And whenever the spirit of God is in us, he can help us to see that. We shouldn't be overwhelmed by the reputation they say they have or the things they say they've done, but wait to make sure that they're really people of God. Paul is saying the people who want to deceive you are in this for themselves. They're smooth talkers. They're not out to serve God. They're out to serve themselves for what they can get out of it. He insists by complimenting them in the same way he did in the very beginning of his writing to them. First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you because your faith is being reported all over the world. The God whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times, and I pray now that at last by God's will, the way may be open for me to come to you. Paul's generous discussion about their church and how their faith has been known to the whole world. Now he adds to this in this last verse, this paragraph, everyone has heard about your obedience. So I'm full of joy over you, but I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil. I want you in your obedience, your willingness to obey not to be deceived. One of the difficulties that comes from Christian people is that we give the benefit of a doubt to folks. So they come in and start talking religious things, and they tell us about what they're doing and what their purpose is and what their goal is, and we tend to believe them. Of all the groups that are registered, the most naive group in the world who falls for fake financial endeavors are church people. Someone comes to church, talks about the name of the Lord, talks about how great God is, comes to church regularly, and then he tries to sell you something that's worth nothing. When they talk about frauds, all the people in the industry of trying to find fraudulent people say that church people are the most vulnerable because they're naive and they will believe people just because of what they say. While it may be a good quality toward God, it's not a good quality toward other people around us. What Paul is encouraging them to do is don't be naive. Instead, look at people, look at circumstances, and test it against the truth. Just because people say things that you want to hear and make themselves appear to be wonderful followers of Christ is not enough. Test them. Now, what he was saying to this group is, you have a reputation. You're so willing to obey God that you will do anything that God wants you to do. That makes you especially vulnerable to people who say they have a message from God. Because you're known all over the world as a church who's willing to do whatever God wants them to do. So, all someone has to do is come in your church and say they have a message from God and tell you what they think you ought to do, and you'll buy into it. Don't be naive. Remember that Satan has people out there who are destined to destroy the followers of Christ. Don't listen to those who are giving these simple answers or flattering messages to you. Be obedient, but be obedient to Christ, not to people who say they're followers of Christ. Test them to see if the words of God and the words of these people match. Test them to see if the character of God and the character of these people match. God wants us to not be naive enough to give up following him for following other people who seem to have a message that we want to hear. I am so full of joy over you, but I want you to be wise, and I want about what is good and innocent about what is evil. I want you to be wise to be able to make choices that are right and good, and I want you to be innocent of being deceived into doing something that is contrary to what God wants. The church is filled with people who love God, who are kind and want to help people, and that makes us especially vulnerable to the false message and messenger. There is a remedy for this. Question everything you hear by testing it against the nature and character of Christ. Test everything you hear against the scripture and what it says. Make sure that you don't give trust to someone until you know and they've proven themselves. I've had over the years a lot of people who take advantage of the fact that they can profess being a Christian. We had a man that came through. He was with an organization called Hikers for Christ. I don't know what that is. Never heard of it. But he comes to town and he stops and he calls and wants someone to take him to the motel. And he comes to town. The last time he came through, he went downtown to the people that give out, distribute the money and food and give a place of lodging, and they sent him to the shelter that's located where the old Roosevelt School was. And when he discovered it was a place for people to stay overnight, he was irate. He chewed out the lady, how dare you? I'm a man of God. How dare you put me up with people who are indigent people? I deserve to have a place where I can stay that I will enjoy. She told me, we gave him nothing. We didn't want to take care of him. There are people who take advantage of this. Whenever people come to ask you for help, people traveling through town, they're the very best Christians you've ever met. They have wonderful stories to tell about being basketball players at Baylor. They have all these fantastic things that they figured out to tell you. And some of them are so good, it's very difficult to tell the truth from them. But God does not expect us to be naive. He expects us to be careful, not only in helping people, but also in listening to people. It's very difficult when you listen to people on television or radio to know their genuine real character. It's a very place in which we need to be cautious and careful. God warns us. Any sign of conflict that comes as a result of someone around you is a sign that they're not of God. Anyone who appears to want advantage or to have financial advantage, it's a warning from God. Anytime someone tells you too good of a story about their Christian life and their wonderful experiences, they need to be watched. God has warned us. There are people in this world out to deceive us, but we can tell by the nature of their character sooner or later who they really are. God wants us to be wise in what we do, careful in testing people around us, and he wants us to be innocent about what is evil. Innocent because we don't participate in it. Innocent because we are not given to it, separate from it. He doesn't want us to be mean or nasty or to hurt, but he wants us to be straightforward and honest. God's call to us is to live in a world filled with conflict, but not to participate in it or not be deceived by it. And the secret to that is that there is one Lord who knows everything and everyone, and he will show us the truth sooner or later. And we can do what we think is true, and we can trust God to give us guidance in those matters, but we are to be sure we don't create the conflict and that we don't create the circumstance in which people turn against each other by watching our own motive and being careful in testing the things that we're asked to do. Let's pray. It's hard for us to go through a week without conflict in our own lives. Sometimes it's something we generate, sometimes it's something other people generate. So we know what it means to be faced with conflict. What we ask from you, Father, is to show us how to react to it, how to react in the way you want us to, not to accelerate it or not to accept it. We pray that in our church we would be careful with each other, that we would all be able to express our opinions, our ideas, our goals, our hopes, but at the same time listen to each other, to find in all the things we say the very voice of God, your voice. Help us to know how to love each other, not to be naïve with each other, but to demand faithfulness to you of ourselves and one another. In the name of Christ we ask this, amen.