Living Faith in Community and Conflict Resolution

That's supposed to start it all. We get it. The law written in Deuteronomy has to do with the community of faith. One great difference when you look at these laws are they are sort of formulated like the laws that we have in our country. And the reason they do this is that the combination of the Old Testament of the people of the people of Israel, which is the church, is different than what we would see the church because the only people in the land of promise were people in the church. The only thing we have comparable to this is when the United States was first settled, communities came from England and settled here. And when they came, there were whole churches that would come over and settle. And then they were running their community, and the only people who lived in the community were church members. So they had their own laws, and the laws were governing not only the behavior of the people with regard to the church behavior, but also community behavior. And some of them had, for example, they would have laws about you had to go to church every Sunday, and every person in the community had to go to church because the Bible said you should. So if people came, they kept a list, and people that didn't go to church were fined. And if you went to church, you weren't allowed to sleep. They had men with poles in the church, and if you were asleep, they would hit you on the back of the head with a knob on a pole. If you're a woman, they would tickle your ear so that you'd wake up. You're not allowed to sleep in the services. Now, whenever people not in those churches came to the community, suddenly it changed everything. Now as our country has grown more and more with other people who have come here, it's not possible for the laws of the church to be governing the community because there are unbelievers in all of our communities. In the book of Deuteronomy, these instructions are given for communities like first settle our country because the only people who were to live in the land of promise were people who were devoted to God. They were the children of Israel. They were the people who had made a commitment to be of an obedience to God. So the instructions here are not something that the church could take and use because we don't operate the same way they did in the Old Testament. So you'll find in the New Testament that these principles or some of these rules and principles are not carried out in the New Testament church. When Paul writes to the Corinthian church or the Ephesian church or the Philippian church, he does not encourage them to have their own police force. He doesn't encourage them to have their own judicial system. Instead, there is there to dependence on the ruling governing board for it be in the New Testament. Most of them were ruled by the Roman Empire. So Paul never discusses the kind of things that he talked about in the Old Testament. However, in each of these circumstances, whether it's the operation of the community of faith or it's the operation of the state, the principles of God are always the same. And I think you'll see this in the passage I want to talk about, chapter 25 of the book of Deuteronomy, beginning with verse 1. When men have a dispute, they are to take it to court, and the judge will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty. If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, the judge shall make him lie down and have him flogged in his presence with the number of lashes his crime deserves. But he must not give him more than 40 lashes. If he is flogged more than that, your brother will be degraded in your eyes. Let me start by saying, in the discussion of the Old Testament in settling the land of promise, there were no prisons. It was not possible for someone to be arrested for a crime and put in jail. There were none. Now the Romans had jails. In the New Testament, you see that. But in the Old Testament, the situation was either there was corporal punishment, that is a flogging or beating. There was a penalty to pay in the terms of a crime. You paid money. Or there was the death penalty. If there was something serious enough that there was required, the death penalty, and usually that was only in a few very rare cases. So that oftentimes, the responsibility in those cases of the death penalty, you had to have two eyewitnesses to verify what had actually taken place, and that's very difficult to get. Because most people, when they do a murder, they don't do it in a crowd of people watching them. And so the penal institution that God gave the people of Israel implied both fines for which you would pay, or also corporal punishment or a flogging. Here in this situation, he's giving instruction as to how that's to take place. So you have two people who are at odds with each other about what took place. You are, first of all, go to a neutral person to settle this issue. Here's the first principle in dealing with conflict. Now here you're talking about conflict that's in a social setting. So you have two people who are saying, we're not sure and comfortable. We don't agree on who did the wrong thing. This can be broadened in the New Testament, and is in the New Testament, to say whenever you have a conflict with your brother, and you go to someone to settle it, and it's not settled, then you go and get another person to come with you so that there's a third party who's not involved in this situation between the two of you who can help you determine what needs to be done. The church is also determined in the New Testament to be the group that you would bring this dispute to. There's two things that are important about this principle. Conflict within the community of faith, and incidentally, all of these things are given to us because the community of faith is important in the Bible. So many people see their Christian life as an individual event. I give my life to Jesus, and I go off and live my Christian life, and I can enjoy myself out on the river, or wherever it is, and I feel closer to God when I'm out there. And that's probably true for people, a lot of people. But it's not where your Christian faith is really lived. Because your Christian faith is lived in community. Nowhere in the Bible does it describe the Christian faith as a singular event. You won't find anywhere in the New Testament where you find people who are Christians who are not in a church. Because living your faith is a community activity. And the idea is that if you're under God's control, and you live in a community of people who are under God's control, then there are certain things that will make this community different than all the other communities that are around, because they're under God's control. The idea, then, here, is that there are two people who can't figure out what the right thing to do is. So you go to another person who is also a member of this community of faith, and you present your case, and that person makes a decision about who's right and wrong. Now oftentimes in our church community, if somebody does something that's wrong, and we sit down with them and talk to them and say, here's what you've done, they just say, well, I'm not going to come back here anymore. So they go somewhere else and become part of another church with the same problem they had before. And I was talking to a friend the other day, and he was talking about starting churches. And he said, whenever you come to start a church, it's like you have a flame, and the disgruntled people who can't get along anywhere else are drawn to this flame, and the new church is filled with people who can't get along with anybody else. And it's deadly for the new church that you've started. But there are many people that go to one church after another, one church after another, because they can't fit in a place and accept something that is not exactly like they want it. They require that everything please them. In the New Testament, and in the Old Testament, the very same thing is true. When you go to this person, and they make the decision, this is what you ought to do, that ruling is binding, and the reason it's binding is because the person given the ruling is under the authority of God, and it's God who gives the direction. This is so critical for us to understand about human relationships. In the Bible, when two people have given their lives to God, and they're both talking to God about what to do, they should have the same answers. God does not listen to people who pray, who say, Lord, what should we do? And the other person in this, whether it's a husband and wife, or somebody in the church asks the same question, and God never says to one, here's my solution to you, and then the other one, here's another one for you, now I'm going to watch them fight. If our hearts are open to God, we will get the same answer. So unity in the church, and in the community in the Old Testament, is dependent entirely on believing that God will give an answer. On one side, and on the other side, that whatever the answer is, we will accept it. That takes a great faith in God, because not all the answers are what you want. In this instance, one person is on the losing end, and one person is on the winning side. So that the community is willing to accept the fact that God is going to make the decision, and whatever it is, we accept it. The church should be able to live that way. And when you come to a decision about what's taking place, you should be able to say, okay God, we're facing one in our own church. But Alan said, okay, I'm going to give you some money so you can buy some seats in your auditorium. And so we have people say, I always like pews, I like seats. It doesn't matter what you like, really, it doesn't matter. God has a will about these things, and what we always have to start out saying is, God, what is your will? And I'm going to look and see what is best for your kingdom, and whatever it is, even if it's not what I wanted, I'm going to be with it. I'll be wholeheartedly with it. And the only way that can happen in a church, or a marriage, is if the people involved have said Jesus Christ is my ruler. So even if my wife doesn't like the decision, she's compelled to go along with it. Even if I don't like the decision, and I know we've found the will of God, I'm compelled to go along with it. Now it sometimes takes a little while for people in their personal relationships to come to the place where they're ready to say we agree on something. My advice to people in marriage relationships, for example, is whenever you come to make a decision, and you have a husband that's a godly person, and a wife that's a godly person, and you have to make a decision about buying a house, or a car, or whatever it is the decision you make, usually pretty good-sized ones have different opinions, that you never make a decision until both of you agree that it's the will of God. And it doesn't matter how long it takes you to do that, because it is critical that you really figure what God wants. In this instance, he says here's the way I'm going to do it, when you get in conflict, you pick a judge, and I will give that judge the judgment of wisdom. Now you have to accept it. The guy who wins, of course, is tickled about it, he's happy about it, but in this instance there's somebody who loses. The innocent person is acquitted, and the condemned person is guilty. Now if the judgment is for the guilty person to be beaten, then the judge will make him lie down in front of him. The judge here is the neutral party, so that the person who is innocent doesn't get to beat the person who is guilty. The judge is there to make sure that the sentence is correct, that the violation that the person has, the crime that the person has committed, or the offense the person has committed matches what is a reasonable punishment. Now the judge has determined this, and it's God's direction for the judge who makes this decision, so that the punishment given is not from the judge, but from God. This is God's decision as to how you must pay for what you've done. So that the person who's violated this has to accept the punishment as a response from God to the circumstances. So in our personal relationships, in a church or in a marriage, if you have a situation in which the decision comes to you and it goes against what you think is the right thing, you have two choices. You can either say this is the will of God, maybe everyone else has misunderstood it, maybe even my wife has misunderstood it in our relationship, but if we decide this is what God wants us to do, I will support it and encourage it. I will allow God to work in this circumstance to bring His good will out. Now see, here's why it's so critical for both people to be totally submitted to the authority of Christ. So no one wins in this situation, either here or in our personal spiritual lives. Nobody wins, God wins. He is the one that makes the choice for us. You have to trust that the other person in a human relationship is really open to God. How can you trust that? When you see them taking these issues to God in prayer, when you see them reading the scriptures looking for an answer, when you see them open to whichever way the decision needs to be made, and you can see honestly that they really want the will of God to be done, then you can trust them. If they use it as a means whereby just to get their own way, that will be clear to you. Here in this instance, the decision of God is given, the judge then makes a determination about how many lashes, usually it's done with a stick, how many lashes will be given to the person who will be flogged. The person then is to lay down in front of the judge, and then the person to administer the lashes comes and gives him the lashes. The limit is set at 40. In the Old Testament, they were so careful never to violate the law that they built what was called a fence around the law, and this is a good example of how they did it. God said you should never go over 40. So if you went to 40, you might make a mistake. So the fence they built around the law was to say we never give more than 39 lashes. So if you made a mistake on one, you still wouldn't go over 40. That's how careful they were to never violate what the scripture says. So never to go over the 40 lashes. Now the last sentence in this paragraph is very important. If he is flogged more than that, your brother will be degraded in your eyes. Here the issue is raised about the person who is guilty of the offense. This person who is guilty of the offense has created a crime, but you'll notice if he is flogged more than that, your brother will be degraded in your eyes. You are to see even this person who has done something to you as a brother. Now in our culture, this doesn't mean a whole lot to us because you have brothers that you raise and you may never see them. I've got a sister. I can't even get her to answer my emails or answer the phone. I haven't seen her in several years. She doesn't want to talk to me. So we're not close, but in the biblical times, families didn't disperse the way we do. They lived in the same area, in the same regions, and to be a brother or a member of a family was a very binding commitment. So even though this person has done something wrong to you, and even though they're being punished, you should see that person as your brother. So there's no animosity, no anger, no bitterness, no resentment toward what they've done to you. You should want to take their part. All of us who have brothers and sisters that we love and care for, we don't want to see them hurt. So you are to see this person who's being beaten because of what they've done to you, and they've been found guilty of it, not as rejoicing in their punishment, not taking no pleasure in this punishment, but you should see this as your brother suffering the consequence of what they've done. In the New Testament, the same thing is given to us. We are to look at our brothers around us, our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we are to see people who are a valuable part of our lives. We do not want to be alienated from them. There should be a binding together that is more powerful and strong than anything that would be done. Now the word that's used here, for if he's flogged more than what is, if he has punishment greater than what the crime deserves, you should see it your brother and say, I don't want that to happen to him. You should be on his side to make sure that this doesn't occur. And here's the issue. Your brother will be degraded in your eyes. Now the word that's translated here, degraded, literally means to make light of him, to make fun of him. If he's beaten more than he deserves, then justice has been moved aside and this person is being made fun of or ridiculed. It is the very same word used in the Ten Commandments when it says you are to honor your father and mother. This idea of respect for your parents is shown here as a way you should look at this person who's done injury to you and have the same kind of respect for them and a desire for them to be respected even though they've done damage to you. The burden of loving the offender falls on the person who wins. You should not see this with glee. I'm glad that you've finally gotten what's coming to you. You should not want your brother, even though he's offended you, to be degraded or made fun of or made to look foolish or ridiculous. Why? Because there's a bond greater than the injury. This is my brother. He is a part of me. He's a part of my family. Now when Jesus was talking about family relationships in the New Testament and his family came to get him and they said, your mother and brothers are here, he said, you are my mothers and you're my brothers. Whenever we accept Jesus Christ as the ruler and Lord of our lives, something changes in us. We become a part of God's family. To as many as received him, to them gave he the ability to become the children of God. And no matter where your birth family is, no matter where that you came from, your background, you are brother or sister to me. And what happens to you happens to me. How can we take glee in something that hurts myself? So the Bible holds up for us this idea of our common connection through God and through Christ to be the thing that limits us in our misusing or our gossip or our harming another brother in Christ. So often in churches, we treat a church like it's another organization, like a secular organization. And if people don't do things that we like, we turn on them. We talk about them. We gossip. We run them down. It's never intended to be that way in the Bible. Whenever you say to God, I give my life to you, he makes us brothers and sisters. When he says to you, this is the church that I've given you, the church family, there's a binding thing that happens here. God's intention is that we say to each other, I'm with you through thick and thin, no matter what. Because God has placed me in this church family. And we're to treat each other with the kind of reverence and respect that the Ten Commandments required of us to treat our families that way. What the Bible holds up for us is that our relationships with each other are very important and powerful. When Jesus was talking to his disciples in chapter 13 of the book of John, he was talking to them about this relationship that was supposed to be so powerful to his followers. In chapter 13 of the book of John, Jesus calls his disciples, they come to a house together and there was no servant to wash the feet of the disciples. Jesus then, it was just before the Passover feast, verse 1 of chapter 13, Jesus knew the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. The evening meal was being served and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that, knew that the Father had put all things under his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God. So he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Do you notice that he says Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray him? He washed his feet just like he did the other 11 who were not. And what the Bible says is Jesus did this, in verse 2, Jesus did this that he would show the full extent of his love. He did not treat Judas any different than he treated Peter. Were they different? Enormously different. Sometimes in our church family there are people who are not a part of God's business. We know that they're missing out. Our tendency is to isolate them, treat them differently, but Jesus never did. The disciples never caught on to who Judas really was until he came with the crew to take Jesus. They couldn't tell the difference between his love for them and his love for Judas. That's what he means, I think, when he says that the world would now be shown the full extent of his love, even for those who were against him. There's no place in the church or the community of faith for us to pick on each other, try to isolate each other, but to accept them. Now Jesus went on in chapter 13 to talk about what was important. When Judas left, Jesus, John doesn't give us the Lord's Supper. In his place, when Judas was gone, now Jesus is talking to those that are left. Now the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. I'm reading from verse 32, 31. God will glorify the Son in himself and will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you a little longer. You will look for me and just as I told the Jews, I tell you now, where I'm going you cannot come. A new command I give you, love one another as I have loved you. So you must love one another. All men will know you are my disciples if you love one another. He's just given them the example of how you love one another. You don't draw lines and you don't turn against each other. You love people even when they're wrong. You love people even when they don't deserve it. Love means self-denying, sacrificial service to others. Washing the feet. In a lot of ways, wash feet besides water in a basin. It means to do whatever it takes, however humiliating, however much servitude it takes to make sure that you're always helping the person who's needing it. That's to characterize the church. So that we revere and respect each other. So when someone criticizes a brother, even though they're in the church, you have a responsibility to treat that person with help. To say, don't talk to my brother that way. Don't talk about my sister that way. It's a charge that God gives us. And we'll be known, not by the fights that you have at church, but by the love. I pastored a church one time where the pastor that left before me, where two of the deacons met at the front of the church by the Lord's Supper table and got in a fist fight. They were wrestling each other to the floor in the church. And I have to tell you that that church had no spiritual influence in the community. And when people see us as people who criticize each other, run each other down, talk about each other, we lose this very one thing that ought to distinguish us. This is the way people will know you, that you love each other as I have loved you. So the Old Testament says, respect each other like you would respect your parents. Jesus raised it a notch. Love each other as I have loved you. We have our own saying that we say is our goal. We love the Lord, our God, with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. It is the highest thing that God can ask of us. If we have that, we must do it. Let's pray. So you've given us a responsibility of loving each other, but we cannot do that apart from your power. There are just some people that don't deserve love, and they're all us. We have not earned your love. So don't ever let us get to the place where we think someone doesn't deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, even if they've done something wrong, even if they're not a strong follower of yours. Help us to love each other as brothers and sisters, as you have taught us to love. We want this to be a witness to all the world about what you are like, so they will know your great love for them. In the name of Christ, I ask this, amen. We didn't get the roll taken. I don't see where it was. Did somebody get that? Pick it up. I think last week, nobody did that, last time we had it. I don't know where they put it. Amen.