Intro
I. Welcome
a. Glad you can be here
b. My name is Tim
c. Going through our series Roots
II. Recap
a. Last week big week with the Traveling Team
b. Hudson, shared with us that the entirety of scripture shares the thoughts and desires of God. He talked to us about how God’s heart’s desire is for all people of every tribe and tongue to come to know Him entering in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ so that God’s name might be glorified to the ends of the earth.
c. This past weekend, at our fall retreat, we addressed the issue of spiritual warfare. For some of you that may have been the first time that you’d ever heard of this spiritual war that all followers of Jesus enter into when they submit their lives to Jesus.
III. Tonight
a. We are talking about conflict.
b. I submit to you that at the root of every conflict, the underlying cause is the spiritual battle being fought in the hearts and minds of men to become distracted from the Heart and Mission of God. The Enemy that we face, “evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places,[1]” desires to draw our hearts away from the heart and mission of God so that instead of the Church, the followers of Jesus, being a mighty army united and working toward completing the mission of God, will be a divided, disorganized, and delusional mob acting out their own agenda’s in the name of Jesus.
Me
IV. I have to be honest with you that this topic hits really close to home for me. Conflict especially among people in the Church isn’t something that is foreign to me. I used to be a very argumentative person. I would go out of my way to let you know that I was right and that they were wrong. A phrase I used a lot and liked using was, “I told you so.” But when I would do something wrong, I‘d ignore it. I’ve hurt a lot of people in my quest to be right. And ruined a lot of relationships because I was too proud to accept responsibility for my mistakes.
- Sometimes people do or say things that make me really mad. I would explode and go off on the person and dredge up everything I could remember that I knew they’d done wrong. I’d destroy them with the things I said because I allowed my emotions to control me.
- There are times when I feel like no one else can relate to my experience. That no one else could possibly understand what I’m going through. I feel like it’s me vs. the world. I avoid people because I’m afraid of what people might think about how I feel.
- There are other times where I knew that things people said or did were wrong. But I was afraid of getting rejected and criticized so I didn’t say anything.
We
- How many of you have felt like that?
a. I don't think that I'm alone these experiences or emotions .
b. How many of you have been in a situation where you've been overwhelmed by emotions that wanted to make you lash out.
c. If not that how many of you have felt ashamed or alone in what you felt. Maybe you felt like there was no one you could talk to about your conflict and there was nothing you could do to change your situation, so you said nothing. You kept silent, and you stayed isolated.
d. Maybe you've been in a conflict and knew what you had to do, but were too afraid to do the right thing. Maybe you knew you messed up but were to prideful to admit it. Or maybe you know that someone is wrong, but you don't want to tell them cause you're afraid to rock the boat.
e. The point is that conflict is something we all face. None of us are immune to conflict because of Romans 3:23
“For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God”
We have to remember that no matter who you are, whether you're a Christian or not, you are in a Spiritual War. All of these conflicts that we have are merely battles in the larger cosmic war between the Holiness of God and the destructive defilement of sin. Sin the wedge of doubt that causes man to doubt God.
f. To know how to handle all of these conflicts, these smaller battles, we need to have perspective on why we have all these conflicts to begin with. We need to go to the beginning of the war.
God
- We need to go to Genesis. We're going to go to Genesis 3. But before we dive in, here's a short synopsis of the history of the world prior to this point. Prior to the beginning of the war and the fall of man.
a. God created the earth, the universe and everything in it. He said it was good.
b. God created mankind in His image, and had unbroken fellowship with Adam and Eve. God was in good relationship with man. Because man was in relationship with God, he didn't have to worry about anything. God provided for all of man's needs. That's physical, emotional, and spiritual. The total package.
c. Prior to Genesis 3 there is absolute trust between man and God. Man fully depends on God and there are no conflicts at all.
Enter Genesis 3
Now athe serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from 1any tree of the garden’?” Introduction of Doubt
2 The woman said to the serpent, “aFrom the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;
3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
4 aThe serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! Question the validity of what God has said to be true and for the benefit of man. Calling God a liar.
5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and ayou will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Introducing the idea that God is holding something back. Idea that we can be like God, we can judge what is right or wrong, God’s commands are irrelevant.
6 aWhen the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; Doing something she thought would be good, but ignored the command of God. and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. Adam knew what he should have done, but he didn’t do it. He was a coward, scared to rock the boat.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they aknew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves 1loin coverings. The beginning of the conflict. Not eating the fruit but willful disobedience that put other relationships and things above the relationship man had with God.
8 They heard the sound of athe Lord God walking in the garden in the 1cool of the day, band the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. felt shame for what they had done, they isolated themselves. They weren’t hiding together.
9 Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “aWhere are you?”
10 He said, “aI heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 aThe man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” Adam knows he’s wrong, but he’s too prideful to admit it.
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “aThe serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The woman knows she messed up but is too prideful to admit it. [2]
- Here is the key thing we need to understand about Genesis 3 and about how this first conflict is related to all other conflicts we encounter in life. First: God designed us to be in community/fellowship with Him. Second: God designed us to be in community with other people.
e. All of our conflict, the conflict in Genesis till today comes as a result of a broken relationship with God and either a broken relationship with other people or a perversion of the way God intended people to have relationships with each other.
f. If we look to Genesis the reason why Adam and Eve had a good and perfect relationship with each other is because the number one relationship they had was with God. They placed God at the top, their relationship with God. They placed the priorities of God before their own priorities, they were living to fulfill God's design for them in life.
g. Because Adam and Eve placed the priorities of God first in their lives, because they placed their relationship with God first they were able to experience community the way God intended.
h. Community without God is incomplete. Whenever we have community without God we will always get hurt. We will always be dissatisfied, because we are selfish. We always place our highest good before the other people in our community.
I. God designed us to be totally fulfilled in relationship with one another by being in relationship with Him.
j. Second key thing to understand: We are in a war and our Enemy wants to keep all people from being in relationship with one another, and most importantly from being in relationship with God.
k. If you are a follower of Jesus, then the Enemy wants to do everything he can to take our focus off of the mission and desire of God, which is for all people to be in relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ and His Church.
L. If you aren't a follower of Jesus, the purpose of the Enemy is to keep you from being in relationship with Jesus and His Church. One way he does this is by making you hate or mistrust people in the Church so that you hate or mistrust Jesus.
You
- So what does all this stuff mean? I've given you a lot of things to think about but how does my knowledge of any of this affect how I live?
a. To address conflict immediately. Don't let it fester and the underlying emotions grow to cloud your judgment or your behavior toward the other person. Some time is good to let emotions cool, but too much time causes emotional fixation.
b. Filter the conflict through the Commandments “ Love Jesus, Love Others” (Matthew 22:36-40) Conflict is bad because it causes a block in my ability to love God by not loving others. (John 15:12, 1 John 2:9, 4:20) Conflict needs to be resolved. Make sure the way you resolve it demonstrates your love for God, and your love for the other person.
c. Make the Main things the Plain Things. Stick to the facts. Don't turn your confrontation/resolution into character assassination time.(Not loving) Only talk about facts that are pertinent to the situation at hand. Don't dredge up the past. The goal is to move forward not back. (1 John 1:9-10, Romans 8)
d. Both parties have right relationship with God. Place Christ first. Check your attitude and motivations prior to talking to the person. Make sure you're not sinning in trying to correct someone else. Submit the conflict and problems to God. He's the one that heals, restores and corrects. (Matt 7:3-6)
e. Restored relationship within the body of Christ. Don't avoid taking responsibility for the wrong you might have done. Relationship is a two way street. Always seek restoration and reconciliation with other believers. You're part of a team and we need all the people we can get on our side.
We
VIII. Remember, we are in a spiritual war. And our mission is to go out into the world joining God in His mission to bring all people, of every tribe and tongue, into relationship with Him. For people to place Him as their first priority so that we can be in community with God the way He designed us to be.
a. So what would your life be like if you treated conflict this way? If you placed the priorities of God first in your life and in all your relationships? Would you be restored in relationship to some people you've been in conflict with? Would they be restored in their relationship to God?
b. What would Christian Challenge look like if we filtered conflicts through Love Jesus, Love Others? Would we be more focused and have more energy to reach out to people that don't have a relationship with Jesus?
c. What would our world look like if everyone was in community with God and His Church. If everyone placed the priorities of God first in how we treat politics, war, industry. I bet that a lot of the problems we have now would look a lot different if we all came into line with God's mission.
d. We have the chance to change our world! By submitting to God in our relationship to Him and by placing His priorities first in our relationships with others.
[1] Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible : New Living Translation., 3rd ed. (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007), Eph 6:12.
a 2 Cor 11:3; Rev 12:9; 20:2
1 Or every
a Gen 2:16, 17
a John 8:44; 2 Cor 11:3
a Is 14:14; Ezek 28:2, 12–17
a Rom 5:12–19; 1 Tim 2:14; James 1:14, 15; 1 John 2:16
a Is 47:3; Lam 1:8
1 Or girdles
a Gen 18:33; Lev 26:12; Deut 23:14
1 Lit wind, breeze
b Job 31:33; Ps 139:1–12; Hos 10:8; Amos 9:3; Rev 6:15–17
a Gen 4:9; 18:9
a Ex 20:18, 19; Deut 5:25
a Job 31:33; Prov 28:13
a 2 Cor 11:3; 1 Tim 2:14
[2] New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ge 3:1–24.
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