{"id":9294,"date":"2021-12-06T08:00:28","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T13:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trainchurchleaders.com\/practicum\/?p=9294"},"modified":"2024-12-09T12:48:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T17:48:37","slug":"conflict-go-back-to-the-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trainchurchleaders.com\/practicum\/conflict-go-back-to-the-gospel.htm","title":{"rendered":"To Rise Above Conflict, Go Back to the Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"

We live in a divisive world of stress and high anxiety over a variety of issues which tends to produce agitated, defensive, and angry people who lash out at others. Unfortunately, it has also crept into too many churches. Such hostility produces conflict that dims our light and keeps us from being a people who can make a real difference in this self-centered, self-promoting, and self-gratifying world. To rise above conflict and restore our testimony, we need to go back to the Gospel to restore the unity God intends for us to experience as His Church.<\/p>\n

How Going Back to the Gospel Helps Us Rise Above Conflict<\/h2>\n

When we go back to the Gospel we remember what the death and resurrection of Jesus accomplished and therein find power to rise above.<\/p>\n

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  1. Positionally, the death of Jesus reconciles us to God but also to one another. He brought together two hostile groups to form one Body in Him.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    \nFor he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. (Eph. 2:14-16)<\/em><\/p>\n

    Only when we go back to the cross will we remember our position in Him. If we don’t remember, we won’t conduct ourselves “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil. 1:27). In Christ, because of the Gospel, we “stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27). Because of the Gospel, differences of opinions don’t have to divide<\/a> us but can actually serve to make us stronger. If we keep coming back to the foot of the cross we will soon find ourselves acting like we are “no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God\u2019s people and also members of his household … built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Eph. 2:18-22).<\/p>\n

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    1. Practically, only the Gospel provides sufficient cause and power to get beyond the self-centeredness that leads to so much conflict.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. … Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. (2 Cor. 5:15-17)<\/em><\/p>\n

      Only when we find our identify and purpose in Christ can we let go of the pettiness, bickering, and defensiveness that comes from disagreements with others. While we might care what others think, ultimately it doesn’t define us. When our significance comes from who we are in Christ Jesus, we can rise above the opinions and even hurtful words of others. Instead, we put on “compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” and we “bear with each other … and forgive as the Lord forgave” us. And, most importantly we love. (Col. 3:12-14)<\/p>\n

      Let’s guide the Church back to the Gospel by setting an example of what it means positionally and practically to conduct ourselves “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil. 1:27). Let’s remind one another of what Jesus did for us and the power that provides for us to get beyond entitlement to truly loving one another as He loves us (Jn. 13:34).<\/p>\n

      For More Help with the Following:<\/p>\n