THE CURSE OF CONFLICT

When a church begins to grow, the devil will do anything in his power to try to interfere. One of his favorite tactics is to cause conflict in the church. News articles around the country have been written about churches, large and small, that have been damaged or destroyed by conflict.

Jesus discussed conflict in the famous Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5:21-26. In this passage, we learn from Jesus that to overcome the curse of conflict, we must understand three important truths:

First, to overcome the curse of conflict, we must understand conflict is criminal. (vv. 21-22)

Although many people would not consider conflict a big deal, Jesus indicates that it is very serious. Conflict is criminal in two ways:

By nature – Jesus likens anger towards a brother to murder.

By progression

The reactions, based on anger, increase in severity: anger, insulting intelligence (“Raca”), insulting character (“fool”).

The consequences also increase: local court ("judgment"), supreme court ("council"), hellfire.

Sometimes we don’t realize the seriousness of our actions. I once heard the true story of “L.A. Larry,” who wanted to hover above his yard, but mistakenly flew several thousand feet with weather balloons tied to a lawn chair. What started as a simple thing turned into a media spectacle.

It may not seem like a big deal to harbor anger and resentment toward someone, but the consequences are severe. We must understand the severity of anger and conflict in order to be motivated to do something about it.

Second, to overcome the curse of conflict, we must understand conflict is counterproductive. (vv. 23-24)

It interferes with fellowship with God. Reconciliation with God cannot take place apart from reconciliation with our brothers. Although we cannot loose our salvation when we are angry with our brother, we can damage our fellowship with God. (See Mt. 6:14-15.)

If one of my children fights with one of the others, it interferes with his/her relationship with me. I don’t like it when my children don’t get along with each other.

When we fail to get along with our brothers and sisters in Christ, our own relationship with God will suffer. We cannot allow conflict with others to stop us from worshipping God. We cannot allow conflict with others to stop us from giving. We need to reconcile with others so that we may worship unhindered before God.

Third, to overcome the curse of conflict, we must understand conflict is curable. (vv. 24-26)

Jesus revealed two important steps to overcome conflict:

Reconcile personally. Go to the person to try to resolve the issue.

Reconcile quickly. Don’t let things build. If there is a problem, go to the person right away and try to make it right.

If someone has a cut, it can usually be taken care of easily if it is tended quickly. However, if it is not tended quickly, infection can set in, spread and possibly lead to major medical problems.

Conflict and anger are like that. If tended quickly, before the conflict spreads, problems can be taken care of easily many times. If things continue untended, the conflict may spread throughout the church and community, causing a lot of damage. When that happens, everyone looses.

The curse of conflict can be broken, if we will seek God’s help and follow His word.

Reconcile with God.

Reconcile with people.

To learn more about how to follow Jesus, click here.

To find a good church where you can grow in your faith, click here.

This is a synopsis of a sermon presented on 8-9-2009 at Hatch Bend Baptist Church, by Paul A. Coleman.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.