Keep sharing good news without ads.
Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/bruce-rodgers/overcomnig-conflict-and-our-calling/
Could we turn to 1st Corinthians chapter 1. Now, I'm going to read a few verses that Talk about our calling. One of the things that I came across I was a little bit startled by it initially when I was studying this subject of conflict and overcoming conflict to notice how many times in the New Testament our Calling is introduced in the context of conflict.
Now the significance of that is that God Designs his word to meet our need. His word comes to us to Help us in our need. So if we can Learn to appreciate that as we read the scriptures. I Think it especially is important to see that in this connection.
So 1st Corinthians chapter 1 and He begins in verse 4 by saying. I thank my God always on your behalf. For the grace of God which is given you by or in Jesus Christ. Then you come down to verse 8. The anticipation is that they are waiting for the coming of the Lord and it says in verse 8 who shall also Confirm you unto the end that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful. By whom you were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Now verse 10 immediately begins the subject of contention now I beseech you brethren by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all speak the same thing and that there be no Divisions among you but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same Judgment.
For it has been declared unto me of you my brethren by them who are of the house of Chloe that there are contentions among you. Now if you know anything about the epistle to the Corinthians, you'll know that there were many serious issues in the assembly.
Very serious moral issues as well as doctrinal issues and you might have thought that he would have started with something else. But he begins with the issue of a divided assembly. Why does he do that?
Well, really it's because. Until he can recover their focus unto Christ. Unto what they genuinely share together. What belongs to them in common? They will not have the ability nor the incentive To resolve the problems and to take care of them so I want to I'm going to be touching on a number of verses a number of scriptures and I hope it won't, you know take you off somewhere in a tangent that you can't find your way back.
But there's going to be this idea being reinforced through a number of passages that he wants us to grasp our calling and. So we see the commitment of God. It says in verse 9 God is faithful. God is faithful.
He's faithful to what? He's faithful to his son. His purposes focus upon Christ. Christ is the center of God's purposes and God's thoughts you come into God's thoughts as it relates to Christ. Now something very important was mentioned earlier today concerning worship and Concerning our appreciation of doctrine that all doctrine derives its value and significance from its relationship to Christ.
Everything centers upon him. So you notice the connection that is made here. God is faithful by whom you were called to the fellowship of his son. So God will have a goal in your life. To enable you to be a true partner with the Lord Jesus.
Fellowship encompasses many beautiful concepts what we share together. It includes the idea of partnership together in commitment to something that we hold in common and our fellowship. That we are called to is with God's Son.
So that is extremely precious to God himself. But you notice the connection of relationship. His son our Lord his son our Lord and That's one of the keys to the epistle to the Corinthians. I Think the word Lord comes up about 70 times.
Because that's what they needed to get their eyes back on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he begins to talk about the problem that these people are all divided up into factions. Based on loyalty to men who are leaders among them now.
Let's go to a number of other Passages. Galatians chapter 1. I'm going to have to hurry through some of these just to pick up the thread. This one might be more personal in a sense where Paul speaks about his own calling in verse 15.
But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and Called me by his grace to reveal his son in Me that I might preach him among The heathen. I hope you have thought about this verse before and I hope you have at least some appreciation already in your mind that God's will in Calling you into his grace Is so that first of all Christ might be revealed to you.
But then further that Christ might be revealed in you. Now I'm going to be twinning together some of these ideas. But the grace of God brings us ultimately to the glory of God and if you've never caught on to that You may be very lackadaisical Careless indifferent to what God is trying to do with you in your life.
But once you grasp that the grace of God that has touched you Has as its goal to bring you into an association with Christ in God's eternal glory and we'll find that in 1st Timothy 1st Peter chapter 5 and then in Ephesians chapter 3 Where Christ and the church Together will be the final ultimate expression of the nature and being of God himself now that is Precious that is significant and Paul says I was called in the grace of God with the intention That the Lord Jesus Christ might be revealed in my life.
That is very vital. Especially when we come to the arena of conflict. Let's come to Galatians chapter 5 where we see this brought together. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 12 He says for brethren You have been called unto Liberty.
Only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. But by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word Even in this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one another Take heed that you be not consumed one of another.
I would almost like to dare to ask you What the atmosphere of your local assembly is like now? And what it has been like over the years is It an atmosphere of this kind of conflict Where we seem to have so little genuine care for each other that we can Run roughshod over each other.
We can insult and hurt one another we can be so insensitive To what God is really? Intending for each Christian. He said if you bite and devour one another Be careful that you don't destroy each other.
What have you been called to? You've been called to a wonderful freedom but a freedom in which you are called to express the very life of God himself and That life is Centered in this word love and we're going to see this more and more strongly as we come to these passages now.
Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3 and I'm sure that some of you at least are aware that Ephesians and Colossians Have a lot of overlap in material between them a lot of parallels some parts In Colossian that are just mentioned briefly are expanded significantly in Ephesians, and this is one of them it say it speaks about Christ and our relationship in Christ at the end of verse 11 it says but Christ is all and in all verse 12 put on therefore as the elect of God holy and beloved bowels of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long-suffering Forbearing one another and forgiving one another if any have a quarrel or a complaint against any.
Even as Christ forgave you. So also do ye and above all these things put on charity or love. Which is the bond and that term there really means Uniting bond a uniting bond something that holds us together that binds us together and brings us to this completeness the bond of perfectness.
And Verse 15 says and let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also you are called in one body and Be ye thankful. Now again, we have this idea of being called and There is a context around it of handling things which create resentments anger Frustration and bitterness among us now.
This is going to be expanded in Ephesians chapter 4. So I'm not going to develop it from this passage, but I want you to see that it's here and the connection. So, let's think about verse 15 for just a moment let the peace of God Rule in your hearts.
What does that mean? Well, first of all The word to rule means to arbitrate like an umpire or a referee. So he is saying Let God's own peace Be the one who rules and overrules within your heart and controls your attitude and behavior.
So it's first of all a very personal thing and you could just ask yourself this question. When I look in the mirror Am I at peace? With the person I am. With a person that I see in the mirror am I at peace with that person.
Do I have an inner tranquility when I consider what I am like and Can I say that I have within myself an inner peacefulness. The peace of God is a peacefulness. The word peace carries in it the idea of harmony of things fitting together wholeness oneness.
But the verse actually goes beyond just saying well, you know, I've got peace about what I said. I've got peace about what I did. It's all their fault. Anyway, this is going beyond just the inner feeling and it talks about Let the peace of God rule To which you are called in one body.
This is actually talking about peace among you. God's peace so that's what we must Have as a goal within ourselves in our personal spiritual life and in our relationships with fellow believers as well as in our marriages and families.
That we will walk with God with an inner peacefulness. Now let me just make this a little bit of an equation. A Peaceful person Will tend to be a peaceable person and the inverse is true. Somebody who always seems to have a chip on their shoulder.
They're always ready to fire off. They're always ready to fight. That is a good indication that they are not enjoying inner harmony and peace within themselves. Now let's go to first Peter and Just notice it yet.
We won't be able to take time to really develop it. I'll just read it with you first Peter chapter 3. First of all He says in verse 8. Finally be all of one mind having compassion one of another. Love as brothers.
Be pitiful or full of pity. Be courteous. Not rendering or paying back evil for evil or railing for railing but contrary wise blessing. Knowing that you are there unto called that you should inherit a blessing.
This is a tremendously powerful Statement and it is really telling us that we have the luxury. We have the ability To bless others out of the fullness of God's blessing to us. God has determined blessing for us.
He has called us to inherit good blessing and He really says nobody else can take that from you. Nobody else's opinion or criticism or hurtful act can destroy the blessing that God has intended for you.
You can afford to react to others in their antagonism. With kindness. The word blessing here is really the word to eulogize. So I'm just gonna leave this with you if somebody says something harsh critical insulting.
Get back at them by saying something good about them. It'll get back to them. You can guarantee it. Say something kind say something compassionate say something respectful. He's really talking here about quenching Quenching the approach of evil among us now over in first Peter chapter 5 verse 10 He says.
But the God of all grace who has called us unto his eternal glory. By or in Christ Jesus after that you have suffered a while make you perfect. Establish strengthen. Settle you to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
Amen. The grace of God the God of all grace. So what we are being impressed with here is that the God who is so? rich in his goodness He wants to bring you to a final ultimate perfection. That is not just described here as glory but his glory.
Now I hope you're clear enough in your doctrine. That you understand that this does not mean that you are going to become God as God is God. But you are going to share Everything that love can possibly share with you of God's own nature and life.
So that you ultimately will be in the presence of God and you will fit there. You will be in perfect harmony with all that God is he has called you to be unto his Eternal glory now. Let's come to the book of Ephesians and we'll see how this works its way out in the Ephesian epistle and I'm going to connect together an expression that Repeats itself in the Ephesian epistle and that expression is in love.
Ephesians 1 and verse 4 Says according as he has chosen us in him Before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Again in verse 6 it says to the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he has made us accepted in The beloved now we could call that accepting love.
Verse 18 mentions The eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know What is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints? Now chapter 1 has a prayer for enlightenment.
Chapter 3 has a prayer for Enablement. Now, let's read it in chapter 3 from verse 14. For this cause I bow my knees My knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.
That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. Now each clause that follows this starts with that. That that and if you just add in the little word or phrase in order that You'll see that each statement is intended to lead into the next and enable the next to be true so strengthened With might by his spirit in the inner man.
So that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith so that ye being Rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend or enter into With all Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ which?
Passes or surpasses knowledge that you might be filled with or unto all the fullness of God and Then he says now to him that is able to do Exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus Throughout all ages world without end.
Amen. Now, where does that all take us? Let's read the first three verses of chapter 4. I Therefore the prisoner of the Lord Beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation. We're with you were called with all lowliness and meekness with long-suffering forbearing one another in love Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace and then there's a sevenfold oneness expressed Culminating in the expression one God and father of all who is above all through all and in You all.
So what is this telling us? Well, he's telling us that if we could ever get our minds and hearts wrapped around our calling and Understand what he has called us into. Let me put it this way If I were really enjoying this as It belongs to me. I Would be so happy.
I wouldn't know what to do with myself and You could tell me anything you wanted and I'd be able to handle it. I would have the resources to be able to accept and Absorb your criticism. I would be able to deal with you in your limitations and your shortcomings.
This is the ultimate resource of God himself. And it's not just what we ought to be like. It is that Christ indwelling us really provides the source of life. The security of life the satisfaction of life that will fill us and able Enable us to minister to one another With this richness of the life of God and so I'm not going to read all the verses in Ephesians that have this expression, but there's a little phrase in In love.
Now, let me just direct something to you who are married here today I'm gonna ask you a simple question. Are you in love? Well, you say well that happened, you know when we Dated for a while. Let me we fell in love.
Are you in love today? Let me tell you if you are not in love today. You're in trouble. You may not know it. But you're in trouble. Why? Because love is the essence of this oneness it is the character and nature of love as We see it flowing from God himself.
That draws us together that enables us to handle the things that could create conflict and When it comes to the marriage relationship, I remember an author who is a marriage a Christian marriage counselor and He this is as far as he is concerned his greatest life discovery in the counseling field.
Is that the issue of being in love is? The secret. To marriage you say well, that's pretty obvious, isn't it? Yeah, but that's what we forget. That's what we neglect and it's conflict in one sense is as much a symptom of Loss of love as it is a potential of creating loss of love.
Why simply this? When you feel closeness with another person. You don't want to hurt them. When you deeply love another person. You don't want to see harm to them. It will give you motivation to resolve differences.
It will give you motivation to be kind and caring as you deal with things. You will be sensitive to what they're feeling. It is love that actually gives us this desire for oneness. As Colossians 3 says it's the uniting bond and as we see in this passage God himself coming from chapter 3 in verse 14 God in all the riches of his glory has Desired that we might in the power of God's Spirit granted to us.
Strengthen us with might. To what intent. So that Christ might dwell in my heart now you might say. You know We've been well taught. We know that the moment you trust in the Lord Jesus and you're saved Christ indwells you.
Could I suggest to you that this passage is teaching us something more? You notice that it says that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith. In the New Testament we learn this important principle that faith operates.
Based upon love. Galatians chapter 5. Faith which works by love. This is actually the most basic reality of life. What enables you to trust somebody? What generates confidence in another person. It's when they manifest the care that arises out of love and this really teaches us that love is the very foundation of everything this is a confirmation that God who is love is the true source of life and he Brings love into our lives.
He Encompasses us with his love and we instinctively respond with trust and. So he wants then for us to get to know him by getting to know his son and the Spirit of God at work in your heart and in mine.
Has this goal so that Christ may be given the place that belongs to him in my heart and yours. I want to suggest that Christ dwelling in your heart is not just living there as a guest. That you entertain once in a while.
But that he is actually at home at home. Do you know if Christ is at home in your heart. Well, you're gonna have to deal with every kind of sin that touches your life. His presence will be the most purifying.
The most ennobling Influence that you will ever know and experience. But he says if the Spirit of God has his way within us he will exalt and enthrone the Lord Jesus Christ and make him supreme in my heart and Then the outcome if Christ is in control of my heart.
He says you are going to become rooted and grounded in love. Why. Because that's what Christ is he is eternal love and. So what's the most important thing about your relationship in your marriage? What is the most important thing it's your relationship with Christ.
That's the most important thing. That will be the most important influence. To make you the kind of husband or wife that you need to be. What is the most important part of your relationship with fellow Christians?
Your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's what he tells us. This is God's focus. This is God's way of operating that you may be rooted being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend now sometimes the word comprehend is Really in the sense of understanding grasping but it is also in the sense of laying hold of and making your own and I would suggest in view of the idea of The prayer being to be strengthened.
Why do we need to be strengthened? Because there's a lot against us succeeding in our relationships. Have you figured it out yet? That it's easy easy to have short-term casual relationships. But it's the challenge of a lifetime.
To have a good developing close relationship with another person. It takes everything That you can be to enable that to happen. And so we are speaking here about what will enable us To work towards this progression and development of closeness.
To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you might be filled unto all the fullness of God. Now don't just pass this over and say well, let's get to the practical part. This is the most practical reality for us to enter into.
God has not left you on your own to live as a godly Christian. Christ is in you. Christ is in dwelling you he wants you to be in full harmony with what he is and your Thoughts to be under his leadership now, that's brought out in chapter 4.
And so he says I'm pleading with you that you would live your life worthily of this vocation and that calling as we see at the end of the chapter of chapter 3 is that in the ages to come Christ and The church together will be the glory of God on display.
That's how God is going to be known for eternity. And so how are we to do it? Well, he says very simply here with all lowliness and Meekness now, I'm going to try to put this into a perspective here. What is lowliness?
It's a very important term. And it does not mean that you think you're no good for anything but what it does mean is that you take a lower place than the other person. You give the other person the priority of interest and concern.
Now, can you just imagine if there's some conflict comes up and you're you're all upset about something and you you've got to talk to me and you've got to set me straight and so on and If I respond to you With complete focus upon you and not on me.
I am genuinely interested in what's troubling you. I Care about how this has affected you. I am willing to listen to you. I want to understand you. Well, you might just get so disarmed that you might not say half of the things you intended to say this lowliness is The mind of Christ as Philippians chapter 2 emphasizes and I want to suggest that lowliness along with meekness Expresses an absence of self-promotion.
Remember that pride is an underlying root in most conflict and this self abasement self-lowering Self-forgetfulness an absence of self-promotion Would alleviate a significant part of the hurtfulness in conflicts.
Now the word meekness is actually our strength under restraint Submitted to the control of another and First of all, it is unto God. Now I want to remind you that it says in verse 20 in Contrast to the life of the world with all its immorality and wickedness and so on.
It says but you have not so learned Christ. Do you remember Matthew 11 and 29? Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and lowly in heart and You shall find rest Rest unto your souls. Isn't it so often in times of contention and in conflict.
That we have an awful lot of inner turmoil within ourselves. Wouldn't it be nice to be controlled to be under this control? That I have no self-interest here. But I have God's interest. That's what's going to control my behavior.
And so these are the things that we need to consciously establish in our own lives and Set as a goal for ourselves. Especially in time of conflict now the other Connecting expressions we have here is with long suffering Forbearing one another again in love that my love for you Will enable me to bear with you To suffer long to be patient with you.
And so if the first two expressions emphasize an absence of Self-promotion these two are even more tough in one sense because this is an absence of self-protection. What happens when we get into some kind of a conflict?
Well, you attack me. I run to my own defense and Then I attack you back. We get into that fight Retaliation Defend if we only listen long enough To another person talking to us In order to launch into our own defense and counter-attack.
We're we're out of we're out of harmony With the mind of Christ with the life of Christ, which has become our source of life from God. And so he's really appealing to us To more deeply appreciate our calling to enter into the richness of what God has brought us into.
So that while we're waiting for everybody else around us to grow up and learn to be mature We can handle it. We can cope with it. And even though it may irritate us frustrate us and so on We will call ourselves back to this point of Reference that we now share with the mind of Christ one of the things that Ephesians emphasizes is That the God who is faithful to you the God that has called you to blessing the God who loves you with an eternal love Loves that other believer just the same and we need to grasp that So that we can be preserved and so he says endeavoring diligently Seeking to protect the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
I have lived long enough in assembly experience to know that when peace and peacefulness peaceableness goes out the window in our assembly life there's an awful lot of Tragedy happens a lot of damage is done and sometimes that damage Does not seem to be able to be recovered.
There are far too many believers Who have been thrown aside? Their lives have become shattered not because they got away from God themselves directly but because somebody else in their Sinfulness in their failure of their selfishness Did something to them that hurt them and they have not been able to overcome it and to be able to work together to Fulfill this life of Christ.
Let's close in prayer.