This Summer, I’ve been preaching out of Proverbs for my Summer Sermon Series: Wisdom for Living. Since it’s 4th of July weekend I decided to stick with the fireworks theme and talk about what God’s Word has to tell us about handling Relational Conflict. Light that fuse!

Where there are relationships, you will find conflict. When people interact and bump up against each other there will be conflict – big and small. Our culture loves to disagree over so many things: race, religion, family issues, politics, world views. You name it and people are fighting over it.

Now you might say, “Micheal, surely those of us who love Jesus don’t have to worry about conflict in the church!” After you’ve stop laughing and finished wiping the laughter-tears away, read this story:

In 1995, a man named Chuck Noland was stranded on a desert island after a horrific crash. He was alone on the island for nearly twenty years until a passing freighter spotted him on the beach last February. When his rescuers told him that they were there to take him home, he was overjoyed. Noland asked them if they would accompany him to the shelter he had built so that he could retrieve some of his belongings. When the group arrived at the shelter, they were amazed at how big and beautiful his island home was. Then someone noticed another structure to the right, larger and more grand than his home. When they asked Nolan what the other structure was he told them that it was his church – the place where he worshipped. Amazed at what Nolan had been able to build there in the jungle all by himself, the group turned to head back to the rescue ship. That’s when the saw a third building just as large and grand as the other two. They asked what this was and Nolan said in a hushed tone, “That’s the church I used to go to.”

BOOM!

The truth is that there is no perfect church because there are no perfect people. Churches split and relationships crumble, not due to conflict, but though the way we handle conflict. There are ways to approach conflict that can be life-giving and there are ways that can be soul-crushing. The number one reason that the church is irrelevant, ineffective, and gasping for air can be tied back to our unwillingness to deal with and work though conflict biblically.

As followers of Jesus Christ we must learn how to effectively deal with conflict when it arises. It is my hope through this lesson will help us, in light of our relationship with Jesus, RETHINK conflict and RELEARN how to effectively and positively deal with it in your life.

Here is what I truly believe: when we learn how to biblically handle conflict we will REVEL in our relationship with Jesus, experience RESTORED relationships with one another, and we will better REVEAL to the culture around us the God who pursues and redeems relationships broken by conflict.