Church Matters: Division

1 Corinthians 3:1-9, 16-23 ESV

But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness," and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

John Calvin, John Piper, Armenian?

Division impacts both those within as well as those without the church. It hurts people who are a part of the church. It adlai hurts the reputation of the church.

The character and cause of division

The corinthian church felt it was a theologically sound church. But Paul calls them children. He was looking at how they were acting and said this  spoke of their maturity. The division and contention  starts from this: Natural preferences become Exclusive Absolutes.

We see this often in worship. From traditional hymns to contemporary christian music, there is contention over the proper way to worship. Or introverted vs. extroverted christians. Or in myers-briggs, judging vs. perceiving.

What does all this come from? The need in our hearts to justify ourselves.

The consequence of divisiveness

Paul speaks of not only the church, but also the consequence for those who act divisively. "If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him." The person who acts in a way to destroy the unity  and peace of the church will DESTROY this person. We should not soften the language here. God will destroy this divisive person. The church is called the children of God, the bride of Christ, and the body of Christ. God cares much more for the church than we can imagine.

The cure for division

How do we guard against division? The us vs. them mentality comes from worldly wisdom which is foolishness to God. Paul tells them that Paul, Apollos, and Cephas are all of the church and sent by God. They all have something to share, something to give. One LORD, one faith, one baptism. Whether presbyterian, pentecostal, or baptist, they are all given to us through Christ.

ABANDON ALL ATTEMPTS TO PROVE THEIR WORTH IN WORLDLY WAYS AND REST IN THE INFINITE WORTH WE HAVE IN CHRIST.

We are always striving to find sanctuary from insecurity. We want  someone to look down on. We want self significance. This is us trying to prove ourselves. God is unimpressed; it all seems so silly.

The Peacemaking Church: How To Approach Those Who Have Wronged You

[Matthew 18:15-20]

"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

{Rev. Dwight Yoo}

Let us first bow our heads and pray for those who are brokenhearted in Japan.

While these principles can be widely applied to all our relationships, this is specifically for those who have sinned against us in church. It is for brothers and sisters within the body. There is an assumption that the people here are committed to a church body. They know other members and the leadership. It is an assumption of membership. If you have been here for awhile, please consider becoming a member of the church.

Verse 15

If your brother sins against you, go! While some sins can and should be overlooked in love, there are some that we should bring up and confront.

You need to GO and tell them, if their actions...
- Dishonor God.
- Damage your relationship.
- Hurt others.
- Hurts themselves.

What excuses stand in our way?
- We claim that we should be forgiving all the time.
- We think we are being judgmental.
- We think only the Holy Spirit should be doing this.
- We don't want to confront others.

Between you and them alone.
While it is wise to seek counsel, we should not be talking to everyone but the person who offended you. Usually the heart behind it is one of trying to get them on YOUR side. "Oh, that person is so wicked." "So jacked up" But if we are not seeking counsel, we are gossiping and slandering. God is not pleased. Satan, however, is very pleased.

Go with the right attitude.
- Go as a fellow sinner, as a servant... to build up and restore (Galatians 6:1)
+ Watch out for pride & judgment of others.
+ Be mindful that we may struggle differently, but we all struggle.

Verse 16
- Take one or two others along

Verse 17
- Take one of two others along again.

These one or two others are there to reconcile. They are there to be a force for peacemaking. Note that there is nothing here in regards to agreement between both parties on when to call in a third party from the body. This third party is not here to be on ANYONE's side. They are there to bring peace. If this does not work, this matter should be brought to the church leadership. The third party will then play a role as a witness to the leadership. If this does not bring about peace and reconciliation, then they will be treated as unbelievers. What does that mean? It means that you still love them, you still pursue them, but you ask them whether they truly know Christ and the gospel. They are not to be condemned, but the nature of the relationship changes. Their actions do not reflect one who has the Spirit living within them. There is a lack of grace, a lack of love, & no desire for true peace.

"Nothing is so cruel as the tenderness that consigns another to his sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe rebuke that calls a brother back from the path of sin." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Keep in mind that we sometimes need to wound people to save them. When doctors are dealing with those who have cancer, it is not cruel to cut them open to remove the tumor(s). It may be strange to see someone cutting someone open (from afar, not knowing the situation). But it is the most loving thing to do.

The Peacemaking Church: Confession Brings Freedom

{Various Passages}

[Rev. Dwight Yoo]

The last sermon in this series is very important for understanding this message and even for your own spiritual and personal life. I highly recommend that you listen to it. (Conflict starts in the heart (mp3))

We are broken people, with broken relationships. Nine inch nails describes this in a song called Hurt(YouTube).

It is into a world of brokenness that Jesus came into. He is the one who stepped into all this brokenness and gives us hope for healing. Not only this, but He also calls us to be His ambassadors to the world. To point people to this hope we have in Christ. So Christians should have a suspicion of our intentions and our heart. We should jump to admit where we have gone wrong and our conflicts with others.

Confession before God


All offenses against others are ultimately a sin against God.

"For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment." - Psalm 51:3-4

"He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" - Genesis 39:9

"Yet this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven, and never waited to consult all the other people whom their sins had undoubtedly injured. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the party chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offences. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin." - C.S. Lewis "Mere Christianity"

Why are sins against others, sins against God?
- God is their Maker = Proverbs 13:21
- Christ is the Head of His Body = Ephesians 1, 4, and Colossians 1
- God commands us to love others = Matthew 22:37-40
- God commands us to love Him first = Exodus 20:3

For those of us who think that since we are in not in conflict with others and everything seems peaceful, we don't think this applies to us. We'll take some notes and remind others to resolve their conflicts. I warn you that you still may have sins of omission. Sins where you are falling short of things God commands. You are selfish and not loving others. You are not there for others.

What happens when love something over God?
Say what we are living for is success. What happens when someone gets in your way at work? You will punish them. You will back stab, start rumors, and do anything to keep your career on track. Or you'll neglect your family.

So how should we confess?

Confess before God
- With Assurance = 1 John 1:9; Psalm 32:5; Psalm 51:12
- With Hope = Colossians 3

Confession before Others

The 7 A's of Confession

Address Everyone Involved

Heart sins do not need to be confessed to others. These are thoughts and mindset sins that never became action. They should be confessed to God. But you do not need to confess to people.
Social sins need to be confessed to others. These are sins that became action. Each person who has been sinned against should be confessed to.

Avoid If, But and Maybe

These are the quickest way to ruin an apology. They express this feeling of callousness and uncaring. The word "but" eliminates everything you said before it.

Admit specifically

This expresses exactly what you want to change and how you've wronged this person.

Acknowledge the Hurt

Don't just apologize for your action. Acknowledge the feelings and pain.

Accept the Consequences

Let them know that you accept the results of what you have done. This is the perspective of a genuine and repentant heart.

Alter your Behavior

Explain to them how you will change your behavior. How will you change your behavior?

Ask for Forgiveness (and allow time)

Sometimes we get forgiveness by the end of the apology. But there are times where they are not ready to forgive yet. The best thing to do is to give them time and be patient with them.

The Peacemaking Church: Conflict starts in the Heart

[James 4:1-10]

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

{Rev. Dwight Yoo}

Starting Principle - Get the log out of YOUR eye. (Matt 7:3-5)

The inclination of our hearts is to look others in a negative light. To see their faults and their failings. But this is a downward spiral. We can keep going and going in pointing out others faults because all of us are sinners. We will start to think others are worse than they are. But this is not what God wants us to do.

We are to look at our own faults and failings FIRST. What does that get us? We get a healthy sense of self-suspicion. When we get into certain situations, we will examine ourselves to see whether it is our sinful hearts leading us astray. James tells us that conflict starts in our hearts. The world tells us that the reason we have conflicts because of things outside... the traffic, our work, or a bad situation. This is why we are having conflict. BUT the Word tells us it comes from our heart. This is not referring to the organ, but when God talks about the heart, He is referring to the central control in our life. Proverbs 4:23; Matthew 15:19-24;
The desires and passions found in our hearts can be good as well as evil. These are the things that control and move us. Whether it is a desire to eat at Tyson's Bees or to have your children behave...

Let's take a peek at our hearts and how this works...
- i desire...
- (becomes) I Demand...
- (changes us) I JUDGE...
- (makes us) I PUNISH !

So desires that may be perfectly good become demands. And these demands become central to our satisfaction and happiness. They are now idols. They have taken God's place in our lives. Given time, when our demands are not met, they start to impact our relationships. We then begin to judge others according to whether they meet our demands or not. "SHE's a horrible friend." "My husband's so USELESS." Whether we say it or it is just in our hearts, we become overly critical of others. This is what James 4:11 says, "Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge." So then, when we become judges, we will then pass judgment and punish others become of their failures. We see others according to our kingdom rules and regulations. When they fail to meet your expectations or they are not meeting your "needs", you will give them the cold shoulder, shame them, or ignore them.

If you are giving people the cold shoulder or slandering others, it is a CLEAR sign that an idol is in control of your heart. When we punish others who are close to us, they do not want to love us more. It makes them hurt. It makes them get defensive, attack us back, or run away.

"double-minded" - James is telling us that we can only have ONE ultimate source of satisfaction and fulfillment. We cannot serve both God and money. We cannot serve both God and ______. (Friends, family, success, career, & spouse.) No matter what else it is, it will NOT satisfy. It will only disappoint. People are fallible, they will fail us.

We cannot simply remove an idol. Just removing an idol simply opens our heart to another idol. We must replace the idol with God. We must replace the idols of our lives with the desire to love & follow Jesus. Then our fears and anxieties will dissipate...

The Peacemaking Church: Live At Peace

James 3:13-18

Rev. Dwight Yoo

This is the second sermon in a series.

James writes this to a church in conflict. This church has a group of teachers that are saying the church should focus on this or that. This was not about heresy, it was probably more likely about something good. But there is a difference of opinion about what good things to focus on...

I feel our church is particularly susceptible to this. We can get too caught up in our causes and what we are passionate about. This, if left unchecked, can cause division and even for the church to fracture and split. James addresses those who claim to be wise and learned to show their wisdom by their works of faith. He tells them this would result in humility and meekness in their actions. The wise should be humble and meek...which was not the case here. Rather they were living contentious and antagonistic towards others in the church. How so? Consider how Jesus laid it all down laid it all down and lived humbly and meekly. We should follow in His footsteps. Conflict should be an opportunity to love and serve others. Not fighting to be right or trying to escape...but looking to benefit others. We should choose this over harsh zeal regardless of how great the cause. While the cause is good or your point is right, your actions are not spirit-led. The Spirit does not lead in this fashion. Not only this, but all this fighting and struggling to have our way...is demonic. James calls it DEMONIC. There is a time and place to take a stand for the right things in the right fashion. But by and large, it is destructive. Pure, peaceable, gentle, full of mercy, impartial, sincere, & open to reason...this is the way of the Spirit. Those who live like this will bring about a harvest of righteousness! Whether in marriage, parenting, at work, our in the church...there will be blessing. THIS IS WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO.

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The peacemaking church: Conflict provides opportunities

{Rev. Dwight Yoo}

We will be covering a book "the peacemaker" by Ken Sande for eight weeks. This is not a complete departure from James, but it is certainly not an expositional series. We wish to focus on a specific core value for a season. In this case, we want to focus on Gospel Community.

What happens when the church does not handle conflict well?

Spiritual growth suffers - Ephesians 4:1-16
Marriages suffer - Ephesians 5:22-33
Friendships suffer - Proverbs 17:17;18:24

What if, by God's grace, we get this right?

Spiritual growth and renewal
Powerfully redemptive, long-lasting, world attracting marriages, families, and friendships
A Gospel community, whose relationships display the power of the Gospel to an unbelieving world.

That was the intro to this series. Now the sermon.

Matthew 5:9
The church should be a community of peacemakers in a world of conflict.

Conflict: "A conference in opinion or purpose that frustrates someone's goals or desires."

Conflict is not all bad. Even the apostles had them. There are two major bad responses.

Escape: aka peace-faking. This is self-centered. The person hates the situation and wants out. There is denial of any problem. They may run away from these situations. If they go to an extreme, they may choose to commit suicide.

Attack: aka peace-breaking. This is also self-centered. This person wants to always be right. They are convinced that the other person is the problem. Assault of either the emotional or even physical attack. They may litigate, take you to court. Taken to the extreme, they may murder others. This can be just pretending someone does not exist. Completely ignoring them.

KYRG - KISS YOUR RELATIONSHIPS GOODBYE.

The best and biblical response?

Peacemaking: It is about we. Directed towards finding just and mutually agreeable solutions to conflict. There is a covering over and overlooking of small sins. There is reconciliation over more serious sins. And for seriously contentious issues, there is mediation and even arbitration.

Three opportunities from conflict

Glory for God
Trust Him - Proverbs 3:5-7
Obey - John 14:21
Imitate - Philippians 2:1-7
Acknowledge - 1 Peter 2:12

Serve others
Put others first - Luke 6:27-28;36
Meet others needs
Show others where they need to grow - Galatians 6:1-2
Introduce them to Jesus - 1 Peter 3:15-16
Set an example of healthy conflict resolution (your kids are watching.)

Grow to be like Christ
Romans 8:28-29

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