Grace in Conflict: What Can We Learn From Paul?

An article by Matt    2 Comments

Over the last several years it seems as though our society has begun to value division more and more.  Turn on the tv and you can not help but see the talking heads rallying their troops to their side of the day’s argument.  While divisiveness sells tv advertising, I think it also begins to diminish our abilities to resolve conflict amongst ourselves.

This morning I was reading through Galatians 2:1-10 and was struck by the way that Paul dealt with things.  Paul was in the midst of a controversy that could have split the church, yet he handled it with a level of grace and humility that I think we all could learn from.

Having spent time ministering to he Gentiles, Paul began to hear the rumblings of those that were upset by the fact that Gentiles were not being instructed to follow Jewish law as they lived out their faith.  Paul, realizing that these kinds of rumblings could be destructive to both his ministry and the church as a whole came back to Jerusalem to speak privately with early church leadership.  Notice that Paul uses the word privately to describe his conversations.  Paul did not build a faction and hold a rally or develop a group of people who he riled up, he privately spoke with the brothers about what was going on.

In verse 2:6 Paul says something that I believe is utterly amazing in the context of this passage as a whole:

As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message.

My generation seems to lock in on this passage of scripture and hold on to it for all they can.  We use this passage as a club, wielding it whenever we feel that someone is standing in the way of OUR vision for something.  While Paul could have proceeded in this way, I find it amazing that Paul approached the leadership of the day gracefully… treating them as the leaders that they were, and asking them to wrestle through the matters at hand with him.  Paul showed the appropriate honor to the Apostles and then worked through any disagreements with them.

As I look at the landscape of the church these days I worry that we have become too combative at times.  I see watchdog bloggers whose only purpose is to hurl grenades at those they deem heretics and refuse discussion.  I see internal organizational squabbles being made public when someone doesn’t get their way.  This is heartbreaking to me… and makes me wonder whose kingdom the squabblers are really looking to expand: their own, or God’s.

So here is my question to you, help me work through this, how does the younger generation work towards being more Paul like as we work towards expanding God’s Kingdom?  How to we put down the club of Galatians 2:6 and take up the grace with which Paul approaches conflict?  How do we work towards unity in the church as we go about pursuing the calling placed on our lives in the way that we are designed to pursue it?