Conflict in the Church

Introduction

Background: The church is on fire. They saw Jesus ascend, at Pentecost they were filled with power, they have seen salvations, they were threatened, but when they prayed, the place where they were at was shaken and they were filled again. But, up to this point, every problem that they have encountered has come from outside the church. What they church is going to face now is trouble from the inside of the church.

Context: Here’s the story:

The early church is united in their mission. They are sure that God is with them and they are sure that they are doing the right things. They are so much in love, and so devoted to the gospel, that they begin to sell their possessions and lay them all at the Apostle’s feet for ministry. They were doing this to meet the needs of other Christians who didn’t have what they needed.

There was a man that they called Barnabas. And the name Barnabas means “son of encouragement.” And what Barnabas did was sold a piece of land, and laid the money at the Apostle’s feet to give it. Now, Barnabas wasn’t doing it to be seen, but when others did see it, they were encouraged.

But there were two that did see it, Ananias and Sapphira. And they weren’t weren’t really encouraged, what they wanted was the same attention that Barnabas got, but they also wanted their money. So, they lied to make themselves look better than they actually were.

Peter, by the Holy Spirit, knew they lied, and when confronted, both Ananias and Sapphira would fall over dead because of their sin.

You see, this caused great conflict in the early church, it caused doubt, fear, and it caused confusion. Some of you are confused right now wondering why God killed them for lying.

But that didn’t stop the church, Peter and the Apostle’s kept healing, serving, and preaching to advance the Gospel of God.

I. An Encouraged Church

The Encouragement of Unity

Acts 4:32 NKJV

Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.

Not Communism

One major way these verses are taken out of context, is when people say that the Bible advocates for socialism. Now, what is socialism? Socialism is the social ownership of all goods and services.

They’ll take these verses and they’ll say, “Well, in the Bible it said that they pooled all their resources and used to it to help the poor. The Bible is in favor of socialism.”

2 Things wrong with that thinking

1. No where does the Bible command Christians to behave like this. No where does the Bible command you to sell your land or your possessions and come and lay it at anyone’s feet.

It’d be kind of hard to lay something at an Apostle’s feet seeing that all the Apostle’s are now in heaven. Now, if you do want to write me a check, I’ll gladly accept it, but no where in the Bible are you commanded to lay any money down at the feet of a pastor or Apostle.

2. This was a voluntary and willfull giving. It wasn’t forced by the government, it certainly wasn’t a tax, and it was completely optional, there was no guilt or no deception that came from the Apostle’s to motivate them to give, it was strictly because of their love for Jesus Christ.

This is so contrary to socialism which is not based on love. Socialism is based on a hatred for people who have more than you do. When people in a nation begin to believe they deserve the power, they take it for themselves, and you have socialism. They are united by their hate for the ruling class. These men and women here were united by their love for Jesus Christ.

Better Together

All throughout the Scripture, you are going a great emphasis placed on unity. Now, unity doesn’t mean we all wear matching t-shirts. It doesn’t mean that we all agree all of the time, it simply means that we are united in our pursuit of Jesus, and we are not going to get divided over non-essential issues.

I read a terrible story in a seminary class.

A church was thriving, it was going so well, God was blessing, and the church was growing…and what happens when you outgrow where you are? You begin to build. During this building process, there were a lot of committees and they were all responsible for different areas of management.

There were two committees that came into conflict. The finance committee and the maintenance committee.

The new building was built, it was so beautiful, state of the art, and this conflict began to arise, and the conflict was over thermostats.

The maintenance committee wanted something easy to maintain. The finance committee wanted something cheaper. The fight became so serious, it snow balled to the point that this big beautiful church split because they couldn’t agree on a thermostat.

More churches split over matters of business than they split concerning the gospel. It’s horrible.

Philippians 2 is one of the most powerful chapters in all the Bible, and v. 1-4 say this.

Philippians 2:1–4 NKJV

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

That’s what these early Christians were doing. They were saying, “Hey, I know we are getting this thing started, I know that there are people here that have need. If I sell this land and give the money, I’ll be fine, they need it more than me.”

But this is a command and principle for the church now, that we encourage each other in our unity. How do we get unity? We keep the focus on Jesus and off of ourselves, off of our wants, and off of our egos.

Not only is unity encouraging, unity is a gospel issue.

The Encouragement of the Gospel

Acts 4:33 NKJV

And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.

Do you see that? You have to understand that these men at this time were dealing with Jews. And Jewish legalist make the legalist of 1970s America look like liberals.

They came with a message that said, “You were once under the law, you were once oppressed by sin, you were once bound by legalism, but Jesus has set you free, and if the Son therefore shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.”

Can you imagine the encouragement?

No wonder they wanted to sell all they had and give it. The gospel is the most encouraging thing you can come across. Here’s the gospel: Adam disobeyed God, because of His disobedience, the whole world was plunged into darkness, God demanded a standard of perfection to be reunited with Him, Jesus Christ came as the light of the world, He died on the cross as a payment for sin, He rose from the grave to prove His authority, and He offers you that perfection so you can be reunited with God.”

No laws, no oppression, just the grace of God given to man through His Son Jesus.

John 3:16 NKJV

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Acts 16:31 NKJV

So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.”

The gospel is so encouraging because the gospel is simple, it is ready to be received, and it’s frees you from the bondage of sin and death.

The Encouragement of Giving

Acts 4:34–37 NKJV

Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need. And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

You say, “Dylan, you’re a genius! How did you ever know that giving encourages people?”

I’ve never seen anyone in a bad mood when they get a $100 bill handed to them.

Giving is encouraging.

More Blessed to Give than receive

Not only does giving encourage the one who receives, but someone who is generous finds great pleasure in sacrificially giving to other people.

Romans 12 tells us that giving is a spiritual gift. That some people have the spiritual gift of giving. I think that Barnabas was one of those people. That’s one of the primary ways he encouraged the church.

But just because you don’t have the spiritual gift of giving doesn’t mean that you won’t find satisfaction by giving.

Here’s a few principles on giving and we’ll move on…

Giving is encouraged but not required.

I believe in a 10% minimum standard of giving to God, but if you do it out of obligation or because a preacher told you to, then you might as well keep it.

I believe that we as a church and as individuals should give to missions. But if you give to missions out of pity or out of emotional obligation then you should just keep your money.

When we give, we should be giving because we love Jesus, not because we are obligated. Remember, what unites us is not legalistic rituals, its not emotion based philanthropy, but what unites us is our love and devotion to Jesus Christ.

True Giving doesn’t expect a return

Sometimes people will give a gift to curry favor.

They think if they’re a big giver in the church they get to make the decisions.

They think if they give you something in life that you owe them.

They think that giving is a means to an end, and they don’t understand that true giving is done out of love and doesn’t expect a return.

Matthew 10:8 NKJV

Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

Jesus is saying, “I gave you everything you have freely, you should also give it freely.” Give it without strings attached because it all belongs to God anyway.

Giving means to do it sacrificially

Luke 21:1–4 NKJV

And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, “Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”

It’s a sacrifice to really give.

Sometimes preachers and Christians talk about giving tithes like its just every day business. It does eventually become every day business, but when you are just starting to give, it hurts. And let me tell something about that “everyday business.”

Christian, do you know when it’s time for you to up your giving? When it’s just everyday business. And listen, if you give 10% to the church, you’re free to give it wherever else you’d like. If you don’t give 10% of net income you need to start in the church, and as God increases your faith, you give more either to the church, to missions, to wherever.

Giving is a private matter

I don’t know what you give and I don’t want to know. Mark can find out, Ellen might know, but that’s it. The only other people who need to are you and God. It’s a private matter. Don’t come to me and say, “Are we good if I don’t give” or whatever, cause it aint between me and you, its between you and God.

Kids make me laugh, because I promise you right now if you go down there and ask them who owns the church, they’re either gonna call the name of one of these men or they’re going to say the pastor does.

But people act the same way. I understand I’m called, I understand I’m a preacher, but I ain’t your priest. Jesus is your priest. If you need counsel I’ll help. If you need guidance, call me. If you need to find out if you’re in good standing with God, you’re gonna have to go to my boss.

II. A Disrupted Church

There they all are…encouraged, having a good ole time, and here comes ole buddy to mess it all up. If I would have been there, I might have yelled from the back of the place they were in, “This is why we can’t have nothin nice!”

Acts 5:1–11 NKJV

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” She said, “Yes, for so much.” Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.

From Encouragement to Fear

They’ve gone from Barnabas, the son of encouragement, to Ananias, the deceiver.

And the Bible says that fear came upon all the church.

Now, there are a few things I want to show you here.

The Reality of Conflict

Wherever there are people, there’s going to be conflict.

Some people think they can change their situation by moving on to something new or to somewhere else, but the problem with that is that when they get, they’ll be there. And wherever they are, there is going to be conflict, dissatisfaction, and a bad attitude. Wherever there are people, there’s going to be conflict.

How do you think Tom Hanks lost Wilson? Tom was there all by himself and still managed to have an argument.

I heard this story one time:

There was a man stranded on an island all by himself, when the rescue team showed up, they noticed three buildings. They said, “What’s that one?”

The man said, “That’s my house.”

Then they said, “How about that one?”

The man said, “That’s my church.”

Then they said, “Well, what about that one?”

The man said, “That’s where I used to go to church.”

Conflict is an inevitable part of life, and we cannot just continue to run away from our problems. We have to learn to deal with conflict in a way that is healthy, well-mannered, and that seeks to accomplish what’s best for everyone, not just for our egos.

Relating it to the Scripture

Look there again in v. 11, “So great fear came upon all the church.”

Can you imagine what the church is going through?

Some people are saying, “Peter was out of line, there is no way that Ananias did what he said he did!”

Others were saying, “then how do you explain why they fell dead? Did Peter kill them? Don’t test God by blaming the Apostles”

Because of the sin of Ananias, God was ultimately glorified. The reality is that there is sin, and there is conflict, but the other reality is that God will always get the glory.

2. The Ingredients of Conflict

There are three ingredients to all conflict and we see them here.

Ego

Money

A lack of integrity

And when you combine these three ingredients, and you let them bake, what you pull out of the oven is the abandonment of the Word of God as the sole authority.

Do you know how you get legalism? You add to the Word of God. You abandon the Word of God as the sole authority.

Do you know how you get liberalism? You take away from the Word of God. You abandon the Word of God as the sole authority.

Ego

Ananias decided he wanted in on the action, and he wanted to look good doing it, so he lied. He was so egotistical, that he actively lied to the Holy Spirit.

His ego had grown so great that he believed that his appearance to other people was more important than his relationship with God.

His ego had grown so great, that he convinced his wife to partake in this sin.

His ego had grown so great, that Satan was able to play him like a fiddle.

Did you know that Satan would rather have a church member with an ego at his disposal than he would anything else?

He loves to work with them because they kill a church from the inside.

1 Peter 5:8 NKJV

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Satan wants to destroy the church, he wants to destroy your family, he wants to destroy your faith, and he wants to do it from the inside.

Application

Some of you men, and some of you women, have an ego problem.

In your life, in you marriage, in your job, it’s all about you, you, you.

Some of you are so puffed up in your ego, that when I started talking about it, you said, “Yeah, so and so is like that.”

No, God’s not pointing the finger at them, He’s pointing it at you.

We live in one of the most egotistical societies in the world. That’s why you take 20 photos before you post one on the internet. You want to make sure you look good. News flash, we all know what you look like, the angle isn’t making a difference!

That’s one reason why it’s getting harder and harder to win people to Christ, because people believe that they are too good for Hell. As Adrian Rogers says it, “We have egomaniacs strutting to Hell.”

Ego is the first ingredient in conflict, be empty of yourself, and allow God to fill you.

2. Money

The motivation for doing this was to get all the credit, and to keep some of the money.

1 Timothy 6:10 NKJV

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

It doesn’t say that money is the root, but that the love of money is the root.

In this case, and in too many cases, people love money more than they love God.

Let me tell you something, in this church, let us never be divided over money. Money is something that God can give at any time through any means He deems necessary. I could stand here all day and give you testimony of how many times God provided financially but you’re just going to have to His word for it.

Matthew 6:33 NKJV

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Now hear, one of the greatest conflicts that arise in any relationship is money. The leading cause of divorce is money.

What you have when there is a divorce over money is one of two things.

The refusal to regulate

The refusal to generate

Someone who refuses to regulate just spends, spends, spends, spends, spends, and never checks up. One day, the credit card catches up to you. One day the payments catch up to you. You think you can out earn it or out run it, but like I said before, you’re the problem, not your income.

Why Men work

Some of you men work countless hours because you refuse to regulate your spending. You refuse to budget and live within your means.

One day I’m taking a titanium fitting that had to be welded by someone qualified to do it, and when I got in there, he was talking about all of his hunting dogs. He said that he had 12 hunting dogs, and talked about how much money they cost.

I was next and he asked what I needed so I told him, and reminded him they needed it installed by today.

He made a joke and said, “They called me and told me about it, I’ll take my time on it so you can get 12 hours today and make you some money.”

I just said, “I don’t work overtime, I like to go home and see my kids”

He says to me, “Man that’s crazy because I’m working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day, and I cant even pay my bills now.”

I mean, logically, I just said, “sounds like you need to get rid of some of them dogs so you can have a life.”

“Oh no, I’m not giving up my dogs.”

He was refusing to regulate.

Some because of their wives

Hey ladies, maybe your husband isn’t the father or husband you need him to be, because you won’t put the credit card down. You won’t cook but want to eat out every meal. You want your hair and nails done every month. You have to have the latest phone, clothes, or a new car.

You’re drowning in debt because one of you or both of you are refusing to regulate your spending.

A refusal to generate

A refusal to generate is just that. Someone doesn’t want to work, they don’t want to contribute, they don’t want to talk about money, they just want it to magically appear out of thin air.

Sometimes they’ll say, “Oh, I’ve been applying, but I just can’t find a job.”

What that means is, “I can’t find the job I want.”

Sometimes they’ll say, “If I can just get this next degree, or this new job, or open this new business then I’ll actually start trying.”

What that means is, “I’m too immature to hold a steady job and to contribute.”

Conflict that comes from money

If you want to have a home filled with conflict, refuse to regulate, or refuse to generate, and you’ll have it.

3. A Lack of Integrity

Ananias’s ego and his love for money fostered a lack of integrity. But I want you to notice that God didn’t give Ananias the same chance He gave Sapphira.

When Ananias heard from Peter, he fell down dead. When Sapphira came in, Peter gave her a chance.

“Sapphira, did you sell the land for what you said you did?”

When she doubled down, she showed herself to be lacking in all kinds of integrity, and to be someone who was filled by Satan.

Where a lack of integrity comes into play, is when people are no longer interested in what God is doing, and they are only interested in winning the argument or in looking important in front of people instead of God.

Do you have a lack of integrity?

Is there some conflict in your life that exist today for the simple reason that you just won’t give up? Is there conflict between you and God because you won’t submit to Him? It’s time for you to develop some integrity, and to clean up the messes in your life by turning back to God and doing what you know is right.

3. The Source of Conflict

The source of all conflict is Satan himself. The source of all conflict is sin and perversion. The devil wants to destroy this church from the inside.

The devil wants to destroy your home from the inside. While you’re guarding your children from the influences of the outside world, Satan is working to pit mom and dad against each other. He’s working to generate rebellion in teenagers. He’s working to make mom or dad experience the lust of the flesh through pornography and adultery. He’s working to make mom and dad have the lust of they eyes, spending all their time working for things that won’t make them happy. He’s working to make mom and dad experience the pride of life, believing that this world is all there is.

He seeks to destroy the church, he seeks to destroy the family, and he seeks to do it all from the inside.

4. The Fruit of Conflict

When there is conflict that isn’t being dealt with, it breeds destruction.

Ananias and Sapphira died because they came into conflict with God. They loved money, they had an ego, and they lacked integrity, and they payed for it.

Conflict in Relationships

Right now, there are some of you who are dissatisfied in your marriage, and your spouse has no clue.

You have a resentment inside that if you don’t communicate it and heal from it, it’s going to destroy you. Don’t fall for the lie that “divorce will make you happy” or “this man or woman will make you happy.” Divorce and adultery are two games where there are no winners, there are only losers.

Maybe both of you know your marriage is barely making it.

Well, it’s time to have that tough conversation. It’s time to communicate and deal with whatever conflict is causing you to be miserable. It’s never going to go away, even if you divorce. It will always be there until its dealt with.

Right now, there are some of you who aren’t going to call your dad on this Father’s Day.

There’s too much conflict. You think you can just ignore it, you can pretend like it doesn’t bother you, but the first rule of conflict is that it doesn’t resolve on its own. What can you do? You can do everything you can to mend that relationship…and once you’ve done that, then make peace with whatever the outcome is. The peace you make is not for the person you are in conflict with, the peace you make is to free your heart from the burden of conflict.

The truth about conflict

The truth about conflict is this, unless it is killed, it will spread like a cancer.

Why did God kill these two?

Because there is no place for ego, for a love of money, or for a lack of integrity in the church or in the life of a Christian.

Now I don’t mean go kill your enemies…what I am saying is to begin working today to resolve all the conflict in your life and free yourself up to serve God in a way you never thought possible.

III. An Empowered Church

Acts 5:12–16 NKJV

And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

The only way for us to thrive as a church, is to deal with conflict in a manner of love and understanding.

The only way for you to thrive as a family, as a married couple, as a son or daughter, or as a brother or sister, is to deal with conflict in a manner of love and understanding, doing everything you possibly can to live at peace with one another.

When the church got rid of the ego, the love of money, and the integrity issues, they were filled with power again.

I don’t want you to live your life in defeat, for you I want victory, victory in the name of Jesus.

Conclusion