Conflict Resolution

3 John

3 John 1–15 NET

From the elder, to Gaius my dear brother, whom I love in truth.Dear friend, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul.For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, just as you are living according to the truth. I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are living according to the truth. Dear friend, you demonstrate faithfulness by whatever you do for the brothers (even though they are strangers). They have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God.For they have gone forth on behalf of “The Name,” accepting nothing from the pagans.Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we become coworkers in cooperation with the truth. I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not acknowledge us.Therefore, if I come, I will call attention to the deeds he is doing—the bringing of unjustified charges against us with evil words! And not being content with that, he not only refuses to welcome the brothers himself, but hinders the people who want to do so and throws them out of the church! Dear friend, do not imitate what is bad but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does what is bad has not seen God. Demetrius has been testified to by all, even by the truth itself. We also testify to him, and you know that our testimony is true. I have many things to write to you, but I do not wish to write to you with pen and ink.But I hope to see you right away, and we will speak face to face.Peace be with you. The friends here greet you. Greet the friends there by name.

On Whose authority

Biblical

Ecclesiastical

Judges 6:25–32 NET

That night the Lord said to him, “Take the bull from your father’s herd, as well as a second bull, one that is seven years old. Pull down your father’s Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole. Then build an altar for the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold according to the proper pattern. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt sacrifice on the wood from the Asherah pole that you cut down.” So Gideon took ten of his servants and did just as the Lord had told him. He was too afraid of his father’s family and the men of the city to do it in broad daylight, so he waited until nighttime. When the men of the city got up the next morning, they saw the Baal altar pulled down, the nearby Asherah pole cut down, and the second bull sacrificed on the newly built altar. They said to one another, “Who did this?” They investigated the matter thoroughly and concluded that Gideon son of Joash had done it. The men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, so we can execute him! He pulled down the Baal altar and cut down the nearby Asherah pole.” But Joash said to all those who confronted him, “Must you fight Baal’s battles? Must you rescue him? Whoever takes up his cause will die by morning! If he really is a god, let him fight his own battles! After all, it was his altar that was pulled down.”That very day Gideon’s father named him Jerub-Baal, because he had said, “Let Baal fight with him, for it was his altar that was pulled down.”

Friends and Facts

Testimony

Reputation

Big Picture

Community

Cooperation

Proverbs 17 NET

Better is a dry crust of bread where there is quietness than a house full of feasting with strife. A servant who acts wisely will rule over an heir who behaves shamefully, and will share the inheritance along with the relatives. The crucible is for refining silver and the furnace is for gold, likewise the Lord tests hearts. One who acts wickedly pays attention to evil counsel; a liar listens to a malicious tongue. The one who mocks the poor insults his Creator; whoever rejoices over disaster will not go unpunished. Grandchildren are like a crown to the elderly, and the glory of children is their parents. Excessive speech is not becoming for a fool; how much less are lies for a ruler! A bribe works like a charm for the one who offers it; in whatever he does he succeeds. The one who forgives an offense seeks love, but whoever repeats a matter separates close friends. A rebuke makes a greater impression on a discerning person than a hundred blows on a fool. An evil person seeks only rebellion, and so a cruel messenger will be sent against him. It is better for a person to meet a mother bear being robbed of her cubs, than to encounter a fool in his folly. As for the one who repays evil for good, evil will not leave his house. Starting a quarrel is like letting out water; stop it before strife breaks out! The one who acquits the guilty and the one who condemns the innocent— both of them are an abomination to the Lord. Of what use is money in the hand of a fool, since he has no intention of acquiring wisdom? A friend loves at all times, and a relative is born to help in adversity. The one who lacks wisdom strikes hands in pledge, and puts up financial security for his neighbor. The one who loves a quarrel loves transgression; whoever builds his gate high seeks destruction. The one who has a perverse heart does not find good, and the one who is deceitful in speech falls into trouble. Whoever brings a fool into the world does so to his grief, and the father of a fool has no joy. A cheerful heart brings good healing, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. A wicked person receives a bribe secretly to pervert the ways of justice. Wisdom is directly in front of the discerning person, but the eyes of a fool run to the ends of the earth. A foolish child is a grief to his father, and bitterness to the mother who bore him. It is terrible to punish a righteous person, and to flog honorable men is wrong. The truly wise person restrains his words, and the one who stays calm is discerning. Even a fool who remains silent is considered wise, and the one who holds his tongue is deemed discerning.

Warnings and Consquences

Who is first

Lack of acknowledgement

Refuses and hinders

Rejects and throws out

Good versus evil

Matthew 10:24–42 NET

“A disciple is not greater than his teacher, nor a slave greater than his master. It is enough for the disciple to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,’ how much more will they defame the members of his household! “Do not be afraid of them, for nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing is secret that will not be made known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops.Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.Even all the hairs on your head are numbered. So do not be afraid; you are more valuable than many sparrows. “Whoever, then, acknowledges me before people, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before people, I will deny him also before my Father in heaven. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life because of me will find it. “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Whoever receives a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple, I tell you the truth, he will never lose his reward.”

Constant and Consistent

Repetitive

Public and Objective Testimony

Acts 22-28

Face to Face

Done Immediately

Done with prayer

Done with hospitality

Galatians 2 NET

Then after fourteen years I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas, taking Titus along too. I went there because of a revelation and presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so only in a private meeting with the influential people, to make sure that I was not running—or had not run—in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, although he was a Greek. Now this matter arose because of the false brothers with false pretenses who slipped in unnoticed to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves. But we did not surrender to them even for a moment, in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you. But from those who were influential (whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism between people)—those influential leaders added nothing to my message. On the contrary, when they saw that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter was to the circumcised (for he who empowered Peter for his apostleship to the circumcised also empowered me for my apostleship to the Gentiles) and when James, Cephas, and John, who had a reputation as pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They requested only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he had clearly done wrong. Until certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this and separated himself because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also joined with him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray with them by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. But if while seeking to be justified in Christ we ourselves have also been found to be sinners, is Christ then one who encourages sin? Absolutely not! But if I build up again those things I once destroyed, I demonstrate that I am one who breaks God’s law.For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!