Steve Teachings
What does strife mean?
It is a weapon that takes very little effort to get to start a blazing and roaring fire.
Just like a forest fire, a spark is all it takes to be an all consuming fire that is running rapidly out of control. It starts off with a small thought, then an insignificant statement, then when it is fanned even slightly it turns into a raging fire of contention and finger pointing.
It was so much of a problem that even Paul the Apostle had to deal with it a number of times in his epistles, this is one of those scriptures:
And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
1 Corinthians 3:1-3
The reason why strife is such a powerful weapon is because it grows like an Ivy plant. It starts out small but before you know it there is roots in everything it touches, long protruding roots that become entangled in the very core of our personalities.
One of the roots that spring from it is anger, then bitterness, then resentment and eventually outright hate. While these roots are spreading they send out another set of roots that always have to accompany them.
What do you think they would be ?
Self pity, complaining, demanding, dissention, division, whining, sadness, separation, anxiety, depression and a host of other things that grow their own roots.
James said that we need to control our tongues because it is full of deadly poison that is out to destroy our whole body. But lets go a step further, it's a poison that can infect not only the people you send it to but the whole body of Christ. When strife is involved in peoples lives it tries to recruit anyone one it can to agree with what is being fought about. It makes people take sides, that is where wars come from.
And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
James 3:6-10
When you are in the midst of strife you find yourself hardhearted and unmoving, you won't budge no matter what. But while that is dominating you at that moment, you are not in any position to show mercy and grace to the person you are directing your anger at.
What if the cause is a just one, don't they have a right to feel the way they do ?
If strife is causing a rift between two people or any kind of a division where they are not at peace with each other then they need to sit down and work this problem out in love. Not accusing each one, not slandering the other person, but each one seeking God first in prayer, looking at the complaint and then looking within themselves to see if the complaint is a just one. Give up your pride, bring down your defenses and let the Holy Spirit search your heart. If the complaint is just, then be honest with yourself and repent and then go see the person you have a problem with and straighten it out and free your Spirit.
Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. James 5:16
Strife and contention is a poison that destroys the body, but confession and prayer is the cure.
So is that easy to do ?
Most of the time it's not because another root that grows from strife is pride and sometimes pride will be the stumbling block that keeps the flames fanned.
Unless you can admit you're a part of the problem then there will be no healing, there will be no peace, but there will always be strife and contention. As long as there is strife and contention there will not be God's peace that passes all understanding and the Holy Spirit will be grieved.
So why waste the energy on all these insignificant issues ?
Insignificant issue !!!
Yes, because if you look at what started all the strife in the first place you'll find out that it really wasn't that big of a deal to begin with. With a little thought and reasoning it could have been handled in a much better way. When you act instead of pray and seek God's help in the matter and then get more people involved in the issue, all you do is just fan the flames more.
You heard the old saying: don't turn a molehill into a mountain ? There is a lot of wisdom in that.
Instead of causing strife and contention we should be fanning the flames of unity, being of the same mind, heart and love. Having mercy and compassion on each person knowing that we are just like them, all of us sinners saved by grace who are changing from the old man into the new man in Christ.
So does that mean we don't fix problems?
Not at all, it means we seek God's help while we fix them. We all know what is right and what is wrong and we know if the complaint that is being submitted to us is right or wrong. Again we have to be honest with ourselves.
So what is the memory verse from last week ?
We need to move past strife and contention into the kind of walk that Jesus would have walked, the kind of walk He did with the 12 he chose.
We need to Stride or walk with each other.
Stride has many meanings but the meaning I want to use here is to walk with.
Vindicate me, O Lord, For I have walked in my integrity. I have also trusted in the Lord; I shall not slip. Psalms 26:1
This is a great verse that needs to be really understood so we will break it down into all its different denominators.
What does it mean to vindicate ?
1 to set free
:
deliver
b
(1):
confirm
(2):
to provide justification or defense for justify
c:
to protect from attack or encroachment :
defend
The first meaning is to set free and deliver. When we walk with God we are here to set people free, to confirm them for salvation so Jesus can justify them. It also means that if we stride with them we need to protect them from attack and not be their attackers. We provide a defense for them in accordance to righteousness. Providing a defense means that we stand in the gap for them and stand against Satan and his demons on their behalf in supplications, prayers or whatever means it takes to set them free.
The next meaning to stride or walk is Deliver:
1
:
to set free
2 a: to take and hand over to or leave for another :
3 a.
(1):
to assist in giving birth
(2) a:
to aid in the birth of
b:
to give birth to
c: to cause (oneself) to produce as if by giving birth
Again deliver means to set free but what I want to convey is that we are to hand them over or leave for another as defined in the Webster Dictionary.
So who would we hand them over to?
In this case we hand them over to Jesus for salvation or for deliverance as we pray for them. When we stride with someone we walk side by side with them encouraging them to live in a closer relationship with God, we help nurture their growth and plant them on solid ground. We are like doctors in a delivery room helping them in their birth and then we help nurture them in our family which is the church.
They and all their problems are part of our family in Christ and we are called to help them in their growth by striding or walking side by side with them, assisting them and not striving side by side with them.
But every family has to have discipline that is done in love by the person giving it and person receiving it. If there is strife then we need to take our eyes off of the problem and focus them on God and ask Him how to resolve them. Treat everyone as if they are the most valuable possession God has because they are.
What is integrity ?
1
:
firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values
incorruptibility
2 :
an unimpaired condition soundness
3 :
the quality or state of being complete or undivided
completeness
I like the meaning firm adherence because adherence means to be stuck to.
We need to be stuck to what is right even though sometimes it costs us in the long or short term. When we are unmoved in our values we are sound, we have strength that is incorruptible.
The Servants of Christ M.C. at Set free has this creed that is appropriate for this part of our teaching:
Strife or Stride