The world is watching

The world is watching you.

You are a spectacle unto the world.
You are a stranger, with strange manners and customs.
Your dress and your speech betray you, you are of another place.
You are forever marked, you have spoke with tongues...

Even angels and principalities are watching.

The greatest difference is not your dress or language
It is now you handle conflict...

You turn the other cheek...
You go the extra mile...
You prefer others before yourself...
You display a meek and a quiet spirit ...

In a world of me first-ers, you really don't fit in...

The greatest test of Christianity is not how you align yourself with outward codes of conduct, but how you navigate the turbulent waters of conflict

The world is watching...

Acts 6:1-6 was the greatest test of the health of the new church.
Would they splinter into chaos...
Would the power of Babel over shadow the light of the cross?

If I could choose one moment,that would tell the story on a church, and allow me to decide on the health-status of any congregation, it would be: How they handle a conflict.

You and I did not sit off to the side and watch the Jerusalem congregation deal with the dissension that arose when one group of widows began complaining that they were being neglected in the daily distribution of food in favor of the majority group. We didn't but plenty of others in the city were watching.

They watched and they were most impressed by what they saw.

And what exactly did they see?

They saw the leaders, the Apostles, move quickly as soon as the dissent arose.

They saw the congregation do the most amazing thing: select seven good men from among the dissenting group and put in charge of the food distribution.

They saw how it pleased everyone and how the congregation settled back down in harmony.

They saw the problem go away...
They saw the wound heal...

And they made a decision.
They wanted what these Christians had.

Acts 6:7 reads, "So the preaching about God flourished, the number of disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith."

Out of conflict, revival blossomed....

Why?

Because they are watching you....

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; ... By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."




Questions:

When was the last time your church impressed the outside world by the way it dealt with conflict?

When was the last time newcomers walked into your fellowship and were so impressed by what they saw they became convinced, convicted and converted?

Don't deceive yourself, the world is watching.





A Few ramblings on this topic:

We know that a church that cannot solve a problem harmoniously is sick.

"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war,"

The members bicker, divide into camps, and play the blame game...
Hating one another...
The leaders ignore, worry, argue, posture, slander, finger point...
Devouring one another...
The problem festers and grows.
The sickness spreads, as more and more become infected
The spirit of unity, fragments into war.

Years may pass and still the problems fester,
this is a very sick church....

Among those that remain the seeds of the sickness lay dormant, festering...
Years pass.... The problem lingers

People leave the church,

the remaining members claim it is part of the great falling away...

They view themselves as the faithful remnant.

This is a church that is dying.

What was birthed in glory is going out sickly and weak...

Years have passed and still the disagreement lays along hard lines.
Open hostilities are replaced with cold war.....




He is coming back for a glorious church,

How dose your church fill this bill?

"only by pride cometh contentions"



Again the world is watching....






Lm








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