The positive way to handle a situation is to first pray for spiritual guidance, then communicate with the person, discussing the matters of concern. God hates sowing discord among brethren, and He condemns it Proverbs It is more favorable when a discordant spirit has been detected to immediately discard it. I pray that You will help us to keep an understanding so that we will never fall prey to doing the very thing that You hate.
Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Skip to content Need Prayer? Let us pray with you. He takes very seriously those who sow discord and seek to harm His family! There is no end of the trouble that can be caused by a sower of discord.
The person who meddles in the affairs of others is like a man picking up a dog by the ears. That dog is going to bite! This is not karma… this is divine justice. It often comes in this life—but justice will certainly be meted out in the life to come. See He wrote this poem:. God knows what they have done and God will deal with each one. The wicked is snared and the just come out of trouble. So does the discord! This is a sower of discord among brethren—one who feels he has to put his two cents into every argument, just to stir things up.
So the purpose of church discipline is to cause change, to destroy the sinful nature and to rid all the evil influences within the people of God. It is our purpose that they renew and restore their relationship with God. Pray to God, be thoughtful, choose the words, speak with grace and leave God with the results. Love and harmony is what we are trying to promote, and that is what we need to display in the context.
After Paul wrote to the church in Corinth to withdraw fellowship from the erring brother, he would write in the Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 2, and verses 5 to 11 to restore this man to fellowship. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him , and comfort him , lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
Wherefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him. For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things. To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it , for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
Full restoration means forgiveness, comforting and reaffirmation of love. The person needs them in order to heal. It should. It is not meant to be easy Leviticus Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
No Compromise. And then, there is the question of priorities What value do you place on the Lord's work? To do nothing , concedes to the "Sower of Discord" the right to continue behaving destructively ; damaging God's people and discrediting God's church.
Letting a small child play with matches is not a loving action. Permitting a drunk person to drive a car is not a loving action. Allowing "Sowers of Discord" to wreak havoc in the midst of and at the expense of the Lord's Church is not a loving action. Sometimes when we try to help a friend, we merely encourage him to continue in his sin. S ympathizing with him in his backbiting and criticism will never bring him to be ashamed it will only encourage him in his sin. He wanted His disciples to support one another and work together.
This remained the approach in the early church. Though Peter was a well-respected apostle, he did not operate alone but frequently worked together with John. They prayed together, and, together, they performed the miracle at the gate called Beautiful Acts — They continued to preach to the people and were taken into custody together Acts —3.
Both of them then faced the council together and jointly responded to their threats Acts — Even when the people in Samaria had already believed and were baptized by Philip, the apostles in Jerusalem sent Peter and John together to work with Philip, to help the new believers pray for the Holy Spirit Acts — Such integration and unity in service among co-workers contributed to the continued growth of the apostolic church. He was an important apostle who was personally called by the Lord to minister to the Gentiles Acts — Notwithstanding, Paul did not get carried away to initiate a separate line of ministry divided from the other apostles or the wider church.
On the contrary, Paul humbled himself and took the initiative to go to Jerusalem to see Peter, with a clear intention to join the disciples Gal —19 ; Acts — He maintained that integration with the apostles in Jerusalem throughout his ministry, visiting them again fourteen years later together with Barnabas Gal Paul and Barnabas also did not make their individual conclusion over the dispute that arose around the necessity of circumcision for salvation.
Instead, they consulted the apostles and elders in Jerusalem and participated in the Jerusalem council Acts — With no rivalry or personality conflicts among the co-workers, such unity in service triggered further growth within the church. While the apostles enjoyed such unity in service, Satan started to strike. Peter gave way to his weakness and displayed his hypocrisy when he visited Antioch.
Before certain men from James arrived, he would eat with the Gentile believers, but he withdrew himself when they arrived. Such inconsistency was unacceptable, as he not only failed to uphold the truth courageously, but also set a bad example for Barnabas and the other Jews. He also risked hurting the Gentile believers by his double standard. This led to Paul confronting Peter Gal —14 , which was a dangerous development, as two very important workers could have fallen out and compromised the ministry of the Lord.
It would have been equally disastrous if Paul had regarded this one-off weakness in Peter as his inherent nature and lost his trust and respect for Peter.
Thankfully, both Peter and Paul were spiritual workers who did not fall into the trap of Satan to allow this incident to drive a wedge between them. Another incident also threatened the unity between two co-workers, Paul and Barnabas, who had differing views over John Mark.
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