If
you are young this phrase may not mean much to you but for a number of us that
watched TV during the 1970’s this phrase brings the image of skier in the
Winter Olympics sliding off the side of a ski jump and tumbling askew end-over-end. The image of this skier is indelibly burned
in my mind with the announcer’s “voice-over” promising me that in watching the
network’s “Wide World of Sports” show I would see “…the thrill of victory or
the agony of defeat.”
What
is victory anyway? Webster’s tells us
that it is “success in a contest or conflict.”
With the Summer Olympics going on right now victory puts us in mind of
the American Gymnastics Team or the American swimmers gaining gold medals. They won their contests. They gained the victory and we share in it
because they represent us. It is a good
feeling. Contests, like the Olympics,
are good and healthy to compete in but conflict, on the other hand, is
not. There are still victories in
conflict but the losers of conflict often loose more than their prize; they
tend to loose either their spiritual or physical lives.
Conflict
is no fun; that is for sure, but we are faced with it every day. Satan introduced conflict in the beginning by
inducing Eve and Adam to sin (Gen. 3).
It reared its ugly head again when Cain slew his brother Able (Gen. 4). Not long after that the wickedness of man
began to multiply as fast as his progeny did (Gen. 6). I could go on and on reciting instances of
conflict for you but I think you get the picture. Suffice it to say that conflict still rears
its ugly head today from wars with other countries to arguing in the
Church. It is the later subject I would
like to address today: conflict in the
Church.
Conflict
in the Church is the most destructive kind of conflict. Who has the victory in this kind of battle
where one part of a family fights the other part? I can tell you who: Satan.
If there is any way, shape or form that Satan can use to tear apart
God’s family he will use it because no matter which side wins, Satan is the
victor because he gains the destruction of part of Christ’s body. It would be like your left foot wanting to go
one direction and your right foot another.
You are not going to be able to go anywhere until both feet work in
unison. Any time Satan can break apart
the unity of Christ’s body, Jesus’ work on earth will be stalled. Is it any wonder that one of the last things
Jesus prayed for us before his death was that we would be "one"?
“And (now)
I am no more in the world, but these are still in the world and I am coming to
You, Holy Father, keep in Your Name [in the knowledge of Yourself] those whom
You have given Me, that they may be one
as We (are one).” –John 17:11
AMP
He did not just pray it that one time, He prayed it
again:
Neither
for these alone do I pray [it is not for their sake only that I make this
request], but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in,
cling to, rely on) Me through their word and teaching. That they all may be one, [just]
as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us…” –John 17:20-21a AMP
And again:
“I have
given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one [even] as We are one:” –John 17:22 AMP
And again:
“I in them
and You in Me, in order that they may
become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and [definitely]
recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them [even] as You have
loved Me.” –John 17:23 AMP
Is there conflict in your Church? Are there cliques? Have people stated that they are leaving
because others do not see things the way they do? The answer is not to try to break up the
fights. The answer is not to try
desegregation of the cliques. The answer
is not in trying to reconcile the divisions or keep people from leaving. These are all human efforts to a spiritual
problem: Satan induced conflict. The answer to the conflict in your Church is
to do what Jesus did. Pray.
Pray the scriptures Jesus prayed (John 17). Use the authority Jesus has given you and
stand against Satan’s work of conflict in your Church (Ephesians 6). Send Satan off the ski ramp end over end in “the
agony of defeat” and claim your “thrill of victory”!
“But thanks be to God, Who gives us the
victory (making us conquerors) through our Lord Jesus Christ.” -1
Corinthians 15:57 AMP
