Faith Baptist Church

WHOA! Please forgive the delay in posting...

For those of us who may not have grown up in a Biblical Peacemaking Culture, one of the most frightening prospects is considering how far this is supposed to go. Are we supposed to be trying to resolve every tiny little difference of opinion, or schedule a meeting every time someone looks at us funny. Life seemed full already, now I'm going to be engaged in 24/7 peacemaking!!!

Chapter 7 of The Peacemaker is so encouraging. The practical wisdom about what can and should be overlooked versus what must be addressed is a gold mine. We're taught that anytime we're aware that someone has something against us - it's time to go restoring (Mt 5:23-24), but when does God expect me to talk to someone who has wronged me or is caught in sin? This chapter provides extremely helpful guidance to answer that question.

I was most encouraged by application question #4 on pg 160, which helps evaluate when someone's sin is too serious to overlook. The specific questions given to ask ourselves like: "Is it [the sin of another] dishonoring God? If so, how?"* are just the sort of objective questions I need. They guard me from my two common extremes of 1)not wanting to get involved, or 2)wanting to nail someone to the wall.


*Reprinted or adapted from The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, Ken Sande (Baker Books, 3d ed., 2003). Peacemaker® Ministries. www.Peacemaker.net.

I continue to thank God for the privilege of serving Him here at Faith Baptist Church, and for the spiritual leaders I get to serve alongside. This week we're blogging about Chapter 6, "Confession Brings Freedom". I think confessing sin on a person to person level, is a very frightening prospect to most of us. Though it's hard, it's not hard to see the benefits of that kind of honesty. There are benefits both for the person confessing sin and the one being asked to forgive. It is also so consistent with the definition of godly sorrow (and the repentance it brings) in II Corinthians 7:11.

"For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter." NKJV

I find the author's Seven 'A's of Confession to be so helpful, and I'm thankful that he does not promote them as a magic formula. I like his acknowledgement on pg 133 "Any time we use a process like the Seven A's, we can turn it into a meaningless ritual and completely miss what God wants us to do (see Mark 7:5-13; Luke 11:42)."* By God's grace I've attempted to employ the Seven A's many times in my life, but as I read them again - I was surprised how much further I have to go in my implementation of these Biblical principles.

Depending on God,
Pastor Craig

*Reprinted or adapted from The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, Ken Sande (Baker Books, 3d ed., 2003). Peacemaker® Ministries. www.Peacemaker.net.