THE Cause of Church Conflict
There’s one problem that is at the heart of all church conflict and it is something that most churches never consider. According to the Apostle John this problem has to do with a failure to come to grasp the reality that is Jesus Christ.
2 John is a letter to a church whose members were not loving one another (2 John 5).He did not go into detail about the things they were doing because he wanted to address them face-to-face. Smart move. Why were they not acting in love to those for whom Christ died? It seems that some false teachers had been allowed to enter their community and convince them that Christ did not actually come in the flesh.
What does that have to do with a failure to love? Everything. If Christ did not actually come in the flesh, who then is our example of what it means to lay down our lives for our brother?
This is just one more reason why the study of theology is critical. I talk to a lot of people who get nervous when someone challenges them to study theology because they think it means they have to do a ton of reading and study a lot of people they can’t understand. While this may be necessary at times it’s not always the best approach. Sometimes I think we make it harder than it really is. Studying theology can be as easy as buying a book and following the authors thoughts and reflections along in the Bible.
Robert
I love theology and the challenge of making deep teachings non-boring. Let's face it, most of the time we hear theological teaching, it really is boring. Does it really have to be that way? Nope.
