The Cure for Conflict

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Now let's get into the show. Conflicts are always going to be part of our life, but the book of James gives us a cure. And believe it or not, that cure can be something as simple as changing your perspective. Understanding this and more coming up right now on the Clear Viz A Day Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr.

Abadan Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. Welcome to the Clearview Today Show with Dr. Abadan Shah, with our host, Dr.

Abadan Shah. If you're listening for the very first time today, we want to let you know exactly who's talking to you. Dr. Shah is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's show. Dr.

Shah, good discussion on the books today. Yes, we're looking forward to talking about. Fussing, fighting, and prayer. All the good stuff Christians love. One of those things is not like the others.

Yeah, one of those things Christians don't do a lot of. That's prayer. The other two they do a lot of. Just as a quick recap from yesterday, we were talking about conflict, the inevitability of conflict, how it's always going to be part of our lives. And we sort of ended the discussion yesterday, as we are wont to do with a 30-minute format by talking about the problem.

And then, just as we're getting to the solution, time runs out on.

So, today, Dr. Shaw, what is the cure for conflict? Yet, you do not have because. You do not ask. That's right.

We have to Attack the spirit of envy, the spirit of covetousness, the spirit of fussing and fighting with prayer. Means every time we are tempted to look over the shoulder at somebody else and say, Why them, not me? pray. Ask God for whatever it is.

Now, make sure you ask. Not so you can splurge on your own selfish members. In other words, don't ask just so you can Party, you can just have a lot of money in your bank account.

So you can drive the fanciest car in the world.

So you can. You know, fulfilling some of your dreams and your goals, it's not for that purpose. You ask amiss. It means you're asking for the wrong reason. But if you ask for the right reason, God will give to you what you're asking for.

That's right. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. That's right. We talked about that a little bit yesterday about how something as simple as asking for the right reason is such a hidden and deep truth that we overlook because it's so simple. Yeah.

It feels like it's too good to be true. It feels like one of those things, like, what do you mean I just ask? That can't be right. I've got to, there's got to be some kind of formula or some kind of secret thing that I have to do. Yes, it feels like with the Bible, we're going looking for the hidden truths.

Because if it was as simple as ask God for a good reason, then everybody would be doing it. And yet, so few people, especially so few Christians, are actually doing it. Yeah. It's crazy.

Well, the other thing that we have to do, other than prayer, is change our perspective on the world. Mm-hmm. James says here in James chapter 4, verses 4 through 5: Adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Mm-hmm. Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Or do you think? that the scripture says in vain the Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously Enmity Friendship with the world. When we talk about the world, we're not talking about. The world as in creation. Planet Earth.

Planet Earth. The sun, moon, stars that God made in seven days or six days. We're not talking about the universe. The planets We're talking about the world's system which is at enmity with God, the world system that hates God. and Tigon.

It wants you to either deny God completely or believe God, but but completely alter the biblical Understanding of God. Yeah. I was saved. I got saved in 2007.

So this, this movement, or this, this may have happened much earlier. But Dr. Shah and Ryan, you probably as well, you guys probably have a distinct memory of this happening where the church started purposely trying to look like the world. I mean, not in its values, but just in its aesthetics and its vibe, its atmosphere to try to win people to Christianity. Was that a very purposeful thing?

Or do you think that was just as cultures changed, so also the church changed?

So this goes back to the 80s where. Churches or church growth movement was going towards a seeker-sensitive model. And in this model, you identify your community. And it's not like the whole community. You find a certain segment of the community that you can identify with or that you want to see in the church.

Right.

So at one time it was the yuppies. I remember my parents talking about yuppies. Yeah, young urban professionals.

So churches began to go after the yippies. These are people who live in the suburbs. These are people who work in cubicles. These are people who want to have all the fun things of life immediately. Fast food, fast this, fast that.

They're on the fast tracks of success.

So you're reaching those people.

So everything has to be put on the lower shelf. Means don't make them think too much. Get right to it.

So, guys, how can we have a good marriage? Here are four things: number one: BuzzFeed, like the BuzzFeed top five list. 100% that. And so, everything was sort of put on that level. And churches grew.

I'm not going to say that the church planting movement or church growth movement was a failure because churches grew, but it had.

Some big issues there. Yeah. So, I mean, there was a lot of success. Does that mean it was like the right thing? Do you think it was the right thing for the church to do?

Oh, that's a great question because I want us to win people. With every Christ-honoring means, that to me is the key when it comes to reaching people where they are. I'm a big proponent of reaching people where they are. Jesus did. He went to the tax collectors, he went to the prostitutes, he went to the fishermen, he went to people on the outskirts of society.

So I'm okay with doing that. It's just What are you willing to compromise? Yeah, yeah. I remember hearing a lot about this. I was born in the late 80s, so I didn't.

Sorry, that was an inside. You guys said your birth year starts with the 19, too.

So let's keep calm down. I don't remember this movement happening, but I remember hearing a lot of people talk about it. My parents, grandparents, how the church changed to try to capture that demographic. But there was a lot of leeway given. There was a lot of ground that was kind of seeded where the church, you know, compromised and rounded corners on certain things and was willing to compromise in certain areas.

And they didn't ever gain that. Level of influence back, isn't that something that it was sort of a cop-out, right? Where it was like, we're gonna do this, but we don't have to compromise, we don't have to compromise our values, we don't have to compromise the gospel. And it's like, yes, on paper, you don't have to, but what ends up happening is in some places, you do, right? I think what happened, and Dr.

Shock, correct me if I'm wrong, because you remember this better than I do, but I think what happened was that we saw we saw a lot of people come to church, but not stay in church. There were a lot of people who came there. And some churches, I mean, I think, grew as a result of that secret-sensitive movement. But many people came because they were attracted and then they just kind of shuffled right out. Do you think it created the consumer church that we have today?

Yeah, absolutely. It did.

Now, here's, I want to clarify because sometimes when we. When we are on the other side of the pendulum swing, we tend to You know, throw every piece of rock at the other side. We think, man, it was terrible, it was horrible, it was the worst thing that ever happened to the church. And that's not how those people were thinking about their world. They were saying, We are losing our generation, we're losing our culture.

We are only keeping the church people in the church. We're not winning the lost world.

So we got to do something to get the yuppies or whatever else there are.

So I don't want to completely you know Make it sound like this was just a horrible movement just done just so they could fill the church pews. Not really. It was done with the right intention, but it did have some negative impact. And one of the negative impacts was the theology was very surface level. It was every service had to be a show because if the show is gone, the people are gone.

So it was always you're constantly doing something to hype it up.

Now, we as a church. Are we I won't say we are a performance church. But we do look at every service, every event that we do. As a performance, but we're doing it unto the Lord. We're doing it with excellence, not perfection, excellence.

We're doing it with. But intentionality. I know that word gets overused, but intentionality, which is so that the person who is coming or the family who's visiting, they will come to know Christ, that they will come back to church and join in and grow and whatever else. I think a lot of people would look at something like that, would look at that movement and say, you know, just because maybe you weren't trying to make friends with the world, you weren't trying to foster friendship. You're definitely trying to influence it by looking like it, by adapting, by almost tricking the world, quote unquote, into thinking that the church is not so different.

And so you can come here and you can feel safe and you can feel that's exactly the mindset of most people, especially those people who did not take time to think deeply about the issues. It was more like, how can I look like the church? I mean, I'm sorry, how can I look like the world?

So, I'm gonna dress like the world.

So, this is going back in the 80s and the early 90s.

So, instead of wearing a suit and tie, I'm going to wear. A sweater. It's kind of funny to me because that was casual. It means I'm going to have a sweater vest, like some nice khakis. Love a sweater vest.

Yeah, so the sweater vest, and I can really connect with that family there with my sweater vest. Yep. Oh, he's that's the pastor of the church. He's so down to earth and relevant. It feels like he could teach at the local college.

Yeah. He's just a neighbor next door. That's Mr. Rogers. Yes.

That's how it was seen. And so instead of pinstripe suit, now we are sweater vests and blue, powder blue shirt, and khaki pants. And all of a sudden, we're connecting. Dr. Shaw, it feels like we've fallen into the trap that I feel like most people do in this pendulum shift or this false dichotomy of like look like the world or look nothing like the world.

This spectrum that exists and neither side Is the answer. Where's the middle ground? How should we, what should our perspective on the world be? I think there is a place for, if we're talking about church services and church reaching the culture or reaching the lost world, I think there is a place for us to connect with the people. There is a place for us to connect.

And how can that connection be made? It has to be made more. On the level of what is your community like? Because in many parts of the country, people were trying to be either Willow Creek. where Bill Heibel's pastured, or Saddleback, where Rick Warren pastered.

and they were trying to emulate and copy. That model at their church. But they were not saddleback. They were not Widow Creek. They were not in California.

They were not in. Illinois. They were in Georgia. They were in Kentucky. They were in Florida.

I mean, they so.

Some things, yes, got transferred, but some things were just strange. Yeah, yeah, I can see that completely. That was one of the things that I learned as a young man here, you know, learning under you, was that the things that you're trying to emulate, the things that you're seeing online, you're seeing in a vacuum. You're not seeing the larger community outside of that church.

So, all of the lasers, all of the smoke, the pounding music, the drums, all the stuff that makes that so appealing online, you try to copy and paste that in a small rural town in North Carolina, and people aren't going to respond the way that you want. They may not be like disgusted, but it's not going to be the influx of people and hearts that online it's presented to be. Yeah. So, look at your community. If your community is more of a farming community, man, try.

I won't say just show up in cowboy boots and jeans, maybe, but probably your farming community may be more. used to and find more appealing something that's a little traditional.

So maybe lean into that instead of leaning into cowboy boots. If you're in a city, well, let's let's talk about where Where are you? Are you in the south? Are you in the north? East Coast or West Coast?

What exactly is happening?

So, based on that, dress appropriately. Match the community. I would also say make sure that The even though you're trying to connect with people where they are, Your goal is not just to connect with them on a surface level, your goal is also to take them deeper into the Word of God because the Word of God. is powerful. We talked about that a couple of weeks ago.

The animative or animation of the word, which is the power of the word. To change lives. Yeah. It says, For the word of God is living and powerful. Sharper than any two-edged sword.

That's Hebrews, correct? Yep. So. Mm. Take them deeper into the Word of God.

So, yes, you can copy certain things of the world.

So that you can help people drop the initial guard, but don't go so far that people are just enamored with. the worldliness of the church. And here's something else to remember. Whatever you win them with is what's going to keep them there. Oh, that's so.

So make sure that if you're going to be like, so we're just like a casual down-to-earth church. But then all of a sudden you say, Hey guys, let me tell you something. Sin is sin. What did he just say? And the person over there is going like.

I thought we were casual down to earth. Everybody, welcome, church. What do you mean, sinners? I mean, I got a gay cousin. You're not talking about like all.

Yeah, and that's what they will say. Yeah. That, like. That doesn't sound like my pastor. I don't know what's going on there.

I mean, the church has changed. I mean, it's changed. And then they'll shuffle along to another person down the road who's trying to set up a shop and be the next relevant church. And then they move around, move around until they go, you know what? I haven't found the church.

You know, we miss our church, but it's changed. Or even worse, like Zoom out. Like, that's a Raven style. Like, they see that coming and they're like, well, maybe I just won't say anything about sin. Maybe I'll just keep that under because I want to keep these people here and they're not going to go for that.

So now we are introducing compromise. That level of compromise is not a ground we want to go to. Yeah. So going back to what James was saying, adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

So make sure you. Be the salt in the world. Be the light of the world. But don't become the world. In but not off.

And I think that's a very important thing.

Something else that James says here, we're talking about fussing and fighting, we're talking about the conflicts that happen in life. Yeah. Pray, but also make sure you don't become like the world. But also change your perspective on yourself. How do you see yourself?

Let's take a quick break. It's John here from Clearview Today. Before we jump in, quick shout out to today's sponsor, Mighty Muscadine. If you've been looking for a natural way to support your health, these guys are doing it right. From 100% Muscadine grape juice to really high quality supplements, everything they make is handcrafted.

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So thank you for that. Thank you to Mighty Muscadine for sponsoring this episode. Let's jump in. That's a deep question. Those are like those deep shower thoughts where you're just like, what what how do I see my how how have you found, Doctor Shah, in your time in ministry and your time working with people, how do most people see themselves?

Is there a range or there are there typical patterns that people fall into? I think most people I would say 100%, if not m all. They see themselves as the center of the world. They see themselves as victims. I'm not saying 100% of the time, 100% of the people.

I'm talking about some people see themselves as the center of the world.

Some people see themselves as a victim.

Some people see themselves as a good person. And all of those things are self-focused. And what is needed is Humility. And that's what James says here in James chapter four, verse six. He says, But he, talking about God, gives more grace.

God gives more grace. Therefore he means God says, God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble, therefore submit to God. Yeah, I used to think that because I'm not an arrogant person, because I don't feel like I've got an inflated ego, that I'm not proud, I'm not self-centered. But the more you live and the more, especially I think millennials, like people in my generation, the more movies and TV you watch where everybody has this idea that, and myself included, that you're the main character of the story, church and the Bible and things like that, if you're not careful or if you don't have, you know, someone actually speaking into your life and you're not reading it carefully, it becomes something that serves you. This makes me a better person.

This makes me whole, and that becomes the goal rather than I'm supposed to be fitting myself into the story that God is weaving. That's right. I think a lot of people fall into that trap of pride that doesn't sound like pride or pride that doesn't look like pride. It's not necessarily that people are vain or arrogant. It's just that they are self-centered.

They're self-focused.

So humility there, the general. James is talking about Dr. Shah that you talked about as well is not thinking less of yourself, but it's thinking of yourself less. It's not a, it's not that I'm this kind of person or this kind of person. It's, I'm nothing if it weren't for Jesus.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna shamelessly plug one of your devotionals, Dr. Shah, the second one, 30 Days to a New Beginning, because there's a chapter in there about knowing yourself. How am I gonna start over in life? How am I gonna give myself a new beginning if I don't know who I am? Right.

And one of the things that you put in there is actually assess yourself. Humbling yourself doesn't mean like, and you can probably explain it better than this, but it's not like I'm terrible, I'm bad, I'm evil, I'm wicked, I'm small. It's no, I have an accurate assessment of who I am. And I need God, right? I need God in my life.

Yeah, I'm dependent on God. No matter how good that day has been, no matter what I've accomplished on that day, it's all by the grace of God. That's right. Amen. And daily recognizing that, moment by moment, recognizing that is the key to humility.

And the moment we stop Recognizing the moment we start taking credit for it, or the moment we start thinking that, look how good I am, and we're good, we're good. That is the moment we're not good.

So God loves you too much to leave you that way.

So He will allow you to fall. He will allow trials to come into your life. He will allow you to see the ugly side of you. But that's not because God hates you. He's simply doing that to Then take you to the next step, which is, Oh God, I need you.

Now, if we would go ahead and do that, oh God, I need you without going through those problems and humbling experiences. You won't need Those tribulations in your life. You wouldn't need to be humbled. You wouldn't need to be Reprimanded by God. But we humans are so prone to pride and self-glory.

and selfishness that time to time we have to Stumble and fall. And God allows us to stumble and fall.

So, that's not that he tempts us, but he allows us to stumble and fall, so that we can say, Okay, God, I need you. That's such a great distinction because a lot of people will say, God's tempting me with this. Yeah, because James says, you know, God doesn't tempt right, exactly. It's not that God shoves you down or God trips you, but He allows you to fall so that when you are picked back up and you have that scraped knee or that bruised elbow, you're reliant on Him. That's right.

Yeah, but something else over here that I want to mention very quickly is that you need to change your perspective. On Satan. James chapter 4 verse 7 says, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Behind every conflict Whether that conflict takes place in your marriage? or that conflict takes place in your family?

Between parents and children? Children and parents, sibling rivalry, Whether you are five years old and your brother is seven or your sister is eight, or whether you are fifty years old and your brother and sisters are sixty and sixty-five. It doesn't matter. Behind all this conflict, Is the devil. The conflicts that happen in church context.

is the devil. Conflicts that are happening in our nation, in our community, in the world, behind all of that is Satan. We need to always remember that in those, and that's difficult because in the heated moments when your blood is boiling, you're angry, you are single-focused, and the focus is that you have been wronged, and this is a wrong thing that's happened. In that moment, it's very hard to stop and say, Wait a minute. The person who has Cause this and fuel this.

Is the devil. That's right. You've said this before many, many, many times from the pulpit, but James calls us to resist. He never calls us to fight. You know, our responsibility is not to defeat the devil.

But I love the way that you've said this before: is that your responsibility is to stop believing him, stop letting him in, stop opening your mind to his trash on television or on your phone or on the internet. You stop allowing him in. And the way that we do that is by hiding behind Christ. And I've always appreciated your stance on the devil because I think there's been so many pastors who have. Put up this false flag of warfare.

And have been brought low. And I think it's chilling. I think you do a great job of delivering a balanced approach to changing our perspective on the devil, because there are some pastors who are just afraid to talk about anything to do with Satan, with the devil, with spiritual warfare. Then there are others who minimize. Satan, who he we're gonna Beat him up and we're going to slap him around.

Stomp him, man. That's because he's already defeated. He's already been brought low.

So let's not forget that he has been chewing people up and spitting them out since before we have been born, like eons before. And you do a great job of saying, hey, we're not going to, you know, we're not going to fear him. But neither are we going to run off, you know, half with our heads falling off our shoulders into battle. We're going to hide behind Christ. That's right.

That's right. We're going to present a balanced view of how we handle this. I think you do a great job of that.

Well, thank you. And this is what James is saying right here: resist the devil, resist him in that heated moment, in that. Moment where your vision is cloudy, your mind cannot think, you are obsessed. There are people who are obsessed with certain ideas and thoughts. And these ideas are not coming from the Bible.

They're not coming from Jesus Christ. They're not coming from the Holy Spirit leading you in the truth of the triune. God, these are obsessions that the world is telling you to be more obsessed with than with Christ. Resist the devil. And he will even masquerade as an angel of light.

Means he'll come to you and tell you that: hey, this is a great cause. But that cause is a distraction from following Christ. That's right. Resist him and he will flee from you. You have to stop in that moment.

I mean, the screeching halt stop and say, You're done. Get out. But you don't stop there and say, get out.

Okay, I'm free.

Now I feel good. No, no, no. Because the very next thing in verse 8 is. This is where you change your perspective, even about God. Draw near to God.

And he will draw near to you. Amen. So, Changing your perspective on prayer, changing your perspective on the world, changing your perspective on self, changing your perspective on the devil, but changing your perspective on God, which means draw near to you and he will. Draw near to him and he will draw near to you. start taking steps towards him.

You say, Well, God is just standing there waiting for me to come to him. No, he's already near you. He wants to be even nearer to you.

So come to him. He said, How do I come to him?

Well, just like the prodigal son came to him. Came to the father. He came. kind of broken Helpless? came tired, came repentant?

Came willing to do whatever, come to God that way. You know, wake up out of this sleep, this spell that you have been under. And Submit to God. And Draw near to Him, cleanse your hands, you sinners Purify your hearts, you double minded, lament and mourn and weep, let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Humble yourselves. In the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. It means admit to God that You need him. And without him you're nothing. And you cannot go forward unless God goes with you.

He loves that. He loves when we fall upon him. He loves when we just throw everything on him and say, God, you, you, you, and you is all there is. And he loves that. And he will.

Who lifts you up? That's right. You do that, you're going to find yourself lifted up. You're going to find the quarrels and the conflicts of life don't have the power over you that they once did. That's right, guys.

Make sure you join us next time. Same time, same station. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clearview Today show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. If today's your first time listening to the show, we want to get to know you.

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