Agree to Disagree?

How to Engage in Healthy Conflict

September 5, 2021

Josh Mouser

Is agreeing to disagree helpful or harmful?

When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? —Galatians 2:11-14

Peter was wrong because he

himself from the Gentiles in fear of the men from James.

I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. —Acts 10:34-35

To make matters even worse, Peter’s actions

the gospel message.

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. —Galatians 1:10

As Christians, we must choose to do what is

, rather than

Reveal Answer

a person who is disobeying God’s Word.

We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. —Galatians 2:15-16

We are not saved by good works. It is only by

, through faith, in which we can be saved.

In the essentials, unity. In the non-essentials, liberty. But in all things, love.

How to Engage in Healthy Conflict:

1. Only enter conflict if

has been built

Conflict without trust is politics. —Patrick Lencioni

Conflict with trust is the pursuit of truth or the best idea. —Patrick Lencioni

2. Handle conflict in

, if possible

If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. —Matthew 18:15-17

3. Approach conflict with

a. The

needs to be present in your life and your actions when dealing with conflict.

b. We need to separate the

from the person.

In conclusion, we have to stop using agree to disagree as a cop out to avoid conflict.

The goal of conflict should always be

and

Reveal Answer

.