Peace in the assembly

It seems to me that many of the battles we have in life — even in the local church—are people problems.

Can you give some practical guidelines so we can have more peace and joy in the assembly? So we can get along better with our neighbors and fellow workers? Give me some scriptures, please.

“As much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men” (Rom. 12:18). “Follow peace with all men” (Heb. 12:14). Denial of self is characteristic of a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus. He no longer seeks his own but allows himself rather to be defrauded (1 Cor. 6:7). He would rather be wronged than wrong.

Our Lord said, “Agree with thine adversary quickly” (Mt. 5:25). In other words, Make friends with your enemies and annoyances. You may be annoyed by obnoxious neighbors, a rival at work, or a contentious brother or critical sister in the assembly. Are you dealing with such in the spiritual way, in the way enjoined by the Lord Jesus? Or are you allowing yourself to be irritated? “Doest thou well to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4). Is it Christian to attack your adversary, to go to the authorities, to use force to remove the nuisance? Is it the best way to deal with it?

Aren’t you the loser in such an approach? Certainly you will lose time and energy; you may lose money and your health by doing this. Even if you succeed in getting the annoyance removed, things may actually go from bad to worse; you may have stirred up a hornet’s nest. There is “a more excellent way”—the way of love and co-operation, of making friends with those that disturb your peace. This is the way of freedom and blessing. You can actually learn to love the experience until you don’t want it removed. “Love your enemies.” “Pray for them.” “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21). These injunctions are not impractical, not for some future day when there will be no enemy to love. They are for “this present evil age.” Love is the key to every situation:

1. Assess what good you can do to your adversary. Your neighbors may be greatly tried, and may long for a sympathetic friend to help them bear up under their burdens. Your unsaved fellow workers do not have a heavenly Father as you do. Your brother or sister in the assembly may be carrying some secret load that is crushing them. Thinking along these lines will arouse sympathy instead of anger and resentment. Let love take the matter in hand for you. Consider human frailty. Give others the benefit of the doubt. Love them for Jesus’ sake.

2. Accept the experience as from God. His ways are known through trials. “As for God, His way is perfect.” He wants to train us that He may entrust to us the true riches of His grace and goodness, and thus make us His witnesses. Are we learning of Him? By so doing we shall find rest to our souls (Mt. 11:29). Remember how He treated His enemies? Love turns you from a victim to a victor. It gives you a strategy, putting the momentum in your hands. Trying experiences are open doors to a deeper knowledge of God and a more Christlike life of peace and joy.

3. Approach the Lord about the matter. “Pray for them which despitefully use you” (Mt. 5:44). Seek grace to pray with reality. By so doing you will gain the victory. You will enjoy the liberty of the children of God. If your adversary is a business competitor, pray for his material prosperity and spiritual blessing. Men may call you a fool, but the Lord will commend your action. “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Mt. 22:39). Your competitor may obtain some of your trade, but God can open up new fields for you, or in some better way He will bless you. “The Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends. Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10). What a convincing example of the way of love and of “the end of the Lord” (Jas. 5:11).

God may remove your adversary, or He may reform him. In any case, He will reward you—with a sweeter disposition, satisfaction in soul, and sanctification at present, but in “that Day” you will see greater things. You may even win your enemy for Christ. The wise wins souls. Yes, “prayer changes things” and also changes the one who prays. “Love never faileth” therefore “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” Breathe deeply in that atmosphere and your soul will prosper (Jude 21; 3 Jn. 2). Christ and His grace are the key to unlock the heavenly life. Commune with Him. Commit all to Him, and He will come to you and make His abode with you. “Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another” (Rom. 14:19).    J. W. Newton