Video Transcript: The Reconciliation Triangle and the Firetrap of Offense

Welcome back to PeaceSmart Relationships.  I want to make a personal comment to you.  I want to thank you for sticking with this course as long as you have.  And, you know, I know I'm not the most engaging public speaker and there are many speakers that you can listen to that will be more engaging than I am.  But I'm passionate about this content and I'm excited for you because I know that some of you watching this course, the Lord is going to give you a revelation about the mission field that exists in conflict, and the ministry opportunities that exist in conflict. 

And my prayer for you, as a follower of Jesus Christ, is that He'll give you that revelation.  And that you'll start to see every one of your conflicts differently.  That you'll see the Lord at work, that you'll see the opportunities that exist in the midst of conflict for you to love others, for you to bless others, for you to do good to others, for you to pray for others, and for you to be used as Jesus Christ as an ambassador of reconciliation, to bring God's transforming peace into the midst of every Wildfire you'll encounter.  That no matter how extreme the conflict may be, that there's a place within that conflict where you can experience the Lord's transforming peace and be used of Him no matter how intense and hot the fire might get.  Let's move on to today's lecture. 

We're going to talk in this section about the Reconciliation Triangle and its relationship with the trap of offense.  So we're talking about that process where we are confronting sin, confessing sin, and forgiving sin. We're attempting to extinguish the Wildfire and restore the relationship; that process and its relationship to the fire trap of offense. At every stage of the reconciliation process, the world, our flesh, and the devil will try to hinder us from restoration and they'll try to draw us to focus on the Wildfire.

Remember that those people that are in the conflict Wildfire with you are fighting the same battle.  And especially when you're in a conflict with another brother or sister in Christ. They're definitely fighting the same battle, that battle between the flesh and the spirit, that battle between this world’s kingdom and the kingdom of God.  The battle between the Holy Spirit and your flesh, for the desires of your heart and for their heart. The fire trap of offense can manifest itself at every stage of the reconciliation process.  It can manifest itself in the confrontation of sin stage. 

The person who's confronted might feel that they've been unjustly accused or that they're being picked on, perceived inaccurately, and their pride can rise up and they can take offense.  The person who's doing the confronting can take offense when the person that they are confronting disagrees with them or sees things differently. 

At the confession of sin stage, the person who that has been confronted and is confessing their sin, can take offense and lash back at the person who has been confronting them and accused them of sin.  Remember that it's the Holy Spirit's role to convict of sin, not ours.  And sometimes when we go to confront another brother with their sin, they can disagree with us, they can see things differently, and they can reject our position.  Don't take offense.  It's the Holy Spirit's role. 

Galatians 6:1 says, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently.  But watch yourselves, or you may also be tempted.” 

Sometimes offense is taken if a confession is not acceptable, not what we thought we would hear.  We thought this person would confess that they lied to us but they confess something else; and we can take offense to.  But if we go in the Spirit, no matter what the person confesses, we’ll receive it in the spirit in which it's given, we’ll continue to pursue that lost sheep, and we’ll reject the bait on the trap of offense. 

At the forgiveness stage, offense can be taken when someone either refuses to forgive or they give a type of forgiveness that is fake or shallow or insincere.  When you're tempted to take offense during the reconciliation process, the remedy is always the same.  Remember that the Lord is always at work and run to the Peacefire.  Get before the Lord and continue to rely relentlessly on Jesus Christ.  If you're the one who's taken offense, get yourself free.  If someone else has taken offense, pray for them.  Continue to wait at the Peacefire until the Lord shows you your next instructions. 

Remember the promise in Romans 12:18, or the instruction in Romans 12:18, “As much as it lies within you, be at peace with all people,” because reconciliation flows from our relationship with Jesus Christ, not our relationship with the offended sheep, whether it be someone else or us.

God bless you. We'll see you next time.