Video Transcript: The Second Fire of Conflict - The Peacefire

Welcome back to Restoring Relationships – Transforming Justice.  In this lecture, I introduce you to the second fire of conflict, The Peacefire. The Peacefire is a fire that ignites in the midst of conflict when someone makes a faith choice to pursue and rely on Jesus Christ in response to a conflict rather than pursue a desired outcome.  At The Peacefire, Jesus Christ provides a transforming peace to those who relentlessly rely on Him.  Jesus Christ is our peace that passes understanding in the midst of conflict.  

Just like those three young Hebrews we talked about from Daniel Chapter 3, that they stayed in the fire once their bonds were freed.  He provides peace in the midst of the conflict wildfire, and He is that peace.  In Ephesians 2:14 we read, For He himself is our peace.”  He said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.” 

The peace He gives us it just based on whether we get what we want in the conflict. He gives it a different way.  He gives in the midst of conflict.  He says, “Do not let your heart be troubled, do not be afraid.”  And in Philippians 4:7 we read, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”   It's in Christ Jesus, that we can have peace in the midst of a conflict wildfire.  So Jesus Christ is the aspect of peace in The Peacefire, but He's also that aspect of the fire.  And that fire is a fire that transforms.  

In Isaiah 48:10, we read, “See, I have refined you, though not as silver.  I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.  I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities.”  And in 1 Peter 1 we read, “In all this, you greatly rejoice though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief and all kinds of trials.  These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith, of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

When we focus on the wildfire, we focus on our desired outcome; how we want that conflict to be resolved.  But when we focus on The Peacefire, we pursue a man, Jesus Christ, and we pursue his purposes in the conflict.  And in return, He provides a peace that passes understanding and He gives us this promise of transformation.  That transformation includes our own lives.  It includes the dynamics of justice in our conflict, and it includes the relationships with others that we have in the conflict.  But we will not experience that peace and that transformation if we pursue Jesus Christ merely in an attempt to obtain our desired outcome. 

We pursue Jesus Christ to obtain his desired outcome.  And his desired outcome is restored relationships and transformed justice.  It's what He did when he came to this earth, restored the relationships between God and men and women in this earth and satisfied God's justice by taking on himself the penalty of our sin.  So if God has a desired outcome for our conflicts, how do we identify it, and then lay hold of it?  Well, there are three principles that will assist us in seeking God's plan at The Peacefire.  Applying these principles will position us to experience God's transforming peace in the midst of our conflict wildfires, and will position us to be used by Jesus Christ to bless others, to restore relationships, and to transform justice. 

Now, to help us to remember these three principles, to help us pursue God's desired outcome in the midst of conflict wildfires, I've created a diagram that I call The Peacefire triangle.  Being a triangle, it has three legs and so there are three principles that we're going to examine in the rest of this class.  And the labels on the three legs of the triangle are Purpose, Power, and Presence. 

So the first leg of the Peacefire triangle we're going to consider is the leg labeled Purpose.  When we write our conflict stories at the wildfire, we pursue our own purpose, our own desired outcome.  But at the Peacefire, we pursue God's purposes rather than our own. 

So Principle 1 of The Peacefire triangle is that when we pursue God's purpose in the midst of a conflict, it will change our priorities in responding to that conflict.  

You see, our purpose determines our priorities. And when our priority is to pursue God's purposes in the midst of our conflict wildfires, we will not be focused on pleasing ourselves or pleasing others who might be in the fire with us, or we won't be focused on others who might try to lead us astray from God's purposes. Well, there are benefits to pursuing God's purpose in the midst of conflict. In Matthew 63:3, Jesus said, “Seek first His kingdom (meaning God's kingdom), and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”  All the things that we desire in the conflict, our desired outcome, if the Lord wants us to have those things, we’ll receive those things as well by pursuing his purpose, his desired outcome.

In Romans 8:28, we read, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”  That's a great promise for us, in the midst of a conflict wildfire; it's a great promise to you in your conflict story, that God can cause your story, as bad as it may seem to you in the moment; if it seems hopeless, hear what this verse says, that the Lord takes these things, and can work them for good when we do two things - love him and pursue his purpose.  He can take what the enemy intends for evil, and turn it for good.  He can take retributive justice that wants to label us and mark us for the rest of our life according to our past, and turn that for good to change our future.  The Lord is expert at doing these things.  

So in discerning God's purpose, how do we do that?  In the midst of a conflict, how do we discern and understand what God's purposes are?  Well, we start by, we start right here. Spending time studying his Word, to find out his will, to find out the things that please him, to find out the things that He is at work doing in the midst of conflict.  

Prayer is another way we discern God's purpose.  And spending time with godly counselors, with other men and women who have been Christians longer than we have, who may have more experience more knowledge, who can share with us the principles found in God's Word.  Through these things, we begin to discern and the Lord reveals to us His purpose.  

But one warning I want to give you is that we cannot presume to know what God's purpose is until we seek Him and ask Him at the Peacefire.  Psalm 19:13 says, “Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me.  Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression.”  

And always recognize that God's purpose never contradicts his Word.  Sometimes our desired outcome and a conflict can be so strong that we come to the Lord at the Peacefire and we just asked him to give us what we want.  And because we want it so bad, we presume that He wants us to have it.  And then we go about getting it in ways that are not reflective of his character or that may be contrary to His Word.  Maybe we tell a lie to get our desired outcome.  Well, He's not a liar and He commands us not to lie.  And so know that his purposes will never be accomplished if the me means of accomplishing that purpose is to contradict his word. 

So let's talk briefly now about the Power leg of the triangle.  So remember God's purpose is, understanding God's purpose in the midst of conflict will change our priorities in responding to the conflict.  It'll change how we respond to people that we're in conflict with.  It will change the priorities and how we treat people in conflict.  It will change the priorities in how we

restore relationships that have been damaged by conflict.  

And on the Power leg of the triangle, we're talking now about the power it takes to extinguish a conflict wildfire, to end the conflict because when we pursue God's purposes in a conflict, God's power is now available to us. In principle number two is when we respond to conflict using God's power, it changes our possibilities in extinguishing the conflict wildfire.  

We cannot accomplish God's purpose in our own strength, but with his power, all things are possible.  Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.  If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing.”  That speaks to that relationship of relentless reliance on Jesus Christ that we develop at the Peacefire as we rely on Him, not only, we go from being able to do nothing without him, to that place where all things are possible to them that believe. 

In Ephesians 3:20, we read, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we can ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” That's his power.  In Jeremiah 32:17, “Ah, sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm.  Nothing is too hard for you.”

It's the power that the Lord provides that enables us to break free from shallow stories of the wildfire.  It's the power that the Lord provides, that enables us to restore relationships that are damaged and broken in the wildfire.  It's the power that the Lord provides that enables us to transform justice, from retribution to restoration. 

• So first leg of the Peacefire triangle, God's Purpose will change our priorities. 

• The second leg, God's Power will change our possibilities. 

• And the third leg is Presence. When we seek God's Presence during a conflict, it will change our perspective on that conflict. 

In the book of Joshua, Chapter 5, Joshua was the leader of the nation of Israel, and they had just crossed the River Jordan and come into the promised land.  And they were soon going to do battle with the city of Jericho.  And Joshua is out doing what we aren't told, but he comes upon the captain of the army of the Lord.  And this is a pre-incarnation appearance of Jesus Christ, and he has his sword drawn and Joshua sees him and he says this; he asked him a question.  He says, “Are you for us, or are you for our enemies?”   Now we would expect Jesus Christ to say, “Joshua, I'm for you.  Welcome to the Promised Land.  We're going to go take the city of Jericho, and here's the plan,” but that's not what he said.  

This is what he said.  In response to Joshua's question, “Neither. But as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.”  Then Joshua fell down to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my lord have for his servant?”  Jesus Christ doesn't come to conflict to take sides.  Jesus Christ comes into our conflicts to take over.  

A Peacefire ignites when we make a faith choice to pursue Jesus Christ in the midst of a conflict rather than to pursue a desired outcome.  Jesus Christ is The Peacefire.  He provides a peace that passes understanding thing and a fire that transforms.  We discover God's plan in conflict by applying the three principles of The Peacefire triangle.  Those three principles, Pursuing God's Purpose in conflict will change our priorities; Applying God's Power will change our possibilities in responding to conflict; and seeking God's Presence during the conflict will change our perspective on that conflict. 

In the next lecture will begin to explore pursuing God's Purpose and how it changes our priorities in responding to conflict. 

Thank you for watching this lecture.  We will see you next time.