1. A Person Who STIRS UP CONFLICT IN THE COMMUNTITY

2. “There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.” (Proverbs 6:16-19)

3. There are very few of us in this room who would indicate that we enjoy conflict - the thought of being at variance or in opposition to another person is something most of us desire to avoid.
We rightly identify conflict and discord as negative things.
Can anyone identify a person who just seems to enjoy inciting conflict in your life?
A disruptive demeanor or spirit damages healthy community.

4. The word community from our text can be interpreted as a reference to the communal life of the church.
Would you describe our church as a community?
There are different qualities of church community in our world. 
Healthy community is that which inspires and builds up individuals, while unhealthy community is that which oppresses and destroys individuals.
Healthy community manifests unity; unhealthy community manifests division.

5. “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity
“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! … For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.” (Psalm 133:1,3b)
It is good and pleasing to God when we live in unity and the by-product of such living is God’s blessing and even eternal life.
Our world is filled with those who have been injured and hurt by unhealthy church community.
This is not an inherent problem with organized religion, but points to a problem with how churches – and individual Christians – understand themselves and God.

6. Scripture commands us to pursue healthy community.
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3)
“Make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” (Romans 14:19)
“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy.” (Hebrews 12:14)
According to these scriptures, when is it OK to turn away from striving for unity and peace?
They simply and plainly instructs that we make every – EVERY - effort to remain unified.
Why is our unity such a vital concern?

7. As humans, we need and require healthy community; we were created for this purpose and it is a reflection of the community present in the Godhead.
We need healthy community because it is a quality inherent in God himself.
As those created in God’s image, we crave community, any community!

8. Non-believers are attracted to healthy community.
Our attempts at establishing healthy community apart from God fail miserably and we are left with a strong desire for healthy community, but no viable sources of such community.
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”(John 13:35)
Pastor Rick Warren once wrote, “When people find a church where members genuinely love and are for each other, you have to lock the doors to keep them away”.

9. Sometimes existing in community is difficult.
Just as the early church was made up of a ragtag group of individuals, the church too is made up of a collection of very different individuals.
“Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives”. (Henri Nouwen)
Because a healthy community is both beneficial for overall human health and in particular crucial for a growing church, it should come as no surprise that our enemy often seeks to capitalize on this difficulty.
Like a virus systematically attacks a healthy body, disunity is the insidious virus that attacks the body of Christ – the church.

10. THE ENEMIES OF UNITY
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.” (Philippians 2:3)
The first enemy of unity is selfish ambition or rivalry.
Rather than seeking to build unity around that which is core, we generate rivalries around trivial matters in order to marginalize various people or views.
Heresy originally described one who created division in the church.
It is possible to be divisive or heretical even when one is correct in one's interpretation.
The aim of confronting misdirected belief is to create unity, not to marginalize people – although it can eventually come to this.

11. The second enemy is “vain conceit”.
The concept here is that praise and glory is due to only one person – God – and therefore when we act with the desire to gain the applause of others, we do so in error. It is wrong for us to seek the praise that is due only to God.
Desiring “empty glory” however draws us into competition with other Christ followers, meaning that rather than being concerned with glorifying God and building unity in the church, we are actively divisive in opposing others receipt of glory or recognition.

12. Just as we must keep an eye to the soil of our lives, we must also be aware of that which we are sowing through our lives.
What am I sowing in my worshipping community?
We can either sow in peace or in discord; we are either peacebreakers or peacemakers or we embody a critical spirit or a spirit of encouragement.

13. “Critical” = “to judge between”
“Critical” = “to judge between”. Inherent in this word is the idea of division – to be critical is to be divisive.
“Encourage” = “make strong”. Inherent in this word is the idea of unity - to encourage is to unify.
Encouragement, unity and peace are related concepts.
As we live in peace, we find ourselves unified and active in building one another up.
We ought then to be peacemakers; those who actively pursue peace and unity.

14. “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness”(James 3:18).
“Those who sow trouble reap it”. (Job 4:8)
Am I a person who generates unity within the church, sowing in peace and reaping righteousness or am I a person who stirs up conflict in the community, sowing in trouble and reaping the same?
At the same time, we cannot unify and divide, encourage and criticize, or sow in peace and in trouble within the church. We are all doing either one or the other.

15. May we be those who make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.