The Ministry of Reconciliation (Assisted Peacemaking – Mediation)

Sources:

1. Alfred Poirier; The Peacemaking Pastor
2. Ken Sande; The Peacemaker; A Biblical Guide to Conflict Resolution

Wrong Responses to Conflict

1. Peace-faking (flight)
2. Peace-breaking (fight)

Right Response to Conflict – “Peacemaking”

1. Personal Peacemaking
2. Assisted Peacemaking

1. Personal Peacemaking

• Forbearance – “Overlooking an Offense”
• Discussion – Reconciliation
• Negotiation – Material aspect of reconciliation

Questions:

• What happens when the personal peacemaking breaks down?
• What happens when the parties cannot settle by themselves their differences?
• What if they cannot come to agreement on their own?

2. Assisted Peacemaking

• Mediation
• Arbitration
• Accountability (Church Discipline)

Outline:

I. The Theology of Mediation

1. Christ; our only Mediator
2. Paul; as Ambassador of Christ’s Mediation
3. The Church; Commanded to Mediate

II. The Specifics of Mediation

III. The Common Problems in Mediation

A. Christ: our only Mediator

Point: The story of redemption is a story of “mediated reconciliation”, meaning the very Gospel that we hold is all about “mediated or assisted peacemaking”. Our salvation demands divine mediation because we cannot save or reconcile ourselves to God. Peace and Reconciliation w/ God required Christ our Messiah as Mediator.

B. Paul: as Ambassador of Christ’s Mediation

• Paul’s inclusion of “peace-reconciliation” as greeting in all of his letters… not just an epistolary filler… e.g. “My Dearest”… “My Beloved”
• The greetings of peace is a foundational theme in all of his letters.
• • Primarily - encapsulates the Gospel of Peace with God through Christ’s mediating work (see 2Cor. 5:20-21)
  • Secondarily - it functions as the state to which all Church of God should be striving with one another in the midst of conflict.

Notice: Paul as committed mediator ends his letters the same way. He blessed the churches with “God’s peace” again! (see Rom. 15:33; 16:20; Phil. 4:7–9)

C. The Church; Called to Mediate

Text: Matt. 18:15-20

• Note: In this process of reconciliation and dealing with sin, Christ is concerned with privacy. The less people involved the better.
• • Personal (v. 15)… Mediated (v. 16)… Public (v. 17)
  • Notice: The “second level” is often neglected due to a vindictive approach to church discipline. The mediation part is skipped hurrying immediately to 3rd level discipline.
  • Consequential to this, mediation-counseling or assisted peacemaking is sidelined and ignored.
  • Warning: These are Christ’s command and not mere suggestions for his Church to follow.
  • Text: v. 16 “but if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

Question: What does Jesus intend for the “two or three witnesses”? (Judge vs. Mediators-Counselors)

• Warning: Heavy Appeal to Deut. 19:15 as witnesses for prosecution and judge neglects the function of the witnesses as mediators.
• Note: Judgment is to be officially passed on the third level in the Church court not in the mediated level (v. 17 “Tell it to the Church, and if he refuses to listen, let him be treated as a tax collector.”)

REMEMBER: Jesus still envisions the possibility of the offending brother “listening”.

• Note: Christ expects the witnesses to be mature believers (probably church officers… i.e. – pastors & deacons), not to stand primarily as Judge over the conflicting parties but as counselors over disputing brothers.
• The principle of v. 15 is carried over to this 2nd level of reconciliation… (v. 15 “if he listens to you, you have gained your brother”)…

[Alfred Poirier] “it is evident that the context of verse 16 presents these “witnesses” as acting with broader intent than that of a witness who gives evidence in court. in all three verses (Matt. 18:15–17), the issue that determines if the restoration process should move forward is whether the erring brother “refuses to listen.” This determining factor implies that those seeking to restore him are doing more than giving testimony in support of an allegation of wrongdoing. We ought to assume that these one or two others taken along are speaking, counseling, exhorting, and rebuking—making every effort to compel their brother to listen—rather than merely stating the evidence for his offense.”

Lessons to Glean:

1. Competent mediation requires Godly wisdom, Christian maturity, also wisdom in applying the gospel. (1Tim. 3:4-6)

• Point: Part of ordinary household management is skillful mediation between conflicting siblings. This is also true to the duty of Mediation between brotherly conflict inside the Church. Skilled household management includes mediation and counseling in conflict.
• Note: Training in biblical counseling can also be helpful.

2. Competent mediation requires a genuine love and faithful oversight towards every member of the congregation.

• (see Acts 20:28 “Keep careful watch for all the flock”… a command which calls for continual attention for all members of the covenant community)
• [Albert Barnes] “All the flock the rich and the poor, the bond and the free, the old and the young. It is the duty of ministers to seek to promote the welfare of each individual of their charge not to pass by the poor because they are poor, and not to be afraid of the rich because they are rich. A shepherd regards the interest of the tenderest of the fold as much as the strongest; and a faithful minister will seek to advance the interest of all. To do this he should know all his people; should be acquainted, as far as possible, with their unique needs, character, and dangers, and should devote himself to their welfare as his first and main employment.”

Text: 1Cor. 6:1-8 (should not be left to the government)

v. 7 “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you”

• Note: The word defeat (hettema) was used for judicial defeat in court but here Paul used it for moral & spiritual defeat of Corinthians.
• Goes back to v. 1 “does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?”
• [Thomas Schreiner] “People engage in lawsuits to win, to be vindicated and to have their rights reasserted. But the very fact that the Corinthians have taken their cases to unbelievers, that they have gone to court, is ‘an utter failure’ (NKJV). Or, as the NIV felicitously puts it: "you have been completely defeated already." The believers were looking for a victory [Nikē] in court, but Paul informs them that the very presence of lawsuits signals a stunning defeat [Hettema] and reversal.”

A Law Professor – “Robert Taylor” in his Book… “A Biblical Theology of Litigation” asked this crucial question regarding the text:

• Question: “Why is litigation cast in a negative light but mediation by saints in a much more favorable one by St. Paul? Why shouldn’t Christians sue one another and what’s wrong with litigation?”
• Answer:
• • in v. 2-3 “we will judge the world & angels”
  • in v. 7 “why not be defrauded and suffer wrong?” (forgiveness & church unity)
• Suggested Answers:
• • Sufficiency of Scriptures (biblical counsel)
  • Biblical Ecclesiology (elders & pastors)

• Case: Biblical Counseling vs. Psychology Church Mediation vs. Judicial Litigation
• [Alfred Poirier] “The fact that we do not see these church courts and mediation processes practiced within the modern evangelical church is proof not only of how we have abdicated our God-given authority as officers in Christ’s church but also of how we have developed a deficient ecclesiology. It has become a strange and foreign idea to the modern Church to view their church and their leaders as God’s appointed court for his people. Yet this is exactly the way God views those he appoints to govern and rule his church.”

A PROVISO: only for Civil cases not for Criminal cases

• Doctrine: Separation of Church and State
• Rom. 13:4-6… Civil officers are ministers of God to punish evil and reward good.
• • Context: “evil” gk. ‘kakon’… wretched, immoral, pernicious, injurious… not only to individuals but to society at large.
  • Civil Cases = Person vs. Person
  • Criminal Cases = Republic of Phil. vs. Suspect