Acts 15 :36-41

--- We are in Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. And we only have just six verses to finish out the chapter because we covered the rest of that part, the first part last time. So follow along with me beginning in verse 36 and following to the end of the chapter. It says,

Let's pray. Heavenly father, as we get into this last section of Acts chapter 15 this morning, it is our hope and prayer that you would speak words of grace and wisdom and insight to us to be able to really lay hold of this text and what we need to see and what we need to hear. Lord, we rely upon you. We rely upon your Holy spirit to speak to our hearts. And we want to be humble and open. We want to be responsive to you. We want to learn. We want to grow. We want to understand. And so we ask you to fill us with that understanding. We look to you, Lord, in the name of our savior, Jesus Christ, amen. Amen, amen. So yeah, just six short verses in this last section of Acts chapter 15, but they present for us kind of a reality that maybe some of us would rather not deal with. In fact, some of us have even chosen not to deal with it. And that is the issues that come along with interpersonal relationships. Don't you love interpersonal relationships? It just makes life fun, doesn't it? In other words, people, people. You know what our biggest problems in church are? People. Yeah, Sue and I have joked for years that the ministry would be fun if it wasn't for people. It's a joke, but frankly, it's one of the most difficult things about being in the body of Christ, being part of the body of Christ, is people. It's like, people say, I'd go to church if it wasn't for people. Every time I go to church, there's all these people there, and they're weird, and they say dumb things, and they do dumb things, and they can be offensive and all the other things that go along with it. So there you go, let's close in prayer and go home. Honestly, you know, if you stop and think about it, just about every problem we face in the body of Christ surrounds the issue of people, and dealing with other people in those interpersonal relationships. And so Luke gives us this snapshot here at the end of chapter 15 of these people problems that kind of come up, and you have to kind of wonder, why did Luke put this in here? I mean, he could have just glossed over it. He didn't have to write this in. He could have frankly just said something like, you know, Paul decided to go back out a second time to minister to some of the churches where he had gone to before and raised up believers, and this time he decided to take Silas with him. We would have been none the wiser about any sort of interpersonal problems that happened between Paul and Barnabas as it relates to this sort of a thing. But since he did put it in, I suppose we should pay attention to it, and oh, okay, maybe we should even learn from it. All right, so what's happening here? Well, Luke says it all starting off in verse 36, that after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and then here's the key, and see how they are. So they're gonna go back, or at least the plan is to go back and visit the believers. You'll notice that it was Paul's idea, and he expresses the goal very simply. Let's just go see how they are. It doesn't get much simpler than that, and then we find out at the very last verse of the chapter that Paul went back and actually did that, but it says he strengthened the believers. That was part of what he was there to do. In fact, Paul's goal, whenever he would go back to a place where he had been to visit the believers and to spend time with them, his goal was not just to pop in and say hi and let's have a meal together, but it was to make sure that when he left, they were better than before he got there, right? His goal was to strengthen their faith, to encourage them. In fact, he talks about this elsewhere in some of his letters. Let me show you this in Romans chapter one. He says, for I long to see you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you, and Paul understood that he had spiritual gifts from the Lord that were given for that very purpose, to strengthen the body. He goes on to say, that is that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. Oh, this is interesting. So Paul even went around and went back to the churches and said that he might be encouraged, that we might encourage and strengthen one another. So this is why I'm coming back to visit you, he's basically saying. And this became the emphasis of his ministry and to reach those who had come to faith through his apostolic ministry. And frankly, when he couldn't get to the churches, there were many times he wrote letters from prison. We have what we call several books of the New Testament, we call them the prison epistles, because Paul wrote them from prison. Well, he couldn't get to the churches to personally encourage them. And so he would talk to them about those he was sending. Let me show you this passage from Ephesians on the screen. He says, so that you may also know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will tell you everything. I've sent him to you for this very purpose. He says that you may know how we are. And look at this, and that he may encourage your hearts. Why am I emphasizing this? Well, guys, I'm emphasizing it because what we're learning here right away is that Christians need constant encouragement. Okay? We tend to forget that sometimes. And church, and we call this church, and we shouldn't because we're the church. But when you come together, when you gather together with believers, the focus should be encouragement. And we should leave a gathering like this or any other gathering for that matter. And we, you know, here, even at this fellowship, we have many gatherings throughout the week. And whenever you leave, you should walk out that door more encouraged than when you came in. You should go, yes! There's just something about the word that strengthens and encourages you. And you know that that sort of thing has taken place. The church needs to be a place where you come to get built up. Look what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians. He says, therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. So Paul acknowledged the fact that the believers in Thessalonica were encouraging one another. And he tells them, now do it more and more. Spend more time doing it. And the author of Hebrews had a similar exhortation. Let me show you this. He said, let us consider how to stir one another, stir up one another to love and good works. Not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. And all the more, frankly, as you see the day drawing near. And I want you to notice here in this passage from Hebrews that there is an assumption in this passage that the key to staying encouraged is staying in fellowship. Did you notice what he said? there? He said, don't neglect coming together. In other words, don't neglect going to church, as some are in the habit of doing, you know. And this is a clear exhortation. We're not to neglect gathering together with other believers. And that, of course, carries with it the idea that we're going to come together, be in the Word, and spend time in prayer, worshiping the Lord together, and so forth. So the question is, how many Christians do you think take the exhortation of Hebrews 10.25 seriously? Just curious. I mean, you don't have to speak out or anything, but just think about it for a minute. How many Christians do you think take seriously the exhortation to not neglect? I know I'm preaching to the choir. You're going, come on, Pastor, give me a break. I'm sitting here. I'm here. All right. Okay. No, I'm just kind of asking, you know. Well, I looked it up, and interestingly enough, just over half of people who call themselves evangelical Christians attend fellowship on a regular basis. Just over half. It's about 58%. So there's about 42% of the body of Christ that does not take seriously Hebrews 10.25. And if they don't take that seriously, they probably take... there's several other passages they don't take seriously as well. Because this is the basics. I mean, this is Christianity 101. Come to church. Hang out with other believers. Be together. Encourage one another. Encourage one another. How many times do we come... when we do get around to come to church, it's kind of like, I need to get to church. And we come because we need to come. We need to be there when we know it. But how many times do you walk through that door thinking, who can I encourage today? I'm not just coming for myself today. Who can I come? And just give an encouraging word to. Somebody here, somebody here needs your encouragement. Your encouragement. Somebody here in this room right now needs your encouragement. And that's what we ought to come to do. Encourage one another. But yet so many people just neglect it. You know, just this last Monday, Sue and I got out to... we went over to the Nampa area, actually early enough to have breakfast at IHOP over there. I love IHOP. What a great place. Anyway, the server that was seating us happened to notice I was wearing a Calvary Chapel shirt. Saw my logo on the shirt. She was instantly like, oh, Calvary Chapel. She goes, I go to Calvary Chapel Caldwell. And then instantly she goes, well actually I don't. She goes, I did. But I haven't been going lately. And I could tell that I didn't need to say anything. You know, I didn't need to say, you need to get back to church because she had all the convictions she could handle right then and there, you know. So, you know, and she even said, you know, I should probably get back there. And Sue and I were kind of like, yeah. But I thought to myself, as I sat down, this is just all too common. It's just all too common. This is a very, very common story. And, and, and, and honestly, the pandemic made it way too common. Because a lot of Christians found out that they could, they could be encouraged by just staying home in their jammies and watching church online. And how fun is that? You can sit and get encouraged while you're eating your breakfast and nobody has to see your, your, your jammies or your hair looking all terrible. Or the fact that you haven't put any makeup on or, or if you're a man, you're sitting in your undies or whatever the thing, whatever. Here's the problem though. Nobody benefited from your encouragement when you sat on the couch and watched church. Yes, you may have been encouraged, but you weren't encouraging anyone. Right? You know, and so it's the whole point is we come together to, to, to, for the mutual encouragement of the body of Christ. Okay. Now let's get on to the crux of the passage. Luke tells us verse 37. Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark, and I just refer to him as John Mark because it's easier. But Paul, we're told verse 38, thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn, read their, deserted them back when they were in Pamphylia on their first trip. And he hadn't carried on with the work. And so Paul thought, you know, uh-uh. And this is by the way, referring to what is made. There's this really brief comment back in Acts 13 up on the screen. This is what it looks like.

And there's no explanation. I mean, when you're just reading this all by yourself, as far as you know, Paul sent him back. You don't know at this point, but obviously that's not what happened because when they're considering going out for their second trip and Barnabas wants to take John Mark along, Paul says, no, I don't think so. I think this guy is more of a liability than an asset. So I don't think we should. So we're picking up more understanding about why John Mark left from Pamphylia. He simply didn't want to carry on with the work. He probably just wasn't mature enough. And the level of commitment was just beyond his maturity level, you know, as a, as a believer at that time. And so what happens here? Well, the text tells us that we're expecting exactly what we would expect, think to expect from Barnabas. He wants to take him along because you see Barnabas is an encourager. In fact, his name, we were told means son of encouragement. And so when, when, he's got the gift of encouragement. And when somebody has the gift of encouragement, they will easily overlook the flaws of others and the weaknesses of others and the potential issues that people might have. And they will say, Oh, come on. And that's kind of the way I think of Barnabas. He's a big kind of teddy bear friendly. Come on. I know you struggled on the first trip, but you're going to get over it. We'll just bring you along and it's okay. Don't worry about it and so forth. And so this is just basically, you know, this is Barnabas. Remember Barnabas, he's a good guy. Remember, he's the guy who stood up for Paul when Paul got saved and everybody was scared of him still, you know, because he was the persecutor of believers. And yet Paul had a genuine run in with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. Nobody wanted to get near him. They're thinking, Hey, we heard this Paul guy, we heard he got saved. And everybody's going, Yeah, right. Yeah, he's probably a plant. He's a spy. They're just gonna know this was Barnabas knew this was the real deal. And so it was remember it was Barnabas who went before the elders and apostles in Jerusalem and said, Guys, this is genuine. This is a real true work of the Holy Spirit. This man is now saved and you need to embrace him. That was Barnabas. So you can kind of see the guy that Barnabas was. He believed in people. Right? He believed in people. You got to have people like Barnabas in church who believe in people. And he deeply believed that John Mark should be given another chance to prove himself. Now, Paul, on the other hand, believed again, like we've already said that John Mark simply wasn't ready to do this. He needed to spend some time maturing in his faith. And the challenges and difficulties that went along with this sort of ministry were just too much at this point in his life. He's more of a liability. And so Paul stood his ground and said, No, I don't think so. The Lord has shown me what kind of ministry this is going to be. It's going to be hard. And there's going to be persecutions at every stop. And I just don't think John Mark is ready for that sort of thing. And Luke tells us in verse 39, that there arose a sharp disagreement. It's interesting. I looked at that phrase, and by the way, sharp disagreement, that's all one Greek word. But I looked it up in several translations, and you know how they all translate it? Sharp disagreement. I mean, this is just an easy word to figure out. It wasn't just a disagreement, you guys. It was a sharp disagreement. Have you ever had one of those? I know you have. So here, what do you got? You got two strong personalities going, don't you? You've got a Barnabas who loves people, he's an encourager, he'll throw his arms around anybody to invest himself in them, to bring them along, and you've got the Apostle Paul, and there is a very clear separation of what they think is the right thing to do in this situation. Listen, they have a very different methodology about going out and doing ministry. Barnabas' methodology is all about bringing people along, bringing people up, being an encouragement, and Paul's methodology is to get as much done as he can in as little time as possible, and he's going to do this thing. And here's the point, I think a lot of people read this passage and there's this natural tendency in us to kind of side with one of these guys or the other, depending on your gifting. If you have a greater affinity for those with a gift of encouragement, you're probably going to say, well, you know, Barnabas, he was right. Listen, Christianity is all about second chances, so this is the thing you do. And then there are some of you who have this type A leadership gift like the Apostle Paul had, and you're kind of like, no, I totally understand, the guy was a liability, you can't have that. And we tend to do that, we tend to think that this was, you know, Barnabas was right or Paul was right, and one of them shut it back down. And frankly, there are some even commentators, when you're reading through your Bible commentators, who look at this passage and they think that this is a big fat failure on the part of Paul and Barnabas. It's like, well, hey, obviously they weren't together on the Holy Spirit on this because we know the Holy Spirit isn't divided. So you got two guys who can't come to an agreement, and they're both supposed to be Spirit-led men. Which one was being led by the Spirit? Was it Paul or was it Barnabas? And we tend to want to, you know, kind of take sides. You ready? Here's my thought. Neither of them was wrong. I believe that both of them were doing what God gifted them to do. I believe Barnabas was doing what God gifted him to do, and Paul was doing what God gifted him to do. And I don't believe it was a failure. In fact, I believe what ended up happening was the best solution, was the best solution. And what ended up happening? We're in the middle of verse 39. Look with me in your Bible. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. Remember, that's where Barnabas had been raised. But Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And then again, it says he went through Syria, Cilicia, you know, back around the area they had gone and strengthening the churches as he did. In other words, what I'm saying to you is that the parting was for the best. That was the best solution. It was the best thing to do because Barnabas was now free to do what he was primarily gifted to do, and Paul was free to do what he was primarily gifted to do. They needed to go do what God had gifted them to do and not be a hindrance to one another. This was, I think this was the way it was supposed to happen. Not just one person getting their way, but both of them going their way. And honestly, sometimes the best solution is the freedom to part ways and to do what the Lord has called you to do. Sometimes. But that sometimes is a big sometimes. Because I need to sound a little bit of a warning here for you, okay? There are other times when people separate for less honorable reasons. And I think you probably know what I mean. Sometimes there's a spirit of rebellion. Sometimes there's a spirit of stubbornness, where I just really don't want you telling me what to do. So I'm going to go do my thing, go my own way, because, you know, hey, I'm just as much of a believer as you are. I'm gifted from the Lord just like you are. See, that's the wrong attitude. That's the wrong hard attitude. I honestly don't think these men were struggling with a wrong hard attitude. I think they were simply struggling with their primary gifting and the emphasis that went along with their primary gifting. Barnabas was simply being true to who God created him to be, and so was Paul. But again, there are times when we are faced with coming to loggerheads with others in the body of Christ, and we don't have the best attitude. We don't have the right attitude. We don't have a godly attitude. And you might say, well, Pastor Paul, how would I know? Well, I think when a situation arises where there just is not an agreement that it is incumbent upon all believers to come before the Lord and present their heart in such a way as to say, Lord, do I have the right attitude in this situation? You know, it's not...you see, if it's me that you're struggling with and I'm struggling with you, I'm not the person who's going to have the best perspective on why you're being the way you are, you know? I'm probably just going to be annoyed with you, and you're going to be annoyed with me, and we're not going to get very far, you know, with our mutual, you know, annoyment. Is annoyment a word? If it is, I just made it up, okay? Write it down. Okay, and I'm not...no, forget it. It's the Holy Spirit who's going to tell you. Even getting advice of somebody else might not work. You might go to somebody and go, you know, I've been doing ministry with so-and-so for a long time, and we just came to a place where we just couldn't agree on the direction we're going to go. Well, here's the deal. I want to do this, and he wants to do that. Who do you think is right? How do you know they're going to tell you the right thing? They might have a similar gifting to the person you're arguing with, and so they're going to see it from their perspective. You don't know. Or you might go and talk to somebody who thinks just like you so that you can get a yes person in your life. And don't we all kind of like them? Here, here's a problem. Say yes. Tell me I'm right. Oh, that's easy. You're right. I knew it. You're right. I knew it. How dumb is that? No, it's the Holy Spirit who you have to go talk to. Isn't that what David taught us to do? Look at this on the screen.

See that's what we're supposed to do when things like that come up. The Lord's the only one who can really tell you what's really going on, and sometimes he can't even make you aware of something going on in your heart that you weren't even aware of yourself. He's good at that. He's shown me lots of times there was things going on in my heart that I wasn't aware of. So we need to come to the Holy Spirit. Do you know how many times I write people back when they email me and tell them, you need to ask the Holy Spirit about that. People, it's crazy, it's just crazy. People write me notes, and they want me to tell them whether they're right or wrong about something or how they feel about something, or this is going on in my family, and I think da-da-da, and do you think I'm right, or I decided to do such and such, do you think I'm right for just doing such and such, and I'm like, who do you think I am? Ask God. Ask the Holy Spirit. He knows. I don't know. I don't have a clue. And if I did decide to give you an answer, I'd probably get it wrong. So ask Him. There's one final point here that I want to make from this quote-unquote sharp disagreement that Paul and Barnabas had, and I want to remind you of something. This is a difference of opinion, okay? Here in this chapter, you'll remember that there was disagreement, but it wasn't a difference of opinion. Remember that some guys came up from Jerusalem up to Antioch, and what were they doing? They were telling the believers, if you don't get circumcised and submit to the laws of Moses, you can't be saved. That wasn't a difference of opinion. That was a difference of doctrine. You with me? So, and in fact, Paul and Barnabas came in sharp dispute with them, too. And they finally had to take the situation back to Jerusalem to resolve it in front of the apostles and the elders of the fellowship there. Do you see the difference between these two things? So the first part, the vast majority of Acts chapter 15, is a difference of doctrine. The last six verses are a difference of opinion. And you and I have to get to the point where we see the difference. There are so many issues that come up in church life that are not doctrinal. They're merely a difference of opinion. But, you know, we get so passionate about our opinions sometimes. And we literally will raise it to the level of a doctrinal issue. Sometimes we'll even make doctrines out of it. But doctrine is the thing, you see, that we're supposed to hold to fast. We're supposed to defend what is true doctrinally. Those are the big issues. Look what Paul wrote to the Romans. In Romans chapter 16, he said, I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out, in fact, for those who cause divisions and create obstacles. What kind of obstacles? Obstacles that are contrary to the doctrine that you've been taught. In fact, he says, avoid them. Those kind of people, they're not serving the Lord. They may say they're serving the Lord, but they're not serving the Lord. What are they doing? They're serving their own appetites, their own desire for being right. And so they use all kinds of smooth talk and flattery, and they deceive people who really aren't sure on the matter, and they're kind of wishy-washy, and they bring them over onto their side so they can just amass a crowd. That's what they're all about. And so that's what Paul, he warned the church in Rome, so be careful about people that are causing issues with doctrine, right? And whenever that happens, we need to stand fast. And there's a lot of that going on in the body of Christ today. There's a lot of challenges to biblical doctrines that are swirling around in the body of Christ today. They're swirling around today. Some of them have to do with marriage. Some of them have to do with sexual preferences, and some have to do with this, and some have to do with that. And you and I need to know what the Bible says, and we need to stand fast when it comes to the word of God and just say, well, sorry, that's just not a negotiable issue, right? And we need to know the difference when we're dealing with a non-negotiable and when we're dealing with a difference of opinion. But as I said, some people have this incredible talent for turning their differences of opinion into a world-ending crisis. You know, if you don't believe or agree with me on this particular issue, you would be shocked to hear some of the comments that show up on our YouTube channel sometimes. One person recently wrote and said, I can't take this guy seriously with the way he dresses, and they were talking about me. Literally, they said, you know, if a pastor, preacher, teacher, whatever they call him, doesn't get up and wear a suit and tie, they will not take him seriously. Now, is there anything wrong with wearing a suit and tie? Well, yeah, but, no, I'm just kidding. No, there isn't. Mine's gathering quite a bit of dust lately, but if I even have it, still. But when we start to, when we start to take our own personal opinions and we emphasize them to the place where I'm not even gonna hear the Word of God through you, because you're not dressed right. I've elevated my opinion to an unhealthy level. Do you get that? Some opinions are cultural. Some of them are just traditional. I sat right over there in the front row several years ago, and a guy came up to me after church, and he was really bothered by the fact that people didn't dress up like he thought they should when it comes to going to church. And you gotta understand something. I was raised in church. Do you know what I wore every Sunday? A suit and tie. And my parents made me stand up on a chair, and my dad polished my shoes every Sunday morning. And I literally wore a tie. It was a clip-on, because they probably were afraid I'd hang myself with a real one. But so I had this little clip-on tie, and my brother and I wore suits every Sunday. And so I was raised in that culture. And praise God, he set me free. Took a while, it really did. It took a while. And I understood that this guy's opinion was one that he was very strong on, because he saw it as an expression of respect. And I get that. I get that. He's like, hey, when you come together with the body of Christ, when you're gonna meet with the Lord, it's a respectful thing, and you put on your best duds when you come to church. I get it, I get it. That's the way you're raised. It becomes just this ingrained thing. But I had the toughest time in the world telling him, that's not in the Bible. You know? And as much as I respect, you know, your opinion, and I do, and there are some of you who feel very strongly about singing hymns in church. You're like, we ought to be singing hymns. And I, you know, and again, I was raised with hymns. And that's all we sang. And, you know, we do hymns from time to time, but there are some people who are like, no, every song should be a hymn. That's your opinion. That's your opinion. And they'll say, well, without the hymns, you know, you don't get any good doctrine in church. And I'm like, really? We teach through the Bible. You don't get any better than that. That's what the hymns are based on. Oh, yeah. So, you know, these are opinions, and we have to, and I know some of you are very passionate about some of these things, and I get it. Be passionate, but just be careful that you don't raise your opinions to the level of doctrine, you know? We believe in God the Father, you know, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, and dressing up on Sunday morning. And those are non-negotiables, you know, sort of a thing. Be careful, because, yeah, I think you get it. Finally, I need to kind of give you a summary here. Paul was the one who said, no, John Mark shouldn't come along. I need you to know that there came a time later on when Paul spoke very differently about John Mark. In fact, he referred to him as useful to me. Let me show you this. When he wrote to Timothy toward the end of Paul's life, he said, Luke alone is with me. Get Mark, and he's talking about John Mark. He says, get John Mark and bring him with you. Look at this, for he is very useful to me for ministry. Do you see how things changed? Paul's issue was not with the person John Mark. It was with his experience. And he just simply said, I don't think that he's mature enough yet. He'll get there. And you know what? He got there. He got there. The young boy who once struggled to stay on course eventually grew up and he proved himself to be, as Paul said, very useful. I once heard of John Mark being referred to as the quitter who finished well. That might apply to several of us in this room, I don't know. But he did finish well. And sometime between the years AD 55 and 59, John Mark sat down and he wrote the gospel account that bears his name, the gospel of Mark. So I think he did pretty well. Amen? Let's stand together, we'll close in prayer. If you need prayer this morning, we'd be more happy to pray for you. Just come on up front. And again, happy Father's Day. Let's pray a special prayer over the dads, shall we? Father, I thank you so much, first of all, for the Word of God that strengthens, encourages, and uplifts us. I thank you, Lord, for the opportunity that we've been given this morning to come here and encourage one another. And I pray, Father God, that your people would encourage one another. And I thank you, Lord, that even though there are many times as we do this church thing that we run into people that we don't agree with or that we have differences of opinion with, it's okay. We're not always gonna agree, but we can still walk in the power and strength and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. And I pray you'd help us do that and not give in to mere emotion, but to come to you and say, Lord, just check my heart. I wanna make sure my heart's in the right place. And Father, I wanna pray for the dads here today. You've given them some lofty responsibilities. And even though the world that we live in has really de-emphasized the role of father in the home, it continues to be a role that you created that is of vital importance to children and grandchildren. And so, Father God, we pray together for dads that they would walk in the strength, grace, and power of God to be the men that you've called them to be in the home, with children, caring, providing, leading. Thank you, Father. We commit all of these things into your hands. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior, and all God's people said together, amen. Take care, have a rest of your day.