Sermon Tone Analysis

If you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it.

We’re going to be in Acts 15:36-41 tonight.

It’s a very interesting little passage that we are going to be looking at because of the topic that it addresses and that topic is how do we handle disagreements as Christians.

Or you could almost say, how do we squash beef Biblically?

By a show of hands, how many of you have ever had an argument with someone before?

How many of you have had an argument with someone before that was so bad or so harsh that it practically destroyed your relationship with that person?

When arguments like that happen, it’s hard to find a “winner”.

When relationships break down, there’s hardly ever someone that truly comes out on top because the hurt doesn’t typically vanish in an instant.

Disagreements cause pain and that pain is very, very real.

Tonight, we are going to see a very real and very painful disagreement between the Apostle Paul and his traveling companion and close friend Barnabas.

So, what we are going to attempt to accomplish tonight is how should we as Christians address disagreements, we will dissect what is happening between Paul and Barnabas, the importance of reconciliation and forgiveness, and finally how to apply reconciliation and forgiveness into our lives so we have a lot to get through in not a lot of time so let’s open up in prayer and then we will read Acts 15:36-41.

Dissecting the Disagreement

Let’s first talk about what is going on here between Paul and Barnabas.

In some ways, Luke, the author of Acts, is very clear on what and why of what is happening but he is not quite as clear on who “comes out on top” in the disagreement.

Is Paul in the right or is Barnabas in the right?

There’s a hint of who may be but it’s just a hint.

Now if we were to have truly gone verse by verse through every verse of the book of Acts, we would probably have a better idea as to what led up to this disagreement between Paul and Barnabas but I’ll try to catch us up quickly.

During Paul and Barnabas’s first missionary journey, the one that we just finished reading about before Thanksgiving, Paul and Barnabas began there trip with a young man named John Mark, or just Mark, who is Barnabas’s cousin.

Not too long into their journey, Mark turns back and goes home to Jerusalem and it does seem like it is a very fast turn around.

We read in verse 5 of Acts 13 that Mark was one of their companions and by verse 13 of the same chapter, he’s heading home.

What happened that led Mark to abandon the work?

Many commentators would say that the reason Mark headed home was because he was struck with a sudden sense of fear about what the work of the Gospel would entail.

I don’t think he had a spiritual relapse, I don’t think he had a disagreement with Paul, I think that Mark was simply a young man who did not realize what he was getting into when he signed up to go with his cousin.

I think what we see in Mark is what we see in a lot of baby Christians that sign up for something big, get to it, and think, “My goodness, I am totally unprepared and terrified.”

I think what happens to Mark is that he sees the pushback to the Gospel and he sees what happens to Elymas the magician in Acts 13, gets spooked and wants to go home.

Let’s look back at the end of Acts 15.

Paul has a plan to go back to some of the churches that they helped to start and see how they are doing and Barnabas thinks that is a great idea.

Barnabas wants to give Mark a second chance and take him with them but Paul is totally against that idea.

Why does Barnabas want to give Mark another chance?

First off, he’s family and I think that when it comes to family, most people are more willing to give family members additional chances than friends.

Even more than that though is the type of personality that Barnabas has.

Back when we first meet Barnabas in Acts 4, we learn that Barnabas has a very particular personality and it is that of an encourager.

In fact, he is so encouraging that his nickname is Barnabas, his real name is Joseph, but the apostles call Him Barnabas which means, “Son of encouragement.”

Barnabas is an encouraging individual, he’s the guy you want in your corner!

His very personality, his very character points to a desire to give Mark this second chance because that’s just who Barnabas is! Now this isn’t to say that Paul is someone who doesn’t believe in second chances because who received a greater second chance than Paul?

Think back to the second chance he received in Acts 9 with his own conversion!

Why does Paul say no?

I think that Paul recognizes that Mark still has some things he needs to work on and I think Paul may even be worried that if he takes Mark again, even greater opposition might present itself and push Mark even further away.

I think that Paul is worried about being abandoned again and left to pick up the pieces.

I think that in some ways Paul may not be flatly saying no but maybe saying just not right now.

But Barnabas thinks that experiential learning would be what is best for his cousin and Paul disagrees.

For whatever reason Paul says no, the argument becomes so heated that the men decide that it is best for them to go in opposite directions.

So, who is right?

Is Paul right to not take Mark or is Barnabas right to take him?

Some argue that Paul was in the right because we read that he and Silas are commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord while we don’t read that about Barnabas but that does not necessarily give us 100% sure answer.

Was Paul too harsh to Mark? Was he too unforgiving?

Should he have given him another chance?

What about Barnabas?

Should Barnabas had respected the authority of Paul more?

Should he have done more to make sure that Mark was ready for the trip?

Who’s to say?

What we can say though is that regardless of who is right or wrong, we see that this is a lesson on imperfect people.

A Lesson on Imperfect People

The Bible is full of perfect examples of imperfect people.

Even a man like the Apostle Paul was not perfect.

Even a great encourager like Barnabas was not perfect.

There has only been one perfect person on this planet and He was the Son of God.

I think we often forget that we are imperfect.

We’re good at recognizing that others are imperfect but we’re really bad at recognizing that we’re individually imperfect.

I think we have the tendency to often think that we are always right and everyone else is always wrong.

I think that we tend to think that we just let out this scent of perfection that others dare not touch.

We often forget that we are in just as much need of grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness as anyone else.

I’ve told you all before that before I left to move to Georgia and before I got married, I asked my old youth pastor for what he thought would be the most important thing for me to know before I began this next step of my life and he said, “Remember, you’re not as smart as you think you are and you’re not always right.”

I have carried that advice with me for about 7 years and it is just as important for me to remember today as it was back then.

Understand, you are going to make mistakes.

You are going to respond to things in ways that you are going to look back on and think, “Why did I respond like that?”

You need to remember that just as you make mistakes, the people around you are going to make mistakes too.

No one here is perfect and we are going to act like the imperfect people that we are.

Sometimes consciously of that fact and sometimes unconsciously.

Did Paul and Barnabas handle the situation perfectly in the moment?

Probably not.

Did they immediately jump to forgiveness of each other?

No it doesn’t look like it.

Now spoiler alert, later in the writings of Paul, we do see that he speaks very favorably of Barnabas and it seems they do mend the relationship and reconcile and we also see towards the end of Paul’s life in 2nd Timothy that Mark becomes an important part of his life and ministry.

So, what does that tell us?

Imperfect Christians need to seek forgiveness and reconciliation.

Is it hard?

Absolutely!

Is it necessary?

Entirely.

Does it mean that it will happen in a second?

No. What we see from Paul’s life is that it takes time for some wounds to heal and sometimes there are some relationships that are not as close as what they once were.

What we also see is that even the greatest Christians are capable of making mistakes and we need to be aware of that.

What we also see in this is the invisible hand of God orchestrating the bad to make way for the good.

How so?

Well by Paul and Barnabas splitting up, we now have 2 missionary teams instead of 1.

We see double the ground covered on behalf of the Gospel.

Whatever happens to Mark on this journey eventually will lead him to becoming a traveling companion for the Apostle Peter and will lead this very same Mark to write the Gospel of Mark.

N.T. Wright said, “The God who makes human wrath to serve his praise has done it again.

That doesn’t excuse sinful human wrath, of course.

It simply shows once again what the gospel message itself massively demonstrates: that God can take the greatest human folly and sin and bring great good from it.”

With the time we have left, let’s talk about forigveness and reconciliation.

How are we as Christians supposed to squash beef?

How are we to handle disagreements?

Horizontal and Vertical Reconciliation

It should be clear to us that the Bible stresses unity and reconciliation.

Psalm 133:1 “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” Charles Spurgeon said, “Christian unity is good in itself, good for ourselves, good for the brethren, good for the converts, good for the outside world; and for certain it is pleasant; for a loving heart must have pleasure and give pleasure in associating with others of like nature.

A church united for years in service of the Lord is a well of goodness and joy to all those who swell around it.”

The Bible is equally clear on man’s great need to forgive and be forgiven.

One of Christ’s clearest lessons on forgiveness comes from Matthew 18:21-35