Dumb Fights

st1:State>Alabama* It is illegal for a driver to be blindfolded while operating a vehicle.

• Dominoes may not be played on Sunday.
• It is illegal to wear a fake moustache that causes laughter in church.
• Putting salt on a railroad track may be punishable by death.
• Boogers may not be flicked into the wind.
• It is legal to drive the wrong way down a one-way street if you have a lantern attached to the front of your automobile.
• You must have windshield wipers on your car.
• You may not have an ice cream cone in your back pocket at any time.
• Masks may not be worn in public.
• Men may not spit in front of the opposite sex.
• Women are able to retain all property they owned prior to marriage in the case of divorce. However, this provision does not apply to men.
• Children of incestuous couples are deemed legitimate.
• Pool halls may not be operated between 11:30 PM and 6 AM.
• No persons may sell "blow-out nuts".
• Hunting is not allowed on Sunday.

Just a list of the dumb things that our legislatures have spent time arguing over.  A similar list could be formed for the church:

-        Local church split over color of new pews

-        Church spends millions to determine the effect of Styrofoam cups on the environment

-        Hymns or praise chorsuses?

-        Overheads or Chorus books?

-        Formal or Casual?

-        Movies, cards, dancing, dating or courtship, homeschool or public, Republican or Democrat.

Just a list of things that the church spends time fighting about.  It seems to me that this is not a 21st century invention.

            In the 15th chapter of acts we find a church fragmented over a very explosive topic-circumcision.  Do outsiders  coming into the new church need to be surgically altered before they can be considered family.  Now before you throw stones and say: “If I had been in that church, I wouldn’t have expected the new converts to go under the knife-consider this-When a visitor comes into the church wearing peircings in every possible point of exposed skin, leather, and tattoos that demand your attention-how do you respond?  What do you think?  It is most likely that you assume they are unbelievers or at best new believers-who have to change before they “fit in.” 

            This is the conflict that a very new church was divided over.  Did new Christians who-lived, looked, talked different-shouldn’t they change before they fit in to the landscape?  There are accounts of missionaries who came into the South American rain forest converting the tribes and insisting that the women clothe themselves such as modesty required in Western culture.  The result was the death of dozens of the tribeswomen to pneumonia.

            The church has long worked harder to conform the convert to its own image than to God’s.

            A group of Jewish converts, conincidentally, former Pharisees, insisted that the law of Moses be kept to the letter-new converts-required circumcision.  Yet this act was offensive to the Greeks coming to faith.  There was a line in the sand that was drawn to keep people out. 

            But not every church leader believed this.  Paul and Barnabas had been out working a church plant throughout the Gentile world.  They had been sharing the good news with anyone who had ears to hear.  They saw the grace of God that reached beyond ethnic, race, and language boundaries. They argued boldly on behalf of the Gentiles.  Sometimes the silent masses need an assertive defense.

But Paul and Barnabas were converts themselves.  The counsel that had been called was a counsel of elders and apostles.

            An apostle is someone who has been sent out.  They have been sent out with a mission, but also with authority to carry out that mission.  In the New Testament-particularly in Acts-Apostle meant someone appointed by Jesus to carry on the work.  With the exception of Paul, it almost always meant someone who had walked with and sat at Jesus’ feet.  These men were the original inner circle.  They held the authority and stature of ones who had been chosen by the master himself.  Their word was final.

            The elders were like the officials of the church.  They were not appointed like the apostles, but they held positions of respect due to their age, experience, and anointing.  It is from the word for elder that we get the word priest.  They were the exhorters and preachers.  They were those who had been elevated to a place of respect and honor.  Now the council of Jerusalem called the apostles, and elders together.  They, the recognized leadership of the church would determine the direction, theology, and boundaries of the early church.

            We can find comfort in this.  It is because the apostles and elders of the first century church rode fence over the new congregation that we can know that we have orthodoxy in our beliefs.  Those closest to Jesus and to his teaching determined what things best reflected the character and teaching of our Lord himself.

            So to follow Paul and Barnabas come Peter and James.  The big guns have been called to testify.  Peter is like the surprise witness in an old Matlock rerun.  Peter is the one apostle who first reached out to the Gentiles.  He has seen the spirit anoint the outsider and embrace the marginalized.

            Peter declares: Acts 15:7-10 (NRSV)
7, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers.
8 And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us;
9 and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us.
10 Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?

[1]

God had put no distinction between them.  God had not constructed impossible

Barriers to the new converts.  God had not made a distinction between insider and outsider.  In fact, those same laws which served to keep the newcomers out-kept insiders themselves from approaching God.  It was a yoke-that is a bondage that could not be overcome.  The law had become more than a restraint.  It had become a burden that no one could reasonably bear.  It had become a wall that was better at separating us from them, more effectively than it was able to sanctify them.  Sometimes rules only serve those who can define them-But God made no such distinction.

            It was James who came next.  James the brother of Jesus who stood up and quoted scripture.  Saying-this was God’s intention from the start.  This was the plan all along.  God wants to reach these people.  Let’s not keep them out of the church.  The house of the Lord belongs to those who seek him.  There is no room for standing guard at the door keeping the “Wrong sorts of people out.”

            Finnally, James was very respecte and wielded power.  We know this because he says, “I have decided.” He determined to allow the new believers in without obstruction.  He made three expectations to the new disciples.  There were three areas that concerned him:  Fornication, Meat polluted by idol worship, meat from animals that had been strangled, and the consumption of blood.

            What is important to note-James leaves out the vast majority of the law.  We believe that the moral code was still in place, but when it came to grey areas-he defined them.  The dietary laws were wide open so long as animals were treated humanely and the people steered clear of associating with pagan worship.  (Keep one God and respect life.)  Finnally, don’t fornicate.  Fornication is a broad term-not nearly so narrow as we have made it.  It refers to all sexual immorality-between those not married, those of the same sex, or with animals.  Sexual immorality and idol worship were big issues to new converts.  James said-Hey, this is how a Christian acts-it is different but it isn’t impossible. 

            So the early church counsel agreed not to make too many rules.  They kept the code simple.  They made the rules basic.  And they sent Paul and Barnabas-two old friends, Silas and Judas Barsabbas-two new friends who represented the counsel, and they sent a letter.  This was a letter of encouragement.  Discipline should always start with encouragement that builds up.  They built up the new believers, they sent trusted representatives to ensure that the message was conveyed.  And then they stayed to help the young believers get it right.  That is what true shepherding looks like.  And discipline that was clothed in encouragement was welcomed.

            And in the midst of that great resolution, the early church navigated a difficult division.  They repaired a split and maintained unity of purpose and calling.  They modeled a new way to solve problems.  And Paul missed the lesson entirely.

            He and Barnabas had a spat.  It was more than a little one.  It was so sharp in fact that the parted ways entirely.  They were good friends and Barnabas was a good natured fella.  Paul was a little harder to get along with.  It was the old Pharisee in him coming out.  You see Paul and Barnabas had been on a journey.  ON that first missionary journey-John Mark had abandoned them. 

            Paul and Barnabas had set out to take that same journey and build up the fledgling congregations-But Barnabas wanted to take John Mark along.  And Paul would hear nothing of it.  You see an apostle was someone who was sent out on a mission-someone who did the will and acted under the authority of the sender.  Paul had risent to the status of Apostle.  John Mark was an apostonta which  means-one who walks away.  Paul the apostle ridiculed John Mark for being a lousy apostonta-he just walked away and is not worthy of another chance.

            Barnabas had a different leadership style.  He saw potential and stood by John Mark.  He said- If you don’t want him, I will take him.  Because there is something worth saving here.  There is something here that deserves a second chance.  It was an argument that separated them-and the two friends parted company and went separate ways.

            What we learn from the early church informs who we are today.  There will always be those riding fence trying to keep the wrong sort out-we have to focus on what’s important and keep the main things the main thing.  Encourage new believers to live morally and to be merciful.  Let God work the other stuff out.  When there is a conflict-talk about it and listen to those in authority who have proven themselves wise.  Take a stand and do the right thing when presented with injustice.  When disagreements come-and they will, be merciful.  Build up rather than tear down.  Be personable and kind along with discipline.  Take a stand even if it means disagreeing with someone you care about.  Give someone a second chance.

            This is how the early church dealt with conflict and change.  They navigated it and so can we.  But we must have the Holy Spirit to guide us and the ears to hear.

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[1] The Holy Bible : New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1996, c1989.