Associations
Notes
Transcript
And 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 see how they are.” Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.
We are following Paul and Barnabas as they headed back out on the road as missionaries. It’s not a long passage, so we’ll learn pretty quick that this time they went their separate ways. While we do come across his name in other books, in the writings of Paul in the New Testament, this is the last that we’ll hear of Barnabas, as well as Mark or John Mark, in the book of Acts. We have new people, though. Last time we heard Silas, a prophet came up to Antioch; he joins Paul for this journey and is in the next few chapters. We’ve also got Timothy, who becomes quite prominent throughout Paul’s ministry and in his own right by the grace of God.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, most of us would say we like the way we personally think. We approve of our own beliefs and ideas—that’s why we believe and think and express ourselves a certain way. Perhaps we don’t like to change or want to change. Maybe we like to debate, maybe we don’t, but we prefer that if someone doesn’t share our views or like our opinions, then they should change their minds. We plant our feet in the ground; we claim, “We’re right; we don’t have to explain or defend ourselves until they prove us wrong.” If that’s our mindset, then we prefer not trying to go back to a blank slate to consider all possibilities. No, if others were just smarter or if they just knew what was best, they would think like us or become like us.
Yet people obviously have differences of opinion on a multitude of things. There may be certain things that we can agree on and other things that we don’t. But sometimes the way we think is that if any given person would just progress enough or think clearly enough, then they’d understand where we’re at. If we think about why people protest, why we have presidential debates or other elected officials hold town halls, if we think about mediation that happens between parties in a lawsuit or attempts by couples at counseling—it’s usually that 1 person or party is here, the other is there, and rather than compromise, people try to convince the other that their way is best.
Notice how these things end up not being just about ideas but about people. We conclude our ideas are black and white, right and wrong, and so is the person behind them. It’s not just a matter of opinion, but we feel it’s a struggle between what is good and what is bad, how things should be, even must be, and that which is to be avoided or resisted or called dumb. So, we fight, even splitting certain relationships, connections, or associations based on our convictions.
Having convictions isn’t wrong. Being stubborn on certain matters isn’t always bad. However, we cannot forget that God calls his people in Scripture to unity. Unity among believers images the unity of the Trinity and what Christ invites us into by his righteousness. Yet just as there are many things that people can think differently about and seem to have little ill effect, the history of the church is filled with divisions.
It’s filled with differences of beliefs and arguments that have happened and shaped things. Last time we heard about circumcision and division it was causing. If you know a little bit about the formation of several of the creeds and confessions, those came out of differences of beliefs and accusations of heresy. The Synod of Dort allowed the Remonstrants to come and try to prove their side, but the orthodox leaders had little plan to move from their convictions. Getting closer to today, as we think about the RCA and the CRC, strong convictions led a group to form something new, since 1857 other traditions have split off, and certain convictions cause tension in both denominations today. We’re two relatively small denominations amid tens of thousands of traditions and people claiming to be Christians.
How do we understand division among believers? Going back to verse 39 in our text, we read, “They,” Paul and Barnabas, “had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company.” If you haven’t been with us over the last year, we’ve been working through the book of Acts, and this is one of those times when knowing the background is really beneficial. We know Barnabas and Paul’s ministry relationship had gone on for quite a while. Back in chapter 9 verse 27, it was Barnabas who brought Paul to the other apostles vouching that his conversion was real, and they shouldn’t be afraid of him. Back in chapter 11, we read how Barnabas went and got Paul from Tarsus to minister with him in Antioch “for a whole year.” Then we came to chapter 13, where the Holy Spirit said, “‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’” We followed their likely 2-year missionary journey, after which they came back to Antioch. Then they went to Jerusalem to stick up for the Gentile Christians before returning. Now here in Acts 15:36, Paul said, “‘Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached…’”
The association of these men was ministry colleagues and likely close friends. They knew each other well and respected and trusted one another. Yet the decision that John Mark should or should not come along on this next journey caused a split between them. Paul was resistant because, as we read in Acts 13:13, “John left them” in the middle of the journey. Barnabas wanted Mark along for a second chance, though. It was also a bit personal as John Mark was his cousin. They could not agree. So, Barnabas headed to Cyprus, which he and Paul had also traveled through, and Paul with Silas, picking up Timothy along their route, headed north and then west.
I doubt the division and any thoughts of it could just be left in Antioch. When each of these men visited the churches separately, they were probably asked, “Hey, where’s your other partner? Where’s Barnabas?” “Where’s Paul?” “What’s he up to these days? Why didn’t he come?” They may have had to continually deal with this. A bit of a positive spin some commentators put on this is there were plenty of places to go, plenty of people to evangelize. God could use this for his own ends. There’s some truth to that. As Paul’s journey continued, we’ll find there were times when he split off, had one of his partners stay somewhere a bit longer, and they’d join back together later.
But again, how do we understand division among believers today? First of all, there are many different associations or relationships that Christians identify themselves in. For many of us, faith runs in our families or our friendships. Then either as individuals or in different groups we form partnerships with different ministries. We also affiliate as congregations, denominations, etc.
Those are our associations, but then there are also many different types of division. Sometimes things happen quickly, sometimes they happen over decades, and we get to a point where we realize we’re divided. We find ourselves at odds with each other—not wanting to be in ministry together, not wanting to support or encourage or be seen as connected. Usually it’s when one person or party has said, “This is where I’m at. This is what I believe. This is my line in the sand, which shall not be crossed.” The other says, “That’s not where I’m at. I disagree. I don’t think that’s as important or as necessary as you’re making it out to be.” To varying degrees, we end up going our separate ways.
What our passage is focusing on is a choice. Paul and Barnabas were not having a gospel disagreement. It was not that all of a sudden the way God calls his people to live, or who salvation came by, or if God is real was in question. No, the division was not over Scripture interpretation or doctrine or worship. It’s likely Paul and Barnabas still saw their own perspective as being right and the other person wrong, maybe even gracious versus practical. But it’s doubtful their disagreement should have charged the other person as breaking faith.
Let’s move to our second point now, what does reconciliation entail when we have been divided? I believe there was reconciliation among these missionaries. If we jump to Colossians, which is believed to have been written a bit later in Paul’s life, maybe around 10 years later, in chapter 4, he writes, “My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (You have received instructions about him; if he comes to you, welcome him.)” Despite his previous feelings about Mark and his deserting them, despite the division with Barnabas and Paul’s apparent unwillingness to go back out with Mark on the second journey, Paul seems to have come to a point when he was supportive of Mark. If that’s the case, then it seems Paul and Barnabas also could have or did reconcile. Maybe they didn’t minister together again in Antioch or elsewhere, but it seems they were on supportive and encouraging terms. They were brothers in Christ, united in their faith, without question, bringing the same gospel to people.
Some of that is speculative—I’ve taken what Scripture tells us and I’m hoping for a happy ending. Reconciliation between Paul and Barnabas is what I want, it’s what I hope for, because it is what the gospel calls believers to. We can hope that reconciliation means that we agree with all the same things when it comes to faith and practice, and that those agreements are the truth, are for all that is good, and are glorifying to God. This kind of reconciliation, again, it matters of choice should involve one person or party saying, “I was wrong,” in this case, maybe that was Paul, “John Mark really stepped up, I should have trusted you Barnabas. Forgive me for not trusting you.”
Yet there’s some stubbornness that runs through some or a lot of us. We can usually find fault in something to support the way we thought even when things generally turn out alright. Can there be reconciliation when we’re still in disagreement? It is important that we look at the heart or what is at stake in our differences. That’s extremely difficult to do on our own in the heat of things—when we’re so passionate, when we feel adamant about our way being the only way. That is why we need the community of fellow believers—not just those who see things our ways—to encourage us in love, we need God’s word and to be in prayer, and we need to practice patience.
There are non-essential things we can too often allow to cause us to question or turn our back on fellow believers. At least on these kinds of things, we should practice grace in the midst of our disagreements. What binds us as the body is not total agreement on every last detail of our lives connecting together; no, we’re bound in Jesus Christ. We are bound in the salvation he offers, in the love he has and has shown, and bound in gratitude to pursue a life honoring his work in us.
I want it to be clear, especially thinking about all the divisiveness that exists in our country right now. We’re called to love our neighbors—regardless of race, regardless of religion, regardless of political leanings. We’re called to love people who we may disagree with. We’re called to seek righteous justice—justice according to God’s terms—for those are oppressed. Yet Christian reconciliation, gospel reconciliation, that which breeds unity among people can only be found by those who do locate themselves in Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5 verses 17 through 19, Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
When we talk about divisions in and among Christians, and seeking reconciliation for those divisions, our assumption is not that every single human being regardless of race or religion or politics is going to get along and play nice and not need any rebuke. Gospel reconciliation is when we admit we are sinful, we don’t know it all, we can be wrong, we need to repent and be forgiven, and the purpose of our minds, our thoughts, our attitudes, and our actions are on and for Christ, even when we disagree among ourselves.
Brothers and sisters, there are matters of choice that we will disagree on. Let us not allow them to divide us. Let us not fall into temptation by allowing these divisions to cause us to sin against one another. Let us also not turn matters that Scripture so clearly recognizes as sin into matters of choice or preference. We are called to holy living and our associations with other Christians should fit that calling.
If we are in Christ, who must our minds be fixed on? What must our thoughts and our lives be lived toward? How ought things filter through our faith? The final word this morning comes from Paul again in Colossians 3, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator…Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” Amen.