Sermon Tone Analysis
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DISAGREEING AGREEABLY
(Acts 15:36-41)
Date: ____________________
Read Acts 15:36-41 - I Cor 10:12: "Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall."
When things are going well, our guard comes down; our confidence goes into overdrive and suddenly, we are vulnerable.
If it happened to P&B, and it did, it could certainly happen to us.
Barnabas vouched for Paul when he first came to Jerusalem and everyone else shunned him.
Barnabas called Paul as asst pastor in Antioch as that church exploded onto the scene.
They've stood shoulder to shoulder thru persecution and trouble.
And they've just traveled hundreds of miles to a church council to determine the gospel they've been preaching is right.
They've been confirmed in their mission.
Things have never looked better.
And then - Wham!
You can see Satan rubbing his hands together, "How can I get to these guys?
They love God and each other.
So, how can I rip them apart?"
And then he thinks, "Voila - John Mark!"
So like him, isn't it?
Take people who are going good - find some small Achilles heel and strike!
Yet, God comes out on top.
If we miss that, we miss the point.
There is both warning and hope here.
People won't always agree on everything.
One of my profs used to say, "If two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary!"
But when we can't agree, it is critical we don't allow our differences to drive a wedge between us.
P&B disagreed, but they did so agreeably.
Great lesson.
I. Determined Initiation
36 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."
Amazing.
Paul was nearly killed in Lystra, yet he says, "We need to go back, Barnabas."
Why?
He was helping lead the most dynamic church in the world.
Why leave the comforts of Antioch for the danger in Galatia?
First, we know Paul's heart: I Cor 9:16b: "For necessity is laid upon me.
Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!"
Getting the gospel out drove him.
And he especially wanted to get the gospel to places it had never been.
One of the churches I attended as a boy had a large sign painted over the platform that said, "Why should anyone hear the gospel twice until everyone has heard it once?"
That's what drove Paul.
He knew he was especially appointed to reach the Gentiles.
Rom 11:13: "Now I am speaking to you Gentiles.
Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles."
Other apostles knew that, too.
He says in Gal 2:9b Peter and John "gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go the Gentiles and they to the circumcised."
Paul intended to be faithful to his call.
That gospel drove Hudson Taylor to China: "I must go to China.
That land is ever in my thoughts -- 360 million souls, without God or hope!
Think of more than twelve million of our fellow creatures dying every year without any of the consolations of the Gospel.
Barnsley [where he lived] has only 15,000 inhabitants.
Imagine if all these were to die in 12 months!
Yet in China year by year, hundreds are dying, for every man, woman and child in Barnsley.
Poor, neglected China!
Scarcely anyone cares about it."
If only we could see as God sees!
He may or may not call on us to go, but he will certainly call on us to go thru our prayers, finances and help.
As John Piper has said, "You are either going, sending, or living in disobedience."
Paul also had a 2nd reason for going.
He wanted to "see how they are."
He was not a "win them and leave them" kind of guy.
He followed up.
On that 1st journey, as they reached the easternmost point in Derbe, he and Barnabas "returned to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch (of Pisidia) 22) strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them."
They purposely backtracked into dangerous territory to help new converts.
Like a newborn baby needs help to grow, so a new convert needs help to grow.
Paul intended to be there for them.
Ray Miller was once pitching coach for the Pirates.
He said his hardest job was to scold young pitchers without losing their respect.
He said, "They have an attention span of about 10 minutes, and they naturally tend to overthrow on the mound and overdo it off the field, so it's a race against time in trying to teach them.
My job is to put old heads on young bodies."
Great description for us - to build mature minds in young believers.
The ministry of the Word to encourage and strengthen - that's our obligation to all who come to faith in Jesus.
Paul was up for it.
That's what he proposed to Barnabas.
II.
Divisive Interruption
Barnabas was in.
His heart moved right alone with Paul's.
From a strategic standpoint, they saw things exactly the same.
But then came the blow neither saw coming.
The dispute that was to break up their partnership.
The tactical proposal that they could not agree on.
And it all started with an innocent suggestion.
37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark.
John Mark was Barney's cousin.
He'd been on the 1st journey with the team, but turned back as difficulties increased.
We don't know why, but he abandoned ship.
Now, several months later, Barney wants to give him a 2nd chance.
Soft-hearted Barnabas (the encourager) had seen enough to think John Mark deserved another go.
"Wanted to take" is imperfect - continuous past action.
Barney was insistent.
He believed in Mark and was dug in.
Paul was equally insistent that Mark not go along.
38 "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."
Paul had a long memory.
He knew the difficulties that lay ahead.
He was a realist and did not want as his wing man someone who had utterly failed before.
So when Barney suggested Mark go along, Paul said, "I don't think so."
Neither wanted conflict, but neither would give.
39 And there arose a sharp disagreement."
No minor squabble, this was a παροξυσμός (paroxysm), an explosion, a rage - sharp disagreement.
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