Disagreements Happen

Acts 15:36-40

October 30

Dr. Larry D. Thorson

Well my installation service is over and what a great day it was last Sunday. Thank you for making it so special. I’m now your installed pastor. My boxes are all unpacked. My office is completely decorated. My cars all proudly wear California plates. So I guess it’s good bye Texas, I’m here to stay. A number of people said to me going out the door after the installation service “Well you’re stuck with us now!” The reality is that for better or for worse, we’re actually stuck with each other now. I’m glad.

Even though we’re having a lot of fun now, you and I both know that at some point we’re going to have a disagreement or two during our time together. It’s bound to happen. We know that because I’m an ordinary guy who still sinks when he tries to walk on water and so do you. My name is not Larry the Christ and the words I speak today will not be transcribed in red letters. Besides, even the real Christ was crucified so what chance do I think I have of avoiding people disagreeing with me?

That’s your fair warning but of course you know that because every single family, rich or poor and every single church, big or small has disagreements. Having disagreements doesn’t mean that we’re dysfunctional, demonic or dead. Disagreements happen. It’s one of those experiences that ordinary and extraordinary people have in common. It even happened to the big guns in the Bible and the beauty of the Bible is that it doesn’t cover up those ugly disagreements.

In our text today we come upon a major disagreement between two very prominent leaders on the pastoral staff of the First Church of Jerusalem. It was so terrible it threatened to destroy their mission. In Acts 15:36 we read “Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, ‘“Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”

The context for this is sometime after Pastors Paul and Barnabas had returned from their mission trip where they had been partner evangelists launching churches across the Asia Minor. Paul wanted to return to the mission and see how those new churches were doing. The trip seemed like a harmless idea to Paul. It seemed like a good idea to me until we read in verses 37 and 38 “Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, ³⁸ but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work.”

The whole disagreement was over whether they should take along a young man named John Mark or not. Paul had legitimate reasons for not wanting to take him. You may remember that earlier this month we read about a magician in Acts 13 who Paul prophesized would lose his eyesight because he was trying to keep his boss from seeing Jesus. Suddenly as Paul was speaking a mist came over the magicians eyes and he lost his eyesight just as Paul prophesied. As a result, the magician’s boss didn’t have him as a distraction, was able to hear the gospel, gave his life to Christ and used his political influence to open up all kinds of doors for the gospel in that part of the world. Right after that they sailed to a place called Perga as we read in Acts 13:13 “From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem.” That’s where John Mark quit the team and that’s where the dispute is.

I’m going to conjecture here because Scripture isn’t clear about this and in about 50 years I’ll ask John Mark why he quit the team. But based on where the author placed this episode in the chapter I’m going to conjecture that John Mark may have quit the team when the mission got too weird for him. One time I was at a renewal conference at the First Presbyterian Church of Monrovia and the pastor during the prayer time placed his hand on the foreheads of the people who came for prayer and they would fall backwards. Then the pastor wanted me to help catch the people as they fell. So of course I did what any good Presbyterian would do at a time like that: I ran to my truck. What do you think I would have done?! I ran because it was too far beyond any experience I had had up until that time. I couldn’t relate, it was weird to me.

I think that that episode with the magician and probably some other episodes like it was too much for young John Mark. It was beyond anything he had ever experienced. That’s when he went back to Jerusalem. I can’t blame him. Paul on the other hand knew that there would be many more episodes like the magician story and didn’t want a young man along who couldn’t handle it. He didn’t want a doubter on his team. That’s a legitimate concern.

Barnabas on the other hand was a cousin to young John Mark. So it was partially a family issue. But also when Saul first came to Christ after he had had Christians put in jail or killed no one in the early church wanted to believe that his spiritual experience was for real as we read in Acts 9:26 “When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.” Giving people a second chance was part of Barnabas’ character. It was who he was. That’s why he wanted John Mark to have a second chance to go on the mission trip with he and Paul.

Now that you know the reasons in this disagreement we’re going to take a vote on this matter. I need some volunteers to pass out ballots. Who are you going to side with? Will you side with Barnabas who wants to take along his cousin John Mark on a preaching mission or with Paul who hasn’t yet forgotten how John Mark abandoned them on the last trip? Put a “B” for Barnabas and a “P” for Paul and pass it to the center aisle. Volunteers I need you to tally them up and bring them to me before the completion of this sermon.

This is not a trick question. Be honest. You’ll be a good Christian regardless of which side you choose because neither Paul nor Barnabas was doing anything evil, they simply saw things from a different angle. That’s my point today. Disagreements happen a lot of times not because of evil but because we see things differently.

It was like that church in Kansas who formed a committee to redo the sanctuary. One member had visited a beautiful church in England that had red carpeting and wanted that for his church. Another member met a carpet store owner who wanted to help their church and was willing to sell them carpet at his cost, at a great savings to the church. They could have the carpet in any color as long as it was bright orange. The committee was split along the friends of the red carpet who argued that God’s house should have nothing but the best and the orange carpet people who argued that the savings could be given to the local soup kitchen. The church split.

I think too often we perceive disagreements like a plot in a 1950’s western. You remember those good old matinees when John Wayne was always the good guy and the unshaven guy dressed in black was always the bad guy unless they had Native Americans in the movie and they were almost always portrayed as the bad guys. Regardless of the characters there were always good guys and bad guys and you could tell which was which. You always knew who was going to win in the end.

That unfortunately is too often how we approach disagreements. The one who doesn’t agree with us is the bad guy. Then we proceed to demonize them. To demonize someone is to say that your view is right..eous which means the other person’s view must be un…righteous. When I was little and my mother and I would argue she would always look at me and say “you’re getting crabby, you need a nap.” She was probably right at that age but I’d still get upset. Later when I was first married and my wife and I were having an argument I said something a man should never, ever say to his wife in a heated discussion, “is it that time of the month again?” It’s not a good idea to de value the person who disagrees with you. Never trivialize a person’s ideas whether you agree with them or not.

Now getting back to our dispute in the Bible at Acts 15:39 we read

^{Ac 15:39} They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, ^{Ac 15:40} but Paul chose Silas and left commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. ^“

Cyprus was Barnabas’ hometown. He was so hurt by this sharp disagreement with his partner that he quit the team and went home. We don’t hear much of Barnabas or John Mark again.

Now that you’ve voted I’ll tell you that I identify with Barnabas. I would rather try to help someone who had failed in the past even if it jeopardized the project. That’s who I am but I would never want to buy a house built by a contractor who was like me. Do you get my point? We need to have people like Paul for whom completing a project was more important than someone’s feelings.

At some point the Barnabas type and the Paul type in a church are going to clash even though we need each other. We see and approach things differently. Some of the largest churches in this country were built up under the leadership of pastors who were project oriented people, they were risk takers who risked offending people with their vision. Unfortunately a lot of times they became abusers when all the Barnabas’ were driven from the church or removed from decision making positions and they had no one to challenge them. We need each other.

What I want you to see in this story is that Jesus Christ called, saved and transformed both Barnabas and Paul. Proof of that is neither man trivialized or demonized the other one. They had an irreconcilable difference and they parted ways as a result of that and yet later in I Corinthians 9:6 Paul speaks highly of Barnabas as an example of someone supporting himself in ministry. In Paul’s final days he came to admire John Mark so much that he requested him to come to be with him (2 Timothy 4:11). For me that’s proof of Christ working change in a person’s life.

God has called this church to enter into a promised land of a multi generational church where no generation is the majority. We’re going to get there not at the expense of the majority but in the growth of our present minority. In that land where we’re going the elderly will be mentors to the young. The young will breathe new life into the old. People who don’t know Jesus Christ who visit us will sense something unusual here. It’s going to be good because God is going to bring it to pass.

But in the passing from where we are now to where we’re going in the future there will be disagreements. The way we’re going to move forward is to allow Jesus Christ to enter into us and constantly change us for the better. I’m going to tell you straight up that Jesus lives in liberal Democrats and he lives in conservative Republicans. Jesus lives in independents and he’s even been known to live in members of the Peace and Freedom Party. The reason I know this is that Christ lives within people of all walks of life, ordinary and extraordinary.

What I want us to do as a church is to listen and to respect one another. If a person sounds more liberal than you are I want you to respect them. If a person carries a Bible with them and quotes Billy Graham to you, I want you to listen and respect them. I am considered a conservative evangelical Christian because I have a high view of the inspiration of the Bible and I believe that salvation is found in Christ. Not everyone who comes to this church believes the same way. You have had your own experiences.

I don’t want anyone here to be carrying the weight of judgment on them. Jesus died for all of us. If you know that you’re living in sin right now which means that you know the Bible says it’s wrong then repent, stop doing it and ask Jesus Christ to help you overcome it. I want you to know that if you’re feeling the weight of rejection you don’t need to jump on a boat and sail home to Cypress like Barnabas did. Jesus loves you and wants you. This church is Jesus’ arms and legs and it will love you with Christ’s own love.

For the rest of you, if Christ is living in you check your attitude toward those you disagree with. Disagreements happen between good followers of Christ and that’s ok. For the sake of the Christ you follow, respect the journey of the person walking beside you. Amen.