"Discipleship and Disagreement" Sermon: Acts 15:36-41

“Discipleship and Disagreement”
[Acts 15:36-41]
July 4, 2010 Second Reformed Church

Have you ever disagreed with a church member? A fellow Christian? Your pastor? Is it wrong to do so? Is it sin? Or are there times when a parting of the ways between Christians can be good for the Gospel?

After spending some time in Antioch in Syria preaching and teaching, Paul and Barnabas decided to return to the churches they had been to, in what we now call Paul’s first missionary journey, and disciple them some more.

Remember, we have looked at this idea before: Christians need to be discipled. In order to be healthy and maturing Christians, we must continue to learn through being involved in Bible study, listening to preaching, reading the Bible, personal study of God’s Word and good Christian books. We must exercise our minds and souls and spirits – interacting with God’s Word – if we are to grow and mature as the Holy Spirit Who lives in us helps us to understand. If we neglect what God has said, we will continue to become weaker – it will be harder to understand – our maturity will wane.

Do we want to know our Triune God? God has given us enough to learn to keep us busy for a lifetime. Are we excited to know God better, to grow in the faith, and to receive His Grace? Did we come this morning to meet with our God and Savior? He is here, and He is ministering to we who believe through His Word and through the Sacrament.

Also, to be a healthy and maturing Christian, we must fellowship with – work and struggle with – our fellow Christians. We are here in worship this morning, and that is a good thing. We cannot be Christians alone. We need each other. God has called us as a people to work together. We are the Body of Christ. We may not like every part of our physical body, but we don’t normally lop parts off. So, we are the Body of Christ, we are called to work with each other and be the Body of Christ together – even with those people who are not exactly the way we would have them be.

So Paul and Barnabas were getting ready to go back to the churches where they had ministered and continue their work among them. And Barnabas says that he wants to bring John Mark, and Paul says, “no way.” And they have an argument. Why?

We may remember back in chapter thirteen, John Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas on the first leg of their missionary journey, but when the Gentiles were being received as the people of God, just as the Jews, John Mark went home to Jerusalem – apparently not convinced that the Gospel was for the Gentiles as well as the Jews.

Barnabas was ready to give John Mark another chance. Paul was not. Who was right? Or were both of them wrong? We don’t like to see this sort of thing. Barnabas had been the one to stick up for Saul when he received salvation in Jesus Alone. Barnabas was the one who befriended him and got the apostles to believe that he was now one of the people of the Way – Christians. Barnabas and Saul had just spent over a year traveling together preaching the Gospel together. And now, over whether or not to bring the young man, John Mark, on this journey, Luke tells us, “there arose a sharp disagreement.”

Where was God to step in and tell them what the right thing to do was? Where was Judge Judy to silence everyone and get them to listen to her wise and authoritative verdict? Paul and Barnabas had a sharp disagreement. What was the result? “They separated from each other.” The imagery is of a butcher taking a cleaver to a piece of meat and suddenly, sharply, dividing it into two parts. Whereas Paul and Barnabas had been “one man” up until that point, whether or not to bring John Mark along that time, split Paul and Barnabas apart.

Our natural reaction would be to think one of them sinned. Perhaps our natural reaction would be to ask Paul how he could not give John Mark a second chance – and thus lay the blame on Paul. But we are not given the type of neat resolution that we might like. Barnabas and John Mark went to one group of churches and Paul and Silas went to another. Barnabas and John Mark are not mentioned again in the book of Acts.

One thing that we can say for certain is that sometimes a sharp parting is to the benefit of the Gospel and, ultimately, to us. Whatever else we might say about this disagreement, it is certain that because of their disagreement, the number of missionary teams sent to disciple the churches doubled. Rather than just Paul and Barnabas going to minister to the churches, there was now two teams – Barnabas and John Mark and Paul and Silas – going to spread the Gospel and disciple their fellow Christians. And that is a good thing. Whatever else we may say – it was to the benefit of the Gospel and the Church that two sets of missionaries be sent out rather than one.

Now, I noted that John Mark and Barnabas are not mentioned in Acts after this incident, but they are mentioned elsewhere:

Paul wrote to the church in Colossea and told them that he hoped John Mark would be coming to minister among them, “Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, and Mark the cousin of Barnabas (concerning whom you have received instructions – if he comes to you, welcome him)” (Colossians 4:10, ESV).

Paul wrote to Timothy and praised John Mark, even sending for him, “Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry” (II Timothy 4:11, ESV).

Paul sends greetings on John Mark’s behalf (among others), counting him his equal, “Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Jesus Christ, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers” (Philemon 23-24, ESV).

And, finally, we know that John Mark became the missionary companion and secretary to Peter – writing down Peter’s recollections in what we now call the Gospel of Mark, “She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son” (I Peter 5:13, ESV).

We know a little more about Barnabas, too. Barnabas rejoined Paul – or vice versa – in working together on the mission field. Paul complains to the Christians at Corinth, “Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?” (I Corinthians 9:6, ESV).

We also know that Barnabas chose the wrong side and backed Peter in a disagreement with Paul – in this case it is clear in the Scripture that Paul was in the right, “And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically with [Peter], so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy” (Galatians 2:13, ESV). (If the Lord is willing, we will look at this disagreement in time.)

So, we find that – in time – Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark are all working together – also with Peter – for the sake of the Gospel.

The truth of the matter is that we, Christians, do not agree on everything. Now, don’t misunderstand. There are many things in the Scripture that are non-negotiables – they are things that we must all agree upon. We cannot have one person say that there is salvation in Jesus Alone and another person say that all religions lead to salvation, and be happy with the difference. No, in that kind of situation – one must be right and the other wrong – they cannot both be right – both views cannot be accepted or received.

Music is a popular example of disagreement – people who discuss music in the Church even talk about the “worship wars.” What style of music does God want in the Church? I have a colleague that believes it is wrong to have any type of instrument in the worship service – so all of their singing is done a capella. Interestingly, the phrase a capella means “without music,” but it literally means “in the style of the Church.” So, if the expression was coined to describe what was actually happening, what does that mean?

I have another colleague who had the organ and piano removed from his church, and they have a rock band to lead worship. There is the idea that in things that don’t relate to salvation, we are to do what we can to draw people to Christ.

John Calvin, the “founder” of this denomination had organs removed from the reformed churches because he said organs were too Roman Catholic.

We could envision people parting over what type of music to use in the worship service – and each party being convinced that the type of music they are backing is what is good and right and necessary to worship God and to draw people to Jesus.

Carol knows I like rock music – and, yes, Carol will be a regular example in the sermons from now on. I like rock music, but my convictions are such that you should not expect to hear rock music used in the worship service.

I don’t hate my colleague that doesn’t use instrumental music in worship; I don’t hate my colleague that uses rock music in worship. But I would at least be uncomfortable – for the wrong reasons – in their worship services.

There are reasons for disagreements among Christians. There are even times when a sharp parting is to the benefit of the Gospel and, thus, ultimately to us. But we must be careful: although a parting may be a good thing, we ought to do everything we can to avoid parting for sinful reasons and for sinning against others who disagree with us about things that don’t matter to our salvation.

So let us know what we believe and why, and work hard to act in love and mercy towards all those God has called to be His sons and daughters. For in doing that, God will draw many to Himself.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank you for creating us as different people, with different preferences, understandings, gifts, and abilities. Help us to be Your people – Your Body. Let us work hard and diligently to know You and understand all that You have said in Your Word. Help us to love each other, even when we disagree, and let us understand that there may be a time to separate for the good of the Gospel and all of us. Make us one in You and join us together as You meet with us in and through the elements of the Lord’s Supper. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.