When Church Leaders Disagree (Acts 15:36-41)

Click the record button and I'll pin myself in a second. All right, it's already 9:16. All right. Uh, let me go ahead and, uh, do this thing where I pin myself so it just records me and not everybody. All right. So, here we are. Hope everybody had a great weekend. Hope everybody had a great day at church on Sunday. Um, uh, we're moving our offices, so I'm a little, um, I don't know. I mean, I'm not that terrible, but a little disheveled here this morning. But anyway, we're going to be in um our church is doing a series in Acts and uh and so I've gone through and and read and reread and read and reread um just in in preparation for it.

But today I want to be in Acts 15 even though I I think this Wednesday we're in Acts three. Um, I I think this is a a great passage because uh some of us have probably, if you haven't, it may only be a matter of time, but some of us have experienced some church hurt or we've seen something that's happened at our church that we just don't understand and and maybe we don't agree with. Uh, it doesn't seem to be right. And and and it's it's difficult, right? It's tough because you you expect your church to be perfect. You expect the church to handle every situation perfectly with the the the the right balance of grace and mercy and and and professionalism and and and I'm not saying that that doesn't happen.

And I'm not saying that some churches may do things that they shouldn't do. That's not our place to judge or my place to judge. But there's some text in the there's some scripture here that that talks about it. And I think it's important for us to cover. And so this is Acts. And remember, this is Luke and and he's writing this and this is the start of the new church. And so there this isn't like going to work for IBM where they've got, you know, they've been in business for, you know, seven million years and they have a a company or a corporate policy binder that's this thick.

Can't see my other hand. Where's my other hand at? There we go. That's this thick. and and you know, you can turn to page 347 and it says this is what we're going to do when this happens. Right? And so this church is brand new and so they're they're learning as they're going. And so we're in Acts 15 and uh and it's we're going to cover the very end of the chapter and it's verses 36-41. And and so let me read this and it says uh sometime later Paul said to Barnabas, these guys are traveling together. They're they're spreading the gospel. Um they're doing church.

And so he says, "Sometime later, Paul said to Barnabas, let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preach the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." Verse 37, Barnabas wanted to take John also known or also called Mark with them. But Paul in verse 38 says uh but Paul did not think it wise to take him because he had deserted them in Penilia and had not continued with them in the work. Verse 39 says they had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus uh island off the coast of Greece.

But Paul chose Silas and left uh left commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cissia strengthening the churches. And so here you have arguably two of the uh prominent leaders in the new church. You have Barnabas, which we don't other than in the book of Acts and maybe a little bit in Romans. I don't hear a whole lot about Barnabas, but but but people would make the mistake of wanting to to really follow Barnabas as opposed to even somebody else. And so he was a big deal. He was he was the real thing. And so you have these two leaders and they have a sharp disagreement.

And what's interesting is that Luke doesn't write about who was right or who was wrong. I don't know that there was a right or a wrong, but clearly Luke doesn't even talk about that. He could go farther to say, "Well, here's what the other members of the of the of the leading body or the the leaders in the church had to say," but he doesn't really do that. He just says, "Listen, they had a sharp disagreement and they they each went their own way." If you know the story, you know that Mark does this and he goes out with Barnabas and when he comes back, he ends up being a big support and help to Paul as Paul continues his ministry years later.

And so the two come back together, they're reconciled and and they work well together, very well together. So So I I bring this up because it's it it can happen. We can have church leaders who have disagreements. We can have a church who's not perfect. It it doesn't we don't even hear about the reconciliation of Paul and Barnabas after this. It just says they had a sharp disagreement. Were was either one of them right or was either one of them wrong. I I have no idea. They they just had a different idea and what they should do with a particular staff member.

That's really what we're talking about. And one said that he should use this staff member and go here. and the other one said, 'I don't think that staff member is ready right now.' Well, Barnabas clearly saw something that Paul didn't see or or or Paul wasn't ready to see. Or maybe God didn't want Mark with Paul for a particular reason at this point. We don't know. But later, Mark proves his merit and later Mark comes back to Paul and becomes a gigantic huge help for him. And so sometimes we're in a season where this this is not right for someone and the church makes a decision that this isn't right for them.

And and what does it do? It it it allows that person to go on to a different season in their life and do what they're going to do. And at the same time, it allows the church to have a different season in its area or its time to do what it needs to do. Is either one right or wrong, man? There's only one person who knows that, and that's not me, and that's not you. But it does prove or does show us that sometimes we don't sometimes there's going to be disagreements inside the church and sometimes we're not going to understand it. Sometimes we're not going to get it.

And so I just want everybody to uh hear that. I want everybody to see that there's scripture for that. And that listen, just because Paul and Barnabas decided to disagree, they didn't start two separate religions. They there weren't the Barnabasites and the Paulites. It's not what happened. They were still Christianity. And they still went out. They still spread the gospel message, the one and only gospel message. All right, that's that's my soap box for today. Thoughts, comments, suggestions? It it reminds me of um when I was part of a men's group.

I was um had the for good fortune of one of the guys in the group was a professor at one of the colleges in Connecticut. He and he studied he taught theology. Um and when when he said it, he was like, "Think of when you have four different people talking about the same event in the Bible. One person's perception is this way. So you see it one way. But if you have all four people, it'd be like having somebody in all four corners of the room and you get a full perspective. Yeah. Of the same thing. And but they all saw something different. But when you bring it together, it's now a global picture.

Amen. Then that's what that reminds me of. Anybody else? Almost. It it it puts me to think, not 100% correct what I'm going to say now, but it almost seems like when you give somebody a second chance that somebody else ain't willing to give it to them, uh the fruit comes out of that person that probably nobody else saw at the moment because they were it was probably an area in their life that somebody disliked it or didn't understand and they put them to work in another field and they give them a second chance and they gave you a lot of good fruits out of that.

Yeah. And it seems like that's exactly what Barnabas did. Amen. All right. Anybody else? So, a good lesson in in uh forgiveness and second chances and third chances and eighth chances. Yep. Anybody else? All right. Well, then let's let's uh let's bow our heads. Let's pray out. Father, thank you so much for today. Thank you for your word and your wisdom. Thank you for uh for showing us that that that we don't have to know everything, that that we don't all have to agree, that we can be brothers in Christ and not just have a a difference of opinion, but disagree sharply and still continue to spread the gospel message.

Uh Lord, we um we just ask that you would that you would give us a heart to do that. that that uh that just because we disagree doesn't mean that we don't love each other. It doesn't mean just because we see our church do something that we don't understand or don't agree with, it doesn't mean that they don't love us or the or the church body. Uh we're it's it's not for us to know everything. Lord, you this text says your ways are higher than our ways. And so, Father, I just pray that we would remember that that we wouldn't we wouldn't stand in a place of judgment.

um that you would we would just pray for discernment that we would know, hey, is this something that I need to address and discuss or is this something that is a disputable matter and that I'm not to argue about it. So, Father, I just pray that you would give that to us. Um Lord, watch us this week. Guide us. It's Monday. It's the start of a new work week for most of us. uh give us an opportunity inside of our jobs or the people that we come in contact with that that we could be a Barnabas and a Paul that we could we could just spread your word that we could just be uh kind to somebody that we could show somebody love that we could give someone that second chance that whether the world says they deserve it or not, Father, you do.

And so, Father, we just thank you for every good and perfect gift you give to us. Father, I just pray that you would watch over each and every one of us today. Father, we love you. We praise you. And as always, in your son Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. All right guys, we'll see you tomorrow, same time. Thank you. Have a great day, guys. Have a blessed day. Thank you.

Transcript generated from the recording and lightly edited for readability.