Jeffrey Heine: Good evening. Good evening. Hi. It's lovely to see you all. There's actually, like, sunshine coming in from the back.
What are you all doing here? There's sun outside. But you are the Super Bowl people, you're the ones that hang tight, so it's great to be with you all. We're going to be in Acts chapter 15 tonight. Last little paragraph in Acts chapter 15.
We've been in this study, through the book of Acts for some time now, and, we're getting to, kind of this last scene with Barnabas and Paul. So Acts chapter 15, beginning in verse 36. It's also in your worship guide. Acts chapter 15 verse 36. And let us listen carefully, for this is God's word.
And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, 'Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaim 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 But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.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. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let's pray. Father, our hearts are prone to wander, and our our minds are prone to distrust and doubt.
But you are steadfast, and you are true. Lord, I know that the needs in this room are vast, and my words are inefficient. But your words, oh lord, your words are life. So would you draw near by your spirit as we study your word? And will you speak to us?
For your servants are listening. We pray these things in the name of the father, and the son, and the holy spirit. Amen. Paul had had enough. He couldn't take it any longer.
And in his mind, he had no choice. No choice but to go his own way. And in doing so, he broke up 15 years of deep friendship and fruitful collaboration. Was Paul right? Was Paul wrong?
It's still hard to tell. But the bitterness and the anger were not good for anyone. 15 years is a long time. Maybe their partnership had simply run its course. Or maybe it was their different personalities, one the ambitious leader and the other living with his heart on his sleeve.
Of course, they had their camps. There would always be those who say, I follow Paul. And in truth, it's hard not to have a preference, one you could identify with more than the other. 15 years is a long time to face the world side by side and then to simply walk away. But it was complicated, and it was bitter, as these things tend to be.
And in the end, arguably one of the greatest duos of all time separated. And that was the end of the Beatles, Which makes me wonder, was John Mark the yoko ono of Paul and Barnabas? Some scholars say yes. I am the sole scholar that says yes. Also not a scholar, so it just keeps going down from there.
Our passage today is about the other Paul and the other 15 year partnership that ended in a bitter feud. The first time that we see Paul and Barnabas together in Acts is when Paul goes to Jerusalem for the first time since Jesus met Paul on the road to Damascus, when he was transformed from the great persecutor of the church to the great follower of Jesus. The apostles in Jerusalem had a hard time believing that Paul had really changed. Many of them could still recall the look of approval on his face, while their brother and friend, Stephen, was stoned to death. And the disciples were all afraid of Paul.
They just didn't believe that he had really changed, that he really was a follower of Jesus. But one man stood up for Paul, a man named Joseph. But everyone called him by his nickname, the son of encouragement, Barnabas. Now, it's easy to get a bad nickname, but to get a good nickname, that takes skill. And he was called son of encouragement.
Barnabas stood up for Paul. He took Paul and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on that road to Damascus, Paul really had met the risen Lord. And how from that time on, Paul had been preaching boldly in the name of Jesus. It was Barnabas who stood up for Paul when no one else would. And it was Barnabas who encouraged Paul when no one else wanted him coming on board.
This scene shows exactly why he came to be called Barnabas. He put his energy into encouraging people. His confidence wasn't simply in some blind optimism. He wasn't just giving people second and third chances. And he definitely wasn't a pushover.
Barnabas had a deep trust that Jesus came to save sinners, real sinners, and that he actually transforms people with his grace. Barnabas believed that Jesus wasn't just an idea to agree with, but a person who does things. Barnabas vouches for Paul, and Paul is welcomed by the disciples. Paul begins witnessing in Jerusalem and telling people about his trust and belief in Jesus, and soon, Paul faces intense persecution. In the face of this persecution, Paul runs off to his hometown.
Maybe he was scared. Maybe he wanted to check on his family. But he goes home to Tarsus, where he stays mostly under the radar, preaching and teaching, telling people the gospel of Jesus for the next 8 years. And he stays there until someone comes looking for him. In Acts chapter 11, we read, Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul.
And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people. See, Barnabas didn't just go to visit Paul in Tarsus. Notice the words that Luke chooses here. Barnabas goes looking for Saul, and he finds him, and he brings him to Antioch.
That is encouragement in action. Think about that. He sought Paul out. He found him, and he brought him out of his hometown, back onto the broader mission field. After years off the grid, Barnabas did what he did best.
He encouraged Paul, and he brought him to Antioch to meet with the church and to teach. And from then on, they ministered together, Barnabas and Paul. Paul with his boldness and his vigor, Barnabas with his patience and his encouragement, their differences made them better than being alone. For years, this partnership yielded tremendous fruit. On one trip from when they were in Jerusalem, they stayed at Barnabas's aunt's house, his aunt Mary.
Her home was a well known gathering place for early Christians in Jerusalem. And you might recall some months ago, when we looked at Acts chapter 12, and we read when Peter escaped from prison, it was Mary's home that he ran to that night. Mary's home is reference to belonging just to Mary. No mention of a husband. And so we can assume that she was a widow, and she opened her home to these many disciples in Jerusalem.
Along with her role of fostering this large house church in Jerusalem, Mary was a mother. Mary had a young son named John Mark, usually just called Mark. With Mark's home being the regular post for the apostles, he would have grown up around Peter, James, the brother of Jesus, Paul and Barnabas, hearing stories of their journeys, and more than anything, listening to their stories of their years following Jesus. When the time had come for Barnabas and Paul to set off from Mary's house in Jerusalem to Antioch, they invited Mary's son, Barnabas's cousin, the young Mark. Once in Antioch, the disciples fasted and prayed.
We read about this, just earlier this month. The disciples were fasting and praying, and the Spirit directed them to set aside Barnabas and Paul for their first missionary journey. The disciples obeyed the spirit. They sent them off to Cyprus. And Barnabas and Paul take Mark with them.
About a year into this missionary journey, which had been quite difficult throughout Cyprus, once they had landed in Perga and continued to face persecution, Mark left Barnabas and Paul. Then he headed back to his hometown. Luke, the writer of Acts, doesn't say why Mark left. One could guess that when he first left home with Barnabas and Paul and they went to Antioch, that he did not anticipate a multi year missionary journey of witnessing and persecution. Maybe he went back home to check on his widowed mother.
Maybe he didn't like the transition of leadership that seemed to be happening in these roles between Barnabas and Paul. Maybe he was just homesick. Or maybe he was just scared. Whatever the reason, Mark left. Barnabas and Paul go on from Perga.
They experience that severe persecution still. This this persecution that came as they shared this gospel news, news of forgiveness, news of redemption in Jesus Christ. And finally, Barnabas and Paul returned to Antioch about 2 years after first setting sail on that missionary journey. They returned to Jerusalem, and they began sharing all that they had seen God do on these journeys, bringing new life to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. But as we looked at last week, some of the Jewish disciples became upset at this news.
And they said it is necessary to circumcise these Gentiles in order for them to keep the law of Moses. In other words, they are saying, these people are not saved unless they follow the law. So a council of the apostles and elders gathered in Jerusalem to discuss what what was necessary, what requirements should be expected of these new gentile believers. As you may recall from last week, there was a disagreement. Some Jewish disciples believed the law concerning circumcision and other things really needed to be maintained.
And remember, the Mosaic law, it defined the identity of the people of God. And this identity gave the people a distinct culture for generations. The law differentiated Israel from everyone else, and these Jewish disciples were saying that you could not be saved unless you followed these practices. They believed that it wasn't simply a mistake, but that it was preventing salvation. That's why it was so serious.
And this was a heated division. They argued, they debated, and they prayed, and they listened to the Holy Spirit. And in the end, the disciples, the elders, the apostles, they came to a unanimous decision. A unanimous agreement. No longer would circumcision be expected of the gentile converts.
They would maintain these expectations of some dietary restrictions, and and the continued sexual ethic would be expected. The apostles and the elders put it this way. You would do well to abstain from these things. What's being expected now is not new law. It's an ethic of righteousness.
It's a distinction from the pagan culture, and it's an effort for that fellowship, because that's what's needed here. Unity, fellowship. It's about moving forward together as the people of God. And with that debate settled, Barnabas and Paul, they were asked to go from Jerusalem to Antioch to share the news of the decision. And once again, Barnabas and Paul make the trip from Jerusalem to Antioch with Mark in tow.
Luke then says, in chapter 15 verse 35, that they remained in Antioch teaching and preaching the word for some time, likely around 6 to 9 months. But a pattern that we've seen is that Paul, since he has been brought out of Tarsus by Barnabas some years earlier, that he can't sit still for too long. He's the kind of guy in every meeting whose leg starts to shake after a little while, and you're like, okay, I get it. We'll wrap it up. See, he's like a shark.
He had to keep moving, or he'd die. And so he says he has this idea, And he might be playing a little bit of a trick here. I don't know. But he says to Barnabas, let's go back and visit all of the disciples in every city that we went to, where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they're doing. You see, think about that.
He Paul is asking the son of encouragement if he wants to go on an encouragement tour. Back on that 2 year journey. And I'm sure that as soon as as Barnabas hears this, he is 100% in. He he goes and he grabs his suitcase. He starts taking his robes off the hangers, and he's throwing them in the suitcase.
He calls out across the house, Mark, get your stuff together. We're hitting the road. And then Paul stops him and says, wait. What are you doing? Barnabas says, I'm getting ready so we can go.
Paul says, yeah. But why are you inviting Mark? Barnabas pauses and says, wait. You can't still be holding a grudge about last time. Taking it back, Paul says, why not?
It would be crazy to take someone who left us and didn't do the work. Barnabas, becoming frustrated, says, do you really want to start comparing personal histories of failure? And this is where Luke says that this argument arises. This heated, angry, sharp dispute. But things will be okay.
Right? We we just had this big, contentious debate in Jerusalem with a bunch of people, and some saying that these people aren't really saved. They're not really Christians Christians yet. And all of that got sorted out fine. Unanimous decision, and everyone's good to go.
That's how Christians resolve conflict. Right? In the end, everyone agrees? Surely, it will play out like that again, because this is a smaller, personal issue. While the disagreement arose in Jerusalem maybe it was called a matter.
It was called a debate. In Antioch, though, Paul and Barnabas have a sharp dispute. The language that Luke chooses bears this image of a violent outburst. It's actually a word that's often used in medicine to to talk about an acute onset, an attack. There's an attack, an outbreak of anger.
Paul absolutely refuses to take Mark along. Barnabas absolutely refuses to go if if Paul doesn't let Mark come along. So what happened? Well, what happened was what usually occurs when people lose their tempers. Anger prevails, and they say things, perhaps, that they don't mean.
Or if they do mean it, they wish they hadn't said it. After 15 years of friendship and ministry, Barnabas and Paul go their separate ways. Barnabas takes Mark with him. They set sail for Cyprus. Paul takes Silas.
They go to the church the churches in Syria and Cilicia. And Luke says that they were sent off by the brothers in the grace of the Lord, and that was the end of that. So what does that mean for us today? Right? What's the moral of that story?
What's the lesson here? Better yet, where is the gospel in any of this? Remember, Luke is writing this account many years after the the fight took place, and yet he still avoids making Paul or Barnabas out to be the bad guy. You know, I think that the brevity that Luke uses in this section, I believe it's probably due to his inability to say much more about it without appearing to take sides. At the same time, Luke doesn't skip this scene.
And he could have. I mean, think back through our study of Acts. He could have jumped to the result. Barnabas went to his home city in Cyprus. Paul went to his home city in Cilicia.
There are so many other parts of Acts that just jump around like that without explaining why or what just happened. But Luke doesn't do that. He keeps a record of their failure. He documents it all. And we should ask why.
It is likely that in the years ahead, the years go by from this fight, that it becomes a source of deep regret for both Barnabas and Paul. Theologian and pastor NT Wright wrote that Paul's behavior was unquestionably shameful. Wright pictures Paul red faced in a rage, and that Paul knew the shame of being angry to the point of sin. And Paul behaved in a manner that, in his letters to Christians, he explicitly told people not to act like that. And why is this awful fight so different?
Why didn't why didn't either one just lay down their preferences? Why didn't they seek the greater good? Why didn't they take one for the team and move on with the greater mission? I think the reason is quite simple and equally profound. It's because they're human.
Yes. They were apostles who had seen face to face the risen Jesus. And, yes, they were disciples who were followers of Jesus. And, yes, they were saints who who were washed by the blood of Jesus and forgiven. And yes, they were the bold missionaries who unblinkingly faced persecution for the sake of Jesus, but they weren't Jesus.
And neither are we. Neither are you. There's something I find confusing in my own heart. I had this compulsion to think and to act like I don't need a savior. Do you ever do that?
And so often, I think that I'm keeping things together on my own. And if that's not bad enough, I begin to expect others, friends, family, a church, full of people who don't need a savior. Which means I don't expect to need grace, and I don't expect to give grace. And then something something starts to happen. Somehow, my failures and others' failures become a surprise.
They're unexpected. And then when I don't expect to need grace and I don't expect to offer grace, when it all comes crashing and burning down around me, then I don't expect anyone to give me grace. And that's when shame whispers out that there's no hope. This kind of thinking can creep in in other ways, too. Like thinking that somehow, by being Christians and by being a church, that that we are the ones who take Jesus to the world, but we don't require him here.
That the mission field is out there and not in this room and not in your heart. So please don't miss this. You might not believe that you think this way about yourself or about other people, but I know enough to know this. You do. We all do, in different ways and to different ends, but we all do this.
We forget our humanity, and we forget that we are people in need. And we forget others' humanity, and we forget that they are people in need. Paul was called to take the good news of God's grace across the world, and yet in this particular moment, he fails to take it to a friend. Why did Luke include this scene? Why would he air the dirty laundry of 2 brothers in a rage?
Why not keep this shameful and embarrassing episode secret? Because we need to know it. We need to know our disease if we're ever going to understand the cure. In his book Lost Connections, journalist Johann Hari begins with a story of visiting Vietnam on a writing assignment to interview survivors of the Vietnam War in remote villages. He recalled, one day, while he was interviewing an elderly woman, he became disoriented and violently ill.
The woman said that, to his translator, this man needs to go to the hospital immediately. And so Johann was rushed to the hospital. After hours of tests and frantic translating, the doctor told Yohan that his kidneys were failing. They were shut down, and they needed to find out why. He asked Yohan to tell him what he had eaten, everything he had eaten for the last 3 days.
But it was a short list. When he first got to Vietnam 3 days ago, he ate an apple and had felt ill since then. And so that is the only thing in 3 days that he had eaten. And so the doctor asked him, was it a clean apple? Jan said, yes.
I washed it. I wash it with bottled water. And the doctor and the nurses started laughing, which is never a good sign. And they said, you can't just wash an apple in Vietnam. The the the pesticides, the the chemicals that are out there, those apples won't rot for months.
You have to peel all of that off. He he had ingested poison, a lot of it. He kept asking the doctor for anti nausea medication, something to stop the convulsing pains, but the doctor kept saying no. And finally, the doctor said, you need your nausea. It's a message.
It will tell us what is wrong with you. Why did Luke record this painful and shameful scene of Barnabas and Paul? It's a message. It's telling us what is wrong with us. We are a people in need of Jesus.
We are not simply inspired by Jesus. We are not simply admirers of Jesus. We are not simply declarers of Jesus. We are a people in desperate need of Jesus. And we don't have to look any farther than these 2 apostles fighting over who to take on a mission trip.
It's a sorry scene. But I would imagine if we rolled the tape back on each one of our lives, I'm sure we could find a scene or two just as sorry, just as shameful. A time when we bailed on someone and didn't follow through. A time we didn't give someone grace, a time when our anger turned into a rage that led to sin, a time when we forgot someone else's humanity, that they are also a person in need. We need to know our failures, because they show us what is wrong.
We don't need to celebrate our failures or even dwell on our failures, but we need to see them for what they are and to understand what they show us, that we are people in need. And when we see our real need, we go to worship and follow a real savior all the more. Years later, Mark will end up traveling with his old friend and mentor, Peter. Peter also knew a thing or two about running away and feeling like a failure. Mark will go with Peter all the way to Rome, where Peter will eventually be executed under Nero.
Mark will stay and continue to witness there in the city. In fact, he will write an account of Jesus' life and ministry heavily influenced from Peter's stories and experiences. Paul will eventually end up being sent to be imprisoned in Rome, and only a couple of the Hebrew Christians will visit Paul to encourage him. One of those visitors learned a thing or two about encouragement from his older cousin. And there, Mark brings comfort to the man who refused to set sail with him on board.
I like to imagine Mark sitting with the imprisoned Paul in Rome as Paul was dictating his letters to different churches through Timothy. I wonder what Mark would have thought hearing Paul tell the Colossians to put off anger. I wonder what images might have come to his mind if he heard Paul say to the Colossians, put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with one another, and if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
I like to imagine Mark sitting there, listening, and thanking Jesus for coming after poor sinners like them. It's easy to call Paul a hypocrite, but it's much more helpful to call him human. He wasn't divine. Paul wasn't an angel. He wasn't perfect.
He wasn't infallible. He was a human, a real sinner in need of a real savior. In this fight between Barnabas and Paul, we see a message. We see the real sins of real sinners. We see the pain.
And the pain tells us what is wrong, that the church is a community of humans in need, desperate need. And we see that a theology of failure is this. The greatness of God's redeeming love is revealed in his faithfulness to failures. The greatness of God's redeeming love is revealed in his faithfulness to failures. Mark writes of this theology of failure when he recounts the time when Jesus was criticized for eating with tax collectors.
And Jesus responds with these words to his critics. Healthy people don't need a doctor. Sick people need a doctor. I have not come to call those who think that they are righteous, but those who know they are not. Mark was with Peter and Paul in their final years of ministry and life.
He heard their stories and the lessons that they had learned along the way. And many of those lessons were learned through the harsh teacher of failure. The one who denied Jesus 3 times and ran away. The one who helped round up Christians for arrest and execution, the one who lashed out in foolish anger and cut off the soldier's ear with a sword, the one who snuck out of town in a basket to live under the radar running off to his hometown. There are many heroic actions described in the bible, but there is only one hero.
Everyone else shows their imperfection, their foolishness, their pride, their selfishness. And in that, they show us ourselves. They tell us what's wrong with us. They show us that we are humans in need, and they invite us to admit it. Because we do a severe disservice to ourselves and to our faith family when we forget these things.
We hinder ourselves and we hinder our church family when we forget that each one of us, we're humans. I'll often say this in our new member class. If you think that you have found the perfect church, take heart. This too shall pass. We will absolutely let you down.
We have said things we would do and haven't. We have said things we would never do, and we've done them. In fact, I recently recalled a compelling argument I made to my father years ago about why we would never, never do more than 1 Sunday worship service. It was a very good argument. The elders of Redeemer, all of the pastors here, we're humans, and we're going to fail.
There are things that we set out from the beginning, never thinking that we'd actually have to make decisions about. We we never thought we would be having discussions about a a 4th service or or building committees. We're humans in need of a savior and in need of grace from each and every member of this church. If Jesus came for the sick, then we have to stop being surprised by sickness. We have to be ready, ready to live in the grace that he purchased for us with his own blood.
Zach Eswein, a pastor and author of the book Sensing Jesus, said this, quote, the freedom in admitting our limitations is that we get to follow John the Baptist's footsteps and say, I am not the Christ. It means that I don't have to know everything, I don't have to fix everything, and I'm not expected to be everywhere at once. I'm one person that God created and dearly loves, and I get to be just that one person, end quote. You aren't Jesus, and that's good news. And because of Jesus, you aren't just a failure either, and that is also good news.
You are a child of God, and Jesus promises to meet you, especially in your failures, and give you his grace. And that is not only good news. That is everything. Let's pray. Lord, help us by your Spirit to see.
Help us to see ourselves rightly. To see our need. To see our hurt, our sorrow, our failures. To see ourselves rightly. But not only that.
Help us to see Jesus. And in the light of his glory and grace, may we know what it means that there is now, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, that our failures do not define who we are, but we are defined in our identity by all that Christ is and all that he will be for all eternity. Help us to see, And may you use this time, your word, your spirit, and these elements at this table. Help us to see, spirit. We pray these things in the name of Christ, our King.
Amen.