"Turning the World Upside Down:
A Pastoral Letter"
Sermon Series on the Book of Acts
(Acts 15:22-35)
September 18, 2005
Dr. Peter Barnes
First Presbyterian Church
Introduction
Last Monday marked the one year
anniversary of my mother’s death. It has been a time
of reflection and remembering for me personally, as well
as a season of sadness. In fact, I have to admit I went
into a funk for a couple of days early last week. I still
miss her.
One thing that has helped ease
the pain for me in this season of loss was coming across
a copy of a letter I sent to my mother two weeks before
she died. I had stopped over in Atlanta for a couple
of days the week before after attending a conference
in North Carolina with Keith. It was a tender time in
which I was able to take her to her doctor appointments
and care for her in a variety of ways as her health declined.
It was a privilege to do things for her that she had
done for me when I was young.
When I got back to Boulder,
I realized that my mother might not be around for very
long, and I needed to write her a letter. I wanted to
make sure I took the time to tell her just how special
she was and how much I appreciated all the things she
did for me over the years in helping me become the man
I am today. I have to admit, it was a great letter! I
have a copy of it here in my hand.
When she received the letter,
she called and left a voice mail at our home. I have
saved the recording now for a year. It is one of my prized
possessions. In the message she says through her tears
how grateful she was for the letter and how much it meant
to her, but that she didn’t deserve it. Then she talked
about answered prayer and God’s faithfulness in a recent
health struggle. To the end, she was thanking God. Missing
her today, I’m so glad I wrote that letter.
This morning we study a passage
of Scripture which talks about another letter, but this
letter wasn’t written from a son to his mother. It was
a letter from the Mother church in Jerusalem to the Gentile
churches of the ancient world. As we consider these things
today, I want you to notice three matters: a personal
touch; a letter of clarification; and a sharp dispute.
I. A Personal Touch
You will recall from our discussion
last week that the apostles and elders gathered in Jerusalem
to consider the developments regarding the mission to
the Gentiles and decide whether or not these new converts
had to submit to the requirements of Jewish circumcision
and observance of the Old Testament Law in order to receive
salvation. They listened to the testimony of Peter, Paul
and Barnabas about the wonderful things God was doing
among the Gentiles. James, the leader of the church in
Jerusalem, also spoke, and he declared that Scripture,
reason and experience all affirmed the fact that Gentiles
should not be forced to meet these requirements in order
to be saved. The message of God’s love was one of grace.
The Council in Jerusalem agreed
with the reasoning. James then proposed that a letter
be written to communicate their decision, as well as
their advice regarding abstinence in four cultural areas
out of sensitivity to Jewish Christian brothers and sisters.
So the text tells us that "the apostles and elders,
with the whole church, decided to choose some of their
own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.
They chose Judas (called Barsabbas), and Silas, two men
as leaders among the brothers" (15:22). With
these brothers the leaders in Jerusalem sent the letter.
I want you to notice the personal
touch here in the action of the Jerusalem Council. They
could have simply sent the letter. They were under no
obligation to also send personal emissaries, but they
did so. Notice also the balance of their personal
touch. They sent Judas, called Barsabbas, no doubt a
Hebrew-speaking believer, and Silas, whose Latin name
was Silvanus. Silas was a Hellenistic Jew who was also
a Roman citizen. He later became closely associated with
the apostle Paul in his missionary journeys. Here we
see a balance in the representatives the Council sent.
They sent two men, one a Hebrew-speaking Jew, and the
other, a Greek-speaking Jew familiar with Roman culture
and customs.
These emissaries accompanied
Paul and Barnabas in delivering the letter to the churches
with a Gentile membership. Had Paul and Barnabas delivered
the letter alone, the Judaizers might have doubted and
challenged the decision and whether in fact that this
was the decision of the Council. Also, a letter can sometimes
seem impersonal and cold. How wise it was for the Council
in Jerusalem to send people with the letter who could
explain its origin, interpret its meaning, and secure
its acceptance. The Jerusalem leaders sent a person as
well as a letter.
A personal touch can mean so
much. All of us have at one time or another benefited
from the way in which the presence of a person changed
an otherwise cold and difficult situation. We’re in the
midst of grief and can hardly find the energy to make
dinner. We could run out to Chick Fill-A and order take-out,
but then someone knocks on our door with a meal in hand
and a smile on their face. That personal touch makes
all the difference in the world.
Yesterday, I attended a surprise
50th birthday party for a member of our church,
and close friends of his showed up from Atlanta, Oregon,
and Washington, DC. They could have simply sent a card,
but the personal touch made it all the more special.
There was a man who went to
a mission hospital in Pakistan. He walked a long way
and passed by a government hospital to get there. When
they asked him why he traveled so far and didn’t simply
go to the government hospital, he answered, “The medicine
is the same, but the hands are different.” That’s the
power of personal touch.
The fact of the matter is the
nature of incarnational ministry is that, whenever possible,
it should be “hand-delivered.” When you correct someone
at work, do you send an email, or do you do it in person?
Rebukes are better “hand-delivered.” When you teach your
children the things of God, do you simply drop them off
at Sunday School and expect others to do this important
task? Teaching the things of the faith is best when it
is also “hand-delivered” by a parent.
The message of grace which the
leaders of the church in Jerusalem sent was a message
that was “hand-delivered” to the believers in Antioch,
and it made all the difference in the world. That should
be a lesson for us today.
II. A Letter of Clarification
The letter that was delivered
to the believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia has been
described by R.B. Racham as "a masterpiece of tact
and delicacy."[1] In
the letter the Jerusalem church and its leaders made
three important points. First, they disassociated
themselves from the Judaizers. They wrote, "These
men went out from us without our authorization and disturbed
you, troubling your minds by what they said" (15:24). The
word translated "trouble" means "to upset
or throw into confusion." It is the very word Paul
uses when he refers to the Judaizers in Galatians 1:7
and 5:10. The Council made it clear that the teaching
of the Judaizers did not have their endorsement, and
the leaders were troubled that the Gentile Christians
had been disturbed by this false teaching, which was
not in keeping with the gospel.
Second, the letter made
it abundantly clear that the men they now were sending,
Judas and Silas, were chosen by the Council, and they
were being sent to confirm by word of mouth what they
were communicating in writing. Judas and Silas would
not only deliver the letter, but also personally minister
to the people and explain in person what the contents
of the letter meant.
And third, they shared
their unanimous decision not to burden the Gentile converts
with anything beyond the requested cultural abstentions – areas
where the Gentiles had particular weaknesses which were
especially repulsive to Jewish Christians. The letter
concludes with the advice, "You will do well
to avoid these things" (15:29). Later on the
apostle Paul would write in his own letter to the Corinthians
of the need for sensitivity in these matters. He wrote, "Though
I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave
to everyone, to win as many as possible.... I have become
all things to all men so that by all possible means I
might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel,
that I may share in its blessings" (1 Cor. 9:19-23).
Here the apostle Paul affirms
what the letter from the Jerusalem Council urged, and he articulated
the principle of sensitivity. It is the way in which we as Christians
are called to be sensitive to the scruples of others as we exercise
our freedom in the Body of Christ. The Christian who asserts and demands
his/her own rights and freedom in Christ is not a mature Christian.
That person is simply a selfish believer. The mature Christian is one
who is sensitized to the fact that although we have freedom in Christ,
we are careful that no offense resides in us except the offense of
the cross, which says, "You cannot save yourself." Personal
conduct should be governed for the believer not by what is lawful,
but by what is loving. Not by what is permissible, but by what is prudent.
We would do well to learn this lesson and to live this way.
In what ways do you and I need
to be sensitive to other people in the way we live our lives? How might
God be calling us to forego something in order to not place a stumbling
block in front of another person? How is our freedom in Christ becoming
a problem which compromises our witness? These are the hard questions
we ought to ask ourselves.
The letter the leaders of the
church in Jerusalem wrote confronted the Judaizers’ claims and clarified
the Jerusalem Council's reaction to them. On the fundamental necessity
of circumcision and Jewish lifestyle for Gentile Christians, the letter
rebuked the Judaizers for going beyond their authority and assured
the readers that there was no such requirement for salvation. However,
they added a caution which reminds us that we should be careful to
do nothing which might cause another person to stumble. Sensitivity
in the Christian life is a calling for the follower of Jesus.
III. A Sharp Dispute
Paul and Barnabas had been a
team. For many years, they had worked together in pastoral
ministry and overseas as missionaries. It was Barnabas
who had first taken Paul under his wing. When everyone
was afraid of Paul after he became a Christian, it was
Barnabas who befriended him and introduced him to the
leaders of the church in Jerusalem. When the church in
Antioch needed a gifted teacher, it was Barnabas who
traveled to Tarsus to persuade Paul to come and help
him lead the church. And it was Paul and Barnabas who
had been sent out together by the church in Antioch as
the first missionary team ever.
Now that the controversy over
the matter of circumcision had been settled, Barnabas
and Paul decided that it was time to revisit the cities
in which they had planted churches during their first
missionary journey. However, a dispute arose between
them, which involved missionary personnel and missionary
strategy. The sticking point centered around a young
man named John Mark, who was Barnabas’ young cousin.
You will recall that he accompanied Paul and Barnabas
on their first missionary journey, but Mark abandoned
them in the middle of it. Perhaps he grew homesick, or
he had a hard time adjusting to the riggers of international
travel and missionary life. Maybe he was young in his
faith and lacked the staying power needed for effective
ministry. Regardless of the reason, John Mark deserted
the team in Pamphylia and returned home.
As they made plans for their
second missionary journey, Barnabas suggested that they
take John Mark along with them again. Apparently Barnabas
thought that Mark had learned his lesson from his previous
failure and should be given a second chance. However,
Paul was not willing to take the risk, and he refused
to allow the young man to accompany them. The disagreement
became so sharp that Paul and Barnabas decided to separate
and part company. Barnabas took Mark with him, and they
headed off to Cypress. Paul took Silas, one of the emissaries
who brought the letter from Jerusalem, with him, and
they traveled to the other cities in Syria and Cilicia.
Who was right, and who was wrong
in this disagreement? It’s hard to say, and Luke makes
no judgment. Both Barnabas and Paul had good reasons
for their respective positions, and I’m sure each one
thought he was right in his decision. Still, it pains
us to see Christians go their separate ways.
And yet, unity in the body of
Christ has never required uniformity. There are many
times when good Christians disagree, and sometimes they
go their separate ways. When Lorie and I lived in Dallas,
the church we served there went through a split. It was
a very painful experience for everyone. The conflict
was a clash over whether or not the church should stay
in the PC(USA) or seek to be dismissed to a more conservative
denomination. Lorie and I had many friends who were on
the other side of the debate than we were, and when the
vote didn’t go their way, they left and started a new
church down the street. As much as we all tried to rise
above the differences, those relationships have never
been the same. We parted company and went our separate
ways in obedience to God’s call in our respective lives.
In the last decade, there have
been a few occasions when members of this church have
decided to leave our fellowship because they didn’t agree
with the decision of the leadership or the congregation
over a particular matter. We lost some people when we
decided to build Phase 1 of our building redevelopment.
We lost some people when we decided to call a woman as
an associate pastor. It always hurts whenever this happens.
However, I draw comfort from this passage because it
reassures us that even the best of Christians will disagree
with one another, and sometimes they need to go their
separate ways.
God blessed Barnabas and John
Mark and God blessed Paul and Silas in their respective
missionary endeavors. The ministry was multiplied, and
the kingdom was advanced. The important thing to remember
is the need for us to maintain grace in the midst of
our differences. Give the other person the benefit of
the doubt, and don’t read too much into their motives
or their actions. Agree to disagree agreeably, for this
will honor the Lord and lessen the damage of our witness
to a watching world.
Conclusion
In closing, there is one last
thing I want you to note from this passage. While it
is clear that Paul did not want to have anything to do
with John Mark in his missionary travels at that particular
point in time, this was not the end of the story. Evidently,
Mark learned his lesson from his former failure, and
he was effective as a colleague in ministry with Barnabas.
Some time later, he returned from his work with Barnabas
and became associated with the apostle Peter (1Pt. 5:13).
Then during Paul’s first imprisonment about 12 years
later, Mark was included in Paul’s group of fellow ministers
(Col. 4:10). By the end of Paul’s life, he came to admire
Mark so much that he requested him to come be with him
during his final days of life (2Tim. 4:11). It’s another
reason why grace is so important in the midst of differences.
Disagreements aren’t the final story.
This story serves as a reminder
that a person’s failure does not have to be the last
word about them. It doesn’t have to be the thing that
defines them. You and I can learn from our mistakes and
move our lives in a different direction, and we can extend
grace to others when they fail us and give them a second
chance.
Gordon MacDonald, who is a leading
pastor and Christian author, writes about a young man
he once knew who was 20-years-old. Looking back, Gordon
didn’t like the fellow very much. The young man was self-absorbed
and directionless, and his life appeared to be unraveling.
He was on the verge of academic probation at the university,
and his parents were on the verge of divorce. Financially,
he lived from day to day, and his personal life was undisciplined
and disorganized. He was a people-pleaser, and often
he made promises he didn’t keep. The result was that
people tended to be disappointed in him.
It would be easy to write this
young man off. One would not be inclined to think that
he was going to be a difference-maker in the kingdom
of God. However, we would be wrong to write off this
young man, because that young man was Gordon MacDonald
himself when he was a 20-year-old student at the University
of Colorado. God did a great work in turning him around,
and He can do the same for you and me. Thanks be to God
that we have a Savior who is in the business of giving
second chances! May we take God’s word seriously when
it says, If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
Behold, the old has gone, and the new has come” (2Cor.
5:17). Amen.
