Sunday, August 19, 2007
It’s really easy to know how to resolve disagreements when things are laid out as black and white. One thing is right and the
other is wrong. If one person tries to make wrong right, it is clear that they themselves are wrong and there’s not much
discussion needed.
But what if things are gray? How do we resolve disagreements in gray areas? Or how about disagreements in areas where no one
has ever had a disagreement before – how do we resolve those disagreements?
And then, what if we have disagreement about something that is not even really gray – what if we just see things differently?
How do we handle those disagreements?
The world’s system shows us lots of ways to deal with disagreement. We could just cave and give in and suck it up. We could
fight to the death for our way. We could strike a fatal blow to the person we disagree with by turning people against him or
her. We could take them to court. We could belittle them or ridicule them in front of others. We could talk and not listen.
Connie hates to watch on Fox News when they have a panel and it turns into 3 people talking at the same time and no one
listening.
What would be a BIBLICAL way – the GODLY way to handle disagreement? Near the beginning of the church era, God allowed
a couple of things to happen that give us some guidance on how to handle disagreements and maybe on how to NOT handle
disagreements. We are continuing in our series in Acts called “Live for This!” We desire to live for the Kingdom of God just
like these early believers did and we desire to see God work in amazing ways through us like He did through them. God
desires that, too, as we have been seeing. God wants to use believers today to be involved with Him as He does His God-
sized things right now. There are no exceptions, there is no one left out. God wants to take over the world and He wants
to use you to do it. We all should live for the Kingdom of God with everything we have in us.
As we open up the Word of God today, let’s call on our Teacher for His help. PRAY
Open up to Acts 15 and look at the first disagreement. Acts 15:1,2. READ. What is the problem with what these men from
Judea were teaching? The problem is that what they were teaching puts some effort of people into the mixture of what it
takes to be saved. They were saying “A person has to believe in Jesus AND fulfill the Law of Moses, the 10
Commandments, in order to really be saved.” This is equivalent to those in our day who say you have to believe in Jesus
AND read the King James Bible only. Or you have to believe in Jesus AND give a prescribed amount of money to the
church. Or you have to believe in Jesus AND repeat certain prayers over and over. As we look at faith the way Jesus
lived it and described it, all it takes to be saved is to believe in Jesus Christ – Master and Savior. Jesus never said believe
AND anything. Paul and Barnabas saw these men teaching this false doctrine and stood against it. “That is NOT what
Jesus told us. There is NOTHING we have to do or even COULD do to gain our salvation.” Verse 2 says that Paul and
Barnabas had “no small dissension and dispute with these teachers. The words dissension and dispute are literally “debate”
and “stand.” Paul and Barnabas had intense debate with these teachers and eventually came to a stand still – they couldn’t
agree. So the leaders of the church in Antioch (who we met in chapter 13) decided to send a bunch of people down to
Jerusalem to find out what the apostles and older believers thought they should do in this issue.
Acts 15:3-5. READ. Notice that nothing is said about this issue on their way. This will be referred to later. They went
from Antioch to Jerusalem – 300 miles or so – and shared with believers as they went about all that God was doing, even
among the Gentiles. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they gathered with the believers there and told them all the news –
what God had done with them. But some of the believers there, Pharisees who had turned to Jesus, eventually introduced
the topic – “If they really want to be saved, they have to be circumcised and keep the Law.”
Let’s see what unfolded. Acts 15:6-11. Wherever they were gathered, everyone settled into one area to deal with this
disagreement. And it says after there had been much dispute Peter stood up to speak. The dispute was probably stuff
like, “If these Gentiles are going to become God’s people, then it is only biblical that they go through what the rest of us go
through as God’s people and circumcision is part of that – it is what God set up to identify us as belonging to Him.”
“Yes, but Jesus said that He fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. What do you think He meant by that? Do you think He meant we
still have to do the Law?”
“Well, wouldn’t we have to keep doing the Law? We are Jews!”
There were likely good sounding arguments on both sides. Then Peter stands up and lays out a brilliant and irrefutable argument.
“Why are you trying to put God in this position? We all know that none of US has been able to keep the Law. Why
would we force God to prove Himself all over again in non-Jewish people by making them keep the Law. The bottom line
is that we believe that we are all saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ which He gives to each one of us.”
Peter sat down. And you could hear a pin drop until Barnabas and Paul took that opportunity to speak up and tell how
God had showed Himself in clear, real ways among the Gentiles – Gentiles who had not been circumcised and who had not
been trying to keep the Law (verse 12). And then James, the Lord’s brother, spoke up.
Acts 15:13-21. READ. James says that what is happening among the Gentiles is a fulfillment of prophecy – God has,
from the beginning, made it known that He would allow the Gentiles to be saved and to be a part of His plan. And He
would allow them AS Gentiles – not Jews. Therefore, James says, It seems to me that we do not need to trouble believers
who are Gentiles with things that are required only of Jews. There are some things all believers would benefit from that we
can explain, but circumcision and keeping the Law are not part of it. In fact, people have probably heard the requirements
of the Law because they are read every Saturday in most cities.
So they agreed to what James (and, as we’ll see in a minute, the Holy Spirit) had determined. And they decided to put it in a
letter to be taken along with Barnabas and Paul back to Antioch and to be read in other places where these teachers had
spread this confusing message. Here is the letter they wrote and sent. Acts 15:23-29. READ. Comment as reading:
24 – people came from our church teaching this message, but WE didn’t approve
25 – so we have all agreed on what the Lord wants from us and we’re sending Barnabas and Paul back to you with a couple of
other men who we trust to explain it to you
28 – it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us – this was God’s leading and guidance, not just the opinions of the apostles and
elders in Jerusalem
29 – “these necessary things”
1) don’t eat food offered to idols
2) don’t eat blood
3) don’t eat things that have been strangled and still have the blood in them
4) don’t be involved in sexual immorality
Is the Holy Spirit then saying that if you believe and NOT do THESE things you can be saved? Not at all. They agreed on the
supreme truth that all that is needed for salvation is belief in Jesus Christ. These things listed here would help the Gentile
believers in Antioch to demonstrate their faith to anyone looking at them from outside the faith. The stuff about blood is
actually in the Law as part of the eating habits of the Jews. So why would they make a big deal out of THAT in this letter?
They had just said that Gentiles are not required to keep the Law – but ARE they required to keep those laws? On both
the issues of eating blood and eating things that have been strangled, the culture of the nonbelievers in Antioch and in the
areas around them was to sacrifice to idols, be involved in rituals of strangling animals and then eating their blood which was
culminated by sexual acts. The wise apostles and believers in Jerusalem were encouraging these believers to do what Paul
would later write in 1 Thessalonians – avoid even the appearance of evil. Notice the last words of verse 29 – if you keep
yourself from these things you will do well. The letter did NOT say “if you keep yourself from these things you will be
SAVED.” These were actions that would allow these people to avoid trouble or confusion about their beliefs in their pagan
neighborhood. There are probably things WE should avoid in our culture that would help others not be confused about the
place of the Lord Jesus in our lives – places we might go, stuff we might drink, activities we might be involved in. I will let
the Holy Spirit show you those things Himself.
So Paul and Barnabas and Judas and Silas took the letter with them to Antioch. It says in verse 31 that when they had read it
there the believers rejoiced over its encouragement. I’m sure a lot of the men rejoiced because of what they didn’t have to go
through, too.
Let’s look for a minute at how this issue was handled. In chapter 15:2 we see that the parties who had disagreement apparently
had conversation together about the issue. They sought together to find common ground or agreement. Notice that they didn’t
use email (I know, the internet was new back then), they didn’t go off talking to everyone else and not the people they had
differences with. They didn’t go around bad mouthing one another. They tried to work it out together. But they couldn’t. BUT
they DID come to an agreement about something. Let’s take our disagreement to some people we both really trust and who we
know have wisdom from God and see what they say.
This is a concept we could all benefit from. Notice that their disagreement was over an issue of doctrine – beliefs. But doing this
would be beneficial in any area of disagreement. We have offered it to families struggling through divorce and child
custody. Turn to Proverbs 11:14. READ. Getting good advice is wise. Acting on the good counsel of godly people is
valuable. So for all of us, if we find ourselves in disagreement with another believer, the first thing to do is to try to come to
agreement – in LOVE. If that point can’t be reached and you find yourself in a situation where both want godly counsel,
come and talk to the leadership guys. Without judgment and, best of all, in LOVE, you will receive advice and counsel that
you can trust.
Notice that one concept was brought up in that last paragraph twice – LOVE. We are to LOVE one another. We are not to hurt
one another or beat up on one another or humiliate one another. Jesus said that all men will know that we are His disciples by
our love for one another. Working through disagreement is difficult, but it is valuable and worth it. And to be able to come
through it and show LOVE instead of avoiding one another is incredible – it is unheard of in today’s world. We have an
enemy and it is not one another. Love one another.
This brings us to the other disagreement in Acts 15:36-41. READ. This disagreement was not over how you get saved or
who the Lord Jesus Christ is. This disagreement was over whether John Mark ought to travel with Paul and Barnabas. It
doesn’t tell us who we ought to side with – Barnabas or Paul. It doesn’t tell us anywhere in the Bible if Paul and Barnabas
ever worked this through and were reconciled. It does sound like they left one another in pretty bad moods. In 2 Timothy
4:11, Paul asks Timothy to come visit him and to bring Mark with him because he is useful to him, so obviously whatever
heartburn Paul had about Mark was relieved over the years. In Colossians 4 Paul mentions Barnabas and Mark together.
But it has always bothered me that Paul and Barnabas left on these terms and we never find out if it was resolved. The only
thing that maybe gives an indication that they did work it out was that in his letters to various churches Paul mentions
Barnabas – in other words, he doesn’t avoid talking about him because he is so upset with him.
We can learn something from this experience of Paul and Barnabas. Stomping out of the room is confusing and disheartening to
others. If we love one another, even in disagreement, we can have a godly impact on others. Paul obviously had to have
dealt with this issue because of what he says in Romans 12:14-16. READ. Getting things resolved is a blessing and a
relief. This issue between Paul and Barnabas was not an issue of life and death or one to break fellowship with one
another. Hopefully and apparently, they got it resolved at some point. Mark wasn’t as bad a guy as Paul thought – in fact
he was a real help to Paul later in life.
What do you and I hold against others? Is it all that serious? Can we humble ourselves and step out in faith and forgive? In 1
Corinthians 6 – we’re not going to turn there, but read it today sometime – Paul is confronting the Corinthian believers about
taking one another to court to settle matters. To take these issues between brothers in front of those who are not believers tells
the nonbelievers something. It tells them that these believers don’t care about one another. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 wouldn’t
it be better to just be wronged? Wouldn’t it be better to let yourself be cheated than to tarnish the name and reputation of the Lord
Jesus?
Once again, it is all about Jesus - what brings Him glory, what promotes His Kingdom. Are you living for this? Are you living
for the things of the Kingdom of God? Even in disagreements, are you pursuing God’s agenda, God’s best for others, God’
s glory? You should be – we ALL should be. And there are principles we have seen today that will allow us to get
through these difficult times and disagreements with the Lord Jesus being clearly seen. Live for This!