Please bow your heads with me once more as we go to the Lord in prayer to ask His blessing on the public preaching of His Word. Let's pray together. Father, we confess that we are ignorant of all of Your Word and ways. Lord, we confess You have put in our hearts. You have written your law on our consciences. We know when we are wrong. We know there is truth that you have put into our hearts that we have suppressed and not wanted to let out or acknowledge. And our blindness and our darkness makes your word a mystery to us. At times, we have closed our eyes on purpose. Our ignorance has been willful. We have not wanted to acknowledge what we know Your Word says. And at times, our ignorance has simply been constitutional. It's just part of how we are in our own sinfulness. We just don't know what You're like, and what You expect, and Your ways, and what pleases You. We have assumed and often presumed different things. So would you open our eyes now to see wonderful things from your word? Make your gospel clear to us, we pray. Help us to understand how to live before you in righteousness and truth and mercy and compassion. and light a fire under us to obey what we see you revealing to us here about yourself and about us. It would encourage us, spur us on to love and good deeds. May we spur each other on as we talk together about your work. For Jesus' sake, amen. I wonder if you have ever had a serious disagreement with a longtime friend that separated the two of you for a while. You both saw a different principle at stake, and you were both critical of each other for not seeing it the same way. I know, I know, Christians aren't supposed to have those kinds of disagreements. Not Christians! Well, maybe not. But what if I told you that two of the apostles had this kind of disagreement? What if the Bible told you that two of the apostles had this kind of disagreement? It certainly would not justify us in being any more argumentative than we already are. But it might comfort us to know that serious principled disagreements among Christians have been part of mature Christian friendships in the church from the very beginning. And that you and I should not be surprised to see godly older, established, mature Christians disagreeing vehemently. That should not disillusion you. That should not surprise you. That should not discourage you. That should not make you wonder, is Christianity even true? No, no, no, no. Because the good news is that Christ's Word will strengthen His churches even if our leaders, our best leaders, part ways on fervent principle. That sentence is the point of the whole sermon. Christ's Word will strengthen His churches even if our best leaders part ways based on fervently held principle. Now, American Evangelical, you better believe that in 21st century Christianity, because that's happening all over the place. That's happening with your favorite internet podcast blogger preacher and his best friend. Right? It's happening all the time. It may have happened in a church that you have recently been a part of, or something happened that was deeply disappointing to you. We've all had this kind of experience, and if we haven't, just wait. You'll have it. This is going to happen. And you've got to be ready for it. And praise God, His Word prepares you for just this kind of thing. So we're going to walk through our text this morning, Acts 15, 36 through 16, 5, to see exactly what happened. We'll see the point God is making in showing us these things, and then we'll double back for a few applications before we close. Let's walk through it together. Acts 15, starting in verse 36, we'll just read it piecemeal. And after some days, In the church at Antioch, they're spending time in the sending church of Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas had been sent out to begin with. They've brought back the ruling of the Jerusalem Council from chapter 15. They've announced it to the sending church at Antioch. They've rejoiced. And now they're spending a bunch of days with their sending church, teaching and preaching, rejuvenating for their next mission. And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, There's a little word there that's not in there. Indeed. Let us indeed 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. He wanted it and he intended it. 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. Now I came to this text thinking, nobody was really in the wrong. that this was just a disagreement over a conscience issue. Having studied it further, I don't think that anymore. And I'm going to contend that Barnabas was wrong and Paul was right. And at the very least, Luke tells the story in a way that's not very flattering to Barnabas. but in a way that actually commends Paul distinctively. Verse 36, Paul is really excited and really confident to go back out with his buddy Barnabas and look in on the churches they planted. He is expectant, he is urgent, he's optimistic about it, he expects a resounding unqualified yes from his longtime mentor and friend Barnabas. He expects the plan to come off without a hitch. Hey, man, it's time, bro. Pack your bag. We're off. Let's do it. Right? Here we go. Let's keep the gospel momentum going. That's Paul's tone as Luke describes it. He does not anticipate anything that's about to come out of Barnabas's mouth. He's eager to get back into the field with his encouraging friend and partner and mentor in ministry, Barnabas, the son of encouragement. But Barnabas is just as excited and expectant and confident to take this trip with John Mark. He's just as excited about that as he is to go with Paul. Barnabas plans on Mark joining them. Barnabas is counting on that. So the three of them are together now at the original sending church in Syrian Antioch, north of Jerusalem. Now remember, John Mark was the son of Mary, whose house had been full of people praying for Peter's release from prison back in chapter 12. John Mark had accompanied Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey until Acts 13, verse 13, when he left the apostles in Pamphylia, southern Turkey, and returned to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas probably met John Mark back there in Jerusalem when they were sent down for the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15. So they probably picked him up from Jerusalem, from the Jerusalem council. They take him with them back to their sending church in Antioch, where they deliver the decision of the Jerusalem council. That's why John Mark is together with them now. And that's why Paul thinks, well, it's fine. I can stomach him at the sending church. There's nothing at stake here. This is home base, right? We're cool. He can't mess anything up here. There's nothing to leave here. There's no danger. There's no discomfort to leave at the sending church. He's on furlough. This is the easy part. We also know from Colossians 4.10 that John Mark is either a cousin or a nephew of Barnabas, depending on how you translate it. They're related. Barnabas already has a natural soft spot for John Mark. And Barnabas is an encourager. So he wants to give his cousin-nephew relative a second chance to prove himself after he beat a path home in the middle of the first missionary journey. He didn't finish the job with them. But Paul's not buying it. There is no way Paul is taking John Mark back out onto the mission field with them, not after he abandoned them in Pamphylia. And abandonment is just about the right word, because the Greek word that Luke uses for turning back in that little part of the narrative here in Acts 15, when Paul's saying, look, I don't want somebody who turned back, aposanta, aposta, he turned back. Almost like a ministry apostasy. He didn't lose his faith. He's still a Christian. But he turned back. He turned tail. He got cold feet. And he goes back to Jerusalem. Luke Johnson is probably right that Paul is thinking more in line with Luke 9, 62, where Jesus said, No one who puts his hand at the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. Hey man, you got one shot and you blew it. You turn back, and I've got chapter and verse on you. So, sorry man. I think Paul's thinking about this like, hey, I don't think Jesus would take you on the second missionary journey, brother. You disqualified yourself. I can't trust you. You're going to do that again? How do I know this is going to be different the second time around? Well, now Paul and Barnabas have a real problem, don't they? They disagree on whether Barnabas' blood relative is qualified to do ministry with them based on his conduct in deserting them in the middle of the previous work. The word Luke uses again, verse 38, is apostanta. He turned back, almost like he apostatized, not from faith in Jesus, but from his ministry assignment, certainly. So again, John did not lose his faith, didn't lose his salvation. John is still a Christian. Don't go away, stay into each other. I think Paul thinks that John Mark's in hell. Don't say that. John Mark is in heaven by God's grace. Paul thinks John is still a Christian. John didn't turn his back on Jesus, but John did turn his back on Paul and Barnabas in the middle of a missionary journey. Paul thought John's delinquency disqualified him from going with him again. So this is personal in a few different ways. It's not just academic. It's personal because it's about John's character and qualification for ministry as a brother in Christ. It's personal because John is blood related to Barnabas. And it's personal because Paul and Barnabas go way back between the two of them. They are OGs in gospel ministry. They're old timers. I mean, let's take a trip down memory lane with the two of them. Barnabas, you'll remember, was the one to take Paul under his wing and go to bat for him with the apostles in Jerusalem when all the Christians there feared that Paul was still a fake Christian working as a double agent for the Sanhedrin. And that he was there to gather up Christians and take them back to Jerusalem and execute them. Barnabas is the guy who said, no, no, no, no, no. He's cool. Acts 9, 27 and 28. Barnabas is the whole reason Paul got his start in Jerusalem. Barnabas is also the one who went all the way to Tarsus to get Saul and bring him back to serve with him as an elder in Antioch in chapter 11, verses 25 and 26. Now listen, can you imagine what this is like to be Barnabas? Your disciple. You're the one who gave him his start. You're the one who put your arm around him, took him under your wing. And now he's saying, no, no, no, your boy isn't coming with us. Excuse me, what? They preached together, were persecuted together on the first missionary journey. They were both referred to as apostles in chapter 14 verse 4. They fled the threat of stoning together in Iconium. When Paul was stoned in Lystra for real, it was Barnabas who went on with him to Derbe the next day. You know how that kind of suffering galvanizes a friendship? They were on the same side of the circumcision issue in Antioch when brothers were coming down telling everybody they had to be circumcised to be saved. And so their sending church sent both of them as joint delegates to Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.2. where they spoke about all God had done with them on the first missionary journey. The letter written at the Jerusalem Council actually refers to them in 1526 as our beloved Barnabas and Paul. Oh man. Like their friendship was famous. Men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul and Barnabas. Evangelical peanut butter and jelly. Everybody knew it. And everybody loved him for it. Public partners in gospel ministry, respected, beloved fellow leaders in the church. That's why their disagreement is not just deeply principled, it is deeply personal. And deeply passionate and deeply painful. The word for disagreement here is where we get our word paroxysm. Now, you may not use the word paroxysm every day, I get it. But my children have a lot of paroxysms between themselves over toys and food and all sorts of things that they fight about. But this word, this Greek word is used in the Old Testament only twice. And both times it's used of God's wrath that moved him to kick the Israelites out of the promised land over their disobedience. God had a paroxysm. Deuteronomy 29, 28, the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and wrath. Paroxysmo. Jeremiah 39, well in English, 32, 37, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and wrath and great indignation. Paroxysmo, megalo, great, great indignation. Now this word is also used for provoking one another to love and good deeds in Hebrews 10, 24. So it can be positive. But I don't think it's positive here. This is a provocation. This is an intense, emotional, fizzing, boiling disagreement. This is not dispassionate reasoning. It's passionate arguing the kind where voices are raised and friendships are strained. It's upsetting to both of them. They're upset with each other. A paroxysm in English is a sudden violent emotion or action, an outburst. In the Greek dictionary, it's defined as a state of irritation expressed in argument. Now that's a very dispassionate definition of a very passionate thing. Irritation expressed in argument, a provocation, and physically it can be a convulsion. This is a convulsive disagreement. Paul and Barnabas got mad at each other over this. When Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is not irritable, it's the same root word as the noun here. This is an irritation. Love is not easily provoked, upset, but here Paul and Barnabas are upset with each other. Both of them are provoked by the other one. And if the word itself is any indication, they're breaking out against each other. It's boiling over between them and it's taken them both by surprise. You can imagine how it might have gone. Paul says Barnabas has a soft spot for John. Hey man, you're not being objective. Come on. Do I have to spell it out for you? He's your nephew, man. No wonder you want him with you. Come on. Your soft spot for John has become a blind spot, brother, and I'm here to point it out to you. Barnabas takes offense at that criticism, not only because it's personal, but because Barnabas now remembers all that Paul owes to him. Hey man, why do you think you even got sent on the first missionary journey in the first place? Because I'm the one who put my arm around you and introduced you to everybody. And now you're going to talk to me like this about my cousin, nephew, blood relative, not coming with us on the next one? You've got to be kidding me. Who do you think you're talking to? Paul feels a little misunderstood by his longtime friend. Wonders if Barnabas himself is really as committed to the mission as he ought to be, because Barnabas is thinking, man, you are being way too hard on this kid. Why don't you lighten up a little bit? Who do you think you are? The longer they argue, the worse it gets. They're upset. The painful parting comes in verse 39 and 40. There was 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 Calicut strengthening the churches. The argument separates them in verse 39. That word for separate in verse 39 is the same one used when John separated from them and from the mission back in chapter 13 verse 13. So very ironically, Barnabas and Paul separate from each other precisely because John Mark separated from them to begin with. Now how sad is that? When you have a heated disagreement like this, you actually might be the one to storm out of the room. Well, here it appears Barnabas didn't just storm out of the room. It looks like Barnabas stormed right out of town, off the coastline, and all the way out into the middle of the Mediterranean Sea to his home island of Cyprus. We know that from chapter four, verse 36. He was born in Cyprus. He probably had land there. So Barnabas sailed off in a huff and took John Mark with him. So he's going home. And you don't get any other mention of Barnabas, and you don't get any mention that Barnabas and John are strengthening the churches all across the island of Cyprus, like you get with Paul strengthening all the churches everywhere he goes. And this is the very last time you see Barnabas in Acts. It's the last time we see him, it's the last time Luke mentions him. Barnabas exits stage left, right here. And he's not happy. It looks like he takes his cousin or nephew and he just goes home. We do not read in Acts of Barnabas and John Mark strengthening the churches, preaching the gospel. Paul will mention Barnabas again in 1 Corinthians 9.6 as the only other apostle besides Paul who couldn't quit his day job. And Paul expresses surprise in Galatians 2 that even Barnabas quit eating with the Gentiles during the Judaizer controversy. So again, it's not that Barnabas is not a Christian. It's not even that Barnabas doesn't get back into ministry somehow. But it is that the golden years of his close partnership with Paul seem to come to a close here. And that's sad. And it's not a good look for either one of them. What's more, the way it reads, it looks like Barnabas is the one who stormed off with John Mark before the church could even send him off. What makes me say that? Well, his departure is narrated first. But the ESV also hides a kind of big detail. Stop right there. The phrase, having been commended sounds in English like it could and maybe should apply to both teams, that both the Barnabas team and the Paul team were commended by the church. That's how I first saw it. That's how I first read it. That's how I first used it. But I don't think that's right anymore. Because the verb having been commended is not plural. It's singular. The better translation would be, Paul and Silas departed after he was commended to the grace of the Lord. Who is he? I don't think it can be anybody else but Paul. Not Barnabas. Barnabas had already left, and he's not leaving on mission. He's leaving on furlough. He's taking a sabbatical. Luke wants you to see that Barnabas did not wait for the church's commendation, probably because he didn't feel like he needed it for what he was going to go do. He was going home, he wasn't going back into the field. So from the looks of it, the church was not able to commend Barnabas before he left, because they didn't have time. And the church did not seem willing to commend Barnabas after he left, because of the way he left and where he went. The church did commend Barnabas back in chapter 13 verse 3 when they laid hands on him to send him into the field to begin with. And they commended him in chapter 15 verse 3 when he was sent on his way to Jerusalem by the church in Antioch. They laid hands on him, prayed for him. This is actually the only time that Barnabas leaves Antioch without commendation or sending because he's not leaving on official church ministry. By contrast, the church does commend Paul, because only Paul was going back out into the mission field. And it makes you wonder, what did the church think about Barnabas' condom? What did the church think? I don't know what they thought. I can't tell you that. Did the church side with Paul against Barnabas? We don't know that. But they clearly did not side against Paul, because they commended him. Now that was a really upsetting disagreement for everybody. I mean, can you imagine being a member at the church at Antioch, watching this happen? Where's Barnabas? He sailed off. Why? I don't know. Where'd he go? Home. I thought he was going with Paul. No. Couldn't he have just gone with Paul? No. Why not? Because Paul didn't want to take John Mark. What? What's going on? The close, long-standing ministry relationship just got strained to the breaking point. So maybe Paul, now think about this, maybe Paul himself just needs a break from ministry. Like this was, you know, your counselor might say this was traumatic. He has suffered a deep trauma. A close friend. It's an abandonment. So, maybe Paul needs to decompress. Maybe he needs to go to a Grecian beach. Focus on himself. Maybe he needs to, in that most ambiguous of all psychological terminology, maybe he needs to process the disagreement. Figure out his feelings. Go on vacation. Maybe he needs to journal about it. Not that journaling is wrong. Sometimes that can help. Maybe he needs to go in for some talk therapy. Maybe he needs to find somebody who'd just listen to him. Maybe he needs to vent. Just get all of his angry emotions out to somebody who will just kind of be a sympathetic ear. Maybe he needs to hang out in his man cave or Go see the games in some ancient amphitheater. Take it easy. Blow off a little steam. Maybe he needs a personal retreat. Rent a cabin in the mountains. Maybe he should stay at his home church there in Antioch for a while. I mean, are you really ready to go out and do ministry after that, bro? You're too angry to do ministry, aren't you? You and Barnabas aren't even reconciled. You better reconcile with him before you go out and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and act like you can be the facilitator of reconciliation between God and other people. You're not even reconciled to your best friend. Maybe he just needs to sit under some preaching and heal up for a while. And I think we would all understand if that's how this went. Right? If he had done some of those things, even if not all of them. But he doesn't do any of those things. Not a single one. He chose Silas. from the church in Jerusalem and departed after he was commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. And look, the church commends him to the grace of the Lord after this great disagreement that is not even close to resolution. And he went through Syria and Calicut, not licking his wounds, strengthening the churches. Paul is admirable. I mean, this is good old biblical masculinity at its best. Man, I don't know what happened with me and Barnabas, but I'm going to take a licking and keep on ticking. I love it. This is godliness. And the church in Antioch is not being overly demanding with him, saying, hey, man, we think you should reconcile with Martin. Well, what do you want me to do, chase him out into the ocean? Come on, man. Paul keeps going. He's like a real-life Dory from Finding Nemo. He just keeps swimming, man. Just keeps swimming. I don't know what happened there. I don't know when that's going to get fixed, but I know what I should do. I got to keep going. I got to keep serving the Lord. I can't let that slow me down. I can't let that trip me up. I can't let that make me dissolve into a puddle of tears and introspection. What could I have done more to have convinced Barnabas that I love him and I want him and I love his nephew and oh, maybe I hurt his feelings. Sometimes you couldn't have done anything different. Sometimes this is just how the Lord had it. That's just the way that one went. What's going to strengthen Paul is what strengthened Jesus. Paul reminds you of Jesus here when he said, my food is to do the will of the Father who sent me. I know what I need to do to be strengthened and it's not take a nap. I need to get back out there and talk to new Christians about Jesus and help them grow in their faith in Christ because I know that when I'm doing that, that's energizing to me, that feeds me, that strengthens me. So I'm going to eat my protein and I'm going to go to the gym spiritually. I'm going to keep it up. I know it hurts me. I know Barnabas hurt my feelings by treating me that way. He sailed off in a huff. I don't like that. But what am I gonna do? Feel sorry for myself? Honestly, I gotta be honest with y'all. I think I would feel sorry for myself. I think I would have done most of those things that I just preached against. But not Paul. Paul keeps going. That is gospel resilience. And you need it. So do I. Paul perseveres through a potentially disillusioning break with Barnabas. And it's convictional. I can't take him with me. I can't trust him. What do you want me to do? He's the one who walked away the first time. The only explanation for this gospel resilience is that Paul actually trusts in the God in the gospel that he preaches. I don't know what's going on here, but God is sovereign, and if God could use the crucifixion of the sinless Christ and turn that to good and raise Jesus from the dead, then I believe that God can heal and use this situation that I don't understand at all now, that I don't like, that looks bad for Barnabas and me, And that may stop the churches from saying, our beloved Barnabas and Paul. But if the cross worked, then maybe I'm just in the three days in between in my relationship with Barnabas. Maybe I just need to trust that God can resurrect this whole thing. Because He can, He can, He can. And He will. It looks like He does. Paul immediately moves forward in faith with other ministry friendships and partnerships that will be just as fruitful, if not more so, than his long-time partnership with Barnabas was. Paul can let it go. Paul can let it go, Christian. He can put that friendship on pause. under the sovereignty of God. Close, meaningful, fruitful as it was. And he can say, you know what? I'm entrusting that to the grace of Jesus just like the church in Antioch is entrusting me to the grace of Jesus. I'm going to move on. I'm going to trust that God's going to work in Barnabas' life through somebody other than me. And I will bet you that there is a person that comes to your mind right about now. God is calling you to do that with. Paul can let it go and move on because he trusts the sovereignty and love and power of the risen Christ and of the gospel he preaches. Jesus died and it wasn't over. Paul and Barnabas disagree, but maybe it's not over. Now Paul quickly passes through Syria and Colicchia, his home turf, on his way to Derbe and Lystra and Iconium, where he had planted the churches with Barnabas. Read along with me in chapter 16. Paul came also to Derbe, to Lystra. A disciple was there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance the decision that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily. Paul quickly passes on through Calicia, which is where Tarsus was, his hometown, but he doesn't stay there like Barnabas stayed in Cyprus. He goes on back to the churches he planted. Even people in the next town over, Iconium, have good things to say about this young guy, Timothy. He just keeps hearing the name Timothy in good connections. Maybe Timothy had been sent there to fill the pulpit a few times, or maybe he had done some evangelism or disciple-making over there. Whatever the case, Timothy has a great reputation with the churches in the Tri-Cities area, Iconium Lystra Derby. And Paul has an idea. Just as Silas was a perfect replacement for Barnabas, apostle from Jerusalem. So Timothy would now be a perfect replacement for John Mark, young guy. But there's a wrinkle with Timothy that has to get ironed out first. Timothy is the son of a culturally mixed marriage. His mom was a Jewish Christian and his dad was a Gentile. What's more, everybody in the Tri-Cities area knew Timothy and everybody knew that Timothy's dad was a non-Jew. What this meant for Timothy was that the Jews in the Tri-Cities would have thought of Timothy, not as a Gentile, but as an uncircumcised Jew, which is an oxymoron. And if you don't know what an oxymoron is, it's, that don't make sense. There is no normal category for uncircumcised adult Jewish male. That just, that ain't a thing. That does not compute. The only reason that would have been remotely okay with any Jewish adult male in Timothy's case, or viewing Timothy, was that Timothy was the son of a Greek dad. And his Greek dad would have forbade his Jewish mom from having their son circumcised according to Jewish custom and culture. Well, Timothy's just not in control of that. He wasn't allowed to be circumcised as a Jew. But if Timothy were ever to move out of his dad's Gentile house and join Paul on Christian mission, then Timothy would never have seen the inside of a Jewish synagogue with a reputation as an uncircumcised Jew. And he's certainly not going to read scripture and pray and preach in a Jewish synagogue if he is a Jew and uncircumcised. Like, uh-uh. Not him. You're not even a Jew, man. You're not even for real. And Paul wouldn't have gotten on the inside of a Jewish synagogue either, because Paul was the leader of the ministry with an uncircumcised Jew in tow. I mean, if Paul had an uncircumcised Jew as a ministry assistant, the Jews would view Paul as encouraging Jews to abandon their cultural heritage. Doesn't matter if you get circumcised or not. See, Timothy. And then all the Jews are going to be like, hey man, you don't want to become a Christian because to become a Christian, Paul says you have to forsake your whole Jewish heritage. That's what he made Timothy do. That would be cultural and ministry suicide for Paul. So Paul did not have Timothy circumcised for Timothy's salvation. That would have violated the Jerusalem Council. He had Timothy circumcised so that the Jews of the Tri-Cities would give a hearing to the salvation that Paul preached that was regardless of circumcision. So in the words of C.K. Barrett, another one of these statements I wish I had come up with myself. This is perfect. Watch this. C.K. Barrett, Paul circumcises Timothy to make an honest Jew of him. That's perfect. That's exactly what he did. He circumcised Timothy so that other Jews could respect Timothy as a fellow Jew. And so Timothy would have cultural capital to use as influence for the gospel of salvation that is regardless of circumcision. So circumcising Timothy did not violate the command of the Jerusalem Council. Timothy is not an example of a Gentile being pressured to become a Jew in order to become a Christian. He's not a Gentile. He's not thought of as a Gentile at all. He's an example of a Jew who's expected to embrace his Jewish culture as soon as he is free to do so. There simply was no category for an uncircumcised Jew. The Jerusalem Council did not make cultural Judaism wrong for Christians. It simply clarified that Gentiles don't have to get circumcised to be saved from their sins as Christians. But Timothy was not thought of as a Gentile. He was thought of as an uncircumcised Jew with a Greek dad. So as soon as he launches out of his home, he's expected to get circumcised or else be considered a culturally apostate Jew. Nobody's gonna listen to him. So Paul has Timothy circumcised, not as a matter of salvation, but as a matter of strategy. And once Timothy's ready, Probably took him a little while. Paul and Silas take him with them all through the Tri-Cities area to deliver the decision of the Jerusalem Council. And the result of this whole episode from the conflict with Barnabas to the circumcision of Timothy to the announcement of the decision of the Jerusalem Council was both intensive and extensive growth in the churches in verse 5. They were strengthened in the faith intensively, so their grasp of the gospel, their obedience to the gospel, their joy and trust in the gospel of Jesus Christ, their unity in the gospel as churches got stronger. And they kept on increasing numerically every day. They extended their reach and breadth. Their congregations got bigger. Their couches got fuller in their home churches. Their houses were filling up with people who were gathering for church. It became standing room only. People were crowding around to get in. But that note of strengthening the churches has been the permeating feature of the whole paragraph. The whole reason Paul wants to return and visit the churches in Lystra, Iconium, and Derbe is to see how they're doing, to make sure they're strong and vibrant, to supply anything that might be lacking in their faith. This is also what Paul left Antioch to do in the immediately surrounding area of Syria and Colicchia in 1541, strengthening the churches. And now we get this major summary statement here, like a section break in a big book. It's not even a concessive. relationship. In other words, it's not just like, even though all this happened, still, you know, the churches were kind of mildly strengthened. No. So, because of all this, because of everything that just happened, the churches were strengthened. So again, the point is, Christ's Word will strengthen His churches, even when our leaders part ways on fervent principle. Brother, sister, that should encourage you deeply. For Paul, the principle was clear. You can't take a guy on a second missionary journey who left you in the middle of the first one. I mean, come on. For Barnabas, the principle was clear. Have a heart, bro. Give the kid a second chance. You a Christian or not, man? Why don't you forgive somebody once in a while? He made a mistake, man. He regrets it more than you do. Things got heated. Barnabas stormed off out in the middle of the Mediterranean for at least a furlough from ministry. But Paul took Silas, picked up Timothy, kept strength in the churches by preaching the word and clarifying its meaning and significance for all the congregations that he had planted. So what are we going to do about that? What do we do about this? How do we apply this stuff? Well, there's a number of encouragements that we can get from this passage. There's certainly a theological encouragement. Our God is sovereign over the spats and splits of His servants. You've got to trust that. I don't know what you thought church life was going to be like when you became a Christian. Maybe you thought, man, this is going to be awesome. Nobody's going to disagree. They're all going to interpret the Bible just like I do. And they're not going to disappoint me at all. And this is going to be great. It's going to be awesome. You know, like kind of naive, young, idealistic. And then you get into a church. That guy doesn't like that other guy very much. They're angry. They're avoiding each other the last couple weeks. What is going on with this place? Yep, that happens sometimes. Because Christianity is not an idealistic worldview. It's a realistic worldview. It's actually livable. It has way more explanatory power for the way things really are. than any other worldview you can experiment with. God is sovereign over the spats and splits of his servants. Again, this is not an argument for pastors to start or to excuse fights with each other. Jeremiah and I are not looking for an opportunity to apply this, get into a fight, and then model for you how to storm off into the sunset. Nobody should be applying it like that. But it is an argument for all of us to trust in God's power and plan when important beloved church leaders disagree and split from each other over their disagreement. Everybody loved Paul and Barnabas. Everybody thought they were inseparable. They themselves probably thought that at one point. This split could have been very destabilizing for lots of Christians, especially happening as soon after the unity of the Jerusalem Council. I mean, think about that. Jerusalem Council, high point in church unity, right after that, Paul and Barnabas get angry with each other over John Mark. So many people could have thought, man, if Paul and Barnabas can't even get along, then what are any of us doing trying to stay together for the cause of Christ? I mean, they're the best of us we got, and they can't stay together. Luke is telling the story in a way that encourages you to conclude just the opposite. Man, if the churches can be strengthened, even though Paul and Barnabas split up, maybe even precisely because they split up, then nothing can keep the churches from growing up and spreading out. God is sovereign. Not Paul, not Barnabas, not the churches. Their split doesn't surprise God. God is in control and God made sure that His churches were strengthened, even when the partnership cracked under the pressure of a heated disagreement. Now this next part is a little speculative, but you almost have to wonder if we'd even have Paul's two letters to Timothy if Barnabas and John Mark had stuck with him in the first place. Paul's letters to Timothy testify of God's sovereign power to bring good fruit out of a bad spat and bad split between his servants. There's also an application, an encouragement that applies to Christ himself. Christ will always care for his churches. Look, church, you're the apple of Jesus' eye. He loves you. The church is the beautiful bride that Jesus married. The risen Christ is not at his wit's end just because Paul and Barnabas imploded as a missionary team or as an elder team. I've got news for you. The risen Christ's wits have no end. He will strengthen His church even when His best servants, even when our favorites among His servants, are at each other's throats and sailing off in a huff without even saying goodbye, without even waiting for the closing song and the sending prayer on Mission Sunday. This probably got kind of awkward. The spat that led to a split of the greatest missionary team ever assembled did not slow down the advance of the gospel or the strengthening of the churches, much less stop and reverse it. Why? Because Christ is still on his throne and the word of God is not bound. So when this happens today, do not despair. Don't be evangelical Christian little or chicken little. Oh, the sky is falling because, you know, these two guys are no longer together for the gospel. Well, now what? Well, what do you think, now what? Now Jesus is going to use somebody else. And now he's going to do something else. And now he's still going to strengthen his churches. That's what. It's okay. It's okay. Look to Christ and remember, ministry teams come and go. Look, brothers and sisters, there have been a couple of brothers that have left this church, sometimes on really good terms, sometimes on a little bit of questionable terms. And you know what I thought when they left? I thought, man, I don't want to think about this church without them. And guess what? Here we are. And Jesus is caring for us. It's okay. Christ is going to make it okay. Encouragement to Christian maturity. Christian, especially young, inexperienced, impressionable Christian. You don't have to be forever disillusioned by leadership disagreements among godly pastors. You don't have to let that define you or disillusion you. Don't be that weak. When Christian leaders disagree and go their separate ways, Christ's churches will keep on going from strength to strength. He will make sure of it. Of course there's going to be ebbs. There's going to be low points. There's going to be sadnesses. There's going to be confusions. There will be frustrations. There will be times when we don't know how it's all going to work out for the good, and that's sad to us. But God gives us this particular part of Scripture to show us that our sorrows and disillusionments about Christian leaders who disagree are not the first ones God has handled for His churches. God is not confused. God is not frustrated. This isn't God's first rodeo. So you don't have to be frustrated or disillusioned either. God is the master of bringing good things out of awful circumstances. Just look at the cross of Christ. This is how he does it. This is how he saves all the glory for himself. All Christianity is built on the greatest reversal of all, Christ's death and resurrection. So young Christian, do not get all angsty on your parents. When your favorite bloggers or viral pastors or even the pastor of your own local church who you had on a pedestal, when those guys go back and forth against each other or disappoint you somehow. And non-Christian, listen, just because Paul and Barnabas split doesn't mean Christianity is not true or worthwhile. And just because Christian leaders today argue and divide, it doesn't mean that Christ is not Lord of all. Or that truth is not one, truth is one. It simply means that Christians are not ultimate. Christ is ultimate. It means that Christianity will never, and was never, intended to create a utopian reality in this world. That was your misunderstanding of Scripture if you thought that. That's not the goal of Christianity. The goal of Christianity is to exalt Christ in the salvation of sinners and in their gradual growth in holiness. There's also an application to us relationally, a relational application. Sharp, even angry ministry disagreements don't have to last forever. By the time Paul is writing to the Colossians, he's saying to them in chapter 4 verse 10 of Colossians, Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. Listen to that sentence again. Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. What's that tell you about Mark? Where is Mark? He's either visiting Paul in prison, or he's been imprisoned with him for the gospel. Mark is back in the same room, maybe in the same cell, with Paul. looking over his shoulder while he's writing to the Colossians and telling them, hey, say hi to them for me too, will you? It's all over by then. What's more, Paul says of Mark there in Colossians 4.10, concerning whom you have received instructions, if he comes to you, welcome him. So if he gets out of here, if he is a prisoner or if he's just a visitor and he comes to you, Eventually, Paul wants Mark to have a warm welcome from the saints in Colossae when he visits. By the very end of Paul's ministry in 2 Timothy 4.11, Paul is asking Timothy, the very guy Paul got to replace John Mark, send me John Mark, will you? Will you tell John Mark to come here? Because he is very useful to me for ministry. Man, that's a sweet sentence, isn't it? Now, wait a minute. How does Paul know that he's very useful to him in ministry? Apparently because he's already been very useful to him in ministry. He's proven himself. After his failure. That's the power of the gospel. In the life of a young buck who got cold feet, and in the life of an old mature Christian who might have been too hard on him and had to learn, maybe I just need to give him some time. And even Barnabas again gets a seemingly positive mention in 1 Corinthians 9.6 when Paul says, is it only Barnabas and I have no right to refrain from working? Apparently Barnabas is making tents just like Paul. Apparently Barnabas went back to ministry as a bivocational apostle. After this big spat and split, eventually healed up. That in itself is an encouragement. God can heal ministry relationships that you think are now broken beyond repair. You don't have to know how. But God does this kind of stuff all the time. And your situation is not the first one that God has healed. Church application, we should be fervently committed to strengthening this church and others like it. The Apostle Paul was arguably the most mature Christian ever known to man who was not named Jesus. And what did he spend his life doing? Strengthening churches that he had planted. And he doesn't quit just because his closest friend and ministry mentor sails off in a huff after a heated argument. So let's be committed as a church to strengthening other churches by raising up leaders here, sending them out to provide pulpit supply for other churches, sending them to become elders of churches that need them, maintaining good relationships with other congregations, and even putting other local churches in our budget to see if we can strengthen them financially if they need it. The church is God's evangelism program. There is no plan B. So let's find more ways to strengthen more churches together. I'm going to end with just a couple of staccato, one or two or three sentence applications, and then we'll close. A providential encouragement, God often uses disagreements between old partners like Barnabas and Mark to raise up new partners like Silas and Timothy. So don't be surprised if that kind of thing happens to you. It's going to be painful at first, and then it'll be encouraging. General encouragement, not all disagreements among leaders are disqualifying for leaders. Just because two strong leaders can't get along doesn't mean one of them is a false teacher and the other one should have a martyr complex. And now Paul and Barnabas are enjoying perfect Christian fellowship in heaven, even though Barnabas sailed off into the middle of the Mediterranean Sea without reconciling with Paul. The reason I say it like that is I hear Christians often saying, oh man, I'm going to have to spend eternity with that brother. I better reconcile with him right now, right away, all the way. Oh, OK. Is that reasonable? Is that possible? Does that other person want to reconcile with you? Are you living in reality when you're expecting that of yourself or of others? Are you holding other people to a standard of reconciliation with other people who disagree with them? That's just not a realistic standard for them to even meet. Maybe God will work it out in the next couple years. But did that disqualify Paul because he had an unreconciled relationship with Barnabas? No, it did not. And apparently it didn't even disqualify Barnabas. So when leaders disagree and even separate like this, don't get over-critical from your armchair. A wisdom encouragement? Calibrate your conscience to scripture and to your ministry context. Paul stood firm against circumcision for the sake of the gospel in Acts 15. Don't make Gentiles get circumcised in order to be saved. Yet here in Acts 16, he has Timothy circumcised because all the Jews in the area knew Timothy's dad was a Greek and Timothy was a Jew. Paul didn't have Timothy get circumcised for Timothy's salvation. He had Timothy get circumcised for the Jews' salvation so they could hear the gospel from him. That makes all the difference. One final application, a leadership application. Disagreements that separate leaders need not paralyze or discourage them or even slow them down. Look at Paul. Just kept on strengthening the churches in chapter 15 verse 41. And maybe, maybe it's time for you to do the same. Maybe you just need to get over what happened with the person you disagreed with, with the Christian you loved, with the person that you used to feel like, ah, me and him, peanut butter and jelly. And now you're just grieved and you can't get over it and you're not reconciled and you don't see reconciliation forthcoming. What are you going to do? Are you going to wait to be useful to the kingdom of God until that Relationship reconciles, it's not even close, and you don't know what to do about it, and can't make the other person soften to you? They sailed off into the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, or maybe you did. Maybe you still feel like you have a reason to do that, or maybe they feel like they have a reason to do that. Okay, move on, move on. It's all right. You're not perfect, neither are they, and God knows it. And he expects you to not bury your talent while you're sitting there licking your wounds. Another church needs you. Get going. Strengthen someone else and you will find yourself strengthened. He who waters will himself be watered. Christ's Word will strengthen His churches even when our leaders part ways on fervent principle. If you can trust that, because you trust the power of God to raise Jesus from the dead, and because that cruciform life-death-resurrection pattern is the pattern of the Christian life. If you can trust that, then you can persevere in the Christian life no matter what. No matter what happens between your leaders, or between you and your favorite Christian friends because you know that Christ is the ultimate leader of the church and his leadership never fails. Let's pray together. Lord Christ, we thank you for your goodness and for your love. We praise you for your sovereignty. You are patient. You are in control. You are kind. You know what you're doing. You know the future. You know how you intend to use all the relationships that have broken in our lives and that have broken our hearts You know. You know what you're doing. Even when you're not telling us, you know. And we trust you. So do all your holy will, we pray. May we have grace to trust you more. For Jesus' sake. Amen.