Let's bow our heads and ask the Lord for help tonight. Father God, we pray that as we open your Word, break the bread of life, that you would give us help to hear and see and know and believe what you have for us here. Father, we are keenly aware of our proclivity towards sin. We're keenly aware, Father, of our inability sometimes to make peace. And yet, Father, we know that in all of this, even in the stalemates, you have a purpose for it. You have a purpose for reconciliation and you have a purpose for stalemates. Life goes on and you use vessels for your glory. They're broken vessels, but they're vessels nonetheless. And we pray that we would see ourselves as such in the grand scheme of the glory of redemption. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen. I'd like for you to turn tonight in your Bibles to Acts chapter 15. Acts 15. I'm going to read a very short passage. Verses 36-41. Acts 15. Verses 36-41. Let's listen carefully to Dr. Luke in Acts chapter 15 verses 36 to 41. 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. And Barnabas wanted to take with him 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 But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.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." That's for the reading of God's Word. Many of you have no doubt profited from the writings and even the sermons of men like John Stott and J.I. Packer and Martin Lloyd-Jones. These are mighty men whom the Lord has used to make an international impact on the minds and hearts of Christians. What some of you may not know is that in the 1960s, Lloyd-Jones and Stott had a falling out regarding how evangelicals in Britain should function in their respective denominations. Stott was in a denomination that consisted of Orthodox evangelicals who were standing up for the truth. But the denomination also had people in it that denied cardinal doctrines. Lloyd-Jones called for faithful evangelical ministers to leave those denominations and form something of an evangelical fellowship of churches that would not tolerate false teaching. Stott disagreed. Though he lamented the false teaching that was tolerated in his denomination, he felt like it was a worthy cause to fight for the purity of the denomination and call for the false teachers to leave, not the ones who were standing for the truth. And as a result, Jones and Stott had a falling out. About a decade later, the same thing happened between Jones and J.I. Packer over similar matters. It's painful, isn't it, to see stalwarts of the faith have such sharp disagreements? It's painful to see them separate when they agree on so many other things. But this happens often. What's difficult is that both sides can muster biblical passages to demonstrate their position, but at the end of the day, the differences have to do not so much with doctrine, but with wisdom categories. The good news is that though these men had a falling out, they still respected each other and were still used by God in ways that have fortified the faith of countless numbers of Bible-believing, Christ-honoring Christians. We see that example tonight. in the case between Paul and Barnabas. Just like Stott and J.I. Packer and Martin Lloyd-Jones, they didn't differ or split over doctrine. They didn't split over truth. They didn't split over morality. You know what they split over? They split over differences in philosophy of ministry. Differences in philosophy of ministry. Paul and Barnabas had been on the first missionary journey, and they had gone to all these churches, and it was some time later, about two or three years later, and Paul said, let's go back. Let's go back to these churches and see how they're doing. And Barnabas said, that's great, let's take John Mark. But the problem is that John Mark, last time he had gone with them on the first missionary journey, had basically chickened out. I don't know if you know this, but the missionary life is a very, very challenging life. It's a very, very challenging life. Sometimes in some missionary, if you remember when the Jebelos came, when they went, they had no converts, right? And then they had to build up their converts. I think they had maybe two, right? And like, that's their church. Ray, his wife, and these two converts. Or at the beginning, Ray, his wife, and this one convert. That's your church. It's a very difficult life. You are the bad, you don't have, listen, in a missionary life, you don't have the momentum of cultural Christianity that we have. Now sometimes cultural Christianity can be a curse, but it also has its blessings. But John Mark couldn't take it. This missionary life was too much for him. He was probably scared. He probably was missing the luxuries and the creature comforts of home, so what does he do? He skips town. So Barnabas, the son of encouragement, he wants to take Mark with him, and Paul's like, no, it's not gonna happen. Now again, I want you to look at this difference of opinion. It's not doctrine, it's not theology, it's a difference of opinion over a philosophy of ministry. The philosophy of ministry in this instance is, is this man qualified to go be a missionary assistant with us? Now I want you to think about these two men and their perspectives for a moment. Let's start over here with Barnabas. I love Barnabas. I've met Barnabas's in my life. I know Barnabas's in my life. Barnabas is the kind of guy that's going to give you a second chance. Barnabas is the kind of guy that believes you. Now I will say, just for the record, John Mark was his cousin, so there might be a little nepotism going on there. But nonetheless, he believed that Mark could do right this time. And by the way, Paul was a recipient of that encouragement, wasn't he? Because when Paul was Saul, when he was killing Christians, remember that? And then all of a sudden he got converted and he comes to these Christians and he's like, hey, let me be part of your number. And they're like, no way, man. Is this a test? Is there some hidden camera somewhere? Are you going to kill us? There's no way. And it's interesting, the church said, no, we will not let you become a member of the church. So what does Paul do? He goes to Barnabas, right? And Barnabas becomes a sponsor for Paul. And he takes Saul, or Saul in this case, he takes Saul back and he says, guys, I think we should give Paul a chance. Now, in those instances, you thank God for a man like that, a man like Barnabas, who is a son of encouragement, one that wants to give second chances. Now, I don't know all the details. I don't know if Mark had changed his mind. I don't know if Mark had repented. I don't know if he had articulated that. I don't know any of those details. But we love, on the one side, this philosophy of ministry that says, look, man, he messed up. Let's give him another chance. But now, on the other side, you got Paul, right? And Paul has a very, very high view of the calling of the missionary life. He has a very, very high view of the calling of church planting. And listen to me, he wants to know that whoever he's working with, he can trust. He wants to know, I think of the military analogy, if you're gonna go into a foxhole with a man, if you're gonna go into a burning building or a terrorist beehive or whatever, you wanna know that the man that's with you is going to get your back. You can't go out with somebody who's going to get weak knees and falter in the moment when you need him the most. And I don't know that Paul was saying that Mark could never go again. I mean, it's probably very likely that Paul was saying something like, look, we need to give him time to just kind of get back into the rhythm, but now is not that time. And I want you to notice that they had a sharp disagreement. A very, very sharp disagreement. And you know what I love about this is that Luke includes this account in the book of Acts. And I thank God that we have these unvarnished accounts of things like this in the Bible because it helps us to relate to them a little bit better, right? Like this is real stuff. And by the way, I want you to notice, we have a very high view of Paul, right? We have a very high view of Barnabas, right? It says they had a sharp disagreement. Like in the Greek, what that intimates is that, not that they were violent physically, but the idea is this violent disagreement. Is there ever a place for two men of God who love the Lord to so passionately disagree with each other that they might even raise their voices? Yes. There's a place for that. You cannot tell me, you cannot tell me that when Paul and Peter went toe to toe in Galatians chapter two in front of all the Judaizers that they weren't yelling at each other. You can't tell me that. I don't think that they were whispering to each other, oh brother, oh, oh, oh. No, I mean Peter's a rough and rugged fisherman. Paul is a man of erudite scholarship. He's going to make his argument. And Peter's gonna make his argument. These are men of courage. These are men of gravitas. And I wonder sometimes if our culture hasn't so encroached upon our ability to hash things out that we can't actually say the things that we need to say. Some of you have told this story. Jacob and I were just talking about this the other day. There was a time when the Evangelical and Catholics, I'm probably gonna butcher this, brother, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but there was a time, I think in the 90s, when that Evangelical and Catholics Together document came together, and one of the people that signed it was J.I. Packer, and there was a bunch of theologians in a room talking about this, and R.C. Sproul was one of them. And he was so incensed that some of these evangelical friends of his would sign a document saying, you know, Protestants and Catholics, we're basically okay. That R.C. Sproul got on top of the table, stood on the table and was yelling and screaming and ranting and raving and banging on the table. They're a place for that? I would say if you're denying the gospel, there better be a place for that. We're not just going to talk to the tailwist. We've got to be zealous for these things. And I'm afraid sometimes that zeal is being squashed by an effeminate society that gets applied to everyone, more than just the women, but to everyone. So Paul and Barnabas had this violent disagreement. So who's right? Who's right? I think that that's the wrong question. I don't think the right question is who was right. I think that there are good arguments to be made on both sides. I think what we need to say is these are two different philosophies of ministry, listen, that are not compatible with one another. And what do you do when you have philosophies of ministry or differences of opinion on how you do ministry that are different than each other? Well, you can get into a big nasty fight and have a big nasty division, but we would hope that our Christian charity and desire for unity would do otherwise, right? And sometimes what we need to do, the best thing for us to do, is just to separate. Now, before I get there, let me say one more thing. I've been throwing around this term, philosophy of ministry. What is a philosophy of ministry? Well, a philosophy of ministry is how you take the content of this Word of God and what it says about redemption and church and worship and church life, and you say, how do we put this into practice? Because the Bible doesn't cross every T and dot every I on how you put this into practice. Does the Bible say how long that the minister should preach every Sunday? No. So we've got to figure that out, right? Does the Bible say how many times we're supposed to meet on Sunday? No. So we've got to figure that out, right? Does it say whether or not it's appropriate to have a Wednesday evening Bible study? Does it talk about home groups? It doesn't talk about really any of those things with regard to prescription. Does it say how long a worship service should be? No. Does it say can you worship outside? It doesn't specify those things. That's why God gives elders and deacons to churches. But even from one church to the other, you're going to have difference of opinion on how you flesh these things out. If you're thinking in terms of black and white, right and wrong, you're in the wrong neighborhood. It's not black and white, right and wrong, it's just difference of philosophy, but what you understand real quickly is if you have two strong personalities like Paul and Barnabas that have such incompatible philosophies of ministry, it's one of those things where he's like, we've got a part. I think there was a song, I don't know when it was. So let's leave this alone, because we can't see eye to eye. There ain't no good guy. There ain't no bad guy. There's just you and me, and we disagree. And that's what it is. Now, what happened? Well, we saw that it says the text said the brothers commended Paul and Silas. They commended them, which gives us the impression that the church chose to back Paul and Silas, and then Barnabas and John Mark went on their way. Guess what? The Lord worked through both of them. The Lord did mighty things through both of them. The kind of work Barnabas and John Mark did was strengthening the churches already visited, while the kind of work Paul and Silas did in their missionary journey was strengthening churches and starting new ones. It seems as if John Mark was better suited to the strengthening sort of ministry more than the evangelizing and church planting. But you know what happened later in life? Later in life, Paul says, he's an old man now, and in 2 Timothy 4.11, he says, Luke alone is with me. He says, get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. Isn't that glorious? I don't know what happened. Some people say, well, see, this proves that Paul was wrong. I don't know that it proves that he was wrong. I mean, if he's an old man now, that means that time has passed, and it's very possible that John Mark has proved himself. John Mark has said, you know, I messed up, and I thank God that I got another chance to prove myself. And he had proved himself, and he wrote a gospel account. The book of Mark is from John Mark, right? So, the Lord used him. Now, let me just give a few reflections on this. Number one, one reflection we can take away from this is that God is sovereign. On the one hand, we ought to recognize the sheer sovereignty of God in these matters. People mess up, and they're taken out of ministry, or a relationship is damaged or even severed. And with time, the Lord can and often does bring healing as each side reflects on their own actions and considers how they should or should not have acted. God works through time, through His Word, and through His Spirit. We ought not to lose hope as if the final chapter has been written. The Lord uses the good intentions of broken vessels to bring glory to Himself, to bring souls to Himself, and to sanctify His people. But secondly, we should not allow this comforting truth to dissuade us from seeking peace in all relationships as far as it depends on us. In other words, God's sovereign plan does not absolve us of the responsibility to seek peace with our brethren. So often in conflict we have a tendency to give inordinate attention to what the other person is or is not doing. And make no mistake, their actions are important, but Paul's admonition is to focus on yourself. What can I do to promote peace? What can I How can I defer to my brother or sister to bring harmony? Is it possible that I am being unfair in my assessments, in my criticisms? Can I put myself in their shoes and see why they would take offense at what I am saying or doing? Let us look for the solution and not the exit. And while reconciliation is the ultimate God-glorifying goal in conflict, remember, we can also glorify God in our stalemates. That is, if we can't agree, we must, hopefully for a time, agree to disagree, but we must do so peaceably, lovingly, respectfully, and as deferentially as is possible. And I admit to you, sometimes it's not always possible to be as peaceable as we would like to be. Some people insist on ravaging the church in their disagreements. Some people insist on standing firm and causing division and not working with the church or not working with the elders, and then our options are a lot slimmer. But when we can, we should work peaceably and lovingly with them. When we refuse to vilify the person, but instead recognize that they simply see things differently in these wisdom areas, and we respect that, even if we disagree with it, we glorify God. Thirdly, our past mistakes do not define our future. I'm so grateful that the Lord gives second chances, not only in life, but in ministry. There are those here in our midst who have made some bad decisions and that have wreaked havoc on our lives and their families. And yet, they have found the grace of God for another day. Proverbs 24, 16 says, for the righteous falls seven times and rises again. And what was the secret to Paul's success, as it were? Philippians 3.13, Mark was useful. He was useful to Paul in the end, and you too can be useful to the Lord as you depend on his grace. And then fourthly, it's never too late to forgive someone who has let you down. It's never too late. Perhaps you had a falling out with someone. Perhaps you haven't spoken to them in years. Perhaps you still struggle with what they did. I have one question for you. Have you changed since then? I'm sure you have changed since then. And perhaps they have changed as well. It's never too late to seek out the person and to seek reconciliation with them. And why? Well, because Christ's death on the cross for your sake was meant to bring unity. Unity between God and man. between all tribes and tongues and peoples and nations and between Christians. Do you ever stop and reflect upon what God the Father had to sacrifice in order to bring peace? He had to sacrifice His own Son. I can't even imagine. And if the Father was willing to sacrifice His own Son to bring unity, and the Son was willing to offer up Himself, then the whole message of the Gospel compels us to have this same mindset. Sacrifice our own comfort, our own pride, our own glory on the altar of peace and unity. God has a track record of causing the good intentions of broken vessels to abound to the salvation of souls, the sanctification of the church, and the renown of His name. Father God, we do thank you for second chances. We recognize that in the whole history of the church, you have done amazing things through people who have different philosophies of ministry than we. You have even done amazing things through Arminians. You, through the Wesleys, preached wonderful sermons and fiery sermons and revivals and people came to saving faith. And you did the same through Spurgeon and his ministry. You did the same with George Whitfield. You were doing the same even in this time. Souls are being saved in a whole variety of different traditions of churches. And we acknowledge that, Father, and forgive us if we ever think that we Calvinists are the only right ones. Of course, there's probably going to be things when we get to heaven that we're like, OK, we got that wrong. Oh, Father, would you give us humility? Would you help us to see the bigger picture? Certainly these things are important. Certainly we should draw lines. There's no doubt about that. But Father, we also want to give credit where credit is due. And there are servants who have very different views about how things should be done who are faithful nonetheless. And we pray that we would give them honor as they deserve. We thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ, the ultimate servant, our Lord, our King, our God, our friend, our Redeemer, and our Savior. And we pray, Lord, that we would cling to him more tenaciously. We ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.