CONFLICT WITHIN

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Some time later, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.”

Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company.

Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Acts 15:36-41

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

All seemed well in the church at Antioch.

Paul and Barnabas had returned from Jerusalem with two leaders from the church there, Judas and Silas, who brought good news. There would be no requirement for Gentile Christians to be circumcised in order to be saved as the Pharisees had proposed. All that was asked is that the Christian believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia abstain from “food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood” (Acts 15:20). Such abstinence would avoid division in the church with Jewish Christians who still maintained the traditions of their prior Jewish faith.

The scriptures tell us that the Christian believers in Antioch were encouraged and made glad by the words in the letter from Jerusalem. They were further strengthened by talking with Judas and Silas before they were sent back to Jerusalem with a blessing of peace. We read where Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch and continued ministering to the people there.

Yes, all seemed well but it didn’t last.

What happened?

We find out in the closing verses of Acts 15 and the events that took place a “short time later” from Judas and Silas’ return to Jerusalem and Paul and Barnabas’ continued work in Antioch.

The problems started when Paul suggested to Barnabas that they retrace their steps from their first missionary journey, returning to “visit the believers in all the towns” where they had “preached the word of the Lord” so they could see how the Christians were doing. They were in agreement on this matter but then an additional proposition was added, one that created conflict within the apostle ranks.

In verses 37 and 38, we find Barnabas wanting to add Mark (the eventual Gospel writer who was also called John) to the trip, a proposal that Paul disagreed with. In Paul’s view, Mark, who had accompanied them for part of the first missionary journey, had abandoned their efforts while they were in Pamphylia. We read about this prior in Acts 13:13 but there was no reasoning as to why Mark departed the company of Paul and Barnabas. We only know that he left and returned to Jerusalem, a decision that didn’t sit well with Paul.

For Barnabas, Mark’s earlier separation from him and Paul during the first missionary journey was no big deal. He obviously took no offense with it because he was the one who wanted Mark to come along. But the scriptures tell us that a sharp disagreement emerged between the two apostles over Mark, so sharp that it divided the two men.

This is what so often happens when there is conflict within. Division happens. It happens in worldly situations and it happens in the church as well.

Go back to the kingdom of Israel. A king who was unwilling to listen to his elders and compromise in response to his people’s pleas led to the entire kingdom dividing in half.

When the Christian church was established, it was the holy Catholic Church but then conflict and division happened in the form of the Great Reformation and Christianity split into factions: Catholics and Protestants.

Within the Protestant movement, denominations emerged.

Why?

Because Christians couldn’t remain united. Schisms happened within the central Protestant body and splits happened forming what we now call denominations…and today there are a lot of different ones.

How did that happen?

Well, as you may be able to guess, there was even internal conflict within denominations and so you had many different sub-denominations under one central denomination title. For example, under the Presbyterian denomination, you will find the Presbyterian Church USA (or PCUSA) and the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA). Both fall under the Presbyterian umbrella but that’s where their likeness ends as their denominational doctrines and polity are strikingly different.

Well, you get the point. Internal conflict in the church can lead to splits happening and in the case of Paul and Barnabas, we find them agreeing to go their separate ways.  

Barnabas takes off with Mark and sails for Cyprus. Of interest, this is the last we hear of either of them in the Book of Acts.

On Paul’s side of things, it’s interesting to note that Silas returned to Antioch from Jerusalem and partnered with Paul on what is known as the second missionary journey. After both apostles were “commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord”, they “went through Syria and Cilicia” and worked to strengthen the churches there.

Tomorrow, we start to look at Acts 16 and the work of Paul and Silas on the missionary road but before we turn the page, let’s all keep in mind the dangers of conflict within the Christian church and the destruction that division brings. I’m convinced that the extended fracturing of the church into denominations, denominations who disagree so much with one another that they refuse to fellowship as Christian believers, has seriously damaged and retarded the work of the Gospel. As a Christian church, we are only as strong as the sum of our parts and our Lord never intended us to be a Catholic church or a Baptist church or an Episcopalian church or…and I could go on and on and on. No, our Lord desired for us to be the Christian church, one body made up of many different parts that realize that every part has value, a body where the different parts function in unison toward a common goal, the expansion of our Lord’s kingdom here on earth.

Friends, it’s time to focus on Jesus, the One who makes us all alike, and stop centering our attention in the church on what separates us. It’s time to address the problem of conflict within and start to move toward unity.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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