Day 252: Acts 15:36–38

Paul did not think it appropriate to take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work (v. 38).

Sailors speak of the call of the sea, but something stronger than the sea called Paul. He relished his days in Antioch. How beautifully the garden had grown from a few seeds scattered six years earlier! He enjoyed the privilege of returning to the same quarters every night and laughing over a meal with good friends. He busied himself with the work of a pastor. He loved these people and his partner, Barnabas. But filled with the Spirit of God, Paul felt compelled to go where the Spirit led.

We may plan to stay forever and commit with noble intentions to do one thing for the rest of our lives. But when the Spirit of God moves within us, we must move with Him or be miserable. Paul knew God had called him to Antioch only to send him out again. He had learned to obey both the abiding and the moving of the Holy Spirit. He had been allowed by God to abide in the comforts of Antioch for a season. Now the Spirit of God compelled him to move again.

I love being drawn into the story line and relationships of Scripture, but involvement also increases the disappointment when our heroes show their humanity. We are about to see how God uses flawed people like you and me.

Remember John Mark, who bailed out on Paul and Barnabas in the middle of their first missionary journey? Barnabas was one of those men willing to take a risk on a young missionary who had failed on his first attempt—the same way he had once taken a risk on a hotheaded young Pharisee who had come to Christ. Paul, on the other hand, was hard and tough. So when the two prepared to revisit the churches from their first journey, Barnabas said John goes. Paul said John stays.

John went. With Barnabas. Paul took Silas as Barnabas’s replacement.

Barnabas had been the first to accept Paul and welcome him among the brothers in Jerusalem. Together they had faced the kind of peril and persecution that bonds two people for a lifetime! They were a team. So when the Holy Spirit compelled Paul to return to the towns where they had preached, he wanted his dear friend and partner to go with him. Imagine how difficult this severance must have been for them.

But they each had strong emotions about John Mark, as well as toward each other. And obviously, both of them were upset by their differing opinions. I think Paul and Barnabas were simply that different, but according to Colossians 4:10, John Mark was more than just a fellow believer to Barnabas. They were also cousins. Strong emotions can spawn sharp disagreements.

But disagreements between people have a strange way of inviting observers to pick sides. I’ve caught myself trying to decide who was right and who was wrong. I feel a strange need to make up my mind and get in one camp or the other. But let’s start becoming aware of our tendency to get involved (at least emotionally) as judge and jury when people disagree. Next time we’re in a similar situation, perhaps we should ask ourselves, Does someone always have to be right and another wrong?

Paul and Barnabas both were Spirit-filled servants of God, yet they differed vehemently on whether John Mark should join them. We might assume that either Paul or Barnabas was not under the leadership of the Holy Spirit; after all, the Spirit could not possess two opinions. Or could He? I believe both men could have been under the direct influence of the Holy Spirit and yet still have differed. How? The Holy Spirit might have been saying yes to Barnabas and no to Paul. He might have wanted Barnabas, not Paul, to take John Mark. Why? So God could divide and multiply. Paul had matured so effectively under Barnabas’s help and encouragement, they had grown equally strong. Though they might have preferred to serve together the rest of their lives, God had a more practical plan. He had other young preachers He wanted each man to train. As a result of their differing convictions, two preachers became four, and soon we’ll see another. Paul and Barnabas went their separate ways—two mentors, each with a new apprentice. The empty place in Paul’s ministry left an appropriate space for a man named Silas to fill.

Scripture tells us most divisions are not of God, but Acts 15 suggests that sometimes God wants to divide and multiply. Can you imagine how much simpler church life could be if we accepted that God could place two people under different convictions to multiply ministry? I’ve seen this phenomenon occur at my own church. Two very strong leaders in our church differed over whether we should have traditional worship or contemporary worship. Who was right? Both of them. God divided one worship service into two, and we now reach more people.

Often differences erupt due to less noble motivations—two opinionated people unwilling to budge. And unless we invite God to come to the rescue, the results can be disastrous. Ministries and partnerships often divide and dwindle rather than divide and multiply. On the other hand, when God leads two people who have walked together to a fork in the road, He can do something wonderful—if they and their constituents are mature enough to deal with it!