Acts 15:30-40 So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord. 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.
In this focus, we see Paul and Barnabas separating over whether Mark should accompany them on their next missionary journey. Paul was upset that Mark abandoned them on their first missionary trip. We may assume this was part of God’s plan, separating these two pioneers of missionary work for the furtherance of his kingdom. In going their separate ways, they could minister the Good News to more people. We do not know who was right in this dispute, but we do know that God worked out the situation for his glory. Barnabas and Paul were fervent believers, fearless in presenting the Good News to a dark and dangerous world. Both of them had faced persecution and harassment from the opposers of THE WAY. They preached that Jesus Christ is God’s answer for eternal life and that his death on the cross delivered men and women from their sins. This was a strange message to the Greeks, for they were embedded in the ethereal notations that the meaning of life came through the discipline of thought and the controlling of natural instincts. They revered their philosophers who taught that people should establish their ways of living on foundational ethics of life: virtue, wisdom, justice, moderation. To be truly happy and prosperous, one must live lives of positive thinking, controlling the errant desires of the fleshly body. For them, thoughts and philosophy carried the meaning of life, of a happy existence. For the Greeks to think of a physical man bringing eternal life to them was unimaginable. So to the Greeks and Romans who based the meaning of life on their philosophies, the idea of faith in the man Jesus and his works bringing meaning to their creation was extremely strange and maybe dangerous. To the Jews, the law and its concomitant good works was the only journey to God—no other way could please a righteous God. Works preeminent was their way to God; every other way was too easy and unimaginable. Both the Greeks and the Jews had what they thought good reasons to oppose this religion of following Jesus Christ, the man. For them their opposition to THE WAY was quite reasonable. They both pressured the ministers of the Good News to leave them alone. However, Paul and Barnabas were willing to advocate Jesus as the redeemer of mankind even under the threat of death. Some of the early believers in this new religion wanted to combine their old religion with Christianity. The Jews interjected circumcision as necessary to be a valid Christian. The Greeks proposed Jesus as just being somewhat of a hologram, carrying good thoughts and ideas, but not being a real man in flesh and blood. John railed against this belief that Jesus did not come in the flesh as a man. He categorized this belief as anti-christ, against the purity of the gospel of Christ the man, living and dying for the sake of mankind. For John, claiming that Jesus was an apparition of some sort was destroying the truth of the gospel, for Jesus had to die as a man to be the true ransom for men and women’s souls. Every belief that contaminates the message of Christ alone as the sufficient sacrifice for the sins of men and women is an anathema to a righteous God. Belief in Jesus and his works is the only way to a holy and perfect God. The philosophies of men or the works of men will never satisfy a holy God. These efforts of men will always fall short of pleasing the Creator who has no shadow of injustice or lack of holiness in his being. God’s perfection is presented to mankind through the sacrifice of his sinless Son on the cross. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, FOR ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:22-24) Paul and Barnabas are divided physically, but not in their message to the world. They both will carry this message of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of mankind, to a lost and angry world.
Jesus addresses the idea of some Greeks believing reality comes through the spirit of man and his thinking processes and not through a real Creator. Reality for them exists in a disciplined mind, controlled by goodness, positive thinking, spiritual awareness. Jesus to them might not be anything more than some 3-D hologram, a collection of right thinking or good ethics, not a real flesh and blood person. In John 9, Jesus destroyed that idea about him being just some apparition or spirit. In this chapter we see that the man blind from birth who Jesus healed was thrown out of the synagogue by the religious leaders. Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the SON OF MAN?” “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have NOW SEEN HIM; in fact, HE IS THE ONE speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. (John 9:35-38) Jesus says clearly in this passage, I am man! I am not a collection of good thoughts or right ethics; I am the man who healed you, and subsequently the man worshipped him. The man, Jesus, possessed supernatural powers, changing what was to something different: blindness to sight. This powerful miracle disturbed the priests greatly; in fact, they asked the blind man a couple of times, how did Jesus do this? Did he do this with some incantations or a witchcraft brew? How did He do this, for He is but a man just as we are men. Yes, they were right, but wrong, for Jesus was imbued with the power of God, the fulness of the Holy Spirit. His authority came from God his Father; He always did what the Father asked him to do. Even his death on the cross indicated his faithfulness to his Father. God made Jesus the caretaker of his loved ones. Jesus is the shepherd of God’s flock. The sheep know his voice and follow him. Jesus knows their names, each one’s name. Jesus is the gate to their freedom. They are no longer confined to the sheep pen. Maybe this is analogous to our dwelling on earth. But the sheep follow the shepherd, go with him, go where He is, where green grass and cool waters exist. However, on the journey through life there are wolves who bother the sheep. They are aggressive and desire to destroy the sheep. Sin is aggressive, destructive and leads to death. Jesus, the Shepherd, places his body in-between the destructive nature of sin and his sheep. The Father asked his Son to place his life between the wolves of death and the sheep. Jesus died on the cross. He ransomed many from the terror of the wolves. Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people: (He gave himself for all the sheep.) (1 Timothy 2:6) Jesus, the man, gave his life for men and women, so that they need not to die for their sins. He suffered the agony of death for others, so that they who are part of the sheepfold would not have to face death, only sleep in their demise. Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” (John 11:11) Later Jesus talks about death to Martha. Jesus knows his death will pay the price for all people’s deaths. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26) This is the good news that Barnabas and Paul were spreading throughout the world; God through the man Jesus Christ and his death has paid for the sins of people, giving all who have faith in his works, eternal life.
Before the split of Barnabas and Paul, the church was together in gladness, knowing the idea of circumcision was put to rest. Faith in Christ's works alone brought the kingdom of God to them. They had some stipulations given to them by the Jerusalem Council: abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.” (Acts 15:20-21) The Jewish converts were very familiar with these regulations, for they were taught in their synagogues every Sabbath. So to keep cohesion within the church of Greeks and Jews, they asked all believers to obey these few stipulations. Paul emphasizes the need for continuity when it comes to eating and drinking within the context of the church. If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for? (1 Corinthians 10:27-30) Paul concludes his remarks on eating and drinking by saying that all things should be done for the glory of God. In the Corinthian church, Paul desired togetherness; he did not want believers to be judging others for what they ate, for the sake of cohesion, they should allow some of their freedom to be curtailed. The people in Antioch were encouraged by the news from the Council. The Jerusalem elders substantiated their Christian walk. In addition, they received encouragement from the two prophets: Silas and Judas. These prophets said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. The church in Antioch because of this struggle about circumcision comes out much stronger, sending out evangelists to propagate the Good News everywhere. They were a large church, so they had many who functioned strongly in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We who are around this breakfast table are an extension of the early church. They had many struggles as they learned Christ. We too struggle sometimes as we battle for the truth in our communities of believers. But in all things we should rest with the purpose of God, to spread the Good News to all people everywhere. We will not let our egos or sensibilities get in the way of cohesiveness. We do not major on disruptions and trials, but we major on the grace and mercy of God that has been so freely given to us. Yes, Paul and Barnabas split, but the purpose of God to spread the Good News was not quelled by this division; it was expanded. The gospel message went forward as God intended just as He wills today.
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