Disagreement Among Missionaries Series

Text: Acts 15:36-41

Theme: Disagreement among missionaries

Greetings: The Lord is good and His love endures forever.

I request you to kindly turn to the Bible passage. Observe the Text: Paul and Barnabas, planning for second missionary journey. John Mark, Sharp Disagreement; Barnabas and Mark left by themselves; Paul and Silas commended by brothers.

Illustration: There were two porcupines in the freezing north woods that came together to keep warm. But when they got close, their hooks pricked each other and they had to move apart. They needed each other for the warmth, but they needled each other with their sharp quills. So finally died. (Leslie Flynn, Great Church Fights).

This passage explains the fight between two personalities, two great missionaries, Paul and Barnabas. Their sharp disagreement over a person called John Mark. Let me explain the three personalities - John Mark, Barnabas, and Paul, before we think about disagreement and resolving the disagreement.

John Mark (??a´???? ?a´????, ?):

He was a son of Mary (Acts 12:12), cousin of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10), assistant to Paul and Barnabas and believed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark. Mark was close disciple of Peter (1 Peter 5:13). He was the young man who fled naked from the betrayal scene in Gethsemane (Mark 14:51, 52).

Paul and Barnabas had been commissioned by the church at Antioch to do evangelistic work among the Gentiles. John Mark was not commissioned by that church. But he had gone with them as an assistant. The young man’s ministry with the two great missionaries often had been tough, he might’ve been pulled by two sides, struggling to satisfy both, became exhausted in being a caretaker of both missionaries, sometimes as Porter, sometimes as Office Assistant, sometimes as Chef, sometimes as watchman, and so on.

Mark left the two senior men at Perga in Pamphylia, and returned to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). Luke doesn’t mention the reason. So, no one can know the reason for Mark’s return. But Paul calls John Mark’s action as desertion. Now, Barnabas desired to take Mark, but Paul steadfastly refused (Acts 15:37, 38). So there was a Sharp Disagreement between the two older missionaries.

Barnabas:

Barnabas was a Levite, a landlord from Cyprus, a Hellenised Jew, joined the Jerusalem church, sold his property, and contributed to the community (Acts 4:36–37). He was a Son of encouragement, very gracious personality. He was one of the members of the church at Antioch (Acts 11:19–20).

He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith, joyful and a powerful evangelist. He encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord (Acts 11:23-24).

He called St. Paul from Tarsus, accepted him and listened to his testimony when every Christian in Jerusalem was afraid of him (Acts 11:25). He exemplified the Christian virtues of generosity, leadership, and reconciliation.

Paul: (?a?????)

It is a Roman name meaning “little”; Saul, (????????,) a Hebrew name meaning “asked for”. Saul, “who is also called Paul” (Acts 13:9). (Please note that he was called by both names Saul and Paul from the beginning. Paul was not a conversion baptismal name, as many preachers make the mistake. He was Saul Paul before and after conversion.

A Jew of the tribe of Benjamin (Phil 3:5). Paul was born in Tarsus in the region of Cilicia (Acts 9:11; 21:39; 22:3). He was born a Roman citizen with good standing (Acts 16:37, 38; 22:25-29). As per the Jewish law, a boy begins the study of the Scriptures at five and the study of the legal traditions at ten years. At thirteen a Jewish boy becomes a bar mitzvah (“son of the commandment”), and learn a trade. “Whosoever doth not teach his son work, teaches him to rob.” So, Paul learned the skills of a tentmaker, he was a student of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). He was an eligible bachelor till death (1 Corinthians 7:8).

He was a city boy familiar with the stadium (1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Phil 3:14), the law courts (Romans 7:1-4; Gal 3:15; 4:1, 2), the processions (2 Corinthians 2:14; Colossians 2:15), and the market (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5). Paul was physically weak (2 Corinthians 10:10). Paul had a “bodily ailment,” (Galatians 4:13-15; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10), and “marks of Jesus” on his body because of physical abuses he had as a minister of the Gospel (Galatians 6:17). (Source: Encyclopaedia of the Bible).

Sharp Disagreement (paroxysmos):

Definition: Cambridge dictionary defines: ‘a situation in which people have different opinions, or an inability to agree’. Webster defines: ‘the state of being at variance, disparity, and quarrel’. Collins: ‘Disagreement means objecting to something such as a proposal.’

Paul and Barnabas had been set apart and commissioned together to go out on their first missionary journey (Acts 13–14). They had suffered together for the cause of Christ. After the sharp disagreement both Barnabas and Mark disappear from the history of the Acts. No more record about their ministry.