I was in the mood for a little George Jones this week—I’m sure that mood strikes each of you with regularity. I listened to his lament, entitled “Choices”, with the words
I’ve had choices Since the day that I was born
There were voices That told me right from wrong
If I had listened No I wouldn’t be here today
Living and dying With the choices I made
Each of us, to one degree or another, can identify with old George. Any man who says he’d not change a single choice he’s made in life is either a liar or a fool, and most likely, both. Life is a series of choices, decisions of every variety, some tiny and some huge, with consequences that range from utterly inconsequential to life-changing. How many different decisions do we make in a given day? Certainly, it must number in the thousands, if not the hundreds of thousands. Many of these decisions we reach subconsciously, or at least we do not deliberate about them in any detail. The light turns red, I stop the car; I don’t engage in sophisticated analysis of what to do. Now, with the light turning yellow, I do engage in a bit more detailed analysis: “can I beat it”, is the general question.
Decisions, Decisions
What’s the most important decision you made in the last week? What’s the least important? (Talk around the table briefly).
When we come to today’s text, we find Paul making a series of decisions that will greatly impact the lives of others, and the success of the spread of the gospel of Christ that we’ve been studying. Last week, we looked at that pivotal text in the book of Acts, where the church at Jerusalem settled once-and-for-all the Salvation Equation: we are made right with God by virtue of God’s grace, met with our faith, plus nothing else. I do not come to God pleading my own case, asking God to look at the good things I’ve done, or the religious organizations I’ve joined, or how I’ve treated other people, and then to let me into Heaven on those bases. No, I come to God recognizing that apart from His grace, I am sunk, that my sin separates me from Him, and that what He requires of me is one thing and one thing only: trust in Christ. Paul has been entrusted by God with spreading that message, and now he makes the first decision we note today, in verse 36:
I. The Second Missionary Journey
Notice Paul’s initial purpose and reasoning: it is to go and check on the churches that have already been started, to see what is happening there. It’s not to launch new churches, or to proclaim the gospel in a new place, but rather to assess the current state of these existing churches. The Christian life is about far more than making a start with Christ; in fact, placing our faith in Christ is only that, a start. Yes, when we place our faith in Christ alone for our salvation, we become God’s children; we are brought into His kingdom; our names are written in Heaven for eternity, and Heaven is our eternal home. But Paul is also concerned with the growth and development of these new believers, and that’s the reason he gives for wanting to make a second missionary journey. But the second decision we consider is where things get a little hairy:
II. Personnel
Let’s begin by noting something: the Bible doesn’t gloss over the “ugly parts”. Luke is honest as a historian here, telling the truth about a dispute between two great men and leaders of the early church. This dispute is noted in verses 37-39, and it has to do with
A. John Mark
This dispute caused “sharp disagreement”. Did tempers flare? Yeah, I think so, from the Greek used here. The word in the original here doesn’t connote an orderly, reasoned discourse; these guys went at it. Remember, these were men, men who would not be fully-sanctified until they got to Heaven. God created each of us as emotional beings; sometimes, we exercise our passions in ways that go beyond the bounds of the glory of God, that get out of control—and it’s likely that these two flesh-and-blood guys said some things in some ways that they each came to regret later. Unity in Christ doesn’t mean uniformity, and in this fallen world, it doesn’t always mean agreement, by any means.
And we won’t have all of our sharp edges worn off until we get to Heaven. Martin Luther said of himself, “I am rough, boisterous, stormy, and altogether warlike, fighting against innumerable monsters and devils. I am born for the removing of stumps and stones, cutting away thistles and thorns, and clearing wild forests.” Yet God used Luther mightily to reclaim the precious truth of salvation by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ.
What was the basic bone of contention? The issue involved the fitness of John Mark to join the journey. Paul knew well the rigors of the journey, the many uncertainties which lay ahead, the likelihood of persecution and opposition. Paul had seen John Mark fail during the first go-round, and likely saw this as stemming from one or more character flaws. We all know the pain of placing trust and confidence in a person who ultimately fails us; we all know that when this happens, we often have to carry extra burdens, work doubly-hard, shoulder more responsibility. From Paul’s perspective, did it make sense to trust John Mark again, when he’d proven himself inadequate?
On the other hand, Barnabas, which was a nickname meaning “Son of Encouragement”, was a guy who on many occasions ministered that encouragement to others. He had done so with Paul, right after Paul’s experience with God on the Damascus Road, accepting Paul when others would have turned tail and run the other direction. Now, he stands up for his cousin, John Mark, a young man in whom he undoubtedly saw many fine qualities, perhaps qualities that Paul had missed. God is a God of second chances—and third and seventeen-hundredth chances; shouldn’t they give John Mark, who was apparently willing and had undoubtedly offered words of reassurance to Barnabas, a second chance? And how much good might it have done John Mark to spend some time hanging around with Paul and Barnabas?
Do we put the needs of the mission first, or the needs of the individual? This isn’t always an easy call to make, and it’s of no use to say we ought to err on the side of grace, because it’s still a question of “grace toward whom, the individual or the group?”
So who was right, and who was wrong? Some people feel a need to vindicate Paul in every decision, as though everything he did was right. I don’t feel that need. At the same time, does the fact that Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement mean that one was right, and the other wrong? Is someone always wrong when we disagree? Paul didn’t seem to think so; read Romans 14. Dave Mason sang, “there ain’t no good guys; there ain’t no bad guys; there’s only you and me, and we just disagree!” Is that possible? I believe so. This was a wisdom issue, not a moral one. When it comes to moral issues, there is clear right and wrong, but when it comes to wisdom issues, the lines blur, and it’s more difficult. Ajith Fernando observes, “It is significant that after so many centuries of study, the church is still not sure who was at fault in the conflict between Paul and Barnabas.” My answer is, perhaps no one was at fault! Why must blame be affixed? The Bible gives no hint, and good men can differ on the best means to accomplish a given purpose. This decision was painful, but neither man would budge, and Paul reaches a second personnel decision:
B. Silas
Could Paul not have just gone it alone? In theory, yes, but in practice, no. We might, from our individualistic American mindsets, see little need for teammates, but in reality, the iron-sharpening-iron element of Christian faith is critical. Accountability is enhanced. Effectiveness in ministry is enhanced, as the strengths of one make up for the weaknesses of the other, and vice-versa. Lone Rangering doesn’t cut it in the church in general, and it doesn’t really cut it in ministry either.
Silas would be a great help in several respects. First, he had proven his character to Paul. Second, as they’d be taking the letter from the Jerusalem church to these outlying churches, Silas’ presence would have the same affirming and reassuring effect on the churches of Galatia that it did toward the church in Antioch. Third, the fact that Silas was a Roman citizen would make the privileges that Paul enjoyed, also being a Roman citizen, something that would be shared; it’d certainly be a good thing if Paul’s traveling companion were on par in this respect. Silas was a prophet as well, one who could boldly and effectively speak forth the Word of the Lord.
The church at Antioch blessed this journey, and sent the men off.
C. Timothy
Lying crumpled on the ground was Paul, having been stoned by a lynch mob outside the town of Lystra. The followers of Christ came and stood around Paul, likely assuming that he was dead, that they’d have to take his battered and bruised body and prepare it for burial. But then, according to the Scripture we read several weeks ago, Paul rose up from the ground—perhaps even rose up from the dead, we’re not sure. And witnessing this amazing miracle of Paul’s resuscitation was likely young Timothy. He’d heard Paul’s preaching, seen God’s hand working in miraculous ways, and committed his life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And he had grown in his faith.
Young Timothy’s reputation preceded him. Raised in a home led by a Greek father, who had married a Jewish girl, young Timothy was of mixed lineage. His mother should have had him circumcised as an infant, and raised him as a Jew, but it is likely that his father, now probably deceased, had not allowed this, and the Jewish community in Lystra was probably so small as to not raise much objection.
If John Mark had been along, would Timothy have been allowed to come on the journey? Would two apprentices have been one too many? Perhaps, and we know that Timothy proved immensely useful to Paul, to his ministry, and to the Kingdom of God. Paul called young Timothy his own son, such were the deep bonds of affection between these men. Paul makes a decision to launch a second journey, and personnel decisions;
III. The Circumcision of Timothy
More or less matter-of-factly, Acts 16:3 says that Paul took Timothy and circumcised him. Doesn’t this sound like Paul is going back on the decision of the Jerusalem Council? The question of acceptance with God on the part of Gentiles was significantly one of whether or not Gentiles would be required to undergo circumcision, the mark of covenant-keeping Jews, in order to be right with God. The decision, much to the delight of Paul, was “no”—so where does Paul get off now having Timothy, born of a Greek father, circumcised? Is Paul being hypocritical? Does he fear the Jewish believers at Lystra and Iconium, and allowing fear to motivate him to have his young apprentice circumcised? What gives?
What gives is that the issue is not Timothy’s salvation or acceptance by God, but rather his usefulness in mission. No church, as Ajith Fernando points out, asks for an advanced theological degree as a condition of membership, but for pastoral staff, this is not an unusual requirement. So for ministry, though not for membership in the body of Christ, Paul has Timothy undergo this ritual.
I Corinthians 9:19-23 speaks of Paul’s heart in such matters:
“though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel.”
Paul lived out his commitment to Christ through the Jewish cultural norms that he’d grown up with. Cultural is a neutral thing. We live out our Christian faith in an American cultural context, and we err when we try to make people in other civilizations live out their faith in accordance with our culture. Haitian Christian music sounds…Haitian! And that’s cool. Paul urged his converts to live out their faith through their own cultural expressions (I Corinthians 7:17-24). Timothy would be seen by the Jewish world as being Jewish, for he had a Jewish mother and that’s how such things were reckoned. To be uncircumcised would mean to be a “bad Jew”, and in Paul’s eyes, a Christian Jew wasn’t a bad Jew, but a fulfilled one. Therefore, for the sake of witness, this was an expedient thing to do. For Paul, everything was about the gospel. It was all for Jesus and His message. And as John Stott writes, “what was unnecessary for acceptance with God was advisable for acceptance by some human beings.” Some controversial decisions, but we can learn from them. Notice some
Points to Ponder
• God furthers His own glory, even through the bad decisions we sometimes make.
This doesn’t make the decisions right, but it does say that God is sovereignly in control. Instead of one set of missionaries, there were now two, each proclaiming the gospel of Jesus. God turns the decisions we make to serve His own purposes. Paul planned to go to see the Christians in the churches where he’d already preached, but as we’ll see, this second missionary journey went further, and accomplished more, than Paul ever dreamed when he took his first steps west/northwest from Antioch. “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans”, someone has said. It’s great to know that even when we screw up, God’s in control.
• It’s OK to be different.
We don’t have to do ministry like every other church does it, nor do we have to criticize other churches who do it differently. There is plenty of place for plenty of different types of ministry. I’ve never been part of a church that does ministry in some of the ways we choose to do it—and that’s just fine, because I wouldn’t be here today were it not for the imprint of those ministries on my life, even though we are doing things differently in many respects than they! Now there are certainly some minimal elements involved in a church that pleases God, some common denominators without which we cannot be effective in accomplishing real Kingdom results. But there is much room for difference. Paul and Barnabas had a significant difference of opinion on an element of strategy, so strong that they parted company. But without any clue in Scripture that one of the men was making a sinful decision, we aren’t warranted to assume anything other than that they had two different approaches that each man felt strongly about. So? God used Paul and Silas, and God used Barnabas and John Mark. Some folks decry the existence of different denominations, but I don’t; just because my denominational tag isn’t the same as somebody else’s doesn’t mean we can’t be on the same team. If the Word of God is preached as the Word of God; if Jesus Christ is exalted as God in the flesh, Whose death on Calvary paid the price for my sin; if salvation is understood to take place as a result of God’s grace being met with my faith; if those are the hallmarks of another ministry, then that’s my team! And while I do not shrink from voicing significant concerns with heretics and theological compromisers, you won’t hear me using this pulpit to criticize those who are part of the team!
• It costs something to follow Jesus.
Timothy underwent significant physical pain in order to minister more effectively for Christ. The missionary to Buddhists might need to become a vegetarian in order not to offend needlessly the very people to whom he is attempting to minister. Same might be true for you, that you’d see the need to voluntarily stop participating in some activity for the good of others.
Paul had several critical decisions to make. A fair question to wrap up with is, how ought we, as 21st-century followers of Christ, make decisions? A few thoughts:
“How Do I Go About Making Decisions?”
Question 1: What do we mean when we speak of “The Will of God”?
We need to understand two clear Scriptural senses of the term “the will of God”:
• God’s Sovereign Will
• Known only to God
• “Everything God allows to happen”
Nothing happens without God’s allowing it to. God sovereignly allows all sorts of things, good and bad, to happen; nothing happens apart from His knowledge and acquiescence. 9/11 was part of God’s sovereign will; the world blowing up yesterday wasn’t.
• Includes God’s Moral Will
Which is our second sense of “the will of God”.
• God’s Moral Will
This is what God desires of us.
• Revealed in Scripture
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (II Timothy 3:16). God’s given us His Word so we’ll know how to live.
• Involves right and wrong
God’s moral will isn’t concerned with the color of the carpet; there’s no right or wrong there, unless you count burnt orange.
Question 2: Am I facing a moral decision or a wisdom decision?
The definitions here are simple:
• Moral decision:
A question of right and wrong
Ten Commandments stuff is what we mean here, or the things Paul tells us in the epistles about how to live faithfully before God.
• Wisdom decision:
A question of the wisest course of action
I’m saying that Paul and Barnabas, when they argued over the inclusion of John Mark, were not talking about an issue of right or wrong, but about a question of “what is the wisest course of action?”
If this is a moral decision…
• What does the Bible say?
Our responsibility is to find out what the Word says.
• If the Bible is clear, the decision is clear.
We cannot argue with God. We have one response:
• Yield to the Holy Spirit, and obey God
If this is a wisdom decision…
Most of us have a general idea of what God expects of us as believers, in terms of living morally, but when a decision isn’t a moral decision, when it’s a wisdom decision, what are some Scriptural principles that should guide our way?
• Yield to the Holy Spirit
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. Gal 5:16
In context of walking in a way that pleases God,
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit. Eph 5:18
My prayer each day, all day long, as a Christ-follower, ought to be, “Holy Spirit, fill my life.”
• Do your homework
Find out all you can about the circumstances of the decision. We should make an informed decision, marshalling all of the facts that we can. That’s just good wisdom.
• Consult the Bible
Though a decision might not be a moral one, involving clear right and wrong, the Bible might still provide counsel and guidance.
Is it always wrong to take on debt? Most of us would say, “no”. Does the Bible counsel against getting ourselves entangled by debt? Absolutely; Bible says so. Is it wrong to take an alcoholic drink? I don’t believe the Bible teaches that. Is it wrong to be controlled by alcohol, or any “substance”, for that matter? Absolutely; Bible says so. So any idea that you might have that I’m saying that the Bible only helps us with black-and-white moral judgments is wrong; the Bible gives good counsel in living life!
• Seek godly counsel
“Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.” Pro 11:14
“Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.” - Pro 15:22
Again I take to task our American self-sufficient cowboy attitude that says, “I can make this decision; I don’t need anybody’s help.” That’s not only anti-Biblical, it’s foolish. The best thing a wise counselor can do for us sometimes is to provide perspective, as well as godly, Biblical insight.
• Ask God for wisdom
In the context of teaching on how to deal with trials and difficulties, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” - James 1:5
• Make the decision
Sometimes this is the tough part, for me; the “paralysis of analysis” is a problem sometimes. Paul made some tough decisions in today’s passage, but made in the wisdom of the Spirit, they had a great impact for the Kingdom of God. May God give us the grace to seek Him when we are faced with decisions!
Table Talk
• Can you think of an instance when God worked through a decision you made—even if the decision itself might not have been a good one?
• Looking at the five principles for making wisdom decisions, which do you find the toughest to do? Why?
