Disagreements happen. It is a fact of life. Ideally, when Christians disagree there should be a degree of good will and grace; sometimes you just have to agree to differ. And remember, even though we have the Holy Spirit, none of us are infallible. We come across two significant disagreements in Acts 15. There is the dispute between Paul and Barnabus. They had done some remarkable work together on their missionary journey, new churches had been planted in a number of cities in what is today Turkey.

The Spirit had led the church at Antioch to send them out to spread the good news.

Paul and Barnabus were the instruments God was using to take the gospel out to all the nations. Paul suggests to Barnabus that they go on their travels again and see how the new believers are doing in Derbe, Lystra, Iconium and Antioch in Pisidia. Barnabus agrees, but then the problem arises. Barnabus wants to take John Mark with them again. John had been with them on their previous trip, but he had left part way through and gone home to Jerusalem.

Paul says no, John has deserted them before, he has proved to be unreliable and he cannot come. Barnabus disagrees with Paul; he is not going to back down. Isn’t the gospel about forgiveness and giving people a second chance? It says that they had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. In other words they fell out.

What does that teach us about arguments between Christians? First it teaches us that arguments sometimes happen between the most spiritual of people. You can see both sides of the argument. Paul had got a point. When you choose someone to share in an important task, you look at his or her track record. It is always good to have a person who has proved their ability at the type of work required.

On the other hand you can see Barnabus’ point of view. People deserve a second chance, the early church leadership was made up entirely of failures. All of the disciples had forsaken Jesus and fled. Peter had even denied Jesus three times, but yet God could use him to lead the church.

I don’t know that there is a right of wrong answer. The church still has similar problems to live with today. We know that it is important that we ask questions about people’s past performance when appointing them to church work. In fact regulations now require that those who work with people have a proper police check to ensure they have no history of failure.

This is in part because in the past churches have been too naïve and trusting. It is not always appropriate to give a person a second chance at a task where they have an inherent weakness and could do harm. On the other hand we know that no one is perfect, we have all had our failures, we all need a second chance, and God needs imperfect people to serve him; they are the only kind he has got.

As I said; in these matters things are not always clear-cut; sometimes Christians will strongly disagree, or even fall out. But the important thing is not to let these differences divert from God’s call to us to serve him. Even though Paul and Barnabus went their separate ways, they both went to serve God. Barnabus went with Mark to Cyprus, covering the area where they had gone first; Paul takes Silas and they travel overland to Derbe to visit the churches in that area.

The more significant disagreement however, is the one that arises in Antioch. It seems that Paul and Barnabus were not the only people travelling around to the churches. There are some people who arrive in Antioch from Jerusalem, and they tell the gentile Christians there that they cannot be saved unless they become circumcised, unless they undergo the surgery that is standard for all Jewish baby boys to distinguish them as God’s chosen people.

Now all of the first Christians were Jewish, they would be circumcised, but as the story has continued in the book of Acts, we find non Jewish people being baptized and accepted into the church. Initially there was Cornelius and his family. Then there was a large number of gentile Christians in the church in Antioch in Syria. When Paul and Barnabus return from their missionary journey, there are churches in a number of towns made up in the main of non-Jews, people who have not been circumcised.

Paul and Barnabus disagree strongly with those who are saying all believers should be circumcised. The issue is a matter that needs sorting out, so Paul and Barnabus are sent to Jerusalem with others to consult with the apostles on the matter. We know more about this whole issue from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, even after this matter was settled in Jerusalem, there were still people going around arguing that circumcision was necessary for Christians. Galatians was written to reassure the churches that there was no need to obey the strict Jewish regulations about circumcision and other rituals.

So Paul and Barnabus arrive in Jerusalem with others from Antioch. We know from the letter to Galatians that Titus was one of those who went with them, Titus was a gentile, so he was not circumcised, but they were all welcomed by the apostles at Jerusalem.

When they arrive, they initially have a meeting with the apostles. In Galatians chapter 2 Paul tells us that he met with Peter and John and James (the brother of Jesus). Paul tells them the gospel message that he has been preaching and how God has honoured and blessed that message through people coming to faith. As a result, the apostles affirm Paul and Barnabus’ ministry; they accept that it is as valid as Peter’s ministry to the Jews.

But then the argument emerges. While they are in Jerusalem, some believers who belonged to the Pharisee party say that gentile Christians have not only got to be circumcised, they have also got to keep all the mosaic laws, thing relating to washing and eating only ceremonially clean food.

So the apostles and elders are called together to consider the matter. There was much discussion. No doubt different points of view were expressed. No doubt different scriptures would have been quoted. It is good to talk and to listen to each other when we are trying to discern God’s will. No doubt though, there would have been a real concern regarding the idea that gentiles could come into the church without being circumcised or obeying the other rules and regulations.

For the Jewish believers, they had done these things all their lives, their coming to believe in Jesus was to them the ultimate fulfilment of their religion; It affirmed the Old Testament. To them it seemed obvious that all new believers should obey all the regulations too.

But Peter gets up to speak. He had been Jesus companion. He had also known personally God’s guidance in regard to accepting the first gentiles into the church. He reminds everyone about that. God had clearly guided him to preach the gospel to Cornelius and his household. God had sent the Holy Spirit on that group of people just as he had on the apostles.

Both Jews and gentiles are saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, not through obeying rules and regulations. Then Paul and Barnabus tell how God has continued through the Holy Spirit to convert and accept gentiles as they have travelled around preaching the gospel and affirming their ministry by signs and wonders.

James then speaks, he quotes the Old Testament scriptures, saying how the prophecies confirm what has been happening in the church, the prophesies that speak of God reaching out in his love to all people. What the church leaders could see was that God is not a set of rules and regulations. The Christian faith is about faith in the living, active God.

In fact it always had been. It is the same God who had told Abraham to go into the Promised Land and Moses to command Pharaoh to let his people go. To impose circumcision on gentile believers would in fact be tempting God, it would be clearly disobeying what God had shown the church.

So James suggests that a letter is written to all the gentile Christians affirming that they are neither required to be circumcised or obey the ceremonial regulations. They are required to live by a distinct Christian lifestyle that is different from the pagan culture around.

Three things are required. First; to abstain from food offered to idols. Christians should be distinct from pagans and their worship, repentance means putting pagan practice behind. Second, to abstain from blood, and the meat of strangled animals. This requirement goes back to a requirement God imposed when he made a covenant with Noah after the flood. In Genesis 9v4 God tells Noah not to eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. God’s covenant with Noah was for all mankind, whereas many of the requirements of the laws of Moses were specifically for the people of Israel. Thirdly, James suggests that the believers are required to abstain from sexual immorality. Sexual relationships go back to creation where God made man and woman and decreed that they should live together in love and faithfulness. In Genesis 2 v 4 we are told that God’s plan for human beings is that a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Quoting this principle, Jesus added the words ‘what God has joined let no-one separate. Christians in their relationships are called to reflect God’s love and faithfulness.  

The church faced a disagreement, but in coming together, and seeking God’s will, by the Holy Spirit God had guided. The matter had been decided. They wrote the letter, God’s will had been discerned. We can all thank God for those because the church was opened up to all, all are saved through the grace of our Lord Jesus.

It is important what the church teaches. It is not good enough, either having people go around making unnecessary demands, or preaching a libertarian message that makes no moral demands. The church is made up of those who have put their faith in Christ, are accepted through his grace and are seeking to follow a living Lord with the help of the Holy Spirit.

There is a freedom in that. Paul knew the reality of that. For much of his life he had been a Pharisee, seeking to please God by diligent obedience to the rules and regulations of the law. As a result he had become a hateful, belligerent character.

But then he had met Jesus. He had discovered the freedom of a life lived in love and service to his living Lord and his fellow men and women. But a freedom that was possible only through the grace and forgiveness of our Lord Jesus Christ. May we know that reality too.

Amen.

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