SEP 4 2016

Sea Change Church · Harry Wilson · September 4, 2016
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

All right, well, welcome to La Jolla Christian Fellowship. Like they've said, my name's Harry, and I'm the youth pastor on staff. I have like my whole youth posse all scattered around, and it's awesome. Yeah, Zach. So super cool to see everyone here on Labor Day. And I'm also known as the pocket-sized pastor due to just the stature. But I got big shoes to fill, and we're working on it, so gunning for it.

Ah. Anyway, so we're stoked you're here. And like they said, we're talking about conflict today, which I know is rough since none of us can really relate to that. But I promise we're gonna get through it. So we're going in, and we're gonna talk about conflict, and we're just gonna dive in today. And so looking at verse 36, so open up your Bibles or your Kindles or iPhones, however you're accessing the word today.

And it says, Some time later, Paul said to Barnabas, let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preach the word of the Lord and see how they're doing. So the first thing that's super important to understand is to recognize, we've been in this kind of series in the book of Acts, and we're looking at the missionary journeys of Paul.

And he's, like Adam said, he's finished the first missionary journey. And what we have to recognize in this scripture, what he's suggesting and the severity of what he's suggesting. He's saying, hey, let's go back to all the places. Well, if you've been here with us through the book of Acts, then you know that he's been going to cities, and he's being rejected.

He's being stoned. He's being persecuted. He's being falsely accused. And now he's coming to his brother, and he's saying, hey, let's go back. Let's go do that again, right? Sounds great. Let's go back. Let's go do it again. And let's go check on those believers, right? Paul is set on this mission. So we have to understand, in order to understand the nature of this conflict, we have to understand the severity of what Paul is suggesting.

And then 37, 38, I'll read through it. It says, Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them. But Paul did not think it was wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. So another thing to note that Paul has a personal grudge towards Mark. No, he doesn't, right? That's not what it says.

It says that Paul, I love it. Thank you, bro. It says that Paul did not think it was wise for John Mark to come, right? He didn't think it was for wisdom's sake that he wanted to hold John Mark back. And it's because that Paul wants trustworthy people surrounding him, right? He wants people that he can trust, because he knows, hey, I'm going into these cities, and I'm getting stoned.

I'm getting persecuted. I need someone that has my back. And there's this young John Mark, who in the first missionary journey fled early on. He left. And so he wants people to have his back. And it could even also be for John Mark's sake, this young John Mark. And it could be for his sake as well. And so it's wisdom that he says, I don't want him to come.

He wants these trustworthy people surrounding him. So the first question for you today is, this is so important for Paul, and it's important for us. Like, who has your back? Like, do you have friends that you can rely on? People that have your back? And maybe we don't see in America, we don't see as many people getting stoned, right? But maybe we don't see that too often. But when was the last time you felt heavy?

Like, when was the last time you felt like you were carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders? Or the world was throwing things at you, and you just, you felt like you can't take it anymore? Right? When was the last time you felt like that? Maybe you're there today. And we talked earlier in Acts, in the story where Paul gets stoned, and there's a scene where, you know, he's covered in rocks.

And he's surrounded, right? He gets surrounded by his other disciples and apostles and friends. And they surround him, and they start lifting the rocks from him, right? They start lifting, they start uncovering him. Do we have someone in our life who can take a stone from us, right? Do we have someone in our life who can do that? And if you're sitting here today, and the answer is no, the answer is like, man, I don't have that person.

Like, awesome, you're here on a great day. Because as they talked about this, we're going in to small groups and things like that that are starting up. So I hope that this place can be a place of refuge for you, a place of encouragement, where you can find, get connected in a small group or just here on Sunday service. However it is you get connected, that there's opportunities here to have something like that, right?

Because we can't do this alone. Looking at verse 39, it says, They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Such a sharp disagreement. And the word, actually, the word sharp is, actually, and it's a Greek word, and it's translated. Well, the Greek word for sharp is paroxysmos. I don't know if anyone speaks Greek and wants to, like, hit me.

I think I got it. Paroxysmos is the Greek word for sharp. And this is where we get the English word paroxysm, right? This is derived from the Greek word. And if you guys know what that paroxysm means, it means a sudden attack or violent expression of a particular emotion or activity. In medicine, it's talking about a heightening or a worsening of symptoms or even the onset of a disease.

So when, like, this isn't like they had this little disagreement and they did their, like, apostle secret handshake and just, like, went their own way. That's not what happened. Like, this is sharp. This is a rough disagreement. This is heated. This is passionate. They're in the moment, right? And so we have to understand the severity of their disagreement.

Like, this is a passionate disagreement. And like most passionate disagreements, neither man was really in the wrong, right? Have you experienced that where you're in the heat of an argument and you realize that you both have these sides and you both have truth to them? And neither man's really in the wrong. We have Paul who wants to surround himself with trustworthy people, right?

That's what he wants to do. He knows the importance of the work in front of him. And he wants trustworthy people going into it. And we have Barnabas who wants to give this young John Mark a second chance, right? He knows that, like, that we receive grace and multiple chances from such a good God. And I got, he wants to extend that and be an example of that for this young John, right?

That's what he wants to do. And so they both have these, this sharp disagreement, but they're both, they're both, neither of them are in the wrong. And not only are they both not in the wrong, but they're both actually acting into their spiritual gifting, right? Into who God made them to be. They're both acting into that. Because Paul has a zeal for God, right?

If we've been following Paul along, we know that he is zealous for God. Like, that is one of his main attributes. Even when he was Saul, right? He was zealous for God. That's, that's a big part of his story, right? And so he's got eyes on the mission. And it makes sense that the mission is the most important thing to him, right? It makes sense of him being strict about the mission and how the mission is going to, is going to happen.

That's him acting into his, into his own gifting, right? And then we have Barnabas, who's also called the son of encouragement. And he comes alongside Mark and says, hey, let's give, let's give this young guy a second chance. Like, I want to take him under my wing. I want to disciple him. I want to encourage him, right? So both men are acting into their own spiritual gifting.

There's no sin in parting ways here, right? There's no sin in their separation. They haven't taken any vows. They're not married, right? There, there's no sin for them to say, okay, like we can't see eye to eye here and to, and to separate. There's no sin in that. I've had the same best friend for about nine years. His name's Chase. We've been best friends since, since eighth grade.

And we've never had this kind of paroxysmos type disagreement, right? We never had this heated, really heated. We had a little, a little conflicts here and there, but everything was kind of cool. Like, and we kind of prided ourselves on that. We're like, dude, we're the best friends ever. Like we rock. We never fight. We're super cool. Until very recently, until very recently we had, we started to have a disagreement.

And what was happening is we would make plans and, and then he would, he would cancel. And it started to happen really frequently and make plans, cancel. And then there's certain things that I was excited about that I wanted him to show up for. And he said he'd be there. And then he wouldn't, he wasn't there. And so I confronted my friend and was like, dude, you're dropping the ball.

Like, where, where are you, man? Like, you're supposed to be my best friend. Like, how can I rely on you? How can I count on you? Right? I'm kind of taking Paul's attitude here where I'm like, I want to know that I can count on you. I don't feel at all I can count on you. And, and I approach it that way. I'm like, dude, you're, you're flaky. And that didn't go over well, believe it or not.

Believe it or not, that didn't go over well. So he, he comes back at me. He's like, well, you know what, you demand too much on our friendship. You demand too much. In fact, you're needy. You demand too much and you're needy. I know, I know. And this is where it got bad. He said, he said, and I've been carrying you for too long. Right? I couldn't, like, and now, like, the gloves are off, right?

Like, I'm like, you, you carry me like I carry you. Do you remember the time that, we won't even go there. But I carry you and we're going back and forth like this. And we're in this paroxysmos disagreement, right? And what happens is my buddy says this, right? In the midst of this heated argument, my buddy brings it all back into perspective. And he says, he says to me, you know what, I'm really flawed.

And sometimes I'm not sure how you deal with my flaws. But if you need something to count on, you can count on this. And that's that I would literally die for you. You can count on that. But in the midst of this heated argument, he brings what's really important back into perspective. Right? And the apostles here have the same idea. Right? In the midst of this argument, they don't lose track of what's really important.

Paul and Barnabas always keep their mind on their goal. And that's the ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's their goal, right? And they always keep that, keep in mind on their goal. And so what they do is they split their initial itinerary basically in half to make sure that the goal of going back to all these churches and checking up on them is still reached.

Right? They kind of split that itinerary in half. And so what I want to ask is what's your main goal as a Christian? Or what's your main goal as a friend or a neighbor? Whatever it is. Like, if your main goal as a Christian is to be right? Or is it to influence someone on what your political views are? Or is it to like, I don't know. Like, what's your main goal?

If it's to do anything other than point others to Jesus, then our priorities are in the wrong place. Right? We have to be pointing others to Jesus. That's our main goal. Not to have the greatest influence or whatever it is. And the thing is, is I was listening to a sermon last night. We're all in ministry. Right? Whether we, like, feel like we signed up for that.

You're like, what are you talking about? I never get paid. Like, I'm not in ministry. You are. Like, we're all in ministry. Like, that's part of it. That's part of it when we sign up and we accept the grace of God. And then we get to invite others into it. Right? We're all in ministry. And so where's your ministry? Like, what place would be different if you weren't there?

Right? What place would lack grace, would lack love if you weren't there? I read this quote this week by N.T. Wright. And it said this. It says, The Christian mission means implementing the victory which Christ won on the cross. Everything else follows from this. I'll read that again. The Christian mission means implementing the victory which Christ won on the cross.

Everything else follows from this. So in the midst of disagreement, because we're going to have disagreements, right? In the midst of these disagreements, can we not lose track of our goal? And that's to live in victory and then to invite others to be a part of it. Right? So are you living in victory today? Are you in a place where you're living in victory?

I'm often not. Right? That's something that's hard. Like, what does that mean to live in victory? We talked about, last time I preached, we talked about like an attitude of joy. I think victory is an attitude. Right? I think victory is an attitude. I was thinking about and talking last night just about different worship music. And there's some worship music that is so like high victory, high praise.

And sometimes I walk into a church and I'm like, whoo, like, yeah. And everyone's like pumped. And it's kind of, sometimes I'm like, I relate to the songs that maybe go into more of the struggle and the redemption from the struggle. But, and I realized as I was taught, even just vocalizing all this yesterday, I was like, I just don't know if I live in victory.

And then I was like, oh my gosh, that's what I'm talking about tomorrow. Right? So God is always like, he's, he's always teaching me. And, and it's important that victory is an attitude. Like, can we, can we, what does it mean to lean into victory? And so here's the, uh, the beautiful thing about what happens in this situation. Uh, Paul and Barnabas, they separate, right?

So they do fail to stay unified. Right? But God uses their failure to create two missionary journeys instead of one. Right? He uses their failure to create two missionary journeys instead of one. And this is the core of the message. It's that it is God's great ambition to redeem our personal failures and use them for kingdom advancement. Right? I'm going to read that one more time.

It is God's great ambition to redeem our personal failures and use them for kingdom advancement. All of us have had relationships or, uh, or businesses or whatever it is we're involved with. Uh, here it's very, it's, we're talking about relational and we've all had these relationships that are stained by failure. Right? And maybe you've had somebody in your life who's, who's really failed you.

Maybe it's been a parent or whatever it is, or maybe you've really failed somebody else. Uh, you could have a friend, a marriage, a business, a parent, like it could be any of these things where you're just like, there's been failure, right? We all have that. But it's God's mission to use that same failure to advance his kingdom on earth and also in your heart.

Right? He wants to advance his kingdom further into your heart. That's God's goal. That's God's mission. And Paul is aware of this, right? And later on, Paul writes in Romans 8, 28, he says, and we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Right? In all things, God works for the good of those who love him.

That includes our failure. That includes our shortcoming. That includes our sin. Like we mess up and we fail, but God's going to use all things for the good of those who love him. Right? That's what he's going to do. And God is also, he's several steps ahead of our failure. That's what I love about God is that we can already have messed up and God's, he's way ahead of us, right?

What's cool about this passage is if we look at it, it says, it says here that Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus. And then verse 40, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. So Paul chose Silas and God's already, he's already thinking ahead, right? What's important about Paul choosing Silas to come along this journey is that Silas is a Roman citizen.

And as we'll see as we get deeper into the book of Acts, Paul's Roman citizenship and Silas's Roman citizenship gets them out of a lot of sticky situations, you could say, where they end up in prison. You know, we talk later where they're in a prison in Philippi and yeah, and they get persecuted. And their Roman citizenship, their status in Rome helps them through these situations.

So, so God is already thinking ahead, right? And he takes Silas and this is, this is important, right? God's already moving in the midst of their failure. And not only this, but God loves redemption, right? The original, the original conflict goes all the way back to the garden, right? The original conflict is sin. It's Adam and Eve's failure, right?

To, to follow God, to follow through, to listen to God. And we have, and we have sin as the original conflict, but God loves redemption. And it's because of their failure that we get the savior of Jesus Christ, right? Because of Adam and Eve's failure, we get the son that comes into the world and takes on our sin, right? On the cross. God loves redemption.

And he redeems us on the cross. And so, in this circumstance, we, we get to see redemption, right? We get to see that. What, what ends up happening actually is Paul later writes in 2 Timothy, only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you because he is helpful to me and my ministry, right? He calls Mark back. Somebody who he originally thought was untrustworthy, right?

He originally thought that he, he shouldn't, his company was untrustworthy, right? He couldn't rely on Mark. And now he says, hey, let's bring, let's bring Mark back. He is helpful to me in my ministry, right? I love, I love the way God, God works here. And so, he calls him back and he says, or no, my question to you is, is do you have relationships or wounds in your life that seem unredeemable?

I know I do, right? Where there's relationships in my life where I'm like, I don't know how to forgive that person. I don't know how to fully move on. Or that person will never come to their senses or whatever it is that I'm thinking. Do you have relationships in your life that are so marked by brokenness, by failure, by sin? And you're just like, this is unfixable, right?

God can't fix this. I can't fix this. But in this story, we see redemption. And the key point, as we're closing out, coming in for a landing, as Adam says, is that redemption wins, right? Redemption wins. So, whatever you are in the thick of today, right? We're all in the thick of busyness and work and school and whatever you guys are in the thick of today, in the midst of heated arguments and suffering, right?

Go with this. Redemption wins. So, whether we see it in this life, and sometimes we don't see things fully redeemed till the next, know that redemption wins. And we can go and live in victory. God, we can live in victory. So, I'm going to pray out for us. God, thank you for, thank you that we can get to step into victory because of you, God. We get to live in victory, Lord.

That nothing can touch us, God. Nothing can forsake us because you have come and you have died for us, Lord. That regardless of our failures, regardless of our sin, God, that you come and you move, Lord. I just thank you for how you move in each one of our lives, God. That it doesn't matter how we fail, Lord. You're several steps ahead. So, I pray today that as everyone goes out and as we take communion, Lord, we can remember that because of your bloodshed, because of your sacrifice, God, we get to step into victory.

And I pray that that would be on our hearts as we go through this week. It's in your awesome name. Amen.