I have entitled the message for
tonight, Paul and Barnabas Separate. I'm thankful that the Holy Spirit
has this very sad event recorded for us. But this, as every other
scripture is, is inspired of God. This event of Paul and Barnabas
being at disagreement, being at odds about John Mark, and
the scripture says they actually were torn asunder. They left one another and went
in different directions. Now this is a reminder to us
that the best of men, and I believe Paul and Barnabas would be in
that category, the best of men are men at best. And what did David tell us inspired
by the Holy Spirit in Psalm 39? Man at his best state. And I would say that these are men at their best states.
The Apostle Paul, Barnabas, this very special man, these men that
God used in such a remarkable manner for the defining of and
the spread of the gospel, these are men at their best state. What did David say? Man at his
best state is all together Vanity. You believe that about yourself?
Man in his best state is altogether vanity. Now what a discouragement
this must have been to the early church. And I believe one of
the reasons the discouragement was so great, the gospel was
not the issue in this disagreement. where these men parted asunder. It wasn't the gospel that was
the issue. It was whether John Mark ought
to be allowed to go on the next mission trip. Now, there were
big personalities involved. There were people involved, and
wherever you have people, wherever you have personalities, you have
problems. And what a discouragement this
must have been to the early church. when they watched this parting
asunder of Paul and Barnabas. Now, in Acts chapter 14, verse 15, when Paul and Barnabas
are trying to break up that attempt at people offering sacrifice
to them, they said, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are
men of like passions with you. We have the same problems. We
have the same sinful passions. We're just like you. You don't
need to be sacrificing to us. And he proves in no uncertain
terms at this time that these two men were men of like, fleshly,
weak, sinful passions. And they demonstrate that by
what took place here. Now Paul was the man that God
was pleased to use to expound the gospel more than any other
man. He was really the apostle that
God used more than any other apostle. Now, he said, I'm less
than the least of the saints. I'm the least of the apostles.
That was his view of himself. But he could also say, without
arrogance, I labored more abundantly than they all. And he called
himself the wise master builder. He's the one that God used to
expound the gospel more than any other man. Now I think of
what Ananias said to him on the Damascus road experience that
he had. He said, the God of our fathers,
this is Ananias coming up to Paul. He said, the God of our
fathers hath chosen thee to know his will. And that's not like some religious
person trying to say, I'm just wanting to know what God's will
for my life is. You're up to your neck in it.
He's talking about his will of redemption, his will of the honor
of Christ, the glory of Christ, salvation by his grace. The God
of our fathers hath chosen thee that thou shouldst know his will
and see that just one. See how God can be just and justify
the unbeliever through this just one. And you're going to hear
the voice of His mouth. You're going to hear this is
God speaking. This is God teaching you. For thou shalt be His witness
unto all men of what you've seen and heard. Go, he said to Ananias,
with regard to Paul, he's a chosen vessel to me to bear my name
before kings and the Gentiles. Paul was specifically chosen
by God for this purpose. Now, before the experience on
Damascus, Paul was called Saul of Tarsus, born in Tarsus. And he demonstrated his personality
in his unusual hatred of Jesus Christ. Now, all men hate Christ. Paul demonstrated it more. He
wanted to stamp out the name of Christ. And some have suggested
that he was the rich young ruler, and that's what produced this
hatred of Christ, the way Christ, he came to him, what good thing
can I do? The Lord said, you go and sell
all you have, give to the poor. And he couldn't comply with the
terms. And he perhaps hated Jesus Christ more than the average
man. And Paul, whatever he did, it was full throttle. If he hated
Christ, he was totally against Christ. He was going to try to
stamp out Christ and everybody who believed on him. He's going
to have him put in prison. He's going to have people stoned who
believed on Christ. This man's character was at a
full throttle all the time. even when he was an unbeliever,
and no one served Christ with more ardent zeal than Paul after
the Lord saved him. He was just a special man. He
was a big personality. Look in Acts chapter 7. Here's where we're introduced
to Saul of Tarsus. This is when they're stoning
Stephen. Verse 58, they cast him out of
the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their
clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul. He was giving his affirmation
to what was taking place. He's the one really who perpetrated
this in many ways. When they were laying their clothes
at his feet, he was the won over this thing. Look in chapter eight,
verse one, and Saul was consenting unto his death. He was, he was
a complete agreement with stoning Stephen. Look at it in verse
three, as for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into
every house and hailing men and women committed them to prison.
Look in chapter nine, verse one, And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings
and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high
priest and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues,
that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or
women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. Now, this man
hated Jesus Christ. There's no question about that.
He hated Jesus Christ. And then we read of the Lord
appearing to him on the road to Damascus. It's a beautiful
story. And really, it's how all of us
are saved. The Lord reveals himself to us,
knocks us off our horse of pride and self-righteousness into the
dirt, and makes us to know who he is. Now look in verse 10 of chapter 9, and there was a
certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. And to him, Mitch,
I'll get you, you know how to do it. That's the fire alarm
going off. Verse 11, and the Lord said unto
him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and
inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus.
For behold, He prayeth and hath seen in a vision a man named
Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him that he might
receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord,
I've heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to
thy saints at Jerusalem. And here he hath authority from
the chief priest to bind on them that call on thy name. Ananias
didn't want to have anything to do with him. He said, I know
what he's been guilty of. Verse 15, but the Lord said unto
him, go thy way, for he's a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name
before the Gentiles and the kings and the children of Israel. For
I'll show him how great things he must suffer for my name's
sake. Now look in verse 26 of this
same chapter. This is when Saul's come to Jerusalem
now. This is his first appearance in Jerusalem. Verse 26, and when
Saul has come to Jerusalem, he is saved to join himself to the
disciples, but They were all afraid of him. And they did not
believe he was a disciple. They wouldn't have anything to
do with him. The church of Jerusalem wouldn't receive him. They were
very suspicious of him. Now let's go on reading. But
Barnabas took him. Barnabas was a very gracious
man. Barnabas. took him and brought him to the
apostles and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the
way and that he had spoken to him and how he had preached boldly
at Damascus in the name of Jesus." Now, why was it that Paul was
accepted? Well, it was God's purpose. God
said he's a chosen vessel to me, but humanly speaking, it
was because of the inclusiveness of this man, Barnabas. Now, what
about Barnabas? Turn back into Acts chapter 4. Verse 36, and Joseph, who by
the apostles was surnamed Barnabas. The apostles gave this man a
new name. This is what an encouraging man he was. They gave him a new
name, which is being interpreted, the son of consolation, the son
of comfort, a Levi of the country of Cyprus, having land sold it
and brought the money and laid at the apostles feet. Now we
see what kind of inclusive man, what kind of kind man this man
was. The apostles themselves changed his name from Joseph
to Barnabas, the son of consolation, the son of encouragement. Now he took Paul in when nobody
else would. Now turn back to Acts chapter
11 now. Acts chapter 11. This is when the gospel comes
to the Gentiles. Verse 19, Acts chapter 11. Now they, which were scattered
abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, traveled
as far as Pharnaces, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word
to none but the Jews only. And some of them were men of
Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake
unto the Grecians, the Gentiles, preaching the Lord Jesus. And
the hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed
and turned unto the Lord. Then tidings of these things
came into the ears of the church, which was in Jerusalem. And they
sent forth Paul that he should go as far as Antioch. Doesn't
say that, does it? They didn't send Paul. Now we
think of Paul as the apostles to the Gentiles, but who's the
church sinned? They sinned Barnabas. Not Paul, but Barnabas. This is the man the church had
such confidence in. They sinned Barnabas to preach
the gospel to these Gentiles. Verse 23, who when he was come
and had seen the grace of God, he was glad. You know, it takes
grace to see grace. Oh, may we be gracious people
who see grace like Barnabas was. When he had seen the grace of
God, he was glad and exhorted them all with purpose of heart.
They would cleave unto the Lord for he, Barnabas, was a good
man and full of the Holy Ghost. That's talking about him being
a kind, merciful man. That's the way he is described
in scriptures. And the faith and much people
was added to the Lord. Verse 25, then departed Barnabas
to Tarsus for to seek Saul. Now Saul wouldn't have been coming
to this Gentile church if it wasn't for Barnabas coming and
getting him and bringing him. And then they stayed there and
preach the gospel. Now here's the point. God chose
Barna, I mean, Paul for this work. Humanly speaking, Barnabas
put him on the map. Humanly speaking. The church
at Jerusalem wouldn't have accepted him. They wouldn't send him to
Antioch. It was Barnabas who got him and
sent him to Antioch. And then they became friends
in the ministry. They were always together. Let's
read some more about this. Acts 12, 25. And Barnabas and Saul returned
from Jerusalem. They'd been on this missionary
journey. And Barnabas and Saul together
returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry.
And they took with them John, whose surname was Mark. This
is the man over whom this departing asunder happened, his nephew. Now there were in the church,
chapter 13, there was Antioch, certain prophets and teachers
as Barnabas and Simeon, who's called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene,
and Manasseh, and had been brought up with Herod, the Tetrarch,
and Saul, and they ministered to the Lord and fasted. The Holy
Ghost said, separate me, Barnabas, and Saul. It's interesting, Barnabas
is mentioned first. Separate me Barnabas and Saul
for the work where to I have called them. So we see these
two men were called by God together for this work and the Lord separated
them unto this. Now look in chapter 13 verse
13. Here we read where the contention
began. Now when Paul and his company
loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John
departed from them and returned to Jerusalem." Now the word depart
means he deserted them. We don't know why he did it,
but he did it. He said, I'm not going through
this anymore. See you, fellas. I'm going back
to Jerusalem. He did not like what was going
on. We have no idea what the reason
was, but he deserted them. Now, the conflict doesn't take
place yet. I'm sure Paul had his thoughts about it, but the
conflict does not take place yet. Now, Paul and Barnabas get
together. Look in verse 43 of chapter 13. Now, when the congregation was
broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed
Paul and Barnabas. who speaking to them, persuaded
them to continue in the grace of God. Look in verse 46, then
Paul and Barnabas waxed bold. Verse 50, but the Jews stirred
up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city
and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled
them out of their coasts. Look in chapter 14, verse 12.
And they called Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercurius because he
was the chief speaker. You see how they're together.
Verse 14, which when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard, they
rent their clothes and ran in among the people. Verse, um,
20. How be it as the disciples stood
round about him, he rose up and came in the next city. And the
next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby. Look in chapter 15,
look at their oneness and doctrine. And certain men, which came down
from Judea, taught the brethren and said, except you be circumcised
after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. When therefore
Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with
them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others
would go back to Jerusalem about that issue. We see how these
men were together. Look in verse 12. Then all the
multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul,
declaring what miracles and wonders God had brought among the Gentiles
by them." Now we see the closeness of Paul and Barnabas. God put
them both together into the ministry of preaching the gospel to the
Gentiles. And they were dear, dear friends. Verse 36 of chapter 15. And after
some days after, Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again, and
visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word
of the Lord, and see how they do. Now, Paul loved these people.
He had gone to these many different cities, churches had been established,
people had been brought to the knowledge of Christ. And he really
loved the people he was preaching to. If you read every one of
the epistles, he expresses how dear he feels towards the people,
the Galatians, Corinthians, whoever they were. He loved these people
and he expressed it. And he says to Barnabas, let's
go back and see how they're doing. He loved them and wanted to find
out what was going on with them. Verse 37, and Barnabas determined
to take with him John, whose surname was Mark. Now, John Mark
is the same John Mark that wrote the Gospel of Mark. And at this
time, during one of these missionary journeys, he left. And Barnabas,
you can see from all these scriptures I read, was a real inclusive
person. And he thought, well, he messed
up then, but let's take him again, and I know he won't do that.
Well, Paul didn't have that attitude. He had a standard of excellence,
I have no doubt, that he just could not let go of. And he looked at Mark as being
someone who deserted him. He said, well, once bitten, twice
shy. It's not going to happen again.
He is not going to go with us. He doesn't deserve the opportunity
to go with us. He was upset. And he didn't want
Mark to do this. You know, there's some other
things you can think of. It could be that Paul thought that this
was pure nepotism. You know, this is his nephew.
Good grief. You know, he's shown favoritism
toward him because of these family relationships. It could have
been he was still upset with Barnabas to some extent over
what took place in Galatians chapter 2, where he said, when
Peter got up and moved tables, Paul said even Barnabas was carried
away with their dissimulation, their hypocrisy, and he was upset
with him over his conduct even at that time. So he disagreed. Paul thought it not good to take
him with them who departed from them from Pamphylia and went
not with them to the work. Now, with regard to John Mark, Are there not many stories and
scriptures of believers failing? What about Peter? We have a litany
of Peter's failures. The New Testament is filled with
them. And you know, Paul himself, in
Acts chapter 21, when he took the vow of the Nazarite, and
shaved his head. I mean, in some respects, you
can see where that seems admirable. He was willing to do anything
in order for people to preach the gospel, to hear the gospel.
But do you know when he took the vow, that Nazarite, he also
would have had to offer up a blood sacrifice. Now, is there any
way that could be justified? No. But the Lord in His mercy
had him arrested before it could take place. But we can see in
any man there is this tendency to be weak, to fail, to compromise. We see that in every character
in the scripture. And what about me? What about
you? Before we get too hard on John
Mark, what about me? What about Verse 39, and the contention was so sharp between them that
they departed asunder one from another. Now, this ugly scene
was not caused because the gospel was being compromised. This ugly
scene was I want my way. I don't want to
be disagreed with." Both of them took that position, and it caused
them to depart one from another. And Luke doesn't really tell
us who was wrong. were just left with this ugly scene. And how
must this have grieved the believers to see the champions of the faith,
as they thought, arguing over personal things and letting them
become so strong that they departed asunder and had nothing to do
with one another. How discouraging that must have
been to the church. Now, I believe they were both
wrong. The scripture says, by pride
only cometh contention. That's the word of God. There
was a contention between the two of them. By pride only cometh
contention. When there's a contention between
us, it's because of pride. And that's what was going on
with these men. But if you look at other scriptures,
you can pretty much conclude that Paul was the one that was
in the wrong because he went on to say in 2 Timothy 4, verse
11, bring Timothy. He's profitable to me for the
ministry. Now, there have been a lot of
sermons on Timothy, I mean, on John Mark, and it's usually over
this way of thinking. God gives second
chances. He gave a second chance to Timothy. Now, don't ever use the word
chance with regard to the gospel. And if God does give you a second
chance, you'll blow it. And if he gives you a third chance,
you'll blow it. God's not a God of giving us opportunities. This
was all for Mark's good. This was all for Paul's good. This was all for Barnabas's good. As painful as it was, as difficult
it was, the scripture still says, and we know that all things work
together for good. Is that all things? Yes, all
things doesn't matter what it is. All things work together,
not separately, but they work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. And the Lord used this to prepare
Mark. It was all a part of his purpose
to prepare Mark, to write the glorious gospel of Mark. I'm
sure that Mark was devastated that he had caused so much contention
and problem. He knew he was the reason for
it. I'm sure that bothered him tremendously. I'm sure he was
ashamed of himself. But this was all a part of God
making him to write the Gospel of Mark. I want to read the first
verse of the Gospel of Mark. Would you turn with me there? The beginning of the gospel. This is the first
gospel written. This was before Matthew. This
was before Luke. This was before John. This is
the first gospel written. The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the son of God. Now I can just make 30 seconds
worth of comments on that and preach the gospel. The beginning. The cause, the origin of the
gospel, not a gospel, the gospel, the only gospel that saves sinners.
And what is that gospel? The gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus, thou shalt call His name
Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. He's
the Christ. He's God's prophet. He's the
very Word of God. He's God's priest, and He's like
no other priest. You know, the Old Testament priests,
they'd bring a sacrifice, and they'd put it on an altar. He
is the sacrifice! He's the priest, He's the sacrifice,
and He Himself is the altar, the sacrifice offered up on the
altar of His humanity. the Son of God, the uncreated,
eternal Son of God. Now, all this was used for Mark
to write the gospel. I love the gospel. Mark, we're
preaching, we're looking at it on Wednesday nights. Right now,
it's my favorite gospel, but the ones of my favorites, the
one we're preaching through. But right now, Mark, Mark's favorite. And
how the Lord used this man through every event that took place.
Jesus Christ, the son of God, the son spoken of in Isaiah chapter
nine, verse six, unto us a child is born and to us a son is given. That son was never born. That's
the eternal son that is eternally given to his people. Now, we
learn from this. The conflicts take place. Unfortunately, but they do. Conflicts take place. The reason
behind our conflicts, our contention, is pride. Sinful, self-serving
pride. That's always behind our contentions
if it's not the gospel. Pride. Scripture says that by
pride only cometh contention. So Paul and Barnabas depart asunder, turn back to
our text in Acts chapter 9, I mean Acts chapter 15, and God
the Holy Spirit has this recorded for our good. Verse 39, the contention was
so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the
other. So Barnabas took Mark and sailed into Cyprus and Paul
chose Silas and departed being recommended by the brethren and
to the grace of God. We're going to try to look at
that verse next week. And he went through Syria and
Cilicia confirming the churches. Now we have this departing. a sundry that takes place between
these two dear men. Now, I'm so thankful I don't
have to leave it there. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
9. Now, the church at Corinth was
first founded in Acts 18. on a different missionary journey.
This happened sometime after this departing of Paul and Barnabas. But look what Paul writes to
the Church of Corinth in 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 6, and I have no
doubt that the Holy Spirit has a purpose in having this recorded
at this time. Paul says, or I only, and who? Barnabas. You see, they got back
together. Now, wherever there is strife
between two brethren, get back together. That is what Paul did,
and that is what Barnabas did. We don't know the story of it,
we don't know how it took place, but it did take place. And the
Lord is showing us that in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 6, Paul and Barnabas
got back together. Now this is a very human story,
isn't it? A very human story about sinners
saved by grace acting like sinners. That's what Paul and Barnabas
were doing. They could not bear being disagreed
with. I know a few other people like
that. One of them's talking to you. I can't stand it when people
disagree with me. That's a bad thing, I know it. I recognize that, that's not
good. I have the feeling that these
two guys are like that too. And they parted asunder, but
there's no disagreement that is valid unless it's over the
gospel of who God is, how he saved sinners by his son, by
his grace. Where you got people, things
like this are gonna happen. But thank the Lord, he brings
people back together, just the way he did Paul and Barnabas. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word Lord, we ask that you would give
us grace to believe what you say in your word completely and
to always be suspicious of anything that arises out of our hearts
and cause us to always take the lowest seat in the house. Grant
us true humility. Lord, enable us to be people
who are poor, who mourn, who are meek, who hunger and thirst
for thy righteousness, who are merciful, who are pure in heart,
who are peacemakers. And Lord, allow us the blessed
privilege of being persecuted for thy righteousness sake. Lord,
we would count it a great honor, put that in our hearts to preach
your gospel in this generation. And bless us for Christ's sake. Cause us to endeavor to keep
the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. And Lord, thank
you for these precious relationships you've given us. Brothers and
sisters in your gospel, we're so very grateful. Bless us for
the Lord's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Dwayne.