The Separation

Today i was reading in Acts and my brain focused on this passage:

"After some time Paul said to Barnabas, 'Let’s go back and visit each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are doing.'  Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work."

*"Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated."     Acts 15:36-39


I don't remember where I heard this sermon before, but it has stayed with me. These two disciples Paul & Barnabas disagreed on something heavily. They probably argued about their different opinions as anyone else would. The scriptures don't say if their disagreement ended well for the friendship of these Christians or not, but the word sharp has got to mean something significant. Either way they chose to separate because obviously their disagreement was distracting enough to have an impact on more important things.

When you read more through this chapter and the next, you see documents of  what they are doing a part. However, this verse is awesome:

"So the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew larger every day." Acts 16:5

CLEARLY, despite the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas, good things came from their separation.  Why? Because they continued to put God first in their lives and not focus on petty opinions.

Barnabas could have focused on Paul's reasoning for not wanting to include John Mark, and he let that get in the way of his ministry. Who knows- maybe Barnabas thought that Paul was not being forgiving of John Mark for not finishing up his work. Maybe Barnabas thought Paul wasn't being "godly enough". 

On the opposite end, maybe Paul thought John Mark did not see the importance of their work in a way that would upset Paul and cause him to make poor decisions. Maybe Paul thought that John Mark was a bad influence on Barnabas. Maybe Paul thought John Mark's faith was on a different maturity level from other leaders and did not personally think he was ready.

There are all sorts of opinions and reasons that could go with this situation. However, they do not matter. The point is that there was no convincing Paul and there was no convincing Barnabas. Therefore, the wise decision was to depart. 

The boundaries here did not mean that Barnabas hated Paul or that Paul hated John Mark. The boundaries did not mean that Paul and Barnabas would never speak again or be friends (I'm unsure of what happens next in the story... perhaps if i find out i'll blog about it). The boundaries just show that both of these Christians recognized that they had different opinions and emotions that they would not allow to taint their testimonies.

"Anyone who loves to quarrel loves sin; anyone who trusts in high walls invites disaster" Proverbs 17:19

There are times when boundaries are pretty necessary. People who do not have them are only hurting themselves. I think as Christians we sometimes think that if we separate from a friend or disagree with another believer, that we are sinning or being unkind. That's definitely not true. Our attitude towards those we disagree with has got to be controlled. When we disagree with someone so deeply that it hurts us and affects us, separation is a wise idea. However, treating that person like they don't exist or like we don't care about them is wrong. We need to be real with people. We need to be kind to people. And we need to respect ourselves.