Richard
Daley was a famous and popular Mayor of Chicago. His total career as Mayor
spanned from 1955 to 1976, that’s 21 years, a record that still stands.
One
morning his speech writer came to see him to ask for a pay rise. “I’ve been
writing your speeches for years now and my pay is still the same as it was when
you first hired me. I think I’m worth a bit more.”
Mayor
Daley turned round and said, “You are getting paid more than enough already. It
should be enough for you that you are working for a great American hero like
myself.”
Two
weeks later, Mayor Daley had an important engagement. He never had time to
rehearse his speeches; so, as usual, he was briefed on the next engagement on
the way there by his staff and he was handed a wad of paper just before he
stood up to speak.
So
here he is, one afternoon, about to address a huge public gathering to honour
all the war veterans of the state of Illinois. Everybody is there; the State
Governor, the national TV news crews, all the big cheeses from the armed forces
– you name it. And so Daley steps up to the microphone.
“Veterans
of Illinois, I stand here today and salute you. The freedom we enjoy today we
owe to men and women like you. We are proud of your courage, your dedication,
your heroism and your professionalism. So, today I am proposing a
seventeen-point plan that includes the city, state and federal government, to
care for the veterans of this country.”
Everybody
holds their breath. You can hear a pin drop. Seventeen new policy measures? What
is the Mayor going to say? Everyone wants to know. Mayor Daley himself wants to
know! He turns the page of his speech notes and there, written in large
letters, it just says, “You’re on your own now, you great American hero!”
That
effectively ended the professional partnership of Richard Daley and his speech
writer!
Of
course, break ups are always very newsworthy aren’t they? Every edition of Hello magazine carries gossip about a
celebrity marriage officially unhappy or at an end. The
irony is that at least some of those divorces are a direct result of the
stress from constant intrusion by the paparazzi.
Rock
bands split up as well. When Oasis broke up, Noel Gallacher put it down to his
brother Liam’s temper. “Liam is the angriest man you’ll ever meet, he said.
“He’s like a man with a fork in a world of soup.”
But
Christians bust up too. Like in a brief Hollywood marriage it can be due to
strained relationships. Like in some best-selling bands it can be down to a personality
clash.
Paul
and Barnabas though split up over a difference of opinion about a colleague -
John Mark. As they prepare to set out on a second mission trip, Barnabas says in
v37 “Let’s take my cousin John Mark with us.” But for Paul that is out of the
question.
Why
did they disagree so strongly? If you remember when we looked at Acts 13 last
month, in v13 John Mark dropped out and headed home at the beginning of the
first mission trip.
It
doesn’t say why. Maybe he was homesick. Maybe he got frightened by the threat
of persecution. Maybe he wasn’t comfortable with the new emphasis on reaching
non-Jews with the gospel. Maybe he found Paul a bit too domineering and was fed
up playing second or third fiddle.
Whatever
it was, Acts 15.39 says, without embarrassment, without brushing it under the
carpet, that the disagreement between Paul and Barnabas on this matter was so
sharp that they had to part company.
That’s
sad. It’s a shame. Would that it were otherwise. But that is what can happen
when Christians fail to see eye to eye. For Paul it’s “no, no and no.” For
Barnabas it’s “yes, yes and yes.” Between those two points of view there’s not
a lot of room for compromise!
Paul
says, “Are you serious? John Mark? Look, this is not a holiday camp, there’s work
to do. He’s a nice guy and all that but he just lets people down.”
Barnabas
says, “Come on Paul. You’re always going on about grace! He’s sorry about last
time. He just wants to serve the Lord.”
Paul
says, “Yeah, well he should have thought about that when he deserted us and
left us defenceless and facing a lynch mob. He’s not coming and that’s my final
word on the matter.”
Barnabas
says, “You’re too hard on him. We should give my cousin the benefit of the
doubt. I’m not going to let you just write him off. He’s coming with us and
that’s that!”
It’s
yes or no. John Mark re-joins the team or he doesn’t. There is no middle ground
possible.
Referendum
time! I’m going to ask you to vote for the one you agree with most and then I’m
going to tell you who I think is right.
No
sitting on the fence now, you have to choose one or the other. So first of all,
hands up if you tend to agree with Paul - “John Mark has proved himself to be
unreliable and we need people we can count on.” And hands up if you tend to
agree with Barnabas - “John Mark is sorry about last time. Everyone deserves a
second chance.”
Well,
the answer is that they’re both right! That’s the problem. You see, on the one
hand, Jesus calls us to a life of serious discipleship, not to a picnic in the
park. Jesus says, “No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for
service in the kingdom of God.” If you let people down you become
untrustworthy.
But
on the other hand, God is full of compassion. Jesus looked at Peter after he
denied knowing him three times and said “You can feed my sheep, (in other words
you can be a pastor), if I’m sure of one thing - do you love me?” He doesn’t
throw people out with the trash after one failure – if he did none of us would
be here let’s be honest!
Paul
and Barnabas are both right.
Paul
- what can we say about him? A born leader, he was focused and single-minded,
passionate about serving Jesus with absolute excellence. After just fifteen
years of planting churches, he declared his work of bringing the gospel to a
land mass significantly bigger than the UK was finished.
As
for Barnabas, his real name was Joseph. Barnabas is a nickname meaning “son of
encouragement.” He sold property and gave the money away to help other
believers in need. When news started doing the rounds that persecutor-in-chief
Saul had been converted and everyone feared it was a trap, Barnabas laid his
life on the line and befriended him.
But
they fell out, so they each went their own way; and in the providence of God
the work of reaching the nations with the good news about Jesus actually
accelerated as a result. Verses 39-40 say that Barnabas and John Mark went to
south-west while Paul and Silas went north-west. So instead of one squabbling
team of three there were two productive teams of two.
But
here’s the lovely little footnote: some years later, right at the end of his
life, Paul had the humility to write “Get Mark and bring him with you because
he is helpful to me in my ministry.”
John
Mark did in the end prove himself over time. Not only was he Barnabas’ trusted assistant
he was the man who gave us Mark’s gospel, probably put together from his rough
notes listening to Peter preaching in Rome.
The
truth is that in every church, we need Pauls and we need Barnabases. We need
people who are strong on truth and we need people who are big on grace.
We
need people with convictions and principles, who believe in right and wrong,
who set standards, who speak out, who aim for excellence. We need ‘truth
people’ like Paul.
And
we need people with a big heart who pick us up when we fall and encourage us
when we’re disheartened, who are easy going, who accept us as we are and are
always welcoming. We need “grace people” like Barnabas.
Which
is why, most of all, we need Jesus. The Bible says he came full of grace and truth. Not half grace and half
truth. Not all grace one day and all truth the next. All grace and all
truth all the time.
Hear
the words of truth from Jesus “Everyone
who sins is a slave to sin…” (Jesus says it as it is - we are addicted to
wrongdoing) but, he said, “if the Son
sets you free you will be free indeed.”
And
hear the words of grace from Jesus,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” Come,
now, today, just as you are - in brokenness and in faith.
As
Kevin DeYoung puts it, we need someone as truthful as Jesus to tell us “you are
not okay and anyone who says ‘everything is fine’, is not being honest with you." But
only when we believe the uncomfortable truth about us can we experience the
grace we need.
We
need truth. We need grace. We need Jesus.
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 15th February 2015
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