When Christians Disagree (Acts 15.1-31)

Introduction

The science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once said “People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”

Wouldn’t life be easier if everybody saw things the way I do? Well, maybe, but it would also be a lot duller.

Watching the news this week, there was one word that I found repeated over and over again; the word “conflict.” The bitter conflict in Ukraine, industrial conflict, marital conflict, conflict in the tunnel at a rugby match and so on.

Would you raise your hand please if you would say that you enjoy situations of conflict? (Not one hand was raised). Nobody here does. But some people love a good quarrel. They positively flourish in confrontational arguments. The more unpleasant it gets, the better it is.

It’s a personality trait you often find in lawyers and barristers. They really love a good, barnstorming clash in court. In the political world it’s the same. They relish a good old spat on the radio or in parliament.

In the church though, I’ve noticed that people usually prefer to avoid conflict and we have seen that that is true today, at least here. We tend to think that it’s not very spiritual to disagree. We tend to see disputes among us as a sign of failure. Conflict can hurt people and cause offence so we tend to steer clear of it if we can.

But, surprisingly perhaps, that is not what we find in the Bible. In the young New Testament church, they faced conflict head on instead of going into denial about it.

They actually embraced their differences of opinion as an opportunity to grow. On the positive side, the very fact that Christians feel really strongly about certain things shows we care. Surely, it is worse to be so indifferent about truth you never even bother standing up for it.

Acts 15 is a God-given model of conflict resolution for the church. This passage we just had read shows us how to diffuse the bomb of major argument between Christians.

At the beginning of the chapter there is a huge and fundamental disagreement between Paul and Barnabas on one side, and some hard-line traditionalists on the other. The church, just 15 years old, was a speeding car heading for the wall.

That would have been fatal. Because why would anyone believe a message that says “God can change your life” if those who preach it won’t even associate with certain other Christians? It would have turned the gospel into stand-up comedy.

But look! By the end of the chapter, this great controversy that threatened to tear the church in two is completely sorted to everyone’s satisfaction. God’s people find themselves stronger than ever before and back on track. That is a miraculous turnaround! How did they do that?

Background to Acts 15

We’ll unpack that in a minute. But first of all, let’s remind ourselves of where we are at this point in the growth of the early church. We are at the end of the first missionary journey. Paul and Barnabas have just returned from their long voyage where they have planted several new churches, each one made up of both Jews and non-Jews. 

For non-Jews, like most of us, what counts more than anything else is new life in Christ. Oh, the joy of being cleansed from sin, trusting Jesus, getting baptized in water and filled with the Holy Spirit. We know today that there is no experience like it. If you have never experienced that, you’re missing out. Come to Christ today! And in the First Century it was the same. Their lives had changed forever. What a difference! The old had gone, the new had come.

For those who had grown up as Jews they had exactly the same experience. But in addition, their eyes were opened. Jesus is the one to whom all those prophecies in the Old Testament pointed. All those centuries they had been waiting for the Messiah and now he had arrived!

But there was a problem. Some Jews were starting to say that to be a real Christian you had to be a good Jew first. After all, Jesus was Jewish. He observed all the Jewish customs and festivals, he ate kosher food, and he went to synagogue on the Sabbath.

So in v1 Luke says that these traditionalists were going round telling the Gentile men “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”

Result: Luke calls it in v2 “a sharp dispute and debate.” I’ll say it was. Two viewpoints completely opposed to one another. They had two different answers to the crucial question, “How do you become a member of God’s family?”

The truth is that you become a member of God’s family by believing, not by achieving. You become a child of God by putting yourself in his hands so that he does something in you, not by your own hands trying to do something for him. You cannot be saved by the many things you do for God; only by the one thing he has done for you.

When I was young, my dad used to take me sailing every weekend. I can assure you that sailing is really hard work. You have to pull ropes in, let ropes out, move from one side of the boat to the other and you regularly get a face full of seawater spray as you hang outside the boat to keep it balanced. I used to travel home my glasses white with dried salt water, soaked through, freezing cold and totally whacked. Don’t let anyone tell you it is a leisure activity - it is exhausting!

But when you’re sailing, you are entirely dependent on the wind. If there’s no wind, all your effort will not propel you forward one inch. Living as a Christian is like traveling in a sailing boat. There’s work to do, sure, but it isn’t your hard work that actually gets you anywhere; just like a sailor needs to catch the wind, Christians totally, totally need the grace of God.

Sometimes, we had to row a dinghy. Rowing is also hard work. You have to dip the oars in the water and strain with all your might to propel the boat forward, you have to keep looking round to see you were going in the right direction. It is backbreaking.

Religion is life without the grace of God. Religion is like rowing a boat. The wind doesn’t help you because there’s no sail. It’s 100% human effort and pulling hard.

But they hadn’t yet worked that out before Acts 15. Instead, there were two points of view colliding with each other head on, raising deep passions, causing resentment and threatening to strangle the church at birth. It doesn’t look promising does it?

In conflicts as difficult as that one, only one outcome looks likely; divorce on grounds of irreconcilable difficulties.

Have you had times in your life where a disagreement has looked impossible to resolve? What is God’s plan for settling disputes among his people? Acts 15 is like a pathway to resolve conflict.

1) Calm the Atmosphere

The first thing they did was purposefully create a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. Verse 4 says that when Paul and Barnabas arrived at Jerusalem “they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders…”

Remember that it’s Paul and Barnabas who, humanly speaking, have brought this crisis down on the church. They have been bringing in innovations that are threatening to split the church in two. They are causing a lot of unhappiness with the traditionalists.

But the leaders in Jerusalem, take them to their hearts, they welcome them in, they help them feel at home. They build an atmosphere of trust.

2) Listen to One Another

After that, the second step is that each party must listen to each other – and that means each one must be able to explain their point of view without interruption. You know Prime Minister’s Questions? Well, the opposite of that!

The end of v4 says Paul and Barnabas “reported everything God had done through them.” In v5 the opposite point of view is expressed; “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the Law of Moses.” Then in v6 they consider the question. Verse 7 says there was “much discussion.”

I once had to facilitate a conversation between two bitterly opposed people – husband and wife as it turned out – where the only way to stop them talking over each other was to put a stone on the table. Only the person holding the stone can talk. So one says what he has to say and then puts the stone down. And then he has to hear her point of view without barging in. It’s amazing how far you can get when you really listen to someone else’s story and what a particular situation feels like to them.

In v12-13 the Bible says that the whole assembly became silent (underline those words) as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders that God had done among the Gentiles through them. Then, when they finished, James spoke up…”

There’s no cutting in, no interruptions. People wait their turn instead of talking over each other.

Imagine you and I are sat down at a table, facing one another. On the table there’s a sheet of paper with a large number 6. You say to me, “Why the number 9?” I say “What do you mean a number 9? It’s a 6. Can’t you see?” You say, “Don’t be stupid. It’s a 9! What’s the matter with you?” And so on all day... Eventually, you come round to my side of the table to give me a thump for being so annoying. And there, for the first time, you see things from my point of view - and you understand.

3) Let Scripture Rule

Thirdly, let Scripture rule. Paul and then Peter talk about their experiences, which is fine, but it says in v15-18 that to conclude the discussion and settle the matter, James opens the Bible. At the end of the day, it’s the Word of God that rules.

This is a principle that you find, I’m happy to say, in the constitution of the Church of England, the 39 Articles. Article VI reads, “Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.”

That was written over 400 years ago so it’s a bit obscure. In plain English it means “if you want to know God, everything you need is in the Bible, and if it’s not here don’t go around making religious rules about it.”

I read online about a notice on the door of a small sub Post Office. Here’s what it says: “This Post Office is open from 9am to 12pm and from 2pm to 4pm, except Sundays and Bank Holidays, Saturday afternoons and the nearest working day afternoon prior to the 26th of each month, not including Leap Years.” With the Bible, it’s much simpler; keep it open all the time!

The Bible, this written Word of God, is our supreme authority and it has the last word on every disagreement.

4) Take Responsibility

The fourth step is to take responsibility.

In v9, having listened to the whole discussion, James, as a respected leader puts forward a plan of action. It’s a proposal that opens the way for God’s purposes to go forward.

But it also contains a few words about questions of conscience so that Jewish believers in Jesus and Gentile believers in Jesus can coexist in peace.

But, listen carefully please, it’s not a compromise. Basically, they go with Paul and Barnabas on this one. “You can row all you like, but we are going sailing, we are not telling people they have to row.”

It has been said many times that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. If our decisions have to accommodate absolutely everyone’s preferences so as to be totally inclusive and never hurt anyone’s feelings, we will never get anywhere.

Taking responsibility means grabbing the bull by the horns and making courageous decisions. It means not faffing around trying to please everyone.

People say sometimes that it must be really hard as vicar here keeping everyone happy. Rubbish! I’ve only got to keep one person happy - and that’s Jesus.

Paul said in Galatians 1.10, “If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” 

So I’m going to upset and offend as many of you as I can… Not really, you know that don't you?

5) Let the Holy Spirit Lead

Fifthly, let the Holy Spirit lead. In v28 there is this amazing expression, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…” That is what you can say when you know that your plan for conflict resolution has been bathed in prayer from beginning to end.

You see, the church in Jerusalem was, from the earliest days a deeply prayerful community. Acts 1 says that they “joined together constantly in prayer.” How often I that? Acts 2 says they “devoted themselves to prayer.” That is serious commitment. Acts 4 says they “raised their voices together in prayer.” There was a unity in prayer.

When churches come together to pray, God speaks, there is a release of the prophetic. That’s why we are having a week of prayer and fasting coming up to our vision morning on 28 February; because we want to hear from God.

6) Seek Unanimity

Sixthly, they looked for unanimity. Not just a majority; unanimity. In v22 there is a decision not just by the apostles and elders but by the whole church.

The referendum in Scotland last year was decided on a majority – 55% voted “no” and 45% voted “yes.” That’s democracy, but when Christians are seeking the mind of the Lord the standard is higher.

I would not settle for a 60-40 vote in the PCC here. Or even 80-20. In my time here I have always pushed for real consensus and, thanks be to God, we have always achieved it. Sometimes it takes a little longer to get there, but it’s always worth it in the end.

7) Communicate Clearly

The last step is to communicate clearly the decision taken. In Acts 15 they choose trustworthy people to let everyone know what has been decided. The letter is short, precise and clear. There is no room for ambiguities. It effectively closes the book on the matter and settles the conflict.

Ending

Well, over the last few chapters we’ve been following Paul and Barnabas on their church planting mission. They have been attacked by jealous crowds. They have been badly abused. They have had poisonous lies told against them. They have been thrown out of towns. They have been stoned alive and left for dead.

But whenever the devil attacks the church from the outside it just gets stronger. Persecution from unbelievers usually results in church growth, not church decay.

But the devil knows that if he can assault the church from the inside it gets weaker. Internal divisions and factions usually result in church decline.

I talk with other church leaders most weeks and I would say that their greatest fear is a split in the church. That’s probably why Christians like to avoid conflict all any cost.

In Acts 15 though God shows us that conflict is normal and may even be a sign of life. When there’s disagreement on a matter of first importance, like how someone becomes a child of God we must be clear that there is no compromise possible.

We are not going to start saying people can know God by doing good works just to keep everyone happy.

On secondary issues it’s different and I want to end with just one.

We have several ways of doing church here at All Saints’. There’s traditional, there’s liturgical, there’s contemporary, there’s experimental, and there’s wild. It’s entirely reasonable that all of us will have one style we like better than others. It’s OK to have a preference.

But it’s not OK to belittle or demean those expressions of worship that are less to my personal liking. It’s very rare, but just now and again, I hear a sarcastic or cutting remark about another service – it’s not godly, it’s not right and I won’t have it.

Jesus died so that his church would be one. May he be glorified and exalted in this church as we agree on the essentials and outdo one another in love when it comes to the non-essentials.

Let’s pray…

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 8th February 2015