Sunday, July 21, 2024 AM

Sunnyside Baptist Church

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Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the day that you have arranged for us.

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We thank you that Jesus rose from the dead, not simply on the first day of the week, but the first day of the new creation, to make us new creatures, to raise us into new life with Him.

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We thank you for the gift of your Son, and the confidence that we have that with Him you will freely give us all things that we need, as those who are loved by you, and called according to your purpose.

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Help us to know today, that there is nothing, not one thing that can separate us from your love, that has been fully planned, and accomplished, and secured in Jesus Christ.

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I pray that you would help us today to hear this word from you, that we would receive it, as the scepter of our

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King Jesus, moving in our lives. We pray that by your

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Holy Spirit, there would be a warm reception, a warm amen in our lives, of this word, so that your will would be accomplished, so that your name would be honored and glorified, that the world would be changed, in just the way you want.

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We pray for these mercies, as we look to your word, asking all these things, for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well pleased.

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Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles, and turn with me to Acts 15.

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Acts 15. We'll begin reading in verse 30.

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Acts 15, verse 30. We're talking about the direction of a strong church.

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In the book of Acts, we've seen the preaching of the gospel, by the power of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, the impact of the

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Holy Spirit in the lives of these believers. We've seen thousands upon thousands, come to faith in Jesus Christ.

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Churches planted, not just in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria, but also in Antioch, and Ethiopia, and on the coastlines, and on Cyprus, and in Galatia.

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And so, the followers of Jesus Christ, are engaging in what

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Jesus told them to, to be His witnesses, to preach His word, the gospel of the kingdom.

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While the rest of the Roman world was chanting, Caesar is Lord, the church went forth singing,

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Jesus is Lord. And they had good news to share. Good news that would turn the world upside down.

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As we think about what makes for a strong church, the direction of a strong church, we're asking that particular question, because in this passage, in verses 30,

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Acts 15, verse 30, through chapter 16, verse 5, three times, we're told that the believers were strengthened.

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The church was strengthened. And of course, we are interested in having a healthy church.

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We are interested in having a strong church, but what direction makes for a strong church?

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We mentioned several different church growth philosophies last week, that are very popular today.

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But do any of these make for a strong church? A strong church is one that is directed by Christ, unto

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Christ, for Christ. He's the one who builds His church.

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Since He's the builder, He has the plans, He has the means,

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He has the power, so we turn to Him. He gets to say. And this brings up another aspect of the question about the direction of a strong church.

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It's not simply the general dynamics of the church and the direction that the whole church is going and what the vision is for the next 5, 10, 15 years.

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Not just that direction, but also direction in terms of who gets to lead?

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Who gets to say which direction we're supposed to go? We know the answer is obviously

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Jesus Christ, but what if there's a disagreement? What if there are two options to pick from?

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How do we navigate separation? This is important because it's here in our passage and it's important because it's something that we have often experienced in our lives.

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The temptation is to prioritize the self rather than the

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Savior when it comes to church. It's easy for us to retreat into a restful position when it comes to church and begin to consider what are the benefits here?

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What are the benefits that can cater to me? And that should be the direction of the church.

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If it's not directly catering to me and going my way, then

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I feel like this church is going in the wrong direction. It's a rather immature way of thinking about it, but sometimes we can think that way without actually thinking that way.

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We're not really saying that to ourselves, but what are we saying? It is

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Christ's supremacy that serves as our sufficiency, and by Christ we will be strengthened.

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I invite you to stand with me as we read God's Word, beginning in verse 30 of Acts 15.

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This is the word of the Lord, by His Holy Spirit, through His servant Luke. So when they were sent off, they came to Antioch, and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter.

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When they had read it, they rejoiced over its encouragement. Now Judas and Silas themselves, being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words, and after they had stayed there for a time, they were sent back with greetings from the brethren to the apostles.

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However, it seemed good to Silas to remain there. Paul and Barnabas also remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the

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Lord with many others also. Then after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the

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Lord and see how they are doing. Now Barnabas was determined to take with them

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John, called Mark, but Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

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Then the contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. And so Barnabas took

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Mark and sailed to Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and departed, being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.

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And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. This is the word of the

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Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. A lot of details in that passage.

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Let me catch you up on what just happened. In Acts 13 and 14, we see a missionary journey that was commissioned by a church in Antioch, Antioch being the third largest city in the

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Roman Empire. A very large church was gathering there in Antioch, full of both

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Jews and Gentiles, learning to love each other in Christ. They commissioned

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Paul and Barnabas to preach the gospel elsewhere, to spread the good news of Jesus into more areas.

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And so they began that journey by sailing to the island of Cyprus. And they went through each town and village upon the island, very often on the synagogue, stopping and preaching that Jesus of Nazareth was the

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Christ, the Son of the living God, and many were saved. New churches were planted. Things went so well that they were even given audience to the proconsul there in Cyprus, and they preached the gospel to him too.

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His hometown, interestingly enough, was a place called Antioch at Pisidia, and lo and behold, that's the very next place that Paul and Barnabas and their brother

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John Mark, their helper John Mark, went to. They sailed across the Mediterranean Sea up north, and they landed and began to take their journey up into the region of Galatia to go to Antioch at Pisidia and preach the gospel there as well.

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But when they made landfall, and it became clear that they were heading off into deep Gentile territory,

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John Mark turned aside and he went back home, did not go with them to the work. The Lord blessed

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Paul and Barnabas as they preached the gospel, and many were saved. So many were saved, in fact, that it caused a great disturbance in places like Antioch and Iconium and Lystra.

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And Jews began to systematically engage the local authorities to pursue

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Paul and Barnabas and do what they could to stop them going so far as to stone

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Paul outside of Lystra, wherein people gathered around him with rocks larger than the size of your hand and threw them as hard as they could to end his life.

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Such was their hatred of the apostle Paul and this good news of Jesus Christ that he preached.

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But God spared the life of Paul. Even though he had been stoned and left for dead, he got back up.

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Miraculously, the disciples rejoiced in this and Paul continued the journey.

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He went on to Derbe, came back to Lystra, back to Iconium, back to Antioch at Pisidia, preaching the gospel, strengthening the brethren.

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And they came home, having finished their work, to Antioch of Syria, that big city where they had left in the first place, and they stayed there a long time.

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They wanted to rest, they wanted to encourage each other and rejoice in all the work the Lord had done and things were going so well, a problem had to arise.

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Men came down from Jerusalem, and remember that no matter what direction you're going, you always go down from Jerusalem, being up on a mountain.

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And they came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and these men began to say things like, oh, it's so great, we have so many

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Gentiles believing in Jesus of Nazareth, but in order to really be Christians, in order to really be saved, they need to be circumcised and they need to keep the law of Moses.

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Now, Paul and Barnabas didn't see any of that in their missionary journey to Cyprus and Galatia, and they contended earnestly with these men from Jerusalem, so much so that they had to go up to Jerusalem to talk to Peter and James, the other apostles and the elders of the church in Jerusalem, and try to settle this matter in Acts 15, which some people call the

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Jerusalem Council. And it was clarified there by the testimony of the apostle

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Peter and the preaching of James from Amos, the Old Testament book of Amos of all places, that indeed, the

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Gentiles are saved by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone, to the glory of God alone, and they don't need to be circumcised or keep the law of Moses, because that was a yoke and a burden that not even the

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Jews themselves could bear. So salvation is all of Christ. And they praised the

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Lord and they settled that and they sent a letter by hand of Paul and Barnabas and two friends of theirs, including

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Silas, to the church in Antioch to say, we never sent those men.

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We didn't tell them to say that. Salvation is free. And they rejoiced in that.

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And Paul and Barnabas gathered together there with the prophets and with the people and they basically had a big church conference.

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And they spent time encouraging one another in the word of God. And they stuck there a long time, encouraging the brethren.

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And then the time came for them to do something new. And they wanted to go back on their missionary journey, which was where we pick up our passage in verse 36.

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Now why we stay for Christ, why Paul and Barnabas and Judas and Silas stayed in Antioch and stayed there for a very long time and rooted themselves with the brethren there, why they stayed there, interestingly enough, is still the same reason why they're planning to go elsewhere.

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They want to strengthen the brethren. How do they strengthen them? Through the preaching of Christ from all the scriptures.

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So they stayed with the saints to instruct them, to teach them, to encourage them, to help them through the ministry of the word.

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That's what's going on in verses 30 through 35. And then they want to take that same ministry, that same approach, and they want to go back to the island of Cyprus.

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They want to go back to the churches that they had planted in the region of Galatia. And they want to do this very same thing all over again.

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Being made in the image of God, we're made for the word of God. And Christ, who is the image of the invisible

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God and the word of God made flesh, declared throughout all the scriptures, that's who we need, this is what we need to live to the glory of God, to be who we are.

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So they're going to go preach the word. What a great idea. Now they're planning to leave

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Antioch. They love the people of Antioch. They have spent so much time with them.

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They are dear to their hearts, but they're going to separate from their brethren in Antioch, and they're going to go on one of those long journeys again and be away for a long time.

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That's a hard thing to do. That would be a kind of sacrifice.

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But again, let's remind ourselves why they want to do this. When we read in verse 32 that Judas and Silas, themselves being prophets also, exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words, we're also reminded in verse 41 that Paul and Silas went through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches.

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Chapter 16 and verse 5. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily.

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Do you hear that? Strengthened, strengthened, strengthened. This is the goal. To strengthen the church.

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To strengthen the brethren. So that is the character of their going.

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They want to extend the good that they've been doing in Antioch in other places.

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They want to extend the good to the churches abroad. They want to care and serve and continue in the ministry of the

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Word in these far off places that are facing far more dire persecution than they are in Antioch.

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They're going to part from Antioch and go to a new place. So we see that the desire of separation has to do with the very same reason why there's a desire to stay.

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The focus is still the same. And yet, there's a problem. There's a contention here.

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In this godly desire, there is a disagreement. There's a contention of the godly between Paul and Barnabas.

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Notice what happens. In verse 37, Barnabas was determined to take with him

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John, called Mark, but Paul insisted...

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So, Barnabas' determination is meeting

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Paul's insistence. They're both dead set on opposite ideas about John Mark.

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But Paul insisted that they should not take with them the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.

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Now, Paul and Barnabas agree that strengthening the churches abroad is exactly what they need to do.

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They agree that they need to go take the Word and preach it and teach it and give counsel and encouragement to the brethren abroad.

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They are in absolute agreement that that needs to be done, but they disagree about the how.

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Barnabas wants to take John Mark. I don't know if he was partial to his cousin.

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Maybe he was. Colossians 4 .10. John Mark is

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Barnabas' cousin. But then again, Barnabas, maybe he wasn't playing favorites.

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He is a son of encouragement after all. Did he not go take Saul of Tarsus, who was despised by so many, and bring him to the brethren and say, come on, guys, listen to him.

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He's a real brother. Didn't he do that? Is he not wanting to do the same with John Mark, who at a critical moment left

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Paul and Barnabas on their own? Do you see that Barnabas wants to restore

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John Mark and have John Mark as a part of this next trip? What a better opportunity for John Mark to get his feet back under him than to be brought back out into the mission field and do it right this time.

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What could be better? And Paul is saying, that is not a good idea.

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He has been weighed and he has been found wanting. You are jeopardizing the mission.

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Don't you remember how difficult it was last time when he abandoned us? Is he really going to stick with us this time?

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They disagree about how to do it. Barnabas sees an opportunity. Paul sees a liability.

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Barnabas sees something right and good and merciful. And Paul sees something as too soon or foolhardy.

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Paul's not saying that he and John Mark can't be in the same church. He's not saying that John Mark is not a

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Christian. He's just saying, I don't think he should come with us on this journey, on this mission.

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Notice the term, their contention. The contention became so sharp, verse 39.

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The contention became so sharp that they parted from one another. Interesting word, contention.

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One other place in the New Testament we find this very same word in the Greek form.

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One other place. And I think it's worth turning in our Bibles to go take a look.

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Let's go look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10.

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And let's begin reading in verse 23.

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Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. For he who promised is faithful.

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That's a unifying verse, if there ever was one. We're holding fast to the good news of Jesus Christ, the confession of our hope.

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Let us do that without wavering, remembering that it's not about you and I and what we can do, but Christ who is faithful.

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Verse 24. And let us consider one another. Let's think about one another.

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Let's take each other into hand with a full thoughtfulness by which we may understand one another, each other's needs, what each other's strengths and weaknesses are, each other's giftings.

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Let us have a real good consideration of one another for the purpose of what? In order to stir up.

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There it is. In the Greek, it's the same word that we have in Acts 15.

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In order to stir up love and good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another in so much more as you see the day approaching.

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What an interesting place for this word to show up. It shows up twice in the

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New Testament. In one context, the contention, the stirring up gets so sharp that Paul and Barnabas split ways and in the other place it's used in the

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New Testament it's used to talk about staying together. Isn't that interesting?

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Which tells you what? It tells you that whether there's a separation or a staying, there's going to be contention.

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There's going to be stirring up. You find that interesting? Staying is not the zone where there is no stirring up.

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I'll only stay if nothing ever gets stirred. And this stirring up, notice, it's unto love and good works.

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Considering one another, which is a loving thing to do. Considering the needs of one another.

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The spiritual growth of one another. We are not like Cain and my brother's keeper, where we say, like Jesus, I am my brother's keeper.

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And I'm going to consider the good, the spiritual health, the true, genuine needs of the people around me that I'm in fellowship with.

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And I'm going to stir them up. And I'm going to encourage them. And I'm going to try to promote them and persuade them and poke them to move out of this area where they're not being very loving.

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And this area where they're not really being about good things because perhaps they're being a little too self -focused.

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And I want to see them strengthened. So in this context, it's about when we are staying for Christ, it's not a place where there's no stirring up, but there is a stirring up.

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There is an iron sharpening iron. Sparks going to fly. But the idea is that we are exhorting one another and encouraging one another with the very same desire and goal in Christ.

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Let us hold fast. He who promised is faithful. Do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but all the more.

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Do you see the day approaching? Now back to Acts. Barnabas is stirring up Paul.

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Let's bring John Mark. Let's bring him. Paul is stirring up Barnabas.

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We don't need to do that. Don't bring your cousin again. Think about the mission.

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The mission is more important than the man. They have a serious disagreement.

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Do you find it interesting that we're not told in the text who in this particular moment was right?

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We're not told who was right. I'm grateful for that and I'm grateful that we're not told exactly what

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Barnabas said to Paul. And we're not told exactly what Paul said to Barnabas.

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We don't have a record of he said, he said. We're not told who was right.

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We're not told exactly what they said. And what a unique example in the

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Scriptures where many times Paul is writing to a church about a particular issue within the church and he's not afraid to drop names.

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But he's dealing with it in terms of a church discipline matter. But this is the book of Acts.

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This is the second volume of the beloved physician Luke who's writing for his patron

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Theophilus and he's writing about the acts of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. And in the journeys of Paul, how did

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Paul end up without Barnabas and being with Silas and eventually meeting Luke and so on.

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How did all that come down? Theophilus, let me tell you what happened. And there was a very important moment where Paul and Barnabas no longer were traveling together.

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Let me tell you what happened there. Do you see that Luke is telling Theophilus about a contention, a division which occurred in the local church?

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Do you see how he's doing it? Do you see how the Holy Spirit inspired

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Luke to tell Theophilus about something that wasn't exactly Theophilus' business?

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Do you see how it was said? Luke is not gossiping.

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Luke is not slandering. Luke is not trying to pit Theophilus to one side or the other side.

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He's not going into the details. He said, he said, and so on. There was a division.

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Things did get stirred up. Paul and Barnabas did go separate ways. But look how

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Luke tells Theophilus about it. Can this be a guide for us in how we communicate with one another about things that went sideways?

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I think it can. Now, notice that even though there was this contention that became so sharp that they parted from one another, and we're going to come back to that idea in a moment, notice that Barnabas took

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Mark and went to Cyprus, and Paul chose Silas, and they departed, and they headed through Syria and Cilicia, and do you know what?

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This is success. The original idea was, we need to depart from here and go elsewhere and strengthen the churches.

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Mission accomplished. Except now, instead of three people doing it on one trip, there's four people doing it on two trips.

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Praise be to God. Behold the acts of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Give Him the praise for how

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He builds His church. Isn't it interesting that in some fashion, it could be said that Paul and Barnabas, their idea for how to help grow the church was too small, and they wanted either two or three guys on one trip, and in the providence of God, they end up with two trips, more churches being strengthened.

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I find that encouraging. Even though there was division, even though there was a contention, even though it must have been very unpleasant, and though it must have been very burdensome to those who were directly involved, notice the outcome, and we can praise the

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Lord for that. And they were commended by the brethren to the grace of God.

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How else could it be? Commended by the brethren to the grace of God.

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This is how they would pray. Paul and Silas going one way.

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Barnabas and Mark going another way. What are you going to do?

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Pray to God and say, they're in Your hands. By Your power.

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It's according to Your plans. These men need Your grace, Your power,

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Your favor, Your merits. They're not going to be able to do it on their own, with their own wisdom, with their own ideas, with their own strength, with their own experience.

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It's not enough. Not nearly enough. They commended them to the grace of God. It's all dependent on whether or not

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God would show favor. And so they committed them entirely, entrusted them entirely, deposited them entirely to the grace of God.

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And that's the way they proceeded. And so, he went through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches.

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So when we think about the separation that occurred, the proposed separation in the first place was one without contention, where they would leave the church in Antioch and go elsewhere and strengthen the churches through the ministry of the

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Word. What happened was a different type of separation with contention and the not getting along, not agreeing about the how.

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And yet, the separation still achieved the strengthening of the churches, the preaching of the gospel in other places.

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But I want us to think about the nature or the natures of division.

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The natures of divisions. There are foolish divisions.

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There are. For example, 1 Corinthians chapter 1 talks about people who were dividing about, well,

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I'm of Peter, I'm of Paul, I'm of Apollos. And the really spiritual ones were of Jesus. Contending with one another and separating about things that weren't separate.

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Maybe you heard Peter preach more times than Paul, but you're going to separate with somebody over that? Separating over things that Jesus does not call separation for is foolish.

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Many things could be separated over that are not important. There are things that are important, but there are many that are not.

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And very often, there are foolish types of separations. The Bible recognizes this. There's also sinful separations.

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James chapter 4 says, where do contentions arise among you? Where do divisions arise among you?

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And he identifies it as selfishness. There are sinful types of divisions where there's separations of the people of Christ because of selfishness, because of sin.

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But then there are also constructive divisions. There's a separation, a distribution of focus.

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A division of labor. For example, in Acts chapter 20, as Paul is dealing with the elders of the

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Ephesian church, he's going, he's gone, he's never coming back. Oh, he loved those three years he had with them, but he's not going to see them again.

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He's got other places to go, other people to preach the gospel to, and they weep over his absence, and they know they're never going to see him again.

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And there's a separation. But, for the sake of Christ and the preaching of the gospel, there can be constructive separation, constructive division of labor and focus.

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And there can also be confrontational divisions in which there's a disagreement about the how.

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Like Paul and Barnabas. They both want to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. They agree on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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They just defended the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's so much that they agree about. They were fellow soldiers in the foxhole for the gospel of Jesus under fire together.

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How much they did together, and yet they're separating about the how. Take John Mark or not take

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John Mark? Ultimately, we figure Paul was off a little.

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I mean, imagine him calling Mark not a good evangelist who wrote the gospel of Mark.

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And later on, he said, bring John Mark with you for he is useful to me for the ministry. So, praise

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God. In the end, we see that John Mark was used by God, and he was restored in his work and in his labor.

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But at the moment, there was a real disagreement about how to do these things for Christ.

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And because the work of Christ is so vitally important, so extremely important, the disagreement about the how can become very heated.

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One example in my personal experience was when I was pastoring in Tennessee as a very, very young man.

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The Liberty Baptist Church had me start pastoring them when I was 25. I think that they were desperate and a little mentally unstable, and I loved them.

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They were very patient and very long -suffering. But an hour and a half away, there was a church in Muscle Shoals, Alabama called

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Grace Life of the Shoals, and Jeff Nobbitt was the pastor there, and they had a two -church conference. And I would go and just drink in everything they had to say because I needed help, and I needed encouragement, and I was blessed by it.

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And lo and behold, their whole missions department at their church was run by HeartCry Missions International with Paul Washer at the head of that.

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So it was Jeff Nobbitt and Paul Washer hand -in -hand, working together, and I just loved it.

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I'd go every chance I could. And then one day, Jeff Nobbitt and Paul Washer couldn't settle on something.

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The question of how couldn't be resolved. And they both wanted to plant churches and preach the gospel and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ all over the world.

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They agreed about the gospel. They agreed about the importance of the church. But they had a disagreement on the how, and they couldn't work it out.

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Paul Washer went one way, and Jeff Nobbitt and his church went another way. And they started their own church -planting missionary organization wing.

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And now there's more missionaries than ever. Praise the Lord. Sometimes there are divisions about the how of proclaiming the gospel that are not necessarily coming from a position of sin.

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There can be genuine disagreements in righteousness about the how, and God still be praised, and Jesus still use it to build

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His church. Do you think it bothers Jesus if the material

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He's working with cracks in half? No, because He wanted it that way, because it goes exactly where He wants it to go.

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He's the one building His church. So there can be a variety of divisions.

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Simply because there is a separation, simply because there is a division, doesn't then mean that it was sinful.

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Could be. Maybe not be. We need to know more.

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Some divisions are necessary, because the claims of Christ are not tolerant.

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The claims of Christ are not inclusive. The claims of Christ are totalizing.

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He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes unto the

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Father except through Me. There is one mediator between God and man, the man,

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Christ Jesus. We have one Savior. We have one

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King. One sacrifice upon the cross, given once for all time.

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And because of the claims of Christ, there is some necessary division.

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In Luke 11, verse 23, Jesus said, He who is not with Me is against Me. He who does not gather with Me scatters.

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That's usually not on the bumper sticker, trying to market

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Christianity to a pluralistic world. But Jesus was very clear.

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You do not come to bring peace but a sword. The preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ divided

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Jewish families. Even as we read through Acts, and we see thousands of Jews coming to faith in Jesus Christ in those early days of the church, many times, those who were coming to faith in Jesus Christ, it was a mother -in -law versus a daughter -in -law.

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Or a father versus a son. Sometimes a husband coming to faith in Christ and the wife refusing.

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How much division happened in these early days? Where some of the families are turning to faith in Jesus Christ and the rest are trying to keep up with the sacrifices and the ceremonies and the feast days.

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The claims of Christ are totalizing. Which is why there are some separations.

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1 John 2 says they went out from us because they were not of us. If they had been of us, they would have remained with us, but they went out so that it would be shown that they all were not of us.

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Sometimes there's a separation for the clarity of the Gospel. So it would be made obvious who belonged to Christ and who do not so that a clear

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Gospel call can be given. But many times, we find ourselves in great need of wisdom when it comes to navigating divisions.

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How are we to navigate divisions? When divisions happen, how are we to operate?

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Well, one way we can operate is with joy. Joy. You've been sneaking up on this idea for most of this sermon.

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But in Philippians 1, verses 15 -18, Paul talks about a particular type of division that brings him joy.

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That he has joy nonetheless. Joy within. Philippians 1, verse 15, he says,

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Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill.

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I don't know if you knew this, but not everybody preaches Jesus for good motivations. You may not know that, but it's true.

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Verse 16, The former preached Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains.

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Is it possible that Christians might preach Christ to add affliction to other

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Christians who are in prison? Yes. A great example was the year 2020 when

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Canadian pastors were being thrown into maximum security prison for preaching the gospel, and other Canadian Christians were writing articles and preaching sermons about how bad these men were.

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But the latter preached Christ out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. Other Canadian Christian men preached the gospel because they were in solidarity with their brothers in prison.

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So you have a division, don't you? You have a separation. You have a problem here. So Paul says,

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What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And in this

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I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. Navigate divisions with joy.

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Rejoice in what Jesus is doing. We can also navigate divisions with love and forgiveness.

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This would be very high on the list. Navigate divisions with love and forgiveness.

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Over in 2 Timothy chapter 4, Paul is talking about a situation here at the end of his days, and how does he navigate it?

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1 Timothy 4, and look at verse 14. Alexander the coppersmith, probably means he was an idol maker.

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Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. May the Lord repay him according to his works. Remember, don't take vengeance.

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Leave that to God. Leave it to God. You must also beware of him, for he has greatly resisted our words.

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Paul's shepherding. Hey, sheep, watch out for the wolves. But look at verse 16. At my first offense, no one stood with me, but all forsook me.

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So I'm done with them. No, what does he say? May it not be charged against them.

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You remember how Jesus' own countrymen, the people whom he risked his life for, served and taught daily in the streets and in the temple, and those whom he led those three and a half years, all not only forsook him and betrayed him and turned against him.

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What did he say on the cross? Father, forgive them. What does

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Paul say? May it not be charged against them. Navigate divisions with love and forgiveness.

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Love covers a multitude of sins. But, of course, this is in agreement with the patience, the patience that is needed, and restoration that is needed.

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Remember that mentioning about Mark being useful for ministry? Back up just a few verses.

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Verse 11 in 2 Timothy 4. Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.

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Patience and restoration is a way of navigating divisions, having that hope. Speaking of hope, we're not going to spend time to read through all of Romans chapter 8, but can you remember what

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Romans 8 is about? The last portion of Romans 8. When there is division and separation and difficulty, contention, within the body of Christ, remember this, nothing can separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our

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Lord. Who is He who condemns? Jesus Christ is at the right hand.

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It is God who justifies. So remember that when we think about separating for Christ.

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Why would we separate? I trust that it will not be because of sin.

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I trust that it will not be because of folly. Maybe there are constructive reasons to go separate ways for the spread of the gospel and the sake of Jesus Christ.

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Maybe there are confrontational ways, a disagreement about the how. But even there, let

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Christ be praised and He will make sure that the church is strengthened.

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Let's pray together. Father, we thank You for this Word. How often have some of us looked at this passage and what happened between Paul and Barnabas and immediately think about situations that we've lived through in the life of the church, in our own family life, where separations and contentions have hit hard and hurt deep.

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But Lord, we thank You that we have this hope that by Your grace there can be a strengthening of the church, a furtherance of the glory of Christ.

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And we pray that You would help us to live in this hope and in this trust and in this wisdom. And we pray these things in Jesus' name.