“Envy-Driven Conflict” – FBC Morning LIght (5/23/2023)

Well, a good Tuesday morning to you. Today in our Bible reading plan, we're reading in 2 Samuel chapters 15 and 16, Acts 13, and the 102nd Psalm. I want to point out and make a couple of observations from Acts chapter 13.

The Holy Spirit Initiates Ministry Calls

Now this chapter opens up with this beginning of what we would call foreign missions. So this is the account where Saul and Barnabas is still known as Saul, are in Antioch, and they're there with other leaders of the Church, and they're having a time of prayer and so forth, and it says that the Holy Spirit, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I've called them.

And then the Church, the leadership of the Church, having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them away. And what I want to notice here is the role of the Holy Spirit in this beginning of a new work.

The Spirit of the Lord communicated to them in some way. We don't know how that happened, we're not given the details of that, we're just told that the Holy Spirit said separate Barnabas and Saul for this work.

And I think it's important to realize that it is the Holy Spirit that initiates a call to the ministry, and I think it's also important to realize that there is an affirmation of that call on the part of the Church and the Church leadership.

So just as an example, I remember years and years ago there was a man who was convinced that God called him into the ministry. I was definitely not convinced. He didn't have a lot of the gifts that would be necessary.

He had some of the spiritual qualifications, but not the gifts that were necessary. One of the basic ones is that one who's going to be an elder in the Church or a whatever it needs to be apt to teach.

And this guy was definitely not apt to teach, but he was trying to tell me and others in the Church that God called him to be a pastor, to be a preacher. Well, nobody else in the Church agreed, and he wasn't too happy about that.

So what really motivated him? I don't know. 1 Timothy 3 says, a man that desires the office of a bishop, an overseer, a pastor, Pastor Shepard, he desires a good work. So I don't fault him for desiring the good work, but if it's a matter of pride, that will come out when he hears the response of others in the Church leadership.

And you get that right away here in Acts 13. It's the Holy Spirit that communicates this to not only to Barnabas and Saul, but to the other leaders in the Church to confirm that calling. The other thing I want to point out here in Acts chapter 13 is later on, after Saul and Barnabas take off on that journey, that missionary journey, they find a measure of success and blessing.

Envy and Religious Conflict

And in verse 42, it says, when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Well, what a great blessing! The Word is preached, and there's this wonderful response.

And it says in verse 43, now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

So, you know, already there is this response to the work of the ministry, the preaching of the Word. Saul has now been named Paul, name has changed, and they're getting a following, their people are attentive to the preaching of the Word.

And it says in verse 44, on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the Word of God. How exciting this would be! Unless you are one who is seeing your people being taken away. Verse 45 says, when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things that were spoken by Paul.

I read this and I wondered how much religious conflict occurs because of this same sin, the sin of envy. Conflict in denominations, when there's a particular faction of the denomination that is getting a majority of hearing, all kinds of war can break out.

We've seen this in history, in different denominations. But I'm thinking more in terms of local churches. How much religious conflict within the church, within a given church, how much occurs that is rooted in envy on the part of those who are losing majority control.

Again, I can think back in my years of pastoral experience, and very early in the ministry, I was working in a church where there were a lot of older people, and they'd been around a long time. And I came, started preaching and teaching, and a lot of younger people were coming.

I was a younger man at the time, and I don't know, there was just some interest, I guess. And many of the younger people that were coming were related to some of the older people. Not all, in fact, many weren't.

But nevertheless, there started to be an energy among these younger couples and younger families, and they were hungry for things to happen. They were hungry for some Bible study, for some ministry to take place.

Well, that raised the ire of some of the old guard, because they felt like they weren't in control. They were envious of the majority stake that was being lost to some of these younger people. Well, that's a terribly tragic thing, how necessary it is for God's people to appreciate the work that God is doing and to rejoice in it, regardless of their position and their power and their level of control in that work.

Let the Holy Spirit do the work. Let the Holy Spirit be in control and use the leadership that God has put in place in that local ministry. Well, a couple of observations from Acts chapter 13. Lord, I pray that you would bless these thoughts to our hearts today, and I pray that you would deliver us from a spirit of envy, and I pray also that your Spirit would work in our congregations, work in our midst, and accomplish His purposes in our lives.

And we pray it in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well, have a great Tuesday. May the Lord bless you in it. Good day.