“A Good Division” – FBC Morning Light (5/25/2023)

A good Thursday morning to you. I hope your week is going well. Today in our Bible reading plan we're reading in 2 Samuel 19 and 20, Acts chapter 15 and Psalm 104. I want to zero in on the last few verses of Acts chapter 15.

A Personal Example of a Church Decision

Several years ago in one place where I served in the ministry, I had to make a difficult decision regarding a Christian school that the church had. It was not a very well-functioning Christian school.

The children weren't doing very well. It was just a poorly done thing. I was a new pastor, had just come into the ministry there and saw a bunch of problems and brought some of those problems to light.

When those problems were brought to light, immediately half the parents took their kids out of the school, and the student body dropped in half immediately. It went from 28 students down to about 12 or 13.

As time went on, and by time going on, in a matter of months or weeks even, it became quite clear that it was not viable for the church to underwrite a school situation like this and keep the thing going.

At least that was the opinion of the majority. There was a minority that thought we should make whatever sacrifices we had to make in order to keep the school open. The couple of people who thought this way had a vested interest.

They had children who were still in that school. When the church finally made the decision, we're going to close the school and reallocate some funds in another direction for a building program. One guy in particular, he had three or four children, I can't remember how many, in the school.

He came to me and said, you need to change that direction, and you need to not go ahead with this project and spend all that money for this project. Instead, you need to allocate it for a Christian school, or else we're leaving the church.

I said, well, okay, but the church has voted. The church has made the decision, so I'm not going to encourage the church to abandon that decision just to try to keep you in the church. I'm sorry. Of course, he left.

A Good Division Between Paul and Barnabas

Here was a situation where there were two completely different opinions. Most of the people said close the school. This man said keep the school open. It could be possible that both opinions are valid opinions, depending on how the opinion is going.

If neither side had an opinion about the matter that was inherently wrong, inherently sinful, or contrary to God's Word, then there are potentially two valid opinions. There may be a matter of wisdom, and there again, you've got two different opinions about which is the wiser course of action to take.

In this case, the consequence, the result of that difference of opinion was not a very favorable consequence. The man left, took his family and left, and eventually that family kind of disintegrated, and it was a very tragic thing.

The church, it went forward, it moved forward, completed this project. It was a building project, completed it, and put itself in a good position for several years yet to come. In Acts chapter 15, at the end of the chapter, you have a similar kind of thing where two men, two good men, have a difference of opinion about a matter.

The matter had to do with taking John Mark with them on another missionary journey. Paul said, no, we're not going to take him with us. We took Mark with us on the first journey, and he abandoned the mission.

I'm not going to risk that again. Barnabas, who was actually related to John Mark, he was of a different opinion. He thought, we should take him along, we can encourage him, and this will be good for him.

You have to read between the lines, but he thought it was good to take Mark with him. Paul thought it wasn't good. Two different opinions. Neither opinion is inherently wrong. It's neither opinion is inherently unbiblical.

It was simply to take John Mark along or not was a matter of prudence or wisdom. These two men looked at that same issue and came to different conclusions about which was the wiser thing to do. They couldn't agree.

They couldn't agree, so what did they do? They went their separate ways. In this case, it was a good thing. Here's some criteria that can determine whether a difference of opinion that causes a division is a good thing or not.

When Division Is Not a Bad Thing

It's a good thing if, first, both opinions have merit. Neither opinion is inherently sinful. It's a good thing, secondly, if the difference of opinion held by these two men, or individuals, or groups, does not cause one party to look at the other party as the enemy.

Paul and Barnabas did not look at each other as enemies. Instead, they actually came to a mutually amicably agreed-upon conclusion to the matter. Paul said, you take Mark and go to Cyprus, and Paul said, I'll take Silas and go in the other direction.

I'll go back to the places where we visited before. They were fine with that. They did not look at each other as enemies. They each went in a different direction with a specific purpose in mind. I think that is, therefore, a good thing.

The work of Christ, in this case, the work of Christ was expanded by their division. They were able to multiply by dividing, and that makes it a good thing. I have not seen that very often. In fact, honestly, 40-some years of ministry experience now, I don't think I've ever really seen it.

I hate to say that, but it's true. I don't think I've ever seen where differences of opinion among God's people, where neither opinion was inherently sinful, resulted in an amicably agreed-upon decision that furthered the cause of Christ, where the two parties continued to be on friendly terms with one another, and eventually even cooperated again in their work.

Remember later on in Paul's ministry, he said, bring John Mark along. He's profitable to me for the ministry. There was a coming together again on the minds of these two individuals. It's a sad thing.

I've never seen that. I think that's a challenge to us as God's people, that we realize that just because somebody else has a different opinion about a matter that is a wisdom issue, it's not a biblical issue, it's not an issue where there's a right or wrong, it's not a moral issue of immoral or moral, it's not a matter of choosing between which is the biblically obedient course of action to take, it's not that.

It's just a difference of opinion about what's the more prudent thing to do. I think we need to be warned and challenged to hold to those kinds of differences of opinion with gentle hands and with a careful evaluation of our brother or sister with whom we disagree, and still look at them as brothers, and still appreciate them for who they are, and then be able to watch God use both in the multiplication of his work.

What a wonderful thing, if that can take place. Well, our Father and our God, I pray that you would give us a spirit of humility and grace when we have differences of opinion on matters that are really a matter of prudence or a matter of wisdom.

Give us wisdom and give us grace, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well listen, you have a good rest of your Thursday. I trust the Lord will bless you in it. Good day.