An Avoidable Conflict

Acts 15:37-39

And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;

One of the sad stories in the book of Acts is the division that happened between Barnabas and Paul. It is sad because Barnabas was responsible for Paul being who he was. Had it not been for Barnabas, Paul likely would have never become the great apostle to the Gentile world. It was Barnabas who took Paul under his wings when nobody else wanted anything to do with him, because they were afraid he was just disguising his testimony as a way to have them killed. It was Barnabas who had the faith to believe that God did save Paul, and it was Barnabas who had the vision to see what God could do through his life.

However, we look at the verses above, and we see two men having sharp contention between each other. This contention was so sharp that they parted ways, and as far as we know, they never again got back together. Now, both of these men were good men, but this conflict could have been avoided. This conflict started when Barnabas and Paul disobeyed God's command. God told the church in Acts 13:2, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. The command was for Barnabas and Saul to go on these missionary journeys alone to start churches among the Gentile world. However, we see in Acts 13:5, …and they also had John to their minister. Hold on! God did not say to take John with them. To take John with them was disobedience. It did not matter how great their intentions were; their intentions were wrong because God only wanted Barnabas and Saul to go. Had these men obeyed God, there would have never been contention between them.

My friend, many people have not completely obeyed all of God's Word, and it has always led to problems. It does not matter how great your intentions are, if you are adding to what God tells you to do, or if you are taking away a little from what God says to do, that little bit of disobedience is exactly how Satan gets a foothold in our churches, resulting in lives destroyed. Satan doesn't always want us to do what we would consider a “great sin”; he only wants us to add to or to take away a little from what God tells us to do.

You may recall in the Old Testament that David added to God's way of bringing the Ark of the Covenant to his city by putting it on a new cart. It did not matter that putting it on a new cart was an easier way to do things. Putting it on a new cart was disobedient to God's way of carrying the Ark. Had David followed God's way of doing things, a man would never have lost his life when he put his hand to touch the Ark to steady it as it shook over the threshingfloor.

We must be careful always to do things the way that God tells us to do it. We may have an idea that might make it easier, but we don't do things because it's easier; we do things because that is how God tells us to do it. We don't do things because it might bring in more people; we do things because God tells us to do it a certain way. Be careful about having “better” ideas than God; those ideas will always lead to consequences that hurt the work of God.