Life & Message of the Apostle Paul: Called to Struggle
Acts 15:6-14, 19
Rev. Sandy Johnson
May 29, 2016
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A man walking in the desert approached a Bedouin. “How far to the nearest oasis?” he inquired.
The Bedouin did not respond. “I said, how far is it to the nearest oasis?” the man asked, a bit more loudly this time and enunciating his words very carefully.
The Bedouin still did not respond. The man shook his head in frustration, turned, and began to walk away.
The Bedouin called out, “It will take you three hours!”
The man spun around to face the Bedouin. “Couldn’t you have told me that when I first asked?”
“No,” replied the Bedouin. “I couldn’t answer until I knew how fast you walk.”[1]
How often do we make judgements about things, form an opinion, react or respond to something without complete knowledge? Without taking the time to learn about a situation and consider the many different aspects of a given issue or problem? It has been suggested that instead of spending “a typical 25% of time on understanding and 75% on solution-generating, we should try spending 75% of our time on understanding the problem from multiple frames of reference[2]” and just 25% on solutions.
“Why? Because when you head almost straight to resolution, the only frame of reference from which you can reasonably try to solve the problem is your own. And when two or more people try to address a problem, each working primarily from their own frame of reference, there’s likely to be a solution gap. It feels productive and ego-boosting to tick off ideas for solutions, to show how creative you can be, to demonstrate how hard you’re working to find a solution that will be acceptable. But it’s terribly unproductive if you don’t yet fully understand the others’ frames of reference and make sure you’re all solving the same problem. [3]”
Churches are a great hotbed of conflict and struggle. We have all made fun of churches who fight and argue over what seems to us as silly things. I found an article this week that shared the top 25 things churches argue about. I would like to share just five of them:
- They argue over the appropriate length of the worship pastor’s beard. (I think I saw a verse in Scripture that indicated it is to be no more than 1.5 inches longer than the senior pastor’s beard.)
- One church had a 45-minute heated argument over the type of filing cabinet to purchase: black or brown; 2, 3, or 4 drawers.
- Then there was the business meeting arguments about whether the church should purchase a weed eater or not. It took two business meetings to resolve the issue.
- Or what about the church that had an argument on whether the church should allow deviled eggs at the church meal. (Only if it’s balanced with angel food cake for dessert).
- And last, there was a disagreement over using the term “potluck” instead of “pot blessing” (Get it? The concept of luck contradicts the theology of a sovereign God. This issue is very serious. Good luck trying to resolve it.)[4]
Conflict with always be a part of our life because we are surrounded by humans. Our scripture lesson this morning is a prime example of the types of conflicts that were present in the formation of the early church.
So what were they arguing about? Table cloths and carpet colors? It seemed that there were certain individuals who came down from Judea and were teaching that to be a follower of Christ you had to become a Jew, meaning that any gentile man must be circumcised and then follow the Levitical laws. Most of the new Christians were still Jews. The challenge became critical when through Paul’s efforts more and more Gentiles were joining the ranks of the early Christians.
“This disagreement was the first major division within Christianity, one that would have far-reaching consequences. The church at Antioch was drawing an increasing number of Gentiles (non-Jews) who were choosing to become followers of Jesus Christ. Paul and Barnabas had just returned from a mission in which they formed several churches that were predominately Gentile.[5]”
When the question came up about whether these new believers needed to be circumcised or not, it was decided that Paul and Barnabas would return to Jerusalem and gather the apostles and elders to hold a council of leaders to discuss and make a decision on the issue. After much debate and discussion it was determined that in fact it was not necessary to become a Jew to be a follower of Jesus Christ. It was determined that these early believers were saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, not by exhibiting some outside action or tradition.
Jesus was clear when he shared in 1 Corinthians 11:25 that the cup he offered his disciples at the Last Supper, was the cup of the new covenant. This new covenant replaced the old, something new had happened. “Paul believed that in Jesus Christ, God was offering salvation, grace, and right standing with him as a gift made possible by Jesus’ death and resurrection. The gift was accepted by faith, not earned by obedience to the Law of Moses. Once accepted, the believer was to “lead a life worthy of the calling” (Ephesians 4:1), a life in which, led by the Spirit, he or she sought to love and honor God and love neighbor. Paul saw the Mosaic covenant as one between God and Israel at a certain point in history and no longer binding upon either Jew or Gentile. In Christ there was no longer a division between Jews and God-fearing Gentiles. Instead, all were one in Christ.[6]”
Even after the decision was made there were Jewish followers of the Way who disagreed with Paul and continued to teach the new believers wrong doctrine. Paul responded with a letter to the churches in Galatia that in fact they were being confused by some who would “pervert the gospel.” He admonished them in Galatians 1:6-9 by calling them out for abandoning their teachings so quickly, as soon as someone else came along with a different story or teaching, they quickly followed. Paul stressed that “if anyone proclaims…a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed![7]”
This new way of relating to one another was contrary to what they knew and “tore down the old wall between Jews and Gentiles, offering full acceptance and not second-class status to the uncircumcised Gentiles. This gospel that Paul preached offered salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.[8]” Period. End of story.
This first council that was held to make this important decision about circumcision, was called the Jerusalem Council, and was the first of many church councils to be held to make difficult resolutions within the life of the church. Our own Methodist denomination meets routinely to do the same, first each June at our own Desert Southwest Annual Conference meeting in Phoenix. In this meeting representatives from all of our churches in the Southern Nevada, Arizona and several churches in California who are along the Colorado River, gather to talk about issues and ministries that we are working together on. Every four years our international church gathers at General Conference to be about the work of our global church. Just a few weeks ago the General Conference concluded their work in Portland, Oregon, as anticipated there was a large amount of conflict during this conference.
The battle lines were drawn around the many issues relating to human sexuality and our Book of Discipline. The first three days the council spent arguing about how they would interact with one another. There was a group that wished to begin something called, holy conferencing. Holy conferencing is a means of communicating that allows delegates to discuss important issues around their tables before a time of voting. This time to discuss was in addition to the traditional three witnesses in favor and three in opposition to any particular resolution. After three days of discussion, the conference voted against holy conferencing. It seemed there were some on the fringes, on both the right and the left, that didn’t want to have conversation, they were unwilling to even talk about the issues.
“The debate on the conference floor and in what Christians said to one another revealed Christians, who were most certain about their viewpoint – both on the right and the left, those who purport to be the most pious, who were standing up for truth and justice, and were often the most mean-spirited people of all. They failed to see the conflict between the way they talked about other people, the way they treated other people and their own position; claiming that they were all upholding biblical righteousness, justice or holiness.[9]”
The conflicts continued as the week went on and in an astounding vote, the General Conference voted to give our Bishops the authority and direction to form a separate commission to study the human sexuality concerns and make recommendations to an interim General Conference to be held in 2018 or 2019. This was the first time in the history of our church that the delegates asked the Bishops to intervene. This newly formed commission would “examine and possibly recommend revisions of every paragraph in the Book of Discipline related to human sexuality. The commission will represent the different regions of our denomination on four continents as well as the varied perspectives of the church.[10]”
This was the best way forward the council could find and one that I find refreshing. The Bishop’s response was a firm commitment to the work toward unity of our denomination and this new commission, I believe, is the means to do this. Our own Bishop Bob Hoshibata said that the “bishops felt the pain that was being felt around the denomination.” He stated, “We declared that this was a Kairos moment (a God-given, holy moment) to assist the church to find a way forward that would bring about a “deep unity that allows for a variety of expression to co-exist in one church. To this end,” Bishop Bob stated, “we expressed that “our unity is found in Jesus Christ; it is not something we achieve but something we receive as a gift from God.[11]”
Conflict is not new. “Almost every book in the New Testament was birthed out of conflict and struggle.[12]” Paul’s communications through his epistle letters were in direct response to issues that had arisen among the new Christian communities. Differences about how to worship, about who could worship, and about the teachings of Christ were cause for division and argument. There were continuous problems and struggles within the newly formed church.
Conflict will never end. What we must embrace is how we will navigate the cloudy waters of struggle and strife without losing our faith and grace in the midst. I believe that Ephesians 4:29-32 has the answers:
29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
Amen
[1] http://lenski.com/be-the-bedouin-spend-more-time-understanding-before-problem-solving/ Accessed 5.28.16
[2] http://lenski.com/be-the-bedouin-spend-more-time-understanding-before-problem-solving/ Accessed 5.28.16
[3] http://lenski.com/be-the-bedouin-spend-more-time-understanding-before-problem-solving/ Accessed 5.28.16
[4] http://thomrainer.com/2015/11/twenty-five-silly-things-church-members-fight-over/
[5] Hamilton, Adam. The Call. The Life and Message of the Apostle Paul. Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN. 2015. Pg. 88-89.
[6] Ibid. Pg. 90
[7] Galatians 1:9
[8] Hamilton, Adam. The Call. The Life and Message of the Apostle Paul. Abingdon Press, Nashville, TN. 2015. Pg. 93
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkt1Pimp258&list=PL4j5HUKXHEMsu61IKdIBDqKdm_NjIDS9_&index=1 Accessed 5.28.16
[10] http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/bishops-ask-for-hold-on-sexuality-debate Accessed 5.28.16
[11] Letter to the members of the Desert Southwest Conference, Wednesday, May 18, 2016
[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkt1Pimp258&list=PL4j5HUKXHEMsu61IKdIBDqKdm_NjIDS9_&index=1 Accessed 5.28.16
