Keep the Gospel the Main Topic

In one paragraph

This message came from Acts 15:36 through 16:5, and Pastor Mark worked through two closely related problems: a painful split between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark, and Paul's decision to circumcise Timothy before the second missionary journey. Both situations, he argued, are really about the same question: how do we keep the gospel moving forward when strong people see things differently? The...

Read together

1. Acts 15:36 Paul proposes to Barnabas that they return and visit the brothers and sisters in every city where they proclaimed the word
2. Acts 16:1-5 Timothy introduced as a disciple at Lystra, son of a Jewish believer and a Greek father, whom Paul circumcised before taking him along
3. Acts 14:2 referenced as one of two places in Acts where the word paroxysmos appears in a negative sense
4. Acts 13 referenced as the other place where paroxysmos appears in a negative sense
5. Hebrews 10:19-25 quoted to show paroxysmos used positively, stirring up love and good works and not forsaking assembling together
6. Acts 15:1 Judaizers telling believers in Antioch they must be circumcised and follow the law of Moses to be saved
7. Galatians 2 described as covering the same event as the first part of Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council
8. Acts 15:11 Peter says we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in the same way as the Gentiles
9. Acts 15:19 James gives his judgment not to cause trouble for Gentiles turning to God
10. Acts 15:28-29 it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to the council to lay no greater burden than four essentials: abstain from things sacrificed to idols, blood, things strangled, and sexual immorality
11. Leviticus 17:7-9 cited as Old Testament background for the prohibition on meat offered to idols and sacrifices to goat demons
12. Leviticus 17 referenced for the prohibition on eating blood, noting that the life force is in the blood
13. Leviticus 18:6-30 cited as the Old Testament basis for the prohibition on sexual immorality, covering all relevant offenses for both native Israelites and strangers among them

Talk about it

1. The pastor mentioned that when Paul and Barnabas had their sharp disagreement, Luke apportions no blame to either of them, and both went forward carrying the gospel. Have you ever been in a conflict where, looking back, neither side was clearly wrong but the situation still needed to be resolved? What happened?
2. Barnabas wanted to give John Mark a second chance after he had deserted them in Pamphylia. What do you think it looks like practically to be a 'Barnabas' to someone who has stumbled or quit in ministry or in faith?
3. The pastor said the Jerusalem Council's four instructions were not requirements for salvation but voluntary restrictions meant to make it possible for Jewish and Gentile believers to eat and minister together in peace. Are there preferences or freedoms you hold that might be worth voluntarily setting aside for the sake of someone else in the body? What makes that easy or hard?
4. Paul circumcised Timothy not because it was required for salvation but out of sensitivity to the Jewish communities they would be ministering in. The pastor connected this to the idea of becoming 'all things to all people.' Where do you see the line between that kind of cultural sensitivity and compromising what actually matters?
5. The pastor closed by saying he was flat wrong in a two-hour sharp disagreement, did not realize it until two days later, and then went back to the person to ask forgiveness. What makes it difficult to go back and do that, and what tends to help you get there?