Steve's Letter: I Rarely Lack Convictions and Opinions...!

I ran out of space and time last month, so let me continue. If you remember, I wrote about the second of three questions: Why can't we all get along? Why can't we all agree? Why can't we sing the same songs? All those questions have the addendum ...without losing our convictions. Those questions are actually a three-part sermon series. And I decided to first inflict that material on you.

I mentioned last month that we can't get along because we care. The principle is that the more we care, the more we're willing to draw a line in the sand. Or to mix metaphors, the more we care, the more we're willing to stand and fight on that particular hill. People who don't believe anything don't fight over anything. The more we're passionate about something, the more, as it were, guns and ammunition we have.

I wrote then that if you care enough to fight yet still have to live with Christians who disagree with you, you have to be secure and the only way to be secure is to go to Jesus who loves you without condition. When you get saved, make sure you stay until you get loved. If you get saved but don't stay long enough to get loved, there is no way you can navigate through a changing and diverse church...such as we experience today (and that will only continue).

Look again at Acts 15:36-41 and the fight between Paul and Barnabas. Another thing you should note is the ego involved. The history of the relationship between Paul and Barnabas is quite interesting. In Acts 11, there was a revival in Antioch and the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to check it out. Barnabas was overwhelmed with the work of God there, so he went to Tarsus to get Paul (Saul) to come as his assistant to help with the work. Thereafter, in the work, they were referred to as "Barnabas and Paul" (Acts 12:25 & 13:2).

Then there was a change. After an incident in Cyprus when Paul was supernaturally anointed, the leadership changed. Acts 13:13 refers to "Paul and his companions." And thereafter, their team is always referred to as "Paul and Barnabas." That continues until Acts 15 and the first "church council" in Jerusalem when Paul and Barnabas have their major blowup over whether or not to take John Mark on the next missionary journey. From that point on, they could no longer work together.

Listen, the issue was not John Mark. The issue was ego. I've seen ego get involved in church fights. I know it when I see it...in me and in other people. I don't know the details, but I do know that the change in leadership was either the major factor or a very important one. It could be that Barnabas was bent out of shape or that Paul lorded it over Barnabas but, whatever the reason, ego held the gun.

Big corporations paid my mentor, Fred Smith, a whole lot of money as a consultant. I once asked him how, with very little education, he made so much money, was requested so often and was so good at it. He smiled and said, "It's ego. I look for the ego and then I know where the problem is."

Let me show you another reason we can't agree. We lack trust in a sovereign God who works in process to bring glory to himself and blessing to his people.

John Mark left the first missionary journey (Acts 13:13). We don't know what caused him to leave, but it was probably a warm bed and his mom's cherry pie. (I have often thought about leaving ministry for far less.) The division is described in Acts 15:36-41. Paul absolutely refused to give Mark a second chance. Barnabas insisted on taking Mark with them. When they couldn't agree, Paul and Barnabas went their separate ways with Paul taking Silas as his assistant and Barnabas taking Mark.

We hear nothing for almost ten years. Then, unexpectedly, Paul referred to Mark in his letter to the Colossians, telling them that, if Mark came to them, they were to welcome him. In Philemon 24, Paul referred to Mark as a "fellow laborer." And then in 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul told Timothy to bring Mark with him because Mark is "very useful in ministry." To make sure we understand Mark's restoration, Peter even called Mark "my son" (1 Peter 5:13).

Do you see it? Barnabas had been right to take Mark. The name "Barnabas" means, in fact, "son of encouragement." It was his nature to do what he did even if there was a good chance that he did it for the wrong reasons. And Paul was wrong! Given the second chances Paul himself had been given, he should have been willing to take Mark on that second missionary journey.

The publisher, David C. Cook, sent me an advanced copy of Brennan Manning's new book, All Is Grace. The opening comments of that book are wonderful. Among other things, he writes: "This book is by the one who thought he'd be farther along by now, but he's not...It is by the wet-brained who believed if a little wine is good for the stomach, then a lot is great. It is by the liar, tramp, and thief; otherwise known as the priest, speaker, and author. It is by the disciple whose cheese slid off his cracker so many times he said 'to hell with cheese 'n' crackers.'...It is for the younger and elder prodigals who've come to their senses again, and again, and again, and again." *

Mark was an illustration of second chances...and Paul, who really repeatedly came to his senses, didn't trust God enough to see God do the same for Mark.

Paul and Barnabas couldn't agree any more than I can agree with Shane Claiborne (you will remember that it was the debate with him at Malone University that started me down this road), Tony Campolo and a long list of others.

The problem is that, like my political family, I don't get to choose my Christian family either. I've always felt that a number of God's choices (and he's the one who chooses) were not all that great. But he is the "Great Poker Player" in the sky who deals the cards and then asks me to play them as best I can.

I wish the people God chose would come to their senses and see the profound nature of my views in a great variety of areas. I wish they would all become conservative in their politics, Presbyterians in their denomination, and Reformed in their theology. We would all get along far better! Then again, I didn't get a vote.

So, as I wrote last month, I have to find a way to love them and the only way I can possibly do that is to run to Jesus and allow him to love me. If you've been loved, it's surprising how much you can in turn love people who disagree with you.

And then there are the ongoing problems of ego and lack of trust in God's ability to do what God does-take always sinful, sometimes wrong and often rebellious Christians, begin to "fix them," and then build a monument to his glory.

If you've lived long enough and sinned big enough, the ego gets better. It's surprising how we begin to realize that we don't have to be right, to pretend to be good, or to fight and die on so many hills. Not only that. If you've screwed it up as much as I have and have seen God fix it as often as I have, you then begin to trust him more with the people you think are dead wrong.

It's how I became such a spiritual giant.

And if you don't agree with me well...uh...you're wrong. Deal with it.

That's kind of a joke...but I just stopped laughing.

The fact is that I rarely lack convictions and opinions on almost every subject. The surprise is that Jesus didn't ask me to change. He just reminded me to "run to him" and that he must increase and I must decrease.

Frankly, it's a relief.

It will be for you too.

He asked me to remind you.

In His Grip

* Copyright 2011 Brennan Manning. All is Grace published by David C Cook. Publisher permission required to use any part in any form. All rights reserved.