Imperfect Ministry
Acts 15:36-16:15 (Transcript Only)
If there’s one thing that’s always been a pet peeve of mine, even before becoming a Christian, it’s insincerity and fakeness — people putting on a front in order to present themselves a certain way.
That’s why I have never liked sales people who try to schmooze you into doing something or buying something, that’s why I don’t like power cleaning before people come over as if no one lives at this house, and that’s also why I’ve never really gotten into social media.
So if you keep waiting for the revival of Centennial EFC social media… just know I am not going to be the catalyst for that… if someone wants to volunteer for that, great, I would love for someone to do that — I recognize social media is important — but social media strikes me as so so fake and I cringe every time I try to type something out.
And of course it was Easter last week so I got all the before-and-after Easter social media posts from different churches…
You get some guy on a video with huge youth pastor energy, “Hey if you’re tired of religion and want a relationship, we’d love to have you come and join us…” And it’s like, “Are you actually desiring to see people come and know Christ or do you just wanna pump up your Easter numbers?”
And then after the fact you get these posts, “STUNNING EASTER SERVICE, WE HAD 50 BAPTISMS, 137 DECISIONS FOR CHRIST, AND 1200 ATTENDEES ACROSS OUR 17 CAMPUSES…”
And it’s always a picture of the one hand-raiser in the congregation as if everyone was crying out in worship and it was one big grand revival and there wasn’t some kid puking his guts out in the nursery.
I think we give these wrong impressions and wrong ideas about what ministry is really like.
For the most part, ministry is not neat, tidy, and photogenic, it is messy, coffee stained, and smells a little like vomit.
And we see that here in our passage in the book of Acts. We see the messiness and imperfection of ministry
And you might be sitting there going, “Yeah, ministry sounds tough, glad I’m not in ministry.” boy oh boy do I have some news for you:
11 [Christ] gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry. (Eph. 4:11-12)
So, if you’re a follower of Jesus, like it or not, paid or unpaid, you’re in ministry.
And the question becomes, as you dive into paid or unpaid ministry work, how do you keep going amidst all the messiness and imperfections you find in there? Cause it is messy…
And so this morning what I want to try and do, as we continue to think about the “Church on Mission” is to consider the messiness of ministry on display here … to pull back the layers of makeup and filters we try and put on it and just recognize that working for the Lord is difficult and challenging and it is OK to feel that way.
And then to remind us amidst all the messiness we find that there are great encouragements for us to consider.
In this passage we are going to see
1. Frustrating Follow-Ups (v.36)
2. Awkward Associations (v.37-41)
3. Misunderstood Missional Maneuvers (v. 1-3)
4. Exacting yet Everlasting Encouragements (v.4-5)
So, today we’re talking about the FAME you’ll find in ministry and that fame is messy down to its core, but there are eensy yet everlasting encouragements we get as we do ministry and I hope that will spur each of us on as we work for the Lord.
Alright, so let’s start with that first point of fame: Frustrating Follow-Ups.
Verse 36: 36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.”
Now “after some days” refers to a time gap here and the time gap estimated by commentators is around 6-12 months or so.
And after that amount of time Paul says to his ministry partner, “Hey let’s go follow up with the people we already preached to.”
And this might be surprising to us as Paul was all about preaching where the cross has not been named, but follow-up is a necessity when it comes to making disciples.
Why? Well, read the rest of the New Testament:
It’s not like people get saved and everything is hunky dory …
Think about the follow-up conversations Paul had:
“If God loves me, why is my church being persecuted so heavily?”
“These other Christian teachers showed up and said, ‘Paul’s not even a real apostle … don’t listen to him,’”
Or, things like:
“We make the poor people sit in the back cause they’re ugly and smell bad, is that OK?”
“Some guy at our church was sleeping with his step-mom … and I know that sounds bad, but I think that’s a testimony to the grace of God.”
Seriously, read 1 Corinthians 5, that’s the argument.
“Some people keep sleeping with temple prostitutes, but hey, ‘Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food amright?’”
Like Paul had to sit there and hear all this.
Or, as we talked about last week: “Some guest preacher came and said we should do a circumcision class, should I go?”
The follow-ups Paul had to do were likely more life-taking than life-giving to him.
And that can absolutely be frustrating, but this is why two halves to the great commission that says, “Go AND MAKE DISCIPLES, TEACHING THEM.”
Jesus didn’t just say, “Go preach, go make converts,” He said, “Go make disciples.” That means evangelize and train (meaning follow-up).
So, as we think about being the church on mission, we have to think about this in terms of evangelism AND discipleship … how are we bringing Jesus and His gospel to people and How are we continuing to follow up with them?
And this doesn’t just apply to new converts, this applies to all of us … all of us need follow up and continual discipleship and encouragement in the Lord — even people who have been walking with the Lord for forty years … even those people we think of as “Spiritual Giants.”
I wish Luther had someone in his ear late in his life going, “Hey man, you’re writing some pretty violent, anti-semetic stuff … I think you’re out of step with the gospel here.”
And so as we think about applying this to ourselves — we can think of this on both ends:
Who in your life do you need to follow up with and check in on?
And who’s checking in on you and are you putting yourself in environments where you can be followed up with?
Or are you isolating yourself?
And we have Life Groups here at Centennial we’d love for you to be a part of and if you’re interested in joining one — come talk to me after service.
Follow up is not the most glamorous thing to do and usually it reveals difficult things, but it is a necessary part of ministry.
Another part of ministry, point two, is dealing with Awkward Associations, we see this in verse 37: 37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.
So this goes back to a passing comment made by Acts writer Luke in Acts 13:13 John left them and returned to Jerusalem.
And, from a practical standpoint, Pauls’ denial makes sense since John Mark was only there for the Cyprus part of the trip…
They’d show up in Asia Minor and the people would be like, “Who’s this John guy? I don’t know him.”
But there’s clearly more to it than that since we read in verse 39:
39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that [Paul and Barnabas] separated from each other.
Like Paul and Barnabas get so at odds with each other they actually decide no longer to travel together.
And this forces us to ask the question: Why was John Mark’s presence so controversial to Paul? What about John Mark’s leaving was so bad?
And the real problem is: We don’t know for sure.
Commentators hypothesize a variety of ideas like John Mark had…
-Homesickness
-Tired from the rigors of travel
-Being unhappy about leaving Cyprus so soon.
-Not commissioned alongside Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:1-3), therefore he felt unneeded?
And those are all fair guesses, but those all seem like pretty lame reasons to break apart a missionary team.
So other commentators look at potential deeper issues:
– Dissatisfaction with Paul’s assumption of leadership over his cousin Barnabas?
– Theological struggles with evangelizing to Gentiles (Judaizer sympathies?)
Or, if you look at the original Greek, as commentator Ben Witherington explains: “The verb Αποχωρεω (apokoreo), used in both 13:13 and in the form αποχωριζομαι (apokorizomi) at 15:39, can have the sense of betrayal or ‘almost apostasy’ or at least a turning back in fear. [A secular Greek philosopher used the word] to refer to removing oneself from another’s opinions. Thus the translation “deserted” is not too strong at 13:13.”
So, essentially, John Mark said, “Forget you guys and the mission, I’m gone.”
And I would guess it’s one of these three reasons that John Mark left … BUT if it was one of those first few … and it could have been cause we don’t know for sure… then Paul is really petty here in Acts 15 … but if it’s one of these later issues, then the antagonism and conflict makes more sense.
And it’s important to point out, Paul might have already had issues growing with Barnabas … after all in Galatians 2 we read, 11 When Peter came to Antioch [pre-Jerusalem council], I [Paul] had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. 12 When [Peter] first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13 As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. (NLT)
So there may have been a rift already forming between these two Missionaries… and this was the breaking point
But here’s why I classify this as awkward: Because imagine being a believer in Asia Minor expecting to see your old friend, Mr. Encouragement, Barnabas and Paul’s like, “Yeah, we had some issues.”
“Theological issues?”
“Well, sorta… yes and no…”
Like, it’s just an awkward situation.
And these sorts of awkward conflicts still happen today and you wouldn’t know it from social media or a staff page of a church’s websites.
We Christians as we DO THE WORK OF MINISTRY will run into conflicts with each other… that CAN be justified at times, but other times are just petty.
ILL: I heard a story of two pastors who worked at the same church who believe the same gospel, but they had such differences in culture and communication style and ministry emphasis that they mutually agreed they’d kill each other if they continued to work together… so one of em left to plant a different church.
But like, both of em are going to be in glory together one day.
And what happened here with Paul and Barnabas and John Mark was not a salvific issue … the endings of Colossians, Philemon, and 2 Timothy [later letters of Paul] all testify that Paul and John Mark eventually made up…
Like, are we supposed to skip over [John] Mark’s gospel just because he and Paul had some issues?
But as you work in ministry … paid or unpaid… you’re going to have these awkward associations with people and conflicts where you’re just like, “I don’t like that guy or that girl” and it might or might not be for justifiable reasons.
The question though is can you, like John Mark and Paul, learn to say, “These are my fellow co-workers … these are useful people in the kingdom of God … and in my moments of pain and sorrow … they would still be a comfort to me.”
In the end: There’s no winner in this story, you’re not supposed to side with Paul or Barnabas here … our side is always the side of Jesus and Jesus said,
34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, … 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13
So don’t read this story and think the application is, “I’m supposed to side with Paul or Paul’s being ridiculous I’m on John’s side OR I am justified having conflicts with people…”
As F.F. Bruce puts it, “When we find ourselves in hot contention with friends who are associated with us in some form of Christian service, let us not excuse ourselves by pleading the precedent of Paul and Barnabas.”
This is a descriptive story not a prescriptive … a warning and caution to us that there is going to be conflict in ministry… but praise God one day it will be gone forever.
Third imperfection about ministry is misunderstood missional maneuvers
1 Paul came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by the brothers at Lystra and Iconium.
So this is our first time meeting young, “timid” Timothy … who is frequently mentioned in the Epistles and, of course, had two epistles written to him about ministry.
And we find out interestingly that Timothy is the child of a mixed marriage — his mother is ethnically Jewish and his father is ethnically Greek.
And Paul thought so highly of Timothy: 3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him,
And that’s all well and good … but then we read: and he took him and circumcised him…
And this should seem odd to us because we spent all of Easter and Acts 15 going over the fact THAT YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE CIRCUMCISED IN ORDER TO BE SAVED.
PAUL WERE YOU EVEN LISTENING AT THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL??? WHAT ARE YOU DOING??
Not to mention the fact you’re going to circumcise him and then, verse 4, tell people NOT to get circumcised — delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem.
So why would Paul do this? Is this not the height of hypocrisy?
And the answer is very simply: Paul is being a missionary.
As we read: He… circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
As commentator Ben Witherington explains: “Paul’s intrinsic attitude to the act of circumcising a Jewish Christian is expressed in 1 Cor. 7.19; ‘Circumcision is nothing and the foreskin is nothing.’ Since circumcision was nothing in itself, it could be used in the service of the gospel, so long as no one made it necessary for salvation… it should not be thought that the real Paul would never perform such an act. He says clearly enough that in order to win Jews to the Christian faith he was willing to be a Jew…. There is no reason to assume he wouldn’t encourage other Christians with some Jewish heritage to do the same, as a missionary tactic.”
And if you’re wondering what the tactic is … it’s because some people, particularly Jews, wouldn’t have listened to Timothy,
“I’m not listening to some uncircumcised fool tell me about the Law of Moses.”
So, Paul said, if you’re going to come with me, Timothy, and learn to be a pastor and a missionary, we need to circumcise you … cause if we don’t, people might not listen.
As Paul argues, 19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law… that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law… that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. 1 Cor. 9:19-23
And this is not Paul saying changes up His gospel … He’s doing something called “contextualization.”
He’s making the gospel or the preachers of the gospel more relatable.
There are things (Maneuvers) you’ll have to do in ministry that’ll be misunderstood by the outside world and even those within the church… but you do it in order to bring Jesus to people.
Why DO or DON’T you go to the bars and clubs? Why DO or DON’T you spend time with sinful people who might try to get you to live like they do? Why DO or DON’T you use people’s preferred pronouns? Why DO or DON’T you attend Gay weddings?
Why DO or DON’T you attend pornography conventions? That’s what XXX Church does …. I think they rebranded recently, but they go and engage with porn stars to reach them with the gospel.
Might be a bad idea for some of us … but not for them:
Everything we do (EVERYTHING PAUL DID) comes back to this: How will I win people to the biblical Christ? If that means doing something or not doing something or going somewhere or not going somewhere … it’s so people might know the Lord.
People might have misunderstood why Timothy was getting circumcised … why Paul was suggesting it in the first place … but it’s in order to win people TO Jesus.
It’s getting down to their level that Jesus might be all the more reachable and accessible and understandable for them.
But some people might misunderstand you… and call you names or say you’ve gone off the deep end or something else…
And as we look back on the work of ministry that we’ve talked about today — the misunderstandings, the awkwardness, the hair-tearing-out follows up we’ll have to do … why get involved? Why do the work of ministry:
Which, brings me to my last point, that amidst all the exacting, exhausting, seemingly eensy things we do in ministry … it is for people and for their and our everlasting encouragement.
As it’s put in verses 41 and 5 … 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers daily.
You do and be and become and act all these things so the church might be strengthened and people might know Christ and Him crucified…
That’s why we do it … If you do ministry work because you think it’s easy or glamorous or it’s gonna make you famous locally or globally … we’re in for a rough go.
We do it for the strengthening and building up of Christ’s church… going back that’s what it says in Ephesians 4: 12 To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
That’s why we do it.
I don’t mean to be crude, but think about this: Do you realize what Paul is asking Timothy to do here with getting circumcised is just going to be a secret thing no one actually notices?
No one’s gonna see it … they could have just lied and said they did it… “Oh yeah, yeah, Timothy’s circumcised. He did it.”
But there’s no glory in that, specifically there’s no glory from God in that.
Let us remember the thrice-repeated words of Jesus in the sermon on the mount: “And your Father who sees in secret will reward you… our Father who sees in secret will reward you… And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” Mt. 6:4,6,18
That’s why we do ministry right? Not to be seen by men … but to bring glory and honor and a smile to our Father in heaven.
So we do thankless things, these painful things, unnoticed things, not for applause, but for the smile of God.
For example: As you roll out tables here in a second for Family Dinner or set out silverware or vacuum … as insignificant and annoying of a task as it is … KNOW that God sees it … even if no one else does.
There is a day coming friends, and I really believe this, where every seemingly insignificant action we have ever done in service to God will be put on display for all of heaven to see… and we will be rewarded.
And we will see the everlasting fruits of what we have done in service to God … I bet Timothy heard from someone, “If I thought you were uncircumcised, I wouldn’t have listened to you … but because you were circumcised, I put more stock into what you said about Jesus and I became a Christian.”
The Apostle Paul will hear someone say, “I struggled with this issue all my life … but you wrote about the thorn in your flesh and how that’s God’s power made perfect in our weakness … so I persevered.”
And you here this morning might hear the same, “I wasn’t sure if that church was the right spot for me, but then so-and-so said hello and I felt at home here … and this church helped me grow more and more up into Christ.”
“I stayed in this church cause you smiled at me.”
And if that sounds crazy to you, there’s a story of a man who jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge in an act of suicide … and his suicide note said, “If one person smiles at me on the way, I won’t jump.” (John Bateson, The Final Leap)
Your ministry is not meaningless and your small actions are not insignificant. It might be the difference between life and death, between spiritual life and spiritual death.
And I know ministry can be frustrating and exhausting, but if there’s someone who knows how messy and imperfect ministry can be, it’s Christ… and He still ministers to us!
And he does not send us to do frustrating follow ups or deal with difficult people or do difficult things without a promise of reward.
God says, this is going to strengthen churches, this is going to add daily to the population of heaven, and if nothing else … your actions, beloved, however small they are … are pleasing and wonderful in My sight.
I wonder how many of you think of God like that … as a Father who is proud of the work of his dear children no matter how great or small it seems to you.
I wonder how many of you have known anyone like that ….
And if you’re here this morning, longing for intimacy and fellowship like that with our great God … may you know that when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem [and win] those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption.
So if you want to be God’s child and know the smiles of heavenly Father who sees in secret and to know what it’s like to be commended for even your smallest works, put your trust in Jesus Christ…
He perfectly ministered to us and our imperfect labor for Him is not in vain.