Living with Relational Tension

SERMON: 2012-03-18--ac1287--living-with-relational-tension-part-1 SOURCE DURATION: 00:51:34.000 PROPOSED CUTS: 1 CONFIDENCE: 1.00 APPROVED: false REASON: The recording begins with sermon exposition (segment [0]) and concludes the main body of the sermon in segment [405]. The subsequent segments are pure acoustic music intervals that define the end boundary. Acoustic segmentation found sustained music at the end edge and moved the boundary to the adjacent transcript segment. ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE: available ACOUSTIC MUSIC INTERVALS: 00:48:21.400-00:51:32.660 ACOUSTIC SPEECH OVERLAP: yes ACOUSTIC BOUNDARIES APPLIED: end Inline CUT markers identify each proposed audio boundary after the relevant word. --- ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPT WITH PROPOSED CUTS MARKED --- We were looking last week at the process of forgiveness and many of us had the opportunity of coming forward and in a practical way indicating to the Lord and to ourselves that we're committing ourselves to this process of forgiveness and trying to work out places where we have either received or taken offense and I think the Lord was honored in that don't you think so? I think it was a momentous occasion and as time goes on I think the Lord is going to show us just what that looks like, places that we can step into, things that we can own in terms of ourselves and also some very difficult conversations that perhaps we need to have with people around us. That said realistically not every conflict is going to be resolved and not every relationship on this side of eternity is likely to be restored and when we encounter that the question then becomes have I failed or has the gospel failed and I want to talk about that with you this morning because I'm going to propose to you that much as we long for reconciliation and restoration and should be working towards it there are also places in the Christian life and in Christian relationships where tension is not only unavoidable but sometimes necessary and sometimes in fact an evidence of health as opposed to the opposite. So this morning in the book of Acts we're going to jump ahead five or six chapters for the moment to Acts chapter 15 and we're going to read together from verse 36 to the end of the chapter because this is one of those fascinating stories where there is a conflict between two very high profile Christian leaders Barnabas and Saul who now is going by the name of Paul and just to put these verses in context before we read them Acts chapter 13 and 14 Paul and Barnabas have set off on their first mission trip and they've come back from their first mission trip they have reported to the church at Jerusalem the great things that God has done and now they are about to set off on a second missionary trip and it's in that context that this story takes place we pick it up reading at verse 36 of Acts chapter 15. Sometime later Paul said to Barnabas let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preach the word of the Lord and see how they are doing Barnabas wanted to take along John also called Mark with them but Paul did not think it wise to take him because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work they had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus but Paul chose Silas and laughed commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord he went through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches. So here in this story that we have just read together in Acts chapter 15 we have a major meltdown relationally between two very important Christian leaders Barnabas and Saul now called Paul. Paul is of course the Greek version of the Hebrew Saul and somewhere along the line if you read the earlier chapters he changes his name as they begin to travel through the Greek world I say it was a major meltdown because we read in verse 39 of this particular chapter these words they had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus they had a sharp disagreement and that's kind of an interesting phrase because I'm not sure the English does justice to the Greek because the Greek word there is this word paroxysmos big mouthful from which we get what English word do you think it's the word paroxysm doesn't help us a whole lot I had to look that up in the dictionary but it's really a fit in fact the dictionary definition for paroxysm is any sudden violent outburst a fit of violent action of emotion so when I say it's a meltdown it really is a meltdown it is a violent disagreement between Barnabas and Saul and what's fascinating about it is that it is caused by a young man by the name of John Mark now John Mark it turns out to be is the author most likely of the gospel that is named after him he is the son of a woman named Mary to whose house Peter went after he got released from jail when the church was having a prayer meeting that is to say she was likely a woman of significant wealth but more than that he was the cousin of Barnabas and when Barnabas and Saul led by the Holy Spirit had set out on their first missionary journey John Mark had come along as a helper but then halfway on that journey he flaked out on them as Acts 13 verse 13 tells us very clearly just to put this in context here is Paul and Barnabas's first missionary journey they were in Antioch of Syria when the Holy Spirit said to the prophets gathered there set apart for me Saul and Barnabas to the mission or to the work that I have called them so they traveled to Seleucia which is the sea port here and then they sail to Cyprus I wonder who can tell me why do you think they went to Cyprus who was from Cyprus Barnabas was a native of Cyprus and so he had relatives there he had connections there and I find it rather fascinating that in the process of stepping out into their mission they utilize the normal relationships and the connections they have in order to start this missionary journey so they travel to Salamis they travel to Paphos where they have this encounter with this witch doctor that Paul rebukes and then the ruler of that area becomes a Christian on account of that and then they catch the boat and they go to Perga in the province of Pamphylia and the Bible tells us then that in Acts 13 verse 13 John Mark left them to catch the boat back not to Antioch but to Jerusalem now the text does not tell us why John Mark went back but it's not hard to speculate they were getting into wild territory there were marshes there were mountains there were there was going to be significant opposition to the gospel and by this time and here's an interesting thing if you read the gospel record the leadership had transferred from Barnabas to Paul Paul is now increasingly the one who is on the forefront John Mark was Barnabas's cousin and whatever the reason he flaked out on them and Paul was not very happy about that and so then the controversy between the two of them becomes so heated that Barnabas and Paul go their own separate ways and now Barnabas takes John Mark and he goes back to Cyprus to the area that they both know and the Apostle Paul he starts his second missionary journey from Antioch later on with Silas and they go back up this way to visit all of these churches and then they travel beyond that in their second missionary journey so this morning here's the question for you in this major conflict this meltdown between Barnabas and Paul who's at fault is it Barnabas who's obviously rooting for a family member is it the Apostle Paul who cannot tolerate failure and it says you blew at once I don't want to take a second chance with you let me do a vote on this how many of you think this was Barnabas's fault how many of you think it was Paul's fault less sympathy for Paul than for Barnabas that's interesting how many of you think they were both at fault equally oh don't we love to go that direction hey what if I tell you this morning that not either one may necessarily have been at fault what if I tell you this morning that sometimes in Christian life and Christian community conflict is not only unavoidable but it may in fact be necessary for the truth of the gospel to be established in the time that we have this morning I'm going to paint for you three scenarios where if you're faithful to Jesus there is likely to be relational tension in your life and that relational tension apart from sin and all the human elements that we bring into the picture there will be times that tension is not only unavoidable but it's a tension that we need to learn to live with because it is part and parcel of the gospel of Jesus Christ let me try to walk you through it as quickly as I can we have a lot of ground to cover this morning first place where relational conflict is unavoidable for you if you're going to be a Christian is in your relationship with unbelievers and nominal believers by unbeliever I mean a person who has not come to faith in Christ by a nominal believer I'm talking about a believer who is a believer in name only professes to believe in Christ but hasn't really taken up his cross and hasn't really learned to leave that out in the practical realities of life both of those categories you're going to be at odds with in the Christian life because Jesus she will recall says don't think that I have come to bring peace on earth I have come to set father against mother and brother against sister and a man's enemies will be those of his own household terrible words that we have great difficulty with sometimes but they are rooted in the very heart in the very nature of the gospel do not be yoked together with unbelievers what do righteousness and wickedness have in common what fellowship can light have with darkness what harmony is there between Christ and Belial what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever what agreement is there between the temple of God and idols for we are the temple of the living God as God has said I will live with them and walk among them and I will be their God and they will be my people 2nd Corinthians 6 the verses 14 15 and 16 you see it's rooted in the very heart of what it is to be a Christian because to be a Christian as you know is to be in relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ it is to live for his will and for his purpose and when you commit yourself to Jesus that is what you commit yourself to but anybody around you that has not committed themselves to Jesus is not living for the kingdom of God they are living for the kingdom of the world they are fundamentally living for their own comfort and for their own pleasure not for the will of God and while a new believer and an unbeliever may be virtually indistinguishable because the wheat and the tears growing together look very much alike when they are first coming out of the ground as time goes on and they bear fruit according to their nature the more you become like Jesus and the more the world becomes like Satan the greater will be the gap between the two of you and so inevitably if you are serious about following Jesus there will be those around you sometimes in your own household people who are antagonistic towards you for no other reason than that you name the name of Jesus Jesus puts it this way in John 15 verse 18 and 19 if the world hates you keep in mind that it hated me first if you belong to the world it would love you as its own as it is you do not belong to the world but I have chosen you out of the world that is why the world hates you doesn't mean we go looking for trouble doesn't mean we don't try to do everything that we can to be at peace with all men I'm just saying there is nobody who lived more righteously and more lovingly than did Jesus and you know how he ended up he ended up on the cross and Paul says everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted and so rather than being surprised by this or feeling sorry for ourselves or lamenting about it scripture says we ought to consider ourselves blessed and rejoice because it is evidence of the work of God in our hearts and in our lives if the world doesn't like Jesus then if it doesn't like us because of Jesus it shows that the work of Jesus is happening in our lives Jesus on the Sermon of the Mount puts it this way blessed are you when people insult you persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you he says when you are persecuted for no other reason not because the stupid things you do not because of your own sin and for us that's always a mixture but if you are persecuted if people hate you because you love Jesus then you ought to rejoice because it shows that you are on the side of the prophets because all through scripture the prophets have been stoned and persecuted often even by God's own people so if you are in relationship with people around you who are not believers then do not be surprised that you find yourself on a different wavelength and I'll say it again don't go looking for trouble don't go making trouble don't be self-righteous don't be arrogant don't look down your noses at other people but I'll tell you the more you are like Jesus the more there will be people in the world who cannot stand you for the simple reason that you smell too much like Christ get used to it because it's going to get worse as the world gets worse the only reason we don't have a lot of persecution in North America is because up until you know relatively recently North American society was rooted in a Christian background and in Christian values but the more those values go down the tubes the more you and I refuse to participate in what the world calls normal life the more their guns will be turned towards you and me because we're seen as intolerant in a world where the highest value is tolerance get ready for it get used to it don't be foolish but understand that that is the nature of the Christian gospel Jesus comes to separate the sheep from the goats because by the time the curtain falls in eternity there's a separation only God's people come into his kingdom everybody else gets excluded all right to move on a second place then where relationally you're going to discover there is a tension you may have to live with is when there is what I would call a significant sanctification gap that is to say where one or both of us are immature in Christ and that again flows out of the very nature of the gospel remember when you come to Christ you're justified by faith so in Christ you are perfectly holy before God over here doesn't mean you were fully sanctified there are many places in all of our lives where we still live in the world which is why as you know these two circles always overlap now the more immature I am in Christ the more immature you are in Christ the more likely we're going to have conflict with each other because we will not have the resources we will not be mature enough to be able to resolve the problems that we are confronted with Paul puts it this way he says in one Corinthians three one two and three brothers I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly mere infants in Christ that is to say you've come to Christ but you're baby Christians and you're acting like babies he says I gave you milk not solid food for you were not yet ready for it indeed you are still not ready you're still worldly none knows how he defines worldly for since there is jealousy and quarreling among you are you not worldly are you not acting like mere men I love that phrase because the implication is that if you're in Christ and you're growing up in Christ then you ought not to be acting like normal human beings you want to be acting like the children of God and so to the degree to which one or more of us in a relationship is immature to that degree there is going to be conflict and tension and a corresponding inability to resolve that tension and again the reason for that is not hard to figure out because the more immature I am the more sensitive I am and the more likely I am to be offended if I am coming at a situation from a place of brokenness and what you do or what you say to me triggers old wounds in my life then I am going to experience a proportional degree of hurt a proportional degree of anger and to the degree to which I am immature I may not even know what that hurt is I may not even know what it is that I'm feeling it or feeling or or why I am feeling it all I know is that I'm in pain and somehow you are the one who is causing me pain out of that comes anger and if I am immature in Christ I don't know how to handle the pain I don't know how to handle the anger and attempts at reconciliation will soon blow up because I don't know how to do it and so the process of forgiveness and the process of reconciliation gets short circuited because one or the other is unable to go how many of us have ever found ourselves in situations where you have just quit arguing with your spouse or you have quit trying to solve a problem with somebody because you run into a brick wall and you know nothing is going to move beyond that anybody ever experience that it's like what's the use and then you can beat yourself up and you say somehow this ought to be resolvable well it's only resolvable if people are growing up in Christ and guess what growing up in Christ may take a long time and as we'll see later on you know how long it took for Paul and John Mark to get back on a good footing and I'll talk about that at the end of the message if we can get to it this morning twelve years and sometimes it takes a long time for me to grow up so I can process the pain the anger the information sometimes it will take you a long time and the more mature we are the greater is our responsibility to try to step into that situation and where we cannot resolve it what we need to do is we need to leave it in the hands of God knowing that God alone can make the changes that need to be made so that real reconciliation takes place I love Philippians 3 15 and 16 all of us who are mature should take such a view of things that is in the context of putting off the old and putting on the new and then he says if on some point you think differently that too God will make clear to you not every wrong you see in somebody's life needs to be fixed now any more than not everything that is wrong in your life needs to be fixed now God is incredibly patient he knows where our hearts are at and I've often said as long as I know that you are fundamentally committed to Jesus and you want to do his will then I don't care where you find yourself how long it takes you to work through this stuff that you need to work through God is incredibly patient and the good work that he's begun he will bring to completion in Jesus Christ see we don't have to play God in each other's lives that way we can set each other free and say well you know whatever is the Lord's business is the Lord's business let him work it out because he can do what I cannot do the more you push certain people in certain places the more they push back and the harder it is and the more you ought to just say Lord I surrender my husband or my wife or my kid or my friend or my fellow parishioner it's not my job to sit in judgment I surrender them to you and would you please do in their lives and in my life whatever it is that needs to be done and you can bet your bottom dollar God is better at it than you or me and if he wants to use us in that process he will prompt us by his Holy Spirit and give us the grace and the wisdom to do the exhortation to do the challenging that needs to take place but only as he leads because otherwise we're all looking over our shoulders wondering who is going to pull the rug out from underneath us when we are least ready for it we're all in process and it's all going to take Jesus to get us to where we need to go you with me so there are two places so far where conflict is inevitable Christians and non-Christians believers together depending on their level of immaturity or maturity and then there is a third area that is particularly apropos to the situation where Paul and Barnabas find themselves and that is when our gifts and our passions and listen carefully are complementary that is to say when they support each other rather than being identical to each other and that's going to take a little bit of explanation so let me try to walk you through that as quickly as I can back in the early 90s I heard a talk given by the then teaching pastor at Willow Creek Jim Dethmer on what could be called the three C's of church life that I have never ever forgotten to this day it was illuminating for me and I trust it may be helpful for you this morning Jim Dethmer in his presentation said that every church community consists of three overlapping circles those circles can be identified as community cause and corporation each of these are part and parcel of life in the church and each of these operate with a different set of values and are to be held in creative tension with each other let me walk you through each of them by turn as quickly as I can first of all community community talks about life in relationship together and the best metaphor for that in Christian circles is the word family because you see when I become a Christian and you become a Christian God becomes a father then guess what we become with each other we become brothers and sisters we may not like each other we may wish that we had been born into a different family or that our father had begotten different children but the reality is that is not our choice to make any more than it is in the natural world and so in family what is most important is relationship and so the core values in family are these love loyalty and mutual support you care for each other you share your resources you enjoy each other you want to be together we need to keep those slides up rather than moving them back and forth if we can the core values are love loyalty and mutual support the spiritual gifts that are most valued in community are the gifts of shepherding looking after the needs of the flock encouragement mercy and service because you see this is all about pastoral care this is all about looking after each other this is all about helping each other now here's the interesting question in community who do you think is the most valuable person it is your weakest member because in your family of origin who gets the most attention well it's the baby or the person who's sick or the person who needs the support of the rest of community and so community comes around the broken the needy the vulnerable and being honest and transparent about those values are of critical importance because that's what brings people's hearts together in community isn't that not true keep that in mind because after a little while we're going to see why Saul and Barnabas had so much trouble with each other over John Mark the second circle then is cause and the metaphor for cause is mission the church is not only a group of people that like to be together and hang out and be friends with each other and provide for each other the church has got a job to do guess what what is the job make disciples of all nations a huge undertaking the gospel of the kingdom is to be proclaimed to all the nations of the world so that all the nations of the world get to choose whether or not they will submit to King Jesus yes or no and Jesus says I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit so that you can fulfill the mission of the church now if the metaphor is mission then the core values are what reaching out and folding and furthering the cause in other words if you have laid hold of the vision then you live and you sleep and you breathe how do I bring my neighbor to Christ how can I create in church environment where the lost and the last of the least can come into that community and be confronted by Jesus and your greatest joy is when you see lives transformed by the power of Jesus Christ true so what are the gifts that are needed in cause well the values are faith courage evangelism exhortation that is to say the gifts that are needed here you're going to be a soldier man or woman you've got a job to do and you need the courage and the faith and the commitment to step out of your comfort zone connect with people who are far away from God people who may throw rocks at you stone you and kill you but you are going to step into it because that's what Jesus did when he left the glories of heaven to come down here and he said come and follow me and I'll make you fishers of men so now here's an interesting question who do you think is the most valued player or person in the army it's not your weakest member it is your strongest member the accolades here go to the person who is most equipped to engage the battle and who is most equipped to further the cause of Jesus Christ this is not a place for wimps this is not a place for babies this is a place for grown men and women who know how to wage war against the forces of hell and to see the kingdom of God further do you understand what I'm saying so now we've had community we've had cause and then we have corporation and corporation is the internal structure that gives shape organizationally to both the community and to the cause and so the metaphor for corporation is the organization its policies its procedures its principles you could say from a business perspective this is the business end of the church because if community is going to function as community there's got to be some organization to it there's got to be some rules about how you do life and how you do a relationship and if community is going to be engaged in cause pity the poor souls who try to be engaged in cause without good leadership and without good direction you're going to be fighting each other before you know it because everybody's on a different page and so the spiritual gifts the core values here are the values of effectiveness and efficiency how can we best use our time talent and treasure to advance the cause of community and to advance the cause of mission how can we grow up to be a good and healthy church and how can we best use our limited time talent and treasure to make the greatest impact on the world all around us and so the gifts that are most valued here are gifts of administration the Greek word in the New Testament used for administration is oarsman it's the dude in the back of the boat moving the rudder back and forth to make sure the ship stays in the channel and doesn't get lost in the reeds or hit the rocks that's administration leadership is part of that stewardship stewarding our time talent and our treasure and so back to the old question in this circle who do you think is the most valuable player or the most valuable person well obviously the one with the greatest skill level if you hire staff at a church to take care of the business end of things you're not going to hire the weakest member you're not even going to hire the strongest soldier who is the most brazen one who can run out there and win the battle you're going to hire somebody who knows how to add up his money who can organize and who can keep the ship afloat if you've ever been to a badly run meeting then you will know how important is the gift of administration isn't it true that sometimes you gather together in a meeting and you don't know if this is all about fellowship where we just hang around be nice to each other or if it's about you know we're committed to cause or like what are we here for how you answer that question is very much determined by what circle you find yourself in in terms of your values and your thinking so here's the thing that we need to understand for a church to be a healthy church and this was Jim Dethmer's argument and I think he's absolutely correct for a church to be a healthy church all three of these circles need to be held in appropriate tension with each other community cause and corporation are all part and parcel of church community they are all equally important and they're all going to fight with each other because one or the other wants to be dominant depending on where you find yourself what actually happens in the real world is that one or more of these circles become predominant at the expense of others and when that happens the organization becomes increasingly skewed again let me walk you through that quickly if we neglect community we tend to become like this cold non-relational lack of heartfelt worship no demonstrable love little sense of belonging to family we've all been part of communities we've all been part of organizations where you are like strangers in the night and ships passing each other and you don't feel any sense of this is a family that I belong to if we neglect community that's what happens if we neglect cause guess what happens then we have no heart for outreach we become stagnant and ingrown no sense of being part of something bigger than ourselves and we have little growth from new believers if we neglect cause we suffer from what is known as koinonitis which is an ingrown sense of we're just happy with each other and we don't want to share what we have with anybody else and you see how quickly this happens if you've ever been part of a small group or you have begun to share each other's hearts how much time goes by before you become resistant to taking in new members to that group isn't that not true our love for community very quickly outweighs our love for cause because you see community is all about me but cause is all about somebody else and it takes the spirit of Jesus to get me beyond my need to the greater needs of the world and so if we neglect corporation what happens well immaturity little accountability everybody does what is right in their own eyes nothing really gets done unclear goals life and community is chaotic and random uncoordinated activity I cannot tell you how many churches I have known where they pride themselves in their lack of organization and the lack of organization drives any organized person absolutely crazy because everybody does what is right in his own eyes that's what happens if we neglect but the same thing is true if we overemphasize community what happens we become a holy huddle fear of or coldness to outsiders we become ingrown and proud it's all about me cause if we overemphasize cause guess what happens we become overzealous all that matters is getting out there and doing the job don't bother me with your problems or your difficulties we become hard the flock is driven instead of being led and nurtured and we develop a lack of supportive relationships you you're no longer valued for who you are you're only valued because of what you produce and if we overemphasize corporation then we become dry and sterile and overly cautious because corporate people aren't known for taking risks or valuing risks failure to see God's hand in the new a fear of risk trusting in structure and tradition instead of the spirit and so the challenge as I said is to keep that all in good balance because if you don't the organization will skew in one direction or another so bringing in now full circle can you understand why there was a huge meltdown between Barnabas and Paul over John Mark if you were to put Barnabas in one of those circles what circle would you put him in community why his name means son of encouragement his real name was Joseph by the way but he was known as the son of encouragement it was Barnabas in Acts chapter 4 who first sold the field and brought the money to the apostles because he cared for community he cared for the poor at Jerusalem it was Barnabas who took in the apostle Paul when he was still Saul when nobody wanted anything to do with him in Jerusalem and it was Barnabas who paved the way for Saul to become part of the Jerusalem community and to develop his apostleship it's not surprising then that it is Barnabas who looks at John Mark and who says I know that you're my cousin but despite that I believe in giving people the second chance and I want you to learn from this experience and recover makes sense doesn't it that's why he was fighting what he was fighting for now where would you put Paul cause because Paul was a man who was focused both by personality and by calling I love Acts 9 15 where the Lord gives him that commission and we read the Lord said to Ananias go this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel I will show him how much he must suffer for my name the Lord God was very particular in selecting Saul of Tarsus because Saul had by nature the kind of personality that said I'm going all out before his conversion he was so determined to serve the Lord God that he destroyed the church thinking that he was doing the right thing after his conversion the same energy was brought to bear on the cause of missions and so when John Mark flakes out for whatever the reason Paul says I can't use you because you are a hindrance to my work and so Saul and Barnabas or Paul and Barnabas have this huge conflict because they are coming at it from a different perspective all together and neither is necessarily right or wrong although you know you got to make allowances for human sin and all of that sort of stuff to enter into it but even apart from that there is an inherent tension and this is what I want you to hear this morning there is an inherent tension in Christian community between those who favor family and those who favor cause and those who favor corporation if you favor family then your highest value is to sit around feel good about each other and to encourage each other you love community and you love to believe the best and you want to embrace the weakest member with all your heart but if you if your heart burns with cause if that's who you are if that's how you're wired if that's who you're called to be you don't have a lot of patience with people who are just sitting around navel gazing over here you've got a job to do and come on people let's do the job and quit being so full of self pity and quit being so full of all your own stuff let's do the job that we have been called to do and if you're committed to corporation then you look at both of those and you say listen enough of this chaos enough of this lack of organization enough of this lack of structure let me give some backbone to this body so that it's not just a jellyfish that goes all over the place but is actually a structure that goes someplace that tension is not only unavoidable it is a necessary part of church community and instead of avoiding it it needs to be managed so that the church can grow up and be healthy in Christ both in community and in cause and in corporation and the closest example that I can think of is the tension in a business between people who are in sales and people who are in accounting a salesman wants to make the sale and will lower the standard to make it as easy as possible for you to buy the product so you didn't pay the last order that's okay we'll just add it to the new one I will do everything that I can to make the deal as attractive to you as I possibly can make it you talk to the accountant and the accountant says over my dead body this guy hasn't paid his bills for the last six months you are putting this company at risk and unless you can meet these criteria for payment you are not going to have permission to give more product or service to this particular individual is that not true and so they're constantly at each other because the salesman's plans are frustrated by the accountant and the accountant thinks the salesman is just an irresponsible twit who's going to sink the whole company but can you do without one or the other no you cannot without sales the accountant will have no accounting to do without the accountant the salesman won't long stay in business and so you have an inherent tension that needs to be managed now all of that has huge implications for life in community and it has huge implications for what church looks like going forward as we try to work through some of the issues that we are confronted by in our dealings with classes we're out of time we need to come back to it next time and then we'll also talk about how these issues got settled between Barnabas and Paul but also between John Mark and the Apostle Paul and it's an amazing story of how given enough time God brought it all full circle and all those relationships were marvelously restored for the glory of God. 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