Sometimes we disagree with people. Sometimes it’s because they’re wrong, sometimes it’s because we’re wrong. But sometimes… we’re both RIGHT. In today’s episode, Paul and Barnabas ran into this issue. We’ll see what we can learn from how they handled it.

Last week in episode 26 of the God’s Word, Today’s World podcast, we looked at how a rift was forming in the early church between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians. The Jewish believers wanted the Gentiles to follow a long list of rules and abide by their culture and upbringing. The Gentile believers, however, had no such restraints, they had a great deal of freedom in how they lived because they didn’t have the same set of laws and regulations that the Jewish believers had.

And so there was tension, both were trying to force their ideals on the other.

But James, one of Jesus’s younger brothers, an elder in the Jerusalem church, steps up and says, “Hey, fellow Jews, let’s not make life any harder for our Gentile brothers and sisters. But, to our Gentile brothers and sisters in Christ, here are just a few things you can do to really help bring peace between our different cultures.”

What we can takeaway from James’ words is that yes, we do have a great deal of freedom as Christians, but our freedom to live certain ways comes second to loving our brothers and sisters in Christ as Jesus loves us.

And Jesus loved us to the point that he left heaven, came to earth, was tortured and eventually killed. For us. He died to pay the price for our mistakes and sins. Then God rose him on the third day, and Jesus defeated death. Because of that, we have the free gift of salvation. When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God, we can have salvation.

That’s how far Jesus went for everyone who puts their faith in him.

But how far do we go to show those around us love? Are we willing to give up things we enjoy in life because it makes our brothers and sisters in Christ uncomfortable? Or tempts them to do something they believe is a sin?

Because we should be willing to sacrifice our freedoms for the sake of others, Jesus certainly did for us. The apostles certainly did for us, they died so we could have the gospel.

What are you willing to do to love those around you? What are you willing to give up to love those around you?

This week, we’re continuing to look at how to handle tension between believers. Our passage today is Acts 15:38-16:15 (NIV):

36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 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. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. 41 He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

1 Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they traveled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.

Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia

6 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.