Dissention & Debate or Grace & Gratitude?
Rev. Vivian L. Rodeffer
Acts 15: 1-11
“The Council at Jerusalem”
15 Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders. 3 So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters.
4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. 5 But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.”
6 The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. 7 After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. 8 And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us, 9 and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? 11 On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
Sin and strife aren’t just something that happens to us as individuals; it is something the church struggles with as well from the earliest times. Today’s scripture passage, called the Jerusalem Council, demonstrates an early church meeting in which a serious discussion with disagreement and dissension took place. When we do it in 2023, it is nothing new. The current situation of the United Methodist Church unfortunately illustrates disagreement well as hundreds of churches separate from the United Methodist Church over the issue of LGBTQ+ rights.
Conflict is inevitable in our personal lives, communities and churches. We don’t always know how to engage in conflict in healthy or Christ-like ways. Some of us avoid or ignore conflict, while others of us act poorly in conflict and in ways that harm, rather than heal.
In fact, we often act in ways that make it harder on ourselves and others to move on from conflict to relationship. By things like by requiring uniformity in thought and belief. Sometimes we even act as though unity is impossible in our lives, culture, and world. What do you think? Is there anything that would make a more peaceable approach to handling disagreements?
Conflict happened in this scripture text, and it was neither ignored nor did it blow up. We can learn from this text. An interesting note is that the Gentiles who are the object of all the religious quarreling don’t actually have a presence or voice in the conflict. This is not necessarily a way in which we should follow the early church, but it may lead us to reflect on how often we at our annual conferences, like them, quarrel about people in the church who don’t have a voice or aren’t present.
The conflict at hand is whether new male Gentile believers must be circumcised to be in the community of faith. Some people in the community believed this was such an important ordinance that all new believers should follow it. However, disciple Peter questions how much good it is actually doing or whether the rule is serving anyone well (v. 10). For those on both sides of the issue, the future of the church is at stake. They were afraid.
How did they ultimately navigate this difficult disagreement? Did they find common ground to stand on and was it enough to reach a resolve? It seems like the first step of engaging conflict in a Christ-like way — and letting the grace of Jesus take the lead — might include the work of identifying, understanding, and addressing our own fears, as well as the fears of the other with a grace-filled response.
Some other aspects of how this disagreement was navigated by the early church might very well teach us today how to navigate the waters of dissension and disagreement:
- It is important to have discussion with people who have wisdom at different levels of authority (v. 2), “And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.”
- It is important to gather to consider the issue (v.6), “The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter.”
- It is important to witness to and remind others of the Holy Spirit’s activity (v. 8-9), “And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us, 9 and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us.”
- Finally it is important to remember that God loves them as much as us (v. 12-13). “...we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
An eternal truth is that conflict happens. But as 1 John 4:18 states: “Perfect love casts out fear,” which is another eternal truth. Our challenge and take away is to learn to engage one another’s fears with a Christ-like response. And in that way we would create a path toward greater unity when we have disagreements and conflict. Listening to and addressing one anothers’ fears in love can help cast them out — a first step toward greater understanding through God’s grace. And finally prioritizing grace can lead us to become stronger and healthier in our relationships with God and one another.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, Not one of us likes conflict and disagreement and dissention in our personal lives or in the church. Help us learn Your better way to deal with conflicts and to strengthen eveeryone’s faith. Amen.