Paul and Barnabas Differ Over Mark (Acts 15:36–41)

Prepared and preached by Pastor Steve Rhodes for an at Bethel Friends Church in Poland, OH Sunday, June 29, 2025

Just think: Do not raise your hand:

Have you ever hurt someone with your words?

Have you ever been in tears because of gossip or rumors?

Have you ever been angered because of something wrongfully said about you?

Have you wrongfully said something about someone else?

Have you spread the gossip or the rumor?

Have you been unloving?

Have others been unloving to you? I know this is broad.

The church is a place for sinners. The church is a place for people who do wrong things, and I am one of them. However, the church is also a place where, once we commit to Christ, we commit to growing and changing, not deteriorating, but improving.

Ten years ago, I was with my three-year-old, Mercedes, who wanted to build a sandcastle with gravel on the driveway. She did not know that little bit of gravel on the driveway would not build a sandcastle. She did not know how much better the sand on the beach would be. Likewise, we come to know Jesus, and we are sinners; we are sinners for our whole lives. However, as we grow in Christ, we grow out of certain sins. This means that we realize that life is different. Before we were playing, we were trying to build sandcastles with gravel on a driveway, but Jesus wants us to grow into Christ followers who are not wrestling daily with the same old issues.

Jesus wants us to have a renewed perspective. Let me make that example make some sense… Is gravel very malleable?

I have a bucket of gravel right here. Let me pour some out. Do you think it is malleable? No, we cannot build a sandcastle with this, and God can do anything, but sometimes we are not even like gravel; we are like rocks, and God needs to make us like sand so that He can work within us.

Now, I have sand, let me pour some out into another bucket. Is this malleable? Is it? Can you work with it? Can God work with it? Can a child work with it?

We need our relationships to be like sand, not like gravel or rock.

Then we will still offend people and still sin, but hopefully not the same old stuff and not as much. Hopefully, then we make things right. So, let’s talk about that.

Let’s talk about that now. Let’s look at a passage in which the Apostle Paul had a difference of opinion with Barnabas. They part ways, but I want to make the case that though they part ways, they do so agreeably. I want to discuss biblical restoration.

Read Acts 15:36-41 with me:

Acts 15:36–41 (ESV)

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.” 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. ³⁹ And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, ⁴⁰ but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

1. Context
   1. What is our context?
   2. In the previous section, we talked about the Council of Jerusalem.
   3. The leaders of the church came together to discuss what Gentiles must do when they come to faith in Christ.
   4. James, Jesus’s half-brother, made the ruling.
   5. They sent out a group, which included Paul and Barnabas, to share a letter from the leadership.
2. Notice that Paul and Barnabas have a disagreement.
   1. This disagreement is in verse 37. Barnabas was an encourager; he wanted to give John Mark a second chance. Now, what happened with John Mark? In Acts 13:13, Paul and Barnabas were on their first missionary journey, and John Mark went home to Jerusalem. There may have been several reasons for this: NIV text note of Acts 13:13: Homesickness to get back to Jerusalem, an illness of Paul necessitating a change in plans and a trip to Galatia, and a change in leadership from Barnabas to Paul have all been suggested as reasons for John Mark’s return. Paul’s dissatisfaction with his departure is noted later (15:37–39).^[1]
   2. Either way, now Barnabas is saying, “Let’s give him a second chance.” Paul says, “No way.”
   3. Verse 39 says that they had a “Sharp” disagreement.”
   4. Have we ever had a “Sharp” disagreement? What do we do? How do we handle it?
   5. I have listened to and read lots of counseling books and documents, and it is recommended that people need timeouts, but they are hard to take.
   6. I think Paul, the Apostle, needed a timeout.
   7. Paul is a “Driven” personality. “Fight or flight,” Paul fights.
   8. They had a sharp disagreement. Paul and Barnabas were partners, and sometimes we like to take this passage and say even the best of Christians have massive arguments. I read one source that suggested we sometimes take this passage too far. We take it and make it look like they had a “knock-down, drag-out fight.” We don’t know that. We know they disagreed; we know they disagreed strongly and sharply, and we know they needed a timeout. However, we also know that it appears there were no hurt feelings. Look at these verses:
   9. 2 Timothy 4:11 (ESV) ¹¹ Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.
   10. 1 Cor. 9:6: Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living?
   11. So, it does appear that Paul and John Mark were okay later. It appears that Barnabas and Paul eventually were okay with each other.
   12. What else happens in this passage? Sometimes we are stuck making sandcastles in a driveway with a little bit of gravel. Step back.
   13. In verses 39-41, two missionary journeys happened instead of one. Barnabas took John Mark, and Paul took Silas. God spread the Great Commission more this way. Isn’t that awesome?
   14. Secondly, Paul chose Silas, and Silas was a Roman citizen, and we will hear more about that in Acts 16:37.

We do not know how Paul and Barnabas reconciled. We are not sure they needed to be reconciled.

So, have you been offended? Have you offended someone else? Perhaps it’s time to make things right. Maybe it is time to apologize. Ask for forgiveness. Yes, we are all sinners. We are all sinners; we are all making sandcastles on a driveway, not on a beach. However, as we grow in Christ, God wants us to be more like Him and less like the world, which means that God wants us to be more loving. God wants us to be reconciled. God wants us to step back and see the beauty of the beach. God needs us to be sand, not rock. God needs us to be malleable.

Do you know Jesus?

God created us to be with him. (Genesis 1-2)

Our sin separated us from God. (Genesis 3)

Sins cannot be removed by good deeds (Gen 4-Mal 4)

Paying the price for sin, Jesus died and rose again. (Matthew – Luke)

Everyone who trusts in him alone has eternal life. (John – Jude)

Life that’s eternal means we will be with Jesus forever. (Revelation 22:5)

Pray

^[1] Kenneth L. Barker, ed., NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020), 1923.