Then the apostles and elders together with the whole church in Jerusalem chose delegates, and they sent them to Antioch of Syria with Paul and Barnabas to report on this decision. The men chosen were two of the church leaders—Judas (also called Barsabbas) and Silas. This is the letter they took with them: “This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem. It is written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings! “We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but we did not send them! So we decided, having come to complete agreement, to send you official representatives, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are sending Judas and Silas to confirm what we have decided concerning your question. “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements: You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.” The messengers went at once to Antioch, where they called a general meeting of the believers and delivered the letter. And there was great joy throughout the church that day as they read this encouraging message. Then Judas and Silas, both being prophets, spoke at length to the believers, encouraging and strengthening their faith. They stayed for a while, and then the believers sent them back to the church in Jerusalem with a blessing of peace. Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch. They and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord there. After some time Paul said to Barnabas, “Let’s go back and visit each city where we previously preached the word of the Lord, to see how the new believers are doing.” Barnabas agreed and wanted to take along John Mark. But Paul disagreed strongly, since John Mark had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in their work. Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus. Paul chose Silas, and as he left, the believers entrusted him to the Lord’s gracious care. Then he traveled throughout Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches there.
Acts of the Apostles 15:22-33, 35-41 NLT
Conflict is going to happen. How will you deal with it?
lWhen a conflict arose over the Gentiles, the Church met, prayed, followed the Spirit, and made a resolution that cleared the matter up. When Paul and Barnabas had a sharp disagreement over Mark, they tried to work things out. They could not see eye to eye, but they stayed friends and strategically split up the mission field – covering more ground for Christ.
People tend to avoid or attack when conflict comes. Neither works well, and gossip only makes matters worse. The best place to start is prayer – it helps work out our thoughts, frustrations, and feelings with the Lord. Then we can go directly to the person and deal with the problem. Some things we will work out, others we will still disagree on, as Paul and Barnabas did. Even if the problem is not resolved, remember you follow the way of Jesus, and do your best to keep loving people even if they won’t change. We need to follow Jesus’ teaching (Matt 18:15-20) and deal with conflict the right way. His way is harder, but it works way better!
How do you handle conflict? Is there anyone that you need to ask for forgiveness, or anyone you need to forgi
