Truth and Conflict

Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: "Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved." This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question (Acts 15: 1-2).
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." Barnabas wanted to take 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 (Acts 15: 36-40).
I remember times as a child when I’d wake up in the night with pain shooting down my legs. I would tip-toe down the hall to my parents’ bedroom, nudge them awake, and explain the problem. “Oh, don’t worry,” they would say, “those are growing pains. It means that you are healthy and growing taller and stronger.” That made sense to me, and I usually was able to go right back to sleep.
Growing pains are not only physical; they are also an important part of spiritual health. The two excerpts from Acts 15 quoted above describe such growing pains. The first involves an argument about the place of circumcision in following Jesus (and this argument is resolved later in the chapter). The second portrays a bitter and unresolved dispute between two very close companions in ministry, Paul and Barnabas.
Both situations are painful. Conflict generates stress, brings strains into our relationships with others, and drains away a great deal of our attention and energy. Though a handful of us actually enjoy conflict, most of us try to avoid it whenever we can. It wears us out and gets us down.
But all children of God need the type of conflict that we call “growing pains.” When the Spirit of God is moving, conflict must happen. When the Spirit of God is moving, settled assumptions are shown to be shaky, sin is exposed and needs to be dealt with, and ways of relating or carrying out activities are called to be transformed. The only churches or Christian communities or Christian relationships or Christian lives that never experience conflict are dead ones, Spirit-less ones. Just before his crucifixion, Jesus promised his disciples that “when the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16: 13), and conflict is one of the tools the Spirit uses to provide such guidance.
And that means two things for us. First, we have to have our eyes open to recognize Spirit-led conflict so that, when we see it, we don’t run away from it. Many of us prefer to avoid stress by practicing conflict avoidance, and thereby we quench the Spirit.
Second, we are called to enter into growing-pains conflict filled with the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal. 5: 22-23). That takes a strong dose of mature wisdom! The church in Acts 15 practiced such wisdom in resolving the circumcision conflict. Paul did not when he rejected Mark as a partner in ministry, but just before his life ended, he wrote Timothy this request: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry” (II Tim. 4.11). He changed his mind and allowed his own growing pains to be shaped by the Spirit’s truth. That inspires me to try to do the same.

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