How to Disagree to the Glory of God

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Amen.

Let's pray together, Church.

Lord, we take comfort in the fact that this gospel truth of old will not kneel and it will not faint.

And so make of us, Holy Spirit, people, men and women, students who will not kneel and who will not faint, who will not grow weary and well-doing, who will not be like, man, I really believe this when I'm 13, but when I'm 19 and I'm not as popular, I don't have the boyfriend I wanted or the girlfriend I wanted, I gotta kick this Christianity thing to the curb and take matters into my own hands.

That's not true, God.

This truth, this the truth of the gospel, it will not kneel and it will not faint.

It'll never run out of gas, it'll never lose its power.

Lord, just teach us today, remind us today to stand on it, to believe in it, to revel in it, to bask in it, and to rebel joyfully because of it when the time comes, to disagree to the glory of God, not to distinguish ourselves, but but to bring God glory.

So, Holy Spirit, as we open up your word today, illuminate it, calls it.

It's not just words on a page, it's not a book just written by men.

This is the breathed out word of God, and it is written for our our edification, our transformation, God.

So, Holy Spirit, we yield to you even now and say, whatever you say to us, whatever you put your finger on this morning, we will do.

Just take a moment before I end this prayer.

Just tell the Holy Spirit that, just tell God, whatever you you point out to me, I'm gonna do it.

I'm not here just to kind of just sleepwalk through this.

I'm here to be changed today.

I'm here to be a better person than I was when I walked in, to be different.

And the way you get different is not by trying saying you want to be different, you get different by obeying, by submitting.

Words we don't use in our culture much anymore.

Which, Lord, because with your blood you purchased men and women, people for God.

You own us, you have the authority to tell us what to do and what not to do.

You have the right to tell us to stop doing this and start doing that.

So please do that today, Lord.

For our betterment and for your glory, we pray in Christ's name.

And everyone said, Amen, amen.

You can have a seed if you got a Bible.

I invite you to take it, open up to Acts chapter 15.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

If you don't have a Bible, it'll come up on the screen here behind me.

I want to talk to you.

If you're our guest today, let me just, what we do is we teach through books of the Bible.

That way it's not the preacher's soapbox or his political agenda, but it's this textured expression of everything God says, who he is, and what who he's called us to be.

And today we're in Acts chapter 15, verse 36, and I want to talk to you about how to disagree to the glory of God.

Acts 15:36

How to disagree to the glory of God.

Let me have a brief survey here.

How many of you have had a disagreement sometime in the past six months, and it did not go like you thought it you wanted it to or you thought it should?

If that's you, say amen.

Yes, we do not disagree very well.

And like I'll give you two names to prove my point.

The first name is Richard Bilkso.

Richard Bilkso, you're like, dude, I've never heard of that guy.

Who is he?

He is a principal at a school in Canada, actually.

It it is the Burnham Thorpe Collegiate Institute and Adult Learning Center.

That's kind of a sexy long name.

You gotta pay extra to go to that place.

Uh but he was a principal and he had a run-in with a diversity coordinator in Toronto.

And the diversity coordinator disagreed with him because he wasn't toe in the line that diversity coordinator thought he should.

And so he lost, Mr.

Mr.

Biltoe lost his job.

He lost his job, and everybody that worked with him that were his friends, he was the principal.

Everybody that was like, hey, you're our buddy.

When he got fired, they said, we don't want that to happen to us.

So they just stepped back from him.

He lost his job, he lost his friends, he lost his his reputation in the educational community, and ultimately he was so overwhelmed by it, he took his own life.

Yes, because we don't know how to disagree with people.

It's a lost art in America.

And then there's Mike Adams, who was a professor at the University of North Carolina.

He endured years of a cancel campaign brought on by students, and so basically in June of 2020, his luck ran out and he lost his job.

I mean, but he was a, I believe he was tenured, so they had to reach a financial settlement with him.

And so the school reached the financial settlement and he signed it and said, Hey, I'll go away.

I don't want to rock the boat.

I just want to be able to, we're all about free speech.

The people that were canceling him were screaming free speech.

This is the beauty of cancel culture.

We we believe in free speech, unless you disagree with us, and then we're gonna get you fired and ruin your life.

We we we talk about compassion and safe spaces, and we're the most hateful people you'll ever meet.

But I digress.

And so Mike Adams signed his thing and said, Hey, I'll go away.

We reach the financial settlement.

When the cancel cultural crowd that disagreed with him found out that the school paid him to no longer be a professor, they found got his address, published it, and more protesters showed up at his house, and he said, I don't have a moment of peace.

They're outside my house all the time.

I'm a man, I I I got family, I got people that depend on me.

He was so overwhelmed, even after he quit, he too took his own life.

Because we as a culture do not know how to disagree with each other without really going at the person who doesn't agree with you.

Let me confess to you something.

Despite this, this surprised me.

I did not expect this, but I am married to someone who disagrees with me on a consistent basis, and and she doesn't feel bad about it, and she doesn't try to cancel me, but she's just kind of like, I just fundamentally disagree.

And I'm like, Do you feel bad about being wrong?

She says, I don't think I'm wrong.

And I'm like, so are you saying, yeah, I'm saying I think you're wrong.

And we still live together.

We've got two kids, we've been married 31 years, and I would go this far.

This is really crazy.

I'm better because she disagrees with me sometimes.

Yeah, oh okay, women tamp it down.

That's right, boy.

Yes, yes.

Now I don't have time to tell you the countless students who took their own life because people came after them online, and they just said, I just I just can't live anymore.

So I want to talk to you about how to disagree to the glory of God because there's this episode in Acts chapter 15 where these two really godly men disagree.

Acts 15 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 15, verse 36 says this.

Acts 15:36

And after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaim the word of the Lord and see how they are.

Now Barnabas wanted to take with him John called Mark, but Paul thought it best not to take him with them, uh who had withdrawn from them in Pamphlia and had not gone with them to the work.

And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other.

Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.

But Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.

And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Now, when I talk about how to disagree to the glory of God, basically there's four principles I want to point out this morning.

The first one is simply this is to beware of your assumptions.

Beware of your assumptions.

You say, What do you mean?

Everybody has assumptions when it comes to disagreement.

And here is our favorite assumption.

This is what I call uh it's a negative assumption when it comes to disagreement.

We think this ends it all.

You'll know it.

Finish it with me.

Well, let's just agree to disagree.

That is the strike that phrase from your vocabulary, okay?

Because basically what you're saying is, I can't understand you and you can't understand me.

Instead, I would encourage you to just say this.

Hey, no, let's agree to misunderstand instead.

We're not gonna agree to disagree.

That's the way cowards get out of the conversation.

Uh no, let's just agree to misunderstand.

I don't understand your view well enough to be able to disagree with it, which is fine, okay?

We don't have to agree, but what I want to do is I want to be able to understand what you're saying.

Now, I I'm not gonna lie to you and say, like, well, if you say that, that makes everything better.

I said that to people, okay?

Hey, I I don't want to disagree, I don't want to agree to disagree.

I want to understand.

Let's just agree that we don't understand.

So, what do I need to know to understand what you're saying?

Ah, but I just blah blah blah.

Because when you just calmly just say to people, just help me understand what you're saying, I don't know if I disagree with it or not.

So saying, let's just agree to disagree.

What does that accomplish?

Nothing.

Nothing.

And so that's a negative assumption.

I I want to give you some positive assumptions uh that I'll I want all of us to embrace the next time you face a disagreement.

And before I give you these four things, I just want to ask you a simple question.

Picture a world where everybody did these four things when it came to a disagreement.

Here's the first one.

This is what I call a positive assumption about disagreement.

Not everybody has to think or act the way I do or would.

My wife wrote that.

I didn't.

No, no.

Uh well, not everybody.

This is when you when you when you get into a disagreement, if you can just remind yourself, not everybody has to think or act the way I do or the way I would.

Here's a second one.

Disagreeing with me does not deserve punishment.

Now, by the way, parents, you should teach your kids this.

Now, I'm not saying, oh, kids, yeah, Pastor Neil said I could disagree with you.

Yeah, I would tell my girls, you can disagree with me, but you cannot disrespect me.

You may be right, but I'm ultimately responsible.

And what happened is that my kids have the vocabulary now of a defense attorney.

Because they would go to their rooms, and I think they'd make up notes and stuff, and like, oh, we're gonna come back.

And especially my oldest, she loved to disagree with her dad and like get into it, not in a negative way, conflictual, but just like almost like a debate.

Uh, we were both on the debate team, but I digress.

Disagreeing with me does not deserve punishment.

Uh if you could teach your kids that, one of the things it will do is it'll catechize your children, it'll it'll model and teach your children how to understand why they're saying what they say, instead of just being emotion on fire.

Thirdly, positive assumption, them being wrong or doing wrong doesn't give me permission.

The person you're in the disagreement with, them uh being wrong or doing wrong doesn't give me permission.

You say, What do you mean?

Keep in mind that the person you're disagreeing with was created by God in the image of God.

So you're you're engaged with an image bearer.

Anytime you're in a disagreement.

I I've told you this before, but I'll never get tired of telling it.

When Mike remember Mike Tyson bit off Evander Holyfield a piece of his ear?

You're just like, What?

We were at some friend's house watching it, and I was like, he bit his ear off and spit it out.

They're like, no, he didn't.

I'm like, yes! And then they rewound it, commentators are going crazy, Evander Holyfield's jumping up and down, and they slowed it down, and he leans up and bites the dude, just like a little portion of his ear, and then phew, spit like, mm-hmm, that's bad beef jerky there.

That that's up.

Everybody remembers that part.

What we don't remember is that Mike Tyson to get reinstated to get his boxing license back, had to go before the Nevada Boxing Commission, and the started off the first question of the whole uh hearing.

Sorry with this, Mr.

Tyson, why?

And Mike Tyson knocked it out of the park.

Mike Tyson said, For that brief moment, I forgot he was a human being.

And those people were so disreg, they were so dysregulated.

The guy covered the mic and was like, What do we do now?

I didn't know what to say.

Yes.

Have you ever been in a disagreement with somebody and you got so inflamed that you forgot for a brief moment they were a human being?

You didn't bite their ear off, but you got everybody who knows them to agree with you and side with you.

There's the fourth thing I'd like a possible assumption I'd like us to embrace.

It's not different with family.

Oh, and the air just left the room.

Get your phone out and take a picture of that one and put a star button.

It's not different with family.

I'll tell you why in just a minute.

Here's the second thing I want us to understand this morning about how to disagree to the glory of God.

Be clear about the principle you're standing on.

Be clear about the principle you're standing on because Paul's standing on a principle.

And Barnabas is operating out of a preference.

Be clear about the principle you're standing on.

So when I say principle, let me give you a definition of what I mean by that.

A principle is a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as a foundation for a system of beliefs or behavior or a chain of reasoning.

Let me say that again.

A principle is a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as a foundation for a system of beliefs or behavior or a chain of reasoning.

Are you pay attention to that last part or a chain of reasoning?

Have you ever gotten a conversation with a teen with one of your teenage children and their logic just doesn't make sense?

And you're like, babe, I know that you're mad, but this is never going to, there's not a world, there's not a place that exists where this is gonna make sense.

I never mocked my children, by the way, especially when they were like wound up and ready to go.

I never made light of it.

I would just say, hey, here's a question you should ask when your kids are really mad at you.

Hey, right now, what principle are you standing on?

Because that may be so true, I want to stand on it with you.

I'm not trying to argue with you or win an argument.

I just want what principle are you standing on right now?

And what happens is that one or both of you begins to realize you don't have a principle as much as you have a preference.

And when you ask the print the question, what are you standing on?

All of a sudden it gets a little clear.

Because you're not trying to win.

Now, by the way, uh, I have to be right is not a principle.

Because I'm the parent, that's not a principle.

I have to win, that's not a principle.

That's a preference.

It's not a principle.

Uh, like I was talking to someone one time uh in another city that I won't name.

Okay, it was Portland.

Uh, and and and they were out there on the street just screaming.

And if you're out on the street with a bullhorn screaming, I'm just drawn to you.

And I'm just gonna walk up and I'm gonna engage you.

And it was a free speech zone and all this kind of stuff.

And and I just said, hey, what are we, what, what are we what are we about here?

Well, we want to increase safe spaces.

There are not enough safe spaces in the world, and we're advocating for safe spaces.

People need safe spaces just to be who they really are.

And I said out of my mouth, oh, that's what's wrong with America.

We don't need more safe spaces, we need less.

And 35 people turned on me all at once.

Now, I I confess I like those odds.

This is my kind of party right here.

I am like Eminem.

Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, rabbit, they're calling your name.

And one lady sees, I mean, she's got pink hair and blue hair and green in the back, got a bullhorn, and she's like, Why do you?

I said, safe spaces, listen, safe spaces are where people go to be logically weak and they can't cope with life, okay?

The world isn't safe.

You cannot make the world safe.

You cannot wrap everybody in bubble wrap.

And I'm not saying, I'm not advocating for persecuting people.

I'm just saying the idea of safe spaces, you get muscles because of resistance.

We need some resistance.

We need to be safe, but we also need some resistance.

And you would have thought, I mean, uh, it's just like, why?

And I'm like, hey, listen, now, when I say uh be clear about the principle you're standing on, here's a principle I was standing on in that moment.

It's a quote I read by a guy named DR Silva.

He said, This I will never compromise truth for the sake of getting along with people who can only get along when we agree.

That's a principle of mine.

I will never compromise truth.

Notice that truth is capitalized.

It's not my opinion or my preference, it's truth, spiritual truth, objective, unchangeable truth for the sake of getting along with people who can only get along when we agree.

And this person said, Well, we're just gonna have to agree to disagree.

I I don't I don't cop to that either.

Oh you are impossible! You think you're the first woman who said that to me?

I live with a woman who says that to me.

No, be clear about what principle you are standing on, and again, we what principle is your belief?

Here's a question you should ask yourself when you're in a disagreement, okay?

What principle is your belief structure in your belief structure is violated by this person's behavior?

This keeps it out of the realm of personal attack.

And again, you're asking yourself, really, is this a principle or a preference?

Now, for Paul, in our text right here, it was a principle.

I want to go back and read verse 37 uh to 39 again.

Now notice what they said.

He says, now Barnabas wanted to take with him uh John called Mark, but Paul thought it best not to take him with them, one who had withdrawn from them in Pamplia and had not gone with them to the work.

And there arose a sharp disagreement.

Now, when the Bible says a sharp disagreement, uh the Greek, the the word picture behind that is to incite passion.

I mean, they got stirred up.

I mean, they're just like, not they're not just talking, they're feeling it deeply, such that they separated from each other.

Now, what was the sharp disagreement about?

Now, by the way, Barnabas was John Mark's cousin.

That's why I said earlier, hey, it doesn't, just because it's family, that it's not different with family.

Because when you make exceptions because it's family, then you empower that person to have, you give that person actually more power.

And let me say it like this: in any family system, when an unhealthy person is allowed to have the power, the whole family system becomes dysfunctional.

In a family system, stop thinking about somebody.

In a family system, when an unhealthy person, it's like the person everybody tolerates, oh, Aunt Susie, you know, she's like, don't bring up this and don't talk about this, and don't bring up uh when in a family system, when an unhealthy person is allowed to have the power, the whole family system becomes dysfunctional.

And everybody just kind of smiles and nods, but no one really engages with what's actually happening.

And so for Paul, it was a big deal, this sharp disagreement.

And he, I mean, he is stirred up, not because he doesn't like this guy, but here's what happened if you turn back, you don't have to.

Uh but in Acts chapter 13, remember we talked about the church at Antioch, they were worshiping the Lord in fasting.

Acts 13 · chapter mention

Holy Spirit said, Send above me, Barnabas and Saul for the works which I've called them.

They go out, the first thing they do, they have this encounter where this guy's kind of opposed them.

And Paul prays and says, Hey, God's going to strike you blind for being a knucklehead.

And that's exactly what happened.

Well, John Mark, right after that, John Mark's like, I didn't sign up for this.

And it's Acts 13, 13, says this.

Now, Paul and his companions set sail from pay from Paphos and came to Perga and Pamphlia, and John left them and returned to Jerusalem.

I didn't sign up for this, man.

I wanted to get my picture taken with some little poor kids and busted on the gram so people look at me like I'm some global citizen.

But you are calling down, you are striking people blind, and I I don't I don't like this kind of conflictual conflictual mission trip.

And so he spit the bit and quit.

So here we are in Acts 15, and they're getting ready to go back and visit.

And where are they going back?

They're going back to visit these places they've already been.

And Barnabas says, Hey, I want to bring my cousin John Mark.

And Paul says, Mm-mm.

He's like Jake from Lonesome Dove.

He's far too leaky a vessel to put much hope in.

I don't want him on this trip.

You don't quit me once.

How do I know when it gets hard?

You won't quit me again.

See, this is a principle that Paul is standing on.

Barnabas is operating out of a preference.

And Paul is unchangeable on this.

He says, Listen, if I'm going to war, I want to go with, I want to go to war with a man that's willing to fight with me when the bullets start flying.

Here's the third thing you got to remember.

If you're going to learn to disagree to the glory of God, you have to engage all avenues of reconciliation.

You have to engage all avenues of reconciliation.

What do you mean?

In order to do this, you have to have a theology of disagreement.

So let me ask you today, what is your theology of disagreement?

This is very important.

You say, I've never put those words together.

You should.

You should have a theology of disagreement.

Uh this is important because when you don't want to, uh, and maybe I'm just maybe I'm the only one.

Sometimes I don't want to.

I know that there's disagreement, and I just want to sit over here and bask and just marinate in the juices of believing that I'm right.

I don't want to do what I know is the right thing.

Does anybody feel that way besides me?

Okay, thank you for leaving me out here.

Yeah.

I thought we were swimming, but apparently I'm just skinny dipping up here.

I feel a little exposed.

There's going to be situations where you know, hey, this is what I got to do.

You see, this is important because when you don't want to, this is where you get the want to from.

It's from what you believe as a Christian.

In this case, what is your thought theology of disagreement?

Like I told y'all months ago about an altar case of really it was just a verbal disagreement.

You know Ross King that comes here and sings and does concerts and stuff, my other guy?

Yeah, Ross King and I years ago had had a disagreement in a restaurant.

And it was about worship.

And it got a little heated, and I was kind of enjoying it, and he was kind of enjoying it.

Because I'm kind of like, hey, arguing me is like wrestling with a pig.

After a while, you're just getting muddy and the pig's enjoying it, okay?

And so I'm just enjoying it over my lunch, and it started getting heated, and he said something, and I said something, and finally, I mean, and his percussionist got him.

Craig Weaver was there, and Craig's like, hey guys, it's getting a little heated.

I said, I'm fine, I take this guy outside, beat him half to death.

I don't care.

Now, listen to me.

Listen, I know this is hard.

Listen.

I don't want to physically harm Ross King.

That's how comfortable I am with conflict and disagreement.

It doesn't bother me at all.

And Craig's like, and then we went back to the camp.

He was leading worship, and I was speaking at the camp.

Two guys who got a little heated at lunch.

Well, about an hour or two, about an hour and a half for the worship service, I'm out in my room and clear as well.

The Holy Spirit says, Hey, that wasn't great today.

And I want you to demonstrate that you understand it wasn't great.

I want you to go wash his feet.

Awesome.

And so I told you this months ago, but anyway, I looked over in this trash can in my hotel room.

I got it, filled it with warm water.

And as I'm getting a towel, the Holy Spirit says, His wife's in his room too.

I got a second little hand towel.

And his percussionists are probably in there too.

Got a third hand towel.

I go knock on the door.

And here's why Ross and I are such good friends.

He opens the door.

He goes, Oh, you jerk.

Come in.

Sits down the bed.

I wash his feet, wash his wife's feet, wash Craig's feet.

I said, Hey man, I don't want you to think that today was just today.

It was just a conversation.

I know I'm fine, but I got a little charged up.

I said, Yeah, I did too.

I kind of enjoyed it, maybe too much.

Uh it was great.

Had a great week.

Now, I told you that months ago, but someone here's why I bring it up here.

Because someone came up to me and they said, Hey, can I ask you a question?

You can ask me anything.

Did that really happen?

I said, Yeah, yeah.

Well why do you ask?

He goes, No, I don't doubt that it happened.

I mean, how where'd you get the ability to do that?

I said, here's where.

Because what I believe is stronger than what I feel.

And what I believe in that moment is my theology of disagreement.

My theology of disagreement consists of three questions, okay?

And I want to shape your theology of disagreement.

You don't have to adopt these, you can if you want to, but I want to shape your theology of disagreement by asking questions like this.

Number one, how is God represented by my behavior?

Yeah.

When I thought back, it took about a nanosecond.

Yeah, because I'm thinking if I'm sitting at a table in that restaurant and these two guys are arguing over worship, I'm just like, whatever.

How is God represented by my behavior?

Number two, how does the God, what does the gospel make me capable of?

What does the gospel make me capable of?

And then thirdly, what can I do to demonstrate this capacity?

And that's why when I was like, you want me to go wash his feet, don't you?

Now keep in mind, when Jesus washed the disciples' feet, he washed all of them.

You know who's in that group?

Judas.

Sometimes you gotta wash Judas's feet.

And if you relate to them on the basis of whether or not they deserve it, you'll never do it.

You will never do it.

This comes from the scripture that says, in as much as possible, be at peace with all men.

And let me let me be clear.

You don't have to let people take advantage of you or rule over you or concede to things or agree with things that you know to not be true, but you do have to do everything possible in your power and on your part to be at peace with all men.

Two reasons we don't reconcile, and they're very simple.

Uncertainty.

Uncertainty is I don't know what to do, and then effort.

I don't want to exert that much effort.

Oftentimes it sounds like this.

Well, I know what I should do, but he's just gonna blah, blah, blah, or she's just gonna, da-da-da-da-da.

Hey, hey, by the way, your effort is not excused by what you think their response will be.

I didn't know what Ross's response was gonna be, but I knew Ross.

I knew, man, this guy loves Jesus.

He's a good guy.

And so when I open the door, he's like, oh geez, you jerk.

Come on in.

Yes, yes.

It's helpful to ask yourself this question.

In this relationship, am I giving myself permission, the gospel doesn't?

In this relationship, am I giving myself permission, the gospel doesn't?

Proverbs says it like this a brother or sister offended is more unyielding than a strong city.

And quarreling is like the bars of a castle.

A brother or sister offended is more unyielding than a strong city.

And quarreling is like the bars of a castle.

Here's a little more accessible language from a guy named Tim Keller.

He said, Friends become wiser through a healthy clash of viewpoints.

That's a good dinner to me.

Now y'all are like, I never want to go to dinner with you.

It's not always a clash of viewpoints.

But have you ever been like at a meal with somebody and you're just kind of like, how do I get out of this?

You should be able to be able to have disagreements and you walk away as friends.

Friends become wiser together through a healthy clash of viewpoints.

Here's the last principle of what it means to disagree to the glory of God.

You engage, this is a little bit long, so get ready to write if you're taking notes.

You engage in the disagreement in a way that makes reconciliation possible down the road.

You engage in the disagreement in a way that makes reconciliation possible down the road.

But never the gospel never gives us permission to categorize people and write them off by categorize.

We all like, I don't know what that is.

I mean, we have a tendency to put people in a certain category and then never let them out.

That's what to categorize is.

And we do it all the time.

Let me demonstrate Tanya Harding.

You know how long ago that was?

She's still in that category.

I'm about to meddle with some of you.

OJ Simpson.

He's still in that category.

We just categorize, we put them in the category, and you never let them out.

And see, here's the problem.

When you don't let people out of the category you put them in that makes you feel superior and right, you're denying the reality of the sanctification in their life.

Look at me, and in yours.

Like someone came to see me recently and they said, Hey, listen, me and my brother, we haven't talked in seven years.

Now, I know family's complicated and it can get janky and hard, and and and and the person said, I don't know what to do.

He's kind of getting toward the end of his life, and I don't want to end this way, and blah, blah, blah.

And I just said, and I said, Keep talking.

I got nothing stirring in me yet.

Keep talking.

The person kept talking five to 20 minutes.

He goes, Are you gonna say anything?

And I said, Yeah.

So what you're telling me is that God has not worked in you in seven years.

That you still feel the same way about what happened, the fallout that happened.

What?

That's not what I'm saying.

That's exactly what you're saying.

Because you've done there's been no forward movement over this in seven years.

You're denying the reality of sanctification.

Sanctification is a big word that says, Philippians 1 6, the Bible says, God said, He who began a good work in you shall continue until the day of Christ Jesus.

And so God is working in you to make you less like your natural self and more like your spiritual self, more like who the Bible says you are.

Does that make sense?

Say amen.

And so when you say, oh, well, we just agree, disagree, you are nullifying the reality of sanctification.

And you're just saying, hey, bro, it is what it is.

You know where I live, you know my number, you know who hasn't spoken in years?

Michael Jordan and Charles Barclay.

They're great friends.

And you know why they disagreed?

Because Charles Barclay made a great statement.

Charles Barclay said Michael is a much better player than he is the owner.

And Michael Jordan can't have anybody disagree with him or say something negative about him.

And so somebody said recently, hey man, you guys are free, you got his number.

And Chuck said, I'm a proud man.

He got my number too.

See, when you do that, you're denying the fact that God is at work in you, or maybe God isn't at work in you.

Maybe it's you just calling the shots.

And in that situation, life is all math and it's never music.

When I say you engage in disagreement in a way that makes reconciliation down the road, what that means is you don't go scorched earth on somebody and burn every bridge.

You can disagree and love that person.

And you got to ask yourself a simple question: Are you leaving room in this relationship for sanctification to take place?

Am I leaving room?

Am I believing that God is at work in that person and God is at work in me?

And we're gonna look back on this and go, hey man, let's let's not waste time.

Come on.

Now I'm also gonna have a mutual friend that heard about what happened about two weeks after it happened.

He goes, Hey man, you guys good?

Are you still friends?

Oh, absolutely.

I love Ross King.

And he looked at me like, hey, is it true?

Because I heard he said blah, blah, blah.

Do you oh he said that.

I thought that was kind of funny, actually.

Are you serious?

Yeah.

I mean, who hasn't in the heat of the moment said something that 10 minutes later you regret?

Yeah.

So it didn't bother you at all.

Oh, it didn't.

I thought it was kind of funny, actually.

God just shook his head.

See, here's the thing: my friend Ross knows Jesus.

I know Jesus.

The Holy Spirit lives in Ross, the Holy Spirit lives in me.

And the Holy Spirit doesn't leave you alone.

The Holy Spirit doesn't come on you and go, you know what, you're right.

They're all jerks.

No, the Holy Spirit comes along and says, Hey, what is my presence in you make you capable of?

And as much as possible, be at peace with all men.

How do we make peace with her?

You engage in disagreement in ways that make reconciliation possible down the road.

What do you mean?

Well, the book of, there's two books in the Bible, first and second Timothy.

Paul and older believers, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is recording.

He's writing to Timothy, a younger believer.

Second Timothy, one of the last books that Paul wrote.

Paul's dying.

He's in prison.

He knows he's not going to get out.

And this is what he writes in 2 Timothy chapter 4, verse 9 to 11.

2 Timothy 4:9–11

Do your best to come to me soon.

For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica.

Cresons has gone to Galatia.

Titus to Dalmatia.

Luke alone is with me.

Hear this last sentence.

Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.

Get Mark and bring him with you.

For he is very useful to me for ministry.

What happened?

This is a guy who said, No.

Hey, see, biscuit, you spit the bit when the chips were down.

You're not coming.

This is man talk right here.

You go be a little boy over there.

Here he is at the end of his life.

And he says, Hey, this cat left me.

A lot of people deserted Paul, by the way.

It's just this is a price of leadership.

Then he says, Get Mark and bring him with you, for he's very useful to me for ministry.

What happened?

Paul did not underestimate.

He just said, Hey, he didn't say we're going to disagree.

He said, No, we disagree.

And I mean it is an intense disagreement.

We're going to part ways over this.

However, he didn't go out and start some cancel culture about John Mark.

He just said, Bro, I wish you well.

But what he did not do, he did not nullify the reality of sanctification, such that towards the end of his life, he could say, Hey, get Mark, bring him with you.

He's very useful for me for ministry.

This is the power of sanctification.

It's God at work in you and God at work in the person you disagree with.

Let's pray together.

If you're a guest, just relax.

We like to teach the Bible and give you some space to think about it.

Some questions come up on the screen that you will not like today.

And it's not to be nosy, it's just to put wheels on what the Holy Spirit's saying in this in this sermon today.

So let me voice a prayer and let's think about this.

Holy Spirit, thank you for the word.

It seems like this innocuous throw away six, seven verses in the Bible, and it yet it slays us in our inability to disagree in a way that glorifies you.

God, we want to get tired of being satisfied and you not being glorified.

So if you would, Lord, just kind of brood over us.

Bring names and faces to our mind that we need to initiate conversations with.

People that we just kind of categorize and put over there and just said, gosh, he's a jerk.

He's always going to be a jerk.

And I'm going to tell everybody I get a chance that he's a jerk.

But God, the truth is that if we're wrong, having company doesn't change the fact that we're wrong.

It's the Holy Spirit.

Call us to maturity today, to grow up and to engage.

Amen.

Amen.

Lord, we hear you today.

And what we hear is that you got some favor and some joy with our name on it.

And to experience that, all we got to do is trust you and obey you.

Increase our capacity to do that from your word and by your spirit.

We pray in Christ's name.

And everyone said, Amen, amen.

If you're our guest today, let me say thanks for being here.

You're always welcome.

If you have any questions about anything you heard about, uh, some of our pastors be available down front.

We would love to answer any questions you have, pray with you.

All we ask of you, if you're our guest, if you would just text welcome, uh, the word welcome to the number on the screen.

Uh, we'd love to have a record of your visit and just kind of engage you in the process, not overwhelm you.

Just come alongside you and say, hey, what does it look like for be for us to be the church to you, okay?

We've always got things going on in the life of our church.

We make you aware of those by way of our video announcements.

So check out our screens this morning.

Here's a look at what's happening at Grand Park Way Baptist Church.

Don't miss out.

Today is the final day to secure child care for our four-week women's-only Bible study on 2 Peter.

Ensure your little ones are cared for while you immerse yourself in an evening of growth and fellowship.

Come and learn why church membership matters and how you can get connected at Grand Parkway Baptist Church on April 14th during second service in the Fellowship Hall.

Finally, Secret Church is next Friday, April 19th, so register today to reserve your spot in this transformative experience.

We will meet for close to six hours for intense study of God's Word and passionate prayer for the persecuted.

For more information or to register for these events, please visit our website at grandparkway.org.

If you have any questions or want someone to pray for you, find one of our pastors at the foot of the stage at the conclusion of our service.

Also, she said uh next Friday, actually the 19th is two weeks away, but something is happening this coming Saturday is our hike for hope.

It's gonna be uh at Braz Park.

Uh, I I think that's the name.

What's the name of the park?

Brazil Spin.

There I was I was close.

Brasses bin Park.

Uh somebody said, Oh, is it is the hike, is it is it rough terrain?

It's a paved sidewalk.

Uh and so anybody can do it.

It's a great get there about 8:30 because uh orientation opens at 8, but the the hike itself is from 9 to 11.

Uh we have about 50 people already on our team.

We'd love to have even more than that.

You'll see our big green churches, uh big canopy awning sitting up there, has Grand Parkway Baptist Church on it.

That's where you kind of meet and kind of rally around.

Ian, our student pastor, Ian, if you're here, stand up.

He's already left.

Quitter.

Uh anyway, they just had their first baby.

He's operating about four hours of sleep a night.

Ian is our team captain, so he'll be there going, howdy, sir.

Uh anyway, he is the most positive human in the world.

And it's genuine.

I'm not mocking it.

It's just like, oh I work with him, and he's that way all the time.

I'm like, do you ever have a bad day?

Oh, I don't know.

I'm like, I can't be around you.

It's convicting.

Uh anyway, hike for hope, men.

Great opportunity.

It's two hours.

You can come have a nice little hike, grab some lunch afterwards, and go home.

It's a cheap date.

Okay?

At least that's what I'm calling it.

All right.

If you have any questions, we'd love to answer those.

Come be a part of what God's doing.

We are supporting a great organization in our city by our presence, and you get a little exercise.

Stand to your feet.

We'd like to conclude our service with a spoken blessing.

Hold your hands out.

Favor and joy.

That's how you gotta think about it.

Don't think about it about grinding and gritting your teeth.

Think about God has favor and joy He wants to pour out on you.

Therefore, you can trust Him and you can obey Him.

He's not trying to punish you, He's inviting you to a better version of you.

Depart now and live in this reality in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Bless you.