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CHAPTER  7

Diversity, Dynamic and Direction

Mark: Paul and Barnabus ... What then ?

Psalm 9, esp. vv. 3, 9-11, 13-14, 19-20

Acts 13:13, 15:37-41, II Timothy 4:11, I Peter 5:13

THE BACKGROUND

In Psalm 9, you see the intense desire, commitment and trust of David, waiting triumphantly upon God even when the matters in hand were anything but that: enemies, detractors, troubles were multiplied, but faith resolved things in the power and purposes of the pure and lively God whom he served.

God has not changed. Look  at Psalm 9, and see the red-inked verses in particular:

That the nations may know themselves to be but men (vv. 19-20)."

 

There is David, not held up in his persecutions (which were considerable and many, when young), by some overweening pride, or self-esteem, but by God, and that personally, since his trust was in Him who "maintained my right and cause." He proceeds in similar confidence in the Lord concerning His dealings with the Lord's freely devoted people.

"The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,

A refuge in times of trouble.

And those who know Your name will put their trust in You;

For You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You."

 

This is the way it is and there is confidence, allied to conviction; and with wrestling in the midst of his miasmas of hatred and evil, his enemies, there is rest. Trust breeds rest: a child in his father, when aged four, a child of God in the presence of his or her God, at any age. Along with this is praise to God, which is a response, such as a dog might have to his Master even when in dire straits in some hunting expedition, for David knows God and knows He will not surrender him to the evil forces which slaver at his nearness!

He wants to sing praise to God amidst His people, and to tell His deeds to all to whom his line comes. The "gates of death" are not a subject for spiritually illiterate mourning but for exultation, for God is well able to lift from these! Besides, it is necessary that, in any conflict, the nations who do not know God should be made aware of His inviolate power and mighty grace.

Man must from the first realise what he is, and overweening pride is no substitute for underwhelming awareness that one is but made, but a product; and if by grace, this product is wholly amazing, yet it must wait on God, and when it does, it is not the product but the personal God who made it, who does the works which neither time nor tide can be relied on to perform: as a Father may!

Now it is in the midst of this situation that we see a relevance to a prominent NEW TESTAMENT character; and it is indeed that of one of the four whose names appear on the Gospels of Jesus Christ. It is none other than John Mark.

 

MARK'S TIME MARKING TIME

The difficulty seems to have been simple; but not the result of it.

Mark has accompanied men sent by God, after the church had prayed, as missionaries (Acts 13:2). One was Barnabus, called the Son of Comfort, and one was Paul, a militant missionary of steadfast mind and steady self-discipline. They go to Cyprus, and there works of amazing power occur. Mark proceeds with them as a young helper (Acts 13:5).

On Cyprus, they preach in the synagogues, Paul's method often being to meet with Jews who DID HAVE the Old Testament and to show them that there is the same Jesus Christ of whom he, Paul was an apostle, precisely because the word of God, fulfilled in this Christ, required faith in Him, and that from more than a millenium before, to that day!

In due course, they come to Paphos, where the government proconsul and the sorcerer, Elymas, are to be found. The latter is seen seeking to influence the proconsul, an intelligent man who desires to hear the word of God from the missionaries; and the spiritualist tries to remove Paul's influence. The apostle however is to be seen looking intently at him,  denouncing him for the evil that was working in him, designating him to be "full of all deceit and fraud", and an "enemy of righteousness". When, he asked, will you "cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord." This however is far from all.

What followed ?

Paul announced with this denunciation. The annunciation ? that the man would become blind for a time, a fitting tribute to the source of his evil actions. A dark mist descended on him, and the proconsul seeing and hearing with his own eyes and ears, was persuaded by this practical session in the midst of the other teaching, of the truth.

They later left the island and when they came back to Perga, Mark left them, returning to Jerusalem. Let us return to ponder the case now with David.

Later, when they were about to depart once more (Acts 15:37-41) on a missionary journey, having carried out official church work from Jerusalem, the missionaries had a sharp difference. Paul, the disciplined soldier, had no time for taking on a novice once more, when that one had not completed the rest of their mission. Barnabus, cousin of Mark (Colossians 3:10), was not of this mind. To him, there was another side, and when the difficulty was resolved, they went separate ways, Paul to complete his Macedonian call, one of the most significant in the history of the church in terms of its consequences (Acts 16:6ff.), and Barnabus, back to Cyprus, WITH Mark!

You can see now how Mark might have felt. There he was, rejected by a famed apostle, taken along by his kindly, caring cousin, as if having failed, he needed a refresher course. Was he now without standing ? were his wishes for helping to become consigned to the airs of antiquity, after a useless life confirmed his weakness ?

Thus you can realise the relevance of such a Psalm as 9, above, and ponder how he might well have looked to the Lord, as indeed did this author, when men condemned him after slandering his work of testimony, and consigned him with false pretences, out of the ministry. In this,  he had been obliged to stand for the Lord, though only a student at that time,  in the very face of an onslaught of unbelief as hideous as infamous. It came even from the professors, people paid to teach what the Church held, to be true to the infallible word of God, written, perfect in all its parts as the Confession had it, and that rightly in terms of the Bible's own testimony of itself^*1.

Many are those assaulted at the outset, and not always is it for their own failings, but rather for their faith!

However, God does indeed maintain the right and cause of his servants; as He did for His missionary servants in Acts. Though for a time, as at Calvary, if one should take the very case of redemption itself, it may seem all Is lost, yet, as in the resurrection, this phase passes, as does a plague of grass-hoppers. Blessed is the one who as did David, trusts in the Lord to maintain his cause, and proceeds to declare His praise and testimony to those open to him. Was not Paul himself carefully nurtured by Barnabus before, being then conversant with the ways of the people of the Lord, he became the acutely seasoned missionary of such fame to this day! (Acts 11:19ff.).

God is indeed a refuge, and after more than half a century in his ministry, one can confirm this by word of experience, in various nations and places. His mercy is intense, His power agile, and complete.

MARK MARK'S RISE AS THE LORD KEEPS HIM ABUNDANTLY ALIVE

Now, much later in the early Church program, we see some amazing developments. Peter is to be observed calling Mark his SON, apparently in his old age finding the young man of great affinity; and indeed, it is recorded in one ancient document (that of Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, end of the second century in his Adversus haereses, III, 1. i), that the substance of the gospel of Peter was taken and handed down in writing by Mark. At all events, Mark has his own name on it, and what an eminence this discarded young man reached - in terms of serviceability, and in the end, testimony, a literary aid, yes and evidently more, an inspired co-worker. His name is known almost wherever the Gospel is preached!

Yet this is not all. How delighted the devil would doubtless have been if it could have been shown that Barnabus and Paul had a barney and both, being intemperate, could not agree even in the presence of the Lord, and that Paul kept an eye askance for Mark for all his days.

Far is this from the truth; for we find in II Timothy 4:11 that Paul is ASKING for Mark to be sent to him, as profitable for the ministry. Nor is even that all! Paul makes this request at a time when his own life is severely threatened, and where all actions would count as would the movement of sails in a tempest. His is already been poured out as a drink offering to God, he indicates (II Timothy 4:6), while as a prisoner at the bar of impending mortal doom, he indicated that at his first defence NO ONE of them stood with him, while an intractable enemy sought him evil (II Timothy 4:16,18).

In this setting, Paul forecasts that the time will come when with itching ears men will no more stand sound doctrine, but will "heap up teachers" to minister to their erratic lusts of what could be called sanctified unbelief pressed into the formats of appearance (cf. II Timothy 3:1-5, 4:3ff.). Turning aside to 'fables', machining myths, they will become unworthy of fellowship; but to Timothy he addresses the exhortation, PREACH THE WORD, be diligent. He trusts to be delivered from every evil work to the heavenly kingdom, and it is in the midst of this looming menace that he desires Mark to be sent to minister to his needs.

Just as he was caught up in the temporary vicious intemperance of utter opposition, as he served the Truth, so are we now in this end of the Age phase (Answers to Questions Ch. 5), facing the same need. It helps us to see what Paul experienced, and as he faced this crisis, to evaluate correctly the high esteem in which he held Mark!

There was praise indeed. Harmony prevailed; but what of Mark for his own part ?

Obviously in steadfast labours he had shown a developed character, a reliable disposition and an eminent spirituality which served the church exceedingly well. Like Luke, he was held in high esteem, functional, helpful, stable and available (cf. II Timothy 4:11, Acts 20:6,13, 21:13). It is in fact most interesting that of the four Gospel writers, two were notable for this serviceable, personal and gracious demeanour, while John was the apostle of love as one sees in his epistles, and Matthew has brought in his scribal felicity, wonders to light such as the Sermon in the Mount. In good company, Mark WAS good company, companionable, stable, serviceable.

We may now consider three aspects of the matter of the divergence, diversity and development in the case of John Mark. Principles emerge for pondering.

I THERE IS NEED OF HARMONIOUS ENTERPRISE BY FAITH

The matter could be compared to a musical rehearsal and performance. There is need for harmonious enterprise, each instrument not insisting on its own use by its own lore, but being willing to present in loving awareness,  that of which it is well capable. The potential must be offered with entire surrender to the mind of the composer, whose inventiveness melds the whole orchestra into an organ of expression. No member of the team of 'instruments' must be allowed to be 'boss'. It is for the composer, by the very nature of the case, to be that, and he alone! It is Christ's work, and from Him must come the direction, as indeed it did at the outset (Acts 13:1-3, cf. Acts 4:23-31, following 4:13ff.).

 

 

II THERE IS NEED AT THE PRACTICAL LEVEL, FOR THE COMPOSER

 

Thus there is need for the composite, not merely the lonely. Just as there needs to be harmony through surrender to the will of the Conductor, so there needs to be diversity and mutual complementarity, through willing and even passionately devoted and consecrated working each beside each, as the directive music and hand brings creation to be. The scalpel, to change the image to the medical, must not be averse to the laser, nor vice versa, but according as each has applicability in the hand of the surgeon, so must the total enterprise prosper. 

How vain for the scalpel to disdain the laser, on the ground that it is insubstantial, for what of its effects! How vain for the laser to disregard the scalpel, calling it the work of a butcher, for laser has surgical limits! How good, on the other hand, to have real availability of each, so that neither usurps the best work of the other, and both make the surgery blessed, UNDER the controlling hand that is neither that of the one instrument, nor of the other.

ONLY the conductor can handle such things aright! The rest tends only to presumption and illusion. The living Christ needs no substitute, but rather an abiding conversance and an intimate indwelling by His Spirit (cf. Psalm 32, Romans 8, Ephesians 3:16, II Corinthians 3:17ff., John 16:7ff., I John 2:27, in conjunction with Matthew 7:15ff., John 15 and Matthew 23:8-10).

 

III BEYOND THIS, THERE MUST BE TRUST IN THE LORD.

 

Beyond all this, there must be trust in the wisdom, availability and power of the Lord, for imagine the disputations if the instruments had voice, and argued about the best thing, when they neither had the gifts of the composer, nor the office, nor the understanding!

Trust is the highway of the divine action in man, just as covenantal consecration is the stone of which it is built, and Christ is the basis for all the stones, whether the stone called Peter, or any other, as Peter so well knew (I Peter 5, I Corinthians 3:10ff.).

It is, then, not just a reference to the Lord which has to be made (as Peter also found out, we see, in Matthew 16, when he sought to adjust the SCRIPT! by having Christ not die at all! and was told that his work was here that of Satan!); it is a trusting reference, in which the actual will of the Lord is made plain, through this fibre of faith!

Was Paul wrong to decline to take  young Mark with them, after he so early returned to Jerusalem in the first journey? Not at all, for there is no evidence of that. His work was demanding indeed, and what happened in Cyprus seemed like a gentle zephyr compared with the stonings and groanings to come in the next missionary journey. He found Titus, and Timothy, and the work prospered.

Was Barnabus then wrong ? In what ? in finding Mark an acceptable junior missionary helper ? Not at all, for wisdom is justified by her children. Look at the RESULT in the end, when Mark, given a second opportunity, eventually flowered to the delight of all and was centrally used by the Lord in the very crafting of a Gospel, one of four, for millenia to come!

It is not just a question of WHAT, but WHEN, in any manufacture. When people are concerned, there is a sequence, a timeliness, as teachers and nurses have good reason to know. There is a time when a student needs a measure of tenderness, and one when tough expectations need to be implemented. There is development for this and for that, now and then, all in sequence, all in good time, for the end result, which if good, confirms the steps taken.

Paul in Gospel militancy of mode, arrested, arresting in demeanour and dynamic, needed another helper than Mark at THAT time; and Mark, gentle in disposition perhaps and young in temperament, evidently needed more nurture to explain and address to him the significance and meaning of things. When once he was established (to use Peter's word in I Peter 5:10), then he would be useful to Peter, as to Paul.

^"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.

"But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen."

Barnabus, then, for the time, in his comforting and encouraging understanding was right in nurturing Mark, and Mark, when developed, was apt to minister to PAUL! in his minatory extremities, having been established in the interim, and proving most eminently effective in his special field.

In the interim, as Paul had to endure lashes, Mark had another scourge, as he grew in grace till he reached the point of removing the memory of apparent weakness by the access of enduring strength.

So do we have trials, each burdened according to his case, and so do we bear one another's burdens - Galatians 6:1-2. In a sound church, the ebb and flow may be considerable, and where understanding and love abound, so can rich fruit in the presence of the Lord.

Diversity of gifts, of character, of graces, of situations, of phases, of stages, of inner sanctums of the hidden person of each, are merged into a divine dynamic to which all have access (Ephesians 1:19), and as all wait on the Lord as they did in Acts, then the direction not of some viewpoint or ruler, but of the Lord Himself whose blessing makes rich, may be not merely sought, but found. It is in Him that all need to abound, as do the musicians in the spirit and tempo of the conductor.

Thus has the apostle and has Barnabus and has Mark given us jointly an example. Even if at a time, all do not see what the Lord sees for the disposition of events with an eye to ultimate development, yet when His direction is sought and found, then what was done by faith, in sight will be not unsightly, when the time comes, but profound in blessing.

Such things, some may say, are impossible; and for the fleshly person, shrouded with illusion, emitting in profusion, untempered and tarnished, they indeed are; but what is impossible to man, it is open to God. It is not merely some great power which is needed; it is simply a profound access so that coming boldly to Him, people in quietness and confidence may find the ground of knowledge and in unison, the power of direction and with love, the dynamic of dealing aright. It is His to give. On this, see the blessed verses of Isaiah 64:5, 33:5-6, 30:15, Ephesians 1:17.

It is not too difficult for the One whom Calvary could not cower, no, not even distort, nor yet dim; but rather act to permit the purity of the profound and illustrate the great things of God, even at its height, when He prayed for His tormentors, sought good for His murderers and proclaimed in ever blessed and beautiful consummation, "It is finished", nothing more left to man but to repent, believe, receive and relish (John 19:30). From His grace and guidance, ever new there now proceeds all things needful for godliness, as He conducts with majesty and works with humility in the hearts and lives, in the programs and procedures of His own people, never moving from His holy principles or just delights, but moving mountains that sunshine may steep itself in the verdant valleys of faith.

 

 

NOTE

*1

The situation was as noted in The Biblical Workman, Ch. 8.

In the Presbyterian Church of that day, the Bible ruled as the fundamental, the word of God, and this was part of the Constitution. The Westminster Confession helped, but was bound only in its substance.

If however ANYTHING was the substance of that Confession it was of course, the focus on Christ and the focus on the Bible as the infallible source and criterion of all doctrine (Ch.1 is eloquent). That could not be altered; and the consequence was officially indicated in a church publication by the church's lawyer or 'procurator' (Basic Documents on Presbyterian Polity, 1961, p. 92 - see The Kingdom of Heaven Ch. 9, pp. 181ff.). Legal documents must, he stated, be read as one whole, and the unalterable adoption of the word of God as the criterion of doctrine for the Presbyterian Church of Australia, was as certain as the definition of just what that 'word of God' was, BY the Confession.

Despite this formal and just announcement by their own Procurator in an official book of their position, in their seminary in Victoria, the Bible was assailed, assaulted, made an almost daily object of derision or derogation in ways so bizarre, a new christ was made from the mind of a professor, contrary to the gospels as to reason; and in the midst of all this, merely to see how on earth they could be so blind, or lead the blinded, became an exercise indeed! Small wonder there was no place found for this author there, and that his removal was based on fraud, just as deliverance came for him some 10 years later, before all in the Sydney Assembly.

Even that was a prelude to the ministry in New Zealand, where alone in the mass of representative elders and Ministers, this author had the delight and privilege of leaving a testimony of condemnation, declared by dissent at the Assembly, and later fortified in a document of some 17,000 words, condemning the failure which then was, even to affirm the bodily resurrection of the Lord. Truly these are the days of itching ears, and it is necessary to follow Paul’s example (I Cor. 11) in this, that unflinching faithfulness at whatever cost, is required.

In the din of battle, there is no room for compromise, but rather for pity, if by any means any may be delivered from the fables Paul foretold as a basis of doctrine, a matter fulfilled both in many former churches, and in the religiosity of the State which forwards them by what corresponds to an imperial zeal, forcing children to be taught such fables as organic evolution, as if this failure in fact had anything to do with science.

 

On this last point, see:

Earth Spasm ..., CASCADE ...Ch.  3;

 SMR pp. 140ff., 145ff., 931ff., 973A and see SMR Index;

Answers to Questions 6, 9;

A Spiritual Potpourri Chs.  1-9;

Divine Agenda Ch.   9, End-note *1,   

Secular Myths and Religious Truth Ch.   8,  esp. *4,

Stepping Out for Christ Chs.  2, 10;  

Deliverance from Disorientation Ch.   7,

CELEARTH   4,

Wake Up World! Your Creator is Coming Chs.     4,   5,   6,

Spiritual Refreshings Chs.   13 with Ch.  16;

and

News 121, 122; 82 ; 44; Coming King Ch.    5