“…get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.”
Mark was an understudy who abandoned Paul and Barnabas on a missionary journey. It led to one of the most well-known “Church Arguments” in history. Barnabas wanted to bring Mark on the next trip and Paul said, “no way”… That disagreement split the team. Scripture says, Barnabas took Mark ….But Paul chose Silas and departed”. Then, Fifteen years later, Paul writes the sentence we’re studying this morning, and there’s a lot to learn from that sentence.
First, we learn how to disagree without making it personal. This has become rare in our culture. Paul didn’t spend the years since the argument, assassinating Mark’s reputation. Neither was he worried about his own when he wrote this letter. He didn’t say “I was right years ago, and Mark has finally grown up”… He just said that Mark was important to the ministry, and he wanted to see him.
The second lesson is Restoration… People get all wound up over “church discipline” because they don’t understand it. Church discipline is about restoration. Mark dropped the ball… he did the worst thing you can do as a teammate, and though I am sure it was uncomfortable, Paul called him out. We don’t know if Mark would have become the man he became without learning that quitting had ramifications. But this incident and Paul’s honest assessment no doubt magnified the importance of endurance and loyalty to Mark.
The final lesson is forgiveness for others (and yourself)… Basically, don’t live in negativity. I used to tell my players when they were upset over a bad game, that they needed some “GOI therapy” (Get Over It). That’s what Paul is teaching with this sentence. Sometimes, When we blow it… or people let us down, we just need to Get over it, or as my granddaughter sings “Let it go”. Paul forgives and forgets.
Paul pardons Timothy for bailing on them; Timithy forgave himself and came back better than before. I don’t care how badly you blew it. If you have confessed and repented, you can be “helpful in ministry”. Stop worrying about the past …. Get up, forget the times you or your teammate failed, and always remember that the most important play is the next one.
“Who you’ve been, ain’t who you gotta be” - Tim McGraw
