This week we’re discussing Acts 15.

Are you chunky or thin? Wait – sorry, that didn’t come out right. What I’m really wanting to know

is your spaghetti sauce preference. Here’s a description of a chunky sauce from Kroger’s

website:

Prego red sauce features the bold flavors of tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, onion, green peppers,

and garlic.

I’d never contemplated carrot flavor as “bold” but here we are.

I once heard author Malcolm Gladwell describing a food company’s efforts to determine the

ideal level of “chunky” for a spaghetti sauce. They did focus group testing to determine a happy

medium level of chunky sauce to market alongside their thin sauce. What they discovered was a

whole subset of people for whom there was no such thing as sauce that was too chunky (I am

imagining a plate of spaghetti with a whole zucchini lying on top of it). So instead of marketing

thin and happy-medium chunky as planned, they ended up marketing thin, happy-medium

chunky, and extra chunky. And their sales went up!

The lesson was that sometimes there is no such thing as a happy medium.

So sharp was their disagreement that they separated. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to

Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and departed after being commended by the brothers to the

grace of the Lord. He traveled through Syria and Cilicia bringing strength to the

churches. (Acts 15:39-41 HCSB)

Godly people can have honest differences of opinion. While on the surface it’s sad that Paul and

Barnabas went their separate ways, the result was more churches were strengthened. If two

people seek God’s wisdom and come up with two valid options, maybe instead of arguing about

them, they should just try them both.

Of course, this concept can be taken too far. If half the people want the thermostat at 72 and

half at 70, you set it to 71 and move on. And now I’m going to be careful how I say this because

I don’t want this to sound like I am trying to break up a Bible study classes because I’m not.



Do you think your Bible study class or group should have a different teaching style or other kind

of setup, schedule, etc.? Maybe the tension you feel is not because anything is wrong, but

because the Holy Spirit telling you to strike out in a new direction. Maybe it’s time for you to start

a whole new class to reach more people, like Paul and Barnabas. If your chair is getting

uncomfortable, maybe you’re just in the wrong seat.

Those carrot chunks just might be more than bold; they just might be divine.

By Mark Stuart

Mark is the husband of Laura, father of Shelby and Jacob, and father-in-law of Bailey.