Barnabas: Man Of Encouragement Series

INTRODUCTION

The late Bishop Fulton Sheen once entered a greasy-spoon restaurant for breakfast, and when the waitress, groggy and disinterested, took his order, he replied, “Bring me some ham and eggs and a few kind words.”

When she returned 15 minutes later, she set the food before him and said, “There.”

“What about the kind words?”

The server looked him over a moment, then replied, “I'd advise you not to eat them eggs!”

Although it may not be what we expect to hear, we all need kind and encouraging words from time to time. God’s Word is a great source of encouragement for us as Christians, and that is one of the many reasons why daily Bible reading and study is essential to our maturation in Christlikeness.

Other than the Bible, however, the greatest words you could receive are encouraging ones from a fellow believer, someone who has been where you are now, someone empathetic and sympathetic with your plight. Often have I received just the encouragement I needed from someone who spoke words of life to me, or sometimes just came near to be with me.

Jim Burns, in his book The Youth Builder, said, “For every critical comment we receive, it takes nine affirming comments to even out the negative effect in our life.” Dr. Julius Segal wrote this in his book, Winning Life’s Toughest Battles: “Many of our daily conversations are actually mutual counseling sessions whereby we exchange the reassurance and advice that helps us deal with routine stresses.”

BACKGROUND

In our continuing series Unlikely Heroes, we turn today to a man about whom we actually know very little from the pages of the Bible. He is first introduced as Joseph, a man born in Cyprus. He is, though, a man of Jewish parents, and from the tribe of Levi. One of his parents may have been from the Jerusalem area, for he spends some time there. He appears to have been of some means, and owned land either in Cyprus or near Jerusalem. Barnabas may have been a personal friend of the Apostle Paul, perhaps learning with him from Gamaliel.

That is all of the background information we have about him, except for one other fact. When he is first introduced in Acts 4:36, Luke, the author of Acts, informs us that he has a name given to him by the apostles, a name which suggests a special trait of his. He is called Barnabas, a name for which Luke provides the definition: son of encouragement.

Barnabas is our subject today, and this unlikely hero exhibited encouragement in the few other passages of

Scripture which speak of him. We know he played a part in the development of the church at Antioch. He also assisted Paul in his first missionary travels. But, as we shall see, his encouraging nature set him apart.

Our text today is found in Acts 4:32-37. READ

Of Barnabas we discover that

I. He Was an Encourager through Helping Believers (Acts 4:32-37)

The early church in Jerusalem, following the great outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost, began to face persecution and hardship because of her proclamation of the gospel of the risen Lord. Times were so tough that they sometimes faced economic challenges because Jews often refused to sell to those who openly followed Jesus of Nazareth.

This produced an opportunity for some in the Christian community to step up and assist their brothers and sisters in Christ. We find that those who possessed land voluntarily sold their land and brought the money to the apostles for distribution. In this way, equal distribution of funds ensured aid for everyone.

As an example, Luke singles out Joseph, renamed Barnabas, as such a contributor. He owned some land, sold it, and brought the money unselfishly to the apostles to be utilized to provide for the poorer and unfortunate Christians facing this suffering. What an encouragement that must have been, not only for those who received the benefit but also for other Christians who witnessed such a selfless act.

Author Robert Fulghum sometimes would attend lectures, and at the end during questions and answers, would ask, “What is the meaning of life?” Most times the speakers would shrug off the question.

On one occasion, he went to hear doctor Alexander Papaderos, a Greek philosopher from the island of Crete. At

the end of the lecture, he asked the same question he asked at other lectures: “What is the meaning of life?” Dr. Papaderos held up his hand, and said, “I will answer your question.” He took from his pocket a small round mirror, about the size of a quarter. He said his family was poor as they grew up during World War II, and he had few toys. One day he found the broken pieces of a mirror, leftover from the wreck of a German motorcycle. He discarded all but the largest piece and scratched it on a stone until he made it round. He began to play with it as a toy, fascinated by the fact that he could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine. It became a game for him to get light into the most inaccessible places he could find.