Introduction: The Bible is full of people that we could pattern our lives after. Of course our ultimate role model is Jesus, but there are many others that we could learn and benefit from. For instance, Like Abraham, we should strive to have such a close relationship to God, that we too would be called the Friend of God. Like Queen Esther we should always be willing to take a stand for what is right, regardless of what the consequences might be. Like the Apostle Andrew, we should look for opportunities to bring others to Christ, just as He brought his brother Peter. Like Phillip we should be sensitive to the Leadership of the Holy Spirit and be willing to go wherever He tells us to go, and do whatever He tells us to do.
This morning I want us to focus on another man. If more of us would follow this man’s example it would transform our homes, revolutionize our churches, and change our communities.
We are introduced to this man in the Fourth chapter of the book of Acts. In verse 36 Luke writes: “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the Apostle’s feet.” (Acts 4:36 NIV).
Barnabas was a nickname. In New Testament times a nickname often represented or described the kind of person the individual was. Last Sunday I mentioned that Jesus gave James and John the nickname ‘Sons of Thunder’ because of their explosive personalities.
Sometimes today people are known more by their nicknames than they are their real names. My dad used to work with a guy they called “Radio.” His real name was Jerry Green, but everybody knew him as “Radio” because He was always talking.
Here in this verse of Scripture we are introduced to a man named Joseph, whose nickname was Barnabas, which meant “Son of Encouragement.” Most of you probably didn’t know what Barnabas’ real name was, because most of the time when he is mentioned in Scripture he is called by His nickname. Barnabas was the kind of guy who encouraged people wherever he went. He had the ability to bring out the best in other people. He was the kind of guy that would do everything within his power to cheer you up if you were down. He was the type of person that would go out of his way to comfort or minister to someone who was hurting. He was always on the lookout for someone to encourage.
He was also the kind of person who was willing to reach out a hand to help someone up that had stumbled and fallen. Barnabas was the one that would help them get back up on their feet and help them realize that even though they may have failed, that failure is not final.
He encouraged people to learn from their mistakes and focus on the future. Which is essentially what the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 2: when he said, “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
Barnabas understood that God is a loving and compassionate God, who is willing to forgive us of those times we have failed him. Not only that, Barnabas understood that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the gospel of beginning again. He realized that the Holy Spirit can transform the tragedies of our past into glorious victories for the Kingdom of God. That’s the kind of person Barnabas was. He became a strong leader in the early church, and God used his ability to encourage people to make a difference in the lives of many individuals, some of which went on to accomplish great things in the Kingdom of God.
One of those individuals was a man named Saul of Tarsus. Saul was a very religious and determined man. He was a Pharisee and had received his religious training from a Jewish Rabbi by the name of Gamaliel, who was one of the most respected Rabbi’s of the First Century. Saul hated Christians and felt that it was his God given responsibility to wipe the Christian movement off the face of the earth.
He went to the High Priest in Jerusalem and asked Him to give him the authority to go to Damascus, Syria to search for the followers of Jesus Christ. His intention was to find them, arrest them, and bring them back to Jerusalem to stand trial for blasphemy. His prayer was that they would not only be found guilty but would be punished for their crimes against God and against Judaism.
The Jewish officials in Jerusalem respected Saul and endorsed his plan. They gave him the authority to do what He wanted to do. But on the way to Damascus Saul had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ that changed his life forever.
On the way to Damascus, a bright light appeared in the sky and blinded Saul. He fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” Saul cried out, “Who are You, Lord?” At that point the Risen Savior introduced himself to Paul, and said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Most of us remember this part of the story, but what some of you may not remember what happened next.
Saul went to Damascus and his sight was restored, then he immediately began preaching in the Jewish synagogues that Jesus was the Son of God. The Bible tells us that those who heard him speak were astonished because they had heard about what Saul had done in Jerusalem, and they knew what his intentions were in coming to Damascus. He spent several days in Damascus and according to Acts 9:22 he grew more and more powerful to the point that he ‘baffled the Jews in Damascus by proving that Jesus was in fact the Christ.”
The Jews became so angry that they began plotting to kill him, but Saul learned about it and was able to escape with the help of some other believers. When He left Damascus he went back to Jerusalem.
When he got back to Jerusalem, one of the first things he wanted to do was meet with Peter and the other Apostles. But they refused to meet with him. Of Course they knew who he was. They knew he had been present when Stephen had been stoned. They knew that he had openly persecuted other believers in Jerusalem and had received permission from the High Priest to go to Damascus and arrest any believers he found there. So the Apostles were not only skeptical but they were afraid of him. They thought this was just some kind of trick to find out exactly who they were so he could arrest them.
I’m sure this must have disappointed Saul, but there was one Christian who believed him, who was willing to take a chance on him. Acts 9:27, tells us that it was Barnabas who was not only willing to put his arm around Saul and accept him as a brother in Christ, but was willing to ‘go to bat’ for him with the Apostles. It says, “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the Apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.”
Barnabas was willing to put his own reputation on the line with the Apostles for someone who only a few weeks earlier had been a sworn enemy to the cause of Christ. So in a very real way, Barnabas played a big role in helping Saul become the great missionary and church planter that he did.
In the eleventh chapter of Acts, we find that God began to do some unusual things. The early Christian movement was basically a Jewish movement. In fact many of the early church leaders felt like this newly discovered understanding about Jesus Christ and his mission to the world was strictly for the Jews.
On the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came and empowered the Disciples who began to preach boldly in the name of Jesus Christ. According to the 2nd chapter of Acts about 3000 were saved on that day alone. However, after Stephen was stoned a great persecution broke out against the Church and many believers decided to leave Jerusalem and went to live in other cities.
One of those places was a city in Asia Minor called Antioch, which was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. Some Christians began openly sharing their faith with Gentiles and the Holy Spirit began to move among the Gentiles in a great way. When news of these conversions reached Jerusalem it puzzled the Apostles so they decided to send Barnabas to Antioch to check it out.
When Barnabas arrived it was very evident to Him that these Gentiles had in fact experienced the Grace of God and he encouraged them in their new found faith. In fact, after he realized that many of these Gentiles had truly been converted, he went to Tarsus to look for Saul. When he found him, he and Saul came back to Antioch and stayed for a year teaching and disciplining these new believers as well as reaching others for Christ.
In the 13th chapter of Acts we discover that during a worship service in Antioch, God spoke to the believers and told them to set Barnabas and Saul aside for the work that He had for them. So according to the Scripture they commissioned them and sent them away on their first Missionary Journey. It proved to be a very successful trip, and many people came to know Christ and even a few new churches were born.
Perhaps the most dramatic moment in the life of Barnabas came in the fifteenth chapter of Acts. A young man named John Mark had accompanied Saul and Barnabas on that first Missionary Journey. However, at some point during the trip John Mark got discouraged, and ended up returning to Jerusalem. When John Mark left it had an effect on the amount of work that could be done. Paul was very upset with John Mark and felt like he had deserted them and left them shorthanded.
Some time later Paul and Barnabas got together and decided to go back and check on many of the believers and congregations that they had helped to get started. In their discussion, Barnabas made the comment that He would like John Mark to go with them. Paul didn’t like the idea, in fact he was staunchly opposed to it and a heated debate followed. Acts 15:39 says that “they had such a sharp disagreement that they ended up parting company.”
Evidently Paul had up until this point refused to forgive John Mark for deserting them the first time and would not even consider taking him on a Second trip. However, Barnabas believed John Mark deserved a second chance. Sure, he had failed, he had made their work more difficult, but Barnabas believed John Mark deserved another chance.
So Paul ended up taking Silas with him on his Second Missionary Journey, while Barnabas took John Mark and went to Cyprus. God ended up being glorified through the whole thing because their missionary efforts were doubled.
Barnabas was an encourager. He knew John Mark had failed the first time around, but he strongly believed he deserved that second chance. As a result of Barnabas efforts and the confidence that he showed in John Mark, he eventually become a strong leader and proved himself to be very beneficial for the cause of Christ. Which is something that Paul himself later realized. Paul and John Mark must have reconciled their differences at some point, because in 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul told Timothy to bring John Mark with him when he came to Rome to visit him in prison. His reason for asking Timothy to do this was because Mark was helpful to him and his ministry.
Even though he may have failed the first time around, John Mark became a strong leader in the early church, and God used him in ways that I’m sure he never even dreamed of. In fact many of you here this morning have benefited from John Mark’s ministry, and don’t even realize it. John Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark and most Biblical scholars believe it was the first of the four Gospels to be written. But had it not been for a man named Barnabas who encouraged him, and gave him a second chance, he may have never been able to accomplish what he did for the cause of Christ.
The Church of the 21st Century desperately needs people like Barnabas. We desperately need people in our churches who will be encouragers, who will reach out to those who have stumbled and fallen, and help them back into the saddle so to speak. We need people to put an arm around those who are discouraged and depressed, and encourage them to ‘keep fighting the good fight’ instead of throwing in the towel. We need people who will make it their mission in life to be encourage those who need to be encouraged.
Several passages in The New Testament tell us to encourage one another.
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV
“Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” 2 Timothy 4:2 NIV
“He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.” Titus 1:9 NIV
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:13 NIV
Finally, Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
If we don’t make a commitment to do everything within our power to encourage one another in our faith, then Satan will find a way to harden our hearts toward one another and when that happens we end up discouraging one another instead of encouraging one another.
That’s what it is all about. The bottom line is that we need to encourage one another. The church ought to be a safe haven. It ought to be a harbor of encouragement, a place where we find the strength to go on.
No one should come to church and feel like they’ve been beat up. No one wants to be part of a church that is constantly finding fault with one another and condemning one another. We are a church family, and we need to love, encourage and help one another grow in our faith.
The old army infantry used to have a group called the rear guard. The purpose of the rear guard was to follow the troops in battle. And if someone was wounded, they would pick them up and take them back where they could be treated. This ensured that no one would be left behind on the battlefield. In case of a retreat, the rear guard was out between the retreating troops and the enemy gathering up those who may have been wounded. Again their purpose was to make sure that no one had been abandoned or left behind.
The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ needs a rear guard. We need people like Barnabas who will search for those who have been wounded in battle and care for them. We need people to make sure no one is left behind, and that no one slips through the cracks. In reality that’s what we all need to be doing. We all need to be encouragers.
I. We Need to Encourage Those Who Are Hurting
I met with a group of pastors a couple of weeks ago, and one of them made the comment that he has never seen so many people, in so many churches that are hurting. Someone once said, “be kind to everybody because everybody is having a hard time.” That has never been truer than it is today.
Some people are hurting because of an illness or disease. Others are hurting because someone they love has died. Then there are those who are hurting because they have lost their job. Some people are hurting because their dream of owning their own business has been shattered. Some of you here this morning may be hurting because of something someone said or did to you.
So many can happen that can result in someone hurting. Which is why we need to be like Barnabas. We need to encourage those who we know that are hurting. Don’t wait for someone else to do it, when God lays someone on your heart to encourage then do it.
II. We Need to Encourage Those Who Are Lonely
I think we could all learn something from a young woman named Marlo Smith. When she was in the 3rd grade Marlo went to Christian camp for a week. From the very first day she noticed another girl named Amanda, who always seemed to be sitting by herself and didn’t have any friends. So Marlo took it upon herself to do everything she could to be a friend to Amanda. She sat with her at meal times, she made sure her own friends included Amanda in what they were doing. Marlo even helped Amanda clean her cabin at the end of the week. The Camp Counselors noticed what Marlo had done and recognized her as the “Camper of the Week.”
Like Marlo, we need to keep our eyes open for people who are lonely, people who need a friend, and people who need to be encouraged. I believe that’s what Barnabas would do, and I believe that’s what the Apostle Paul was encouraging us to do in Phil. 2:4, when he said, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
III. Next, We Need to Encourage Those Who have doubts.
Sometimes when people are going through difficult times they begin to question their faith. When our young people go to college many times they are exposed to ideas and philosophies that cause them to question what they have been taught and what they believe. Questioning your faith doesn’t make you a bad person.
Most of the time when someone begins to question their faith or have doubts about what they believe something has taken place in their lives that has caused that to happen. We need to realize this and look for opportunities to reach out to them and encourage them. We need to remind them that God loves them and somehow help them restore their faith in Him.
Do you remember the story of Doubting Thomas? When the other disciple’s told Thomas that Jesus was alive, he had trouble believing it. In fact Thomas said he wouldn’t believe it unless he could see the nail prints in Jesus’ hands and put his hand into Jesus’ side where they had thrust the spear.
The disciples could have chastised Thomas for being stubborn or for his lack of faith. But they didn’t, they continued to think of him as part of the group and continued include him in their meetings. In addition, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself thought it was important enough to appear to the disciples again and give Thomas the opportunity to do what He wanted to do. Which tells me that Jesus cared about Thomas and wanted him to stop doubting and believe. If Jesus cared about someone who was having doubts, then so should we. It is our responsibility as Christians to encourage them and help them strengthen their relationship with God.
IV. We also Need to Encourage Those Who Have Fallen
It happens all too often. Someone quits coming to church because they have sinned. Isn’t that ironic? The church is not a country club for saints it’s a hospital for sinners. Jesus himself said, "that He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
Illustration: Dr. W. A. Criswell, was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, TX, for many years. One day he was talking to his son and said that if he ever had a moral lapse and sinned, that He hoped that no-one in thc church would find out, because according to Dr. Criswell, “Christians are the most unforgiving and judgmental people on the face of the earth.
In the First Gulf war we had more soldiers killed by ‘friendly fire’ than by the Iraqis. Unfortunately, the same can be said in most churches. Most of the casualties we see in the church are the result of ‘friendly fire.’ Someone once said, “We are the only army that shoots its own wounded.” When people fall down, too many times instead of extending a hand and helping them up, we kick them while their down.
Barnabas didn’t do that to John Mark. Instead, Barnabas gave him a second chance. He gave him a mulligan, for those of you who are golfers.
When a person stumbles and falls, we don’t need to condemn and criticize them. We need to be there to pick them up, put our arm around them and encourage them. Which is what Paul said in Galatians 6:1, when he said, Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently.
Conclusion: On New Year’s Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played UCLA in the Rose Bowl. In that game a young man named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble for UCLA. Picking up the loose ball, he lost his direction and ran sixty-five yards toward the wrong goal line. One of his teammates, Beeny Lom, ran him down and tackled him just before he scored for the opposing team. Several plays later the Bruins had to punt. Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety, demoralizing the UCLA team.
The strange play came toward the end of the first half. At halftime the UCLA players filed off the field and into the dressing room. As others sat down on the benches and the floor, Riegels put a blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner, and put his face in his hands.
Just before they left the locker room to go back out on the field, the coach told the team that the same players that started the first half, would start the second half. The players all ran out the door and headed back onto the field, all of them except Roy Riegels. The coach looked back and called to him and said, "Roy, didn’t you hear me? The same team that played the first half will start the second. "Roy Riegels looked up, his cheeks wet with tears. "Coach," he said, "I can’t do it. I’ve embarrassed you. I’ve embarrassed the university’s reputation, and I’ve embarrassed myself. I just can’t face that crowd out there."
Coach Price reached out, put his hand on Riegels’ shoulder, and said, "Roy, get up and go back out there. The game is only half over."
Riegels did what his coach told him to do. He went back out onto the field, and the fans saw him play harder and better than he had ever played before.
We all mess up from time to time. We all stumble and fall, and when we do, we need someone to do for us what Coach Price did for Roy Riegels. We need someone to put their arm around us and encourage us to get up and get back into the game because it’s not over yet.
We need to remind them of what the Apostle Paul said, Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
