God wants to come to His world, but He wants to come to it through man. This is the mystery of our existence. He wants to come to this world through you.
Proverbs 15:23 says, “A man has joy by an apt answer, and how delightful is a timely word.”
I enjoyed a Charles Schulz cartoon that showed Snoopy sliding along the frozen pond on his little bare paws. He’s having a great time, sliding from one end of the pond to the other. Lucy walks up and slides onto the pond with her skates on, and Snoopy doing a little twirl, slides up next to her. She says to him, “That’s not skating, that’s sliding.” And he just stands there and looks up at her as she goes on with her lecture, “You don’t have any skates on.” Skating is when you have skates on. You’re not skating at all, you’re just sliding!” Snoopy just walks off with his little feet to the side and says, “How could I have been so stupid. And I thought I was having fun.”
As a recently retired man was sitting on his porch down in Kentucky, his Social Security check was delivered. He went to the mailbox to retrieve it and thought to himself, “Is this all my life is going to be from this time on? Just sitting on the porch waiting for my next Social Security check to arrive?” It was a discouraging thought.
So he took a legal pad and began to write down all the gifts, all the blessings, all the talents, and everything that he had going for him. He listed them all, even the small things. For example, he included the fact that he was the only person in the world who knew his Mother’s recipe for fried chicken in which she used eleven herbs and spices.
He went down to the local restaurant, asked if he could get a job cooking their chicken. Very soon, the chicken became the most popular thing on the menu. He opened his own restaurant in Kentucky. Then he opened a string of restaurants and eventually sold the Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise to a national organization for millions of dollars. He became their public representative and continued in that role until his death.
It was advertised that the devil was going to put up his tools for sale. On the date of the sale the tools were placed for public inspection, each being marked with its sale price. Many tools were on display, including hatred, envy, jealousy, doubt, lying, pride and so on. Laid apart from the rest of the pile was a harmless-looking tool, well worn and priced very high.
“The name of that tool?” asked one of the purchasers. “Oh,” replied the devil, “That’s discouragement.” “Why have you priced it so high?”
“Because it’s more useful to me than the others. I can pry open and get inside a person’s heart with that one, when I cannot get near him with other tools. Now once I get inside, I can make him do what I choose. It’s a badly worn tool because I use it on most everyone since few people know it belongs to me.”
The devil’s price for discouragement was so high, he never sold it. It’s still his major tool, and he uses it on God’s people everyday.
When I say that a number of you also know Joe, or at least about him, you may not recognize him by that name. Joseph was the name that his parents gave him but most people recognize him by the nickname that the leaders of the early church gave him. They didn’t call him Joe, they called him Barnabas. The term Barnabas was derived from two words or phrases: “bar” was like a personal pronoun meaning “son of…” and “nabas” referred to prophetic exhortation that encouraged or built people up. So Barnabas literally meant “son of encouragement”, and it was a nickname which stuck for Joe throughout a large chunk of his life.
To call someone the “son of something” in Jewish culture was a way of describing their character – as if they were the offspring or outcome of a particular behavior. For instance, the disciples of Jesus, James and John, where from the Zebedee family but their nickname was “sons of thunder” – presumably because of their personality. Barnabas, or “son of encouragement”, was a way of describing or capturing the personality of a person who was extremely encouraging to be around. To be known as Barnabas was a huge compliment. It represented a reputation of incredible honor. People thought well of you. When your name was mentioned the muscles in the faces of people formed into a smile, rather than a grimace. To be known as Barnabas was to have an extremely positive reputation. People looked forward to spending time with you.
I would venture to suggest that the reputation of Barnabas is something that every one of us would aspire to. I am yet to meet anybody who genuinely wants to be disliked or hated by other people. All of us want to be loved and accepted, but also to have other people think well of us. Sometimes we might behave in ways that achieve the opposite but I doubt if any of us would turn down the offer of a reputation like our friend Joe had. To have people refer to us as an encourager or someone positive and uplifting to be around is a goal we would all aim to achieve.
There are around 34 references to Barnabas in the New Testament; all but five of them appear in the Book of Acts. The first definitive reference we have to him is in Acts 4:36 where Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, had been writing about the incredible sense of community and fellowship that existed amongst the first Christians. People were sharing their excess or surplus wealth with others in the church in need and Luke gave a specific example;
“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 apostles’ feet.” (Acts 4:36)
Barnabas was a source of encouragement to the church by sharing in it’s finances. The implication is that although he originally came from Cyprus he had been living in Jerusalem for some time. Perhaps he came from a family with money and landholdings in Cyprus which he no longer needed. Now living in Jerusalem he saw huge need right in front of him – what was the point of hanging onto property that was surplus to requirements? So he sold it and gave the proceeds to the church. Barnabas obviously wasn’t the only one doing this kind of thing. There were other people placing money and resources at the feet of the Apostles too, he was merely singled out as one example of generosity.
Perhaps is was because of his generous heart towards people in need that the early church leaders called him “son of encouragement”. I am sure his sizable gift was a huge encouragement to the church and especially to those who were the recipients of its ministry. Perhaps another expression of his encouragement was his willingness to trust the leaders in the church to wisely distribute his gifts. Verse 37 talks about Barnabas and others laying their gifts at the feet of the Apostles and then leaving it to the church to disperse the proceeds according to where needs were most prevalent.
Some people in our day and age are only willing to give if they can personally track where the money is going. They don’t trust the church. Of course in some cases the church shouldn’t be trusted! There are more than a few cases where church leaders mishandle the gifts of God’s people. However Barnabas did trust the Apostles. He encouraged them by letting them determine where best finance was needed rather than tagging his giving according to his own limited experience.
It would seem that Barnabas had a sixth sense when it came to recognizing people’s value. He saw what others couldn’t see, or perhaps what others refused to see, because of their prejudice. There are two particular occasions where Barnabas’ skills are noted in the development of the early church.
The first is in Acts 9. In the first part of Acts 9 it describes the dramatic conversion of Saul. Saul was a devout Jew who began to mercilessly persecute followers of Jesus. He had believers arrested and tried and sentenced to death and there was huge fear amongst the early Christians about what Saul might do to them. Then the most amazing thing happened. En route to the city of Damascus Saul has a personal encounter with the Lord. Saul is blinded with a bright light and as a result himself becomes a follower of Jesus. The fierce persecutor of Christians all of a sudden becomes one of the people he has been trying to hunt down.
It’s not hard to imagine how the early Christians would have been a little bit suspicious about the validity of Saul’s conversion experience. Was it really genuine or was he just a ruse so that he could get access to the inside of the church?
Imagine how we might respond if someone who was mercilessly persecuting us all of a sudden wanted to join our community.
“When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.” (Acts 9:26)
But there was one person in the Jerusalem church who saw beyond fear and skepticism.
“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. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.” (Acts 9:27-28)
Barnabas was an independent thinker. He didn’t conform to the values or prejudices or fears of the crowd. He saw in Saul the grace of God at work. We might say that Barnabas’ view of God was big enough to save or turn around the vilest of sinners, and he was willing to give Saul a second chance. Because of Barnabas Saul actually became accepted in the church. He encouraged Saul by helping him get across the doorstep of the church for the first time. He saw something new and possible for Saul and took the risk of giving him a go when others only wanted to write him off.
The second incident when Barnabas saw the potential in a person that others were rejecting is found in Acts 15. As time went on Barnabas and Saul (or Paul as he came to later been known) formed a pretty formidable ministry team. They ended up travelling internationally preaching the gospel and planting churches. However in Acts 15 they experienced a serious dispute.
“Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, ‘‘Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.” (Acts 15:36-40)
This character Mark is an interesting one in the early days of the church. We know that he and Barnabas were actually cousins (Colossians 4:10) and it is generally regarded that Mark was a young lad during the ministry of Jesus. He is the author of the second gospel in the New Testament. However he also made a very serious mistake. He had been part of Paul and Barnabas’ ministry team some years earlier but had whimped out when the going got tough. He ran away or left them in the lurch. As far as Paul was concerned Mark had done his chips. He was no longer credible as a servant of the Lord. He couldn’t be trusted.
But Barnabas saw something in Mark that Paul couldn’t. Yes, he had failed. He had really let them down and no doubt Paul had some justification at being angry at him. However, Barnabas also saw potential for good. Barnabas saw beyond failure or mistakes to future and restoration. Barnabas was willing to give him another go. The conflict between Paul and Barnabas was so severe over this issue that they ended up parting company.
So who had the right perspective? In the end I believe it was Barnabas not Paul. At some point further on in Paul’s ministry he must have come to that conclusion himself because Mark appears again in Paul’s letters as one of his trusted companions. Paul describes him as a faithful servant of the Lord. In other words Barnabas gave a “failure” a second chance and Mark went on to be a powerful servant of the Lord.
I suspect all of us can identify a Barnabas or two in our past who gave us a second chance. Maybe it was a parent or a relative or a teacher or a church leader or a close friend. Christianity means second chances.
I think one of the reasons they called Joseph Barnabas was because he looked at people like God does.
In Acts 11 there is a record of an interesting development in the life of the church. Up until this point in time the growth and spread of Christianity had basically been amongst Jewish people. The gospel had spread internationally but it was primarily amongst Jews. However in Acts 11 the gospel jumped the ethnic fence and a whole heap of Gentiles became Christians.
With our sense of history and perspective we see this as a wonderful thing. You and I are actually the byproducts of the gospel spreading beyond the borders of Judaism. However, for the leaders of the early church this was all a bit of a concern. Would these non-Jews do things right? Without having the background knowledge of God’s dealing with the Jewish race for thousands of years would their theology be orthodox? Was this truly something God was doing or was it a distraction from the right path?
To sort this out the leaders of the church decided to send one of their number to check what was actually going on in these Gentile churches. Guess who they selected? Barnabas! We pick up the story in Acts 11:19 :
“Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. 20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.
22 News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.” (Acts 11:19-24)
It is interesting to note who they selected to go and check out these “new Christians” in Antioch. They sent someone who was deeply steeped in Jewish thinking. Acts 4:36 tells us that Barnabas was a Levite and the Levites were the priestly class within Judaism. They were thoroughly immersed and trained in the ways of the law. They were the Jews of Jews. Here we read of a Levite going to check out a bunch of non-Jews who were becoming followers of Jesus. Barnabas would have had to step over generations of ingrained thinking and racial prejudice; what was happening at Antioch was somewhat different to how Barnabas would have been taught or brought up.
But the text says that when he got there and observed what was going on he “saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts”.
One of the great encouragers of our generation is a man by the name of Bob Pierce. It was his compassion for the hurting and hungry people of the world that motivated him to start the ministry of World Vision.
Shortly before his death of leukemia, Bob had the opportunity to fulfill one of his deepest desires, to tour the mission field in Indonesia. The missionary there was another Bob, given the nickname “Borneo Bob” because of his great love for the people of that region. Even though he was very ill, Bob Pierce went to Indonesia to see Borneo Bob. When he arrived, Borneo Bob took him around and showed him what God was doing through the various ministry outreaches financed by World Vision. As they were going though some of the villages, they came to a river. As they approached the river, they noticed a girl lying on a bamboo mat. Bob asked Borneo Bob what she was doing there. Borneo Bob explained that she was dying from cancer and had just a few days to live. Bob asked why she was there in the mud and not up at the clinic where someone would watch over her. Borneo Bob explained that she was from the jungle and preferred to be near the river where it was cooler. She had asked to be put there.
So Bob Pierce, always the encourager, went over and got down on his knees in the mud. He took the girl’s hand and began to stroke it. He prayed for her. She didn’t understand his words, but that didn’t matter. After he prayed, she looked up and said something to him. Bob Pierce turned to Borneo Bob and asked, “What did she say?”
He replied, “She just said , ‘If I could only sleep again, if I could only sleep again.’” Here cancer was so painful she couldn’t sleep. Bob Pierce began to cry. He reached into his pocket, took out a bottle of sleeping pills and gave them to Borneo Bob, instructing him “You make sure this young lady gets a good night’s sleep as long as these pills last.”
Bob Pierce was ten days from Singapore, the closest place he could get his own medication refilled. His gift meant he would go ten nights without sleep; without those pills, the pain from his own leukemia would keep him awake.
No matter how much it hurts, encouragers always find a way.
