Title: Making a Rarity Commonplace
Text: Hebrews 10:23-25
Thesis: God desire is that every Christian be an encouraging person.
Introduction
When I grew up we often gave our friends nicknames… Bob Hutchins was “Hutch.” Robert Sanden was “Ralph.” His older brother was “Yogi.” Tom Lindgren was “Bear.” Mostly nicknames were terms of endearment, even nicknames like “Slim” and “Fats” and “Toad” were not intended to be mean-spirited.
You wonder about some nicknames like “Snoopdog.” They say his mother thought he looked like a little beagle puppy when he was a boy so he became “Snoopdog.” Bruce Springstein is nicknamed “The Boss” because of the business-like way he does conducts his business. I don’t know and I don’t think I want to know how “Whoopi” Goldberg got her nickname. One of my favorite classic rock characters is guitarist Eric Clapton. Eric is nicknamed “Slowhand.” I understand Justin Bieber has several nicknames… the latest seems most fitting, “Little Swaggy.”
The main character in our texts today is a man called “Barnabas.” Names do have meaning. My name is an English name that means “mountain.” Bonnie’s name is a Scottish name meaning “pretty.” So it seems, sometimes we look like our names.
Barnabas pops up in Acts 4:36-37 in a text describing how the early Christians lived in a close community and shared with each other so that everyone had enough. In the context of how generously they shared with each other the bible writer cites Barnabas as a model of generosity. It says, “For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas, which means “Son of Encouragement.” He was from the island of Cyprus. He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles [to be distributed among the needy]. Barnabas means, “Son of Encouragement.”
I titled the message today, “Making a Rarity Commonplace,” because I think encouragement is too rare and needs to become commonplace, especially among followers of Christ. So how do we become encouraging people?
It seems generosity is one characteristic of an encouraging person. If you would like to be an encourager:
I. Be Giving
“He sold a field and brought the money to the apostles to give to those in need.” Acts 4:32-37
Very rarely does someone give without strings attached.
I read a meditation this week that went like this, “Oh, please love me less but leave me free, I am a prisoner of your love; because you love me you want to determine my life, you want to shape my happiness.” (Meditations on Theme by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh) Loving generosity can be manipulative and controlling and it can be given with strings attached or expectations. Barnabas was one of those “no strings attached” people.
What kind of person sells a piece of land and brings the proceeds of the sale and donates all the money to be distributed among those in need (without making sure they are truly in need)?
We served the Lund Covenant church from 1974 – 1984. At that time we celebrated Communion on the first Sunday of every month after which we received an offering for the Samaritan Fund. It was always very generously supported. Once a month the group entrusted with the distribution of the Benevolent Fund, met for lunch to determine how the money would be disbursed. Their philosophy was, God gave it to us to give away so let’s see who needs it. It was not restricted to church members… it was given to be of help to anyone who could use some help. If we knew of a man who was in Valley Hope, an alcohol and drug treatment center in Norton, KS, we sent his wife a card and a check to help her with whatever she needed and to give her some gas money to get back and forth to see her husband. If a family had a child hospitalized at Children’s in Denver we sent them a card and a check to help them with travel and lodging. And so on…
Generosity encourages. Stinginess… not so much.
A second quality of an encouraging person is being a welcoming person. If you would like to be an encourager:
II. Be Welcoming
“When Saul (Paul) arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer! Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles…” Acts 9:26-27
Following the Day of Pentecost the early church began to flourish, even in the face of very virulent resistance. It was a period of intense persecution. There were arrests and jailings. There was martyrdom. And there was Saul, a high ranking Jewish leader who was, as the bible says, “Uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest and secured authority to travel around arresting Christians and to bring them back to Jerusalem in chains.” Acts 9:1-2
You know the story. On his way to Damascus Jesus appeared to Saul and asked, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” Acts 9:4
When Saul realized he was being confronted by the risen Christ he was transformed and became perhaps the most devoted follower of Christ ever. But he had a terrible reputation. He was a man to be feared. He was self-described as the worst of sinners. So when he showed up in Jerusalem and tried to meet with the Christians there… they weren’t of a mind to have a sit down with the likes of Saul.
Undercover Boss has been a pretty successful TV series. It actually originated in England but is now franchised around the world. Typically a company will send the boss or a high ranking corporate official undercover into one of their businesses… it could be a fast food chain or companies like Oriental Trading Company and Rotor-Rooter. The objective is to discover how their organization is functioning and to see how they can improve the way they do business.
It always involves the boss getting some kind of make-over so they will not be recognized by the employees. And inevitably they find employees who are total jerks and they find employees who are really good, hardworking people who almost always have difficult personal circumstances. In the end the jerks get fired and the good people and the hard workers are rewarded in tangible ways.
We live in an undercover world of spies, undercover agents, narcs, moles and otherwise deceitful people. You never know who is watching and listening or what they will do with what they see or hear.
The Christians at Jerusalem were not sure they wanted to trust Saul… what if he was actually working undercover and was intent on infiltrating the Christian community to get names and addresses?
Saul was anathema. But Barnabas stepped up and vouched for Saul and because Barnabas was welcoming the Christian community welcomed him. Barnabas was one of those guys who reached out to people in the margins.
Encouraging people are welcoming people.
The third thing about encouraging people is that they are encouraging. If you would like to be an encourager:
III. Be Encouraging, Acts 11:22-24
“When Barnabas arrived and saw the evidence of God’s blessing he was filled with joy and encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord.” Acts 11: 19-24
To encourage is to urge forward or to exhort or cheer on.
The context for this point in Barnabas’ life is the city of Antioch. Following the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts 7 many Christians dispersed from Jerusalem to other cities to escape persecution. Those who had fled to Antioch were wonderfully missional in sharing their faith with others and it so happened that a number of Gentiles became Christians. In that this was unheard of among the Jewish Christian leaders back in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to check them out.
A few years ago I was on a board that was interviewing a person for pastoral license. It was a very unusual circumstance and there was reason for concern regarding his motives in serving a particular church in that it was his home church and his family figured prominently in the leadership of the congregation. But over the years his ministry has been a huge blessing to that congregation and that community. Though originally skeptical, today everyone on that board is absolutely delighted at the way God has worked. We were happy that he turned out to be the “real deal.”
Barnabas was sent at the behest of some likely skeptical religious leaders in Jerusalem to see if the new Christians in Antioch were the “real deal.” They were and Barnabas’ immediate response was joy. He was happy.
And not only was he happy for them, he encouraged them. He exhorted them to stay true to the Lord. He urged them on in their faith. He challenged them to continue to grow in the Lord...
Our oldest granddaughter will be 13 next week. She has begun her first track season and is throwing the discus and running the 400 meter individual and a 400 meter leg in the 1,600 meter relay. The 400 was her mother’s race. Throughout Lorri’s junior and senior high years I never missed a single race. Even in college I made trips to see her run the sprints in the Chicago Land Indoor Track Meets at Chicago University and places like Augustana in the Quad Cities. The place I stood at every race was the fourth turn as she rounded the final bend and sprinted toward the finish line.
It would have been great to stand at the finish line but I wanted to be where I could urge her to dig deeper and persevere to the end. That’s what encouragers do. They don’t watch from a distance. They don’t wait at the finish line to see if someone is going to make it. They come alongside you in the race and they urge you on when you might have a tendency to either coast or cave.
A well known politician who, while riding in a train going through a major eastern city, suddenly produced a $5 bill and said, “I’m going to throw this $5 out the window and make somebody happy.”
One of his staff suggested, “Why don’t you throw five $1s out the window and make five people happy?”
A member of the opposing political party seated across the aisle said, “Why don’t you just jump out the window yourself and make everybody happy?”
There are many different ideas as to what makes for the happiness of others. Interestingly, the bible doesn’t say much about our roles as Christians being “making people happy.” However God’s Word says quite a lot about encouraging others.
Another characteristic of an encouraging person is that encouragers are forgiving. If you would like to be an encourager:
IV. Be Forgiving, Acts 15:36-40
“Their disagreement was so sharp that they separated. Barnabas took John Mark with him and sailed for Cyprus.”
In this vignette we see the famed Apostle Paul and Barnabas embroiled in a conflict. In the context we read of how on an earlier journey they had taken John Mark along with them but there was some kind of a bump in the road in a place called Pamphylia and young John Mark went home rather than continue with them.
Consequently the apostle Paul lost confidence in John Mark and he was not about to trust him a second time.
Here in Colorado we hear a lot about the penal system. We hear quite a lot about recidivism. Recidivism is the tendency to relapse as in criminal behavior, i.e., be a repeat offender.
In an analysis of the social problem of recidivism in individuals incarcerated in Colorado prisons they found that 93% of those who serve their time re-enter society at the same point at which they entered the prison system. They re-enter society at the point of their alcohol and drug abuse, they re-enter at the point of their unemployment, they re-enter at their same point of homelessness, and they re-enter at the same point of their mental health or lack there-of. And consequently a large proportion of these people become repeat offenders. They relapse and fall back into criminal behavior. (Prisoner Reentry, Recidivism, and FOCUS Offender Re-entry Mentoring Program, Courtney S. Coffman, University of Colorado at Denver, School of Public Affairs, PUAD 5628 Urban Social Problem, April 1, 2012)
A recidivist is someone who relapses or slips back into previous behavior patterns. In the conservative Christian church I grew up in they called it “back-sliding.”
On April 15 rock legend Ozzy Osbourne posted an admission that he had relapsed in abusing alcohol and prescription drugs for the last 18 months. He apologized to his family, friends and fans saying he had been sober for 44 days and was working on becoming a better person.
The immediate speculation was, Sharon Osbourne had moved out and would seek a divorce from Ozzy. No one, including his wife of 31 years, is unaware of his life-long struggle with addictive behavior. Everyone close to him was hurt by his relapse and subsequent behavior. No one would blame Sharon Osbourne for dumping him at the curb. But she did not do that… she admitted they had been through some hard times and gotten through them and they would get through this one as well.
People are people. Most of us do not live a high profile life like Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne but they are just people. We are just people and people are fragile and people fail themselves and those around them.
In the mind of the apostle Paul, John Mark’s failure disqualified him for future ministry. Mark was just a little too human for Paul’s liking and he refused to let John Mark accompany them on their journey. But on the other hand, there was Barnabas who still hoped and believed there was something good in Mark.
This seems like such a strange thing for a man who was a self-proclaimed “worst of sinners.” But the Apostle Paul was thinking what we often think: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Paul was thinking, “I trusted you once and you bailed out on me and I’ll not make that mistake again.”
Failures and recidivists and relapsers are just people. And if you think your failure diminishes you in the eyes of God or if you think someone else’s failure diminishes them in the eyes of God, you are wrong. The light of God’s love never flickers. God’s love never wavers. In this cases it was Barnabas whose hope for and belief in John Mark did not flicker or waver.
One of the most gracious things anyone can extend to another person is another chance… there are few things as encouraging as someone believing in you.
Who in your life has failed or relapsed or fallen and needs to know that you believe in them and have hope for them? Encouragers lift the failures and the fallen.
Conclusion
Benjamin West is a famous late 18th and early 19th Century painter. He is known as an historical painter and among his many religious pieces is that of St. Peter Preaching at Pentecost. If you take time to check him out online you can see the diversity of his body of his work
He told of how as a young boy, when his mother left he would pull out the oils and try to paint. On one occasion he made quite a mess and before he could get it cleaned up, his mother returned. He said that what his mother did next completely shocked him. She picked up his painting and said, “My, what a beautiful painting of your sister.” She gave him a kiss on the cheek and walked away. With that kiss, West said, “I became a painter.”
As followers of Christ we are always trying to paint a picture of Christ in and with our lives through what we say and do. But we all make messes and the last thing any of us wants is for someone to come along and say, “What a mess you’re making of your life!” What we all really need is a kiss of encouragement.
Barnabas was known for giving the kiss of encouragement. It is a quality so rare that God does not want us to forget it. As we consciously work at developing encouragement into the way we related to others, we take what is rare in our culture and make it commonplace.
Barnabas is remembered because he was an encourager. William Arthur Ward once said, “Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will not forget you.”
