Introduction
In 1896, Henry Ford, who eventually invented the car, attended a company event where Thomas Edison (the great inventor of the light bulb) was the guest of honour. His friend introduced him to Edison as "the man trying to make a car that runs on gasoline."
Edison asked young Henry Ford a host of questions and when the talk was over, Edison banged his fist down on the table and said, "Young man, that's the thing! You have it! Your car is self contained and carries its own power plant."
Years later, Ford, reflecting on their first meeting, said in a newspaper interview, "That bang on the table was worth the world to me. No man up to then had given me any encouragement. I had hoped that I was headed in the right direction. Sometimes I knew that I was, sometimes I only wondered, but here, all at once and out of a clear sky, the greatest inventive genius in the world had given me complete approval. The man who knew most about electricity in the world had said that for the purpose, my gas motor was better than any electric motor could be."
Encouragement (V1)
Thomas Edison was an encourager who made all the difference to Henry Ford and it resulted in something magnificent which we all take for granted today. Barnabas was exactly the same for Paul.
His real name was Joseph (Acts 4:36), but he was renamed like Peter, Barnabas which means “Son of Encouragement”. Encouragement means to put courage into someone. The courage not to give up, to see the potential in someone or something, to battle against the odds and win. Every group needs an encourager. We need an encourager. Someone who will walk alongside us, helping us along.
Barnabas was drawn to people that he could encourage and he was a great help to those around him. And when Barnabas encouraged Christians, non-Christians flocked to become Christians.
Barnabas’ actions were crucial for the Church. In a way we can thank him for most of the New Testament. God used his relationship with Paul at one point and with Mark at another to keep these two men going when either might have failed. Barnabas did wonders with encouraging words.
As we saw in the Thursday group when Paul arrived in the Church following his conversion the local Christians were understandably reluctant to welcome him. They thought the story of a conversion was a trap to arrest more of them. Only Barnabas was willing to risk his life to meet with Paul and convince the others that their former enemy was a true believer. We can only wonder what might have happened to Paul without Barnabas.
As Barnabas’ life shows, we are rarely in situations where people don’t need a word of encouragement rather than a hard word. Our tendency is often to criticise instead of help. It may be important at times to point out someone’s shortcomings but before we have the right to do this, we must build that person up through encouragement. Are you prepared to do that from today? Will you encourage an encourager or a minister or a brother rather than seek to bring them down? Have you given thanks for those people and encouraged those who walk with you? How important encouragement is!
Unity (V2-3, 7-9)
So 14 years after his miraculous transformation Paul had a word from God that told him to go up to Jerusalem. In those 14 years Paul had been setting himself aside to learn alone with God and with others and had been spreading the Gospel throughout the Gentile world. But as we have seen there was a bunch of people who had come to Christ but insisted that you also needed to keep the Law of Moses to be a real Christian. Paul touches on them in Verse 4. They were also teaching that Peter and the other Jewish Christians like Peter and James and John were teaching the same as them. So Paul was in the wrong.
It was time to go and see Peter, James and John to sort things out. Paul had received his Gospel from Jesus which of course the others had too when they spent three years with Jesus. At the meeting Paul was open and shared his gospel openly with the Apostles in Jerusalem. A gospel that says salvation is offered to all regardless of wealth, status, religious and cultural background, nationality, education or gender. Jesus is a free gift to everyone. What they all discovered of course is that they agreed totally together and the unity of the Jewish Church and the Gentile Church was preserved.
There are several lessons in this for all of us. First, an approach where we share openly our thoughts and feelings and beliefs builds trust. Sharing openly brings understanding where there may have been misunderstanding and mistrust before. For instance, we may think someone who worships in a different way to us can’t be a Christian. But have you talked and shared your core beliefs with that person and allowed them to do it with you? Have we bothered to try and understand why using candles or icons could be important to someone? Or have we written them off because we think that because they use icons or candles they don’t hold the same beliefs about Jesus and the Gospel as I do? Have we bothered to share our core beliefs with each other, not the way we practice our faith and worship?
It may surprise you to hear that Paul was not against the rituals and Laws of Moses. He just didn’t believe they could save you, and he was right. Only faith in Jesus, not the Law or rituals can save you. But he didn’t have a problem with someone who was a Christian keeping the Laws and practising rituals like circumcision. He even circumcised Timothy in Acts 16:3 to help overcome the barriers Timothy might face in Jewish Christian churches! Paul had nothing against how we live out our faith as long as we had faith in Jesus and Jesus alone to save us.
So the second lesson to learn is do not confuse different ways of worshipping and living out your faith with someone promoting a different Gospel belief to you. The chances are you hold the same beliefs. Diversity is OK as long as it’s not a diversity which says any old way can save you.
The result of all this openness and listening to each other is visible in verses 7-9. Openness and listening is a trademark of Jesus’ relationship with the Father, and indeed the Spirit. They model how we should work. As a result Peter, James and John recognised Paul preached the same Gospel as them. As Paul says, they added nothing to it in the form of ritual and Law; they didn’t modify it, edit it or trim it down. Therefore, because that Gospel came from Jesus and not man, he was called to be an Apostle to the Gentiles. As a result, they offered him the “right hand of fellowship”. He was welcomed fully as an Apostle even though he operated differently and among different people.
1 Corinthians 12 talks about every one of us being part of the body of Christ. Without you, the body cannot function in a healthy way. An ear is not an eye though and a foot is not a hand. We are all different but equal and we all have a job to do. What’s your job in this body and are you performing it?
Status (V6)
This brings me to my final point about the importance of status. The same passage in Corinthians says that we should have equal respect for each other, whatever our role in the body, because we are all equally important. God doesn’t do status. We are to respect those with different jobs in the church and seek to understand what their role is. But we don’t try to do their role when we neglect ours. Too many of us want to tell the preacher or teacher what to preach and teach when our job is to lead. Too many of us want to tell the leader how to lead when our job is to provide hospitality. And too many of us want to tell those with the gift of hospitality how to host when our gift is praying for the sick. Remember those words of encouragement again? That’s what it’s about not criticism.
Let’s encourage and pray for each other in the tasks that we have been given by God. And let’s not shy away from doing what God has called us to do because providing hospitality is just as important as preaching and praying for the sick is just as important as being the leader. Everyone is equal under Christ. Did you note that? Under Christ. When we judge others and we don’t do our job you are putting yourself over Christ. You are telling Jesus that you know better than him about what gift that person should have and maybe even about what gift you have. As Paul rightly says, it’s not people who contribute to your gifts and talents it’s God and he isn’t partial. He doesn’t say “He isn’t a very good reader, he can’t be a leader”, or “He likes more traditional songs, he can’t pray for healing”. God says “I provide and you can!” Let’s say that together: God says I provide and you can!
So we are back to encouragement and unity. Let’s encourage one another to share the Gospel as God has called us to do despite our differences. And let us remain united through our diversity to the glory of God! That will attract people to Jesus in the same way Barnabas’ encouragement of Paul brought people to Christ. It’s living a transformed, totally different life from the world which attracts people to Jesus.
