We Need Barnabas Christians!
Series: Acts
Chuck Sligh
February 7, 2016
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: Acts 11:21-24 – “And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord. 22 Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. 23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. 24 For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord.”
INTRODUCTION
Nothing hurts the cause of Christ more than Christians who are hypocrites. More harm has been done to the name of Christ by hypocrites than all the persecutors in history combined A Christian with a good testimony, an intense love for God and a loving, Christlike spirit may not always be popular, but he will be respected and listened to.
The Bible is tragically filled with the stories men and women with sullied testimonies. Yes, we remember DAVID for his victories and his beautiful psalms, but rarely do we think of David that we don’t also recall his adulterous sin with Bathsheba. We remember PETER in the book of Acts who boldly proclaimed the name of Christ. – Yet his denial of Jesus before Calvary is indelibly imprinted in our minds.
But today’s text tells us of a man who had an unsullied testimony throughout the book of Acts. His name is BARNABAS.
This is not the first time we’re introduced to Barnabas in the book of Acts. We first heard of him in chapter 4 which we examined several months ago. When persecution arose in the church in Jerusalem, Barnabas sold his land and gave it to the church to be distributed to help other believers in their distress. So he had a generous heart.
We saw him again in chapter 9. There, Saul had just been converted and when he came to Jerusalem, the disciples feared him greatly. They avoided him out of fear that his conversion might be a ruse to get intelligence about the leaders of the Jerusalem church so they could be captured and killed. But Barnabas stepped forward and befriended Saul when no one else would, and introduced him to the believers in Jerusalem—a crucial step in Saul’s spiritual development.
Now in chapter 11, we see that Barnabas had a very successful and effective ministry. You may never be a preacher like Barnabas, but surely, if you’re truly born again into God’s family, you want to serve God, and want to make a difference in people’s lives—to influence them to come to faith in Christ, or to turn back to God if they are away from Him.
What was Barnabas’s secret? Why was he able to make a difference in people’s lives spiritually? Today let’s put the spotlight on Barnabas and see what his life and ministry can teach us.
I. FIRST, NOTE THAT BARNABAS HAD A FAVORABLE TESTIMONY.
The first part of verse 24 says “For he was a good man.” I think one secret of Barnabas’s effectiveness is in that little phrase. In order to really make a difference in people’s lives spiritually, you must have INTEGRITY in your life to back up what you confess with your lips.
Here he was teaching and preaching to the people. But how effective could he have been if he preached on right living, but lived in open, unconfessed sin himself? How could people believe him if he were a hypocrite?
The first step to service is always integrity of life. Before God can use you, you must have a good testimony. Barnabas DIDN’T just TALK about the Christian life—he LIVED it!
Illus. – I had the joy of winning a man and his wife to the Lord in our church in Bicester, England where I pastored for seven years. He had made a profession of faith and was growing in Christ. There were a number of radical changes he made in his life, but a couple of things he struggled with for a whole longer was his temper and his language.
With God’s grace, his coworkers began to notice a difference: he didn’t blow up under stress any more and his speech no longer contained profanities. One of his coworkers noticed it and asked him if he had “gotten religion” and he replied, “No, I found Christ as a my Savior.” He began sharing with others about Christ and inviting them to church. Some were receptive because they had grown up in church and knew they should be in church.
But then one day, an argument broke out at work about an issue, and he got so mad that he completely lost his temper and let out a string of profanity and demeaning words until he finally stormed out of the room. He had lost his testimony He didn’t practice what his co-workers knew the Bible taught. It was only after going to each one and asking their forgiveness and confessing that his behavior was wrong that there was a break in the ice at work. It took weeks to for his co-workers to take his faith seriously again.
You see, the world expects Christians to be different, and if they aren’t, rightly or wrongly, fairly or unfairly, they judge you by the consistency of your life to the faith you espouse. But people are more apt to give a fair hearing to those who are REAL in their Christian walk; who PRACTICE what they profess; who show that Christ DOES make a difference in their lives—because they RESPECT them. But they despise hypocricy.
Barnabas was able to make a difference in people’s lives because he exhibited attitudes and behaviors that convinced others that his faith was real. God help us not to be hypocritical; to live in our lives what we profess with our lips!
II. NOTE SECOND THAT BARNABAS WAS FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT AND FAITH. – Verse 24b – “For he was a good man, and full of the holy ghost and of faith…”
This is the second key to Barnabas’s success and effectiveness. It is so important for you to serve the Lord and others—but to do so in the power of the Holy Spirit and with faith!
No one can be used of the Lord as a servant like a Spirit-filled person. If you’re Spirit-filled, you’ll naturally be sensitive to people’s needs and have the proper humility to be willing to serve others.
So what does it mean to be “filled with the Spirit?” Well, first of all, it’s not some mystical, mysterious experience. You don’t go into a trance or speak in tongues or froth at the mouth to be Spirit-filled.
Being Spirit-filled is just another word for being Spirit-controlled or being yielded to the Spirit. When you’re consciously yielding to the Holy Spirit’s will in your attitudes, thoughts, words, or deeds—you’re being Spirit-filled.
The moment you DISOBEY God and yield to your fleshly desires and give in to temptation—in that moment, you stop being Spirit-filled. Once you confess that sin and then again choose to walk in conscious obedience to the Spirit and God’s Word, you’re being Spirit-filled again. It’s as simple as that.
Being Spirit-filled is not a one-time experience. In Ephesians 5:18, Paul commands us to “be filled with the Spirit.”
It’s significant that the verb tense he uses is the present imperative which would be expressed in English like this, “BE BEING FILLED with the Spirit,” or “be moment-by-moment controlled by the Spirit.” It’s something you must do over and over and over again in your life.
Barnabas was not only Spirit-filled, but our text tells us he was filled with FAITH. Anything not done in faith displeases God. Hebrews 11:6 says “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
What exactly is faith? Faith is believing God, even if you cannot understand why He says to do something or cannot see when He will do what He says He will do. Hebrews 11:1 puts it this way: – “Now faith is the substance [literally, “assurance”] of things hoped for, the evidence [literally, “conviction”]of things not seen.”
Faith is believing God even if you can’t “see” how God will do something or if you can’t understand how it works.
Illus. – For instance, four weeks ago I preached a sermon on tithing. After the service I had an interesting conversation with one of our members about the role that faith plays in tithing. You see, common sense tells you that if you give ten percent of your income to God, you will come up ten percent short, right?
But God has many promises for tithers.
He says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom.…” (Luke 6:38)He says in
Proverbs 3:9-10 – “Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: 10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.”
He said through the prophet Malachi: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,…and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (Malachi 3:10)
With our PHYSICAL EYES we cannot “see” how this can happen and with our MINDS, we cannot figure it out. But if you have FAITH and step out and obey God in tithing, thousands of years of believers testify to the fact that God’s Word is TRUE. God will bless you and you won’t come out ten percent SHORT; you’ll come out AHEAD. But it takes faith to step out and trust God to do what He says He will do even if you don’t understand in our minds how such a thing can be.
Let’s be like Barnabas and be filled with THE SPIRIT and WITH FAITH.
III. NOTICE THIRD, THAT BARNABAS WAS FERVENT IN SERVICE – Verse 23 – “Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.”
Two things define each of us as Christians—what we ARE and what we DO. We just saw what Barnabas WAS—he was GOOD and he was filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith. Verse 23 tells us what he DID. You see, Barnabas was not content to just be a spectator in the Christian life. He went to work for God.
Barnabas’s name means “Son of Exhortation” or “Son of Encouragement.” Barnabas was not a well-known preacher or church leader like Peter or Paul. Apparently he couldn’t serve in those capacities either because of a lack of calling or a lack of giftedness. But what he COULD do is what every one of us can do—we can be AN EXHORTER and we can be AN ENCOURAGER!
And I believe that was another key to his effectiveness. He was a person with a POSITIVE influence on people’s lives.Instead of DISCOURAGING other Christians; instead of being a complainer and negative; instead of being a DRAG on other people’s spiritual development; instead of being a gossip and a busybody—Barnabas exhorted and encouraged others.
Notice how he encouraged them:
1. First, he urged them to be out-and-out steadfast believers – It says in the middle of verse 23 that Barnabas “…exhorted them all, that WITH PURPOSE OF HEART they would cleave unto the Lord.”
PAUL was also one who often exhorted others to steadfastness in the Lord He said in 1 Corinthians 15:58 – “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”
Each of us should be steadfast in our Christian lives—unmovable; not swaying; not turning aside; just keeping on keeping on no matter what the obstacles the enemy, or the world or life puts in our way. But not only should we be steadfast ourselves—but like Barnabas, we should exhort and encourage OTHERS to be steadfast in the Lord.
2. Second, Barnabas helped them to look to Jesus and live in close fellowship with the Lord.
Notice the word cleave in verse 23 “…and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would CLEAVE unto the Lord.” That word, cleave, means, “to stick to like glue.”
In other words, Barnabas wanted them to be in such close fellowship with the Lord that they would truly “abide in the vine” as Jesus referred to it in John 15—that it, to be so much a part of the vine as to be actually an extension of it. God wants us to be so close to Him that we are just an extension of Him. Barnabas was urging them to live in close harmony and fellowship with God.
We too should walk with the Lord like that. But as we do that, we should constantly exhort and encourage ONE ANOTHER to have that kind of fellowship with the Lord too.
Let me ask you: Are you an exhorter? Are you an encourager? Are you an edifier? When was the last time you ENCOURAGED someone else instead of being absorbed in your own life and problems and affairs? When did you last pull another brother or sister aside to make a conscious effort to just encourage and exhort him or her to keep on following the Lord.
Those are the kinds of things Barnabas did. God help us to be like Barnabas, a real “son of exhortation!”
IV. FINALLY, NOTICE THAT BARNABAS HAD A FRUITFUL MINISTRY – The end of verse 24 says “and much people was added unto the Lord.”
How sad to be fruitless in your Christian life. Part of God’s plan for every believer is to bear fruit.
Jesus explained in John 15 the importance of living in close fellowship with Him. If we would do that, He said we would “bear much fruit.”
Now how about you, believer? Are you a fruit-bearing Christian? Have you influenced and impacted anyone to come to faith in Christ, or to return to the Lord from a backslidden condition, or to come back to church after dropping out or to serve the Lord with greater steadfastness?
Fruit doesn’t just occur in the Christian’s life by accident. It has to be CULTIVATED. With a fruit tree, in order to have much fruit, the farmer makes sure it has the right amount of water, the proper nourishment, and adequate sunlight.
To bear spiritual fruit in our lives, we too must have the right amount of exposure to the Word of God, obedience to what you read in God’s Word; fellowship with other believers; ministry to God and others, and time spent in prayer. Are you faithfully getting into God’s Word; consciously and consistently choosing to obey what you read in God’s Word; being faithful to church; joining in fellowship with others in a homegroup; spending time in prayer for yourself, your family and your church; serving God in your local church?
Quotation – Let me read you something Donald Grey Barnhouse said, who grew up in California before spending almost fifty years of ministry in England:
I was born in a country of fruit in a little valley of California. It was a common sight to see tens of thousands of acres of blossoms in the springtime, and to look out on the vast and abundant harvest of the autumn. Without being conscious of the impression that was being made on me, the glory of the harvest became a part of my being. I still have a sense of solid satisfaction when I think of the thousands of square yards of apricots drying in the sun, of the freight-car loads of strawberries going off to market, of the hundreds of trainloads of apples that flowed through the little town. Fruit was the life of our community. I, like many of the boys in my town, spent many summer days cutting pits out of apricots, and I earned a great deal of money-for a boy-making thousands of apple boxes each season. It was thus we spent our autumn Saturdays.
The heavy black soil was clean and well cultivated, and the orchards stretched away for miles. For me, the North Star will always shine over a mountain peak—Loma Prieta—ten or fifteen miles away, with orchards stretching all the way to the foothills. Whether the wind blew from Del Monte by the sea, or from the fruited hills, the air was always redolent with the fragrance of the blossoms, the fruit, or the black earth, resting for its winter moment before springing into fruitfulness again.
This is the atmosphere of the Bible. The winds of God blow thus for the lives of His children. One of the most important purposes of redemption is that we might bring forth fruit unto God. We were transplanted out of death and rooted and grounded in His love so that we might bring forth fruit.
Oh, how we need fruitful Barnabas Christians today!
CONCLUSION
Folks, the church needs Barnabas Christians!
* May God help each one of us be like Barnabas in all the ways mentioned this morning
* May we be Christians who practice what we believe.
* May we be filled daily, regularly, moment-by-moment with the Holy Spirit and faith.
* May we encouragers and exhorters to others to remain steadfast to the Lord.
* And may we have fruit in our lives, cultivated by godly practices.
