Acts 9:19-31 – Being Children of Encouragement
You might have heard the story of the married couple asleep in bed on a stormy night who were awakened by a loud knock on the front door. The man crawled out of bed and grumpily went downstairs. When he opened the front door he found a man dripping wet and obviously very drunk who said to him; "I can’t get my car started. Can you give me a push?" To which the man of the house replied sharply; "NO! Go and sober up and we will sort it out in the morning!" He slammed the door and stormed upstairs.
When he got back into bed and explained what had happened to his wife she was indignant and said to him; "That wasn’t a very kind Christian response. He could be in trouble and you have just sent him out into the storm for the rest of the night!" Reluctantly the man got out of bed a second time and put on his coat and went downstairs. He figured he wasn’t going to get any peace until he did something for the man out in the rain. When he got to the front door the rain was teaming down and he couldn’t see the other man. He could hear a faint noise out in the front yard so he called out; "Hello? Are you still there? What can I do to help?"
To which the other man replied; "Could you give me a push?"
"I’d be happy to if I could see you, where are you?"
"I’m over here, on your swing!"
Have you ever had the experience of being out some place and the car won’t start; the battery is flat? Everything else in the car works fine but the "get-up-and-go" in the battery has "got-up-and-gone". Leaving aside the more serious reasons as to why batteries run down, the short term solution is usually for another car to come alongside and hook up a set of jumper leads from their strong battery to your weak one. Drawing from the alongside energy and power your car is able to start up again and function normally.
That action of drawing alongside or lending energy to get another going is the basic idea behind a key word in the New Testament. The word is "encourage". Over the last little while we have been tracking the life and example of a man in the New Testament who had a particular reputation for encouragement. His parents named him Joseph but the leaders of the early church called him Barnabas, which literally meant "son of encouragement".
Barnabas was a person who you felt good being around. He was a man who believed in the potential of people – particular those whom others were cautious or suspicious of. Barnabas was willing to give a failure a second chance, and because of his predisposition or default setting towards encouraging people the leaders of the early church gave him the nickname of "son of encouragement".
I believe you and I are called to be like Barnabas. To be a Barnabas towards others is to exercise a powerful influence on people. Now, the root meaning of the word encourage simply means "to put courage in". It means the imputing or infusion of power or advice or inspiration that makes another person perform better.
There are times for each of us when our battery runs flat. Encouragement means the coming alongside and the inputting of courage or perspective or attitudes that makes us get up and get going again.
There are many things in life that cause us to experience discouragement - the draining of courage. Sometimes it’s a crisis, sometimes it’s simply tiredness or sickness, or sometimes it’s the cutting words or actions of another person. To encourage is to do the direct opposite. Where courage has faded away, encouragement is the putting back or refilling of courage. It represents the replacing what has been taken or what has leaked out of us.
So how do we do it? What are some practical ways that we can be Barnabites to the people we associate with? Let me offer 2 specific suggestions from Barnabas’ life:
1. Allow people to grow
By that I mean believe that God is working on people and that perhaps their spiritual maturity will grow. People change and do better as the Holy Spirit works on them. A Barnabas encourager expects people to grow and as God continues to work on them.
There is an interesting illustration of this in the relationship that Barnabas had with Paul the Apostle. In the early days after Paul’s conversion it was Barnabas who was willing to give him a go. The other Christians leaders were suspicious of Paul but Barnabas took a risk and brought Paul to meet them. Later on it was Barnabas who went and got Paul and launched him into pastoral ministry in the church at Antioch. In his early days Barnabas mentored Paul and coached him in the ways of Christian ministry.
Then Barnabas and Paul launched themselves on an intenerate ministry as missionaries. Once again in the early days the historical record is very much "Barnabas and Paul". Barnabas was the leader and Paul was the apprentice. In the historical culture of the day the leader of the team was always listed first. However later on in the book of Acts we read about Paul and Barnabas rather than Barnabas and Paul. At some point in their journeys Paul assumed the more prominent leadership role. The implication is that Barnabas swapped being the mentor or coach to Paul and instead became his number two. The leader allowed the younger guy to grow and mature and even take over the leadership role.
Now, we can probably assume that if Barnabas hadn’t said yes to God, God would have found someone more willing to go to Saul. If Barnabas hadn’t put his arm around Saul when Saul needed the support from the home church, what would have happened? God used the compassionate heart of Barnabas to help Saul get grounded in the church and thus, in the faith. Would you be willing to allow people to grow?
2. Be committed to Christian community
What do I mean by that? According to the New Testament to have an encouragement mind set means having a high value on belonging to the community of faith. To be Christian, according to the New Testament, is to belong to a fellowship of believers, and the practice of coming together with fellow Christians is expressly stated as an act of mutual encouragement.
We don’t know for certain who wrote the New Testament book of Hebrews. There are few clues in the original manuscript. However many scholars attribute Hebrews to the authorship of Barnabas. In Chapter 10:24,25 we read these words: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 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.”
One of the ways we encourage each other in the Christian faith is to gather together with fellow believers. To express that the opposite way, to stay apart or to not relate with fellow Christians has the opposite affect to encouragement. It leads to discouragement. Proverbs17:17 - As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.
Coming together with fellow Christians and being part of Christian community encourages fellow believers with their walk with the Lord. Like two burning hot coals within a fireplace each gives off and each receives heat from the other. Separate the two coals and they both go out very quickly.
One of the sad tragedies about contemporary Christianity is the spirit of consumerism that has invaded the church. The dominant attitude is "What’s in it for me?" If my personal needs have not been met why bother going to church? In contrast of that Hebrews 10:25 suggests that there is another reason for being in community with other Christians. Apparently it’s not only what I get out of this, but more importantly what I’m able to give to other people.
To put that more strongly, having a low view of community and gathering for corporate worship or fellowship is not just about me missing out; its also about me robbing other people of what I am capable of inputting into them. When we worship together, or pray together, or play together I observe your connection with Jesus, and when I see that I in turn am stirred and motivated in my relationship with God. If you stay away I miss out, or if I stay away you are robbed.
If we are really serious about behaving in the Barnabas-type manner towards other people then one of the best places to start is adopting a high value of Christian community. Being Christian is much more than just a simple personal belief system. It’s also about belonging to a community of faith that encourages other people.
The Bible tells us to love each other deeply, to confess our sins to each other and pray for each other so that we may be healed. We are told not to grumble against each other, not to lie to each other, nor to provoke and envy each other. We are told to try to be kind to each other and to live in peace with each other. We’re told to build each other up. Paul prayed that the Lord would make your love increase and overflow for each other. Colossians tells us to bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances we may have against one another. We are instructed to be kind and compassionate to one another. Galatians says this: If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. We’re told to offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 1 Peter says: Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another. And the book of 1 John tells us 5 times in 5 chapters to love one another.
Clearly, God calls us to be like Barnabas: 1) to believe the best in each other, and 2) to work hard to bring it out. Would you be willing today to reach out and plug in to someone who needs courage in his or her life? Would you be willing to ask for and receive encouragement?
