Acts 4:36-37 – God’s Power Through God’s People #5: Barnabas
Today’s message carries a serious lesson for all of us: the importance of one another. We will see how crucial it is for each of us as believers to invest in the lives of others. Today’s message is based on Barnabas, a character used by God in the early days of the church. Let’s read together Acts 4:36-37.
This is the 1st time we meet Barnabas, but not the last. He continues through the book of Acts until chapter 15. Acts 11:24 uses a whole verse to describe his character and the effects of his ministry: “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.”
In fact, as I read that verse over and over, I think how much I wish that would describe my life. Pat was a good man. He was full of the Holy Spirit, and full of faith too. And because of how he lived his life, many people found God. Yes, Barnabas is a good role model.
So what was he like, then? What did he do that was so important? Well, the key verses do a good job of summing it up. He encouraged people. So much so, that the apostles figured a good name for this guy named Joseph would be “Son of Encouragement”. You know, Joe, you’re a great guy. You always lift people up. You always make them feel better. I think we should say that Encouragement is your father. Yeah, Son of Encouragement. Let’s call you Barnabas!
That’s quite something. To provide others with so much encouragement they nickname you for it. I’m thinking I could use a few more of those people in my life. Maybe you heard about the buffalo that were peacefully grazing on the open range when a cowboy rode up. He stared at them for several minutes and then he blurted out, "You are such ugly creatures! Your hind legs are longer than your front ones; you have humps on your backs, shaggy hair, beady eyes and tails with bushes at the end. Ugh! Disgusting!"
Then he rode away. "Gee," one buffalo remarked to the other, "I think we just heard a discouraging word."
Ever feel that way? Ever feel surrounded by discouragement? Let me tell you, school sometimes feels that way. The negative, complaining voices seem so much louder than the happy, contented ones. Giving an assignment is met by a collection of groans, but not from everyone, not from the ones who like school learning, but from the ones who don’t like classroom work. Very often, destructive comments are louder and more frequent than constructive comments.
I think that we need to be Barnabases in this world. It seems to be that the negative, complaining voices are too loud, and there needs to be a difference, and that difference should start with us. We love to complain: about politicians, about weather, about the economy, about the sinfulness of the world… and all of these may be true. But just because something is true doesn’t mean it needs to be expressed like verbal diarrhea.
Frankly, our words reflect our attitudes. Colossians 4:6 says: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Are our words graceful and salty? That is, do our words bring hope and forgiveness, and make people thirsty for God?
After all, look at Barnabas. How did his encouragement help make the world a better place? The 1st time we meet him, we find that he sold a field and gave the proceeds to the apostles to distribute to those in need. That’s certainly a helpful attitude to have. Barnabas may or may not have been rich, but he was indeed generous. That was part of his encouraging nature.
In Acts 11:30, we can see that he transported some financial help from one church to another in need. That’s a great thing. He was trustworthy, and there’s something to be said about that. I heard a Christian speaker years ago say that ushers must tithe. He demanded it of his ushers. If not, who’s to say that the ushers wouldn’t go in the backroom and help themselves to the money. I heard the gasps from the audience, at the thought that ushers would do such a thing. Then the speaker said, “Well, why wouldn’t they? They’re already robbing God.” Silence. Ouch. Being trusted with God’s money is a wonderful privilege, not to be taken lightly.
In Acts 13, we see the believers clustered together, praying, worshipping and fasting. The Holy Spirit told them to set apart Barnabas and Saul, another guy we’ll talk about in a minute, to do some missionary work. The believers prayed for the 2 guys and sent them off to do God’s work. We can see that God trusted him with His work. You know, God trusts us all with the most important work of all: to love people for Jesus. God doesn’t expect you to do what someone else does. All He asks is that you do what you do. Ask Him to love the world through you. Ask Him what direction He wants to lead you. Ask Him to guide you. Ask Him to give you power to be the person He wants you to be. You don’t have to be Barnabas, but you do have to be yourself.
You know, I’ve mentioned his generosity, his trustworthiness, and his willingness to serve. But something else really stands out. Barnabas stood up for people. He defended others. When he saw injustice or unfairness, he stood up for what was right.
In Acts 9, this fellow that had been making life very difficult for Christians came to him and said that he had met Jesus, whom he had been persecuting. And Barnabas believed this fellow named Saul. Barnabas took him in, believed in him, and stood up for him to the disciples, who were doubting his sincerity. Saul went on the become Paul, the greatest missionary in the early years of the church. If someone had not stood up for him, where would he have ended up?
In Acts 15, there was a controversy going on. You see, the church headquarters were in Jerusalem, a very Jewish city. But as the disciples dispersed further and further away from Jerusalem, Gentile – non-Jewish – converts were becoming common. Not knowing what to do, some of the formerly Jewish Christians thought that these Gentiles should submit to circumcision and follow all the OT laws of diet, clothing, and ceremony, before they could become Christians. Barnabas said, “NO! Why should they convert to Judaism before they convert to Christianity? The old days are gone.” And they sided with Barnabas’ argument. If they hadn’t, things would be very different for all of us Gentiles and our own Christian faith.
And when Saul said he wouldn’t take a guy named John Mark on a missionary journey, because he had abandoned them once before on a missionary endeavour, Barnabas said, “I think we should take him anyway. I believe in him.” Saul disagreed, and took Silas with him, leaving Barnabas and John Mark to go on their own way.
Barnabas’ belief in John Mark led him to disagree with his own student, Saul/Paul. We don’t know what the results turned out to be, but we do know that 2 groups of missionaries went out instead of 1.
You see? Barnabas lived his whole life standing up for others. The world needs more of his kind. Martin Niemoeller was a German anti-Nazi pastor, and has become famous for these words: “They came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up.”
Saul, a great man in the making, needed someone to stand up for him. Generations of Gentiles needed someone to stand up for them so that they… we… wouldn’t be overly burdened with OT laws. John Mark, a young guy who had made a mistake but wanted a second chance, needed someone to stand up for him. Folks, if you look around, someone needs you to stand up for them. Someone around you needs you to go to bat for them. Someone around you needs to be encouraged by your care.
I read this week an interesting fact. I’ve been doing a lot of research on school bullying, and I found out that bullying stops in less than 10 seconds, over half the time, when someone intervenes on behalf of the victim. Did you get it? When another person stands up for the object of bullying, more than half the time the bullying ends within 10 seconds. Millions of kids would be spared torture and torment if they had someone stand up for them.
I’ve been reading and listening with great sadness the stories in the last couple of months about kids, as young as age 11, bullied to the point of suicide. Can you believe it? It brings me such sadness. Folks, how could that have been different if they had had a Barnabas beside them, standing up for them, getting between them and the bullies?
Folks, friends, you and I need to be Barnabases. You and I need to get involved in people’s lives and to go to bat for them. Edmund Burke once wrote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for a good man to do nothing.” We can’t let the evil win. We can’t let the downtrodden to stay down. We need to stand up for others. We need to believe in other people, as Barnabas believed in John Mark. We need to pray for people who might be discouraged, and let them know that we are there for them… you know, encourage them, as Barnabas did.
