The Apostles in Acts - Barnabas

The Apostles in Acts

Barnabas

Acts 11:19-26

Series Slide

Welcome…

We are in week 4 of our series The Apostles in Acts.  I hope you are enjoying getting to know some of these leaders that shaped the early church… and really shaped the world as we know it.  It was the martyrdom of Stephen that catapulted the church from being a group gathered in Jerusalem to a movement that spread farther and faster than any other movement in history.

Then you heard a bit about Paul, also known by the Hebrew name Saul.  Last week, we looked at Philip and his willingness to allow the Holy Spirit to use him, which sent the Gospel to Ethiopia.

Today, we are going to look at a good Jewish young man named Joseph.  I do not believe that we would know about Paul if it were not for this young man.  I know, I said Stephen’s sermon and death had a huge impact on Paul, but it was this young man named Joseph from Cyprus who took Paul under his wing and guided him into ministry.  As such, Joseph is responsible for 2/3 of the New Testament written by Paul, but he is also instrumental in the fact that we have the Gospel of Mark.

I know, you are trying to figure out who this “Joseph” is… well, let’s look at another verse about this young man.  In the early church, people were sharing their possessions, and in Acts 4:34 we find:

Acts 4:34-37

There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

And with that, let us pray before we get into the meat of the message.

<Prayer>

Sermon Slide

Yes, the Apostle we know as Barnabas was actually named Joseph; Barnabas was just a nickname.  Can you imagine being the kind of person who gets the nickname, son of encouragement?  I’ve been called a lot of things, and some of them may have started with Son of a …, but I don’t think I have ever been given a nickname like that.

So, what do we know about Barnabas? And, what can we learn from him to apply to ourselves?

Well, from the first time we see him, we know that he was Generous

Barnabas was Generous

In chapters 4 and 5, we learn that it was not uncommon for people to sell what they had to support the church financially.  But, the ‘why’ was important.

Ananias and Sapphira sold what they had and laid it at the Disciples' feet, but they met a much different fate than Barnabas.  In fact, it cost them their lives… why? Motives.  They schemed to make it look like they were giving everything to the church… making themselves look good, but really kept some of the profits back.

First of all, there is nothing wrong with selling your property and giving 10%, 50%, or 90% to the church and keeping the rest for your family… Unless you are giving to make yourself look good and lying about it.  That is precisely what Ananias and Sapphira did.

But Joseph, whom they called Barnabas, just sold his land, gave it to the disciples, and continued on with his work.

I want to make a point here… Land is important.  To own land is an investment in the future… we know that here in our culture, but for a Jew in the First Century, land ownership was huge.  Thinking back to the time of Abraham, the Jewish people recognized that land was a part of the covenant.  To own land was so important to the people of God, that if a person owned land but had to sell it due to poverty, they would receive it back in the year of Jubilee.  After 50 years, their land would be restored to them and their family.

But, when Barnabas sold this land, likely in Cyprus, where he was from, it would have been lost forever.  In other words, he truly gave up something for the good of others… He gave what he had, that the word of God might spread across the globe.

So, we know that Barnabas was generous, but he was also Courageous.

Barnabas was Courageous

This is the part where Barnabas gets credit for helping Saul, who would become Paul, to begin his ministry.

We’ve already seen that Saul was the host of the stoning of Stephen.  We know that Saul persecuted the Jews, in fact Acts 9 tells us

Acts 9:1-2

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

Saul was a bad dude… Any who were part of the Way (from Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life… they called themselves members of The Way.) so any would were part of the way were terrified of Saul.

But then Saul had his experience on the road to Damascus, where he was confronted by Jesus, and then he repented and became a follower of Jesus.

 He spent time with Ananias (different than the other one… )

Saul took time to reflect on who Jesus is according to the Scriptures.  He began to preach in Damascus and proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God.  He was so effective, the Jews… that he originally went to Damascus to help arrest the Christians… now those same Jews are trying to arrest and kill him.  Saul makes this daring escape through the city wall by being lowered in a basket at night… then he runs to Jerusalem.

We pick up in verse 26

Acts 9:26

When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.

I mean, can you blame them? This is the very guy who oversaw the execution of their friend Stephen and had likely arrested and imprisoned some of their other friends.  Now, he’s acting like one of them. I bet they thought it was a trick… like he was trying to get information that he could use against them.

Saul wanted to tell them what the Lord had done, but they wouldn’t listen.  They wouldn’t let him get close to anyone.

I love these next words…

Acts 9:27

But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

Barnabas had the courage to take a chance on Saul… He took Saul into the inner sanctum of the leaders of the Church and spoke up for Saul.  He could have been wrong… what if he was…, but he didn’t let his fear interfere with what the Holy Spirit had prompted him to do.

I don’t think of what could have happened if he was wrong about Paul… I think about what would have happened if he let his fear overcome him… If he hadn’t introduced Saul – Paul – to the disciples and then taken him on to Antioch with him, where would we be today?

Saul would become Paul – the Apostle to the Gentiles – to you and me… Paul would go on to spread the Gospel across Asia Minor… Paul would go on to write what we know as 2/3 of the New Testament. 

All that happened because Barnabas was courageous enough to take a chance on Saul.

Just as an aside – Saul was his Jewish name… Paul was his gentile name.  It’s like saying John vs Juan… same name, different language.

OK, now back to Barnabas.  My final point is that Barnabas was an encourager.

Barnabas was Encouraging

As we continue to follow the saga of Paul and Barnabas, we find in chapter 11 that there has been a church plant in Antioch and these Gentiles are preaching the word of God and people are getting saved.  Antioch was located in Asia Minor and was a major city in the Roman Empire; in fact, it was the third-largest city, behind Rome and Alexandria.

So, they send Barnabas to go check it out.  This seems to have been a common thing in the day.  Someone from somewhere would hear the Gospel, accept Jesus as their Savior and go back and start preaching and teaching in their hometown… a church would grow… and the Disciples would say… “OK, whose turn is it to make sure they are doing all this stuff correctly?”

Many leaders would come into a situation like that and look around and say, “OK, good job, you’re doing some things great, but we need to make sure this theological concept is accurate… and you need to make sure you organize in this way… and don’t forget to give your apportionments… and yada, yada, yada…

But not Barnabas,

Acts 11:22-26

News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

All Barnabas did was encourage them.  But it’s what happened next that I want you to see.

Our friend Paul had a great time in Jerusalem, until he got into an argument with the wrong people and they tried to kill him.  When that happened, the Disciples took Paul to the port city of Caesarea and sent him back to Tarsus.  They sent him packing. It’s like they said, “Dude, you’re stirring up more trouble than we need right now, go away.”

But then we see Barnabas at work again… the son of encouragement doing what he does best.

Acts 11:25-26

Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

Over and over, Barnabas encouraged Paul in ministry.  He saw the potential when others saw the conflict. He saw the Holy Spirit working in Paul when others saw only the zealous radical who offended the Jewish leaders.

But it doesn’t stop with Paul.  Later, Barnabas would take Paul and another young man on a journey through Asia Minor.  That young man was named John Mark.

But, John Mark wasn’t quite ready for all that took place, and he abandoned them in Pamphylia.

Encouraging

Later, when Paul wanted to revisit the cities of their previous journey, Barnabas wanted to take Mark along… I mean, he is the son of encouragement… he wanted to encourage Mark in the ministry. But Paul would have none of that.

They had a big knock-down, drag-out argument and parted ways.

Barnabas took Mark, and Paul took Silas, and the gospel was spread in different directions.

I’m not sure how you feel about this situation, but it’s always bothered me that Paul wouldn’t give Mark a second chance.  But then again, I don’t know how bad it was when Mark left the first time.  Did he leave them in a bind?

Is his leaving part of the reason Paul was stoned?

Did Paul blame him for leaving in the midst of the persecution?

Maybe Paul didn’t think Mark could be trusted.

But, isn’t that the way the Disciples felt about Paul early on?  And it was Barnabas who gave Paul a second and a third chance.

Isn’t it so easy to forget the grace we have received when it’s time to offer grace to someone else?

I think it was only natural that Barnabas did the same thing for Mark that he did for Paul.

Fast forward a decade, and I think Paul finally understood.  As Paul was sitting in prison in Ephesus, probably around 67 AD as he was being prepared for travel back to Rome where he would be executed, Paul wrote to his young protégé, Timothy:

2 Timothy 4:11

Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.

You see, even Paul knew that Barnabas was right.

Oh, and just so you know, John Mark is the same Mark who wrote the Gospel of Mark, the First Gospel written.

And that, my friends, is the story of Joseph, the Apostle that we know as Barnabas.  A generous and courageous encourager of the church and the early leaders of the church, who was responsible for guiding, mentoring, and discipling the authors of more than two-thirds of the New Testament.

3 Things

So, what do we learn from Barnabas?

Give… give what you can to make a difference in the lives of others.  Maybe you can’t sell your land and lay the proceeds at the Disciples' feet, but you can support the work of the church through your financial gifts… and don’t do it in a way that makes yourself look good, do it as one who seeks only to reach the world for Christ.

Be courageous.  It takes courage to stand up for those whom others may not trust. It takes courage to give someone a 2nd or a 3rdchance… but don’t overlook the fact that God has given you many more chances.

Be an encourager.  In a world of people looking for ways to tear others down, be one who builds others up.

All this can only be done through the redemptive work of Christ in us and the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through us…

I guess all that is left to be said is, go and do likewise.  Allow God to work within you in such a way that you, too, are generous, courageous, and encouraging.