Barnabas

Barnabas

Introduction: A person that made a difference in my life. Maybe Hanci.

Of all the great leaders in the New Testament church, I believe that Barnabas stands the tallest, next to Jesus of course. Jesus was the greatest leader, mentor, and encourager of the New Testament church. But beside Jesus, Barnabas was a leader that we could learn a whole lot from.

I believe that if it would not have been for the leadership and mentorship of Barnabas, we may not have the gospel of Mark or the letters of Paul. In another words, our New Testament would be two thirds smaller. But praise God for the ministry of Barnabas.

To begin our story of Barnabas, let’s go to Acts chapter 9. begins with the conversion of Paul, whose Hebrew name was Saul. If you remember, Saul, or Paul was on his way to Damascus in order to persecute the followers of Jesus.

Jesus appeared to Paul and knocked him off his horse, if he was riding on one. Jesus asked Paul why he is persecuting him, and Paul remained blinded by the encounter. Paul, fully blind, was led into Damascus and had time to think about his actions during his time of darkness.

While Paul is thinking and praying, Jesus now appears in a vision to one of his followers named Ananias. And Jesus tells Ananias to go and visit and pray for and with Paul. Now Ananias feels like Jesus doesn’t know Paul and tries to explain to Jesus why it is a bad idea to go visit Paul. Have you every argued with Jesus? Maybe, like Ananias you felt like you had to explain the situation to Jesus, because maybe you know better than he does?

Let’s read a little of this conversation in . Note, Jesus’ answer to Ananias’ excuse. Jesus tells Ananias that Paul has been chosen, chosen to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. Do you know that God has not only chosen Paul, but God has chosen you and me to carry the gospel to others not only through our words, but also through our action. But God has not only chosen you and me, God has chosen every child, young person to serve Him.

The reason I bring this up is because if we would recognize the call of Christ in our lives and the call of Christ in each other, perhaps we would encourage one another more often. Notice what happens to Paul.

Ananias prays for Paul, he was healed of his blindness and started learning more about Jesus and sharing Jesus with those in Damascus. Paul then leaves to Arabia for 3 years and comes back to Damascus and this time instead of coming to persecute, he is coming to share Jesus and the persecutor becomes the persecuted. Read .

So Paul has to leave Damascus because they want to kill him. And he ends up going to Jerusalem. When he arrives to Jerusalem, he wants to visit with the church members and church leaders. He looks up Peter, James, and John on Facebook and asks for their friendship but none of them accept his friend request. In fact, Jerusalem is a small city and when they see him walking down cereal aisle of Kroger, they decided to go to the dairy section, just to avoid Paul.

Notice how Luke tells us here in how the church leaders were doing everything they could to avoid Paul. Read 9:26. Now this is pretty sad friends that a young man who accepted Jesus three years earlier is avoided by the church that he tried to join. It is truly sad when church members try to exclude some, avoid some, because of one reason or another. And this could have been the end of Paul right here. Totally rejected, Paul could’ve gone home to Tarsus and continue being a tent maker and we would never have heard of Paul ever again.

But I am thankful for verse 27, read verse 27. So thankful that Barnabas had the courage and the initiative to grab Paul and bring him to the church and share how God has chosen Paul, how God has gifted Paul in order to spread the gospel message. And my friends, instead of pushing people away, we ought to be inclusive and bringing people in so that we may all share the gospel together. You know, Barnabas didn’t have to do what he did. He could’ve just minded his own business and say, it’s not my problem, sounds like a personal problem to me. But Barnabas noticed the injustice. Barnabas noticed Paul being excluded and avoided and Barnabas saw the potential in Paul. Barnabas saw that Paul’s youthful energy was greatly needed, therefore Barnabas had the courage to make a difference and bring Paul into the Jerusalem Christian fellowship.

Well, after Barnabas brings Paul to the disciples in Jerusalem, Paul does go back home to Tarsus and six years goes by until we pick up the story again in . So the church is growing in Antioch and Barnabas is sent to see how mightily the Holy Spirit is working in the church and the community of Antioch. But notice the personality of Barnabas. It says in verse 23 that Barnabas came, saw, and was glad and encouraged them. Barnabas was joyful and an encourager. I’m sure he could’ve come and find mistakes with the music, the carpet, and the sermon. But instead of picking on the negative, instead of coming with a sour face, Barnabas was joyful and encouraging.

As a chaplain, I had this amazing boss where most mornings he would greet me with the question. How is your courage? Not only that he asked the question but the way he asked the question showed that he cared and that he wanted to start the day by encouraging us.

All too often as Christians we tend to be critical and look like we’ve been sucking on lemons all day. But if you want to be inclusive and a great mentor to others, be joyful, build on the positive, and be an encourager.

Also, note in verse 24, that Barnabas was a good man, just a good and kind hearted person. And he was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. In another words, Barnabas was a man of prayer and of the Word. Spending time in prayer, immersing in God’s Word, and then becoming an encourager to those around you, leads you to be a modern day Barnabas. And we need lots of Barnabas’ today.

Now, notice what Barnabas does next, after he encourages the leaders and believers in Antioch. Read , .

Again, Barnabas recognizes a need in the church. Barnabas notices that we need help and why not involve our young adults to help us. Instead of Barnabas helping to fill the need in Antioch, he goes to get Paul to come and help him. Wouldn’t be wonderful that we would all find a young person to mentor? Recognizing that the need is great and not try to do it all by ourselves, but to find a young person that is not involved and invite them to help us with sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.

So I can imagine Barnabas arriving to Tarsus, knocking on Paul’s door. Paul opens the door and says, “Hi Barnabas, I haven’t seen you in years, in fact in six years, and you haven’t changed one bit, how are you doing?” and Barnabas, joyfully, but hurriedly says, “Hi Paul, we don’t have much time for chit-chat, you are needed in Antioch, pack quickly and come with me back to Antioch.”

And so Paul and Barnabas head back to Antioch to serve the Lord. We pick up the story in , . So the Holy Spirit sent Barnabas and Saul to go on a missionary journey. Now when you read names in the Bible, if there are multiple names written together, they are often written in order of importance. So you find Barnabas’ name first and Paul second. That tells us that Barnabas is the mentor, the leader and Paul is the mentee, the learner. But notice what happens on this missionary journey, read , , . Did you notice the progression here? We start with Barnabas and Paul and then we find that later on it is Paul and Barnabas.

The journey started with Barnabas leading the way, and telling Paul, come with me and learn. But then Barnabas tells Paul, now that you have learned to lead, let me watch you lead, and then he tells Paul, Paul you take the lead and I will take the backseat. A progression of a leader creating a leader.

We are to mentor and invite mentees to learn, but than we are to entrust leadership to those we teach and step out of the way and let them lead. Now Barnabas is always looking for a young person to include and involve in ministry. So notice what happens at the end of their missionary journey. Read .

Apparently Barnabas invited John Mark to join them partway into the journey. But John Mark was not used to sleeping on the ground, he was not used to the long travels and the tough challenges of ministry. He liked the easy way of dong things.

Now for Paul, one strike and your out! But not Barnabas, he was not ready to give up on Mark yet. Three things amaze me in this story.

One, the fact that Paul who was so quick to give up on Mark, when Barnabas was so kind to stand up for him. Paul knew from experience what it meant to be excluded and now he was ready to exclude Mark. Don’t be like Paul in this case. Just because someone makes a mistake, don’t give up on them. Don’t send them away, don’t exclude.

Be more like Barnabas, and that’s the second thing that amazes me. Barnabas was willing to stand up for Mark even if it meant that he had to separate from Paul. Barnabas easily could’ve just given in to Paul and say, ok, whatever, let’s just give up on Mark. But no, Barnabas was willing to stand up for young Mark. We need to stand with and for each other.

And the third thing that amazes me is that even though Barnabas and Paul had such a strong disagreement that they separated from each other, I haven’t read anywhere in Paul’s writings where he bad mouths Barnabas. I mean have you read Paul write something negative about Barnabas? Like I’m so glad Barnabas is gone, I’m tired of traveling with that old man. He snores at night and always wants to include others in our business. No, Paul does not write anything bad about Barnabas.

You know we may disagree, we may disagree politically, disagree theologically, disagree in church, but we don’t have to talk bad about each other. We don’t have to put each other down. In fact, we could still continue to serve the Lord. Just as Barnabas went with Mark, and Paul took Silas, there is plenty of room for all of us in the Lord’s vineyard. And the good news with this sharp disagreement is that instead of one team sharing the gospel, now you have two groups serving the Lord. God has turned this argument into a blessing, which tells me that God can turn our messes into His message.

Well, yet again, Barnabas was right and Paul was wrong. John Mark became a great leader in the church and Paul was willing to recognize his mistake. For in the last letter that Paul wrote before he was martyred, he spoke of John Mark. Turn with me to .

Paul writes to Timothy, to come quickly and bring Mark with you. Mark is a blessing in ministry. Aren’t you glad that Barnabas did not give up on Mark? Let’s not give up on each other even if mistakes are made, but let’s me more like Barnabas.

Now notice the lesson Paul learned from Barnabas that he passes on to Timothy in , . What Paul says here is the things he has learned from Barnabas, he has passed on to Timothy and now he invites Timothy to pass it on to someone else.

None of us would be here today if there would not have been a Barnabas in our lives to encourage us and mentor us. But now, we are invited to have a Timothy in our lives to mentor, a Mark in our lives that we don’t give up on but mentor and pray for.

His name was Zoltan Borbath, a Romanian in his early 70s, in Atlanta, Georgia who decided to mentor a young man in his teens. He would invite this young man to play tennis with him. They not only played tennis together, but Zoltan would encourage him, pour God’s Word into the life of this young man and tell him things like, “God loves you immensely,” “God has chosen you.” “God has great plans for your life.” And because of the friendship and encouragement of Zoltan, this young man grew up to become a pastor today, serving the Lord.

Friends, let us learn from Barnabas to be cheerful, kind, loving, and encouraging toward one another. Let us support each other and be inclusive. In fact, let us keep a look out for one another, pray for one another, and support each other that Christ may be uplifted in our church and through our service.

Let us pray.