Scripture Reading: Acts 11:19-30. Page 780

Now those who had been scattered by the persecution in connection with Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, telling the message only to Jews. 20 Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. 22 News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 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. 27 During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.”

Today we are observing World Hunger Day and preparing for our annual Thanksgiving Day service. We spend one hour in church on that day giving thanks for our blessings. Today we are mindful that not everyone is as blessed as we are. We want to do something about it. I am very proud of the ladies who have prepared some 500 warm hats to give to Afghan children to keep them warm this winter. We will split the almsgiving offering this morning between those within our own fellowship who need an extra blessing of food and those overseas who have needs.

Today’s Scripture gives us an example of the kind of people we need to be. We need to be like Barnabas. In verse 24, Luke tells us that Barnabas was three things. I suspect that having all three elements in his life, not just one, was what made him a particularly attractive person.

First, he was a good man. What we know about Barnabas was that he was very generous and alert to the needs of people around him. Right from the start of his Christian faith, he had this attitude. Where did he get this attitude?

Barnabas was a Levite.[1] From that training he understood that the righteous life is expressed in concern for other people. Upon becoming a Christian, he carried those values with him into the Church. In fact, the first thing we learn about Barnabas had to do with his generous acts in helping the poor in Jerusalem.

There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he 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.[2]

In the Levitical system, you served from age 25 to 50. The Levites lived in 48 Israeli cities. The fact that he was from Cyprus suggests possibly two things. First, he may well have been somewhat successful to be able to live in Cyprus as well as in one of the 48 Levitical cities of Israel. Second, he might not have been the most spiritual person prior to finding Christ since he was off living in Cyprus rather than in Israel. When he did get saved, he was in Jerusalem, and he sold a piece of property that he owned somewhere, although not necessarily a piece in Cyprus.

In today’s text, in verse 30, the assignment to carry the almsgiving gift to Jerusalem was given to Barnabas. No doubt he was chosen because of the kind deeds that he had already done. If he was willing to sell his own property and give the money to the poor, he could probably be trusted to handle their money as well. I personally believe it is a spiritual principle that a person must first give their own money before they could possibly be responsible for someone else’s. That is why we only nominate people for Deacon who are tithers.

There is a second clue to me that Barnabas was a good man. We find that in Acts 9:26-27. Arch-persecuter Saul had just been converted on the road to Damascus. Everyone remembered him as he was. So “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. 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.”[3] Two things about that story reveal something about Barnabas. First, because he had built a good reputation by his good deeds, he was trusted when he spoke. Second, the fact that he could believe that the evil man Saul had become good probably came from the fact that he was good. The principle of that is that we tend to see in others what we are ourselves. If we are kind, we tend to think others are kind. If we are mean, we think the world is mean. There is a classic story along those lines. A newcomer to Seattle asked a co-worker, what are the people like in Seattle? He answered, what were the people like where you came from? “They were kind of mean and unfriendly,” the newcomer answered. That’s pretty much what they are like here too.

I think you actually see a third example of this in verse 23 as well. When Barnabas arrived at Antioch he looked at those new converts and “saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.” This particular Antioch was a huge city, maybe third or fourth largest in the entire empire, and the most important of some 19 other cities by the same name. It was rich, and notable with all the problems that big cities have. I can guarantee you that those people were not free of problems. New converts never are. We might add that humans never are. Barnabas didn’t note all the warts and failures. He didn’t dwell on what remained to be done. He took note of what had been done. He saw God’s grace at work and he commented on it. He caught people doing things right. (He wasn’t oblivious to the other, because he also immediately sent for Paul to come and start preaching, but his attitude was mainly positive.)

A fourth insight into the general goodness of Barnabas has to do with the disagreement regarding John Mark. John Mark had dropped out of the first missionary trip. Now he wanted to rejoin for the second one. Paul said no. Once you fail, you are not worthy for the next round. Barnabas and Paul actually got into it a little bit over this. In the end, Barnabas left Paul and took John Mark back to Cyprus with him. Probably at Cyprus John Mark had decided to abandon the group. As soon as they got back to the continent, John Mark left them. Since Mark’s family was fairly wealthy,[4] and his mother is the only one mentioned, he may have been a little bit of a “Mama’s boy” when he started. Very likely, Barnabas said to John Mark, “What do you say we go back and try this thing again?” He took him back to the place of his failure and helped him to get it right. He didn’t let John Mark’s failure keep him marked as a failure. It must have worked because Mark became the first writer of the Gospels, and a substantial missionary in his own right.

Can we take a lesson from that as far as raising kids is concerned? Can we learn about marriage from that idea? Can we understand Thanksgiving from that? I think so. I think what you see says a lot about who you are. Maybe it says more about you than about the people that you observe. If you become a good person, you will notice at lot more good people around you. Even when they fail, you will still see the good possibilities in their lives.

Second, he was full of the Holy Spirit. This means he was not just a do-gooder. This was a godly man. God filled his life. Because God filled his life, he acted. I believe the best of all worlds is to be both good and godly. When we do our kind acts, they should be done in the name of the Lord. I am not here to criticize the helping organizations like the Red Cross, and these other charitable organizations. On the other hand, there is no emphasis upon the cross in Red Cross. I think it probably started that way, but over time they have just become humanitarian organizations. I like working through the Church because of its connection to godliness. For the same reason, if government services were delivered through the Church, as they do in some other countries, it would provide a double benefit. The work would get done, but the faith would also be strengthened as well.

Third, he was full of faith. I think it is ok to separate the last two, even though they are kind of linked together. When Luke told us about Stephen the first martyr, he used those same two expressions to describe him.

Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4 and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." 5 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.[5]

In this case, his faith was expressed in several ways. Not least of those ways was his effort to recruit Paul to come and preach at Antioch. Barnabas didn’t think he was God’s answer to every problem they had. He went and got Paul because he knew Paul was a good teacher and would be of great help in Antioch. He knew that if he got Paul there, good things would happen. The vision of Barnabas was bigger than himself.

These three qualities of Barnabas: that he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, resulted in a great number of people coming to the Lord.

[1] Levites were descendents of Levi who assisted the Priests in the Tabernacle/Temple. In particular, they took care of the Temple doing menial duties and assisting the descendent of Aaron who functioned as priests. Today we might call them assistant priests.

[4] I infer this from Acts 12:12 where a large number of people had gathered at the home of his Mother, Mary. That it was large, and that Mary had the influence to gather a crowd, suggests to me that they were wealthy.