Men of the New Testament: "Barnabas" by Barrett Hammer - Part 3

So, for those of you who don't attend here or are visiting with us, throughout the summer

we'll have different men that will teach each Wednesday night.

So, our first class was John the Baptist, and then I think last week Dale did Apollos,

I think.

So, we're going to be talking about Barnabas tonight.

I'm sure most of you know who Barnabas is, or you've heard the story of Barnabas.

Barnabas, we know as the son of encouragement.

But I want to start off class tonight with a question, and that is, who is someone that

has encouraged you at a crucial moment in your life?

It could be something to do with religion, it could be something to do with your work,

whatever.

But who is someone that has encouraged you?

I know for me it's probably several people that are sitting here in this room.

But who has encouraged you at some point in your life?

Dave?

Yeah, Miller?

You know, early in my Christian walk, there was a young preacher here in Chicago at the

time, and he was young and I was young, you can tell how long ago that was.

But I remember he called me one night and said, Miller, I've got to go out and visit

John here.

I said, I want you to ride with me, we're going to visit.

I said, yeah?

Yeah.

He said, how are you doing?

I said, he's a graduate.

And so he started this process of mentoring me.

And it really changed a lot about my Christian walk.

Yeah, I think we all could point out someone in our lives that's had a big impact on us

or has been an encouragement.

You know, and when we think about maybe biblical heroes or whatever you want to call them,

we really don't think about Barnabas.

We think about people maybe like David or Moses or Paul even, which we'll talk about

him just a little bit as we go in our lesson a little deeper here tonight.

But some of the most important people, I think, in Scripture can be those who quietly encouraged

or supported others or lifted others up, not just the standout people of the Bible.

So Barnabas is one of these people.

Barnabas, without him, Paul may have never been accepted by the church.

The church at Antioch might not have grown the way that it did.

So there's lots of things that happen because of Barnabas.

So Barnabas teaches us, though, that encouragement can change lives, but also, I think we'll

see as we go along in our lesson, that he also helped shape history.

So who was Barnabas?

Let's open our Bibles to Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

Most of our Scripture is going to come from the book of Acts.

Acts chapter 4, verse 32.

Acts 4:32

And that says,

Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul.

Neither did anyone say that any of these things he possessed was his own, but they had all

things in common.

And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.

And great grace was upon them all.

Nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of land or houses

sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the

apostles' feet, and they distributed each as anyone had need.

And Joseph, which if you're, this is the New King James, but NIV and some other translations

would say Joseph, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of

encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it and brought the

money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

So his real name was Joseph, and it says he was a Levite from Cyprus.

They called him Barnabas.

That was basically, I would call that a nickname, which means son of encouragement.

But while we're talking about encouragement, what exactly does encouragement mean?

In your own words, what's the definition of encouragement?

Motivating someone to do better.

Okay.

Anybody else?

Bill?

It builds you up.

Builds you up.

Yeah.

So I've got the act of giving hope, confidence, or support to someone, making them more likely

to achieve a goal.

And as I was preparing for the lesson, I brought out this book that had the Barnabas Factor

by Aubrey Johnson, and he called the Barnabas Factor, he says Barnabas Factor is the recognizing

the importance of encouragement in human development and utilizing its power to advance

spiritual aims, inspiring others to live with greater hope, confidence, and determination.

So I think the apostles saw encouragement as such a defining characteristic of his life

that that Barnabas name became his identity.

We know people in our everyday lives that are called something and they're recognized

by another name because of the characteristic traits that they portray.

I mean, me and the kids have been watching the NBA Finals, and one of the guys, Victor

Wimignana, plays for the Spurs, he's probably got two or three nicknames, but the one stands

out to me is some people call him the alien because he's so not human-like in how he plays

basketball.

But we could name many people throughout, Deion Sanders, the famous running back, Prime

Time was his nickname, and so we could go on and on, but Barnabas, I feel like, would

have received this name because of what they thought of him.

So he was known as the encourager.

He was generous, he sold a field, gave the money to support the church, the believers,

he showed compassion, he trusted in God, he had to sacrifice in order to give that up,

and that showed a commitment, I think, as well.

Was he seeking any recognition for that?

Do we see that anywhere in what we've read so far?

I don't think he was seeking any recognition, he just simply wanted to help.

So lesson number one here is going to be encouragement in itself could be a very powerful

ministry.

Many people think that ministry just happens up here in the pulpit, or Hiram and Neil are

the only ones that can, you know, the people in the spotlight, I guess, if you will.

But being a good Christian leader, most of that happens behind the scenes, and I think

we see that with Barnabas.

So Barnabas reminds us that encouraging people and supporting others, giving generously,

and helping believers is a ministry in itself.

So some people, most people, are not going to preach publicly, but we all can change

lives through encouragement.

1 Thessalonians 5.11 says, therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just

as in fact you are doing.

So why do you think encouragement then is so important to the church, or can be so important

to the church here today?

Why is it a very important thing that has to happen or go on?

We're getting hit by all directions and can be discouraged, so we need that encouragement.

Why else would encouragement be important to the church today?

It does.

It brings comfort in someone's life.

You know, we...

Go ahead, Matt.

It helps you keep on going.

Yeah, sometimes we get down and we need that encouragement to lift back up or lift others

up.

Joey?

Sometimes we have doubts in ourselves that even if we do things, sometimes still doubts

that we did well or that we would have done better if we made that money.

That's right.

Encouragement.

Helps with that.

Yeah.

When I leave here tonight, I'm probably going to have doubts.

Did I mess that all up or did I say something that was misspoke or whatever?

But yeah, we all have doubts, so encouragement is huge.

We just left camp last week, and for those that have been to camp, or for those that

haven't been to camp, we have mailboxes that are basically just big, giant envelopes that

have everyone's name on there, and throughout the week, the kids, the staff, they all write

down things on those note cards and they put them in, you know, different kids' mailboxes.

They may put them in the staff mailboxes, and those cards are basically little notes

of encouragement.

And since my oldest kid's been going to camp, to even Corbin and Kara, when we get home

from camp, as soon as we get home, we've got all those envelopes right there, and that's

one of the first things they do is go through, including myself, I get, I look at my own

envelope and see who's wrote, you know, cards of encouragement.

That's one of the things they do, and they keep all those.

They probably still have them from years and years to where they can look back and

see some good words that were, good words of encouragement that other kids or the staff

that had written.

And another thing that gives me encouragement is, just like Grant led us in Devo here, I

was looking through the directory before we came, and I mean, it's like 60 different men

that would get up here and lead a Devo on Wednesday night, and I think that's huge,

because I think not only does it give them encouragement, but it gives me, everyone else

encouragement as well.

And Brady, I'm going to pick on you, are you in here?

Is Brady in here?

There you are.

So, Brady did our Devo on Wednesday night at camp, and I told him I was going to rob

one of his lines, and I think this is actually Peyton Manning, he might have said it, I'm

not real sure, but it said, treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is, and treat

a man as he could be, and he will become what he should be, and I think encouragement can

do that.

We can look at people and see what their potential is, and encourage them in order to, and support

them in order to reach that potential.

Let's see, Barnabas believed in people others rejected.

That's going to be the next thing we talk about.

So let's look at Acts chapter 9.

Acts 9 · chapter mention

Acts chapter 9, let's start out, we'll start out in verse 23 here, Acts 9, 23, now after

Acts 9 · chapter mention

many days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul.

And they watched the gates day and night to kill him.

Then the disciples took him by night and led him down through the wall in a large basket.

And when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid

of him.

They did not believe that he was a disciple.

But Barnabas took him, brought him to the apostles, and he declared to them how he had

seen the Lord on the road, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly

at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

So he was with them at Jerusalem, coming in and going out, and he spoke boldly in the

name of the Lord Jesus and disputed against the Hellenists, but they attempted to kill

him.

When the brethren found out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus.

Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified.

And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were

multiplied.

So, what had Saul been doing kind of up until this point?

Yeah, he was doing things that weren't so good.

Arresting believers, he approved of Stephen's execution.

So he had created this fear among people.

And then he encounters Jesus, he becomes a believer, but then there's a problem.

The people didn't trust him at that point.

You know, and imagine how they felt.

They might have thought, well, can he really change, or is this some kind of trap, or is

he pretending?

So it says that they were afraid of Saul.

But then Barnabas steps in, and Barnabas kind of becomes this bridge between Saul and the

church.

And Barnabas, obviously, he listened to Saul, he believed him, and he defended him.

And then he introduced him to the others.

So he was giving him a chance.

And I think this is a pivotal moment, really, that changed history.

Without Barnabas, Paul's ministry might have been delayed.

Maybe possibly never accepted.

I realize God's working in all this, and it's part of God's plan.

But think about what this bridge was between Saul and the people.

So lesson number two, godly people look beyond someone's past.

So Barnabas saw not just who Saul had been, but he saw who God was making him become.

So encouragers are always helping people move toward God's future for their lives.

Some people are trapped.

They're trapped in failures, past mistakes, addiction, broken relationships, those kind

of things.

Things that we see that Saul did.

But we see that Barnabas teaches us not to define those people only by their worst moments.

Why do churches today, or why do we as people, struggle to accept those that have truly changed

or have repented?

But why is it a struggle for us sometimes still?

Yeah, or maybe we think we're better than someone else, or that's not happened to us.

So there's all kinds of things.

But what else would be some struggles that we have and why we don't accept changed people?

Maybe we perceive that it's not genuine.

That's right.

So are we people, are there people today that we tend to write off too quickly?

I know I do sometimes and don't realize it, but there are people that we tend to not encourage

or shy away from because of their past or their past struggles.

I think we as a church are jaded by the world.

Folks in the world may say something, change in their ways or whatever, and they've heard

But when it happens in the church and people change, maybe it's because we're jaded and we're thinking

about the worldly folks maybe in our subconscious and maybe that's the reason.

Thinking about the worldly folks and not the, yeah.

And we need to realize that these are fellow followers of Christ.

If they've changed, let's accept it and forget the past.

And a key into all the encouragement, which may go unsaid, is you've got to love people.

You do.

You've got to have a genuine interest in folks.

Yeah, we talked about the fruits of the spirit during camp and love was our last lesson

and love kind of encompasses all the other fruits really.

So yeah, love is huge and that's a big part of it.

So, alright, moving on.

Barnabas encouraged spiritual growth.

Our next reading is going to come from Acts 11, if you'll turn there with me.

Acts 11, verse 19.

Acts 11:19

Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as

Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only.

But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they had come to Antioch,

spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus.

And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

Then the news of these things came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem,

and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch.

When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all

that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.

For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith,

and a great many people were added to the Lord.

Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul,

and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.

So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church,

and they taught a great many people,

and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

So the growing church basically formed here,

and when the Jerusalem church heard about it, what did they do?

They sent Barnabas.

But why did they send Barnabas?

Why would they send him?

The church needed some encouragement, and they needed a spark.

I think they obviously thought he was probably trustworthy,

he was mature, and he was encouraging.

So in Acts 11.23 it says,

When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad.

He encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.

He didn't criticize, he didn't become jealous,

he didn't tear people down,

but he was encouraging believers, strengthening the church.

Then we see in Acts 11.25 it says,

He went to Tarsus, he went to find Saul.

Barnabas obviously recognized that Paul had gifts,

and he wanted to invite him into teaching others.

So for a whole year, Barnabas and Paul taught together.

The church grew, and the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

So lesson number three is,

Great leaders develop other leaders.

So Barnabas was humble enough to share the gospel to others,

empower others, help others succeed.

Weak leaders feel threatened by gifted people like Paul.

But strong leaders develop gifted people.

Barnabas did not need to be the center of attention.

Later on, we'll see what happens.

It goes from Barnabas to Saul to what?

Paul to Barnabas.

Barnabas kind of rises to the top.

I'm sorry, Paul kind of rises to the top.

So Paul becomes more prominent, more well-known.

But Barnabas, he remained faithful.

And I read this in a book the other day while I was preparing it.

It said, some of you may have heard this,

but it said that one day a reporter approached Leonard Bernstein,

the composer and conductor of the New York Philharmonic,

and asked, what's the hardest instrument to play?

And he replied, second fiddle.

First violin gets all the attention and all the solos,

while second and third violins provide harmony.

Still, their parts are exceedingly important.

It's a challenge to come to every practice,

put in just as much emotion and effort into their parts

as first violins do.

And that's hard for us sometimes to, you know,

we're putting in just as much effort to not be the one

that is maybe getting all the attention, that kind of thing.

But that didn't bother Barnabas at all.

We see this in sports all the time.

Who wins the most football games most of the time?

Which player?

Well, the kicker usually wins.

The kicker is the one who, you know, sometimes scores the winning point.

But who gets the MVP?

The quarterback does.

You know, he's the one that's out front.

Go ahead.

The verse 24 explains all that you need to know about Barnabas.

For he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and faith.

That's why he did what he did.

That's why he had the effect that he had.

Yeah, and then the next thing it said,

a great many people were added to the Lord because of that.

So that's great.

So let's always ask ourselves, are we helping others grow spiritually?

Are we mentoring younger believers?

Or are we threatened by people who may have more talents

or we perceive as more gifted than others?

Or let's ask ourselves, do we celebrate others' successes?

We see some humility here.

So why is humility essential in being a Christian

or being a good Christian leader?

Was Jesus humble?

Absolutely.

Why else would humility be essential to what we do as Christians?

Bill?

Bill?

It takes yourself out of the way.

Yeah, part of being an encourager is putting others before yourself.

So how can we then encourage spiritual growth in others?

How do we do that?

What are some things we can do?

So modeling Christ's example, that's right.

Anybody else?

So empower other people.

All right, Barnabas was also willing to take risk for God.

Let's look at Acts 13.

Acts 13, verse 1 through 5.

Acts 13:1–5

Now in the church that was at Antioch,

there were certain prophets and teachers,

Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger,

Lucius of Cyrene, Manan,

who had been brought up with Herod the Tetrarch,

and Saul, as they ministered to the Lord and fasted,

the Holy Spirit said,

Now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

Then having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them,

they sent them away.

So being sent out by the Holy Spirit,

they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

And when they arrived in Salamis,

they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.

They also had John as their assistant.

So they're sent out to do this work.

But what does it say that they did, that the church did here?

Be in verse 3.

What's something that's important that stands out there to you?

They prayed.

Prayed, they fasted, and then they sent them out.

So Barnabas was willingly left,

what I would call something more comfortable, more stable,

but he left in order to go spread the gospel.

There are other people that we learn about, read about in the Bible

who have also taken risk.

A lot of people have taken risk for God.

Paul later on obviously took risk and it got him.

Where did it get him?

He was put in prison.

You've got Queen Esther who approached the king Xerxes

in order to try to save the people,

which coming to him uninvited probably wasn't the right thing to do.

But she did that and he ended up setting them free.

So there are people all throughout the Bible who take risk,

and they take those risks for God.

And we see that Barnabas was doing this as well.

Because on missionary, when you're out doing missionary,

you're on the missionary journeys and you're preaching and doing all that,

what are they running into when they're going to these places?

Are they running into any opposition?

Absolutely.

Are they running into any rejection?

And how does that feel when we have opposition and rejection?

It takes us out of our comfort zone.

It doesn't feel very good.

And so he's still willing to do this and take the risk of that.

So Barnabas, he continued faithfully.

So lesson number four, encouragers also need courage.

Sometimes people think encouraging personalities are weak,

but Barnabas proves otherwise.

Encouragement requires courage

because standing with rejected people takes courage.

Imagine standing up for someone or defending someone like he was defending Saul.

Imagine us doing that today.

It takes some courage.

Supporting others takes sacrifice.

It takes something away from ourselves.

Barnabas showed both compassion and also he was very courageous.

So we as believers also should be sharing our faith boldly

and helping people who are hurting.

But that puts us in some uncomfortable situations sometimes.

But we still should try to step out of our comfort zones whenever we encounter that.

What fears, though, keep Christians from serving boldly like Barnabas did?

What kind of fears do we have today?

Fear of rejection.

What else?

What's that?

Too little knowledge.

Okay.

Maybe our friends won't talk to us anymore

or maybe my co-worker don't like to sit next to me anymore

because of what I've said or tried to say.

But all kinds of different things come into play.

All right, we've got about ten minutes,

so I'm going to move on so I can try to get through the material.

Barnabas believed in second chances.

Let's look at Acts 15.

Acts 15, verse 36-41.

Acts 15:36–41

Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas,

let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city

where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they're doing.

Now Barnabas was determined to take with him John, called Mark.

But Paul insisted that they should not take with them

the one who had departed from them in Pamphylia

and had not gone with them to the work.

Then the contention became so sharp that they departed from one another.

And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus.

But Paul chose Silas and departed,

being commended by the brethren to the grace of God.

And he went through Syria and Cilicia strengthening the churches.

So what's happened now with Paul and Barnabas?

They've had a little spat, right?

Mark had previously left them earlier on,

and Paul, he obviously didn't like that.

He viewed that as maybe unreliable.

That was what he was thinking.

But Barnabas wanted to give Mark another chance.

So they separated.

The Bible doesn't say that Barnabas is perfect.

We're not perfect.

We all have disagreements.

We have disagreements with family members, our friends,

people we go to church with.

But he continued encouraging and restoring people.

Still carried out.

That's right.

And we'll talk about that here in just a little bit.

So later on, Mark eventually matured.

And Paul mentions this in 2 Timothy 4, verse 11.

2 Timothy 4:11

He says,

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

So now he's helpful in Paul's ministry.

So Barnabas saw this potential in Mark before others did.

And I think it's real important.

Could be a blessing.

Yeah.

You're able to.

That's right.

Yeah, that's right.

That's a good one.

God can turn division into multiplication.

Okay.

We've got about six minutes here.

So lesson number five is godly people help restore failures.

Barnabas understood failure does not have to be final.

Everyone needs grace.

Lots of people failed.

Peter failed.

David failed.

Moses failed.

We failed.

But God can still use them.

He can still use us.

So giving second chances doesn't mean ignoring accountability.

Why are second chances important, do you think, for us today?

We all need them.

Yeah.

Why else are second chances important?

Yeah.

Yeah, that's right.

And, you know, what happens when people are never allowed to recover from their failures

or from what happens to them?

What happens then?

The outcome's not near as good.

We're not allowed to recover from failures.

But when someone's always bringing that up or putting you down

or looking at your past, it's very hard.

So you need that encouragement to be uplifted.

Some of our greatest victories come from our failures.

Not a huge history buff, but, you know, sure it's nice and light in here.

I think there were several failures before.

Before the lights, yeah, light bulb.

But we all learn from our mistakes.

Yeah.

We learn how not to make mistakes, not to make the same mistake,

and how not to make that mistake as a form of encouragement.

I think that's where the humility comes in, that none of us have the right.

Right.

Yeah, Joe?

I was going to say with, like, the prodigal son,

if you think about, like, his attitude before he left

and then he gets a second chance to come back to live,

how different is he than he was to start with,

so he can give himself a problem.

That's right.

That's right, yeah, exactly.

Be careful not to read more than the Scripture says.

The Scripture never says left.

It doesn't.

And we turn around and we know why he left.

We don't know the reason.

It's a judgment on our part to turn around and to do.

You have to remember Barnabas, who was a good enough in Mark,

Mark who was a good enough,

Barnabas was willing to take Mark with him.

You never can do to Mark what he does.

He doesn't.

It just says that he left, yeah.

And not put more in the Scriptures than what the Scripture says.

Yeah, it just says that he left,

but we also see that people like Barnabas,

we can have arguments, we can have something that happens

that causes us to disagree, but then good come from that.

We see that here pretty.

Bill?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, and we don't know why Mark left.

Maybe he got tired, maybe he got scared,

maybe who knows what.

But yeah, I agree with you.

We shouldn't read into it,

but there's still lessons that we can learn from what we have here.

Yeah.

Yeah, we could go on and on about people.

I mean, most of the people did have failures

that we even consider what I would call biblical heroes.

I mean, we shouldn't be surprised by it.

That's right, yeah.

So, just real quickly, the bell's getting ready to ring.

Just some major lessons we can learn from Barnabas

is that encouragement changes lives.

Small acts of encouragement can have enormous impact.

That can be a conversation, a prayer, just a kind word,

just a word of confidence.

But Barnabas changed lives by strengthening others.

Also, see potential in people.

He saw what people could become

instead of focusing on someone's past like Saul's past.

Number three, invest in others.

He developed leaders,

and we also should help others grow as Christians.

And then number four, and I'll let you go,

generosity reflects God's heart.

Barnabas, we see, used his resources to bless others,

and that's all I've got.

So thank you guys for your attention.

Great class, thanks.