Barnabas

Well, good afternoon again, brethren. That's always good to hear everyone sing. I think even in a smaller room, we'll be able to hear ourselves even better. We won't get quite as lost and drowned out by the drapes and everything, so I'm pretty sure that we're going to be able to fit this type of a hall, this new building very nicely. So please remember that next week. Again, if you come here, then you'll just have to head on toward the right direction, but hopefully we'll all remember next. I'll try to send out a reminder so that people are able to get headed in the right direction. So, whenever you think of the people that Jesus spoke to and worked with, you actually see several different groups of people. Of course, he was able to attract a crowd with an unbelievably amazing ability to heal the sick. And, of course, he was able to deal with the Pharisees and the Jewish officials because he was able to speak with authority. He was way ahead of them anyway. He knew more about the Word of God than they did, even though they didn't realize that. And there were twelve people that he particularly took a special interest in, and that he designated as disciples, but even beyond that, apostles.

So there were twelve that he worked with and molded. Of course, Judas later was no longer a part of that group. You also find that there were twelve, or at least as I understand it, there were twelve that Christ was dealing with and that he was going to a point to be sent out to do the work, to do the message, to preach the gospel.

But there were more people than that around them because a little later on, if you read the book of Luke chapter 10, you find there's a group of seventy. Now, I don't know who all made up that group, but at least that was a larger group. People who were familiar with Jesus, people who were following Him, people who were listening to what He had to say.

Apparently, people that He gave authority to go forth and do the job, at least in a temporary way right there.

And you later then find in the first part of the book of Acts, how many were there? Not twelve, not seventy, a hundred and twenty.

One hundred and twenty were meeting together there in Acts 1 and then Acts 2, I think it says 120 in Acts 1.

And so there were different groupings that Jesus dealt with, and of course the last one being even after His death, and after His resurrection, and after He appeared to the disciples.

And before the day of Pentecost, or toward the day of Pentecost, there was a little larger group.

So I want to discuss one of those 120. Maybe one of the seventy.

And I say maybe because I don't know that I can prove that, but I know He wasn't one of the original twelve.

He wasn't one of the original twelve. He might have been, at least one commentary I read, said He probably was one of the seventy, sent forth.

Sent out to do a mission that Christ had given Him to do.

But He wasn't one of the original twelve, but we actually find that He later was ordained an apostle.

Now, you can think of several different options, perhaps, that might fit that bill.

I can think of at least two or three or four that might fit the description that I've given so far.

But the person I want to focus on today is written about here in Acts chapter four.

And his name is Barnabas. Barnabas, an individual who was a disciple of Jesus, as I said, probably was one of the seventy sent out to do the work at a given point there in Luke ten.

And yet, what we find about Barnabas is, in many ways, extraordinary.

We find later, over in Acts thirteen, that he was ordained an apostle.

So, this is why he was significantly involved in the preaching of the Gospel and the doing of the work of God.

But see, what it is that I want to focus on is how it was, or why it was, that Barnabas was so effective.

How it is that that can be a benefit to us, and that how we can inculcate some of the same characteristics that he had.

Now, I have to... I need to be sure to say Barnabas every time I read this.

Because right before I left home, I was telling Pat what I was talking about, and he said, now you're talking about Barnabas.

And I said, no, but I couldn't get it out.

So, I told her, you scramble my brain right before I leave.

Now, so if I say Barnabas, I mean Barnabas. Because Barnabas is kind of a bad guy.

He's not too... I don't have much information to say about him.

But Barnabas, you do have a lot of good information about. Here in Acts 4, let's take a look at this.

Acts chapter 4, starting in verse 32, this was very early in the work of the church.

Very early in the very first converts who were brought into the church.

It says, the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of the possessions. Everything they held in common.

And with great power, the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

So, they were caring for one another. They were fooling things.

They were doing the work of God in a collective way.

They were nurturing and caring for one another.

Many of them sold property and gave it to the apostles. They used that in caring for everyone.

They also then were doing the work.

In verse 36, it's what I want to focus on, it says there was a Levite, a native of Cyprus.

His name was really Joseph, so I guess I could be talking about Joseph today.

Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas.

Because Barnabas means the son of encouragement, or it could be exhortation.

The son of encouragement, or even consolation, but I think encouragement is what probably most of our translations give as an explanation of this.

And what it says in verse 37 is that he sold a field that belonged to him, and he brought the money and he laid it at the apostles' feet.

Now, this was something that was commonly occurring at that time.

It was something that you read on in chapter 5, and an island of fire wanted to do, but they just couldn't quite do it.

They couldn't quite give the money, at least wholeheartedly. They couldn't do it.

They ended up paying a high price for that.

But what we see, of course you don't find much information here except that Barnabas was a Levite.

And so he had Jewish connections.

He was from Cyprus, and so he was not right there around Jerusalem all the time.

But he was from an island, afar, in the Mediterranean.

And so he had a little different perspective, perhaps.

And yet what we do find is just that the disciples called him something that probably exemplified what he was.

They called him the Son of Encouragement. They called him Barnabas.

Because he had an extraordinary gift.

He had a remarkable ability to reach out and to touch someone.

He had a remarkable ability to help others.

And he had, I would say, a gift.

And it may be a gift from the Holy Spirit to be able to be the type of encourager, the type of an exhorter, the type of a lifter up.

That would be how you would describe, how I would describe what it seems like Barnabas was able to do.

And so what we find in this couple of verses here is just simply that he was generous.

He was dedicated. He was truly committed to a calling that he perhaps was beginning to perceive.

All of the disciples had to start understanding their calling. They were called to follow me.

Follow Jesus Christ. And of course, the rest of them were also called to do that and to preach that as they preached the gospel, as they were sent out.

And I think it's interesting to see Barnabas turned out to be a true Christ-like servant in the New Testament Church.

We read about him being in Jerusalem. We read about him being in Antioch, which was a Gentile city and was a congregation of the Church.

And that's basically a Gentile Church.

You also see him traveling to numerous other locations that the Paul writes about a lot.

Paul, of course, is the author throughout much of, or not the author, but kind of the subject of much of what you find in the book of Acts and the author of many of the rest of the books you find in the New Testament. And so Barnabas was familiar with many of those congregations. He went with Paul to a lot of them.

And I'd like for us to look at 2 Corinthians 8 because I don't remember seeing this before, but I think it's kind of interesting. Again, one commentary that I read says this is talking about Barnabas. And I don't have, again, any way of proving that. And maybe some of you know better than I do as far as what this is talking about.

But I think it's interesting. One of them said that this might be describing Barnabas because it certainly describes what he did. It describes how he was. It describes the action that you can read about Barnabas when you read about him, mostly in chapter 11 and 12 and 13 and 14 and 15 of the book of Acts. That's the section if you read through there, you'll find almost all there is about Barnabas. And I'm going to read some of that today. But here in 2 Corinthians 8, it says, It says, Thanks be to God, in verse 16, who put in the heart of Titus, the same eagerness for you that I have myself. Paul is writing this, and he's writing this to the people there in Corinth, and he's saying that Titus has been a remarkable servant. He has been truly like I have, had great compassion, great concern for you. And he says, For he not only accepted our appeal, but since he is more eager than ever, he is going to you on his own accord. So this is talking about Titus and coming to the Corinthians and trying to help them and encouraging them. And yet in verse 18, it says, With him, we are sending the brother who is famous among all the churches for his proclaiming the good news. And not only that, he has been appointed by the churches to travel with us while we're administering this generous undertaking for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord himself, and to show our good will. So here you're talking about somebody, a brother, who is extraordinarily good in preaching the gospel, but also who's been sent back and forth as kind of a courier, someone who is deeply trusted. But actually, the description in verse 18 says, Someone who is famous among all the churches. And down in verse 22, it says, And with them we are sending our brother, whom we have often tested and found eager in many matters, but who is now more eager than ever because of his great confidence in you.

You know, I don't know exactly who that's talking about, but I thought it's interesting to see that that's kind of connected with Barnabas, because what Barnabas did was, in a sense, kind of courageously go around to many of the churches, courageously preach the gospel.

But he also was sent as a messenger, kind of back and forth, and as a courier, and apparently a trusted person, to bring, in a sense, reliability to the message that was being sent from one area to the next. And so, whether this is talking about him or not, it's interesting to see that description that Paul makes.

But most of all, I want to point out that Barnabas was a man of encouragement.

And so, I want to ask all of us, and we should each think, you know, are we?

Do we model the example that Barnabas set? Because each of us can take that upon ourselves. Each of us could be that type of servant. Each of us could be that kind of a person. And I encourage us all to be that kind of person toward one another.

Are you an encouraging person to be around?

Now, my wife would like for me to be an encouraging person. It doesn't always turn out that way.

I would like for her to be an encouraging person. Maybe it doesn't always turn out quite like I want.

And yet, beyond just our families, our church, our congregation.

Each of us can grow in this aspect of serving other people, because it really is an outward service of other people that we see about Barnabas.

In order to define what encouraging is, it's simply giving courage, giving support, boosting to someone else to carry on, even in duress, even under stress, even under pressure, to be encouraging to others.

Someone who's willing to stand beside others and lift them up.

That's what we're going to find as we look at what Barnabas did.

First of all, the first thing we've already read here in Acts 4.

See, he gave his offering. He gave the money that he received for the price of the land, whatever that was. He gave it to the apostles.

And he willingly did that. He wanted them to have that. He wanted them to do that or to use that in the service of the other brethren and of the church.

And actually, I think the thing that probably stands out about that is not just that he gave the money, but in essence, that he probably understood his calling.

He understood, I'm giving the entirety of my life to Jesus Christ, my Lord.

See, he probably understood his calling quite well. And that, of course, is what all of us need to do. We all analyze that whenever we wanted to be baptized.

And yet, what we find was that Barnabas was deeply devoted. He was deeply committed to Jesus Christ.

And, of course, in a sense, that's a starting point for all of us.

And yet, I'd like for us to take a look in Galatians 2, to the second point that I want to make about Barnabas. And that is, not only was he devoted to the work that he'd been called to do, he had heartfelt compassion for other people because, I think, because he saw his own flaws. He saw his own sins. He saw his own struggle.

Now, how do I know that? Well, I have to only read the accounts.

And, in many cases, you can read the accounts about Barnabas and find that, for the most part, they're all glowing.

They're all great accounts. Everything is good. Nothing is bad.

You read about David. He's got some good. He's got some bad. He's got some ugly. Really ugly.

But, of course, God honored him. God was the one who could decide his heart.

And, of course, about Paul. You read about things that Paul did.

You get the impression from what Paul did. He had, of course, a different role, a different work in the church.

He was dealing with the Gentile world. He was in a lot of different situations. He was in jail.

He was beaten. He was shipwrecked. He was called all kinds of things. He was stoned to death.

You don't really see that happening with Barnabas. But you have to sense that Paul's kind of tough. He's pretty tough.

And you really see, in some of the things that he writes, a little bit of a strictness, a little sternness.

That's what comes through with what Paul has to say. Not that he doesn't care, that he's not comforting, but I don't think you could say that if you analyzed Paul and you analyzed Barnabas, that Barnabas had some of those edges that you might say Paul had.

And yet what you do find is that Barnabas, at least one of his sins, is recorded here in Galatians 2.

Galatians 2, this is talking about Paul and the other apostles. It says in verse 9 that they gave to Barnabas and to me, Paul is writing this, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they did the circumcision.

And they ask only one thing that we remember the poor, which we really wanted to do anyway.

And yet in verse 11, when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood self-condemned.

See, Paul points out something that was a problem that Peter had.

Now, I don't know that it was a long-standing problem, but at least it was a problem at least at one point, whenever they were trying to sort through some of the Jew and Gentile issues that were kind of bogging down the church at the time.

But he says, when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he was self-condemned, for until certain people came from James, these would be people from Jerusalem and Jewish in background, until they came, Peter used to eat with the Gentiles.

But after they came, he drew back. He kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction.

See, he changed his actions, he changed his tune. He had been there and everything had been fine.

He'd been accepting to the Gentiles, but then when some of the Jewish Christians came from Jerusalem, you know, Peter kind of grew back. He said, well, I'm not over here eating with the Gentiles, or I'm not with them.

You know, they're kind of outside of us. We're still the group that needs to be honored.

This is something that Peter was affected by.

And it says in verse 13, the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by this hypocrisy.

But it says in verse 14, when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter, if you, though a Jew lived like a Gentile, not like the Jews, how can you compel the Gentiles to be like the Jews?

See, Paul was pointing out something that actually was going to play into some discussion and some decisions about how it is that the church members needed to be able to accept one another and cooperate.

And yet here you find Peter was adversely affected by this, obviously, but also Barnabas was affected by it.

And so what we see are not only just glowing reports about Barnabas, but here we see he had this problem.

That I think he, at least when you read through the rest of the accounts that we have, he clearly had nothing against the Gentiles coming into the church.

And actually, he was used in a very powerful way to assist them.

So I'm going to conclude that he recognized, well, that was wrong. I shouldn't have done that. I want to repent of that. I want to change from that. And I want God to use me with compassion, with understanding.

And so I point this out that a part of what we read about Barnabas is that he had compassion because he did see his own flaws.

See, when we look at Matthew 7, this is actually, I think, an important thing for all of us to analyze.

Matthew 7, verse 1, it says, Do not judge, lest you be also judged. For with the judgment that you make, or with the judgment you make, you will be judged.

And with the measure you give, you will be measured. That's what you will get.

See, that's a direct statement from Jesus Christ about being too quick, being very free with our judgment of others.

It goes on to say, why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye but you don't notice the log in your own?

See, what is it about it is so easy for me to see somebody else's problems.

Why is that? And see, it's not just me, it's you, too. Each of us. Why is it that it's so easy for us to see someone else's concern or issue but we don't quite see the log that's in our eye?

Jesus said in verse 4, how can you say to your neighbor, let me take this speck out of your eye while the log is in your own?

He says that's hypocritical of you. First, what you really need to be working on is getting the log out of your own eye.

If we get to that point, then you might be able to see clearly to help someone else overcome something.

See, here he makes a very clear statement to all of us that we need to be focusing on trying to get the log out of our eye. Trying to be the type of individual that is examining themselves as opposed to examining everyone else.

But I have to think that Barnabas, with the attitude that's reflected in many of the things that he did, I have to think that he examined himself quite well and quite often and was humble enough to be able to work on himself and ask God to help him, to be able to help others, to encourage them, to lift them up, to cause them to thrive. Because that's what we really see when we take a look. The third thing I want to mention is just simply that Barnabas was willing to stand beside others to help and uplift them. And what we find about him in this regard is that he was not judgmental. He was not looking down on others.

Now, we see at least at one point he had a certain amount of prejudice toward the Gentiles, or at least he got caught up in whatever Peter was doing. I know he had to change that, or we wouldn't see all these other glowing reports. But what we find was that he was not only non-judgmental, he was very accepting of others.

He flawed others because he understood his own flaws. And I think that's where we want to be. In Acts 9, we see a good illustration of this because Acts 9, probably, if you memorize the Bible at one point, you know that Acts 9 is about the conversion of Paul. He was called Saul, and he had an unusual experience. He'd been out killing the church, and God showed him that you're not going to do that anymore. You are actually going to be instrumental in growing the church.

So Paul had a significant transformation in his conversion. And yet, because of his zeal in killing the church, you can imagine that he probably wasn't just readily accepted when he walked in the door, and some of the children or friends or family of some of the folks that he persecuted or killed were actually in the church. He probably was not the hottest item right then, but that's what they were dealing with. You see, Paul preached in Damascus. He was called Saul still then. In verse 23, he escapes from the Jews. They have to let him down in a basket. He was kind of a fugitive, if you've seen the movie The Fugitives. Running away. Almost caught, almost caught, almost caught. That's the way Paul was. I bet he was running from one spot to the next. Just wondering, when is he going to get caught? In verse 26, it says, when he had come to Jerusalem, this is when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples there, and they were all afraid of him. For they did not believe that he was a disciple. So, it was pretty obvious. They didn't believe what happened. He could talk until he was blue in the face. They still wouldn't believe that God struck him down blind and had commissioned him to do something really important in the church. They just couldn't believe it. But what happened in verse 27? Paul, an outcast Paul, unacceptable to many of the brethren at that point. It says in verse 27, Barnabas took Saul, and he brought him to the apostles.

And he described for them how on the road to Damascus, he had seen the Lord, and how he had spoken to him, and how that in Damascus, Saul had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

And so in verse 28 it says, he went in and out, among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. Now, what a transformation in those three verses. On one hand, in verse 26, they don't want to have anything to do with Paul. And in verse 28, he's going in and out of Jerusalem, and the surrounding area is preaching boldly the Word of God. How powerful was Barnabas' support? How effective was Barnabas in standing beside Paul and telling the other apostles, Look, yes, we know what Paul has been. And I also read another commentary that said Barnabas may have even been a classmate of Paul's. He may have had some training in schooling that would allow him even to know Paul pretty well. But regardless of that, which I can't prove, I can prove because the Word of God says that he stood by Paul and vouched for him. He supported him. He encouraged him. He gave credibility to the apostle Paul, to the people there in Jerusalem. And so he was quite an unbelievable, remarkable individual. He actually was encouraging people who may have a lot against Paul to accept him, to work with him, and to receive him as one of the brethren. And in a sense, what we find is that Barnabas was verifying Paul's conversion. That's what he really was doing. He was verifying. It doesn't say that he was there. He had to believe that that's what Paul told him and that's what he said. And that's maybe some of the others, at least the individual that Paul went to, to receive his sight, could tell him, yeah, when he came in here, he was blind. When he walked out, as I was directed by God to do, he wasn't blind. He was able to see. He knew where he was going. He knew what he was needing to do. But he needed somebody to support him, and that's what Barnabas did.

In Acts 15, you see another account, and one that probably you're familiar with, because Barnabas had a relative named Mark, John Mark, the Mark who later wrote the book of Mark, the Gospel of the Life of Jesus Christ, the story of Christ's life. He was what appears to be a younger person than these Paul and Barnabas, and many of the others of the disciples. And whenever Paul and Barnabas had been on some trip, or one trip, Mark was with them, and at one point he got either disoriented or maybe, I don't know why it was, he left, but he just left. He left and went back home. And of course, I don't know what kind of opposition or problem or distress that he may have run into with them, but for whatever reason, he went back. He went back to, I would believe it would be to Jerusalem, he went back. Instead of staying in the area and working with Paul and Barnabas and the others who were with them, Mark went back.

Paul wasn't impressed. As I mentioned, Paul was kind of headed straight down the path. He was a little more direct than I think he would find Barnabas is. But here in verse 36 of Acts 15, it says, After some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Come on, let us return and visit the brethren in every city where we proclaim the Word of God and see how they're doing. And so here they're thinking, they're planning, what is it we should do, where should we go?

Barnabas, in verse 37, wanted to take with him John, called Mark. But Paul decided not to take with them one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work. See, Paul had a problem with the fact that Mark, for whatever reason, got discouraged or maybe he got hurt. I don't know. However he went back, that was something that really bothered Paul, and yet Barnabas was very supportive of Mark. He realized he was a younger man. As I mentioned, it alludes in Colossians to the fact he was maybe a cousin of Barnabas, so he maybe was a relative.

And he had a great deal of concern for him. He had a lot of compassion for Mark. He says, you know, Mark can still help us. He fell down when he went back, but he can still help us. And yet Paul wouldn't be persuaded. So in verse 39, the disagreement became so sharp that they decided to just split up.

They decided to go two different directions, maybe cover twice as much ground. Paul didn't have to take Mark. It says Paul chose Silas and set out. Or it says Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed towards Cyprus. And so they basically were going home as far as Barnabas was concerned. But Paul chose Silas and set out, and the believers commended them to the grace of the Lord.

And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. And so here you find a disagreement where they were still going to preach the Gospel. They were still going to achieve the work of strengthening the churches. But in this case, over Mark, Paul didn't want to work with Mark. And so he said, I'm going to take Silas. But in this case, Barnabas took Mark, and he encouraged him. He lifted him up. He stood by him. He encouraged him. He said, okay, I understand the difficulty you've had before, but now I believe that you are useful.

You are helpful to me, and you're able to help and encourage others. You're able to be lifted up by me, and then you're able to be that way toward others. And, of course, ultimately we find that Mark was used to write an account of Jesus' life, which was a pretty important thing to do.

And you even see in 2 Timothy 4, verse 11, that we find that later on Paul even says, well, bring Mark. He's useful for the ministry. And so even though he didn't think so at one time, with Barnabas' help, with Barnabas' encouragement, with his support, with his strength, Mark was able to achieve a great deal, and even Paul recognized, well, maybe I was a little hard on him. Maybe I was just trying to get the job done, trying to get the work done, excited about doing it. Don't want somebody who's going to flake out on me.

I want him to... I don't trust Mark. And I think later, you know, he found that, well, that trust had been earned. It had been deserved. Another account we can look at is in chapter 11, Acts chapter 11. And this is actually regarding the church in Antioch. Barnabas was in and around Jerusalem. He was familiar with the other apostles. He was actually a servant in the area. And it says in verse 19, Now those who were scattered because of the persecution in Jerusalem, that took place when Stephen...

over Stephen, they traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, and they spoke the word to no one except Jews. And so, after the dispersion from the Jerusalem area, people went down to Cyprus, they went to Phoenicia, they went to Antioch, which was up the coast and kind of north of where Israel is. And they were talking to the Jews, but among them were some men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to that Hellenist, the Greeks there, proclaiming the Lord Jesus.

And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number of them became believers and turned to the Lord. And so, this was happening. People were becoming aware of Jesus Christ, of the good news of the Kingdom of God, of the fact that they needed to believe that there was hope, there was encouragement that could come to them, and they were being brought a message from God. And it says in verse 22, news of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem.

And what did they do? Well, they wanted to find out, is that actually true? Is that what's happening? That God has allowed or caused, or allowed perhaps, this dispersion, which they actually had to go through. After the death of Stephen, people were dispersed in a lot of places. They didn't know exactly what kind of work God would do through those folks. But what they did was turn people to see their need for Jesus Christ in their life. And so, when news of that came to the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas to Antioch.

Now, this tells you something about Barnabas. It tells you something about the trust that they had in Barnabas. And when he came to Antioch, and when he saw the grace of God, he saw what was happening. He saw there were not just Jews, but there were Gentiles. That God was working a miracle of calling and converting and giving the Holy Spirit to. He says, when he came to Antioch and saw the grace of God, Barnabas rejoiced.

And he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion. See, now here we find something about Barnabas. He came into a setting that he wasn't at that point yet familiar with, and he understood what it was to have spiritual discernment.

He understood what it was to have the Spirit of God guiding and directing his mind, and focusing his need on the work and on the head of the work, Jesus Christ. And when he came and saw that that same Spirit was working in the lives, in the minds, in the hearts of the people here in Antioch, he was excited. He was thrilled. He was uplifted, and what did he do?

Well, he encouraged them. He exhorted them all to remain faithful, to be loyal, to be dedicated. You have been brought into a lifelong calling. You have been brought into a connection with God that is extraordinary. And I want you to be steadfast. I want you to remain faithful. And so, of course, what he did was build them up. Not only had he built up Paul, and not only had he built up Mark, but here in this case he's dealing with the whole congregation where he's building them up. And it says in verse 24 that Barnabas was a good man. He was full of the Holy Spirit. He was full of faith.

And the result of that, the result of his work, was that a great many people were brought to the Lord. Now, that's a remarkable statement to have about someone who was working in the church, in this case someone who would be an apostle. He's not directly ordained an apostle yet, but he's clearly doing the work. He's clearly doing the work of preaching the gospel and standing by people whom God was calling into the church. And so he was an example to model. He was a good example for the people there in Antioch.

And what we find about the attitude that Barnabas had was that he was not jealous of the people here. He could have been concerned. Well, we're down here. I'm a Jew. I'm of Levi. I'm like Paul is. I've got a background that's pretty Jewish-related. He didn't have that type of concern anymore. He may have had it at one point, like we read, but he certainly didn't have any more that concern because he was accepting. He was non-judgmental. He was setting an example of service and love. And it says in verse 25, he decided to get others involved. He wanted to get others involved in doing the job. And so he went down to Tarsus because Paul had been kind of exiled down there. He'd been sent down there from Jerusalem. He thought maybe he could do something down in that area. But Barnabas went down and got him. I see where God is working, where he's doing something, and you could come up here and help. You could come up here and encourage people like I'm trying to do and be able to reach out to them. And so Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. And so it was that for an entire year, they met with the church and they taught a great many people. And so he knew Paul. He could support Paul. He could encourage Paul. He knew Paul was kind of still on the outs. He had been accepted in Jerusalem, but they'd let him go back to Tarsus. Paul was from Tarsus. They'd let him go back there and see whatever you could do there in that area. But Barnabas went down and got him. He included him in something that was really thriving, according to the description here. And it says they were spending an entire year there working with the church, teaching many. And it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. See, Antioch has a distinction among the Gentile world, and actually among perhaps the whole world, as far as people there in the church being first called Christians from that area. But what we find is Barnabas' tremendous ability to encourage, to uplift, was really a remarkable gift. It was a gift that he may ask for. I don't know, it doesn't say, but maybe he did ask for. A gift of encouragement, a gift of teaching and serving others that lifts them up and empowers them. That's clearly what we find about Barnabas. Another thing we find about him is just simply that he was, I don't think he had the type of ego, the type of arrogance that you might think he would have with some of the success it appears that he had. I don't think he had that because you see him interacting with Paul. And of course we've already read that in a sense he kind of had to rescue Paul. He had to kind of bring him in and vouch for him and get him accepted kind of among the church in Jerusalem. And then later when he's down in Tarsus he brings him back to Antioch and says, Okay, Paul, you can teach here, you can preach here. I want you to help me with the preaching of the Gospel here in this case.

But what we find is that Barnabas was certainly not competing with Paul. He was encouraging, he was lifting him up. What we find is that Paul was going to, in some ways, maybe in ways just according to the gifting of God, Paul was going to surpass what Barnabas had done because we find in Acts 13 the ordination here in the first few verses, the first three verses of Acts 13, you find the ordination of Barnabas and Saul. It says in verse 3, or in verse 2, it says, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I had called them.

And after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. It appears they were ordained in that case. They are called, down in verse, I don't have that written down, but they are called, I guess in chapter 14. I believe it is in verse 14. When the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd. So here you find that they had been ordained as apostles. They had been sent forth to do a work. And yet, here in Acts 14, you find that Paul was considered to be the chief speaker among the group.

See, in a sense, Barnabas was being overridden by Paul and his preaching, and by the fact that God was magnifying what he was doing. And in a sense, Barnabas was kind of in the shadow of the apostle Paul. You actually find it mentioned Barnabas and Saul, Barnabas and Saul, Barnabas and Saul, and then you later find Paul and Barnabas, Paul and Barnabas, in the way that they are even written in the book of Acts. And what you find is, you don't even find Barnabas after Acts 15.

You don't see any mention of what he did, what he said after that. And what you do find is that from that point, Paul is almost the entire subject of the book of Acts. He's clearly the author of Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians and Philippians and Galatians. You know, 14 books of the New Testament Paul is inspired by God to write. But Barnabas, we don't even have one word that Barnabas ever said recorded in the Bible.

Now, we have words about Barnabas, we have words about what he did, about how he served, about how he exhorted. But you find, even after Acts 15, where he and Paul kind of parted, you find that they were working in some of the churches together, but you never find a single word that Barnabas ever said. You find a lot of things that Paul said.

Paul had a lot to write. He had a lot to use here. But he was content to work behind the scenes. He was not filled with ego. He was simply wanting to build others up. Brethren, that's something all of us can use. All of us can benefit from a Barnabas. All of us are able to thrive on that. And what you find is that Barnabas were refrained from being critical.

And what he often did was offer appreciation. See, that, in a sense, is kind of what we find is really helpful for most of us. Instead of being criticized, which we've already mentioned, it's really easy to find mistakes in others. Instead of being critical of others, what really works is to see something to appreciate, see something to comment on that's positive, see something where you can build up someone else and not be afraid that they might even excel over whatever you are doing.

See, that's what Barnabas was able to do. That's what he was willing to do with the help of the Spirit of God. So he was not jealous. He was not comparing. He was not competing. He was simply seeking to do the work and to encourage others to do the work and to exhort others in doing that work and clearly not take them for granted, but to actually often say thanks. To say thanks to people and encourage them and lift them up.

That's what we find about Barnabas. And I think it's a fabulous story to be able to think through, to be able to study, to be able to maybe lift our own sights up. Because often you think of, and most people, perhaps if they're biblically knowledgeable at all, they know about the Apostle Paul.

He was quite a noted figure in the New Testament. Many people might even want to emulate the Apostle Paul. He certainly had qualities that we want to emulate. Most people would identify with him in at least certain ways. And yet, should we not really want to be like Barnabas? Someone who is an encourager, someone who is wanting to lift others up, someone who is truly devoted to willingly serving behind the scenes and being able to help others grow and thrive. I think that's really what God wants us to do.

He wants us to have that outlook. And so I simply just ask you to think about, how is it that Barnabas was able to do what he did? How is it that I can contribute in a similar way with the other people that I interact with here at church and the people that I interact with on a day-to-day basis as we reach out to be a good example, to be a right type of a model of Christianity?

Because that's exactly the description that was given to the people that Barnabas helped. See, they were called Christians at Antioch. So I know that our congregation can truly grow together. We can truly thrive if we ask God to provide us the type of spirit that Barnabas had, ask him to provide us that type of encouragement in that we encourage one another, and in an incense nurture one another just like our good friend Barabbas. Barnabas. Barnabas. Now, here's the one that we can emulate.