Son of Comfort

We're all filled with a number of bumps and bruises, loads of slips, trips and falls, and a couple of trips for the emergency room. The soundtrack of our lives for the past few years has been punctuated with the occasional, and then wait for it, sharp intake of breath, and then, waaah! You all know that. Sharp intake of breath. You know what's coming after that. And if there's one thing that I've learned in that past 10 years, I'm going to be talking about the difference between Shannon and I as we handle these bumps and bruises when they happen.

I find that I tend to react in a much more father-like way, which is rub some dirt in it, you'll be fine. Right? Sort of stand them up and dust them off a little bit and say, look, you know, if you weren't doing X, Y, or Z, this wouldn't have happened in the first place. I don't know why, but I take that opportunity to lecture every chance that I get. Shannon's response tends to involve opening her arms.

You know, the kid comes and buries their face in her chest, her shoulder, and just sobs. So where do you think they head after something happens? Now, they go straight to Mom, just about every single time. Even if I'm the first one on the scene, I'll show up and I'll try her method. I'll pick them up and comfort as best I can.

And sure enough, she shows up. So, you know, when you think back to the times when you hurt as a child, it's very likely that it was your mother that bandaged your wounds, kissed them, made them better, embraced you, soothed your pain, and comforted you. And a mother's touch is comforting. It's biological. God designed it that way. In fact, science is recognized through a number of studies that there is no more important relationship in early childhood development than the bond between a mother and a child.

From the first few moments of birth through early adolescence, they are mama, they're the keeper of the cookies, the enforcer of the broccoli, but most importantly, they are the first real comforter that a child experiences in life. And you know, as we grow older, that need for comfort doesn't go away. In fact, you might even make the argument that it becomes greater as time goes on, and we need more comfort as we go through life and as we deal with difficulties and trials. We all need comfort, particularly when life gets tough. You know, so as we grow up as adults, we tend to seek it out in a number of different ways.

Some people turn to physical comforts, they take vacations to faraway places, maybe a day at the spa, a shopping trip. Others may turn to food. There's an entire genre of food known as comfort food. They're the only ones who have mashed potatoes, right? Comfort food. The whole genre of it, their specific purpose is to comfort us when things are tough.

Others may turn to the words of others, motivational quotes, comforting poems, talking with friends, and others may turn, sadly, to various vices to numb the pain and to make them feel comforted. But brethren, the world as a whole is looking for comfort in all the wrong places. Vacations, spa days, food, motivational quotes, vices, they're fleeting.

They don't provide lasting comfort. Lasting comfort comes from one source and one source only. Let's go ahead and turn over to 2 Corinthians, over to the book of 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 1, and we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 3 of 2 Corinthians 1. 2 Corinthians 1 and verses 3 and 4 says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted from God. The true, effective, lasting comfort comes from God.

It's not a fleeting comfort. It's not a temporary comfort. It's an eternal, everlasting comfort, as it's described in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 16. It's an everlasting comfort, an eternal comfort. And it comes from the trust and the faith that we place in God, in His promises, and in the gift of God's Holy Spirit that resides in us. The other word for comfort used in that section of 2 Corinthians is the Greek word paraclesis, which is translated as an exhortation, a consoling, or a comfort.

According to Vines' expository dictionary, it comes from two roots, para, which means beside, and kaleo, which means to call. Putting the two of them together, paraclesis means very literally in Greek, a calling to one's side. Think about when you've seen a mother draw their child in, a calling to their side. Come here. Come here. Let me comfort you. This is this same basic concept here with paraclesis. But what's interesting in a number of other places and other translations, the word paraclesis is translated as consolation, it's translated as encouragement, and these concepts are very related.

We're going to explore that a little bit today. Let's go over to Acts 4, verse 36. Acts 4 and verse 36. Acts 4, and we'll pick up the account in verse 36. Actually, we'll pick it up in 34. Acts 4, verse 34 will give us the context here. We'll put the emphasis on verse 36. Acts 4 and verse 34 says, Verse 36, and hoses, which is translated Joseph in some translations, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of paraclesis, son of encouragement, son of comfort, son of consolation, a Levite of the country of Cyprus.

Having land, he sold it and he brought the money and he laid it at the apostles' feet. So we see in this particular passage a man whose given name was Joseph, but who the rest of the apostles named Barnabas. And they named him Barnabas for very good reason, which we'll see as we move through the rest of this split sermon today. They explain in verse 36, Barnabas means son of paraclesis, the son of encouragement, the son of comfort, the son of exhortation.

What was it about Barnabas' character, about his life and his ministry, that led the apostles to refer to him as the son of comfort? What was it about him that enabled them to call him that? Are there examples from his life that we can learn from and that we can apply to our lives today, as Christians in this modern era of the church? What are the big takeaway messages from the life of Barnabas, the son of comfort?

With the time that we have left today, I'd like to explore his life a little bit, focused on the lessons that his example can teach us about comfort and encouragement in the face of our difficulties, our trials, and our struggles. The title of the message today is the son of comfort, son of comfort. When you take a look at the example of Barnabas in Scripture, it is an overwhelmingly positive reference.

It's an overwhelmingly positive reference. We only get small sections here and there, as Paul and Luke ultimately write about him. But those brief references allow us to draw some conclusions about his character, which help us to understand who he was and ultimately the lessons that we can learn from his life.

We're going to look very specifically at three aspects of his character today. Barnabas was, firstly, selfless. Secondly, Barnabas was full of the Holy Spirit. And thirdly, Barnabas was a comforter and an encourager. He was a comforter and an encourager. So as we dig into this a little bit, the very first mention that we see in Scripture about Barnabas is the passage that we just read in Acts 4. That's the first time that we see any sort of connection and any sort of reference to him whatsoever. Acts 4, verse 37, records Barnabas is having a sold a field and bringing the money from the field and laying it at the apostles' feet.

The money generated from it was to be donated to doing the work and supporting the believers. We don't know for certain whether it was a donation for a specific believer or if it was just added into the pot with the rest of the donations to be distributed as there was need. We don't know if it was even a particularly valuable field. We don't. There's not a lot that we know within this other than he sold a field and he donated the profits to be distributed to those who needed it.

Barnabas' example stands out in this particular section and is specifically mentioned, contrasted with the next example that we see in Acts 5. Let's turn to Acts 5. Let's turn to Acts 5 and we'll see the opposite side of the coin of what we saw in Acts 4. Acts 5 and verse 1. And we'll go ahead and pick up the story of Ananias and Sapphira. Acts 5 and verse 1.

In verse 5, then Ananias hearing these words fell down and he breathed his last. So great fear came upon all of those who heard these things.

I don't believe these two passages back to back in Acts is any kind of a coincidence. You have Acts 4, you have Acts 5, they immediately follow one another. The only reason there's a chapter break there at all is because in the 1200s, Stephen Langton kind of set up those chapter breaks and put them in there. In the original manuscripts of the Bible, these sections would have immediately followed the other without the chapter break. God is trying to contrast the character of someone who is selfless with a pair who acted selfishly by juxtaposing their actions back to back within Scripture. Notice verse 4, again of Acts 5, verse 4. Go back one page here in my Bible. Verse 4 in the New King James says, While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You've not lied to men, but to God. The New Living Translation says, the property was yours to sell as you wished. In other words, you didn't have to sell it. This was not an obligation. You didn't have to sell it in the first place. There were no expectations. Telling a Barnabas took that on himself. He didn't have to sell it either. But he did. He sold it. He donated the possessions to the work. He didn't hold anything back. He donated it all. He was invested. He was, as you might say, in the modern vernacular, he was all in, we might say. It doesn't specifically record Barnabas' thought process here. It doesn't seem as though he intended to return to his field. You know, we see from Scripture from then on, he spent a lot of time on the road with Paul and with Mark and with Peter. The field was really no use to him in the new life that he had been called to lead. So what does this mean for us in the modern-day church? Does this mean we should go out and sell every bit of our earthly possessions, donate everything to the church, walk around in the streets preaching the gospel? No. No. But we should take a look at our lives and we should ask ourselves, what is preventing me from being all in?

What am I holding on to tighter than what God has called me to? What's holding me back? What's keeping us from giving God everything that we have spiritually along the lines of what Mr. Harmon talked about in his opening split sermon? What remnants of the self do we still have rearing its ugly head in our lives? Let's go to Galatians 2 and verse 20.

Galatians 2. Galatians 2, and we'll pick it up in verse 20. Galatians 2 and verse 20, the Apostle Paul writes, Paul made it very clear in this place as well as other places in his writings. Saul of Tarsus was dead. He was effectively buried and he wasn't coming back. Paul made it very clear that he went forward at that point in newness of life as the Apostle Paul, that Saul of Tarsus was gone. That was in a number of places.

He talks about that in Romans as well. The new man had no room for selfish desires. He was full of Christ living in him. He was living a selfless life of service. That's the kind of life that Christ would have us lead as well. The new man in Acts 4 that we read about in the beginning was no longer Joseph. He was now Barnabas. He was now the son of comfort, the son of consolation, the son of encouragement. He had changed and had decided to become someone different.

That life of Jesus Christ in him changed him. He ultimately had no room for the self. He sold his field, gave the money to the Apostles and why? So that they could give it to somebody else. He gave his field, the money from his sale, to the Apostles.

So they could ultimately disperse that to other people. I won't ask for a show of hands, but you can reflect on it. How many of you have ever been on the receiving end of a charitable deed like that? Or something has just been handed to you that you didn't deserve, you didn't ask for, but out of the blue it came anyway?

Shannon and I have. It's an incredible blessing, and it's so encouraging when it happens. When you can't figure out how it's going to work, and all of a sudden something just comes out of left field and props you up another month, that's pretty amazing.

It really is pretty amazing that someone was thinking about you, that someone recognized that in your time of need, they were willing to comfort you with a gift or some words of encouragement and a prayer. Sometimes there's nothing more encouraging than somebody tapping you on the arm and saying, You know what? I've been praying for you this week. And that is just huge. That is just huge. It gives us hope. It helps us through the trial.

It helps us to move through the difficulty. And we, brethren, need to be looking for these sorts of opportunities to be able to help our brethren as well. Because ultimately, as we know, it's not about us. It's about them. Barnabas set an excellent example by comforting and encouraging others through his selflessness. So where did that selflessness of Barnabas come from? Well, it came from the second characteristic of his life. He was full of God's Holy Spirit. Let's go over to Acts 11 and verse 24. Acts 11 and verse 24, and we'll see where this selflessness came from.

Acts 11, and we'll pick it up in verse 24. We'll actually go back a couple of chapters here and get some context as well. But in this particular passage, we can see that Barnabas was sent to Antioch to investigate some reports of Gentile converts. This is very new at this point in time.

What are these guys doing? What do you mean they're converted? They're Gentiles. What's going on here? Barnabas. Go check it out. I'm sure it was done in a different way than that. It wasn't dragnet at all. But the Apostle sent Barnabas to go and scope it out. So in verse 22, he says, He knew that 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 he had seen the grace of God, so when he got there and he realized, it's true! These Gentiles are converted. God has given them the gifts that they've given to us as well.

He was glad, and he encouraged them all with that purpose of heart that they should continue with the Lord. Look at the words that were written about him in verse 24. 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, we see in verse 25, departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. Barnabas arrives and sees the report is true. The grace of God was with these Gentiles. And instead of going, wait a minute, this can't be! He rejoiced. He said, wonderful, the grace of God is with him.

He was a good man, it says. He was full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and that much people were added to the Lord. Everywhere he went, people were added to the Lord. He was an effective servant of God, and he was an effective servant of God because of his faith in allowing God's Spirit to lead him. Christ told his disciples in John 14, verse 16, that after he left, the Holy Spirit would come upon them. What did he call it?

He called it paracletus, same root word. He called it a comforter, an encourager, a helper. The Holy Spirit comforts us, it brings us the comfort of God, and it allows us to then comfort others through the fruits of that Spirit working in our lives. We see those fruits outlining Galatians 5. We won't turn there, but if you had pre-teen kids, this song is already running through your head. It's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

There's a really incredible example that's really easy to read right over without paying a second notice to it that's in Acts 9. Let's go back to Acts 9 real quick. We'll see another example of Barnabas here.

Acts 9 ultimately contains the conversion story of Saul of Tarsus. It talks about him being an incredible persecutor of the followers of the way. We know his backstory. Ultimately, he supervised the stoning of Stephen, sought permission from the High Council to track down an arrest, beat, and flog, and otherwise harass the followers of Jesus Christ anywhere and everywhere he could. It's like he was carrying a card that allowed him to do all these things wherever he went. Nope, nope, I got my persecution card. You know, I'm allowed to persecute. I've got the permissions. He's converted on the road to Damascus. He's struck blind. He's led by God to Ananias to have the scales removed from his eyes. And ultimately, he's baptized. He begins preaching the gospel in Damascus at the synagogues.

Well, he runs afoul of the locals, brethren ultimately lowering down a wall in a giant basket to prevent them from killing him. And let's go to verse 26 of Acts 9. Acts 9 and verse 26. It says, "...and when Saul had come to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples." Put yourself at the disciples' place for a minute. This guy that just came in here looks an awful lot like Saul of Tarsus.

Yeah, but he says his name is Paul. I know what he said. He looks like Saul of Tarsus. Have you heard what he's been doing? The disciples all kind of went, well, he's over there.

We're going over here. We're out of here. They didn't believe. They were... Sorry, but they were all afraid of him in the last half of verse 26. They were all afraid of him, and they did not believe that he was a disciple.

Verse 27. But Barnabas took him and brought him, not to the disciples, but into the inner circle, right to the apostles. He believed him. He believed what Paul told him. And he brought him into the apostles, and he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that he had spoken to him, and that he had preached, or how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Barnabas showed Paul incredible, incredible kindness, trust, incredible kindness and trust.

You know, Barnabas could have avoided him, just like everybody else did. You know, he could have run the other way, too. You know, he kind of cartoony in a way. You see him going, he's in one door, and they're out the next door. You know, he could have done that. But instead, he believed Paul. He showed him kindness, and he vouched for him to the other apostles. Honestly, without Barnabas' kindness, the story might have played out very differently. It might have played out very differently. The Holy Spirit working in Barnabas' life and his selfless attitude, he wasn't concerned with his own safety.

Paul could have even pulled it into everybody else. He could have killed everybody in that room. But he trusted. And he allowed Paul to ultimately do an incredible missionary work. And it turns out the two of them headed out together. They headed out together. And you see Paul and Barnabas in Scripture, just, you know, like peanut butter and jelly, you know, just together all the time as you see. There are a couple of little hiccups in the road, but Paul and Barnabas head for Antioch in their very first missionary journey, not long after the events of this day.

You know, brethren, today, in the modern era of the Church, our interactions with one another need to reflect the presence of God's Holy Spirit in our life. We need to be exhibiting kindness and goodness and patience and self-control. And as we interact with one another, our conversations should be full of grace, and they should be seasoned with salt, words which are fitly spoken and timely that build up as opposed to tearing down. We can never, ever underestimate the amount of comfort that comes from an encouraging word.

You know, we all struggle, we all go through trials, and sometimes it is everything that we can do to walk through that door with a half a smile on our face and come to services. And you have no idea that kind word might have just made that person's week and built them up and edified them and strengthened them so they can turn around and go right back to the difficulties of life that following week.

We have an opportunity every week to build up and to edify one another, to strengthen one another each and every week. Do our speech and our actions reflect the Holy Spirit working in our lives?

Is God using us as a conduit to pass His comfort onto others? Or does our speech put people's hackles up? And does it cause offense? I have a really good friend who I used to work with at state and high school. My first job as a teacher was out at state and high. And we're still friends today, but he has no tact. None whatsoever.

Zero tact. Zero. He's a very decent person. He's a genuinely decent person. He's giving. He's charitable. As they might say in the South, he's good folk. He's good folk. But nearly every word that comes out of his mouth in conversation, you just cringe. Especially when you're with people that don't know him, you just go, Oh, don't say something that's going to offend this person. Come on. No. And sometimes people have this look on their face.

They're just shocked that he was as blunt about the things that he mentions. I'd mentioned it to him before. I actually said, look, you have any idea how people perceive? Like, what you think? No, no, no. Okay, well, cool. But he really is kind of in some ways oblivious to the fact that he's offending people.

He doesn't really notice. So you really do. You have to have a thick skin when you're around him. But, brethren, are we perceived in that same way? Are we perceived in that same way? Do we maybe not even realize it? Do we not realize, perhaps, that maybe we're not reflecting the light of God and some of our interactions with others? You know, in this ever-darkening world, it's crucial that we reflect that light, that we focus on encouraging, we focus on strengthening one another.

So why is encouragement so important? You know, Barnabas' third characteristic was encouragement. Why is that so important? Several years back, I had an opportunity to train for and run a half marathon. I spent the four months prior to that, leading up to that, training constantly.

Early morning runs, you know, seven, eight miles here, ten, eleven miles there. One long run in Medford, I ended up going 17 because I got lost. You know, I was trying to get my body and my mind prepared for the rigors of what was going to happen. So the day of the race, gun goes off, and man, I'm off. I'm just gunning it. And I'm going as quick as I can. I was running well. It was going great. For those that haven't had a chance to do a large race like that, it's easy to get swept up in it.

It's easy to start out too hard, get wrapped up in the adrenaline of things and just go, and try to keep up with the other people that are running way faster than you. Right? My first seven miles, or eight miles of the race, were amazing. I set 10K records, 5K records, I mean, by minutes. I was running really, really well. You know, the last six miles? Not so much. Not so much.

The last six miles were very, very difficult. And you know, of those six miles, the most miserable was the last mile and a half. The last mile and a half, essentially 11.75 to 13.1. I ended up in some very dark places in my head those last couple of miles. I wanted to quit. I didn't want to keep going. I wanted to be done, because it was hard. It was too hard. It was too hot. It was miserable.

My lungs hurt. My feet hurt. Everything hurt. My brain is yelling at me, why are you doing this? What's wrong with you? You're paid to do this! What are you trying to prove? My feet are yelling back at my brain, what have we ever done to you? And you know, the resounding message that I was hearing upstairs was, you're not going to finish. You're not going to make it. And I remember halfway between mile 12 and 13, my mind was literally losing the ability to force my feet to move.

Those of you that have done distance races, you may have been there. I think they call it the wall. I was telling my feet to go, and my feet were like, nope, we quit. Mutiny. We're done. They weren't complying. They were just stopping on their own. And I kind of had to mentally yell at them to keep going.

One time, even yelled at them to keep going, which got me some weird looks. But you know, it was at that point I looked up, and I saw somebody standing on this side of the road that had a sign. And I, honestly, I don't even know what was on that sign. I couldn't tell you to this day what was on that sign. But I just remember thinking to myself after seeing that sign and these few little simple words of encouragement, nothing fancy. I remember thinking to myself after that, No, you've got this. You've got this. Ten more minutes. Just power through it. Ten more minutes, power through it. And I did.

And I finished. Brethren, sometimes we need a reminder. We need somebody to stop and tell us, you're going to make it. You are going to be okay. You're going to do this. You can do this. We need comfort and we need hope. Life is tough. Oh, life is tough. It's difficult and it's getting harder. And the world around us we all know is prophesied to become a very, very dark place. You know, when you see passages in Matthew 24, it gives me pause regularly when I read that, that it'll be a time of trouble such that the world has never seen.

Looking back over history, there's been some really rough times that have been out there already, and this is going to be worse. As we ramp towards that time, life is going to be tough. It's going to be a struggle. We may face incredible amounts of persecution. During Barnabas' day, there was persecution coming from all sides. The Jews weren't happy with the followers of Christ.

The Hellenists were causing trouble. There was a number of false religions and false beliefs cropping up all over the place. The Romans were a thorn in the side of the Christians. The earlier believers, the early believers, those in the church, were in desperate, desperate need of encouragement and comfort. They needed to know it was going to be okay. They needed to know that it was going to be okay. They needed comfort. They needed encouragement. And brethren, so do we. So do we. Romans 15. So we kind of start to draw this to a close here.

Romans 15. And we'll go ahead and pick up the Apostle Paul's words on this particular topic. Romans 15 and verse 4. Romans 15 verse 4 says, For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we, through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope.

That the patience and the comfort of Scripture might provide us with hope. It says, Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus. That through the patience and encouragement or comfort of the Scriptures, we can find hope. When there doesn't seem to be hope in front of us.

When life is tough. And when we just don't think we can go on. This book and what is contained within it gives us hope. It gives us comfort.

Encouragement is a verb that leads to comfort. It's like comfort and hope. When things are at their darkest, no light at the end of the tunnel. You can't even see the light at the end of the tunnel. Encouragement, comfort, hope are like that little candle flickering in the darkness that you can see. And that you can move your way to. Think back in your life to a time where you were in desperate need of encouragement and desperate need of hope. Who or what encouraged you? We often find our encouragement in Scripture, but it may have been a word fitly spoken. It may have been something that someone said to you, one Sabbath. Or even out at work or whatever else. It might have been a hug or the loving embrace of a friend or just the reassurance that it was going to be okay. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 11, we won't turn there, records the admonition for us to encourage one another, to build one another up. You know, everybody can encourage people. Everyone's capable of encouragement. But for some, it is a gift. For some, it is a gift. In fact, Romans 12 lists a bunch of gifts that are given to people. And one of them in verse 8 of Romans 12, or he that exhorts, that word is periclesis. He that exhorts, he that comforts, he that encourages to his encouraging. That he giveth, let him do it liberally, he that ruleth with diligence, he that shows mercy with cheerfulness. You know, some people have been given the gift of encouragement. Again, everybody's capable of encouraging to a degree, but for some, that is their gift. That is what they are incredible at. I believe Barnabas was one who was given the gift of encouragement, and his incredible ability to encourage and comfort others was reflected in the name that the apostles gave him, the son of comfort, the son of encouragement. There's a number of lessons that we can all learn from the life of Barnabas, despite having only just a few scriptures to work with in the New Testament. We can see that he was selfless, he put the needs of others above his own, and he served. We see that he was full of the Holy Spirit, and that the fruits of the Spirit were apparent in his life. And lastly, we can see that he was an encourager. He was a comforter to the people that he encountered, and that he worked with, and that he ministered to. He reflected the comfort and the hope that he had in God to the people who were around him, to the new converts, to the Jews and Gentiles. He gave them hope, and he built them up. Brethren, John Sephoric embodied these characteristics. He dedicated his life in service to God's people. He served in six different states, internationally, for 48 years. He sold his field, so to speak, and he laid it at the apostles' feet, poured his life into his ministry. And so many people have described him as gentle and kind, a loving and patient shepherd that just exuded the fruits of the Spirit in his interactions with so many brethren over the year. He was a man who illustrated through his actions that God's Spirit was working in him. Finally, over the past 15 years, as the pastor of Salem, Eugene, and Roseburg, I've estimated, based on a complicated mathematical formula, it's not that complicated, but I've estimated that he has given somewhere between 500 and 700 sermons. Up here, for 15 years, Sabbath in, Sabbath out, 500 to 700 sermons. He's exhorted and he's encouraged all of us on topics of faith, love, repentance, reconciliation, change, and so much more. John's legacy is going to live on in the changed lives of the people that he pastored. And, brethren, the greatest honor and respect that we can give is to live and embody what he taught.