In Romans 16, the apostle Paul sends his greetings to dozens of his mates and fellow employees in Rome. Some, like Prisca and Aquila, are acquainted names. Others, like Epaenetus, seem nowhere else within the Bible. They performed a job in Paul’s monumental ministry, but we all know subsequent to nothing about them. Even so, God is aware of them. They share Christ’s reward, and so they’ve added their voices to the refrain of heavenly reward.
As a result of the Scriptures (to our profit) flip our consideration so typically to outstanding heroes of the religion like Paul, it may be simple to neglect that the church in each technology has been sustained and enriched predominantly by unsung heroes—these whose names might by no means have even been written down, who had been recognized solely to their rapid acquaintances, and who had been maybe tempted to imagine they’d lived and died insignificantly. But nobody is insignificant within the functions of God.
Nobody is insignificant within the functions of God.
Practically all of us who’re in Christ by means of religion will probably be such folks—forgotten by the world at giant but remembered by God. We will be inspired by one of many “minor” characters within the biblical narrative: a modest man named Joseph whose very modesty allowed him to make an unimaginable impression for the Gospel.
The Encourager
We first meet Joseph—higher recognized to us by his nickname, Barnabas—in Acts 4, simply because the early days of the church are unfolding:
Joseph, who was additionally known as by the apostles Barnabas (which implies son of encouragement), a Levite, a local of Cyprus, offered a discipline that belonged to him and introduced the cash and laid it on the apostles’ ft. (Acts 4:36–37)
Among the many many who had been touched by the Spirit and reworked consequently was this man Joseph. He was not one of many Twelve, and his title isn’t practically as recognizable as many different New Testomony people. The factor that was most notable about him was not his spiritual pedigree (as a Levite) nor his nation of origin (Cyprus) however the reward that God had given him, which impressed his nickname.
Every now and then, any person will get a nickname so good that it replaces their title. That was the case with Joseph. The apostles known as him Barnabas, “son of encouragement,” as a result of he was an encourager. And it was this issue about Barnabas that made him influential. He was in a position to consolation and to exhort those that had been in his firm, and plainly in every single place he went, he made an impression for the dominion.
It’s effectively mentioned that if you wish to see into a person’s coronary heart, you may take a look at his checkbook. If we may look into Barnabas’s checkbook, we might see a person who had given himself, inside and outside, to God. He was beneficiant together with his belongings, together with his phrases, and together with his life—and all of this was potential as a result of he had given himself first to God.
The Welcomer
The subsequent time we see Barnabas in Acts, it’s as he performs a pivotal position in welcoming the previous persecutor Saul to the church shortly after his surprising conversion:
When [Saul] had come to Jerusalem, he tried to affix the disciples. They usually had been all afraid of him, for they didn’t imagine that he was a disciple. However Barnabas took him and introduced him to the apostles and declared to them how on the highway he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and the way at Damascus he had preached boldly within the title of Jesus. (Acts 9:26–27)
Saul—that’s, Paul the apostle—had hated Christians. Even in the beginning of Acts 9, we discover him “nonetheless respiration threats and homicide in opposition to the disciples of the Lord” (v. 1). So it’s not onerous to sympathize with the disciples in Jerusalem. The change that overcame Saul because of his encounter with the risen Christ (vv. 3–5) actually was unimaginable. But it’s the sort of transformation that the Holy Spirit is within the behavior of constructing. And amongst all of the believers in Jerusalem, it was Barnabas who had the knowledge and braveness to acknowledge this.
One story from the US West Coast within the heyday of the ’60s tells of a really superb church the place everybody got here correctly dressed and effectively groomed. The congregation was aghast when a barefooted, long-haired hippie walked within the door. He walked previous pew after pew, nobody budging to make room for him. Lastly, he discovered himself on the entrance of the church, the place he prompted additional scandal by sitting cross-legged on the ground. To everybody’s aid, one of many deacons stepped into motion, marching on to the unwelcome visitor—and sitting down, cross-legged, proper beside him!
That’s the spirit of a Barnabas. Barnabas knew that what God had accomplished in his life He may do in Saul’s. Whereas others shut the door in Saul’s face, Barnabas reached out a hand of fellowship. And since Barnabas was there for him, Saul “went out and in amongst them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly within the title of the Lord” (Acts 9:28). The good welcome from an unsung hero made the apostle’s nice ministry potential.
This was a easy gesture, but it wasn’t an inexpensive one. To “take” any person like Barnabas did entails time, entails effort, entails a rearrangement of plans. As a lot as we need to be Barnabas, dedicated to the Lord inside and outside, we’re extra typically able to be those shutting the door.
Let that be a reminder that there are not any meaningless moments in our days. There are not any probability encounters, irrelevant folks, or inconsequential duties. The church carries on from one technology to the following due to women and men whose names we’ll by no means know who, like Barnabas, will take the time and take the chance to increase a hand of welcome.
The Gracious, Glad Apostle
Two chapters later, Barnabas once more seems within the pages of Scripture, this time as he’s chosen to be despatched as a consultant of the believers in Jerusalem to new believers in one other metropolis:
The hand of the Lord was with them, and an excellent quantity who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this got here to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and so they despatched Barnabas to Antioch. When he got here and noticed the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted all of them to stay devoted to the Lord with steadfast function, for he was man, stuffed with the Holy Spirit and of religion. And an excellent many individuals had been added to the Lord. (Acts 11:21–24)
There are not any meaningless moments in our days. There are not any probability encounters, irrelevant folks, or inconsequential duties.
When the Gospel got here to Antioch for the primary time, the missionaries there “spoke to the Hellenists additionally”—that’s, to Greek-speaking gentiles along with Jews—“preaching the Lord Jesus” (v. 20), and the Gospel took root. The reception of the excellent news of Jesus among the many gentiles was nonetheless new within the historical past of the church, and never everybody was able to welcome it. Who may the apostles ship for an encounter equivalent to this? It’s no shock: “They despatched Barnabas”!
Not all people in a church can deal with new issues. Not everybody is ready to see God’s Spirit at work in surprising methods. It’s definitely not everybody who can see God’s grace at work like this and be “glad.” Are we glad for the evidences of God’s grace?
Barnabas was a person given to the Lord—and when he noticed the Lord glorified among the many gentiles, it was not a matter of concern for him however a matter for rejoicing. When he noticed new issues occurring to God’s glory, he didn’t hit the brakes on the Gospel. Nor was Barnabas jealous for his personal standing within the ministry. Actually, we learn that he “went to Tarsus to search for Saul, and when he had discovered him, he introduced him to Antioch” (vv. 25–26). Once more the unsung hero put ahead the good apostle—and solely heaven will inform of the impression of this humility. The church wants women and men who’re pleased to take second place for the work of the Gospel.
Are we glad for the evidences of God’s grace?
Dare to Be a Barnabas
Barnabas would finally be a part of Paul on his missionary journeys, and he performed a significant position standing aspect by aspect with Paul within the frontline work of the Gospel. But we shouldn’t overlook the important position he performed by means of his encouraging, his welcoming, and his pleasure to see women and men flip to Christ in religion.
The previous kids’s refrain exhorts us,
Dare to be a Daniel!Dare to face alone!Dare to have a function agency!Dare to make it recognized!
As a lot as we have to study from Daniel, we are able to overemphasize the sort of stark, solitary, heroic stances he took. In our on a regular basis stroll, we had higher remind ourselves, too, that we should always
Dare to be a Barnabas!Dare not go alone!Collect somebody in your arm,And make the Gospel recognized!
We want not be heroes. Whether or not the world remembers us is a small factor in gentle of the dominion of God. In every single place round us are individuals who want encouragement, who want a welcoming hand, who want the Gospel that we’ve acquired. Within the humble self-giving that Barnabas modeled for us, allow us to serve them with the love of Christ.
This text was tailored from the sermon “Son of Encouragement” by Alistair Begg.
