Who Is Your Barnabas? Whose Barnabas Are You?

David Burns on August 26, 2015

As we look at the life of Paul, we must take a moment to turn our attention to Barnabas. Barnabas played a pivotal role in Paul’s early ministry. We first read of Barnabas in Acts 4:36-37: There was a Levite, a native of Cyprus, Joseph, to whom the apostles gave the name Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”). He sold a field that belonged to him, then brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet. We learn a number of useful things in this short passage. We learn that Barnabas’s given name was Joseph. We learn that, like Paul, he was a Jew of the Diaspora (a Jew who lived outside the Holy Land), from the island of Cyprus. We learn that he was a Levite. Levites, from the Israelite tribe of Levi, were assigned different roles during the history of Israel, but all were linked in some way to the priesthood, to the Tabernacle and later the Temple, and to the religious laws. Some Levites were priests. Some were musicians. Some were teachers, judges, even accountants. Levites maintained the Temple and the holy things of God. In the Diaspora, Levites were called upon to assist or read Scripture in the synagogue, a practice that is still observed in some synagogues today. Barnabas appears to have been a devout Jew who had come to faith in Christ while in Jerusalem, quite possibly having heard Jesus speak or having been a witness to the Resurrection. Perhaps he was among the three thousand who came to faith on the day of Pentecost in response to Peter’s preaching and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We also learn in the passage from Acts 4 that Barnabas sold a field he owned and gave the proceeds to the apostles to be used to support their work and the needs of the believers in Jerusalem. He clearly was an extravagant giver. Finally, we learn that the apostles gave him the name Barnabas, which Luke tells us means “son of encouragement,” a magnificent name that undoubtedly described his character. We see his character, his habitual efforts at encouraging others, in Barnabas’s interaction with Paul. In Acts 9:27, Barnabas was the one leader in the Jerusalem church willing to take a chance on Paul when all others were afraid of him. Barnabas vouched for Paul and brought him to Peter and James. With Barnabas’s vouching for him, the other disciples were willing to take a chance on Paul. In Acts 11, it’s been at least ten years since Barnabas had put Paul on a ship from Jerusalem to Tarsus in order to save Paul from those who wanted to kill him. Now, Barnabas had been sent by the apostles to see what the Spirit was doing among the new believers in Antioch. Luke reports: When [Barnabas] came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion; for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. (Acts 11:23-24) I love this passage, both for the way Barnabas exhorted the new believers in Antioch and, particularly, for the words Luke uses to describe Barnabas: “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” Would that each of us could be described by those words! In that one line there’s a three-point sermon waiting to be proclaimed. There’s a focus for an entire year’s worth of prayers: “O Lord, make me like Barnabas, generous, an encourager, a good person. Fill me with your Holy Spirit, and with the gift of faith.” Luke goes on to tell us that Barnabas remained in Antioch leading the church, and “a great many people were brought to the Lord” (v. 24). In just these few short passages, Luke has painted a vivid picture for us of the kind of Christian Barnabas was—and the kind of Christian we might each seek to be—one who leads others to faith; the kind of leader who helps churches transform their communities, who shows kindness, who has a deep faith, who is led by and filled with the Holy Spirit. As Barnabas saw what was happening among the Gentiles and Jews in the huge metropolis of Antioch, the New York City of the eastern Roman Empire, he remembered the educated and passionate young Pharisee he put on a boat for Tarsus some ten years earlier. Who do you think brought this thought to Barnabas’s mind? My guess is the Holy Spirit. For many of us, when we have such thoughts we tend to dismiss them or fail to pay attention. But if, like Barnabas, we listen and pay attention, the Spirit can bring things to our minds that we’ve long forgotten. Luke tells us how Barnabas responded. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people. (Acts 11:25-26) Barnabas went on to travel with Paul on his first missionary journey. It is clear that at the start of the trip Barnabas was the more prominent of the two: Luke regularly refers to them as Barnabas and Saul. But at some point during that first missionary journey, Luke starts referring to them as Paul and Barnabas. Paul’s star had risen; from that time on he received first billing. Barnabas seemed fine with this. In fact, I suspect he delighted in the fact that his protégé was coming into his own. The last time we read about Barnabas is in Acts 15, when Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement and parted ways. It’s clear, though, that without Barnabas, Paul might have lived out his days making tents in Tarsus. It was Barnabas who believed in Paul when he first came to Jerusalem. It was Barnabas who introduced him to the apostles. It was Barnabas who found him during the in-between years and brought him to Antioch. Barnabas never wrote a book of the Bible (though some have suggested he may have written the Letter to the Hebrews), but much of our New Testament would not exist without the encouragement he gave to Paul. All of us need a Barnabas. But it’s important for us to remember that all of us are called to be someone else’s Barnabas too. Part of our mission in life is to encourage others and to see in them what they may not see in themselves. Who is your Barnabas? More importantly, whose Barnabas will you be? Today’s post is an excerpt from The Call: The Life and Message of the Apostle Paul.  

Paul's "In-Between" Time

David Burns on July 28, 2015

He went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He spoke and argued with the Hellenists; but they were attempting to kill him. When the believers learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. (Acts 9:28-30)   In Acts 9, we find Paul moving back home in his late twenties. The son who was destined for greatness, who was educated in the finest schools in Tarsus and Jerusalem, likely moved back into his parent’s house. How many young adults today can relate to this story?   Paul’s return must have caused confusion and disappointment for his parents, and possibly for Paul. We don’t know how long he lived there. In Galatians 2:1, he notes that “after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem,” but there is some confusion as to when the fourteen years started and whether or not it included Paul’s first missionary journey. At the very least it appears that Paul lived in Tarsus for upwards of ten years after his conversion.   During that time, Paul likely used Tarsus as his home base, preaching and teaching at synagogues and fledgling churches in the regions of Cilicia and Syria, in what today is southeast Turkey. Note, however, that Paul had been told by the Lord at his conversion that he had an important mission to fulfill, yet for at least ten years Paul lived in Tarsus, likely in his parents’ home as he made tents in his father’s business.   While living at home, Paul certainly must have continued to contemplate the meaning of the gospel. He undoubtedly grew in wisdom, which included both head and heart knowledge gained through lived experience. I’ve found that often the greatest wisdom-building experiences are those that come in the midst of disappointment, adversity, and waiting. Our faith often grows deeper, though we may not recognize it at the time.   We don’t know if Paul was experiencing a “dark night of the soul” during these ten years, but surely he wondered what had happened to the dramatic call he had heard from Ananias: “You will be [God’s] witness to all the world of what you have seen and heard” (Acts 22:15).   It is interesting to note how often in Scripture there is a delay between the moment of God’s call or an experience of God’s presence or a vision that seems to come from God about the future and when these things actually come to pass.   Consider Abraham, who was told in Genesis 12 that God would make him “a great nation,” and in Genesis 22 that his descendants would be “as numerous as the stars of heaven.” Abraham was seventy-five when he first heard God’s call and promises.   But it was nine chapters later, when Abraham was one hundred years old that Isaac was finally born. There were some challenging years in those nine chapters. The twenty-five years between the vision and fulfillment were the “in-between” time for Abraham and Sarah.   Moses, after fleeing Pharaoh’s palace, spent forty years in the Sinai tending goats before God finally called him back to demand the release of the Israelite slaves. David was anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel, but he went through twenty-five years and a whole lot of trouble before he finally assumed the throne. And consider Jesus, who at the age of twelve knew he had a unique relationship with God, but there would be eighteen years of waiting before he was baptized and began his three-year public ministry.   Was God at work during Abraham’s twenty-five years of waiting? Were Moses’ forty years in the wilderness wasted? Or David’s twenty-five years, much of it spent avoiding King Saul’s efforts to kill him? And what of Jesus? Was his Father at work in Jesus’ life during those eighteen years when he labored alongside his earthly father?   In Paul’s case, he spent ten years wondering what Ananias could possibly have meant and why he still was making tents when there was a big world out there to be saved. Perhaps his sense of calling began to fade during that time. But God was at work during the “in-between” time.   How often this pattern has persisted for those whom God uses to change the world. I think of John Wesley, who spent most of his twenties and thirties striving to do God’s will but often feeling like a failure. Finally, after his greatest disappointment, God unleashed him to lead a revival across Great Britain that would leap across a continent and change the world.   Have you ever experienced an “in-between” time? Perhaps you are experiencing one now. God is at work; trust that! Keep putting one foot in front of the other!   Moses, David, Jesus, Paul, Wesley, and many others did not stop dreaming, thinking, and working as they waited, and in the waiting God was preparing them, transforming them, and readying them for what lay in store.   Today’s post is an excerpt from The Call: The Life and Message of the Apostle Paul.

Paul’s Conversion

David Burns on July 15, 2015

Previously, we looked at Paul’s blinding ambition. When we left off, Paul had letters in hand from the high priest authorizing the arrest of followers of the Way. He began…