Barnabas: A Model Joyful Follower

This past week I was studying Acts 4:36-37, where a man by the name of Barnabas is introduced for the first time. As I meditated upon those verses and also what the rest of the New Testament says about this little known Bible character I was reminded anew and afresh just how great a model for us he is.

What follows are some of the traits in his life that make him a helpful example.

1. He Was A “Regular Guy”

Some biblical characters can leave us feeling like they are out-of-our reach. The Apostle Paul is one of those. Paul was a leader among leaders, a person who rose to the top quickly and became well-known. He was like the figures we might listen to at some conference or hear on the radio. If we are not careful, we can conclude that there is little we can learn from them by way of example because we are not that kind of “superstar”.

Yet, Barnabas wasn’t like that. In fact, many of us probably have no idea who this man was. Luke, the author of Acts, introduces him as one whose real name is Joseph, “a Levite, a native of Cyprus” (Acts 4:36) who had come to trust in Jesus Christ as Savior. In other words, he was a temple helper, a Jew whose was born on a small Mediterranean island. Though he was a prophet and teacher for a while in Antioch (Acts 13:1) and though he was Paul’s partner on his first missionary journey (Acts 13:2-14:28), he soon faded away into obscurity. Other than a mention by Paul some 15-17 years later to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 9:5-6)—a mention by the way that lets us known Barnabas has a strong reputation throughout the church—nothing more is said about him.

Barnabas appears to be a regular guy like us. He is not well-known, his name is not up in lights. Rather he is content simply to serve Christ whether others notice or not.

2. He Cared About People, Especially Those In Need

The reason Luke introduces Barnabas is that he serves as a concrete example of a believer who sold a piece of property and then brought the proceeds to the apostles so that they could be used to help fellow believers who were in need (Acts 4:36-37).  Then over fourteen years later he, along with Paul, took relief to famine-stricken believers in Jerusalem (Acts 11:30). More than this, when Paul was converted, Barnabas was the first one to reach out to this former persecutor of Christians and he was to the first to extend fellowship to this one who desperately needed it and to encourage others to do the same (Acts 9:27).

This same compassion was also shown to his own cousin, John Mark (Col. 4:10), who deserted Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey (Acts 13:13). Barnabas wanted to forgive him and have him continue in missions work and Paul did not. So sharp was their disagreement that Paul went on this second missionary journey with Silas and Barnabas teamed up with Mark (see Acts 15:39-40). Without taking sides here on who was right and who was wrong, we cannot help but admire the mercy and compassion of Barnabas towards all kinds of people who had needs of various kinds. What is also of note is that that this future author of a Gospel that bears his name (Mark) was eventually reconciled with Paul by the early to mid sixties A.D. (Col. 4:10; Philemon 24; 2 Tim. 4:11). Though it may be going too far to suggest that Barnabas had something to do with that reconciliation, I don’t think it far-fetched to conclude that Barnabas’ willingness to persevere with John Mark had some impact on his future usefulness in the Church and maybe even his reconciliation with Paul!

So loving and encouraging was this man that his fellow believers did not call him by his given name (Joseph), but rather Barnabas (which means son of encouragement, Acts 4:36). In the Hebrew mindset to say that someone was a son of _ (fill in the blank) was to describe the essence of their character or being!

3. He Was Sold Out To Gospel Ministry

The love Barnabas had for others was also translated into his zeal for introducing people to the good news of Jesus and helping them live out the effects of that gospel. He encouraged the church in Antioch to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose when they first responded to the gospel (Acts 11:22-23), he spent another year teaching these new believers in Antioch along with Paul (Acts 11:25-26), he went on the first missionary journey with Paul where he preached the gospel (13:5, 6-12; 14:1, 14-18, 21, 25), he was persecuted for the gospel (13:46-52; 14:4-7), he most likely witnessed his partner and friend being stoned almost to the point of death for the gospel (14:19-20), and after that trip he stood up for the integrity of the gospel when others wanted to change it (Acts 15:1-2).

Here was just a “regular guy” who loved Jesus and delighted to follow him in all ways. What a great model for all us regular guys and gals today!

4. He Was Content With Playing Second Fiddle

When Barnabas and the younger, spiritually less mature Paul took off on their missionary journey, their ministry began in Barnabas’ homeland of Cyprus. Given the word order that Luke uses—Barnabas and then Paul (Acts 13:7), Barnabas most likely started out as the leader, but soon took a supportive role to the Apostle (see 13:13, 43, 46, 50). We have no indication this was a problem. This man wanted to serve Jesus no matter his role.

5. He Was A Good Man, Full Of The Holy Spirit And Of Faith

This final description of Barnabas comes as a direct quote, a rare word of praise Luke writes with his own pen in Acts 11:24. One of the major themes of Acts is that the coming of the Spirit upon and his filling of his people lead to fruitful ministry among others and for God’s glory. Barnabas was a man who was yielded to Jesus Christ and his Spirit.

The late New Testament scholar, D. Edmond Hiebert, in his 1973 book, Personalities Around Paul, summarizes well the life of this Spirit-controlled joyful follower:

Barnabas stands out as one of the choicest saints of the early Christian church. He had a gracious personality, characterized by a generous disposition, and possessed a gift of insight concerning the spiritual potential of others. He excelled in building bridges of sympathy and understanding across the chasms of differences which divided individuals, classes, and races. He lived apart from petty narrowness and suspicion, and had a largeness of heart that enabled him to encourage those who failed and to succor the friendless and needy. He did have his faults and shortcomings, but those faults arose out of the very traits that made him such a kind and generous man—his ready sympathy for others’ failings and his eagerness to think the best of everyone.

By the grace of God and the work of the Sprit may the same someday be said of you and me.

Like P's In A Pod, Part 2

In my last blog post I said that I would elaborate upon the first three of six total key areas of missions focus for our congregation I mentioned in my June 22 sermon. I just realized that something happened when I tried to post that discussion and it cut off part of focus number 2 and all of 3. So, because of that, I want to follow up in this post with repeating those two and then addressed the remaining three. Remember that our first area of missions focus I proposed was our proximate community. In addition to that focus here are the rest of the areas I am praying we will prioritize.

Present Missionaries

There are a number of missionaries our church supports and also others with whom the church has connections. With each of these God has orchestrated things such that he developed the relationship with them and the congregation and also led them to the place in the world he wanted them. One of the most important ways we carry out the missions call is to care for and to support these brothers and sisters on the front lines. Every missionary needs a home church and also supporters who are praying for them, encouraging them, and helping them carry what is often a heavy load.

I trust that in the future God will call others from our church into missions and will guide them to the places in the world where he wants them to serve. We have the privilege and the call from God to stand with them. May it never be said of us that we forget our missionaries. Instead, may they sense that we lavish love, encouragement, and grace upon them.

Peoples Unreached

One of the greatest needs in missions for our day and time is to send missionaries to reach those peoples who have no access to the gospel—some 27% of the world. We know that God has redeemed people from every tribe, language, nation, and people group (Rev. 5:9), we know that Jesus Christ will not return until the gospel is proclaimed throughout the whole world (Matthew 24:14), and we also know that for all people who never hear and/or respond positively to the gospel, they will face the eternal wrath of God (Mt. 10:28; Rom. 10:13-17; Rev. 20:14-15). For all of these reasons, one of the main areas of focus for us as a church should be to cast vision for sending people to unreached peoples and for supporting such missionaries.

One of the most strategic directions we can go in the future is to reach out to international students at UNK who can take the gospel back to their countries and who live among unreached peoples. This fall we will launch an outreach to UNK international students and you will have an opportunity to be involved. Be praying about this and be prepared for involvement.

Pastors Undertrained

In Ephesians 4 Paul teaches that grace has been given to each believer which can be used somehow in accordance with another gift Christ has given (7), and we find out later on that gift is leadership (11). If I understand this text correctly, pastors are tasked with equipping the saints for the work of ministry (12) and, as such, they help each saint live out the transforming grace given to each believer. Therefore, though each believer is empowered by the Spirit to live out the Christian life, they will be hindered or helped by those who are teaching and equipping them. I take all this to mean that a missions movement among any people group or in any location of the world will be helped or hindered by the leadership there. Are they teaching the Bible accurately (2 Tim. 2:15), which includes teaching the core of the Bible, the gospel and how it applies to believer and unbeliever alike (see Rom. 1:12-16; 16:25; Gal. 1:8-10)? Are they showing Christians how to share their faith and to make disciples (see Mt. 28:19-20; 2 Tim. 2:2)?

As I pray through the very helpful resource, Operation World (by Jason Mandryk), I discover that nation after nation and people group after people group is short on trained leaders or struggles in some way from poorly trained leaders.

All of this leads me to believe that helping to train the 3.2 untrained or undertrained pastors throughout the world (along with other leaders who lack basic training) can have a large impact upon the spread of the gospel throughout the world.

Parentless

This area of focus is one in which there is heart-wrenching need. There are 145 million orphans worldwide. This is also a mercy ministry in which the gospel is displayed in a strong way. After all, every person who truly trusts Jesus Christ as savior has been adopted into the family of God (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:5-6; Eph. 1:5). Though at one time we were not part of the family, now we have received God’s mercy and are part of his family (1 Peter 2:9-10). What a great picture of the gospel adoption is and what a great opportunity to evangelize and disciple someone who may not otherwise hear about Jesus Christ!

So, for these reason alone this need is worthy of our attention, time, and resources. But, God is also doing a work in our congregation to give people a passion for orphans.  Some of this has come from God bringing families here who have adopted. Given what God is doing, this is also an area we will regularly focus upon here at MEFC.

Poor and Persecuted

This final area is also one that has been a passion of people who are part of our congregation and so seems to be a direction in which God is leading. This is true from Be The Gift Nebraska ministry to single parents here in Minden all the way to Mission II Haiti ministry with water wells and the Voice Of the Martyrs ministry to the persecuted.

Not only is it important to stand with those brothers and sisters around the world who are harmed and even face death because of their witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ, but part and parcel of following Jesus Christ is ministering to the needs of those who hurt (Isaiah 58:1-12; Mt. 25:31-46; James 1:27).

And So…

Each of the six missions areas I have chosen to prioritize here at the MEFC is an area of great need, is also the passion of someone(s) else in the congregation, and finally each is a passion of mine.

With all this in mind, let me make just a few more points about application.

First, no one congregation can do everything and focus on all the missions needs. I realize that even the six I have set forth is more than enough for us. My desire is to teach upon them regularly, cast vision, see what God does with each, and I fully expect that some areas will emerge as valued by more in the congregation than others.

Second, when we can engage in ministries that combine multiple focus areas, these should become priorities among the priorities. For example, reaching out to international students in our area (proximate community) so the gospel can go back to unevangelized areas (peoples unreached), and then eventually to be part of training leaders among those peoples (pastors undertrained) should be a ministry that engages much of our time, prayer, and resources in the near and far future. Another example would be working in and through Mission II Haiti in such a way we not only help those in need (poor), but also partner with those helping orphans (parentless), and seek to encourage the training of leaders in Haiti who can make disciples and build up the Church to multiply there (pastors undertrained).

Finally, remember that in the June 22 sermon I mentioned the six ways we can get involved in one or more of these focus areas: Learning, sending, praying, welcoming internationals, mobilizing Christians to be involved in missions, and going ourselves. I encourage you to begin praying and asking God to direct you in the ways that he would have you be involved.

"Like P's In A Pod"

In Sunday’s sermon we introduced six areas of focus for missions, each of which begins with P. To give us a handle on all six we said we must be like “P’s In A Pod.” Since I did not have time to elaborate on each, I want to revisit three of them in this post. In my next post I will cover the other three.

Proximate Community

If we are to remain a strong missions-focused church that supports missionaries on the field, sends people on strategic short-term trips, and produces lasting fruit among the nations, we must make disciples here where we are. This is true for three reasons.

First, no one values missions unless they are growing in Jesus Christ and learning to value what he values. Most likely this will not happen unless a person is regularly in the Bible, praying, and unless they have someone else coming alongside  them to show the way. This fall we will unveil some tools that will help us be more effective helping each other grow within our Ironman/woman teams and Bible Fellowships. Typically as people grow in their understanding of the Bible and in their relationship with Christ, they will have a greater desire to make disciples and to order life by the Scriptures. This is the door to a missions-oriented life. Apart from this, people typically do not value missions.

Second, the knowledge, character, and skills picked up when people are discipled by someone else and, in turn, learn how to disciple others are the very prerequisites for reaching out to internationals in our own area  and for being the most effective on short-term trips. Such persons are essential for any missions movement within a congregation.

Third, as I mentioned in the sermon, the nations are coming to us. Hundreds of students from other countries come to the University of Nebraska in Kearney. A good number of them would love to have a home-away-from home and to learn about American life. And so, they would love to have a family or someone come along side them to befriend them from the area. Here is where what we are learning and what we are encouraging each other to do in Ironman/woman teams can serve us well. Take them with you to events, have them to your home, send them birthday cards, pray for them, and ask God to give you open doors to share Jesus Christ with them. When we win an international student to Jesus and then help establish them in the faith, we enable them to take the gospel back to their country. This is one of the most effective means of missions in our day—and it should be something in which any of us can participate.

Present Missionaries

There are a number of missionaries our church supports and also others with whom the church has connections. With each of these God has orchestrated things such that he developed the relationship with them and the congregation and also led them to the place in the world he wanted them. One of the most important ways we carry out the missions call is to care for and to support these brothers and sisters on the front lines. Every missionary needs a home church and also supporters who are praying for them, encouraging them, and helping them carry what is often a heavy load.

Wartime Missions Mentality

The following illustration of the importance of our giving ourselves to the endeavor of missions was given by the missions strategist, Ralph Winter, a number of years ago. It provides for us a great picture of the challenge we received in Sunday morning’s sermon (June 22, 2014) to be a light to the world. Read this and ask yourself the question, “Am I living by a peacetime mentality and acting like we are not engaged in a war for the souls of men, woman, boys, and girls, or am I living by a wartime missions mentality that leads me to make whatever sacrifices I need for the gospel to go to the lost?” After thinking through that question, ask and answer the question, “What must I do in order to live out a wartime missions lifestyle?”

The Queen Mary, lying in repose in the harbor at Long Beach, California is a fascinating museum of the past.  Used both as a luxury liner in peacetime and a troop transport during the Second World War, its present status as a museum the length of three football fields affords a stunning contrast between the lifestyles appropriate in peace and war.

On one side of a partition you see the dining room reconstructed to depict the peacetime table setting that was appropriate to the wealthy patrons of high culture for whom a dazzling array of knives and forks and spoons held no mysteries. On the other side of the partition the evidences of wartime austerities are in sharp contrast . One metal tray with indentations replaces fifteen plates and saucers. Bunks eight tiers high explain how the peacetime capacity of 3000 passengers gave way to 15,000 troops on board in wartime.

How repugnant to the peacetime masters this transformation must have been! To do it took a national emergency, of course. The survival of a nation depended upon it. The essence of the Great Commission today is that the survival of many millions of people depends on its fulfillment.

So, will we transform our lives from the equivalent of a luxurious cruise ship to that of a missions troop transport—utilized to carry people to Christ and win the war?

Jesus Christ: Monarch Or Mascot?

I have often talked about the domesticated Jesus that we put up on the shelf and take down only when convenient. This is a tendency we all have since it marks the religious component of the culture in which we live. In an article I recently read, “Beyond Loving The World: Serving The Son For His Surpassing Glory,” David Bryant (founder of Concerts Of Prayer, International), speaks of this same tendency in a sub-section he titled, “World Christians: Serving A Monarch, Not A Mascot.” It is so good I will quote it at length.

In so many of our churches, I fear, Jesus is regularly deployed as our mascot, as if our life struggles were something like a football game. Once a week on Sunday, Jesus is presented as if He were something like a mascot, trotted out to the field to cheer us up, to give us new vigor and vision, to reassure us that we are “somebodies.” We invite Him to reinforce us for the great things we want to do for God. He rebuilds our confidence. He gives us reasons to cheer. He confirms for us over and over that all must be well. We’re so proud of Him! We’re so happy to be identified with His name. Enthusiasm for Him energizes us—for a while.

But then, for the rest of the week, He is pretty much relegated to the sidelines. For all practical purposes, we are the ones who call the shots. We implement the plays, scramble for first downs and improvise in a pinch. Even if we do it in His name, we do it with little reliance on His person. There’s scant evidence that we think of ourselves as somehow utterly incapable of doing anything of eternal consequence apart from Him.

As contradictory as it may seem, many of us have redefined Jesus into someone we can both admire and ignore at the same time! To be our mascot, we’ve redesigned Him to be reasonably convenient—someone praiseworthy, to be sure, but overall kept in reserve, useful, “on call” as required. We’ve come to Him as far as we need Him, and no further.

If we insist on Jesus coming along with us as a helper in our games and excellent adventures, we will inevitably tame Him as our mascot. World Christians are just as likely as anyone to appeal to Jesus as a helper. But they rouse themselves fully awake to Christ, to be engaged in His greater story.

Notice who is not in charge in this way of thinking (Jesus) and who is in charge (us). This is not what it looks like to live as part of the kingdom of God that has come to us in Jesus Christ. This is not what it looks like to submit to King Jesus! How do we change this?  Meditating on the following two Bible passages will be a good start.

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” ² The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! ³ Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments; from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours. ⁴ The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” ⁵ The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. ⁶ He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth. ⁷ He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head. (Psalm 110, the most frequently quoted Old Testament passage in the New Testament and an amazing portrait of the coming Christ)

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. ²³ But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. ²⁴ Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death. ²⁷ For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. ²⁸ When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:20-28)

As these passages remind us, Jesus is not our mascot or a domesticated helper to be placed on a shelf and taken off when convenient. He is, instead, our Monarch, our King. May it be so!