Being a Barnabas: Sons of Encouragement

In this Sunday’s sermon, we ran into Barnabas for the first time. His name was Joseph, but he became known as Barnabas, the “Son of Encouragement.” As we go through Acts, we’re going to see why he is such an encouragement in the early church.  Barnabas was the real deal. He is a “what you see, is what you get” kind of guy. A man who sets an example for the church to look up to and is worth following as he follows hard after Christ. Are we the kind of person that disciples follow like Barnabas?
 
Barnabas was a guy who not only spoke the truth, but he also loved people well. Those two threads of truth and love must be braided together in our Christian witnessing to advance the gospel. Truth needs the tone of love behind it. The difference between his gift to the church and Ananias and Sapphira’s was that he wasn’t doing it for show or recognition. He really cared about people. Barnabas will prove himself to be a man who suffers great trial and hardship in his journeys to make Christ known, but he also knew how tough it could be. For men like Mark, who deserted Paul and Barnabas once before, Barnabas was man of second chances. He believed in Mark when others didn’t. Who in your life needs someone to believe in them right now?
 
Barnabas reminds me of Paul’s portrait of Timothy. Paul told the Philippians that he longed to send Timothy to them, saying, 

“I have no one else like Timothy, who genuinely cares about your welfare.”

Timothy genuinely concerned about people too. He really wanted to be a help to them. Do you genuinely care about people? Who needs a caring person in their life this holiday season? Do we really want to help them know and grow in the Lord Jesus? That’s a proper motive for ministry. Let’s be known at CBC for being people who really care about others!
 
Pastor Justin                                       ​