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We've telepathically communicated, but then he sent you to Acts 26, so it didn't work out, but that's okay. Acts 11. It was great to hear. It was great to hear Paul's story, and in fact, tonight I'm going to tell you about one of Paul's companions.
So it's great context for us to hear about Paul's conversion. And tonight I'm going to preach to you about a man who had a very significant role in Paul's life. But I want to begin this evening with a parable, a parable of my own design, if you don't mind.
Jesus, of course, so often preached in parables and metaphor to all the people, and he pointed to the birds and the flowers and to the shepherds and the bread and everything around them, and connected it to important spiritual truths.
And tonight, I want to ask you to picture, if you will, the produce aisle at your grocery store. Now, since about May, if you've been to the grocery store any time this summer, one large section, I expect, has been devoted to strawberries.
Big, bright red strawberries. And given how many strawberry farms are here in New England, perhaps even you have a family tradition like I did when I was growing up as a kid, a family tradition of going to the strawberry farm and picking.
Well, my parable for you tonight is this, when it comes to strawberries, that the Church of God is like a field of strawberry plants. We both grow and spread. We both grow and spread. Now, notice first that I said we and not it, because the Church of God is not an it, it is a we.
It's not a thing or an institution, and it's most especially not a building. It is a group of people, a miraculous group of people, that spans nations and cultures and generations. We are the Church, and the Church made up of every believer to have ever believed on the great gospel of Jesus Christ, both present and past.
Well, like I said, we, the Church, both grow and spread like a strawberry plant. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, like any other fruit plant, strawberries grow upwards towards the sun, towards the bright lights, becoming fuller and greener.
And, you know, when they're still immature, like in, say, early May, they produce only these tiny red berries, or small berries even, they're not even completely red yet, they're splotchy with white in the red, right?
But when they're mature, they grow up into these big, huge, luscious, beautiful, nourishing, juicy fruit. And, if you've noticed, of course, strawberries, like any other fruit, they do contain some seeds, they've got some seeds there, which can be collected and can be sown far and wide to grow new plants for a field.
But the primary way that strawberries reproduce and spread is by producing runners. Now, these runners are these little stems that shoot out along the ground, away from their source, reaching out to find good soil nearby.
And it's the tips of those runners, when they land in that good soil, that they turn to grow roots and stems of their own, and they become daughter plants. Now, those runners, I'm going to say to you tonight, are the unsung heroes, so to speak, of the strawberry field and of the Church of God.
The big, juicy, red berries get all the acclaim, and probably rightly so. After all, the purpose of the Church is to grow mature, Christ-like believers who produce many fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
But it is the lowly runners along the ground that spread the gospel. One local step at a time to make more plants in the first place. So, this evening in our text, we'll be looking at such unsung heroes, and one in particular that we know as Barnabas.
Now, when you read through the Book of Acts, you'll first see him in chapters 4 and in chapter 9. But now, in Acts 11, our text tonight, he returns to the narrative, as if Luke has just sort of briefly pulled aside the leaves and the stems of that young, growing strawberry plant that is the church in Judea to reveal this runner, Barnabas, underneath.
So, turn with me, please, to Acts, chapter 11. And my challenge, we're going to be in verses 19 through to 30. And my challenge to you this evening is to ask yourself, what can I learn from Barnabas in Antioch?
And here's how we're going to attempt to answer that question. First, we're going to see how Luke sets the scene for what's going on in Antioch, a Gentile revolution. And then second, how Barnabas was the right man for that moment.
And third, and hopefully practical for all of us, how the church at Antioch bore fruit as a result. Or, to hammer home the analogy, how God prepares the soil, then sends the runner, and then grows the daughter plant.
So, let's look now to Luke as he sets the scene in chapters, sorry, in verse 19 through 21. Now, those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia in the north, and Cyprus in the west, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.
But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists, also preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord.
Now, verse 20 and 21 here, in particular, they are a hinge verse in church history. Because all that has come before and acts has been building up to this. First, Peter, on Pentecost, preaching to the Jews of Jerusalem and converting those thousands of souls.
And then second, like as an ever-expanding sort of circle, next comes Philip, who preaches to the Ethiopian, and then to the Samaritans, who are half-Jews, sort of a bridge outward. And then next comes Peter to Cornelius.
Peter goes to Caesarea and he preaches to Cornelius, the first Gentile convert. And yes, he was a Gentile, but he's the one who sought Peter, not the other way around. Peter didn't go out to him, Cornelius called for him.
And Luke tells us that Cornelius was a God-fearer, is the term he used, which means he was something of a convert already to the Jewish faith. And that's how he had heard about Paul, and heard about Jesus, and wanted to hear more.
But now finally, here at stage four, we get to Antioch, and it's the first time, just tucked away in these little verses, that we hear a general proclamation to any and all. And note especially, though, that there's two things.
One, in verse 19, it took persecution to get these folks out of Judea and into the world. They're finally now obeying the Great Commission. And interestingly, this is a pattern that's then been repeated frequently in history of the church ever since.
That we paradoxically seem to spread the most when we are persecuted the most. And when we have it easy, we tend to rest on our laurels, and grow very little, or spread very little. But two, also notice that the first men to start preaching, an open call to the Gentiles here in verse 20, they go unnamed and unheralded.
They are just simply referred to as men of Cyprus and Cyrene, upon coming to Antioch, speaking to the Hellenists, Greek-speaking non-Jews. Antioch was evangelized, one commentator says, not by apostles, but just by the average members of Christ's body, who were willing to share their faith.
So there we have it. Antioch now is a soil well prepared, and in fact, already seeing conversions here at Antioch. And it's to this soil, then, that Barnabas is sent. Look at verse 22. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
Now, we've met Barnabas before, way back in Acts chapter 4. We're not going to turn there for the sake of time, but when we first hear of Barnabas, it's during the description, actually, of the story of Ananias and Sapphira, and the whole business there when they held back some of their property and didn't gift from all that they had promised to offer.
Barnabas is set as a contrast to them. Barnabas is talked about here for the first time as someone from Cyprus, as well. He's a Levite, and he is one of the people who does sell his property and give generously to the Lord and to the offering.
And then we pick him up again. We see him again in Acts chapter 9, when Saul, who's just been converted, the story that Bob read us tonight, that just after Saul's conversion, he goes to Jerusalem. Naturally, everyone's a little unsure, kind of freaking out a little bit about this guy who just only days ago was seeking out and trying to persecute Christians and throwing them in jail, and now he's out there preaching Jesus.
And it's Barnabas, Acts chapter 9 tells us, who sort of takes Paul under his wing, Saul still at that point, takes him under his wing and vouches for him, encourages him. We'll also learn later, if you kept on reading in Acts chapter 12, that he has an aunt, Mary, and a cousin, John Mark, in Jerusalem.
And so perhaps it's this multicultural background of Barnabas, between the fact that he's a Levite and a native of Cyprus and obviously kind of well-traveled here, perhaps it was this that made the apostles think that he was the right man to send to Antioch to investigate these reports of the Gentile conversions.
But you know, I think more than that, of course, I believe God foreknew that Barnabas was the right man for the job. And I think he was the right man for the job because of three reasons. One, he had a good reputation.
Two, once he gets there, he has a good reaction. And three, he has a good response. He has a good reaction and a good response. Let's read verse 23. When he came and he saw the grace of God, he was glad.
And he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So look there.
He comes right in and as we already know, he is full of... Sorry. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. That is his good reputation. But more than that, as soon as he gets there, when he sees the grace of God, he is glad.
He is glad. That is his good reaction. He reacts with joy rather than with suspicion or with jealousy over what is going on here. And he exhorts with steadfast purpose. Encouragement just being, you know, his most natural reaction.
Because I want you to remember, his real name, if you don't know this about Barnabas, is that his real name is actually Joseph. Barnabas is his nickname. It means son of encouragement. Barnabas, that the apostles give him.
Son of encouragement. Or son of Periclesis. Which if you have heard that Greek, you might recognize Periclete in there. And that is the word that Jesus uses for the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit is our perfect helper and encourager.
Barnabas encourages the apostles with his giving in Acts chapter 4. He encouraged Saul, as I just told you, in Acts 9. And he goes on, in Acts chapter 13, he encourages John Mark by sticking up for him.
By assisting him, encouraging him to join him in his ministry. I mean, it is no surprise that he is forever known as the son of encouragement. One commentator asks, he goes, I wonder how Barnabas reacted when the apostles first applied this nickname to him.
Was he reluctant to accept it for fear that he might not be able to live up to it? Or did he rejoice at this honor and regard it as a stimulating challenge to prove worthy? Because Acts reveals that he did prove worthy of his new name.
Manifesting the grace of consolation as well as exhortation. And here is the thing, Barnabas was following our Lord's lead. He was following Jesus. Because Jesus, there has never been a greater encourager.
Jesus told us, in this world you will have trouble, he tells us. Which on its face at first might not seem like such an encouraging thing, but he is honest. Lying about a situation doesn't encourage, it only discourages a listener further.
But Jesus has an answer to that situation, doesn't he? Because he goes on and says, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Truly, if we think about it, the greatest encouragement from Jesus is to know that he will never leave us or forsake us.
And as we read in verse 23, he had his good reaction. He was glad and he exhorted them. You know, a lesser man than Barnabas, there are all sorts of ways that this could have gone sideways. He could have shown up and seen, and he could have reacted out of jealousy, because he wasn't the one who did the original preaching.
He could have reacted out of suspicion, like, okay, hang on, hang on, hang on. None of these guys heard from the apostles, so clearly they don't maybe have the real gospel. Let's go back and review. I want to make sure, are you all clear on justification by faith?
Before we move on here. No, he doesn't do any of that. In fact, you get the sense that he kind of steps back for a moment when he first arrives, and he just looks. He watches, he observes. The word saw in here, where it says that he came and he saw the grace of God, is the word horeo, which especially confers the idea of to see with understanding.
He observes carefully. He watches and he learns, instead of just barging right in and taking charge. And remember, he is a Levite. He is a Levite who could have showed up and pulled some kind of pharisaical rank.
Like, alright folks, look, I know that you all seem to be interested in Jesus, that's great, but Jesus, he was the Jewish Messiah, you guys are all Greeks, so first things first, we've got to make sure that you understand everything about the priestly system.
And I happen to be a Levite, so I can give you all sorts of education on all the sacrifices and all of the law of Moses before we, we just want to make sure that you know all this stuff before you can say that you're a believer.
No, he doesn't do that either. He doesn't do that either. Remember, God is working and Barnabas is pleased. He was glad. He was glad. So I encourage you to be like Barnabas. Be like Barnabas. When you see God working, will you please react with joy rather than suspicion?
Will you not look when someone gets converted and say, oh, I don't know about that guy. I assure you, I was once that guy. That people who knew me would have said, what do you mean that he is a Christian?
He's always been a, he grew up in a church with parents. They went to church on Easter and Christmas every year, right? There is no one beyond the grace of God, so let us not react out of either that or jealousy.
Let us not be like those who in the parable of the servants who were out there first thing in the morning working for the Lord all day long and jealous of those who show up at the very end and still get the same reward.
Instead, let us rejoice that they share in the reward with us. And then look, finally, that he's exhorting with steadfast purpose, encouragement. It's just this guy's natural reaction. In Mark chapter 9, do you know that the disciples tried to pull rank?
And Jesus set them in their place. So in that way, Barnabas being just like Jesus again. The disciples said, teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we told him to stop because he was not one of us.
And Jesus says, do not stop him. For no one does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me. For whoever is not against us is for us. Truly I tell you, Jesus said, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because of you belong to the Messiah.
Because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward. So that was his reaction. Now, I said reaction to distinguish from my third thought here when I said that he also had a good response, because there are some things that he did in immediate reaction, in the saw and the gladness and the exhorting.
But then he responds in the longer term with a long term investment. And that's in verses 25 and 26. So Barnabas went to Jerusalem to get the apostles? No, he went to Tarsus to look for Saul. Say what?
Go get Saul. That's what comes to mind. Now, when we're just reading through Acts, we can get through Acts in, you know, an hour, an hour and a half, if you're just reading straight through. So you might not recognize the time passage here, but it's been years since he helped Paul escape to Tarsus.
And as far as we know, he hasn't seen him since. He goes to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. The word, the Greek here indicates that it was a real effort to find him.
He didn't just show up and there's a big blinky sign that says Paul lives here. He had to really search him out. And the thing is, what's amazing about this, Barnabas, the runner, the unsung hero, it was brilliant because it was not just a good idea for the Antioch church to have Saul come, but it was a good idea for Saul too.
Because Saul, he needed to get off the sidelines. He had run off. After his conversion, he had done sort of this initial sort of burst of preaching and teaching, and then he had gotten sort of sent off back to Tarsus for his own safety, and he's been missing ever since.
Just off the scene. And then look what happens when he gets Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch, and for a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people. Talk about devotion.
Can you see the mentoring, the coaching going on here? Not just Barnabas to Saul, but then Saul to the people and Barnabas to the people. And certainly, again, Barnabas is following the lead of our Lord Jesus here, who plucked eleven from obscurity and trained them and invested in them so that they would be ready to change the world.
So we see God has prepared the soil in Antioch, and he sent his runners, the anonymous disciples first, to preach to the Gentiles and then Barnabas, and finally also now Saul to nourish and grow this new daughter plant.
So now finally, this evening, let us look and see how this daughter plant grows and flourishes. As I emphasized at the beginning, I want you to be clear here in the distinction between spread and growth.
The church has spread to Antioch. Now it is time to grow, but not necessarily in numbers when we talk about growth. We should never think about church growth in terms of numbers, but rather growth in godliness, growth in godliness.
It is in Antioch, verse 26b says, and in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. Now in those days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world.
This took place in the days of Claudius. So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
Have you thought about the significance first of being called Christian here? You know, previously all through acts they've been referred to as the witnesses, the disciples, the believers, now finally they are called Christians.
Most of you probably have heard this before, but the word means little Christs. Little Christs. And I can't help but read that. And in the light of all we have talked about this evening and think, these people look like Christ because they're imitating Barnabas.
They look like Christ because Barnabas first looked like Christ. It's Barnabas' partner here, Saul, eventually Paul, who some years later he'd write to the Corinthian church and he'd say, be imitators of me as I am of Christ.
And here we go, look at what they're doing. Just like Barnabas back in Acts 4 when he took each to his own ability to raise money and give to an offering, here they are. They're taking after him. They're going to take up an offering in verse 29.
Giving everyone according to his ability, sacrificing something major in order to donate money to care for those in need. And like Barnabas, when he came to them back in verse 22, when he did not look down on them for being Gentile, when he first arrived, they, the Gentiles, are not looking at the Judeans, these Jewish people, with some kind of racist or classist contempt either.
They recognize them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Do you know, this is an amazing moment, what we're reading here in this paragraph. Because this is very likely, as far as anyone can tell, the first charitable act of this nature in all of recorded history.
Did you know that? The act of one race of people collecting money to help another people. That is how Christianity is already changing the world. Turning the world upside down. That suddenly there has emerged in this province of the Roman Empire a religion, a belief, a faith that teaches that they are all one in Christ.
That there is neither Jew, nor Greek, nor male, nor female, nor slave, nor master, but all in one, and one in all. You could take it another way. That not just that this is the first time that they're called Christians, but now that they are Christians first of all.
They could have been Gentiles first, and only Christians second. They could have been pagans first, and only Christians second. But because they were Christians first, they felt a bond with all other believers, and were determined to help them when the need arose.
You too, be a Christian first. Be a Christian first. How do you describe yourself? Someone asks about, you know, who are you? What do you do? What do you do for work? Where do you live? What country are you a citizen of?
The first answer. The first thing to spring to your mind. Let it be, I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm a believer. And finally, in verse 30, who else are you going to trust with a big old pile of money?
Barnabas. They send it with Barnabas, of course. So from that, I want us to take away what you and I very practically can do here in West Boylston, and even in the Metro West, in light of what God has recorded here in Acts.
How are we to think? How are we to act? First off, I'm going to say that we ought to be generous. Barnabas was generous. Jesus was generous. Let us be generous. Let us be generous, not just with our money, our treasure, but with our time and our talent as well.
In fact, time in this day and age might be the most precious and most appreciated gift that you can give. Let us be generous with our time, especially to our fellow brother and sister in Christ. Barnabas gave a whole year to the church at Antioch.
So one, let's be generous. Two, let's find someone, and probably many someones, to imitate. Let's find someone to imitate. I'm not going to name names, but I'm sure that God has placed here at BBC or in your life somewhere someone who at least in some area demonstrates a Christ-likeness that you ought to aspire to.
It might be in hospitality, it might be witnessing, it might be patience or joy or prayerfulness or devotion to the scriptures. Whatever it is. Right? Your sin nature is going to rise up to make you jealous of them.
And instead the Bible says, imitate them as they imitate Christ. Imitate them. So one, let's be generous. Two, let's find someone to imitate in their Christ-likeness. And three, on the flip side, let's find someone to partner with or mentor.
We are disciples, yes, but we are also disciple-makers, every one of us. Every one of us, from the youngest to the oldest. Every chance I get, when I get a time, opportunity to speak at Cornerstone, I make sure to remind those Cornerstone teenagers that they are already leaders in this church.
That there is already a whole group of people in this church who look up to them, who think they are cool, who want to do everything like them. You know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about the even younger kids.
And so whether the teens like it or not, they are leaders. They are examples. And I am encouraging them to be disciple-makers. Right? And to set the example for them. The Great Commission says to make disciples, not just be a disciple.
And so whatever ministry you are in, whether it's formal or informal, maybe especially the informal ones, will you please find a partner? Grab somebody, maybe especially grab a young person. Get them involved in whatever it is you're working with, whatever you're doing, however you're serving here.
Get them involved. Partner with someone. Mentor someone. I want to leave you tonight with this. You know, though it's not in our passage today, there is one final great evidence of the growth in Antioch.
Because after this sort of narrative interlude, back in Jerusalem for chapter 12, if you flip ahead to, you'll see in the beginning of chapter 13, that this first Gentile church at Antioch, it becomes the sending church, the home base for the great missionary journeys of Paul.
It is not from Jerusalem, it is from Antioch, that Asia Minor, that Europe, and eventually the whole Gentile world, is blessed with the Gospel. And I'll ask, what might then be sent out from BBC? May you all who are here tonight, and those who watch this later sometime, may you all be unsung heroes like Barnabas, and whatever soil God has prepared for you, encouraging and exhorting and growing.
Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the example of Barnabas. In whatever ways he was like Christ, may we also be. Take us and mold us, and use us to further your kingdom, and bring glory to your name.
In Jesus' name, Amen.