Son of Encouragement (Part 1 of 2)

Throughout the centuries, God has consistently used or very people in extraordinary ways. He takes a lump of clay and out of it he makes something beautiful today on Truth for Life. We are beginning a new series called jars of Clay as Alistair Begg shares the story of an ordinary man who became known as the encourager acts chapter 11 in verse 21 the Lord's hand was with them in a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. Use of this reached the ears of the church of Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas to Antioch when he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God.

He was glad and encourage them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit in faith and a great number of people where brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he found him, he brought them to Antioch so for a whole year. Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.

The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. During this time, some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Angela stood up and through the spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. This happened during the reign of Claudius the disciples, each according to his ability decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. This they did sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul comment, can I ask you to do one other thing turn forward in your Bibles to Romans 16 I just want to show something two-year for a moment and introduce our study tonight. If you look at Romans chapter 16 virtually the whole of the chapter deals with greetings that were given to people who were colleagues and fellow workers and individuals who were known to Paul in his ministry. And if you just dip into the list at any place et al. you will be introduced to people, many of whom we have no other record of and all of the Bible.

For example, Athanasius in verse five, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. I could never answer that if somebody had asked me tonight, who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia, I would've said, who knows. And the answer is the Lord knows and Paul knew and he wrote it down here in Romans delete Mary verse six, who was Mary. Well only know about Mary is that she worked very hard for you. However this character. In verse eight amply assess or are Banas or Stankus and so on. All through this list. Most of them.

We know nothing about and yet already. They share their reward in their voices mingle with the praises of those who've gone before us into heaven if I could get one thing across tonight. I think it would be this truth beyond any other. It's not a new truth is just a word of reminder and it is this that the church not only in the first century, but in every subsequent century has been sustained and blast and enriched not by those who were prominent, not by those who were apparently heroic, but largely predominantly by those who are unsung heroes by individuals whose names were never printed up in lights by people who were known perhaps only to a few in their immediate circle by some who were perhaps tempted to believe that as they made their pilgrimage through life and is the end of their days and went on into eternity. They had really died in significantly. What we discover when we read the Bible is that there is no one who is insignificant in the purposes of God and none of us lives to ourselves and our guys to ourselves. And so, whether we live or whether we die, we do so, as unto the Lord. One of the characters who has more prominence than some have been mentioned here in Romans 16 and Jed was not the most significant even in his day or amongst a circle is the individual whom we've come to refer to as a result of the biblical record as the son of encouragement or the encourager were referring here to Barnabas, we could almost call and Barney. I think he would've been called Barney if he been around don't feel that it's sacrilegious. I don't think it is. He was just a man like eyes and I can imagine that he would've liked to have a title. I can imagine that he would like to have been distance from people in any way at all.

I think children as well as elderly people throughout the whole spectrum of life would all have had something to say concerning this character, Barnabas will introduce to them in the biblical record for the first time in acts chapter 4 acts chapter 4 tells us that things had been going quite incredibly well for the believers they were united in prayer than they were united in purpose and were enjoying our precious unity of heart and mind. As verse 32 tells us towards the end of the chapter. All the believers were one in heart and mind. Boy there is a description for your average church meeting. Is it not how would you like that to be that that is the designation that went over your annual general meeting someone says well it was just tremendous.

All the believers were of one heart and one mind, that are not to be a surprise to is not a forlorn hope because the spirit of God is the one who creates that unity and then it goes on to tell us of the characteristics marks of the church that was effective in its day, and it tells of the fact that these individuals touched by the spirit of God were manifesting the change in their lives, not simply in their worship, not even in their prayers but also in their conduct in the way they treated one another and also in the very practical realm of their possessions and their attitude towards their possessions as our some people the other day of an individual whom I know who is now in Washington DC. He worked for a time in a church on the West Coast and involved in the pastoral team he would be the recipient of a number of calls people offering is seeking to sit and be counseled by him, and he was a very busy man and wasn't necessarily given much to counseling but was prepared to counsel and so he would tell people when they called that wanted to speak to them said yes I'm very happy to talk with you and when you come bring your checkbook. There would always be a part of the other end of the phone and the P would say bring our checkbooks and he would say yes, that's correct. And they would then say why have you started to charge for the counseling and he said no I'm not charging for the counseling. I just want you to bring your checkbook because if you bring your checkbook. Then I will see where your heart is and if we could've looked into the checkbook of Barnabas on that day, we would have discovered where his heart was indeed were told in verse 36 events for that he had sold a field which he owned and he had brought the money and he put it at the apostles feet.

What about a little thumbnail sketch of this individual. His religious status will notice he was a Levite's roots went right back into the purposes of God to the tribe of Levi, which had been set apart by God from this tribe would come those who would render service in the temple courts and when this individual called Barnabas's real name was Joseph when he traced his roots back. He traced them to the tribe of Levi concerning his origin. He was a foreigner, a foreigner, he came from the largest island in the Mediterranean Cypress and he was not immediately one of the group there from North Africa.

He was from overseas, albeit only a wee bit overseas but nevertheless he came from somewhere else.

But the thing that is most significant about him is not his religious background nor his country of origin but is the fact that he was given a nickname now some of us have nicknames that were not prepared to let anybody know about the were given to us at school and when they were given to as we disapprove the little statement that when sticks and stones may break your bones, but names will never hurt you. The fight is names are a lot more tarnishing than sticks or storms will ever be and were not going to have a display this evening of nicknames by the AMA provide interesting conversation over a cup of coffee later on. Every so often somebody will be given a nickname which is just so good that it replaces their name and in this case. That was true.

He was called Barnabas given the name because the name means son of encouragement and it was this factor about Barnabas, which made him the influential character that he was in his day.

He was able to console and to exhort those who were in his company and everywhere he went. This was his point of departure.

That's were told in acts chapter 4.

When you turn on to acts chapter 9 find that this is borne out the next time you read of Barnabas in the acts of the apostles's five chapters later.

The next chapter 9 in verse 23 we read of the fight that the Jews had conspired to kill Saul, who was no called Paul and day and night. Verse 24 tells us they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. The reason was that Saul had now begun to appear in the synagogues and he was actually proclaiming the fact that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the one who had died for sin, the one who would become his friend and his Savior, and the Jews didn't like that you like it far better when he was trying to shut down the Christians didn't like him as a Christian in verse 25 were told that the followers of Paul to come by night and lured him in a basket through an opening in the wall.

It's a great story of minutes. It's just quite tremendous that they can imagine the situation of how he was under siege and all the time he was being watched and we would say to. There's no way in the world you're going to get out of here because if you go out they'll see you and when they see you. You're a dead man and then somebody we don't know who it was. Maybe Paul who knows, probably somebody else's name. We don't know when we get to heaven.

This guys going to be going around say hey you know that thing in acts chapter 9 about the basket. How was my idea I came up with that. You know, did you and that's that was good. We spoke about that one evening at Boca Raton.

It was it was it was an interesting point his followers to come by night lured him in a basket through an opening in the wall and the next thing you know is he's arriving in Jerusalem but look at this in verse 26. How easy is it to join your church when he came to Jerusalem.

He tried to join the church join the disciples but they were all afraid of him not believing that he really was a disciple. Now we can sympathize with them. After all, this was a radical change in his life, was it not. He had certainly not been very prone towards the things of Christ. Up until this point.

Nevertheless, their fearfulness and their unbelief does not command us to them as a group what it mean for Paul. I don't know what this man nor do you in the immediacy of these events. How did he try enjoying the disciples zoomable he found out where they where Eddie went to somebody's home and he said I'm Saul of Tarsus and I love the Lord Jesus and I just made an escape in a basket and I came to introduce myself to you and the door closed in his face, then off he would go down the street to the location of some other body and he would go through the same thing again and again, the door would close in his face how he must've said to himself. Is this what Christianity is all about.

Is this the way it's supposed to be on the Christian supposed to be people of faith on the Christians, the ones who are supposed to believe all things, and whole Paul thing.

Words that he was later to write when he wrote to the Corinthians in first Corinthians 13 jury think about when he penned those words. Love is this in love is that love is the next thing he understood what it was not to be loved by those who profess to be loved by the Lord Jesus Christ dear ones, as an aside, let's say this tonight.

It is a dreadful tragedy in the church of Jesus Christ in our day to discover how many people get the door closed on their face. How much harm we cause Jang and tender Christian because they've come from a background that we actually never expected anybody to get saved out of or not. We just believe that God is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we can ask or even imagine what he can save people like that or he doesn't want to.

And if he does I sure hope he doesn't send them to our teacher. Remember one lovely story along similar lines of a church out on the West Coast again in the 60s during the hippie days and out was a very fine church and everybody came properly dressed in the right kind of style in the right kind of haircut in the whole business and suddenly hippies were starting to get converted and some of the people were really disgusted at this and they weren't pleased to have them coming and there was one evening when a guy appeared off the coast. There in San Francisco and arrived in this church. His hair was all down on either side of his face.

He had a beard in the beads and he had no shoes on and he had bell bottom jeans and they were all afraid at the ends and when he walked in. None of the archers greeted him and so he continued to walk and there were no seats. The church was packed, and as he looked along the Rose nobody move and so he continued to walk, and eventually having walked all the way to the front and still never having found a seat. He sat down right in the middle of the aisle, crosslegged on the floor and there was an ostensible groan went through the congregation. People nudging one another and saying to each other what the world should we do now and it was just at that point that they saw the senior Deacon start to walk from the back. I'll small man in a three-piece suit with a pin in his tie and as they saw him going farther and farther and farther towards the hippie.

They were saying to themselves, he will take care of them. He'll take care of him and they watched him as he walked right up to the young man and he sat down on the floor and he crossed his legs beside that we man was a Barnabas one, Barnabas out of a group of 500 made the difference in a brand new converts life. Some of us have been reared in environments in conservative fundamentalist evangelical Christianity, where the motto of so many of our churches has been ours for no more shut the door were very happy to have our little group. We know who's in it. We know who we want to be in it and we know who we don't want to be in it well when that exists in the fellowship of God's people. We are just in point of identification here with the group in Jerusalem because Saul himself had no place to go and there was no one to take him and then come these four fantastic words that begin verse 27 but Barnabas took him but Barnabas took four or eight words suitable for a tombstone. I mean it would be enough. Would it not, I would be happy if they put it on my stone concerning one individual, but Alastair took him that would be enough. That would be in could die content.

See Paul needed somebody at this juncture in his life somebody to encourage him somebody to lead him somebody to introduce them. And God looked from heaven, and said now who will I use for my servant Saul and who did he think he picked a character that he had been forming all along he picked this individual. A foreigner from Cyprus, a man who'd been given a new name, a man with a great religious background. A man by the Nathan of Joseph, but everybody called him Barney because he knew he was just the kind of fellow that would be ideal for the tax know you see those four words in verse 27 are the key to what we discovered in verse 28. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. He talked and debated with the Grecian Jews. They tried to kill him and soon he was on his way again. But the key to all of that was in this individual Barnabas. The key to Paul's ministry in that day lay in an unsung hero. Do you realize how important this kind of ministry is. I'm sure you do. Many of you wouldn't be here tonight what it not for the Barnabas. It's lovely. What it says it doesn't say that Barnabas redirected him or Barnabas drew him on my or Barnabas suggested someone he might talk to.

But Barnabas took him. And when you take somebody. It involves time. It involves efforts and it involves a rearrangement of your plans. And since most of us are cagey with our time are not necessarily committed without effort on don't like our plans being rearranged as much as we want to be Barnabas we may be one of the disciples that close the door and Saul's face is we didn't want to give up the time a challenging start to a new series called jars of Clay on Truth for Life with Alistair Begg of justice Barnabas was an encouragement to Saul. All of us are called to encourage one another to spur each other on the walk of faith.

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It's titled discovering the good life. So many people seem to be caught up in an endless rat race constantly pursuing happiness but never finding themselves satisfied with this new book presents a refreshing alternative. The authors Tim Savage and he summarizes the story of Scripture through the theme of three trees. He talks about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil found in the garden, beaten the tree of life, the book of Revelation and the root of Jesse Christ himself, as we consider the significance of these three trees in redemptive history, we find the abundant life is not as elusive as it may seem. Learn how to find abundant life in Christ when you request your copy of the book, discovering the good life go to Truth for Life.org/true partner or you can join the true partner team and request the book by calling 888-588-7884 if you prefer to write to us. Our address is Truth for Life PO Box 39, 8000, Cleveland, Ohio and her ZIP Code is 44139 Bob Lapine hoping you can join us tomorrow as will continue learning about Barnabas and how we can be encourage others to the Staley program features the Bible teaching of Alistair Begg and it's furnished by Truth for Life for the Learning is for Living