Proverbs 18:21 says that death and life are in the power of the tongue. James 3 says that from the same mouth comes blessings and curses, and he goes on to talk extensively about the power of our words.
Maybe you’ve experienced something like this:
A young person was called to pastor, called to preach and teach the word of God. But the young person had a past. They hadn’t always walked with God in a worthy manner. They’d made bad choices, they’d sinned. But that life was behind them. Completely. They’ve made a complete turn from sin and truly repented and made the decision to live a Christ-honoring, holy, life. They still have a past, but Jesus has forgiven it. But someone in the church was not as quick to forgive. This person took it as their personal mission to try to prevent the young person from becoming a minister of God’s word. This person talked to other people in the church to persuade them. This person wrote an email to others in the church. All to prevent the young person from becoming who God had called them to be.
This person had a lot of power in their words. But someone came to the defense of the young person. This wise elder shielded the young person from the words that were meant to hurt and discourage. This wise elder shielded the young person from being dismayed and losing their confidence in their call. Had it not been for this wise elder, standing in the gap, speaking encouraging words, mentoring the young person to honor God in all ways with grace and truth…I might not be preaching to you this morning.
Words have a tremendous power. The writer of the Proverb I read was right. We can speak life or death with our tongues. Maybe you’ve experienced something similar to my story, or know someone who has. Maybe others have tried to hold your past against you instead of standing with you to encourage you in the new life you’ve been called to. Maybe you’ve stood with others and encouraged them before…or perhaps you’ve been the one to speak words that didn’t encourage. Wherever you find yourself this morning, God has a message for us through His Word.
I’d like to hold up the example of Barnabas to you this morning. He’s, in my opinion, one of the undervalued characters of the Bible whose contributions to the church sometimes get glossed over. He doesn’t appear much in the New Testament, but when he does, the example he gives to us is…encouraging, and helps us better understand the kind of person we should be in Christ when we are faced with the opportunity to use our words either to hurt or heal.
Join me in Acts 4:32-37, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. 33 With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all 34 that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. 36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.” (NIV)
See, Barnabas’s name wasn’t really Barnabas, it was Joseph. But, he was such a great encouragement to the church and to the early believers that they gave him the name Barnabas, which means son of ENCOURAGEMENT. They literally walked around calling this man the encourager, almost like it was his super identity, like Superman or Batman…he is Barnabas, the encourager. This is who he became in Christ.
In this passage in Acts 4, we start to see why he became Barnabas the encourager. Barnabas, even though we don’t talk about him much, was one of the ones responsible for the starting of the very first congregation of believers that became the church, the very first church was gathered in Jerusalem, but it was all Jewish converts. But when the gospel began to spread, Barnabas is sent to Antioch, and it was there that we were first called Christians, and Barnabas was an instrumental and important part of getting that congregation of Christians going as a church. He was one of the very first church planters.
In this passage in Acts 4, we’re told that Barnabas sold a field and gave all the money to the apostles to help in the starting of this church so that all who had needs would have their needs met through the church. Right away, before the church really gets going, while it’s still in its infancy, fueled only by the Holy Spirit and people who loved Christ, Barnabas was encouraging the body of Christ through his sacrificial giving to the church.
If you’ve spent any amount of time in any sort of church leadership either here or elsewhere, you know that even though the church generally tries to be very frugal in spending and to be good stewards of the money given to the church, it still costs money to run a church. Even if there wasn’t a building to meet in, the mission of the church often needs funds. Barnabas saw that he could encourage the church to do the mission of Christ by giving what he had so the church could meet the needs of others.
But financial giving isn’t the only kind of giving that is encouraging to the church, and what we see from Barnabas in other passages we’ll look at this morning is that he gave sacrificially in many ways to encourage the body of Christ. He gave his time, he gave his talents and gifts, he gave his words. And it seems, from what we can glean through Scripture about Barnabas, is that even when he had a strong disagreement with Paul, he still sought to encourage Paul in his own ministry. Even when they didn’t see eye to eye on some things, it seems that Barnabas did it with grace.
In Matthew 25 we find the Parable of the Talents, or the Parable of the Bags of Gold, that Jesus told. In it, He talks about the master of a house who is going on a long journey, and he calls his servants to him and entrusts them with bags of gold of varying amounts. He expects that they are going to use that gold to expand the master’s house and belongings. Two of them do just that, they use the gold that their master gave them, to bring in more for their master. But one of the servants just hid his gold away and did not use it for anything. The master comes back and commends the two servants who grew their master’s house and belongings through the use of the gold he had given them, but the servant who did nothing, he called lazy and took the gold from him and threw him out. The parable is meant to illustrate for us, servants of the master, disciples of Jesus, that He has given to us many things that can be used to grow His Kingdom…and He expects us to use them.
In Ephesians 4, Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit has given the church gifts, not for our own boasting or our own good, but rather so we can use them to build up, grow, encourage the church. Barnabas is a great example of just this. He used every talent and gift he had to encourage the church.
Let’s turn now to Acts 9:27, “But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.” (NIV)
Saul, before he became Paul, was one of the worst. He said so himself. He persecuted Christians, and sought them out to be tried and killed. Then he had this life-changing encounter with the living Christ. He began preaching in Damascus after his sight was restored to him, but he was ran out of town, so he went to Jerusalem to try to connect with the disciples in Jerusalem. Acts 9:26 however, tells us that they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.
They knew who he was before Christ. They had all heard about what he had done. They didn’t believe he could be any different, that he could believe as they did. But Barnabas…
Barnabas, filled with grace, the encourager, gave Saul a chance. He could have also been afraid, could have also refused to believe that Saul had been changed, could have continued to believe that Saul’s past was still his present. But Barnabas encouraged Saul through FORGIVENESS. After all, if Christ can extend forgiveness to someone like Saul who was responsible for the deaths of Christ-followers, who are we to withhold our own forgiveness? Shouldn’t we also forgive as Christ has forgiven us?
But what if Saul backslid? What if he was lying? What if he really hurt the disciples because of his actions? Aren’t those some of the same excuses we try to use ourselves? What if that person comes to Christ and then backslides? What if they don’t really mean it? What if they hurt me? I’m sure that Barnabas was aware of all the what-ifs with Saul, but he chose to encourage Saul’s new life through forgiveness. He stood in the gap for Saul, he backed him up. He gave him the benefit of the doubt and made a decision in that moment that he was not going to be afraid of the what-ifs, he was going to extend forgiveness and grace and trust to this alleged new believer, and encourage him to continue to pursue faith in Christ.
One of the things Jonny and I have noticed in our parenting journey is that our kids have a tendency to want to control what their siblings do, and if they can’t control what their siblings do, then they take that as permission to act up and do things they shouldn’t. Like, “He’s looking at me and I don’t want him to look at me like that so I called him a jerk.” And we have to emphasize and teach over and over again that you can’t control what other people do and say, you only have control over yourself and how you respond to other people. Barnabas had no control over Saul’s sincerity of faith. He had no control over whether Saul would turn them all in and have them all killed. Barnabas could only control how he responded to Saul’s supposed conversion. The choice was to encourage, or turn him away. I’m really glad he chose to encourage and forgive Saul.
Let’s look at Acts 11:22-26, “News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24 He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 25 Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” (NIV)
So Barnabas is sent from the church in Jerusalem to this new gathering of believers in Antioch who included for the very first time, Gentile, or non-Jewish, converts. He sees what’s happening there and recognizes that God is moving, that His Spirit is working in amazing ways. So he encourages them to continue in the faith, and we’re told that Barnabas himself was a man full of faith, and through his encouragement, a great number of people were brought to the Lord. Barnabas then goes and gets Saul (Paul) and brings him to Antioch with him so they can, together, there teach the new believers and disciple them and encourage them in the faith, and they do this for a whole year. Barnabas’s example of faithfulness, and the encouragement of his faithfulness, helped to really make the church in Antioch a strong community of Christians. And even though Saul was still a baby Christian himself, he encouraged Saul to teach and to help use his gifts to grow the church.
Finally, let’s look at Acts 12:25-13:3, “When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark. 13 1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” (NIV)
What we can trace from the book of Acts, from chapter 9:27 where Barnabas stood in the gap for Saul (Paul) and encouraged him through forgiveness, to Acts 11:22-26 when he brought Saul along to help him grow the church in Antioch, to this passage in Acts 12-13, is that Barnabas was also encouraging Saul through MENTORING him. Barnabas saw what God was doing in Saul’s life, he recognized that this person was someone who God had a purpose and a plan for, so Barnabas brought Saul alongside him, to teach him and be an example to him of how to be a disciple of Christ and how to encourage others in the church.
Barnabas seems to have had a fairly significant role in encouraging the budding ministry of the early church and the early ministry of Paul. I can’t help but wonder, would Paul’s ministry have been as impactful as it was without the encouragement he received in many ways from Barnabas? Would the early church have been as impactful as it was without the encouragement it received in many ways from Barnabas?
1. Who in your circle of influence do you see as having potential that you can actively encourage? And what might that encouragement look like?
2. Has someone ever stood in the gap for you, defended you when you were rising out of a bad choice, or given you the benefit of the doubt? How did that empower you do be faithful to the path God has called you?
3. How does Titus 2:3-8, 11-15 add to our understanding of what each believer is meant to do to encourage others in the faith?