Sermon - St. Barnabas, Apostle

St. Barnabas Healing the Sick, Paolo Veronese, circa 1556

Generosity and Encouragement

1. Barnabas was generous and encouraging

2. What it means for us to be generous

3. What it means for us to encourage

A blessed feast of St. Barnabas to you dear friends in Christ! Many of the saints in the bible don’t always behave rather saintly, and we see many of their character flaws. Barnabas, however, isn’t that way. Throughout the book of Acts he is known for his generosity and encouragement. For that reason Barnabas is a wonderful example to us of what it means to be generous and how to encourage one another.

Barnabas was a Levite from the Island of Cyprus, a small but very fertile and rich island. He was originally named Joseph, but the apostles called him Barnabas, meaning son of encouragement. He’s introduced to us in the Bible when he sold one of his fields and gave the money to the apostles to be distributed among the needy christians and support the work of the ministry.

Later, after St. Paul’s conversion, Paul came to Jerusalem and attempted to join the Christians. But the Christians were all afraid of him and didn’t believe he had converted, since he had persecuted the Christians so harshly before. Barnabas, on the other hand, took Paul in and brought him to the apostles and explained Paul’s conversion. 

Some time later, as we heard in today’s reading from Acts 11, it was discovered that Greek speaking Gentiles in Antioch, Cyprus, and Cyrene were coming to the faith in Jesus. So Barnabas was sent to verify these things were true and encourage them. “When he came and 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.” Barnabas brought Paul back to Antioch and together they taught many many people. Interestingly, it was there in Antioch at that time that we Christians were first called Christians.

Barnabas and Paul stayed there until a famine arose in Judea, so at that time they returned to Jerusalem to bring them relief and aid. From Jerusalem Barnabas and Paul were sent off on the first great missionary journey through Asia Minor, going with John Mark. John Mark wasn’t able to complete this first journey, so when Barnabas and Paul went out on a second journey, Paul didn’t want to take John Mark again, but Barnabas was willing to give him a second chance. So Barnabas and Paul went separate ways, with Barnabas going to Cyprus. Tradition is that Barnabas stayed on Cyprus, preaching to his native people, until he was eventually martyred by being stoned to death after having been tortured.

Looking at that brief sketch of Barnabas we see a pattern of generosity and encouragement. The scriptures even give him the title of Apostle, even though he wasn’t one of the twelve. He is certainly a Christian man worth learning from and emulating. His generosity wasn’t just in terms of giving up his personal wealth, but in how he embraced others and welcomed them even when others rejected them. He had no real reason to trust Paul, yet, he took the risk and brought him into the fold. From there Paul went on many journeys and wrote much of the New Testament Bible. John Mark wasn’t the best traveling companion, yet Barnabas gave him another chance. John Mark went on to write the Gospel of Mark. When Jerusalem was undergoing a famine, Barnabas brought them aid and helped them. When the Jews didn’t want to welcome the Gentiles into Christianity, Barnabas stood up for them.

Not only was he generous, but he was indeed a son of encouragement. And here we need to define encouragement. Typically we think of encouragement just as a pat on the back and being told everything’s going to be okay, you can do it. But the word in Greek, and English, is more nuanced than that. It’s rather a holy urging, motivating and inspiring believers to hear God’s particular message for their particular situation, and then live accordingly. As such, encouragement can mean exhortation, warning, comfort, or whatever the situation demands. So in Antioch the scripture says that Barnabas “exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.” Or Barnabas and Paul went to Jerusalem during the famine, not just to deliver aid, but likely to comfort them and give them hope in the Lord.

So why did Barnabas do all of this? Acts says: “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” Perhaps more powerfully, it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians, thus, Barnabas spoke of Jesus with such fervor that when people thought of Barnabas they thought of Jesus! Barnabas was so generous and encouraging because the Holy Spirit lived in Him and Christ had made him his own. What a wonderful example Barnabas is for all of us Christians. Would that the Holy Spirit filled us with such faith and fervor for Christ that people would immediately identify us as Christians!

Because of the generosity and encouragement of Christ, Barnabas was the way that he was. Because of the generosity and encouragement of Christ, because we are filled with the Holy Spirit and faith, we should be like Barnabas too. We should strive towards generosity and hospitality. “As we have opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.” 

I have a notion that we are entering a period very similar to that of the early church. Christianity is less popular, and in some ways our teachings may soon be illegal. Our beliefs are misunderstood and considered immoral by many already. Already the days have come where Christians are losing their jobs or being passed over for promotions because of their beliefs. As the household of faith, we need to be generous and be ready to support one another. When new Christians come into the faith, we need to welcome them, even if they have a rough past. When Christians fall and make mistakes, and many of us will, we need to be willing to forgive and overlook their mistakes and give them second chances. Barnabas was always quick to defend his fellow Christians, and we need to do likewise. When the world is ridiculing some Christian, we can’t join the world and mock our fellow brother or sister, instead we must defend them and stick up for them, even if it’s unpopular.

We also need to encourage one another. Barnabas “exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose.” Encouraging one another doesn’t mean we just slap each other on the back and say generic nice things. Rather, it means we must know one another well enough to speak to each other with accuracy and precision according to what each person needs. Sometimes maybe that means giving sage counsel about various life dilemmas as they arise. But I think something we all need to hear is what Barnabas taught the Antioch church: faithfulness to the Lord with steadfast purpose.

It’s not easy to be a Christian who believes so many counter-cultural things. It’s not easy to live opposite to the way this world often lives. It’s only going to get more difficult. Therefore, some of the greatest encouragement we can give each other is to remain faithful when we’re tempted to give into our sinful temptations. Remember, we aren’t faithful to God without purpose, but we have steadfast purpose  in remaining faithful to God! We are faithful because God has promised us a better way and an eternal inheritance in paradise. We are faithful because God is faithful to us, and didn’t spare His own Son so that we might live. He shed His blood for our forgiveness that we would be raised from the dead. We are faithful to Him so that we might receive the fruits of His labors. Moreover, we are faithful so that others after us may be encouraged to also be faithful and stand the test. Whether we are martyred like Barnabas or not, let us remain faithful unto death and be known by all as Christians.