It is time once again for Biblically Speaking, a podcast taking material from God’s Word and making it relevant to those living in the world today. I am your speaker, Jeremy Butt and I look forward to taking the journey with you from biblical learning to practical living.
The title of this week’s podcast is the Barnabas Factor. The text comes from Acts 4:32-37. In the midst of the early church having an attitude far from selfishness, they were bringing proceeds of the sale of houses and land and laying them at the feet of the apostles for distribution to those who needed them. It is in this setting we are introduced to Joseph, a man whom the apostles called Barnabas because of his encouraging nature. What was it about Barnabas that the apostles saw in him?
Other texts reveal more information about Barnabas. When Saul of Tarsus had obeyed the gospel he eventually came to Jerusalem to associate with the disciples. When they were unsure about the legitimacy of his being a disciple, Barnabas stood up for Saul by describing how he obeyed the gospel after seeing the Lord on the road to Damascus and also how he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus. Barnabas was being an encourager in Acts 9:26-27.
Even in the midst of an argument, it seems that Barnabas was being an encourager. You well remember the spat between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15:36-41. Barnabas wanted to take along John Mark with them on their follow up preaching tour to see how the churches were. However, Paul did not want to take him because he deserted them at Pamphylia to return to Jerusalem. A heated disagreement ensued that led to Paul and Barnabas parting ways. Paul took along Silas headed to Syria and Cilicia, and Barnabas took along John Mark sailing away to Cyprus. Though the argument caused a separation between Paul and Barnabas, it seemed that the desire to take John Mark might have been an encouragement to him. Paul later says of John Mark that he is useful to him for service (2 Tim. 4:11). Perhaps the encouragement given by Barnabas had helped to mold his character from a deserting worker to a determined worker.
What exactly is encouragement? One definition is the act of drawing alongside or lending energy to get another going. I like this definition. In fact, there’s an easy way to illustrate it. When your battery dies in your vehicle, you need to find someone who can supply the power from their car’s battery to get you going again. Your car battery is drawing the energy from the other battery. This illustration is so simple yet so practical, as we all need encouragement at times.
What are some ways we can be an encourager? Here at West 7th we are reorganizing part of our visitation program that makes contacts to the shut-ins of our congregation. The group is being renamed the Barnabas Factor. We will be mailing cards and making phone calls to people to encourage them. The people we encourage feel uplifted and energized because someone made it a point to show they care. If you’re at West 7th and you want to find a way to get involved and become an encourager, please come to our luncheon after Bible classes on Sunday, April 17 in the Family Center. We will discuss the reorganization of this program and how we can all be better encouragers.
Barnabas had what it took to be an encourager in the first century church. Let us all learn from his example as we strive to build our fellow Christians up each and every day. We can have the Barnabas factor in our congregations today. Paul writes “therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11). Thank you for listening to this week’s edition of Biblically Speaking. Look for us on Facebook, and don’t forget you can email me any suggestions you might have for the program. I look forward to being with you again next week to study God’s Word. Have a marvelous day!
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