“A personal relationship with Jesus Christ” has been a popular catchphrase in Western Christian circles for over a century. Theologically, there is merit in the phrase as we all must stand before God personally and cannot secure our salvation through the faith of others or our religious law keeping. We all must decide, on our own, to accept or reject Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. The problem with that phrase, coupled with American individualism, is that we, sometimes by default, make the Christian experience all about us and our journey. Taken to its conclusion, such a way of life benefits no one and sends us to a dark and lonely place. No one is there for us in desperate need, as we have not been there for others. In this forlorn state, the New Testament history of Barnabas steps onto center stage.
Barnabas first appears in the historical narrative of Acts chapter 4. Honestly, he would have never taken center stage or even gotten up on the stage at all. His real name was Joseph, but the apostles started calling him Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement after he sold some land and gave the proceeds to the church to help others.
Barnabas is a guy I would have loved to have on my team. In a self-centered world, Barnabas always looked out for others and found ways to encourage them in the fight. Barnabas sought to include Paul in the church family after the apostle Paul was converted from being a church persecutor (Acts 9:27). In a real sense, this was a massive risk for Barnabas as everyone knew Paul could have been fabricating a ruse to entrap other Christians and have them murdered.
“In a real sense, this was a massive risk for Barnabas as everyone knew Paul could have been fabricating a ruse to entrap other Christians and have them murdered.”
Eventually, the other apostles opened the door just a crack, but Paul was still an outsider. After a season of sitting on the sidelines, Barnabas deliberately searched for Paul and brought him onto the field of play (Acts 11:25-26). Barnabas later worked with Paul at his side in the first missionary journey out of Antioch, and from there on, he stepped aside and allowed Paul to take the lead in preaching (Acts 13:1-3). For Barnabas, it wasn’t about him and his personal goals. He didn’t care who got the glory as long as they were preaching Christ. He saw the potential in Paul when no one else would take a chance on him, and he encouraged Paul to be all that God created him to be.
Barnabas was not simply a “yes man” for Paul, though, and even locked horns with him over a decision to support another young man, Mark, who had followed them both but turned back due to the rigors of missionary life (Acts 15:36-41). For Paul, Mark had thrown in the towel and wasn’t worth the effort. For Barnabas, Mark was a young man who fell and simply needed to be picked up, encouraged, and supported for more incredible things to come.
The two men parted company over the debate, and we never hear of Barnabas again. Mark is another story, though. At some point, Paul’s heart was softened toward the young man. When we look at the final entries of Paul’s life, shortly before his execution for Christ, Paul asked another young man, Timothy, to bring Mark with him to support Paul in his final days (2 Timothy 4:11). In Colossians, Paul speaks favorably of Mark (Colossians 4:10), and in another theater of operations, Mark wrote the Gospel narrative that bears his name, probably at the dictation of the apostle Peter.
“For Barnabas, it wasn’t about him and his personal goals.”
In short, all the way down to today, we are still being blessed by the book of Mark because one man, Barnabas, made a deliberate effort to encourage a younger man who almost slipped through the pages of history. Imagine what might happen if we all consciously choose to put others first and work to encourage those around us. The call to encourage is not merely a good idea but a biblical command. When writing to the Christians in Thessalonica, Paul admonished the saints to “encourage one another and build one another up” and then commended them for doing that very thing (1 Thessalonians 5:11, NIV). I wonder if Paul thought of Barnabas when he wrote that. I wonder if he had Mark in his mind’s eye when he taught the church to follow in the footsteps of Barnabas.
Yes, the call is to encourage one another and, frankly, to do it deliberately and courageously. While people around us will blow it, can we remember that we, too, have fallen? Can we focus on the positive in others and see them through God’s eyes and all that God has created in them?
Yes, stepping up for others might be risky, as some will let us down or even burn us. Barnabas knew that, but he took the risk anyway, and eternity was better for his choice to build someone up. Whom can you encourage today, and how far will you go to lift them?
“Stepping up for others might be risky, as some will let us down or even burn us. Barnabas knew that, but he took the risk anyway.”
For the past few weeks, I have been listening to the audio version of the book Masters of the Air by Donald Miller, which recounts the history and personal stories of the American bombing groups in World War II. It’s a well-written book with both historical detail and harrowing narratives. In the chapter “The Anatomy of Courage,” Miller unpacks what built the courage of those flyers who faced a danger that we cannot imagine today. Much of it concerned the men’s tight bond with one another in the face of flying thin-bodied B-17s above 20,000 feet at temperatures well below zero. Once they crossed into Europe and Germany, they were the targets of German fighters. As the fighters pulled out of the attack or were shot down, the bombers and crew were then required to hold steady formations in daylight skies filled with flack and shrapnel piercing their planes from ground artillery.
In one of these flying fortresses, five crew members made a pact to stay by each other’s side if one got into trouble, and that’s exactly what happened. When the plane, littered with shrapnel, could not be saved, the pilot ordered the crew to parachute out. It was then that the men realized shrapnel had jammed the hatch to the ball turret underneath the plane, and the gunner within could not get out. As this morbid realization struck, the four pact-taking men above the turret assured their brother-in-arms that they were with him to the end. The plane went down. The man trapped underneath could not get out, and the other four perished together with him. They literally stuck to their guns with each other to the end.
Can you imagine that kind of encouraging loyalty? We must.
Consider the word itself: encouragement. Webster’s Dictionary describes it as a transitive verb meaning to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope—in other words, to put courage into another.
“They literally stuck to their guns with each other to the end.”
Because of Jesus, we have numerous reasons to be encouraged and put courage into others. In Christ, we can know with complete certainty that there is no condemnation because of what Jesus did in the Cross and Resurrection (Romans 8:1, NIV). In Christ, we see a day of judgment that will bring vindication for the children of God and holy wrath on his enemies. In Christ, we can know that our labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58). We can know all this and more. The problem is that sometimes when things get tough, we forget these realities. Sometimes, we just need to be reminded of these truths. We need to be encouraged.
Is that not what Barnabas did for the early church? Is that not what he did for the apostle Paul when he was young in the faith? Barnabas gave Paul courage, and thousands came to Christ through his ministry. Today, we have a major chunk of the New Testament written by Paul with the assistance of the Holy Spirit.
Barnabas, Peter, and eventually Paul put courage into Mark, who, also under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, wrote the quick historical narrative of Christ, which continues to lead an untold number of souls into eternal life with Christ today. The Eight Air Force put courage into one another, and together, they brought the Nazi war machine to its knees.
“Barnabas gave Paul courage, and thousands came to Christ through his ministry.”
Yes, following Christ will be a tough road at times. That is why God calls us to support and build each other up in the fight. At the end of the day, who knows how far our words and actions of encouragement may reach?
Whom are you going to encourage and build up today?
From Kingdomology.com. Used with permission.
