By Jeffery M. Leonard, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Religion, Samford University
Barnabas: Ongoing Encouragement
Acts 4:36–37; 9:26–27; 11:19–26
The Bible places a high premium on companionship. God has made us to live in community with one another, and we are not at our best as human beings when we veer away from this ideal toward isolation and loneliness. Even in the Garden of Eden, God is described as looking at the man and declaring, “It is not good that man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18). Marriage, family, friendship, society — all of these are avenues God has provided for us to interact with and learn to depend upon other people.
Of course the Bible does not lack for lonely people. Many people — often the Bible’s most important people — find themselves alone. These stories of loneliness are not held up as ideals though. They are generally tragic stories. Moses experienced loneliness as he was rejected by Egyptians and Israelites alike. Jesus Himself experienced this same kind of loneliness. In His moment of deepest need in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus chose His closest companions to stay nearby and pray for Him. But as Jesus poured out His soul to the Father, they fell asleep. Jesus would have to face His most difficult moments alone.
What Moses and Jesus and others needed in their times of trial was a companion, an encourager who could come alongside them and give them the support they needed to weather the storms of life they were facing. One of the Bible’s most vivid examples of this kind of encourager is a man we encounter in the New Testament, Barnabas.
Use what you have to encourage others. (4:36–37)
We first meet Barnabas in Acts 4, a passage in which we find him selling a field that belonged to him and giving the proceeds to the apostles to support their ministry. It is no coincidence that the author of Luke identifies Barnabas right from the start as “Barnabas, which means son of encouragement.” Barnabas will prove to be a “son of encouragement” in the rest of the book.
Encourage others by standing with them and being their advocate. (9:26–27)
When we next encounter Barnabas, it is at a moment of extraordinary tension in the early church. A man named Saul who had become a vicious opponent of the early Christians had supposedly had an encounter with the risen Jesus and had become one of His followers. But who could believe such a story? And who would put his own life in jeopardy to find out whether the story was true or not? The person who would was Barnabas. While everyone else was afraid, Barnabas went to Saul (soon to become Paul), accompanied him to Jerusalem and vouched for the genuineness of his encounter. Barnabas became just the support Saul/Paul needed at just the time he needed it.
Encourage others by helping them grow spiritually. (11:19–26)
Barnabas’ role as an encourager did not stop with Paul’s conversion. Fear of this persecutor of the Church was still alive and well among the early Christians. And so, just as he had done before, Barnabas went to Paul and accompanied him as he was brought to the other Christians. For a year in Antioch, Barnabas served as Paul’s character witness, giving him the support he needed to be accepted by the early Church.
In the annals of Christian history, few figures can compare with the might of apostle Paul. He is, by all accounts, a person of more weight and significance than a person like Barnabas. And yet we can say Paul was a gift to the Church delivered by Barnabas. Without his courage and encouragement, we may never have known Paul at all.
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