Good morning, brothers and sisters. I’d like you to turn with me in your Bibles to Acts 11. We will read beginning in verse 19 and read to the end of the chapter.
I think probably most of you are familiar with this story about Antioch, but I do believe there are some real lessons for us in this story that can both encourage us and challenge us in the Lord. So, let us read beginning in verse 19.
They then who had been scattered abroad
Through the tribulation that took place on the occasion of Stephen
Passed through the country to Phoenicia, Cyprus—pardon me—and Antioch,
Speaking the word to no one but to Jews alone.But there were certain of them, Cyprians and Cyrenians,
Who, entering into Antioch, spoke to the Greeks also,
Announcing the glad tidings of the Lord Jesus.And the Lord’s hand was with them,
And a great number believed and turned to the Lord.And the report concerning them reached the ears of the assembly which was in Jerusalem.
They sent out Barnabas to go through as far as Antioch,
Who, having arrived and seeing the grace of God, rejoiced,
And exhorted all with purpose of heart to abide with the Lord.
Now, in the King James Version, I particularly like the way that word is rendered: “Who exhorted all with purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord.”
For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and faith,
And a large crowd of people were added to the Lord.And he went away to Tarsus to seek out Paul,
And having found him, he brought him to Antioch.
And so it was with them for a whole year:
They were gathered together in the assembly and taught a large crowd.
And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.Now in these days prophets went down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
And one from among them, by name Agabus, rose up and signified by the Spirit
That there was going to be a great famine over all the inhabited earth,
Which also came to pass under Claudius.And as they determined, according as any one of the disciples was well off,
Each of them sent to the brethren who dwelt in Judea, to minister to them,
Which also they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
So, let us begin with a word of prayer.
Lord, we read Your Word, and we look to You because we know You alone have the words of eternal life. There is no one else we want to hear from. There is no one else we want to speak to us.
So we pray in the name of Jesus that the Holy Spirit would anoint this story that we are so familiar with. And Lord, if You have anything to say, speak. Lord, Your servants hear. We wait in Your presence.
We ask You to open Your Word, and we pray that You will do as You promised: You will watch over Your Word to perform it. And we ask this together in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
Well, as I said, I think most of you are familiar with this story in Antioch. Jack asked me about the title. The burden is Antioch and Barnabas: the movement, the man, and the message.
Now, we are not going to cover all that today. I do not want you to get too excited and start leaving early. But we will not cover all that today. I hope, by the grace of God, we can cover it.
I do not think this is a story that is just in the Word of God to tell us what happened in a bygone period in God’s working. I think, when you look into this story, there are real lessons for us. There is real encouragement, first of all, about how God moves. There are real lessons about whom God uses when He moves.
And I think there is a real challenge in this Word, and the Lord would speak to us something that is on His heart. So, I know many of you are familiar with this. I hope you will get something from what the Lord has to say.
I want to share with you kind of how it started. I was preparing, actually, for other messages for Newark, New Jersey, and it seemed to me like lightning: this verse in Acts 11:23 hit me.
This phrase in this verse in particular speaks of Barnabas, and it says, “And exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they should cleave unto the Lord.”
Now, I think that is good advice. I think that little capsule sermon is the best sermon we could hear. And that stuck with me like lightning. I remember it sort of slowed me down. I was looking at other things, and I began to think about this, and it began to weigh on me. It was like lightning; it came so bright.
And I thought, “Lord, this is Your message to us: that with purpose of heart we would cleave to the Lord.” Then, like thunder, it kept rolling, and the peals of thunder kept staying with me and staying with me.
So, once I got through Newark, I began considering whether the Lord had something for us here with Antioch and Barnabas. I began looking at the context, and that is when it came to me: it is more than just this message, as great as this message was from Barnabas.
We see something about the man of God. We see Barnabas, and we can learn something from this man of God. There are things told about him that, if God is going to use us and if God is going to choose us to serve His purpose, we should be like him. I believe they apply to us.
Then the encouragement to me was that God moved in this horrifically difficult time in the church. God is able to move in the most difficult times. It is His movement that we want. It is not man’s ideas. It is not our work. It is not our movement. It is His movement we are after.
So this began to be the burden as I looked at it in context. You remember the famous old saying—I do not know whom to give credit to, to be honest with you. I have heard Stephen say it, and I have looked on the web, that great resource that it is, and found maybe it was Tertullian. I do not know. I am still not convinced.
But it says, “A text without context is a pretext.” Now, I have heard Brother Stephen say that numerous times. But he goes on: “A text without context is a pretext for a proof text.”
Now, that may sound like a nursery rhyme to you, but actually it means something very important. Often, we take things out of their context and make them a proof text for what we believe. In fact, it is a pretext—something we use to justify our own position.
Whole movements have risen up in Christianity over simple phrases and verses. They took it to mean that God was doing something here, and they built the whole thing around this simple thing. Often, if you look deeper and consider the whole Word of God, you see the context is more important.
So that is what I did. I began to consider the context, and the Lord began, I think, to speak to my heart that this was His movement. We can see how He moves, first of all. But we do not just need to see His moving; we need to see whom He uses.
That is why Barnabas and those other unnamed ones—those unnamed others that God used first in Antioch—are important. Maybe we are one of the unnamed others. But nevertheless, God wants to use us. He is looking for a man.
Finally, what was on my heart is that He does not just want to move. He does not just want to find a man. He wants to speak to us what is in His heart. So, if that helps you to gain an overall view, that is where this burden originated and where I am coming from this morning.
Let us begin by looking at the movement. I believe this is an extraordinary movement of God in Antioch. You may not agree, but I think it is an extraordinary move of God.
It is actually a changing point in the book of Acts, where we see God moving in a way—in establishing His testimony—in a way that we have not seen before and hardly seen since. This was one of the greatest moves of God in all of church history: in Antioch, where He did a new thing by His Spirit, moving upon that place.
I think the Book of Acts itself is an extraordinary masterpiece. It is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. You know, we often talk about things as one-of-a-kind masterpieces.
I was at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts the other day. They needed a structural engineer, by the way. I was not there to look at art. I am not too good with art. But they had this big neon comet, supposedly. It was some very expensive and famous sculpture. It just looked like neon glass to me. But what do I know?
Of course, they wanted to hang this thing in the most obvious place—right when you walk into the museum—to be able to behold this thing. That is what they wanted to do. And to them, it was a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
Well, it was glass to me. But nevertheless, I could not tell them that, or I would lose the job and probably be embarrassed. So we were there looking at this one-of-a-kind masterpiece, wondering how we would handle it.
Acts is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. It shows us God’s moving. It shows us the men God uses. It shows us the message for the church. It is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
I was reading the other day that they said the first literary one-of-a-kind masterpiece was the Sumerian Shakespeare from the tombs of Ur, back that far. One of a kind. But there is nothing like the Book of Acts.
We see in the Book of Acts the thing God does. We see in the Book of Acts the men He raises up. We see in the Book of Acts His Word to His church. In that way, it is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece that exceeds everything else.
It is of tremendous value. It is not man’s masterpiece; it is God’s masterpiece. And I think we need to understand how important this book is.
Now, for all of you King James Only people—and I know you are here, because I happen to like the King James too—but you know who you are. I do not like very much the title they have given this book. They call it The Acts of the Apostles.
Now, I think that is unfortunate. If this were only the acts of the apostles, what value would it be? But I believe this book, this one-of-a-kind masterpiece, this movement of God, would have a better title if it were expanded.
I think it should be called The Acts of God. Now, you may not like that. But not just The Acts of God; it should be The Acts of God through the Holy Spirit, by the Holy Spirit, through the apostles and the church.
Now, that is probably why they did not name it that—it was too long. So Darby, I like what he did. He just said, “The Acts.” That is good enough for me.
But, brothers and sisters, this is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. God shows us what He did in the infancy of the church. God shows us those whom He used in the infancy of the church. In the end, God shows us what He wants to say to us.
So I do not think there is anything that can compare to this one-of-a-kind masterpiece.
Another thing you will notice about the Book of Acts: it is an unending masterpiece. It does not have an end.
You know, the Book of Acts—you have heard Brother Stephen, you have heard Lance, and you have heard many who have shared on the Book of Acts—and they say the Book of Acts does not end. It continues.
Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit is still writing the Book of Acts down to our day, all through church history, and down to our day, until the end. He will be writing this wonderful masterpiece.
We can say the ink never dries in this divine masterpiece. That, to me, is the importance of this book. I believe we can appreciate what God says in this book.
Now, let us talk about this matter of God’s moving. First of all, it is God’s moving, not man’s moving. Men start movements, but God moves by His Spirit.
God’s work will remain. Man’s work may not remain. But God’s work and God’s Word are forever. That is the encouragement to us. Whatever He does remains. Whatever we do might change or fail.
So you need to look at the Book of Acts from the perspective that it is God’s moving, not man’s moving. That is the first thing. You need to really understand that.
One of the things that encouraged me the most, as I looked in the text of this story, was that God could move in the darkest of circumstances. I wonder if we really believe that.
There are a couple of verses. I will just read them to you. Turn again to the text of Acts 11:19. There are two almost identical verses.
They then who had been scattered abroad
Through the tribulation that took place on the occasion of Stephen
Passed through the country to Phoenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch,
Speaking the word to no one but the Jews alone.
That was when Stephen was martyred. I think you know what that means. But turn over to Acts 8:4—an almost identical phrase:
Those therefore that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.
Now, this is the point, brothers and sisters. This was a period of great persecution in the church of God, in that infant church. It was an infant church. It had just had its beginning, yet hell released all its power against the church, and the world released all of its resistance against the church.
They were set on destroying this testimony from the beginning. Yet the encouragement in the Word of God, in this Book of Acts, in this masterpiece, is that God Himself works in the darkest of circumstances. That ought to encourage us.
Sometimes I think that is God’s canvas. He likes to work in the most impossible situation. Sometimes I think it is His medium. He thinks this is the best time to show the people of God that He is Who He says He is.
It ought to encourage us. I do not know about you, but I look at way too much news. Every day, it seems—every moment—the press has locked into this phrase: “Breaking news.”
It drives me crazy. I wish they would quit saying “breaking news,” because I just heard that breaking news five minutes before. But it is always breaking news.
When you listen to the news, when you consider the world that we live in, think how dark a place it is. I tell you, many of us did not think we would live to see the kind of persecution we are starting to see.
When you read about the Middle East, and you read about those Christian children placed before their parents and shot, hung, and abused—what persecution.
You may say, “Well, brother, this may not be the church. This may just be a group of people who are historically Christians.” But make no mistake about it: just like in the Book of Acts, the forces of hell are against everything that has “Christian” in it or on it.
That is breaking news. That is what we need to see. It seems to me that the enemy has unleashed an assault, just like he did in the early church, that will grow and grow.
As we look at those who are being persecuted and those who are suffering, we begin to realize that we are living in a similar day. You may think—and we heard last week about Sardis—that nothing like this could ever happen in America.
You may think you are safe. But believe me: breaking news—persecution begins. Does God give up? Does God throw up His hands?
This is the encouragement: He worked. He used this point in the church’s history, when they were being persecuted, when Stephen—that martyr—was killed with the consent of Paul. You know the story.
Stephen said, “Forgive them; they do not know what they do,” just like the Lord Jesus. He looked up and saw the glory of God, and he saw the Lamb standing at the right hand of God.
Brothers and sisters, in that dark hour, God began to move again. He sent these ones out. You would think the enemy thought he had the church. The enemy probably thought he could now destroy the church. He could inflict the church with such pain, take away its message, disperse them, and dilute who the church is.
But instead, just the opposite happened. They went into all those places, and Philip began to preach the gospel. Here we read that in Antioch they went, and those who had been scattered abroad through the tribulation passed through the country to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the Word to no one but Jews only.
Now, do you see, brothers and sisters? The Lord used persecution. Do you see how, in the darkest of times, the Lord actually built His church?
What is the saying? “The blood of the martyrs is seed for the church.” We heard that last week. It seems to me that the encouragement the Lord gave me is this: when times get darkest, you may see My greatest movement.
That is the word of encouragement I think we ought to lay hold of. The church has always been persecuted. There will be times when there will be greater persecution. The enemy wants to destroy His church, but we can always hear the echo of the Lord Jesus saying His great promise:
I will build My church;
And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Is that not good news? Brothers and sisters, to me, that is good news. What a promise that is. What an eternal promise.
He did not just say, “I will build My church.” He specifically said to Peter, “And the gates of hell”—whatever is unleashed, the very depths of hell—“will not destroy My church.”
So, to me, this is the darkest of times, and this is the greatest encouragement. God’s movements are in the darkest of times.
You remember, this is a theme in the Bible. You remember Joseph. All of you know the story of Joseph: Joseph cast in prison by his brothers, sold in slavery. You know the story.
God used this man so greatly. And what did he say?
Ye thought evil against me;
But God meant it unto good.
How God used that dark time. As a matter of fact, I was reading that again. It is in Genesis 50, near the end—Genesis 50 is the end of Genesis—and verse 20 is not far from the end.
It seems to me that the same message is there: He will use the darkest days, the darkest things. In that dark time, He will build His church.
Think of the children of Israel in Egypt. It is called the house of bondage. We know how dark that was for the children of Israel, but we discover something great of God moving in that darkness.
What a deliverance. What a salvation. What a move of God, that He would deliver them from that darkness and bring them out to Himself.
Think about Babylonian captivity. I often think about Babylonian captivity. You think the testimony of God is lost. There is no testimony in Israel. There is no testimony in the world.
He is referred to only as the God of the heavens, but He is not referred to as the God of the heavens and the earth. Do you not think those may be dark times? The darkest times.
Yet God began a restoration work. He raised up a man. He raised up more than one man. They were used by God: Ezra, Nehemiah, Zechariah, and Haggai. All were used by God, that in the darkest period the testimony of God would be strengthened.
That is what I believe this story is about.
I often think of Revelation 6—the story of the martyrs under the altar. I do not need to explain it in great depth, because Jerry has before. But it is interesting to me, their comments.
They said to God, “How long, O Sovereign Ruler?” That is what they said.
Now, I tell you what: I will speak for myself. I may not speak for you here, but I believe I might have been one who said, “How come?” I believe we often do that. I believe I might have been one who says, “Why me?”
When we go through dark periods, is that what we do? Are we the first to say, “How come this has happened? Why has this happened?”
But they knew something—maybe something we did not know. They said that glorious phrase, “O Sovereign Ruler.” Think of it. They knew the Lord was on the throne.
They knew that in the darkest period of their life, certainly, there was a divine hand moving. There was a divine God overseeing. There was a divine God working and doing His work in the midst of so great darkness.
That, to me, is a real word of encouragement. Brothers and sisters, do you know that He is on the throne? Do we know that?
When we hear all these things, what did the Lord say? Did He say, “Run for cover and duck?” He said, “Look up. Look up, because your salvation draweth near.”
Dear brothers and sisters, I think this is the encouragement here.
I was reading in Daniel, and I think the whole message of Daniel might be expressed in just a few phrases. Let me read Daniel 4:17. This was in the dark period in the captivity.
That the living may know
That the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men,
And giveth it to whomsoever He will,
And setteth up over it the basest of men.
This was the lesson: that the living may know that the Most High ruleth over the kingdom of men. Look at Daniel 4:25, the second part, directly to Nebuchadnezzar:
Till thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men,
And giveth it to whomsoever He will.
And look at Daniel 4:26, the second part:
After that thou shalt know
That the heavens do rule.
What a powerful verse. Brothers and sisters, when we are considering the days of evil that we live in, when we are considering the things that are beginning to press upon us—maybe like in no other generation before—this needs to be our declaration: the heavens do rule.
That was the message in captivity. Surely someone could have said, “How can that be?” But, to me, that is the encouragement that we see. God’s sovereign moving is in the darkest of places as well.
I do not know if you know much about Antioch, but Antioch was a dark place. Not unlike the United States, Antioch was the third-largest city in the Roman Empire, next to Rome and Alexandria.
It was a place of commerce. It was a place of prosperity. But it was a place of deep decadence. As a matter of fact, I read this story and thought it incredible: even the Romans—now, you know how decadent the Romans were—even the Romans were ashamed of those in Antioch.
Now, brothers and sisters, that is a good lesson to know when you are in trouble. If senators are ashamed of what you are doing, then you must be in some deep, dark place.
Yet the encouragement that comes in the Word of God is that in this dark place of Antioch, there was a mighty move of God. That is the good news.
We give up. You may be like me and say, “I have given up on America. She has lost her way. I have given up on England. I have given up on France.”
But thank God, He does not give up. That, to me, is a real encouragement: that He could move in Antioch.
It was the capital of Syria, the residence of the Roman governor, and the gateway of the Middle East. Such prosperity—think of the United States. Such commerce—think of the United States. Such decadence—think of the United States.
Yet this is the place where God began to move, the greatest move since the movement in Jerusalem. To me, that is a word of encouragement.
So great was this movement in this dark place that Acts 11:26 says, “And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” Amazing.
That was not a title they gave themselves. It was actually a title of ridicule. The world gave it to them. The world did not know what to think of these believers.
They looked at these believers, and it was such a contrast from what they saw in their city. What they saw was Jesus. They saw Jesus in these believers. And when they saw the Lord Jesus in these believers, they said, “They must be Christians.”
What a name. I think those believers in that dark place must have worn that as a badge of honor.
I was recently reading about some of the awful tragedies and persecutions in the Middle East. ISIS, that evil group, would go from door to door in Iraq, and they would mark an Arabic nun on the door if you were Christian. It was “Nazarene.” You were a Nazarene, like Jesus the Nazarene.
I remember hearing later about brothers and sisters who took that Arabic symbol of shame and made buttons and pins from it. They wore it in support of those who were persecuted, saying, “I am a Nazarene.”
Believers were first called Christians in Antioch. That seems to me to show how tremendous this move of God was in this prosperous and decadent city.
Even though it was meant as derision, when those unbelievers looked at them, that was all they saw. Brothers and sisters, when the world looks at us, what do they see?
I often wonder, what do they see? Do they see Jesus in us? Do they see the living Christ in us? Would you dare be branded a Christian by the world?
Would they look at you and say, “Surely you must be His”? That is what they did in Antioch. In the darkest place, He did the greatest work. That seems to me to be great encouragement.
Another thing He did: in the darkest place and in the darkest circumstances, He established His testimony almost like no other time before and no time since.
You know, the oneness of the body of Christ really was brought into view in Antioch. You know how the Book of Acts begins with Jerusalem. They were all Jews who were saved. You know that.
It looked like this new movement of God might just be a sect of Judaism. That is what it appeared to be. But then we see God’s moving on Peter—a Hebrew Jew.
He had that vision. You know the story: Joppa and Simon the Tanner’s house. He went upstairs, was on the roof, fell into a trance, and a vision came down of a sheet filled with all kinds of quadrupeds, creeping things, and unclean things to any good Jew.
The message came clearly from God:
What God hath cleansed,
That call not thou common.
The Lord used that. He moved in such a way that this Hebrew Jew went when the servants came from Cornelius’s house—the centurion’s house. This Hebrew Jew went with them.
Peter was astounded. As he began to talk, the Holy Spirit fell on these Gentiles. The Holy Spirit fell on these Gentiles, and they believed in the Lord Jesus. He said in his reaction, “Surely God is no respecter of persons.”
Now this great movement begins, so that we see the oneness of the church. Then you go over to Acts 11, and out of persecution these ones went down to these places.
Notice what it says. It says they first spoke to the Jews. That is what they thought. But read on a little bit more:
But there were certain of them, Cyprians and Cyrenians,
Who, entering into Antioch, spoke to the Greeks also.
Brothers and sisters, this is a tremendous move, because God erases the barriers between Jew and Gentile. He establishes the oneness of His church and the oneness of the body of Christ.
It was not done at Cornelius’s house. That was just a family and a band with a family. But when it comes to Antioch, the doors of the gospel are fully opened to everyone to believe—whether you are a Jew, a barbarian, a Scythian, free, bound, female, or male.
This was the movement of God. This was the greatest movement. All you need to do is hearken back to when the Lord Jesus, at the end of the Book of John, in John 17, was praying that high priestly prayer. He said, “Father”—what was His prayer?
That they may be one,
Even as We are one.
Here is what God is doing. Here He erases all the distinctions. Here He erases all the things that divide, and here He establishes one testimony.
Brothers and sisters, I believe that is of tremendous encouragement. This was His great work: to bring all Jews and Gentiles into oneness.
Campbell Morgan said this—I like what he said—God erased all the distinctions between Jews and Gentiles.
Another brother said this; this was not Campbell Morgan. He said, “It results from no immediate action of the apostles.” Did you notice Barnabas was not there yet when that happened? Did you notice that Saul was not there yet? It was later.
It seems to me God’s greatest movements are by these unknown ones, these unnamed ones whom He uses to build up the oneness of His church. Brothers and sisters, I think that is us.
Thank God He did not send Peter, as He did to the house of Cornelius, or you would give Peter credit. Thank God Saul was not on the scene yet, or you would give Paul the credit. Thank God Barnabas had not been dispatched from Jerusalem yet, or you would give Barnabas the credit.
His working and His moving are His work, not man’s work. The great encouragement here is that His work can be done by those unnamed and unknown. I will be more emphatic: His greatest movement can be done by those unnamed and unknown.
How that begins to encourage me in the Lord.
There is another thing I think we can notice from this story in His movement. Some people make a mistake about this. They say, “Well, Jerusalem is the mother church.” You know, you have heard that. I know you have all heard that.
“Jerusalem is the mother church.” So, dutifully, the mother church, wanting to control this new infant church in Antioch, dispatches whom? Barnabas. “Go, take care of things. Get it right. Get them in order. Get them straight. Bring them into the fold.”
You know, that is what they must have been thinking. But, brothers and sisters, it is not Barnabas who moves. It is God who moves first.
When you look at this, I believe it is not control, and it is not the mother church. It is fellowship in the light. That is the difference.
No church controls another church. Only the Head of the church controls the church. You cannot have Jerusalem controlling the church. She sends Barnabas to the church to help the church, but she does not send Barnabas to the church to control the church and make the church in Jerusalem’s image.
That is a mistake we often make, as if there is some sort of central church. All the exchanges that happen after that are exchanges of fellowship, not control.
We see a glorious thing. They send Barnabas—how encouraging that is—this son of consolation. But we also see how, when Jerusalem got in trouble at the end of the text we read, and the famine came as prophesied by Agabus, they sent aid.
Whoever had sufficient, they sent aid to Jerusalem. It was fellowship. There is a difference, brothers and sisters. This, to me, is God’s moving.
Now, I want us to think a little bit about the man: Barnabas. I think there are some real lessons for us to learn from Barnabas.
This is the first thing that seems to impress me. You can weigh it before the Lord. It seems to me that although God sovereignly moves, He wants man to be in movement with Him.
God is the worker. I love what Brother Nee says. If you have not read his old book, God’s Work, it is about that thick. You could read it in one sitting. But Brother Nee makes it very clear that God’s work is God’s work; it is not man’s work.
But I believe there is another thing in there that he says which is so powerful. What God is looking for is a co-worker—not a worker, but a co-worker—to come alongside.
Together, God has determined that He will use man to do His work. Now, is that not incredible encouragement? Think of it. Does He need us? Certainly not. Does He call us? Certainly. Will He use us? It is throughout the Word of God.
We see it when He calls Noah. We see it when He calls Abraham. We see it when He calls Moses. What does it say of Moses? “Moses, the man of God.” We see it when He calls David.
I love that phrase in 1 Samuel 13:14: “And the Lord hath sought Him a man.” What a tremendous thought.
It seems to me this God, this Most High, this Supreme One, is not willing to just work by Himself. From creation, He had this idea of a companion—a companion for His Son. He had this idea that He would bring men alongside to be co-workers with Him.
I think that is one of the first lessons of the Bible, and I think it should encourage us very much. It seems to me that, in a way—and if this is too strong, forgive me—He ties His hands with man. He will work, but He wants to work in conjunction with man.
What a glory that is, when you think that He did not work with the angels that fell, but He sought out the seed of Abraham, Hebrews says. How tremendous that is. It is a very great encouragement.
Now, when Barnabas first comes on the scene, he comes on the scene in Acts 4. Turn to the verse—maybe one or two verses—Acts 4:36-37:
And Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas,
Which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,
A Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
Having land, sold it,
And brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Notice, we were just talking about Cyprians and Cyrenians. Is not God sovereign? Here is a Cyprian by birth, raised up, who was a Hellenistic Jew, possessing land and selling it, bringing the money and laying it at the apostles’ feet.
You know this story in the Book of Acts. I think people interpret this story wrongly. They sort of see Christianity as somehow socialism: all of us that have give, and then everybody else can share. Or they think of it as a kinder communism: you need to give what you have, and we will share it.
But, brothers and sisters, I think there is a different message here. I think that message is that Barnabas was not compelled; he was constrained by the love of God. What a difference.
Do we turn things into law? Certainly we do. But here we see a man—a man God uses, a man God chooses—and he was able to be constrained by the love of God, so that out of his freewill offering, he gave of himself and helped those who were in need in the church.
This seems to be a great thing. No wonder the apostles recognized him. No wonder they gave him the name “son of consolation,” or “son of encouragement.”
Brothers and sisters, what we need in the church today is sons of encouragement. We need more Barnabases, if that is the right way to say it. I do not think it would be Barnabys. I suppose it would be Barnabases. We need more like this.
We need those who are constrained by the love of God, overwhelmed by the mercy of the Lord, so that when you see them, you see something different and say, “He is a son of encouragement.”
She is a daughter of consolation. I do not want to offend any of you ladies; that is because I am not very politically correct. But there is neither male nor female. She is a daughter of consolation.
This is the man God is looking for.
I believe there is another thing about Barnabas: he did not try to control God’s work. Oh, I think this is a very hard lesson for gifted ones, gifted men.
He went to Antioch, and it says he saw the grace of God, and he rejoiced. He exhorted—and we will talk about that next time.
But, brothers and sisters, I think this is a real key to the kind of man God is looking for. He does not want you to control the work. He is not interested in that. He is looking for ones who will come alongside the work of God.
Too often the work of God has been controlled by men, and we see terrible results. But here is one in Barnabas, this man constrained by the love of God, who came in and saw what God was doing.
Now, if I could share just a little bit of testimony for you folks who are newer here—I mean newer than me, and I have been here along with Jerry since 1972—most of our problem here in Richmond has been those who come in and think they know what to do.
They think they have the answer. They think they know what God’s movement is, and they think they can step in and sort of fix all the problems. I believe that is absolutely a wrong attitude. May God deliver us from such men. We do not want that kind.
You may say, “Well, brother, you are not admitting your problems.” Oh, I will admit our problems. You come have lunch with me. We have many problems.
They are never solved by people who come in and take control. They are never solved by people who say, “I have the answer. I know what your problem is.”
They are solved by men like Barnabas, who come in, see the grace of God, and come alongside. That is what we need. Brothers and sisters, that is what we need: more Barnabases.
Well, I hope this is speaking to you in the same way it speaks to me. I remember reading a verse one day. It overwhelmed me. It became a personal prayer.
I was reading Jeremiah, and I came to this verse: Jeremiah 45:5. You probably know it.
And seekest thou great things for thyself?
Seek them not.
Brothers and sisters, that is the kind of man Barnabas was. Notice it says Barnabas was a good man. It does not say Barnabas was a great man.
The Lord even said, if you want to be great, you have to be least. This is Barnabas. This is the key, I think: this good man, this good man God was able to use.
I cannot imagine Barnabas ever thinking of himself as great. I heard Stephen say something one time. I would like to fellowship with him more about it. But he said, “The era of great men is gone.”
I said, “That is a profound thought.” I believe the Lord is looking for some good men. That is the testimony of Barnabas.
I have a son-in-law who is a Marine. Now, I just fumbled that ball, because I think he tells me, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.” So I cannot say he was a Marine.
But the Marines had a slogan. I thought it was a good slogan: “They are looking for a few good men.” That is what Barnabas was: constrained by the love of God, able to make a difference, and able to be used by the Lord.
I think another thing about Barnabas is that he always laid down his life for others. Have you noticed that? In your reading about Barnabas, have you noticed that he always laid down his life for others?
You remember Saul was saved on the Damascus road, and you remember what happened. Of course, the church in Jerusalem and the disciples in Jerusalem were very skeptical of this fellow. He was only ravaging the church, to use his own words—such strong words.
He was participating in directing the death of that martyr Stephen, where God moved so greatly afterward. But here Barnabas, that good man, went and found Paul.
He took Paul and stood up for Paul until they were comfortable with Paul and would give him—or Saul—the right hand of fellowship. Here is someone who always cared about others.
Now think of the consequences of that. That is about my problem: I always try to think, “What are the consequences of that?” No Barnabas, no Paul. No Barnabas, no half of the New Testament written by the Apostle Paul.
Do you get it? How much impact Barnabas made on church life and church history when he went and sought out this one whom others did not want to be with. He always laid down his life for others.
Then he went to Antioch. You remember, they sent him to Antioch. When he was in Antioch, think about it: this apostle could have had the whole work to himself. He could have been the main fellow.
But it says in Acts 11:25-26:
And he went away to Tarsus to seek out Saul;
And having found him, he brought him to Antioch.
Is that not tremendous? I do not know if you have thought it all the way through, but Barnabas became eclipsed by the Apostle Paul.
In the beginning, when you read the Book of Acts, you will see “Barnabas and Saul,” or “Barnabas and Paul.” But later on, you read in the Book of Acts and it turns: “Paul and Barnabas. Paul and Barnabas.”
This brother, this man God could use, always laid down his life for others. He laid down his life for the Apostle Paul—twice he did it—and he went into obscurity because he laid down his life for others.
Think of John Mark. Think of the story. I think people get that story backwards all the time. You may disagree with me, and that is okay.
You remember, it says there was a very warm feeling. Well, it was kind of like Linda and me disagreeing. This was more than just a little warm moment. They were divided over the issue of taking John Mark with them.
It simply says, “And Barnabas took John Mark to Cyprus.” We do not hear from Barnabas again.
He laid his life down. Think of the consequences. No Barnabas, no John Mark. No Barnabas, no Gospel of Mark, where we see the Son of Man, Who always straightway went to do the Lord’s work.
That is the man God is looking for. He was willing to be eclipsed by the Apostle Paul. He was willing to disappear, to go with John Mark to Cyprus, and to help this young man along the way.
The glory of it is that we read in 2 Timothy, as the Apostle Paul finally says to Luke, “Bring Mark to me. He is serviceable to me in the ministry.”
Why was he serviceable? Because there was one who was willing to lay his life down for him.
Are we that kind of man? It seems to me that is the man of God’s choosing. That is the man God is after. May the Lord find such ones here.
I think we have tried to look at the movement of God. God is sovereign. Thank God for that.
Thank God for the encouragement that He is always on the throne, that He can move in the darkest situations, and He can move in the darkest places. What encouragement, brothers and sisters. That ought to steel us for the days ahead.
We ought to be like those martyrs under the altar: “How long, O Sovereign Ruler?”—waiting for His coming, as our brother Stephen prayed this morning.
Then I think of the second thing: God is looking for a man. God is seeking a man. Now, when I say that, I do not mean one man. You get what I mean, I think. He is looking for that kind of man.
He shows us one of these kinds of men: unselfish, a son of encouragement, one who laid down his life for the brethren, disappeared from the scene only to bring others to maturity. What a man of God.
I still suppose, if one day you get the privilege—and you will—of meeting Barnabas, you might be tempted to say, “You are a great man.”
I think he would say, “No. I was constrained by the love of God.” A good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.
Are there any here who are Barnabases? I hope so. I hope so. If there are, God can use some. If there are, God will choose them. If there are, He will do His sovereign work with these ones.
Shall we pray?
Lord, we commit these words to You. Lord, You alone, again, have the words of eternal life. We ask You to be merciful. Open our eyes to really see what is in Your Word. Open our eyes to hear what is in Your Word.
Whatever has been spoken of You, watch over Your Word to perform it. Lord, we want to be those who see Your moving in our generation. We do not believe it is a past thing.
We want to be those whom You can choose and use for Your purpose. Lord, nothing would be better than to say of us what is said of David: that we served the purpose of God in our generation and fell asleep.
Lord, raise up many Barnabases here. Deliver us from men looking for something for their ministry, their name, or control.
Give us instead these sons of consolation to help us along the way. We believe You are willing. We make that request knowing it is all God’s work.
We ask these things in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.