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Well, good morning, and I'm very pleased to be
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able to bring to you the readings for this morning.
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We're going to carry on looking at some of the
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key events in the life of us. We'll begin with
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Acts chapter 11. This one actually we did have
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last week, but we're going to read a little bit
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further. So some of these verses will be familiar
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to you from last week, but not all of them. Acts
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chapter 11, starting in verse 19. Now those who
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had been scattered by the persecution that broke
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out when Stephen was killed, travelled as far
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as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the
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word only among Jews. Some of them, however,
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men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and
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began to speak to Greeks also. telling them the
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good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord's hand
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was with them and a great number of people believed
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and turned to the Lord. News of this reached
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the church in Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas
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to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the
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grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged
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them all to remain true to the Lord with all
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their hearts. He was a good man, full of the
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Holy Spirit and faith. And a great number of
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people were brought to the Lord. Then Barnabas
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went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he
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found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for
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a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the
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church and taught great numbers of people. The
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disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
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During this time, some prophets came down from
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Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them named Agabus
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stood up and through the Spirit predicted that
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a severe famine would spread over the entire
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Roman world. This happened during the reign of
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Claudius. The disciples, as each one was able,
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decided to provide help for the brothers and
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sisters living in Judea. This they did, sending
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their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.
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We'll continue at the very end of chapter 12,
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verse 25 and continuing into chapter 13. The
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story continues. When Barnabas and Saul had finished
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their mission, they returned from Jerusalem,
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taking with them John, also called Mark. Now,
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in the church at Antioch, there were prophets
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and teachers. Barnabas, Simeon, called Niger,
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Lucius of Cyrene, Manan, who had been brought
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up with Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While they
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were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy
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Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
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for the work to which I have called them. So
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after they had fasted and prayed, they placed
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their hands on them and sent them off. And if
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you turn forward for our third and final reading
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this morning, that will be in chapter 15, Acts
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chapter 15, verses 36 to the end. Sometime later,
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Paul said to Barnabas, let us go back and visit
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the believers in all the towns where we preach
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the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.
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Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark,
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with them, but Paul did not think it wise to
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take him because he had deserted them in Pamphylia
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and had not continued with them in the work.
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They had such a sharp disagreement that they
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parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed
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for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended
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by the believers to the grace of the Lord. He
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went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening
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If you'd kindly turn back to chapter 11 as we
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pray together. Lord, thank you for these words
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recorded by Luke of Barnabas, a good man full
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of the Holy Spirit and of faith. Please, through
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his story, by your words, in your spirit and
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by your grace, may we also walk with the wise
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that we might see in him the work that you did
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and that we in turn might have hearts and minds
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open to the goodness of the lord jesus christ
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that he would work
Load full transcript
similarly in us we ask in
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jesus's name amen so this is the second of two
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talks about barnabas i hope you remember last
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week we began with Proverbs chapter 13, which
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says, walk with the wise and become wise, but
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a companion of fools suffers harm. And we thought
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about how the people we walk with will always
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leave a mark on us for good or for ill. And in
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these readings and talks, We're focusing, of
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course, on Barnabas. We're tracing through his
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character and his convictions. And we want to
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see in him what happens when the grace of Christ
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works powerfully in and through a real person.
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And we're walking with him with the aim that
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we too might be wise, that we might be marked
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or moulded by that same transforming gospel grace
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that was so powerfully and evidently at work
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in Barnabas. Our aim, as I said last week, is
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not to lionize him. Luke's center is always the
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Lord Jesus Christ and ours should be too. Last
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week, a quick recap. We looked at chapter four.
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You don't need to turn there, but we saw that
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wonderful description of the church where Luke
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tells us that God's grace was powerfully at work
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in them all. Barnabas sells a field and lays
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the proceeds of that at the apostles' feet. And
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because he had received from Christ what he could
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never earn and could never lose, it does seem
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that he is freed to release his grip even on
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his possessions. That powerful grace at work
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in him, that costly grace. We then looked at
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Acts 9 and we saw this new convert, Saul, who
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comes into Jerusalem. And we saw how the Christians
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there and the apostles were afraid of him. After
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all, this was, or in their minds might still
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be, the high priest hatchet man, persecuting
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and imprisoning and killing Christians. So they
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don't easily accept him. But along comes the
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grace -filled Barnabas. who doesn't naively overlook
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Saul's past, but because he knows grace, he can
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recognize it and he stakes his entire credibility,
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his life even, you might say, on Saul, trusting
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that through the powerful work of grace in Saul,
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the old has gone and the new has come. And of
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course, he was right. And then again, last week,
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we saw in chapter 11 how the apostles were apparently
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bemused and confused by all that was taking place
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up in Antioch, where a large number of Gentiles
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were coming to Christ. And this unprecedented
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intercultural church was forming all of it outside
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the control and leadership and direction of the
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church in Jerusalem. Humanly speaking, this was
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a moment of enormous significance. Will the church
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remain funded? centered on Jerusalem and bound
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by Jewish cultural identity? Or will it be released
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to become a multicultural, polycentric, decentralized
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global people of God? The apostles needed someone
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with grace -filled eyes and grace -filled heart
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to see God's bigger purposes, so they sent Barnabas.
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Remember what Luke says happened? He arrived
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there and saw what the grace of God had done
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and he was glad. So today we're going to take
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some more steps on our journey with Barnabas,
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walking with the wise. Some are characteristically
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encouraging for us. Some will feel sadder, even
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painful. We'll begin with Acts 11. We left the
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story last week in 24 with that grace -filled
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gladness of Barnabas arriving in Antioch. See
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what happens next. Chapter 11, verse 25. So Barnabas
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went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he
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found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for
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a whole year, Barnabas and Saul met with the
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church and taught great numbers of people. The
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disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.
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Barnabas is apparently heading up this rapidly
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growing new international multicultural church
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in the Roman Empire's third largest city. And
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it seems that his instinct is not to
embed and
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establish himself as its sole front man and figurehead,
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but rather to seek out Saul and bring in this
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newer leader. For a whole year, they teach together.
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It's intentional. Barnabas is not just defending
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Saul now like he did in Jerusalem back in chapter
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9. He's developing him. Barnabas is spending
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his own social capital and leadership influence
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on all that he believes God can and will do through
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Saul. Barnabas is the one with the platform and
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the opportunities and the experience and the
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status and the connections and the authority.
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He's the gatekeeper. wide open for others rather
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than slamming it shut and defending it for his
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own privileges and so that year in or after that
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year in Antioch they then head down to Jerusalem
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at the end of chapter 11 a second visit together
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to Jerusalem this time they're entrusted with
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money for famine relief for the brothers and
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sisters who are suffering in Judea. And then
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after Luke gives us a sort of interlude in Barnabas'
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story with Peter in chapter 12, we then get to
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chapter 13. Famously, the Holy Spirit directs
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the church to set apart Barnabas and Saul for
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the work to which he's called them. And the church
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prophets and teachers, they fast and they pray
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and they lay hands on this pair and send them
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out. And so Barnabas and Saul begin that first
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missionary journey together. And of course, many
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of us are so used to calling it Paul's first
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missionary journey that we sometimes miss Luke's
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deliberate ordering. They set out repeatedly
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as Barnabas and Saul. Does seem to be intentional.
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Barnabas as the established leader, Saul as the
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younger convert. But as that story of that missionary
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journey unfolds throughout chapters 13 and 14,
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that ordering starts to get reversed. Have you
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ever noticed that? Increasingly, Luke uses the
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phrase Saul and Barnabas or Paul, later Paul
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and Barnabas. And even later the phrase Paul
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and his companions. Barnabas is still there,
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but Paul and his companions. Luke does seem to
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be indicating that the dynamic is shifting with
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Paul increasingly growing into the leading role.
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At Lystra in chapter 14, the crowd calls Barnabas
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Zeus and Paul Hermes. And Luke tells us that's
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because Paul was the chief speaker. So Barnabas
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is senior, but Paul is speaking. And as Acts
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moves on and as that journey moves on, it is
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hard to escape the conclusion that Barnabas is
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willingly and consistently investing deeply in
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training and raising a co -leader whose influence
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and standing is eclipsing his own. Let's think
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about that for a moment. So often the metric
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we use when we're measuring a leader. is evaluating
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what they have done or what they have achieved.
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But maybe another criteria we can and should
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use is to ask, who have they enabled? By that
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measure, Barnabas is flying. He's minimizing
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his own platform and prominence to see that the
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grace of God is multiplied and magnified in others.
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particularly through Saul. And in this way, and
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we can assume with God's smile upon him, his
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success secures in history and memory his own
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lesser status. I don't know about you, that makes
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me ponder my journey, leadership journey. We
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all have leadership journeys to reflect on, ongoing,
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I assume, for all of us. Maybe we look back in
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our past and Recognize gatekeepers in our lives
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who have released their grip to empower us to
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move forward in leadership? I've certainly got
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people in my life like that. Or maybe we're wondering
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if we will be, like Barnabas, leader makers in
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the future. Not just leaders, but leader makers.
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People pleased to make ourselves smaller without
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becoming bitter for the growth and benefit of
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others. Because that's the way of Christ and
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that's the way of Christ in Barnabas. And
it
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can be the way of Christ in us. It does require
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a renewed gospel mind and a deep gospel identity.
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Because after all, if my worth depends on my
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influence, then I need to protect my platform.
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And another person's growth becomes a threat
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to that. But if the all -surpassing joy of knowing
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Christ Jesus, my Lord, means that status and
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significance is worth as nothing to me for the
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sake of Christ, then I am free, wonderfully free,
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to spend whatever significance I may have or
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may have been gifted on someone else, on their
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fruitfulness. I'm reminded of former Oak Hill
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principal Mike Ovi. He preached the sermon at
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an ordination service in 2015, two years before
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he died, and said to that small group of new
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Christian leaders these words, quote, we want
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you to be better than us. We want you to be more
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faithful than us. We want you, spiritually speaking,
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to tower above us so that the cross of the Lord
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Jesus Christ stands high in this land and that
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men and women may know the blessings of eternal
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life. That is our dream for you. That is our
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prayer for you. Not that you are as we are, but
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that you are better. Seems to me that is the
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grace of God at work in a very Barnabasian way.
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Those who have gone before us, investing themselves
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in us, that we might even surpass them in faithfulness
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and fruitfulness. Followed, of course, by our
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doing the same for those who follow us. Grace
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received becomes grace invested, generation after
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generation. after generation. That is the grip
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-loosening grace of God. We've seen that grace
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of God at work in Barnabas that loosens his grip
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on his possessions, that loosens his grip on
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his assumptions, his suspicions, and now grace
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that loosens his grip on his status and his significance.
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And again, I don't know about you, but I find
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myself crying out, That's who I want to be. Or
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more specifically, that's what I long for the
00:17:10.869 --> 00:17:16.470
grace of God to do in and through me. God, give
00:17:16.470 --> 00:17:21.730
me, give each of us, as with Barnabas, an open
00:17:21.730 --> 00:17:25.549
heart and willing spirit to turn grace received
00:17:25.549 --> 00:17:34.109
into grace invested. This principle of grace
00:17:34.109 --> 00:17:37.670
received, grace invested, we thought about it
00:17:37.670 --> 00:17:40.210
there on a personal level for us, perhaps as
00:17:40.210 --> 00:17:45.730
individuals, as leaders. But I am so supremely
00:17:45.730 --> 00:17:49.710
not sorry to think again, like last week, about
00:17:49.710 --> 00:17:52.029
applying this principle, not just on a micro
00:17:52.029 --> 00:17:54.690
level to us as individuals, but on a macro level
00:17:54.690 --> 00:17:58.759
to the global church. We talked last week about
00:17:58.759 --> 00:18:01.220
how in recent decades, Christianity has become
00:18:01.220 --> 00:18:05.200
a genuine global polycentric faith with a demographic
00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:09.019
center of gravity now lying decisively in Africa,
00:18:09.200 --> 00:18:15.380
Asia and Latin America. Yet. Institutional power,
00:18:15.740 --> 00:18:20.119
money, accreditation, cultural influence and
00:18:20.119 --> 00:18:24.529
public platforms remain. disproportionately concentrated
00:18:24.529 --> 00:18:30.089
in Western centres. You know where this is going,
00:18:30.170 --> 00:18:34.750
don't you? Are we, like Barnabas, willing to
00:18:34.750 --> 00:18:38.750
recognise this moment, invest in others globally,
00:18:38.970 --> 00:18:43.450
and see multiply what God is doing around the
00:18:43.450 --> 00:18:49.130
world, even if this decentres or diminishes us
00:18:49.130 --> 00:18:53.829
here in the Western church? Now, friends, I do
00:18:53.829 --> 00:18:56.390
understand that increasingly and wonderfully,
00:18:56.569 --> 00:18:59.109
not everyone sitting in Oak Hill College Chapel
00:18:59.109 --> 00:19:02.410
this morning locates themselves ethnically or
00:19:02.410 --> 00:19:05.670
culturally within Western Christianity. Some
00:19:05.670 --> 00:19:08.930
of you I know have been formed principally in
00:19:08.930 --> 00:19:12.420
churches within the majority world. But I don't
00:19:12.420 --> 00:19:15.339
think any of us can stand outside of this challenge
00:19:15.339 --> 00:19:18.119
because after all, we're all being formed in
00:19:18.119 --> 00:19:21.559
a college located in the West. And the challenge
00:19:21.559 --> 00:19:24.140
is this, again, are we in the Western church
00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:29.039
willing to move from merely a welcome to others
00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:33.400
and inclusion of others towards a genuine mutual
00:19:33.400 --> 00:19:37.599
partnership with others? That's the challenge.
00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:41.819
It's more than merely inviting others into the
00:19:41.819 --> 00:19:44.819
church structures and ministry systems and assumptions
00:19:44.819 --> 00:19:47.759
that we in the West have designed and continue
00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:50.859
to manage. It is actually more than that. It
00:19:50.859 --> 00:19:53.759
is empowering brothers and sisters from elsewhere,
00:19:53.859 --> 00:19:57.359
not only to contribute to conversations, but
00:19:57.359 --> 00:20:00.619
also to help determine what those conversations
00:20:00.619 --> 00:20:05.680
are. Let's put it this way. I heard a story from
00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:08.259
a U .S. missiologist, Todd Johnson. He tells
00:20:08.259 --> 00:20:10.500
the story of sitting at a conference next to
00:20:10.500 --> 00:20:13.279
an African Christian leader. And when the American
00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:16.180
speaker talked about the goodness of sharing
00:20:16.180 --> 00:20:19.599
a table together as representatives from every
00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:22.539
continent, the African leader leaned over to
00:20:22.539 --> 00:20:25.779
him and whispered, it's good if you invite us
00:20:25.779 --> 00:20:29.359
to the table, but it's far better if you let
00:20:29.359 --> 00:20:33.480
us into the kitchen. You see, the table is where
00:20:33.480 --> 00:20:36.640
the meal has already been decided and delivered.
00:20:36.779 --> 00:20:39.799
The kitchen is where the recipes are worked out
00:20:39.799 --> 00:20:43.220
and the meal itself is made. And that's the challenge.
00:20:44.170 --> 00:20:47.690
It is easy for those of us located in the Western
00:20:47.690 --> 00:20:51.410
Church to celebrate African, Asian, Latin American
00:20:51.410 --> 00:20:54.490
Christians and Christianity, describe them as
00:20:54.490 --> 00:20:57.950
partners in mission, while still quietly assuming
00:20:57.950 --> 00:21:01.390
that our theology is normative and theirs is
00:21:01.390 --> 00:21:05.069
contextual. That our biblical exegesis is rigorous
00:21:05.069 --> 00:21:08.569
and theirs is immature. That our ways of organizing
00:21:08.569 --> 00:21:12.210
churches and ministries are default and theirs
00:21:12.210 --> 00:21:17.319
is exotic. Like Barnabas, is the Western church
00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:22.180
willing to recognize grace beyond our own familiar
00:21:22.180 --> 00:21:27.380
world and then relinquish enough control to see
00:21:27.380 --> 00:21:31.660
that grace flourish? And there are few questions,
00:21:31.700 --> 00:21:34.440
I believe, that will determine the future of
00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:37.900
the church in the 21st century more than that
00:21:37.900 --> 00:21:42.920
one. Let's go back, though, directly to the story
00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:45.220
of Barnabas. It continues. So he left him and
00:21:45.220 --> 00:21:48.440
Saul on that missionary journey in Acts 13, sent
00:21:48.440 --> 00:21:51.420
out by the church in Antioch. It takes about
00:21:51.420 --> 00:21:53.700
two years, that missionary journey, and it involves
00:21:53.700 --> 00:21:57.420
extensive travel around modern day Cyprus and
00:21:57.420 --> 00:22:01.759
Turkey.
It is anything but easy. They encounter
00:22:01.759 --> 00:22:06.180
opposition and spiritual conflict. They are chased
00:22:06.180 --> 00:22:09.779
away from some places. They are mistreated and
00:22:09.779 --> 00:22:13.339
abused in others. In Lystra, the crowds mistake
00:22:13.339 --> 00:22:16.140
them for gods and then with a kind of terrifying
00:22:16.140 --> 00:22:19.960
volatility, then turn against them. Paul is stoned
00:22:19.960 --> 00:22:22.380
and dragged out of the city and left for dead.
00:22:22.579 --> 00:22:26.619
But brave Barnabas and courageous Paul continue.
00:22:27.339 --> 00:22:30.140
They even returned to some of those places where
00:22:30.140 --> 00:22:33.299
they had been previously attacked in order to
00:22:33.299 --> 00:22:36.259
strengthen the churches there. Paul and Barnabas
00:22:36.259 --> 00:22:39.059
are preaching, we must go, a quote from them
00:22:39.059 --> 00:22:42.359
that Luke records, we must go through many hardships
00:22:42.359 --> 00:22:44.920
to enter the kingdom of God. That's what they're
00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:48.009
preaching. Barnabas, the son of encouragement
00:22:48.009 --> 00:22:51.049
with Paul, is strengthening people through his
00:22:51.049 --> 00:22:55.049
words and his example to remain faithful where
00:22:55.049 --> 00:23:00.190
grace is costly. After that journey, they return
00:23:00.190 --> 00:23:03.009
at the end of chapter 14 back to Antioch where
00:23:03.009 --> 00:23:05.730
they started and they report back to the church
00:23:05.730 --> 00:23:08.750
all that God has done and how he's opened a door
00:23:08.750 --> 00:23:12.190
of faith to the Gentiles. And that question then
00:23:12.190 --> 00:23:16.130
explodes into the great controversy of Acts chapter
00:23:16.130 --> 00:23:21.380
15. Must Gentile believers become Jewish? In
00:23:21.380 --> 00:23:24.500
order to truly belong to the people of God. And
00:23:24.500 --> 00:23:26.960
so, of course, the apostles convene a council
00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:30.940
to discuss that question. Barnabas is right there
00:23:30.940 --> 00:23:35.200
in the heart of it as he and the apostles reach
00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:38.559
that wonderful conclusion that salvation is by
00:23:38.559 --> 00:23:41.440
the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and Gentiles
00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:46.339
belong fully to him without first becoming culturally.
00:23:47.079 --> 00:23:50.759
That is the foundation stone. That decision is
00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:53.720
the foundation stone on which the whole expansion
00:23:53.720 --> 00:23:56.660
of the church since then to the ends of the earth
00:23:56.660 --> 00:23:59.980
is built on. That's the moment that Christianity
00:23:59.980 --> 00:24:04.619
becomes translatable, movable, migratory, contextual,
00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:10.559
multicultural and ultimately universal. And Barnabas
00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:15.039
is right there in the thick of it. Representing.
00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:18.759
And again, advocating for voices of others, these
00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:22.000
Gentiles in Antioch, from the margins who had
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:28.980
no voice there in Jerusalem, but his. I'd love
00:24:28.980 --> 00:24:32.819
to end Barnabas' story there, because he's so
00:24:32.819 --> 00:24:36.960
great, isn't he? I think so. And I'd love to
00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:41.759
end it there. A man who has helped to recognize
00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:46.859
and mature and nurture. and defend some of the
00:24:46.859 --> 00:24:50.059
great gospel breakthroughs of the early church.
00:24:50.259 --> 00:24:53.759
Let's end it there. But of course, Scripture
00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:57.819
refuses to give us quite such a neat portrait
00:24:57.819 --> 00:25:02.240
because there are two messier moments that remain.
00:25:02.859 --> 00:25:07.519
And we must finally, albeit briefly, look at
00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:10.539
those two incidents as they occur chronologically,
00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:13.380
starting with the Jew -Gentile table fellowship
00:25:13.380 --> 00:25:17.960
incident. of Galatians 2 and then we'll look
00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:21.380
at Barnabas's parting from Paul that we read
00:25:21.380 --> 00:25:25.460
in Acts chapter 15. As I say that those two incidents
00:25:25.460 --> 00:25:27.359
we're looking at them in that order Galatians
00:25:27.359 --> 00:25:30.619
2 then Acts chapter 15 the parting that that
00:25:30.619 --> 00:25:33.799
chronology is debated the question revolves on
00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:38.519
how Paul's visits to Jerusalem in Galatians line
00:25:38.519 --> 00:25:42.210
up with how Luke records Paul's visits to Jerusalem
00:25:42.210 --> 00:25:45.190
in the book of Acts and whether therefore the
00:25:45.190 --> 00:25:48.210
Galatians 2 incident happens before or after
00:25:48.210 --> 00:25:50.769
the Jerusalem council. We're not going to get
00:25:50.769 --> 00:25:52.890
into that now. I'm following the more common
00:25:52.890 --> 00:25:55.970
and I think more convincing view that the Galatians
00:25:55.970 --> 00:25:59.589
2 incident happens before the council of Jerusalem
00:25:59.589 --> 00:26:03.230
in Acts chapter 15 and therefore before the split
00:26:03.230 --> 00:26:07.309
between Paul and Barnabas. So Galatians 2, let's
00:26:07.309 --> 00:26:09.750
turn to it. I didn't read it earlier. But let's
00:26:09.750 --> 00:26:14.450
turn to it, Galatians chapter 2. This is one
00:26:14.450 --> 00:26:16.930
of the most uncomfortable moments in the New
00:26:16.930 --> 00:26:19.730
Testament, don't you think? Let's read from verse
00:26:19.730 --> 00:26:25.170
11. Paul says this, when Cephas, Peter obviously,
00:26:25.269 --> 00:26:28.170
came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because
00:26:28.170 --> 00:26:31.910
he stood condemned. For before certain men came
00:26:31.910 --> 00:26:35.509
from James, He used to, Peter, used to eat with
00:26:35.509 --> 00:26:38.470
the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began
00:26:38.470 --> 00:26:42.190
to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles
00:26:42.190 --> 00:26:44.730
because he was afraid of those who belonged to
00:26:44.730 --> 00:26:48.430
the circumcision group. The other Jews joined
00:26:48.430 --> 00:26:52.829
him in his hypocrisy so that by their hypocrisy,
00:26:52.910 --> 00:27:02.369
even Barnabas was led astray. Do you feel the
00:27:02.369 --> 00:27:07.529
heartache in that as I do? Even Barnabas, I think
00:27:07.529 --> 00:27:09.849
you can even hear Paul's shock and sadness as
00:27:09.849 --> 00:27:14.559
he writes. Barnabas. The man sent to Antioch
00:27:14.559 --> 00:27:17.319
because he could recognize grace at work among
00:27:17.319 --> 00:27:20.039
the Gentiles. Barnabas, who had rejoiced in the
00:27:20.039 --> 00:27:22.920
culturally mixed church growing there. Barnabas,
00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:26.180
who had led and nurtured a Gentile church and
00:27:26.180 --> 00:27:29.099
suffered on mission to Gentiles and advocated
00:27:29.099 --> 00:27:34.579
for Gentile inclusion. Even Barnabas is now allowing
00:27:34.579 --> 00:27:37.299
pressure from Jewish background believers from
00:27:37.299 --> 00:27:44.500
Jerusalem to pull him away from eating. It's
00:27:44.500 --> 00:27:51.559
heartbreaking. The grace of God made him so open
00:27:51.559 --> 00:27:55.440
-hearted and open -handed. What's happened here?
00:27:57.380 --> 00:28:01.619
Well, it seems to me that Barnabas' weakness
00:28:01.619 --> 00:28:05.059
actually here may be a misdirection of his strength.
00:28:05.740 --> 00:28:09.480
Those very instincts that made him generous,
00:28:10.109 --> 00:28:12.609
have also made him vulnerable to this sort of
00:28:12.609 --> 00:28:15.450
relational pressure. He's caught in the gravitational
00:28:15.450 --> 00:28:18.829
pull of these people from Jerusalem whose fellowship
00:28:18.829 --> 00:28:21.769
matters to him such that what he knows to be
00:28:21.769 --> 00:28:26.910
true about Gentile inclusion is momentarily overridden
00:28:26.910 --> 00:28:30.289
by the social cost of living that out in his
00:28:30.289 --> 00:28:35.349
life. At the beginning of Paul's Christian life,
00:28:35.470 --> 00:28:38.710
Paul needed someone with a willingness to advocate
00:28:38.710 --> 00:28:43.710
for an outsider. Up stepped Barnabas. Now, years
00:28:43.710 --> 00:28:47.150
later, Barnabas needs someone with a harder edge
00:28:47.150 --> 00:28:50.609
of doctrinal clarity to correct him where his
00:28:50.609 --> 00:28:54.809
relational instincts have led him astray. Up
00:28:54.809 --> 00:29:00.009
steps Paul in return. What a kindness of the
00:29:00.009 --> 00:29:05.920
Lord to bring the two of them. together. Wonderfully,
00:29:05.920 --> 00:29:07.839
though, by the time of the Jerusalem Council
00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:10.660
in Acts 15, Barnabas is once again, as we saw,
00:29:10.779 --> 00:29:14.460
standing with Paul and indeed the gospel, testifying
00:29:14.460 --> 00:29:17.299
to God's work among the Gentiles and defending
00:29:17.299 --> 00:29:23.000
their full inclusion in Christ. God's grace remains
00:29:23.000 --> 00:29:26.480
as evident in him as ever, this time through
00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:30.000
his readiness to be rebuked by the gospel through
00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:35.890
Paul and then realigned with the gospel. So there
00:29:35.890 --> 00:29:41.210
is a happy ending after a painful incident. And
00:29:41.210 --> 00:29:43.910
so we turn finally, and perhaps even more painfully,
00:29:43.990 --> 00:29:48.849
to that second messy moment, I said, in Barnabas's
00:29:48.849 --> 00:29:51.329
life. This is just going to be inappropriately
00:29:51.329 --> 00:29:54.450
brief. Our time is almost done. But it is a troubling
00:29:54.450 --> 00:29:57.789
moment. Acts chapter 15. Go back to that, if
00:29:57.789 --> 00:30:01.930
you would. The split from Paul after the Jerusalem
00:30:01.930 --> 00:30:05.170
Council. Let's look at it again. Acts 15 from
00:30:05.170 --> 00:30:40.529
verse 36. Oh, that stings as well, doesn't it?
00:30:40.549 --> 00:30:43.809
Does that sting for you? This extraordinarily
00:30:43.809 --> 00:30:48.529
beautiful and fruitful ministry partnership ends
00:30:48.529 --> 00:30:52.029
in a disagreement sharp enough that Paul and
00:30:52.029 --> 00:30:58.329
Barnabas can no longer continue together. Who's
00:30:58.329 --> 00:31:03.059
to blame? Well, it seems, doesn't it, that Luke
00:31:03.059 --> 00:31:08.339
is remarkably reluctant to direct us one way
00:31:08.339 --> 00:31:12.240
or the other. on that question. Paul has a serious
00:31:12.240 --> 00:31:15.240
point. Mark has left them on the previous journey
00:31:15.240 --> 00:31:19.400
and taking someone back into a demanding pioneer
00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:22.559
missionary journey again is not a trivial decision
00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:25.579
and he doesn't want to do that with Mark who
00:31:25.579 --> 00:31:28.019
he feels can't be trusted. Barnabas also has
00:31:28.019 --> 00:31:31.059
a serious point. The man who once saw beyond
00:31:31.059 --> 00:31:35.740
Saul's past It is unwilling to let someone's
00:31:35.740 --> 00:31:38.240
previous failure become their final word. He's
00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:41.160
unwilling to let Mark, his cousin, go. They cannot
00:31:41.160 --> 00:31:45.140
agree. And so after 15 years of Christian friendship
00:31:45.140 --> 00:31:48.039
and ministry partnership, they separate. Paul
00:31:48.039 --> 00:31:50.920
takes Silas and Luke follows him in the story
00:31:50.920 --> 00:31:53.880
of Acts. And Barnabas takes Mark and heads off
00:31:53.880 --> 00:31:57.180
to Cyprus and effectively out of the biblical
00:31:57.180 --> 00:32:02.049
narrative. Is there a gracious goodness in God's
00:32:02.049 --> 00:32:05.029
providence here as one missionary team becomes
00:32:05.029 --> 00:32:11.549
two? Maybe, maybe yes. But perhaps we shouldn't
00:32:11.549 --> 00:32:15.789
rush too quickly to
that happy, hopeful conclusion.
00:32:17.150 --> 00:32:20.650
We cannot simply appeal to God's providence and
00:32:20.650 --> 00:32:23.690
provision in a way that kind of simplifies the
00:32:23.690 --> 00:32:27.579
hurt and loss. of this painful Christian division.
00:32:27.779 --> 00:32:30.619
The fact that God can sovereignly work in and
00:32:30.619 --> 00:32:33.539
through relational breakdown does not inherently
00:32:33.539 --> 00:32:37.539
make that breakdown good. And ministry expansion
00:32:37.539 --> 00:32:41.319
does not, of course, somehow cancel out the pain
00:32:41.319 --> 00:32:44.940
of Christian brothers pulling away from one another
00:32:44.940 --> 00:32:47.539
like this. And I think at this point in Acts
00:32:47.539 --> 00:32:51.099
15, we're just being asked to sit uncomfortably
00:32:51.099 --> 00:32:56.519
in lament and faith. As we read about this parting.
00:32:57.740 --> 00:33:00.359
It is good to know, isn't it, that a few years
00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:04.400
later, Paul does mention Barnabas in his epistle
00:33:04.400 --> 00:33:06.940
to the church in Corinth. And he mentions Barnabas
00:33:06.940 --> 00:33:11.019
in a complimentary and admiring way. And he's
00:33:11.019 --> 00:33:13.359
also, Paul, many years later, is desperate to
00:33:13.359 --> 00:33:16.140
have Mark come and join him in his ministry.
00:33:16.299 --> 00:33:20.220
So the rupture does not appear to become permanent
00:33:20.220 --> 00:33:25.230
or permanently hostile. The grace of Christ at
00:33:25.230 --> 00:33:28.490
work in Barnabas and Paul, of course, keeps pressing
00:33:28.490 --> 00:33:32.410
them towards repentance and restoration and reconciliation,
00:33:32.509 --> 00:33:36.990
as it must, of course, in our own lives and relationships.
00:33:39.710 --> 00:33:45.150
So let's end where we began in Proverbs 13, walk
00:33:45.150 --> 00:33:50.730
with the wise and become wise. For two chapel
00:33:50.730 --> 00:33:53.940
talks, we've walked with Barnabas. And I hope
00:33:53.940 --> 00:33:57.900
we've seen the transforming grace of Christ in
00:33:57.900 --> 00:34:02.819
a real person. Grace received, grace recognized,
00:34:03.420 --> 00:34:07.279
grace relied on, grace rejoiced in, and grace
00:34:07.279 --> 00:34:12.239
that radiates out to others. It is a grace that
00:34:12.239 --> 00:34:16.199
loosens our grip on things of this world and
00:34:16.199 --> 00:34:20.510
gives us something better to hold on to. Because
00:34:20.510 --> 00:34:23.329
in Christ, of course, we, like Barnabas, have
00:34:23.329 --> 00:34:27.730
received what we could never earn and never lose.
00:34:28.469 --> 00:34:32.130
And so our standing before God is not secured
00:34:32.130 --> 00:34:36.190
by our usefulness, our reputation, our possessions,
00:34:36.429 --> 00:34:44.210
our success. It is secured by Christ alone. Let's
00:34:44.210 --> 00:34:51.480
pray. Our Lord Jesus, may your grace, so present
00:34:51.480 --> 00:34:57.420
and evident in Barnabas, both flourish and form
00:34:57.420 --> 00:35:03.039
in us too. For the name, for your name and glory
00:35:03.039 --> 00:35:05.219
we ask it. Amen.