Acts 11:19-26 “Exhort Like Barnabas”

1:03Over the next five weeks, we're going to study several men and women in the New Testament whose lives we should seek to imitate because they were seeking to imitate Christ. The more that our lives look like theirs, the more our lives will look like Christ's. And my hope is that the outcome of this series would be that every Christian Here would feel more confident calling other people to imitate them. It's not prideful or arrogant to say that because we're simply saying the same thing that the Apostle Paul said: Insofar as you see Christ in me, imitate that.

1:53Imitate me as I imitate Christ. We have to adopt that mindset because we've been called to make disciples, to train and to teach others to follow Jesus. And Jesus Himself said this in Luke chapter 6, verse 40: A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone, when he is fully trained, will be like his teacher. So think about that for a moment. When we disciple others, we are teaching them how to speak, how to act, how to think about themselves and this world, how to interact with other Christians and non-Christians, how to deal with money and success and power, how to deal with temptation and sin, how to handle trials and suffering, and much more.

2:54And according to Jesus, the outcome is that those we disciple will become more alike. Us, their teachers. If we are imitating Christ, that's a very good thing. If we're not imitating Christ, that's not a good thing. But it is a thing, one way or the other. Today's sermon is called Exhort Like Barnabas. Now, if you're familiar with the book of Acts, you know about Barnabas. We first meet him in Acts chapter 4 when members of the growing church in Jerusalem are selling their possessions to take care of those in need.

3:35Take a look at verses 36 and 37. Thus, Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, because everyone must have a nickname, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. This man, Joseph, who was a Levite originally from the island of Cyprus, had such a reputation for being an encourager that the apostles started calling him Barnabas, meaning son of encouragement. And we learn that in addition to being one of the most encouraging people in the early church, he was also compassionate and generous.

4:23Over the next several chapters in the book of Acts, persecution against the young church ramps up, culminating in one of the Original deacons, Stephen, being stoned to death for his bold witness to Jesus and his resurrection from the dead. I want you to look at what Luke records immediately afterward. Acts 8 says, This, and Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.

5:05But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. Luke tells us that during this particularly horrifying period in the early church, that persecution in Jerusalem, led by Saul of Tarsus, got so bad that nearly all of the believers except the apostles fled to other parts of Judea, the region surrounding Jerusalem, and then into Samaria in the north. And friends, all of that background sets up the text for today, where we're going to learn that we must exhort like Barnabas, calling one another to unwavering faithfulness.

5:56Let's take a look here at verse 19 in Acts chapter 11. It says, Now, those who were scattered, because of the persecution that arose over Stephen, traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. Well, the persecution that began over Stephen started way back at the beginning of Acts chapter 8, as we saw, and a lot has happened since then. Through Philip and others, the gospel spread to the region of Samaria. Saul of Tarsus was converted and called by Jesus himself to be an apostle. Peter was called to preach to the Gentiles, and he went and shared the good news with them. And at the beginning of Acts chapter 11, the passage right before our text today, what we have is Peter reporting back to the church that the Gentiles responded with faith and repentance to the gospel and received the Holy Spirit just as they did. So I want you to look up at the last verse of the previous section, verse 18. Look what it says.

7:05When they heard these things, that is the church in Jerusalem, they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, Then to the Gentiles also, God has granted repentance that leads to life. So here in verse 19, Luke is reminding us of what happened in Acts chapter 8 to set up what he's about to share. The believers in Jerusalem fled north to Phoenicia, which is modern-day Lebanon, right on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. They fled west to the island of Cyprus, out in the middle of the Mediterranean, about 100 miles offshore. And they fled further north into Syria, particularly to the city of Antioch. Now, Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire at this time.

7:56Only Rome and Alexandria in modern-day Egypt were larger. So this was a huge cosmopolitan city. Half a million people lived there. All of the sinful trappings of a cosmopolitan area were available. And these people needed the gospel. But look at what Luke says. Those who traveled there were only sharing the gospel with other Jews. Now you have to remember that these people all fled before Peter was called to go to the Gentiles, and before he shared the gospel with them, and before they responded and received the Holy Spirit. So they had no idea that God was welcoming Gentiles into the family of faith at this point. So they're just sharing with other Jews.

8:47Let's pick up in verse 20. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching. Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. So we see that some men from the island of Cyprus and the city of Cyrene in North Africa came to Antioch also, and they began sharing the gospel with the Hellenists.

9:20And the Hellenists are culturally Greek-speaking people who are Gentiles. These are not Jews. That's why it says, in contrast, they started sharing the gospel with the Hellenists. And Luke notes that because the hand of the Lord was with them, what does he say? A great number who believed turned to the Lord. Now, I just want to highlight this sentence briefly because there's so much in here for us as modern-day Christians who sometimes struggle to articulate the full gospel. It says, a great number who believed turned to the Lord. That's very important. There is belief and there is turning.

10:09There is faith and there is repentance. Repent and believe was the message that Jesus himself preached all over the gospels. Repent and believe was the message that Peter and the early apostles preached. Repent and believe is the message that these Christians. Are preaching. Repent and believe. Friends, that is the full gospel. The full gospel is not merely believe, nor is it merely repent. It is repent, turn from your sin, turn from trusting in yourself, turn from trusting in anything that you're hoping will save or deliver you, and turn to the Lord Jesus in faith. That's the gospel, and that's what they're preaching. Look at verse 22.

11:01The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. Now, Luke does not tell us why they sent Barnabas to Antioch. We know that earlier they sent Peter and John into Samaria when the Samaritans first received the gospel. So they don't tell us why they sent Barnabas, but perhaps it had to do with his background and his spiritual gifts. And you may recall, as we saw earlier, Barnabas was from the island of Cyprus. And maybe the church believed, hey, since there's already men preaching the gospel from the island of Cyprus, they've clearly received the gospel from those men. They would probably also receive this other brother who is from that same island. So maybe his background played a role in that decision. We can't ever ignore cultural context.

11:54But also, we remember that Barnabas is the son of encouragement. And the church in Jerusalem knew that these young believers were going to need a lot of encouragement as they began to follow Christ. Friends, that's an important lesson that I've had to learn myself over the years: just how much encouragement all Christians need, especially young believers. See, when I was young in my faith and in my ministry, I believed that the thing that Christians most needed, especially young Christians, was correction.

12:38I thought that was their greatest need. But 20 years of pastoral ministry has taught me different. I don't believe that anymore. I believe that the thing that most Christians need most of the time, especially young Christians, is encouragement. It's not that I don't think Christians need correction. If you read the New Testament, the apostles correct Christians all the time, especially if you read the letter of 1 and 2 Corinthians, young Christians. They needed lots of correction.

13:13But what you find when you read the New Testament is the apostles encourage far more than they correct. I want you to think about this situation. Barnabas arrives in Antioch shortly after these people turn to Christ. These are Gentiles that don't have a Jewish background, and they're living in this large city that is known. It has a worldwide reputation, like Corinth, for its debauchery. So, where would Barnabas even begin if he came in thinking the thing that these people most need is correction?

13:53He would probably spend all day, every day, correcting all of their sinful behavior. And what effect might that have on these new Christians? These new Christians could be discouraged by all of the things that needed to change right away in their life if they're going to be following Jesus. And that might communicate that following Jesus is really all about your behavior. Stop doing this. Stop doing that. Start doing this. Start doing that. Brothers and sisters, isn't that the impression that so many people have of Christianity already?

14:40That it is a religion of behavior modification? Why do they have that impression? Perhaps it's because so many pastors in so many churches are preaching sermons every Sunday focused on behavior modification. Modification rather than preaching the grace of God in Christ. So you don't walk away encouraged in the good news of Jesus Christ, that he lived and died and rose again to set you free from sin and its empowering nature over your life and from the consist of sin, hell. Instead, you walk out with three things to do to have a better marriage, five things to do to have more financial security, seven things to do to better engage your culture.

15:38You walk away with a to-do list. You walk away with suggestions for behavior modification. In other words, what these preachers are doing is they're acting like the main thing that we need is correction rather than encouragement. But Barnabas did not believe that. Look at verse 23. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad. And he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord.

16:29I really love this. Phrase that Luke uses when he saw the grace of God. Well, grace is not something that you can see. So, what does Luke mean? He means that when Barnabas showed up, he was able to observe the effects of the grace of God on these new believers in Antioch. In other words, they gave evidence of saving faith, not only professing to believe the good news of the gospel, but also walking in repentance and bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

17:16Those are things that you can observe. You can observe people walking in repentance. You can observe people walking in and displaying the fruit of the Spirit. When he saw the grace of God, Luke says he was glad. He rejoiced that God had poured out his grace on these people. And he rejoiced that they had received it and were implementing it into their lives. He was glad. And then Luke says he exhorted them. And this is really the focus of our sermon and the text. Today.

18:02Now, exhort is not a word you hear very often anymore, even in the church. Although, if you do a word study on exhort, you will find that it is all over the New Testament. It appears all the time in almost every letter. Exhort means to urge, to implore, to strongly encourage. Again, I've come to believe that this is what most Christians need most of the time. They need strong encouragement, not correction. So, when Paul writes to Timothy, his young disciple and the young pastor at the church at Ephesus, he commands him to devote himself to exhortation.

18:55That part of Timothy's job description, which is really not that long, is to devote himself to strongly encouraging the Christians in his church. We are told in Hebrews chapter 3: look at this command that we're given: take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that no one is afraid of the Lord. None of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

19:36That is what Barnabas did. He arrived in Antioch, he saw the grace of God at work in these new believers, and he exhorted them. He strongly encouraged them to do what? Look what he says: to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. I want to look at each piece of Barnabas's exhortation. First, he calls them to remain faithful. Now, that word translated remain faithful is actually just one Greek word, and it means something like to stay with or to remain attached to.

20:25To stay with or to remain attached to. Now, that sounds like something that we heard recently in our study through the book of John. Look again at John 15. Jesus said, I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Jesus is the vine, we are the branches. So, unless we Stay attached to the vine, we can't do anything.

21:05Any branch that becomes detached from the vine will wither and die and produce no fruit. So that's the first part of Barnabas' encouragement. He's encouraging them to remain faithful, to stay with, to remain attached to who? Jesus. He says he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord. Now remember, there's no telling how many different kinds of people turned to the Lord in Antioch. We know that it was both Jews and Gentiles. In such a large and diverse city, we are left to conclude that it was probably people who were rich and poor, people who were from culturally diverse backgrounds, different ethnicities, different nationalities. We know they're coming from different parts of the world to this city.

22:00And in light of that, it is significant that Barnabas does not encourage them to remain faithful to their fellow Jews or Gentiles. He doesn't encourage them to remain faithful to those from the same socioeconomic background. He doesn't even encourage them to remain faithful to the men who preached to them. No, Barnabas exhorts them to remain faithful to the Lord. Their loyalty should be to Christ and Christ alone. And given all that we see in the rest of the New Testament, that was a necessary encouragement.

22:43Because our tendency, our temptation is to be more loyal to our people, our tribe, our ethnic group, our political party, than it is for us to be loyal to Christ. Every one of us is tempted in that way, and so Barnabas exhorts them to remain faithful to the Lord. But then look what he finishes with: remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose. Steadfast purpose. What a great phrase. Friends, in life, whatever we don't do on purpose, we do on accident.

23:39And living your life accidentally is not a good way to achieve any goal. Michael Phelps did not accidentally win twenty-eight Olympic medals. He trained on purpose. He recovered on purpose. He ate on purpose. He even slept on purpose. Because there is no way to achieve a goal like that accidentally. And in the same way, no believer accidentally becomes holier or more faithful in evangelism or more effective in discipleship. That comes from steadfast purpose, from praying and training and working to meet those goals.

24:45That's one reason that we started the Intentional Fathering Cohort this spring. It has been a life-changing experience for the men who have been a part of that. It equips fathers to develop an intentional discipleship plan, a steadfast purpose for the teenage years. And I only wish that I could have done it three or four years ago when my children first entered that age. But it's a way that we're trying to have that steadfast purpose together of not just raising our children accidentally, but having a plan and working toward that plan.

25:25Brothers and sisters, our culture. Is aimless, adrift in a sea of absurd and contradictory values, tossed to and fro by every new fad, addicted to entertainment, scrolling away the precious minutes of life on a tiny computer. We live in that culture, and every minute of every day, it has a subtle but profound effect on what we believe and how we live our lives. That's why Barnabas' exhortation is so powerful, not just to these new Christians in Antioch so long ago, but to believers like us living in the 21st century. We must remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose because nobody remains faithful to the Lord on accident.

26:44Now, why does Barnabas give this exhortation? Look again at verse 24. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. Wouldn't we all love to have that said of us that we are good men and women, good children, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith? But I think our temptation might be to read that and to say, well, that's just who Barnabas was. He was a good man full of the Spirit and of faith. I can't really control whether I'm filled with the Spirit or faith.

27:24But I don't think that's true. I think that we can be filled with the Spirit and with faith. So I want to show you a couple of passages. I want to start with Ephesians chapter 5, a well-known text. Look what Paul says. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

28:08So what I want you to note is that right at the outset of these verses is that being filled with the Spirit is a command. It's a command of God through the Apostle Paul. And if we are commanded to do something in Scripture, then God gives us grace to obey that command. We are commanded to be filled with the Spirit. So how can we do that? Well, we're told right here in this passage. First, cultivate a heart of worship that sings to God and others.

28:44Cultivate a heart of worship that sings to God and others. If you want to be filled with the Spirit like Barnabas, Paul says it starts with worship. We worship God through song, and we instruct and encourage others with our singing. That's why we prioritize congregational singing here at New Life. That's why we encourage you to robustly sing to God and to each other, because when we do that, we are instructing and encouraging and building one another up in our common faith.

29:21And so we are told that one way that we can be filled with the Spirit is by singing to God, making melody to Him in our hearts, and by singing to one another, instructing and encouraging them with the words that we sing. Second, cultivate a heart of gratitude that gives thanks always and for everything. Cultivate a heart of gratitude that gives thanks always and for everything. As you know, our national pastime is complaining. And in that culture, gratitude. Gratitude is radically countercultural.

30:05Paul says, when you are tempted to complain, find something to be thankful for. Give thanks always and for everything. We have to turn thankfulness into a discipline. And a number of years ago, I noticed that in my life, when my alarm went off in the morning, my first thought every day was, why is this my life? Why would anyone get up at this time? And my day started every day with complaining. And so, I don't know if you know this or not, but if you're an iPhone user, I can't speak to Samsung or to Google or to any of the other things out there. I don't know what they are. But on my iPhone, I can name my alarms. Did you know that you can do this? It doesn't have to be called alarm, it can be called anything.

31:06And so the name of my 5 a.m. alarm is Time to Serve the Lord. So when I reach over there and pick up that phone, I'm like, why is this my alarm? Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad. I'm telling myself, I don't feel this. Turn thanksgiving into a discipline. Cultivate that heart of gratitude. Third, Paul says: if we want to be filled with the Spirit, cultivate a heart of submission toward those in authority.

31:50Cultivate a heart of submission toward those in authority. Now, that would include government officials and church leaders, but the immediate context of Ephesians 5 and 6 is your husband, your parents, and your boss. Submission in the United States and our culture today is a word that makes most people recoil. We're very uncomfortable with that. But, friends, this is a command in Scripture. Ephesians 5:21, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. And the immediate referent to one another is what follows. Wives, submit to your husbands. Children, submit to your parents. Servants, submit to your masters.

32:46And the reason that we must learn submission in these areas is because we will never learn to submit to God, who we cannot see, if we can't learn to submit to the authorities that God has placed in our life. And so, friends, Paul says if we want to be like Barnabas, if we want to imitate him, then we've got to be filled with the Spirit. And one way we can be filled with the Spirit is to cultivate a heart of worship, a heart of gratitude, and a heart of submission.

33:20He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. So, again, let's consider that concept: being filled with faith. In one sense, faith is a gift given to us by God. It's listed among the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. So, you can have a gift of faith that is different than just normal everyday faith for every Christian. And I recognize that. But if faith is evidence-based belief in something that we cannot prove, then it is possible to increase our faith.

34:00And the way that we would increase our faith is by examining more evidence that would lead us to believe what we believe. In other words, if we want our faith in Christ to grow, then, friends, we've got to know God's word. We've got to study it. We've got to memorize it, which is the point of these bands that we gave out at the men's weekend. It's to have an intentional purpose. With memorizing scripture to hide it away in our hearts. We've got to study it. We've got to memorize it. We've got to talk about it with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ so that our faith is firmly rooted in God's character and work as it is revealed in Scripture. Faith can grow, but faith grows from examining the evidence that we have for faith, which is found in God's Word.

34:55So if we want to imitate Barnabas, we've got to be filled with faith. And that comes from knowing God's Word inside and out. I want you to look now at the result of Barnabas's ministry, verse 24. It says, and a great many people were added to the Lord. So this young church is growing significantly. And what does Barnabas do next? Verse 25. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year, they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch, the disciples were first called Christians.

35:44Aren't you glad that when you want to find somebody, you don't have to go looking for them in a city? First century life, very inefficient. I want you to think about what's going on here at Antioch. The church is large. And it is growing rapidly. And after Barnabas arrived and began ministering there, it grew even more. Barnabas could stay here and be the guy. He could build a megachurch around himself and his ministry and grow in fame, grow in notoriety, be appreciated.

36:31But what does he do? When he sees the church growing, he goes to Tarsus to find Saul. Why? Why would he do that? Because Barnabas is secure in his own identity. He has embraced his calling and his gifts. Barnabas is a faithful apostle, perhaps the greatest encourager that the church has ever known. But he was not the greatest preacher, the greatest teacher, the greatest missionary or church planter. That was Saul. And somehow, Barnabas not only perceived that, but he had the humility to go and get him. For the good of the church, Barnabas left at the peak of his ministry to go and get Saul.

37:30And from that point forward, Barnabas is never again in the spotlight. And he was okay with that. Church, this is a direct application of what we learned last week in John chapter 21. When Jesus told Peter that he was going to be martyred for his faith, he took his eyes off Jesus and looked at John and said, What about this man? And what did Jesus tell him? You don't worry about that. You follow me. Jesus told Peter to embrace his calling, his gifts, the person that Jesus made him to be. We were challenged to fix our eyes on Jesus and to follow him, to embrace our own callings and our own gifts, and to encourage others to embrace their callings and their gifts, because only together can we be the highly functioning, healthy body of Christ.

38:40You see those exact same principles being lived out here, where Barnabas embraces his calling and he goes and gets Saul and encourages Saul to live out his calling and to use his gifts for the good of the church. Now, after Saul arrived, In Antioch, he and Barnabas ministered there for a whole year and taught a great many people. This was unhurried, intentional discipleship, and it had two remarkable results. The first is that the church in Antioch became perhaps the greatest sending church of all time.

39:27Not only did they faithfully send missionaries across the world, but they faithfully supported them before, during, and after every one of their missionary journeys. Thanks to their faithfulness, the world would never be the same. Now, if you're not yet a believer in Jesus, you might wonder why anybody would go across the world to tell people they've never met about a man who lived many years ago. And for a long time, I held that same perspective. All religions are basically the same, I reasoned.

40:12So why would anyone give up their time, energy, and money to try to convert people to their religion? But friends, the disciples of Jesus, these first Christians, did not understand what they believed and how they lived. As a religion, it wasn't a new set of rules, complete with new places of worship, and new priests, and new sacrifices to be offered. They did not understand their life and what they believed as a religion at all. In fact, what they believed was that it was good news, good news about a man who claimed and proved to be God by living a sinless and miraculous life, dying on a cross and rising from the grave on the third day. They understood what they believed to be a message about God's grace to us, that through faith and faith alone, we can be forgiven and reconciled to God and welcomed into his family forever.

41:24That is how they understood it. So, this morning, you may have found yourself wondering why men and women in the first century and still to this day would leave the comforts of home and family and their culture to go and tell others about this man named Jesus. Well, it is because we really believe that he lived and died and rose again for you and for us. And we believe that there is no more important message that anyone could hear than the good news of Christ and reconciliation. To God through him. And so we hope that if you have believed those things to this point, that maybe today you'd be willing to explore who Jesus is, what he said, what he did and accomplished, and that you would consider joining the family of faith.

42:20The second result of this year-long time of teaching the church was that the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. And this was a label that was given to them by outsiders. That's important to note. Christians did not call each other Christians, it means little Christ. It's kind of a mild form of derision. Followers of Christ call each other that. Brother, sister, follower, disciple, those kinds of words that Jesus used. Outsiders gave them the name little Christ. Why did outsiders give them the name little Christ?

43:04It's because their lives looked so much like his. It's because of their devotion to him. It's because all of life went from revolving around career or family or your own pursuit of goals to revolving around this man, this Jewish man that purportedly lived a sinless life, died, and rose again. They were called little Christs because their whole life was about him and their lives looked like his. You see, when we make disciples and we are following Jesus faithfully and we are becoming little Christs ourselves, then what we are going to produce is more men, women, and children who are little Christs, who look more and more like Jesus as time goes on.

43:59And so, if you're already a Christian, the end of this passage challenges us to examine our own lives and the lives of those that we are teaching and discipling and ask the question: Could we rightly be accused of being little Christs? Do our lives look so much like his? Do the lives of the people that we're teaching and discipling look so much like Jesus that they could rightly be called little Christs? And so, believers today, the challenge from this passage is to exhort like Barnabas, calling each other to unwavering faithfulness to Jesus.

44:44Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the example of Barnabas. And not just of Barnabas, but of many men and women in the scriptures and in our lives who have sought to imitate Christ and therefore have become wonderful examples for us to imitate. I pray that we would exhort one another every day to become more like Jesus. We pray that as we follow him, as others begin to observe our lives and imitate us, that they would look more and more like Jesus also.

46:10We want to be people who are not ashamed to call others to imitate us because we are imitating Christ. And Father, we pray for those who are not yet Christians. Those who would find it baffling that people would leave Cyprus and Cyrene and all parts of the world today to endure a life of trial and hardship and minor difficulties every day in a new culture to share the good news of Jesus. I pray that the devotion of Christians to talk about Jesus would move them to investigate Jesus for themselves and that they would repent and believe in Christ just as we have.

47:19Thank you, God, for the life and ministry of Barnabas, for the wonderful example that he sets for us. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.