If there is a friendship that is the perfect picture of all the things Pastor Mike has been sharing over the past several weeks, it is the relationship between Barnabas and Paul. Let’s look closely at this relationship.
Barnabas, (whose real name was Joseph) was a Levite and was from Cyprus. He was called “Barnabas” by the apostles because of his attitude of encouragement and comforting. Acts 4:36.
Paul ( whose real name was Saul) was a devout Jew, who started persecuting the church but while on the way to Damascus, Jesus spoke to him and eventually Paul became an apostle to the Gentiles. After his repentance and acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah, he began to preach in the synagogues. This angered the Jews and they tried to kill him. He left Damascus and went to Jerusalem to meet with the Apostles. Acts 9:23-26
The Apostles were not excited about meeting him, but Barnabas stood up for Paul and became his friend. Does this remind you of a characteristic that Mike talked about last week or the type of friend Mike shared about several weeks ago?
Paul afterwards head to his home town in Tarsus and because of what God was doing in the area of Antioch – the apostles send Barnabas to check things out. Barnabas sees how God is at work in this Gentile village and decides the stay there. God continues to work through Barnabas and the church grew under his leadership. Acts 11:19-24
Barnabas needs assistance and travels to Tarsus to get Paul. (Again – think through what Mike has shared about the types of friends). They stayed there a year and when the church heard about a famine in Judea – the church collected money and sent Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem with the gift offering. After delivering the donation they went back to Antioch and this time they brought a young man named Mark. While they were ministering in Antioch, the Holy Spirit urges the fellowship to send Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. They also take Mark with them but for some reason Mark bails out and heads back to Jerusalem. (Barnabas was a risk taker with his friendship) Acts 13:13-14
God continues to bless the friendship of Paul and Barnabas and does great things during this missionary journey. They return to Antioch but hear how some Jewish Christians wanted the Gentile believers to also adhere to Jewish customs. They left for Jerusalem where the Apostles and Church leaders welcome Paul and Barnabas with open arms. (See how friendships continue to expand?)
The church leaders hear about the wonderful things God is doing among the Gentiles and decided not to burden them with Jewish customs; they send Paul and Barnabas along with some other men back to Antioch to share the news.
Unfortunately confrontation begins to occur in the friendship between Paul and Barnabas. The first thing in scripture could be easily missed but it is found in one of Paul’s letters. Paul shares how he had to correct some hypocritical actions with Peter and “even” Barnabas when some Jewish believers came to Antioch. Peter and Barnabas decided not to eat with the Gentile believers. This confrontation still stayed with Paul years later as he writes to the Galatians. Gal 2:13
The second confrontation was shortly afterwards when Paul and Barnabas decided to go back and visit the churches God started through them during the first missionary journey. Barnabas wants to take Mark again but this caused a sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas and they went different ways.
Our personalities can cause these confrontations – Barnabas was always forgiving and encouraging. Paul used the same tenacity he had when persecuting the church with his sharing about God’s love and sacrifice.
Dr. Luke does not mention Barnabas again but Paul refers to both Barnabas and Mark in his letters. This leads one to believe that their relationships were restored.
Later, Paul commends his readers to:
1) Do not let the sun go down on your anger (Eph 4:26)
2) And, He instructs the Philippians church to help two other believers to work out their differences (Phil 4:2-3)
This was a long post but I hope you could see through this friendship all the things God has shared through Pastor Mike and about working through problems in relationships.
Are there areas that you need to forgive and restore?
See ya Sunday –
