Acts 11:21-26 * July 16, 2006 * Festival of St. Barnabas * Rev. Harry Hagedorn

Nicknames, calling someone something other than their given name, are often rather strange, both as to their origin and significance. For example, my parents named me Harold. But along the way in school friends began to call me Harry. I don’t recall why, if I ever knew, but I readily answer to it. It was always rather annoying to my mother, who is now forever with the Lord. She always contended that if she had wanted to call me Harry she would have named me that. You know that whenever I called home I would always say, “Hi, Mom, this is Harold.”

Sometimes nicknames are descriptive: “You remember ol’ Shorty here?” Sometimes they are the exact opposite: “Do you know Tiny?” and you look and it’s this huge bear of a man. In the Bible, given names were often descriptive, and it seems that nicknames always were. As our congregation continues a sermon series that “Majors in the Minors,” a noting of some of the minor festivals of the church year, we have before us today a fellow saint whose nickname was most descriptive: Barnabas, Son of Encouragement. May the Lord our God help us to realize that Barnabas, and we, are 1) Encouraged in Christ, 2)To Encourage Others with Christ.

We are introduced to Barnabas in Acts 4:36&37 as we find out that Barnabas was his nickname: “Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”

While we don’t know the course of the life of faith of Barnabas before this account, we do know that following the great day of Pentecost: “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.” (Acts 4:33) The Holy Spirit uses the Gospel of Grace in God’s Word, in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper to create, grow and sustain faith. He did that for Barnabas even as he does that for us.

This might be a good place to pause to address the doubts that we all may have about being able to even relate to heroes of the faith like Barnabas. Believers, Barnabas was a saint, one declared holy before God, by grace through faith. You are a saint by grace through faith. God in mercy makes sure we understand that even those placed before as heroes of the faith are sinners saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. The Holy Spirit caused Paul the Apostle to write to the Galatians regarding Barnabas and Peter: “When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.”(2:11-13) This record is not to gossip about Peter and Barnabas. Rather it is to warn of the danger of turning away from the Gospel and to remind all, including us, that we are saints of the Lord only by grace alone through faith alone. And so we give thanks to know that Barnabas, the son of encouragement, was encouraged in Christ and we ask the Lord our God to keep us in Christ.

“21The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. 22News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. 25Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch. (Acts 11:21-26)

Christians – now there’s a nickname for you – our dear Jesus once pointed out that “out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”(Mt 12:35) The faith life of Barnabas reflected that.

“21The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. Our Savior God does this! Christ for us! Promises fulfilled! “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ.”(2 Cor 5:19) The Holy Spirit works the faith. “…no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.”(I Cor 12:3b) What an encouragement in the midst of every trial and temptation, doubt and fear – The Lord has done it! 22News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. 24He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord. We are encouraged to encourage.

We could look at other aspects of the life of Barnabas, the son of encouragement – his generosity as indicated by his gift of the proceeds from the sale of the field he owned; his commissioning as a missionary; his tireless traveling for the cause of proclaiming Christ; his defense of John Mark; his support of Saul, who would be called Paul. Dig around in the Book of Acts. You will be blessed. But let’s just focus on being encouraged in Christ to encourage others. 23When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.

Like Saint Barnabas, you, saints of the Lord, are equipped to do that. My dear bride and I had the privilege of attending the national convention of the Lutheran Women’s Missionary Society at the end of June in Tacoma, WA. There, as at other LWMS conventions, missionaries and their families told of God’s amazing grace at work and expressed thanks to God for the encouragement they received because the Christian women of the LWMS take the time to send cards and notes of encouragement, telling of their care and prayers for them and expressing their love in Christ. Fellow Christians are encouraged by fellow Christians – whether serving in Brazil or Africa or reaching out to Spanish speakers in Anchorage, or on a college campus in Texas, or serving in the only outreach exclusively to Vietnamese that we have in the wels in Boise, ID, or a missionary trying to reach the self-satisfied in the state of Washington, the second most non Christian state in the union.

Christian, you can do that. Because you are encouraged in Christ you can encourage others with Christ. If you want to do that to missionaries around the world or throughout North America, we can get you those names and addresses, either through the church office or speak with Mrs. Jean Peterman, our LWMS representative. But you can also encourage those all around you. You are doing that right now to one another by being gathered together in Christ’s name. Perhaps it’s by sending a little note to someone: Thinking about you. How good it is to know God’s love in Christ when we are happy or sad or whatever it is you know about someone because you care and paid attention to them. Barnabas “was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith,…” Christian, by grace alone through faith alone, so are you. Let us reflect the love of Christ. For after all, we carry the nickname Christian. Amen.