2024_12_04 Insight Post- Rusty Coram
This week’s reading- Acts 4:32-37, Acts 9:20-27, Acts 11:19-30, Acts 13, Acts 14, Acts 15:36-41, Galatians 2:11-13
We are first introduced to Joseph, nicknamed Barnabas, as the early church navigated challenges for caring for the diverse and growing community. In the absence of government social programs and the estrangement many experienced by their Jewish families after accepting Jesus, the church sought to collect resources to care for those in need. Among those who contributed, we read, “For instance, there was Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus. 37 He sold a field he owned and brought the money to the apostles.” Acts 4:36-37 (NLT)
There is a lot to catch here. Barnabas is generous, and we get the idea that it wasn’t just on this occasion but a pattern in his life, hence the nickname. We see later that Barnabas uses his influence (at the risk of his reputation) to befriend the newly converted Paul and then introduce him to the early church leaders like Peter and James. This took courage because Paul had not long before been the leading persecutor of the church. What if Paul was pretending to be a follower to trick and trap church leaders? Barnabas chose to take a chance, and it paid off well, he later became Paul’s partner in a major church planting movement.
Barnabas’s courage and practical support of others are tremendous examples. At a time when the church was growing and developing, leadership like his paved the way for many to discover the new life only found in Jesus.
But Barnabas, like all other human beings, was not perfect; this is one of the things I love about the Bible. Rather than editing out their mistakes, it keeps them in portraits painted of even the great heroes of our faith – no spin or glossing over them. In Barnabas’ case, we get a small glimpse of a lapse in Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia, “Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13 As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.” Galatians 2:12,13 (NLT) Here, we discover that pressure to conform to the prejudice of some influential Jewish/Christian leaders led Peter and Barnabas to disrespect non-Jewish converts. Caving to the pressure of our social network is easy to understand. We all want to fit in and be accepted, but there are times when doing so can violate our primary allegiance to Jesus and His values. We read that Paul challenges Peter and he repents, and from what we know about Barnabas, I believe it would be reasonable to believe he accepted the correction, too.
A big takeaway for me is that even the best examples of faith are still fallible. Hold on to what is good, but always evaluate, using the Bible as our guide so that we don’t follow into ways that don’t honor God. We need good examples, but only one is perfect—Jesus!
Rusty Coram
Senior Pastor