Sermon Tone Analysis

Inscription: Writing God’s Words on Our Hearts & Minds

Part 67: Stories of Encouragement in Acts

Acts 9:26-28, 15:36-40

February 26, 2012

Prayer

Scripture reading: Rom.

12:6-8 (Eddie Kelley)

Encouraging people

Q How many of you can point to people in your life who made a major impact not by teaching but simply by being encouraging?

You may remember that a couple of years ago, Marilyn and I went to do a wedding in DC for my friend Israel Kloss.

Israel has been that friend to me.

~* Even as a teenager, he’d remember thing I said that he thought profound and quote them to other people.

It was because of Israel’s encouragement that I believed I had something worth saying.

To this day he is one of the biggest supporters of the book I am writing.

Q Who have you had like that in your life?

Maybe a teacher, or a friend, a parent?

Q Who have you encouraged?

Is there anyone who would answer my question with your name?

Today, in Acts, we are going to learn from one the Bible’s best encouragers.

Some of us are encouragers by nature, some – not so much – but God puts all of in places where we can be a life-saving encouragement to others.

~* There are people you can encourage better than anyone else.

God’s Acceptance of OUtsiders

I said last week Acts is the history of the early church; not dates and places, stories of people and what happened to them.

Luke weaves these together to teach about some major themes.

The first big theme in Acts is the work and power of the Holy Spirit, and we got to see this played out in Peter’s life.

~* The second major theme is God’s acceptance of Gentiles.

The Jews grew up believing that they were God’s only people and so it came as quite a shock to them when they saw accepting the Samaritans first and then the Gentiles.

This was revolutionary to the Jews (hence a central theme of Acts), but not so revolutionary for us.

This makes it hard to me to preach on – come on, let’s get really excited about something we take for granted!

But I love how Acts is theology in story form – in Acts we get to see this theme acted out in a relatable way by a man named Barnabas.

He is an example of God’s acceptance, not just of nations and people groups, but also of individuals.

~* He never wrote a book of the Bible (unless he wrote Hebrews), he may be partially responsible for half the NT being written.

Luke discreetly introduces us to him in chapter 4:

Acts 4:34-37 There were no needy persons among them.

For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales 35 and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.

The church has barely begun, and Barnabas already has a reputation of being an encourager.

The Apostles themselves had been encouraged by him.

The church was probably filled with people who kept going because of him.

~* It is not a coincidence that this name is connected with his generosity – encouragement is a kind of generosity.

This is all we hear about Barnabas for a while, but we are going to fast forward a little bit to see two specific people that Barnabas encouraged at crucial points in their lives.

~* Looking at these stories we’ll see two important ways we can be encouragers, as well as a danger of being an encourager.

Paul’s Sponsor

Skipping to chapter eight: Even as the fledgling church was growing and enjoying great success, you can tell things are too good to last.

There is an underlying tension between the religious establishment and the Christians.

There had been many near misses – apostles being let off with a warning, arrests and miraculous jailbreaks.

But the whole thing was a powder keg just waiting to explode.

~* And explode it did, when a mob murder a Christian leader by the name of Stephen, who becomes the first Christian martyr.

And with that persecution broke out against the church, and a key figure in that persecution is Saul, a zealous Pharisee:

Acts 8:3-4 But Saul began to destroy the church.

Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.

Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

Even in this persecution, you see God’s hand at work – is forced many of the believers to leave Jerusalem and begin spreading the Gospel to Judea and Samaria, as Jesus had commanded.

Skipping ahead a little:

Acts 9:1-2 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.

He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

This sermon isn’t about Saul, so don’t want to spend too much time on him, but you understand Saul’s reputation.

On the “road to Damascus,” Jesus literally knocks Saul off of his horse and he becomes a Christian.

Acts 9:26-28 When [Saul] came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple.

27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles.

He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.

28 So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.

You can see why the apostles nicknamed him “son of encouragement.”

In this story we see the first way that Barnabas was an encourager:

1. Paul: Seeing what others don’t and bringing it out

Barnabas saw what others didn’t – he looked beyond the past and saw both the depth of Saul’s (renamed Paul) conversion.

He also saw the amazing potential that Paul had.

~* Encouragers have an amazing ability to see what others don’t; sometime the other person doesn’t see it about themselves.

Years ago, I watched an episode of the new Twilight Zone where these two people were in this warehouse trying to find something that was for them, but they couldn’t find it for themselves, they could only see the other persons.

~* It wasn’t until the reached out of themselves and helped the other that they got what they need.

That is a great picture of how encouragement works – we frequently have the ability to see what others don’t.

And sometimes one thing that you say can have a dramatic impact on someone’s entire life:

Before I had even met Marilyn, a friend of mine, Tawny, told me that I would be the kind of father every daughter wishes they would have.

From that point on, I wanted to have daughters.

~* Tawny brought out the best in me, something I didn’t know was there.

How to bring out the best out of others

a) Keep an eye out for people need encouragement.

Encouraging people seem to have this radar for the downtrodden and discouraged.

Pray for the ability to see that.

But sometimes they are downtrodden, but they still need to hear it.

~* Sometimes it simple is a matter of taking your eyes off yourself and looking at others.

b) Pray for eyes to see what God sees.

Encouragers assumes well of people; they see a big “10” over everyone (John Maxwell).

They are looking for the “diamonds in the rough.”

~* Ask God to help you see what he sees.

c) Tell them what you see.

It is useless otherwise.

E.g. “Green Apron cards,” which I am awful at doing, because I am self-focused, no other excuse.

d) Determine if you can help – have a vested interest.

But being an encourager takes more than just seeing, it requires doing – at a minimum telling what you see and but hopefully also helping them develop it.

~* Like with Barnabas, there is spirit of generosity to encouragement.

Imagine the risk Barnabas was taking: How could be sure that Saul’s conversion was real?

And even if it was, he probably had reason for a person grudge.

~* Barnabas took a risk, made the effort, and invested in Paul.

This wasn’t a onetime thing: In chapter 11, Barnabas is sent to Antioch, which was the 3rd largest city in the Roman empire, and he made a point of finding Paul and including him is the ministry, with great success.

~* There was a huge payoff as Paul became a powerful missionary.

2. John Mark: Second Chances

Moving on, Acts tells us that Paul was not the only one who benefited from Barnabas’ encouragement.

Barnabas also played a central role in the life of a young man named John Mark, who also happened to be his cousin.

In Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas are sent out for their first missionary journey, and they decide to take Mark as a helper.