Reflections on "Barnabas: Second Chances" Acts 15: 36-41

Again, I preached a narrative text, which is something I greatly enjoy.  I am not sure I have ever preached on Barnabas before, and I enjoyed it this time.

Someone came out of the sermon and noted that "they had never thought about Barnabas in this way." It reminded me that generally when I preach about a particular text, by the time I arrive at the sermon, I only see the text as fitting the sermon I am preaching.  What other perspective could there be? Of course, I know that if I were to preach the same text in a couple of months, that sermon would be different from the sermon had previously preached.  

“Barnabas: Second Chances” July 17, 2016; FPC, Troy; Acts 15: 36-41; Acts 9: 19-29

(Acts 15:36-41) After some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Come, let us return and visit the believers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. But Paul decided not to take with them one who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work. The disagreement became so sharp that they parted company; Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus. But Paul chose Silas and set out, the believers commending him to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Introduction:

We  continue reflecting on minor characters, although we move this week from the time of the Israelites to the early church as we meet Barnabas.

We know from an earlier story in Acts (4:36) that he did not start out life as Barnabas.

From Wikipedia and the Harper's Bible Dictionary, we discover the following information about Barnabas:  His  Hellenic Jewish parents called him Joseph (although the Byzantine text-type calls him Ιὠσης, Iōsēs, 'Joses', a Greek variant of 'Joseph'), but when he sold all his goods and gave the money to the apostles in Jerusalem, they gave him a new name: Barnabas. This name appears to be from the Aramaic בר נביא, bar naḇyā, meaning 'the son (of the) prophet'. However, the Greek text of Acts 4: 36 explains the name as υἱός παρακλήσεως, hyios paraklēseōs, meaning "son of consolation" or "son of encouragement". A similar link between ”prophecy” and ”encouragement” is found in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (I Corinthians 14: 3) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnabas)

Perhaps his encouragement was also seen as prophetic.

Move 1: As part of Barnabas' encouraging others, he gave people second chances.

a. It's one thing to say or even believe that people need a second chance; its another to be willing to give someone a second chance.

1. Take Saul for example.

2. He had been persecuting Christians. In fact, he has been there when Stephen was stoned to death.

3. Word had it that he as traveling to Damascus to persecute more Christians.

b. But now there are stories that Saul had changed.

1. something had happened to Saul on the way to Damascus. To hear Saul tell it, he had seen the risen Christ.

2. now, he supposedly acts differently.

3. Now, he supposedly talks differently.

4. Now, he supposedly has changed. In fact, he has some followers who are Christians, and, if the stories can believed, he is arguing with Greeks and Jews about Jesus.

5. Not everyone believes it. Some think it is an act. They do not know what Saul's end game is yet, but they do not trust him.

c. This is when Barnabas steps in and offers to team us with Saul.

1. Not just saying that Saul needs to be given a second chance, but living it.

2. Barnabas goes to the core leadership of the early church in Jerusalem and tells Saul's story and how Saul has changed.

2. Barnabas stakes his well-regarded reputation on Saul.

d. it works.

1. Because Barnabas is so well-respected; because Barnabas has proven himself again and again; people give Saul a second chance.

2. Saul, who will become Paul and establish himself as one of the great evangelists of the early church, gets his opportunity because Barnabas is willing to give him a second chance.

Move 2: Fast forward in Paul and Barnabas' relationship.

a. they have become well-known as a team.

1. they have accomplished a lot.

2. many in the early church can look back and see how Barnabas and Paul shared the good news of Jesus Christ with them.

b. We also know that Barnabas and Paul worked to train others, both local leaders and people who would travel with them.

1. one of those persons was John Mark.

2. John Mark had done some things with them, but he had failed in a previous time.

3. He had backed out on their mission trip to Pamphylia.

4. he had not done the work with them.

c. Paul wants no part of john Mark.

1. He had failed them once; there was no second chance.

2. We see the irony, of course. Paul, who had been given a second chance by Barnabas, is not willing to give John Mark a second chance.

3. before judging Paul too harshly, however, think about how hard it is to give people a second chance, particularly when they have let us down.

4. I have heard stories from my daughters when they have group projects at school about those people who let the group down and do not do what they were supposed to do. Typically, the person does not get a second chance – the group sort of cuts them out of the process (one of my daughters sent me a statement that said, 'I’m going to ask the people in my group project to be my pall bearers. That way they can let me down on last time.”

c. But Barnabas wants to give John mark a second chance.

1. His insistence that John Mark be given a second chance causes friction with Paul.

2. ultimately, it leads to Barnabas and Paul going their separate ways.

3. There may have been other issues below the surface, but their split takes place in large part because Barnabas wants to give someone else a second chance, and Paul does not.

Move 3: the God of second chances.

a. Barbara Brown Taylor, The Preaching Life: “God’s power is not a controlling power, but a redeeming power – the power to raise the dead, including those who are destroying themselves…” (10)

1. To speak of God is to speak of God's desire and power to redeem.

2. biblical story is littered with second chances.

2. One of the best examples is right off the bat – Adam and Eve get expelled from the Garden of Eden, but God provides clothes for them so they can survive outside of the garden.

3. I know that there are circumstances where we have to set parameters.

4. But this morning I want us to lay claim the God of second chances.

b. Not just about God giving second chances for sake of people getting another shot at it.

1. reveals God's desire to redeem us
2. To give us the opportunity to leave behind that which holds us back and embrace that new person God calls us to be.

     3. WE can only get to that new person by being given a second chance.

c. Good news.-- not just biblical characters, but you.

1. What Barnabas does for Paul reflects what God does for us.

2. God gives us a second chance. Maybe even a third chance or more.

3. God's desires that each of us give up that which holds us back and move forward to become the new creations that God calls us to be.

4. if we do not quite get it right, there is another chance.

4. Perhaps you have had someone in your life like Barnabas. Someone who gave you a second chance so that you could grow as a person.

c. Are we willing to respond to be people who give others second chance?

1. Les Miserable At night, Valjean runs off with Myriel's silverware. When the police capture Valjean, Myriel pretends that he has given the silverware to Valjean and presses him to take two silver candlesticks as well, as if he had forgotten to take them. The police accept his explanation and leave. Myriel tells Valjean that his life has been spared for God, and that he should use money from the silver candlesticks to make an honest man of himself.

Instead of being send back to prison and being stuck in who he was, Valjean is given a chance to make a new life.

2. Much of the novel follows Valjean as he lives out that second chance.

3. How willing are you to give someone a second chance?

4. are you more like Paul, who does not want to risk someone failing him?

5. or can you find it in yourself to be like Barnabas, and give others another chance?

Conclusion: I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. Maya Angelouhttp://www.wisdomquotes.com/quote/maya-angelou-14.html

With all due respect to Angelou's wisdom, I might put it this way: I have learned that God gives me a second chance because God desires to redeem me. Amen.