There are two words in Acts 9 that I find particularly encouraging – “But Barnabas.” There is only one thing that the disciples of Jerusalem knew about Saul, and that was that he was an insolent man. So here he comes to them expressing that he now follows Christ and wants to fellowship with the people of God, yet the disciples were afraid of him – they did not believe that he was a disciple. Then those two words, But Barnabas. Imagine yourself in that situation, fitting in nowhere; the Jews hated him and wanted to kill him, the disciples were afraid of him and wanted nothing to do with him. But Barnabas stuck his neck out, went to Saul and listened to him. He recognized – and trusted – the transforming power of God’s grace. So, he took him to Peter and James, affirming that Saul had encountered the risen Christ and had been proclaiming Christ boldly. In other words, here is what God’s grace does and that is what I am seeing in this man. God is good and He is in the business of transforming lives.
So here we are – looking all clean and pretty for worship on Sunday. But we know who we are and what we have done – and so does God. But we do NOT want others to know what we are dealing with inside. One reason we fear man is because we fear exposure. And if we get exposed, we fear what others will think of us or do to us. This is why the words, But Barnabas are so encouraging. This follower of Christ knew and trusted the power of God’s transforming grace. He knew that under God’s grace the past does not equal the future. He knew that God changes lives, a process that takes a lifetime. He also knew that God uses imperfect people and that God’s grace is greater than all our sin. He knew very well that the fellowship of God’s people was a means of grace. Therefore, he knew that taking the risk to listen to Saul was worth it.
Every one of us needs a Barnabas in our lives at the human level. What is more, every one of us needs to emulate Barnabas. We need to be champions of God’s grace, knowing and trusting His power and taking the time to listen to each other with ears and arms of grace. Barnabas invested himself in Saul; we are called to invest ourselves in each other. This is the church, the family of God.
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