Acts 4:32-37 “Sons & Daughters of Encouragement.”
I read an illustration this week
under the heading “Gifts of Discernment, Gifts of Encouragement.”
It seems there was a barber in a
small local town who had been the only barber in town for years. Everyone went
to this barber to get their hair cut. Then, one day a big hair salon franchise
came to town and opened up shop. They advertised, “All Haircuts for $3.00”
Slowly, the old barber’s business
began to dwindle. He just couldn’t compete. So, in a last ditch effort to save
his business, he hired a business consultant. The consultant spent a day
pouring over the barber’s books asking many questions. At the end of the day
the barber asked the consultant, “So what do you think ? Should I close up shop
?” The consultant said, “Not yet. I’ll be back tomorrow.” The next day the
consultant showed up with a huge banner that he hung out front that saved the
barber shop. The banner read, “We Fix $3.00 Haircuts!”
Scripture: Acts 4:32-37 “Sons & Daughters of Encouragement.”
32 Now the multitude of those who
believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the
things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. 33 And with
great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
And great grace was upon them all. 34 Nor was there anyone among them who lacked;
for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the
proceeds of the things that were sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet;
and they distributed to each as anyone had need.
36 And Joses, (Also translated
Joseph) who was also named Barnabas by the apostles (which is translated Son of
Encouragement), a Levite of the country of Cyprus, 37 having land, sold it, and
brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Also named Barnabas by the
apostles (which is translated Son of Encouragement.)
What a wonderful nickname to be
given by others.
The same Greek word translated encourage
is also translated comfort. To comfort
is to cheer and encourage. To console.
In the family of God we should
all be “Sons & Daughters of Encouragement.” For, as Christians, we should
encourage one another through our words and actions.
We don’t want to be like a lady
who was so upset that the preacher was leaving her church… And at his farewell
dinner, he tried to encourage her by saying, “Don’t be so sad. Why, the next
preacher will probably be a whole lot better than me.” She said no, “That’s
what they said before you came but it just keeps getting worse.”
Not very encouraging or
comforting was it. In the challenging times of life we all need encouragement.
It was on June 18, 1956, that a
accident happened on a lake in New York. A speeding motorboat bounced on a wave
and shot two of its passengers into the water, a 50-year old man and a little
girl. To keep her from drowning, the man held her head above water while the
driver of the boat circled back. They rescued the girl. But just as they got
the little girl the man sank and drowned.
The man was Dawson Trotman, the
founder of the Navigators, an international discipleship ministry. A quote
in Time Magazine said, “He lived to save others. And his death was just the way
he would have planned it. In his obituary someone wrote that he died just the
way he lived, always lifting someone up.
What a legacy. To be known as
someone who always lifted others up. Someone who was always encouraging others.
In our passage today, the church
was young. Beginning in Jerusalem, and all of the church was in one accord the
scriptures tell us. The apostles were preaching and teaching every day and more
and more believed that Jesus was their long awaited Messiah and they were
placing their faith in Him and what He had done on the cross for them.
One of those was Joseph, the one
the apostles nicknamed Barnabas. Names had meaning back in Jesus’ day and his nickname
meant “Son of Encouragement” or encourager.
Barnabas’ character as an encourager
was so well known that it actually changed his name. His nickname became who he
was.
Almost every time we read of
Barnabas we find encouragement going on.
Even when the apostle Paul was
angry with John Mark and didn’t want him to be part of his ministry team
anymore Barnabas chose to take John Mark along with him.
Paul didn’t want John Mark with
them because he saw him as a quitter. One who wouldn’t follow through on his
commitments. Barnabas saw a young man who needed encouragement.
And this young man we call John
Mark is the writer of the Gospel as recorded by Mark.
This word encouragement in its
original form means “to call to one’s side, to comfort, to console, to strengthen.”
When we encourage each other it
means that we walk beside one another to share support and strength.
To do what we can to strengthen
instead of tear down.
A Pastor said he learned a great
illustration once when their church made the decision to do a major renovation
on their sanctuary. The first step was to put together a crew of people to do
internal demolition. He said around forty people showed up to take care of this
task.
Dust was everywhere as we ripped
up carpet, knocked out walls, tore down ceilings, and dismantled the platform.
There were people of all shapes, sizes, and ages. He said it was a wonderful
project for people like him because absolutely no skill was needed because it
doesn’t take much training to destroy something.
When this phase was completed,
the remodeling began. This was the part that required skilled and trained
people—those who knew how to construct, build, and refurbish. Their task was
much more difficult and it took much longer than the demolition.
He said he learned that it
doesn’t take a genius to destroy something, but it does take some know-how to
construct something of value. The unskilled can quickly take apart that which
takes the skilled a lot of time to put together.
In the lives of others, do you
demolish or construct? Tear down or build up? Were back to the word Edify
again. Encouragers will always leave
people better than they found them.
We all need words of
encouragement. Words that will build us up, words that will help us in times of
despair and trouble. Words that will help us stay the course when times get
tough.
And sometimes, when life knocks
you down in the middle of the ring… the thing God uses to make you get up is someone
in your corner yelling, “Get Up!”
And the words we choose to use
are so important. We need to think and speak slowly.
For The Scripture says…Let every
man be swift to hear, slow to speak… James 1:19
Ann Landers once said, "The
trouble with talking too fast is you may say something you haven’t thought of
yet."
Eph 4:29 Tells us… Let no unwholesome (rotten) word
proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that
it will give grace to those who hear.
We are not to use foul or abusive
language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will
be an encouragement to those who hear them.
Our society today has a new
phenomenon that wasn’t present in the early church. We have social networking.
We have twitter and facebook don’t we. And this is the way so many communicate
in our world today. And it sure doesn’t seem like many are using Eph 4:29 as a
guideline.
It’s great technology and should be used to
encourage and build people up, not to tear people down and discourage them.
I’m sure that you’ve all heard
the saying, “Actions speak louder than words”. While that may be true in some
cases, in the context of encouragement, they go hand in hand with each other.
We encourage people with our
actions as well as our words.
Let’s look at another example of
Barnabas to see encouragement in action.
In Acts 9:26-27: When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to
meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe
he had truly become a believer!
Then Barnabas brought him to the
apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and
how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached
boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
Paul was still going by the name
Saul at this time. He had been saved on the road to Damascus and had answered
god’s call to preach and teach others about Jesus.
The trouble was that he was known
as a persecutor of Christians. Not a follower of Jesus. The Christians in
Jerusalem were afraid of him. They thought, maybe this was a trap of Saul..
But Barnabas took Paul to the
Apostles and stood up for him. He told them of Paul’s conversion and how he
personally had heard Paul preach the Gospel of Jesus.
The actions of Barnabas
encouraged and strengthened Paul in his faith and his reputation.
I want to encourage you today to
be an encourager.
To lift each other up. Encourage
your friends and neighbors.You never know how God uses our encouragements to
bring people into a relationship with Him.
When I was an Evangelist many
years ago our evangelistic ministry was called …
“Encouragemen Ministries” with the T in encouragement
being a large cross.
Symbolizing
our desire to Encourage Men to the Cross! Because Jesus, the crucified and
risen Christ is what mankind needs more than anything else. To believe on
Jesus, to call upon His name… we Encourage them to do so.