Sermon: God Can Use You

Its been a while between posts, I've been busy, sorry. Been jetting off around the world, doing camps, and lots of other things. I've got some stuff I want to write about soon, but I'll get to that in another post. I want to share with you what I preached in my home Church a couple of weeks ago while I was in Sydney (more on that trip in another blog too). Its called God Can Use You. Enjoy!

A man was walking along a beach one morning and noticed that the sand was littered with thousands and thousands of starfish that had been washed up on shore. He knew that they would die if the morning sun shone on them for too long, so he proceeded to pick one up and flung it back into the sea. A lady noticed and asked the man what he was doing. “The beach goes on for miles,” she said. “How can you possibly make a difference?”
The man pointed to the sea and answered “I made a difference for that one.”

It’s a nice little story, and its point is something I want us to explore in greater depth today as we look at Scripture: that God can in fact use us and we can make a difference, no matter who we are. I often thought that I wasn’t going to be very useful by God, and while I may not have planted a Church or lead hundreds to Christ I can safely say that God has used me. There are so many ways God can use us and He actually wants to use us – its just a matter of whether you’re open to being used by Him or not. I want to look at someone in the Bible who God used in amazing ways, but sometimes his contribution to the unfolding of God’s will goes undetected. I want to look at Barnabas. I think it’s safe to say that the course of history was changed because of his influence on the early Church, even if he isn’t the most famous character in the New Testament.

We’re going to be looking at the Book of Acts, and for those who may not be familiar with it, this is a book written by a guy named Luke. Luke wrote a book detailing the life of Jesus, and this Book of Acts is the follow up to that book, describing the life of the Christian Church following Jesus’ death and resurrection. And it’s in this account of history that we get Barnabas making his contribution to the story.

The first mention we get of Barnabas is in Acts 4:36-37. The writer has just described what the community of Christians in the weeks after Jesus’ Resurrection was like, saying that they were “one in heart and mind” and that they shared everything they had, selling their possessions to care for the poor among them. Then he finishes off that section with this: “Joseph, a Levite fromCyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the Apostles’ feet.” This amazing generosity is contrasted with the next chapter of Acts in which Ananias and Sapphira also bring some money to lay at the Apostles’ feet, but they lie and tell them it is all the money they got for the sale, when in reality they kept some for themselves, and they suffer the consequences for their sin. Barnabas however has no deceit in him, but desires to be a servant in action by putting others needs before his own. This brief mention is definitely a sign of things to come though, which may well be why he gets singled out in this section.

The story continues to unfold in the following chapters, most notable with on of the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem, Stephen, being captured by the Jewish leaders and stoned to death, and from this Luke tells us in Acts 8:1 “On that day a great persecution broke out against the Church at Jerusalem, and all except the Apostles were scatted throughout Judea and Samaria.” It’s at this point that we’re introduced to a man that would play a crucial role in the development of the rest of the book of Acts: a Jewish religious fanatic named Saul, who Luke tells us, “began to destroy the Church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison.” It seems he was heading up this new effort of persecution and in the next chapter, Luke tells us that Saul got permission from the Jewish leaders to go to another city, Damascus, to continue his persecution of the Christians there. Something unexpected happened though – while Saul was on the road to Damascus he saw Jesus Himself appear to him and he is converted. The Christian-killer becomes a Christian himself – you couldn’t write a better script if you tried. Saul then starts preaching in the Jewish synagogues that Jesus is the Christ, no doubt confusing everyone who heard him preaching as he’d become quite well known among the Jewish community for his exploits.

However, when Saul tried to return to Jerusalem and join the community of Christians there, he faced a problem: the leaders of the Church didn’t believe that he had truly become a Christian. They doubted. They may well have suspected that he was using this as a ploy to persecute them too. There was one, however, among the leaders who trusted Saul - Barnabas. Barnabas stepped in and vouched for Saul – he put his own reputation and standing on the line for what he knew was right, despite not being a witness to the things Saul spoke of. The change in Saul’s status was amazing, as we see in chapter 9 verse 28, just two verses after the leaders of the Church were so fearful of him: “So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.” He went from outright rejection to being given a free pass to minister as he saw fit – and all because of the step of faith Barnabas took.

We skip ahead 2 chapters and we see Barnabas at the centre of the action again. Luke tells us that some Christians took the message of Jesus to the Greeks in Antioch – the first time the message had really been preached to non-Jews – and a Church was formed there, probably with a mix of Jews and non-Jews in the congregation. The leaders in Jerusalem decided they needed to send a representative to this new fledgling Church. We don’t know why they wanted to do that, whether it was to encourage and build them up, or to check out their legitimacy, but we do know they picked Barnabas for the job. When Barnabas arrived, Luke tells us, he “saw the evidence of the grace of God” and “he was glad”. Now, to understand the significance of this you have to understand the thought of the Jewish people of the day. The Jews were God’s chosen people, as revealed in their Scriptures – the Old Testament – and so this position made them special, better than non-Jews. And this train of thought stayed with some of the new Christians, all of whom were Jews. Just prior to this section, Peter has a vision from God where God has to convince him that the non-Jews deserve the Gospel as well – so we can see that it was an issue that faced the early Church. And yet, here we have Barnabas, who was glad at seeing a congregation with a mix of Jews and non-Jews, worshipping together.

Barnabas didn’t view his job as being over then though, but saw a few opportunities here. He leftAntioch and went to Cyprus to find Saul and brought him back to Antioch and together they stayed there over a year encouraging and teaching the Church. Crucial to this is that they didn’t just encourage them with words and leave. They encouraged with words, yes, but they coupled that with standing by them and working with them – it was with action. James expresses this concept in chapter 2 verses 15 and 16: “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” Barnabas and Saul applied this principal well, standing with the Antioch Church, not just encouraging from a distance.

The impact of Barnabas ministry is one that isn’t as obvious compared to Saul. Saul went on to be called Paul and wrote the vast majority of the New Testament, as well as planting countless Churches. The book of Acts, from chapter 12 onwards basically tells Paul’s story. Paul is the hero of the New Testament. But we can’t forget how God used Barnabas, because without him things would have looked very different. Paul would not have become the amazing man who spread the good news of Jesus all through Asia Minor and Europe without Barnabas. If Barnabas had not vouched for Paul in Jerusalem, Paul would not have developed the same reputation among the Jews and would not have received their blessing for all of his missionary journeys, nor would they have condoned his being appointed a leader in the Antioch church, which was no doubt a significant time of growth for Paul in his ministry skills and propelled him into his missionary journeys.

The Church at Antioch became very significant too, with it serving as the home base so to speak for Barnabas’ and Paul’s missionary journeys, as well as providing lots of financial support to the struggling Jerusalem Church during a particular tough time of famine in the region.

The story of Barnabas doesn’t end there however - he has one last significant mention that I want to look at today, and it’s found at the end chapter 15 of Acts. This is from verse 36:

“Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.”

Once again we see Barnabas standing up for someone in the face of opposition, despite their chequered past, much like he did with Paul – but unlike with Paul, it doesn’t seem to end positively. Barnabas goes on with Mark, and Paul goes on his own way with Silas, but it is Paul who gets the blessing of the Church in Jerusalem. So it seems that after all these positive things we see of Barnabas previously, his story actually ends on a sad note. However, while Acts doesn’t tell us anymore about Barnabas and there is nothing in any other part of the Bible that tells us explicitly that Paul and Barnabas made up after their disagreement, there is reason to believe things ended well. We move on to Paul’s second letter to Timothy. Scholars regard this letter as the final letter of Paul’s, and so I think its fair to say what it has to say can be dated after this story of Paul and Barnabas’ disagreement. In chapter 4 verse 11, Paul is in the middle of giving some personal remarks to Timothy and he says this: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” Just read that again: “Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry.” What a turn around: from Paul saying that he would not take Mark with him, no matter what, to the point that he split from his close friend and ministry partner of many years, Barnabas – to saying that he and Mark are not only reconciled, but that Mark is actually “helpful” to his ministry. What amazing discernment Barnabas must have had to see this potential in Mark and then the strength of character to stand by him, despite no-one else wanting to trust him. This Mark is also said to be the author of the Gospel of Mark, so we see yet another significant impact Barnabas had through his influence on someone else.

It’s in this love of Mark, that we see Barnabas living out the Gospel he preached. He was putting his faith into action, just as he did in the Church at Antioch. Barnabas looked beyond the mistakes Mark had made, and saw him as God sees him: forgiven. That’s the good news of the message of Jesus – the message that Barnabas preached and lived out. It’s a message that permeates throughout the Bible: one of a loving God reconciling His people to Himself, so that they can know Him personally. There’s a short little presentation that I’ve used in ministry both in Australia and Japan that condenses this message of the Bible to four basic points and I want to share that with you now. For those already know Christ, be encouraged as you are reminded of the amazing grace that God has shown you. For those who don’t yet know Christ, please, take this on board, not because I’m asking you to, but because God is asking you to.

So, the first point is that

1. God loves you and created you to have a personal relationship with him.

God isn’t a distant God, separate from our lives here, uncaring or uninterested in our lives. He created each one of you personally, knows everything about you, the deepest desires of your heart and loves you, despite your failings. The point of life is to know God, because that’s why he created us.

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” – John 17:3

But this isn’t what we see in reality – God seems far from us, we don’t know Him. What keeps us from knowing God?

Well that’s the second point:

2. All of us are sinful and guilty before God, and this sin has separated us from God.

This sin has broken the relationship God created us for, and therefore we can’t know God personally, as He intended us to. The Bible says “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. (Romans 3:23) We are basically in rebellion against God, whether actively or passively, and this rebellion stands between us and God. We have put ourselves above God, at the centre of our lives. No matter what we may try to do to rectify this, we can’t – our efforts fall short. It doesn’t matter how much you try, how good you think you can be, you can’t measure up.
It would be like me asking each of you to line up on the beach in Sydney with a small rock and see who can throw that rock to Japan. One might throw it a few metres out, another might throw it over the breakers. You could all line up and have a try, but ultimately none of you will get close to throwing your rock to Japan though. So likewise, our best efforts to please God will fall embarrassingly short.

So what’s the solution? How do we bridge the gap?

3. Jesus Christ is God’s own solution.

It’s through him that we can know God personally; it’s through him that we can have our relationship restored. Jesus wasn’t just a great teacher or a model to follow to live a good life – He was so much more. Jesus died a horrible death on a cross, a torturous Roman method of execution, but this death was significant because it was in our place. Rather than allow us to suffer the consequences of our rebellion against God, Jesus suffered them for us – he stood in our place.

"For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God" – 1 Peter 3:18

But Jesus didn’t stay dead – God raised him from the dead, guaranteeing that we too can have eternal life and that Jesus is who he says he was and more than capable to forgive us.

Christ bridges the gap between us and God and He is the only way, as He Himself said: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – (John 14:3)

But simply knowing these things isn’t enough – the Devil himself knows these things about God. And that’s where the 4^th point comes in:

4. We must each respond

We all need to personally respond to Jesus and what he has done. How would you respond?

There's two circles below. The first represents a life that is run by you, the S stands for Self and you are on the throne, making the decisions, running your life. The cross represents Jesus, and He’s not in the circle, not in your life at all.

Then there’s the second circle, where Jesus is on the throne, directing your life and you are not.

Which one is you now? Which one do you think you should be in? If you’re thinking to yourself that you’re in the first, but need to be in the second then you can respond to Jesus by placing your trust in Him as Saviour and Lord.

There’s two aspects to this:

Firstly: agreeing with God that we have sinned and rebelled against Him and then turning away from that rebellion
This is called repentance.

Secondly: trusting Jesus Christ to forgive us completely because He died for our sins

This is called faith.

You can express this by praying to God, basically just talking to him. You don’t need fancy words, the words themselves are not magical, it just needs to reflect your heart. You could pray something like this:

“Lord Jesus, I realise that I have been running my own life and have sinned against you. Thank you for dying for my sins. I want to be the kind of person you want me to be. I receive you as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for giving me this personal relationship with you.

If you can pray that, and mean it, then you can enter into a relationship with Jesus – all by His grace, the free gift of God. If you’ve already made that step, then be reminded of this amazing free gift of God.

We’ve seen, today, how this amazing grace affected Barnabas and made him into a man God was willing to use. Accepting Jesus isn’t just a one off event that ends the day you do it, but it’s a journey that continues on for the rest of your life, and so you too can be continually affected by the grace of God each and every day.

Now, what was it that made Barnabas so special that God was able to use him in such an amazing way, despite falling into the background of the story a little? It’s all well and good to look at what God did through him, but unless we can take something from this and apply it to our lives, it’s just a nice story. What’s the key to God using Barnabas that we can strive towards? It lies back in chapter 11, verse 24: “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.” It wasn’t that he’d been to Bible College and studied theology for many years. It wasn’t that he had experience in Church leadership. It wasn’t that he had been trained in evangelism. It was the simple fact that he had been filled with the Holy Spirit and had faith in God, and we see this come through in everything he does. He trusted that God was working genuinely in the life of Paul and he wouldn’t back down on that. He trusted that God was working genuinely in the life of the Church at Antioch and did everything he could to encourage them. He trusted that God was working in the life of Mark. And then he trusted God that he would use him when God sent him out on mission trips throughout Europe.
How can we, like Barnabas, be used by God in our lives? We don’t have to be like Paul, planting Churches and converting hundreds of people wherever we go. We don’t have to move overseas to be a missionary. We don’t have to become a pastor of a Church. These are all good things, and I would encourage anyone considering those to pursue it, but they are not the only ways God can use us. We, like Barnabas, can quietly get alongside someone and encourage them in their lives, where they’re at, walking with them each step of the way. You may never know the impact it might have on their life and what God might then in turn use them to accomplish down the track. Without Barnabas’ influence on a few select people, we may not have the Gospel of Mark, or the letters of Paul. The Gospel may never have spread to large parts of Europe in quite the same way as it did. Barnabas is by no means the centre of the story, he never wrote anything that was included in the Bible – but God was using him in the little things. And God can use you too in those little things, to make a great impact for His Kingdom.