I love Barnabas (from the Book of Acts) so much – he is one of my most favorite people from the history of Christianity!

Acts 11:22-24 says:

News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.  When Barnabas arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.  He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

Acts 11:22-24

What an awesome epitaph the Bible gives to Barnabas!  “He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.”  It sounds a lot like Stephen’s epitaph from Acts chapter 6: “Stephen was a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit… a man full of God’s grace and power.”

Do you know that your epitaph is being written right now?  The language surrounding how you will be remembered is being written in people’s minds and hearts about you right now.  And man, I hope mine is something like this, “He is a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.”

And I hope yours is something like, “He or she was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit… a person full of God’s grace and power.”

Now what does it mean that Barnabas was full of faith?  One biographer of his life describes the statement of him being “full of faith” as a term that meant “a dynamic and motivating way of understanding the relation of God to one’s own world.”

Remember what Barnabas did in Acts chapter 4?  He sold some land that he owned and brought the money and gave it to the Apostles to help fund their Gospel ministry.  Barnabas understood that he was not the owner of his possessions, but he was rather a steward of them – so that at any point, he could give what God had given him to support the church and God’s work around the world.

And remember what Barnabas did in Acts chapter 9?  This was right after Saul converted to faith in Jesus, when none of the believers trusted Saul yet, but the Jewish officials wanted to kill Saul – Barnabas took Saul to the Apostles and showed them how Jesus had saved Saul and how Saul had been preaching fearlessly in the Name of Jesus.

Barnabas understood that God was at work in his life and in the lives of others, and that even when the circumstances were bad on the earthly/human side of things, God is always working upstream.

And so Barnabas advocated for Saul when no one trusted Saul.  And Barnabas gave his own possessions to support the ministries of the church when the church had very few resources to operate with.

And here in Acts chapter 11, Barnabas goes to Antioch – this new frontier of the Gospel – he travels to see what God is up to there.  News has reached Jerusalem that people who are not Jews are putting their trust in Jesus.  Greeks and Romans – polytheists – people who have no claim or association with God’s chosen people Israel – people who haven’t spent centuries awaiting God’s coming Messiah –

News had reached the Jewish believers in Jerusalem that missionaries from northern Africa had traveled across the Mediterranean Sea to southern Turkey to share the Good News about Jesus with people who aren’t Jewish – and that these people were receiving the Gospel, believing the missionaries’ message, turning to faith in Jesus, and are even being filled with God’s Holy Spirit!

I mean this was unbelievable at the time!  And Barnabas, a Jewish believer in Jesus, who was full of faith and the Holy Spirit – he stands up in the church at Jerusalem and says, “I’ll go check it out.” And so he goes.  And when he gets there, he sees evidence of the grace of God at work among the Gentiles, he is glad about it, and he encourages them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.  And as a result, “a great number of people were brought to the Lord.”