20/03/2013 - BARNABAS’ ADVICE

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When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.

Acts 11.23

God’s work is hindered by the narrow-minded, erroneous and imperfect vision that many of us have of the Word of God. Jesus commanded his disciples to preach the gospel to every creature, but they chose to preach only to the Jews. Nevertheless, the awakening came when some Jews from Cyprus and Cyrene spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the gospel of Jesus. The right thing to do is to announce salvation to everyone, regardless of what they do or who they are.

Some sinful practices are extremely repulsive to us, but we must understand that the Lord wants to save all those who are lost. So we must speak to them, preaching the message that saves and sanctifies. Those who do not care about the fate of others are disobeying the commandment of the Lord, and bringing shame and punishment upon themselves. But those who obey God can see his wonderful grace.

This attitude of preaching only to the Jews “tied” the hands of God in relation to the Gentiles. In our days, this also happens, because, if we fail to speak to all those who are lost, the Almighty cannot save them. The initiative of the brethren from Cyprus and Cyrene allowed the Lord to bless the non-Jews who lived in Antioch. Through this example, therefore, we can see that he who obeys Jesus’ commandment “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16.15) sees his power to heal, deliver and work all sorts of miracles.

When they heard the news about what was going on in Antioch, the church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas there and, despite an explosion of faith, the church leaders did not see that they were not obeying Jesus’ commandment to preach the gospel to every creature. So we do need to bring the good news to the world.
Barnabas, seeing what was going on and being full of the Holy Spirit, did not restrain himself and encouraged them to continue with the Lord. The worse thing anyone can do is to think he no longer needs to serve the Lord because he has already been delivered from evil. It is important that new Christians (despite knowing that they are already saved) are encouraged, by those who are more mature in faith, to grow in the Lord’s grace.

The truth is that all those who belong to God rejoice by seeing his works. Therefore, we know that, when we encourage new Christians to preach the gospel in the right way, the Lord will work in their lives, and we will show to the world that we have been called to bear fruit for the glory of our God.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares