Experience: S2 - Day 22

The risk of investing in others

Acts 11:22 When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw this evidence of God’s blessing, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. 24 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And many people were brought to the Lord.

25 Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to look for Saul. 26 When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching large crowds of people. (It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.)

The church in Antioch began with Jewish believers in Christ from Jerusalem who were scattered following the persecution that came after the stoning of Stephen.  But after some time, the Gentiles in Antioch began to hear and receive the message, and the community was growing so much that the leaders in Jerusalem got word and wanted to send help.  So they sent someone they not only trusted, but who they had obviously been personally impacted by.  

Often, when Barnabas is mentioned in the book of Acts, it is with positive adjectives such as son of encouragement, a good man, full of the Holy Spirit, and strong in faith.  Barnabas was beloved, and according to the Jerusalem leaders (i.e., the apostles), he was the perfect person for the job.

I think it’s fair to say that when Barnabas arrived in Antioch, he was blown away by what the Holy Spirit was doing in their midst.  He may have even felt a little overwhelmed, so he decided he needed help caring for the believers there.  But where he chose to go to help would likely have been seen as risky, maybe even a little ludicrous, especially by the Jewish believers in Antioch.

You see, Barnabas decided to go to Tarsus to look for a man named Saul. Yes, that Saul, the same one who had once led the persecution in Jerusalem that caused the Jewish believers there to flee to Antioch in the first place.

But it had been 11 years since Saul encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus.  11 years since his life changed forever, and he chose to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.  11 years since he left Jerusalem to go back to his hometown, to process all that had happened, and to mature in the faith.

Barnabas and Saul had met before, however.  In fact, it seems as if Barnabas was possibly the first person who believed Saul’s testimony and that he had actually changed.  In Acts 9, we’re told that “Barnabas brought [Saul] 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.” (Acts 9:27, NLT)

So Barnabas saw something in Saul and stuck his neck out for him once before, and he does so again here, believing that God has great plans to use Saul for the growth of His kingdom.  Barnabas was willing to risk his reputation to travel to Tarsus, 143 miles away from Antioch, track down Saul, and bring him in to help spread the gospel.  For the Jews in Antioch, I’m sure Saul was the last person they would have chosen, but Barnabas was convicted and decided Saul was worth the risk.

There's always a risk whenever we choose to invest in someone else.  Will the risk work? Will the person we’re investing in be open and willing to learn, grow, and be humble enough to accept course correction?  Will they stay the course or bail along the way?
But if the gospel is going to continue to spread, investing in others is part of our call, and the story of Barnabas and Saul is one of the best examples we can explore to see if it is worth the risk.

Questions:

1. In your faith journey, who are the people who have invested in you, who made an impact in your life, were willing to take a risk to help you grow?
2. Have you ever invested in another person, either professionally or spiritually?  What was that journey like and how did it turn out?
3. List out some of the risks you take when you invest in others.