In a world where people are often quick to judge and criticize, we are all in need of some encouragement, wouldn't you agree? So, what is encouragement? Well, it is defined as "the act of giving courage, or confidence of success." I prefer the part about encouragement being the act of giving confidence of success, because whenever we encourage people we do instil a confidence within those individuals to go for the gold, and to never accept defeat. Most of us have difficulties in life from time to time - too often we see people who have never been encouraged - or even worse, they have always been on the receiving end of criticism.
We often think of Paul as one of the greatest missionaries in the world, but Paul was a person just like you and me and he wasn't always such a nice guy - he had his faults and his prejudices. In our reading today we hear how Paul became judgmental of a young man named John Mark. He didn't want him to go with him and Barnabas on a missionary journey because John Mark had left one of their previous mission trips early in order to go home. Paul must have reasoned that John Mark was a deserter, the sort of bloke who would never see anything through. You see, John Mark was just a teenager and Paul was likely judging him based on his age, and also on how he went home early on one of their earlier mission trips.
Now if I'd been John Mark out on the road with Paul, I'd have hoped Paul would've been thoughtful and asked me exactly why I'd gone home early, instead of just assuming that I was incompetent. There could have been an illness in the family that John Mark had to tend to, or perhaps he lacked self-confidence and needed a little encouragement. Whatever happened that made John Mark go home early, we will never know.
What we do know is that God had faith in John Mark and that he opened Barnabas' eyes to the potential that was in him. Barnabas stood up for John Mark and defended him to the point that he and Paul got into an argument and split up. So Barnabas ended up taking John Mark along on his own missionary journey.
One probable reason Barnabas supported John Mark was that they were cousins; however, there is a little more to it than that. Barnabas stood up for John Mark and gave him a second chance because it was his nature to encourage others and to help them succeed. Earlier in Acts, Barnabas engaged in the action of encouraging the new churches in Antioch. The Scripture says, "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."
Of all people Paul should have known that some people really do need a second chance, and Barnabas was ready to say "yes" to God and offer someone the chance to prove they'd changed.
When Paul was formerly called Saul, he was a persecutor of the church; but when God called him to preach, it was Barnabas who overlooked his former life and gave him a chance and encouraged him in ministry. It seems rather odd that in this passage Paul had forgotten the grace that he had been shown, and that he didn't learn to extend that grace to John Mark. Barnabas did however extend grace and encouragement toward John Mark.
The importance of encouragement simply cannot be exaggerated, and yet Barnabas is one of the unsung heroes of the New Testament - the little we are told of him shows the esteem in which he was held and that he had the precious quality of encouraging others.
If people are to succeed in life then they need some encouragement. It's easier to pick holes in other people than to encourage - to find fault rather than praise - to see weaknesses rather than strengths and to focus on what is wrong rather than what is right. If we really do want to see people change to continue letting God work within their lives so that they can value themselves and become better hands for God's will to work through - then they need encouragement. God knows this better than anyone, and if one of us receives compassion and encouragement from someone else it is because God is guiding that person to show us some encouragement.
The Lord had enough faith in John Mark that he opened Barnabas' eyes to the potential that was in him. Because God spoke to Barnabas about John's Mark's potential, he was given a second chance and he was encouraged to succeed in ministry. People need encouragement, therefore we need to be like Barnabas and become "sons" and "daughters of encouragement."
Barnabas extended grace and encouragement toward John Mark, and as a result it proved to be a very wise decision. Because John Mark was given a second chance, he later became a very important missionary, and eventually the same Paul who had written him off came to respect him and trust him.
Paul stated, "Aristarchus my fellow prisoner greets you, with Mark the cousin of Barnabas (about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him)."
Paul
said, "Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry."
Not only did Mark become a respected and useful missionary to the apostle
Paul, but if he had never been encouraged we would not have in our Bibles
the Gospel of Mark. Mark never forgot the second chance that he had received.
What do we learn from this story? The bottom line is that we should not condemn
people, or prejudge them. People make mistakes. Instead of condemning them,
discrediting them before other people, and refusing to give them another chance,
we need to encourage those who mess up and build them up to succeed.
Someone might appear to us as being incompetent, or going nowhere in life but Jesus is the only one who truly knows a person's heart and the plans that he has for him or her. Our task is to look at people and find their strengths, and then encourage them to succeed.
We may look at someone and doubt that they can ever change. We even negatively say, "A leopard doesn't change its spots"; but God doesn't doubt that people can change; ours is the God who allows U-turns! And because God doesn't doubt we can change we should try not to doubt it either.
However
you view yourself - God sees great potential in you.
He wants to give you a second chance. No matter what you have done, whenever
we ask God's forgiveness and for another chance, God will provide it.
Amen.
(Dan Joseph)
This sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester. Click here for further information.