{"id":600,"date":"2009-07-23T09:54:59","date_gmt":"2009-07-22T22:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/?p=600"},"modified":"2009-07-22T23:57:25","modified_gmt":"2009-07-22T12:57:25","slug":"%e2%80%98barnabas%e2%80%99-what%e2%80%99s-in-a-nickname","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/2009\/07\/23\/%e2%80%98barnabas%e2%80%99-what%e2%80%99s-in-a-nickname\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Barnabas\u2019: what\u2019s in a nickname?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fancy going down in history by your nickname! This could be quite scary. But not for Joseph from the island of Cyprus who was nicknamed \u2018Barnabas\u2019 \u2013 Acts 4:36.<\/p>\n

St Barnabas is the only capital \u2018S\u2019 \u2018Saint\u2019 I am aware of who is known and celebrated by his nickname. How did this come about? Let\u2019s look at what the apostles who gave him this nickname saw in him:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Generosity of finances – Acts 4:36,37.<\/li>\n
  2. Generosity of hospitality and full of courage. Barnabas goes to Saul the former persecutor of the Christians to welcome him into the Church in Jerusalem – Acts 9:26, 27.<\/li>\n
  3. Generosity in recognising God\u2019s grace in action. Not a \u2018glass half full or glass half empty\u2019 person but an identifier of God\u2019s grace. Barnabas accepted the gentile converts as being true Christians – Acts 11:22-24.<\/li>\n
  4. Generosity in ministry. Barnabas sought out Paul to join him in ministry in Antioch – Acts 11:25.<\/li>\n
  5. Generosity and trusted leader. The Antioch Christians ask Barnabas and Paul to take their gift to the needy Christians in Judea – Acts 11:27-30.<\/li>\n
  6. Mission hearted in evangelism. After their return from Jerusalem the Church at Antioch sent Barnabas and Paul on a missionary trip to Cyprus and southern Galatia (Acts 13 & 14).<\/li>\n
  7. Encourager of the grace of God in people\u2019s lives. Barnabas is sent with Paul to argue the case for full inclusion of gentile converts into the Christian family, the Church, at the Council of Jerusalem – Acts 15:1-35.<\/li>\n
  8. A believer and doer of the gospel of the \u2018second-chance\u2019. Barnabas takes John Mark who failed to see through an earlier missionary journey, with him on a second missionary journey \u2013 Acts 12:12,25; 13:5,13; 15:36-41.<\/li>\n
  9. Reconciler. Barnabas is reconciled with Paul – 1 Corinthians 9:6.<\/li>\n
  10. Blessed in his ministry. The second chance that Barnabas gave to John Mark was truly used by the Holy Spirit in John Mark\u2019s life and this was recognised in humility by Paul who asked for John Mark to come to be with him when in gaol in Rome \u2013 2 Tim 4:11; Philemon 24; Col 4:10.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In summary, Joseph of Cyprus \u2018was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith\u2019 (Acts 11:24) and the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas, \u2018son of encouragement\u2019 \u2013 Acts 4:36.<\/p>\n

    May the sons and daughters of encouragement, the \u2018Barnabases\u2019 flourish among us.<\/p>\n

    [Preparation notes for an invitation sermon, St George\u2019s Sorell on 12 July 2009.
    \nJune 11 is the lectionary celebration of St Barnabas, Apostle & Martyr. Bible readings: Job 29:11-16; Psalm 98; Acts 11:22-30; 13:1-3; Matthew 10:7-13]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Fancy going down in history by your nickname! This could be quite scary. But not for Joseph from the island of Cyprus who was nicknamed \u2018Barnabas\u2019 \u2013 Acts 4:36. St Barnabas is the only capital \u2018S\u2019 \u2018Saint\u2019 I am aware … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":603,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions\/603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/imaginarydiocese.org\/bishopjohn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}