A Good Man, Full of the Spirit

This sermon was preached at a monthly Communion service at Scottish Rite Park, a senior living apartment tower in Des Moines, Iowa, on May 12, 2016

Acts 11:19-26

"Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.

"News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, 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.

"Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch."

Pentecost is this Sunday. We celebrate the birth of the church with the story of the coming of the Holy Spirit to the disciples, Peter’s preaching, and thousands of people who come to believe. This story from Acts this morning is an extension of what happened there.

Saul, whom we later come to know as Paul, has had his encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. When he tries to join the disciples they reject him because they don’t trust him. After all, he was one of the persecutors of the believers and when Stephen was stoned he held the cloaks of those who slung the rocks But Barnabas knows differently. He looks at Paul with different eyes.

Acts says Barnabas was “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.” When he went to Antioch, God used the good news he brought to create faith in a great number of people. Barnabas had no fear of Saul. He goes after him with relentlessness. Like the photographic negative of Saul persecuting Christians, Barnabas pulled Saul into the circle and spent a year teaching him what Christ had done. In effect Barnabas was a one-man seminary.

The scriptures are full of stories of people who are full of the Spirit. It didn’t just happen after the miracle at Pentecost. Time after time in the Old Testament, God calls people to become judges, prophets, and preachers. The scriptures say “the spirit of the Lord came upon them.” We tend to think it’s some mystical experience these people had. But it’s both simpler and deeper than that.

When the scriptures talk about the Spirit it has to do with being connected to God’s Word. When God created the heavens and the earth, God did it with the Word. John, of course, reminds us that Jesus himself is the embodiment of God Word. To be full of the Spirit is to be full of God’s Word, to be full of what Jesus, the Living Word, came to give.

For Barnabas to be full of the Spirit is to be full of faith, rich in his understanding of his own sin and Christ’s deliverance and redemption. It means he’s overflowing with a mercy that can see even the worst enemy of the church with gracious eyes. In Galatians, Paul tells us what being full of the Spirit looks like. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” If you call yourself a Christian and use your religion as a cudgel to bludgeon your enemies – even real enemies – then your store of the Holy Spirit is wanting.

As we come up on Pentecost on Sunday, we ought to pray for that Spirit to bring us such faith that we can go to the Tarsus of this day and age to bring those at odds with God into his loving circle. That can happen in all sorts of places, including here at Scottish Rite Park. It means turning to our neighbors with love and patience. It means bringing mercy and living mercy for others. It means being one like Peter at Pentecost, who didn’t put himself in the limelight but instead pointed to Christ as the source of his life, joy, and hope.

You, too, have been called by the Spirit in your baptism. You were joined to the Word that created the world. You are grafted into Christ’s death and resurrection. You will go where he has gone and receive what your heavenly bridegroom brought you: his life, his name, and his place at God’s right hand. Hear this good news today. Let this Word flow into your ears and fill you with the Holy Spirit. Amen.