Evening star., 1923-08-25
Sunday School Lesson

| mother church expressed their conf
. dence in his tact and ability to handle
! the Antioch problem. His broad syInpa.
thies as Hellenist would enable him to
recognize whether the work among the
I Greeks at Antioch was of grace and Of
; Cod He was a Levite and could be
counted upon to look upon the new cf-
| fort from the viewpoint Of the Jewish
Christians.
| 1t did not take Barnabas long to recoE-
nize that it was Gods work lie re-
! joiced in the evidence of divine grace
that he witnessed in the Antioch
mission called for him to stay there. Bv
deciding to abide with the Antioch
church rather than return to Jerusalem.
: Barna bas revealed judgment of high
| raised difficulties but Barnabas put
-; aside his prejudices and partissnsiip
when he faced the evidences Of regeu-
! Grafton in the lives of the Greeks. He
! in the establishment of the Antioch
| church. He had vision to see the peril
! that they faced. so he kept exhorting
f, them to be loyal to the Lord Jesus.
| His success az a pastor is proven by
the fact that the people were called
| Christians first in Antioch. His ministry
resulted in missionary church. Under
! his leadership they were prepared to
carry out the commands of the Lord TO
| eTangeize the world. The church
| caught the vision of the Lord Jesus
under the leadership of their pastor.
! They we're prepared TO heed as a re-
/ suit of his ministry the directions OF the
/ HOLY Spirit, to set apart Ba rnab baS and
/ Paul TO the work of missions. Rarnab.a
! did not hesitate to go forth and hazard
/ his life for the glory Of the Lord Jesus
| our civilization owes its character -
| that missionary movement started III
+, Antioch.
! Carnegie considered his success waF
! due to his ability to select good as
. sistants. Barnabas revealed his
ability in this line by discovering tho
; possibilities of Paul and John Mark
! He showed the courage OF his couviC-
, tionS at that crucial moment in Paul's
life when all feared him and doubted
! his conversion 1t was d crucial hour
in the history of Christianity. Bar
! nabas took the converted prosecutor
| by the hand and vouched for Paul
/ when he presented him to the apo<-
! ties. When the work at Antioch dc
manded more ministers Barna has
| sought Saul in TarsuS This gave
Paul the opportunity that he needed
70 achieve greatness. It came during
fne,T PsnT .gsi;n,sd missionary ,Eo jGurney When
ship that Barnabas had exercised the
| latter revealed his greatness at that
period by taking second place fo'
| the glory Of the Lord and the devel-
+! men.
Another minister whose ability was
| discovered by Barnabas was John
Mark. the author of the second gos-
! hearted pastor Although his moth
! er's home had been the hea dquartera
| of the Lord and His followers. esp
cially during the early days of tile
Jerusalem Church, Mark failed them.
| Paul believed that he had turned
traitor. Paul refused 10 allow him Ia
accompany him on a second journey.
Barsnabas urged in vain that he he
fcrst ~.
good. When they could not agre.
| then Barnabas, with the same cour
| age of his convictions that he mani
tested in championing religious Iii
! ertY for the Greek Christians aud
the same tact that he showed when
| he had them convey gifts for tho poor
! in the Jerusalem Church, separated
| from Paul and undertook missionary
! work with Mark as his assistant.
God overruled their determination TO
| differ, yet TO love. for the advance
ment of His kingdom. Paul's testi-
mony in latter years to the value &C
Marks services proved that BarnabsH
was correct in his contention that The
man who had failed be given another
! chance.
Paurs reference 70 Barnabas III his
first letter TO the Corinthians proves
that they kept in touch with ons
another's work. Some claim thar Paut
referred to Barnabas in his second
Corinthian letter when he speaks of
( the DTOlner whose praise III inc
| gospel is spread through all the
! churches" In all proba bil;ty Barna-
! has supported himself. even Paul
! did. by his own manual labor. While
| he contributed his own life and labor
| to the church, Barnabas made, his
! greatest contribution Ia Christianity
and civilization by discovering and
! befriending Paul and John Mark
| All who study the transition period
of the apostolic church recognize that
he was one of the outstanding per
| sonalities of that cpoChal period
There is a tradition that he died as d
martyr and was buried in Cyprus ard
when his body was found there rested
upon his breast a copy of Matthew :
gospel that he had written with his
own hand. This harmonizes with what
what we know of the great-hearted
soul, who, the Scriptures tell US, was
a good man and full of the Holy
Spirit and of faith
Copyright 1921