Goodness: Barnabas
Goodness: Barnabas
Scripture: Acts 9:26-27
Sermon Summary:
What does it truly mean to be good in a biblical sense? This powerful exploration takes us beyond the superficial understanding of goodness as simply being polite or staying out of trouble. We discover that biblical goodness is about moral excellence, a concept so uniquely Christian that the Greek word used in Galatians appears nowhere in secular literature of that time. The journey begins in Genesis 1, where God declares His creation good seven times, revealing that goodness means functioning exactly as designed, in perfect harmony with divine intention. But sin shattered that design, and here we encounter the transformative truth: goodness is not passive, it is the active force of stepping into broken situations to restore what God intended. Through the powerful example of Jesus protecting the woman caught in adultery, we see goodness as both shield and proclamation. Jesus physically places Himself between the woman and her accusers, absorbing their attacks while speaking truth that sets her free. This is our calling too, to step past the caution tape of comfortable Christianity into the messy, chaotic places where restoration is needed. We are called to be ambassadors of reconciliation, taking up the shield to protect others while proclaiming the truth that leads to transformation. This is not safe religion, but it is authentic discipleship.
Sermon Points:
What is GOOD?
Key Takeaways:
- Biblical goodness is uniquely defined in Scripture as “moral excellence” and represents something functioning according to God’s original design
- The Hebrew word “tov” in Genesis 1 describes creation working perfectly as God intended, establishing goodness as a state of shalom, peace, and wholeness
- Goodness differs from kindness: kindness delicately handles situations through suggestion, while goodness actively intervenes and demands restoration
- Biblical goodness requires stepping past safety and caution into chaotic situations, taking up a shield to absorb attacks meant for others
- Goodness provides two essential functions: protection (shielding others from harm) and proclamation (speaking truth)
- God demonstrated His goodness to Moses by placing His goodness as a barrier between Moses and His consuming glory
- Jesus exemplified perfect goodness with the woman caught in adultery by protecting her from accusers and proclaiming truth about leaving sin
- Barnabas demonstrated goodness by risking his reputation and safety to vouch for Saul before the suspicious disciples
- Believers are called to be ambassadors with a ministry of reconciliation, helping restore a broken world to God’s intended design
- The cross represents ultimate goodness: Christ’s body as the shield absorbing our punishment, His blood providing forgiveness and protection from sin’s penalty
Scripture References:
Well, good morning. It has already been a wonderful morning of worship today. So thankful for Chi Alpha and leading us. So thankful for a church that allows our youth to be a part of worship. I’m excited about the opportunity just to gather with you in worship and to study God’s word.
If you are our guest today, we’re glad you chose to join us to be a part of our community. My name is Brad Echols, and I am one of the associate pastors here at First Baptist Church, Arlington. Some of you may be longtime members and be shocked and go, wait, you’re Brad Echols in a suit and a tie? Yes, I own some of these. My wife suggested that I wear it, and I thought that was a good idea.
And, boy, was it. When I was walking around before the service, one of the things that made me feel so good about today was someone said, it’s so good to see the young people wearing a suit and tie. I am one of the young people today. Made me feel so, so good. But me and my family have been a part of First Baptist Church, Arlington, for about four years.
And in those four years, we have lived a lot of life in what seems like a very short period of time. And we are so thankful that we’ve got to do it with you, our church family. My wife, Erin, continues to teach kindergarteners down at Boren elementary in Mansfield. This is her own little mission field. She continues to invite teachers to be a part of our congregation.
She continues to tell kids every Monday at calendar time about her Sunday and how she got to go and worship Jesus, my son. Excuse me. Macy and Beckett have both graduated from high school in the past four years. Macy will begin her senior year at the University of Texas in Austin, where she will complete her studies in social work. And then Beckett will begin this fall at Baylor, where he will be studying music education.
And our littlest, Henry, will be in the sixth grade. I got a few more years before that empty nest, but it’s on the horizon. Henry enjoys baseball and has a very creative mind. He likes to write stories or just take his imagination and make it come to life. Henry is undecided, though, on this whole idea of being an only child.
On the one hand, he’ll get all the attention, but on the other hand, he’ll be getting all the attention.
Church, I’m so grateful that you have walked with us in this season. You have loved us so well and you have given us opportunities to be ministers of the gospel. And I’m thankful for this opportunity to be with you today. As Dr. Wiles completes his study leave, he will be joining us next week. Be back in the pulpit.
And I know we are all excited to hear what the Lord has been speaking to him. But today we will continue our study on being difference makers and how the fruit of the Spirit allows us to do that. As Kurt said, we will be specifically looking at goodness. And at the end of our sermon time today, we’ll be off will be observing the Lord’s Supper. If you were to ask me to describe in one word the past four years of life and ministry, one word I would strongly consider is the word good.
As a matter of fact, it might be the perfect word because it is so versatile and can be used to communicate so many different things. It can mean everything from having competence to being attractive. You’ll see on the screen, kind of the few. This is just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to how good can be used. You can be good at something like at math.
As a former math teacher, I always wanted my students to be good at that. Many of them were, but few felt that they really understood it. You could be strength, you could have good eyesight, or you could be about your behavior, you’re a good child. Or worthiness. Good old George.
Or like I said, attractiveness. Man, he has good looks. But that is also my hesitation with this word. It has so many different and diverse definitions that it can sometimes be watered down and lose some of its true meaning, which keeps it from fully communicating what you want to, what you really mean. I think if you were to ask the world today or if you would look at our culture, you would think that the word good has become somewhat passive.
Good is someone who is polite, follows the rules, pays their taxes. Someone who is good just really stays out of trouble. Goodness in our culture would simply be the absence of bad behavior. And that’s not a bad thing. But Biblical goodness is so much more.
If you go to Galatians 5 and you look at that Greek word for goodness, it could simply be translated moral excellence. And if you were to do a study on that word, you would learn that this is a strictly Biblical word. It’s only used a handful of times in the New Testament. But if you were to go and look at secular literature of that time, you would go and look at Greek writings, you would not find that word for goodness anywhere else. You see, goodness is a unique and special word when it comes to talking about the fruit of the Spirit.
So church, how do we better understand the rich theological depth of this word? Goodness well, I’m glad you asked. We go to page one, and you can see in Genesis chapter one, the word good is used seven times. And you could think about, oh, well, seven times. That means something.
It talks about completeness. Well, God uses this word good exactly seven times to talk about his creation. When he looks at his creation and he evaluates it, he says, and you can find it there in verse nine. And God saw that it was good. He declares his creation good.
And if you were to go and look up that Hebrew word, the Hebrew word for good use here is tov. And it does not mean something that is abstract. It’s not an abstract perfection. As a matter of fact, what it is, it’s a word that is something. You can see God sees his creation functioning perfectly, functioning as he designed.
He sees it working. He sees it as being beneficial. And he says in verse 31, God saw all that he had made and it was very good. So when you look at that word good, God is communicating that what creation was doing was working. It was just as he designed it.
So you see, this word good is kind of perfection. It’s this state of shalom or peace. It’s order, it’s wholeness. So when you try to start to understand what goodness is, you need to understand. And in Genesis 1, when God said it is good, he was saying, this is how I intended creation to be.
It is functioning perfectly. So Biblical goodness is a state of perfection. The way you were created. It’s doing what you were created to do. But also Biblical goodness is doing whatever is needed to return something to a state of good, to return something to its original design.
Because we know in chapter one, God said it is good, but we know what happens next. Sin comes into the world and shatters God’s design. It breaks up the shalom. It is fractured. And what God designed has now been corrupted.
It is no longer good. It is no longer functioning as it was intended. So if you and I are to be difference makers, then we must practice goodness. Goodness is what transpires when disciples go out into the world and they get to work. They get to work in repairing and restoring a broken world.
Think about that for a second. Goodness is you and me. In our everyday life, when we see something not functioning as God intended, we step into it and speak truth. You see, goodness is very similar to the word kindness. Luke taught us last week about kindness, and he described it as delicately handling a situation, trying to smooth over a situation that might be tense.
He kind of said that kindness is more about making A suggestion. He was looking at Paul writing to Philemon about his slave Onesimus. And you can see in verses 8 and 9 how Paul practices kindness. He says this, therefore, although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what ought to do, yet I prefer to appeal to you. You see, kindness is a little more delicate than goodness.
It is more about making a suggestion or appealing. Paul says, I appeal to you on the basis of love. But goodness would be described more accurately an active force that intervenes. If Paul were to practice goodness last week, what he would have done is he would have went to Philemon and he would have said, we need to fix this and we need to fix this now. And he would not have taken no for an answer.
Now, goodness and kindness can go hand in hand, and they need to be used at the appropriate times. But goodness is that thing that sometimes causes you to jump into a chaotic, messy situation to help restore what has been broken, to help restore something to what God declared good. It’s about restoring peace, restoring something to its intended design. Think with me for just a moment about yellow caution tape. You’ve seen it before, right?
Oftentimes it’s used to warn you about a dangerous situation. They’ll put it up and say, hey, don’t go in this area because this situation, this area is dangerous. It could hurt or it could harm you. Caution tape is used to protect you. But today, when we look at this word goodness as compared to kindness, we’re going to see that goodness is the kind of thing that steps past the caution tape.
It steps into the mess and takes the risk. It actually grabs a shield to absorb the friction and the tension and the attacks of a hostile world that is seeking to destroy God’s creation. You see, that is the difference between kindness and goodness. Goodness takes that shield and absorbs the attacks, but it doesn’t absorb the attacks just to absorb them. It absorbs them so that it can create space for restoration and reconciliation of God’s design of reconciliation and restoration to what is good.
You know, we’ve been talking about this flourishing study, and a flourishing study actually tells us that goodness is an important part of human flourishing. In their research on the domain of character and virtue, they evaluate human flourishing on two statements. And you can see the two statements on the screen. And they ask you to rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10. Look what the statements say and see how they relate to goodness.
The first statement says, I always act to promote good in all circumstances, even in difficult and challenging situations. Now, if you didn’t know better. You think that I went and made up that statement to connect to what I want the scripture to say. But you can go and check it for yourself. It’s on the Internet.
But what this says here is that if you’re going to promote goodness, you need to be able to do it even in the most challenging situations. And the second statement says, I am always able to give up some happiness now for a greater happiness later. You see, the flourishing study says that if you want to flourish in life, you need to be good. You need to practice goodness. Do you see what these statements are talking about here?
They’re saying a lot about being selfless. They’re saying a lot about doing what is right for the greater good. There’s a lot of hints of saying you need to lay down your life, you need to lay down your desires for others so that they can experience the goodness that you know.
One of the best examples of God’s goodness is found when God deals with Moses in Exodus chapter 33. If you remember, Moses is leading the Israelites to the promised land. And if you remember, Moses wasn’t that excited about being that leader. He kind of resisted at times and asked for help. But as Moses is leading them, he’s on Mount Sinai and he’s communing with God.
He’s going, God, what’s your instructions? Tell me more about you. How do I lead your people? And what do we know is happening? While Moses is on the mountain, the Israelites are down worshiping a golden calf after God has freed them from Egypt.
They have turned from God’s plan, they have turned from God’s design. They have turned from what God has said is good to worship a golden calf. And God tells Moses, this is a stiff necked people who is corrupt and I will destroy them.
Moses says, okay, go ahead Lord, I’ll get some more people. No, actually, Moses intercedes and he asks God to turn from his anger and forgive. Can you imagine just for a moment how Moses might have felt as a leader in that time? The burden, the stress as he’s getting ready to cross this desert to travel to the promised land. As if that wasn’t hard enough, the people he’s supposed to be leading aren’t following God.
And God is talking about abandoning him. God is going to say, I’m not going to lead you anymore. Well, Moses in interceding God relents and says, I will go with you. But Moses, in his distress with the burdens and stress of being the leader, his confidence is just A little shaken. And so he asked God for a sign.
If you have your Bibles, you can look at it in Exodus, chapter 33. It’s verse 18. Here’s the sign he says. Then Moses said, now show me your glory. And what Moses is trying to say there is God.
I know you said you’re going to go with me, but I need a little bit of boost to my confidence. I need you to show me your glory. I need you to show me your power so that I know you will be with me. Well, we know that if Moses were to see God’s complete glory, that he would be consumed. You and I could not look on the God’s complete glory.
And so God responds in the next verse, and it talks about goodness. It says this, and the Lord said, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name. The Lord in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. You see, what God is saying here is Moses, you don’t need my glory.
You don’t need my power. What you need is the relationship. What you need is me. And so when God says, I will proclaim my name, that’s what he’s telling Moses. He’s saying, I will be with you.
But God’s goodness is what he puts as a barrier, as a protection between his glory and Moses. You see, goodness does two things. It provides protection and it provides proclamation. And you see it here. God protects him by coming between Moses and his glory.
And he proclaims the truth. He proclaims his name. And so for you and I, when we think about goodness, we need to think about how goodness provides protection for others and proclamation of the truth. One of the best examples that we’re going to look at today is Jesus. You can find it in John chapter eight.
And it’s the story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery. It’s an example of how Jesus steps into a chaotic, messy situation. He acts as a shield, taking on the attacks of the spiritual leaders. He steps into a broken situation and provides both protection and proclamation. Listen to what John chapter 8 says.
But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives, and at dawn he appeared again in the temple courts where all the people gathered around him and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. And the law Of Moses commands us to stone such women. Now what do you say?
They were using this question as a trap in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this time, those who heard began to go away, one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left.
With the woman still standing there, Jesus straightened up and asked her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you? No, sir, she said, then neither do I condemn you. Jesus declared, go now and leave your life of sin. Think about this scene for a moment.
Jesus is calmly sitting on the ground, teaching a restorative shalom through holy instruction, something that he frequently did in the temple. And then all of a sudden, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees burst in, dragging a woman, probably shouting and intimidating her. And then they throw her before Jesus. I imagine they circle around her, prepared to pronounce judgment. Think about how she must have felt in that moment as these powerful men have drug her to the temple, exposing her and humiliating her before the crowd, threatening her life as they prepare to judge her, all in an attempt to trap Jesus.
They have come in and they have successfully shattered the peace of the temple. They’ve shattered this woman’s life. It’s a chaotic, intense scene. You can see the warning lights. You can see the yellow caution tape being put up that says, hey, this is a dangerous scene.
Failure is all but assured for anyone who steps into it. And they come to Jesus and they ask these words, teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law of Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say? It’s almost this impossible situation.
What will Jesus do? Does he just avoid the situation? Does he ignore their questions? Or does he deny the law of Moses? Or does he deny his message of mercy and grace?
You see, they think they have him trapped. They think they can discredit him.
But Jesus simply grabs the shield and steps into the situation, and he provides protection and proclamation. I think Jesus puts himself between the woman and her accusers. I think he’s a source of protection both physically and with his words. Look at what verse seven says. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and he said, let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.
And what happens Jesus steps in with his shield, taking on their accusations, taking on their attacks. And one by one, the accusers leave and the tensions are reduced and order is restored. You see, the goodness of Jesus is that he protected this woman, but he’s not done. He looks at her and knows that her life is not good. He knows her life is not what he intended it to be.
And so he makes a proclamation. He tells her truth. Look at it again. In verse 10, Jesus straightened up and asked her, woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?
No, sir, she said, then neither do I condemn you. Jesus declared, go now and leave your life of sin. He tells her, I forgive you. I do not condemn you. But he doesn’t stop there.
He says, go and leave your sin. Go and be the creation I created you to be. Now, I know you’re probably sitting there going, brad, that’s a great example. But Jesus is a high standard.
Yes, but it gives us such a full understanding of goodness. But let’s look at another example. Let’s look at an example. Maybe you and I can relate to a little bit more the example of Barnabas. In Acts, He.
He takes up the shield and practices goodness in Saul’s life. If you’re not familiar with Barnabas, you can see a description that captures him. In Acts 11, it says this. When Barnabas arrived and saw that the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith.
And a great number of people were brought to the Lord. So you see, Barnabas was an encourager, but it also says, he was a good man. Man, what a description that everyone would say that about you and me. But I think the most important part for me was that he was full of the Holy Spirit. You see, that was the key, the power of his goodness.
That was why he was a good man. It wasn’t everything he did on his own, but rather the Holy Spirit working in and through him. And that’s what’s so important for you and I, because when we see these situations that have danger all around them and we think, I can’t step into that. I can’t do anything, we can say, but the fruit of the Spirit is goodness. You see, the Spirit working in us is what allows us to be difference makers.
Barnabas was a good man, but he also had his struggles. In Galatians 2, you hear the story of Paul asking Peter about his hypocrisy. You see, Peter had been eating with the Gentiles. But when his friends start to show up, he stops eating with them because he’s afraid that they’re going to criticize him. And so Galatians 2 says this.
The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy, even Barnabas was led astray. So even though Barnabas was a good man, he had his struggles just like you and me. He had his good days and he had his bad days. He had his days when he faithfully followed Christ, and he had days where his faith was challenged. So he’s a great example for us today.
Look at the example of his goodness in Acts, chapter nine. Let me set the scene before I read the Scripture. Saul has gone from persecuting Christians and trying to stomp out their movement to having a transformational encounter with Jesus. He’s begun to fearlessly preach Jesus, and now he is headed to Jerusalem to meet the disciples. And let me just tell you, the disciples are more than just a little skeptical.
Saul’s transformation. Read with me Acts, chapter 9, verses 26 and 27. It says, when he, Saul, came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid, not believing he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.
You see, the disciples were afraid. They had decided to do the sensible thing. Let’s keep Paul out. Let’s give it some time. Let’s see if in a year or two, Paul really is who he says he is.
Then they chose safety and comfort. They wrap the caution tape around Saul, thinking maybe this is a trap, a way for him to infiltrate the movement and dismantle it from the inside. A very real possibility. But what does Barnabas do? He does more than kindness.
He doesn’t just say, hey, guys, let’s give him a chance. He doesn’t say, hey, Saul, my thoughts and prayers are with you. He actually takes up his shield. He crosses the caution tape and jumps into the messiness of Saul’s life. And he protects him from the suspicion of the church.
The scripture says that. He goes and he grabs Saul. He takes him. He brings him to the disciples. He’s actively an intervening force in this situation.
Barnabas risk his reputation. He risked his relationship with the disciples. He even risked his life. Because what if Saul isn’t who he says?
So he protects Saul from the attacks on his character. But then he vouches for Paul. He proclaims that he believes that this transformation is real. He has seen it, he has heard it. He believes the transformation.
He says, I will stand with him. Barnabas steps in, takes on the fears, and in doing that, he creates an opportunity for Saul to be restored to fellowship. So, church, what does Biblical goodness look like? First, it’s not safe. You’re going to have to step in, you’re going to have to be active.
You’re going to have to take risk. Biblical goodness protects and it’s a shield that steps in and takes on the attacks of another. It’s also, it proclaims, it brings truth. It will say something is wrong. It will say when something is not right.
Goodness is more than just being nice, more than not being bad. Goodness is stepping out of the safety of our predictable lives and into the chaos of the world. It’s taking up the shield to absorb the attacks meant for another so that they might be restored to God’s goodness. They might be restored to their intended design. And even though it may cost you, it’s so worth it.
This is what it is to live the Christian life. Goodness is helping restore creation to the good that we saw in Genesis 1. It is proclaiming what is good.
I think you can see this most clearly in Second Corinthians, chapter five. I’m not going to read the whole passage, I’m going to kind of summarize it for you. But I want you to think about the commission you’re given in this chapter and what it says about goodness. It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. If you’re not sure of how to practice goodness, read those verses right there and see that you are called to be an ambassador, that you have a commission to step into a divided, tension filled, chaotic world, provide opportunities for reconciliation.
God’s goodness can be seen in so many different ways. But one of the most powerful is through the crucifixion on the cross, where Jesus took on all of our sin, where he took on our punishment. And so today we’re going to get an opportunity to just reflect on that goodness as we participate in the Lord’s Supper. And so I want to challenge you, church, as we spend this time in observing God’s goodness, to think about what this goodness might mean to you think about how God’s goodness can help you to live it out in your daily life. I want to remind you that this table that we are gathering around is open to everyone that has a relationship with Christ.
There’s no need for you to be a member of our church. This is an opportunity for us to be in community as fellow believers. As you take a moment to think about God’s goodness, I want to challenge you to think about how Christ’s body and Christ’s blood are examples for us when we think about the shield of protection and proclamation. You see this bread that represents Jesus body, His perfect sinless life is the ultimate shield. It was Jesus hanging on a cross, absorbing our sin, our deserved punishment, to provide space for reconciliation.
The blood represents the shedding, the sacrifice for our sins. Because Scripture tells us there can be no forgiveness without the shedding of blood, his blood protecting us from the punishment, sin. So God’s goodness can be seen in his protection. But we also know that Jesus proclaims, anyone who believes in me shall not perish, but have everlasting life. So as I pray for us, before we take these elements, I want you to just prepare your hearts and think about God’s goodness on that cross and the many times that God’s goodness has been displayed in your life.
Most gracious Heavenly Father, we are so thankful that we get to gather together and worship you. We’re so grateful that we get to gather together as believers and celebrate the Lord’s Supper. It is a great reminder of the protection and proclamation of of the cross. It’s a great reminder of the goodness that you provide. It’s a great reminder that you reconciled us to you so that we might be reconciled reconcilers to this world.
We might be ministers, ambassadors of the gospel. So Lord, we pray that you would just bless us as we take this Lord’s Supper. It is in your name we pray. Amen. You can take your cup here and you see on one end is the bread.
And you can peel that back.
And you can take it out. And First Corinthians tells us the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took the bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
Take your cup, peel it back.
And then Jesus said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me.
And all of God’s people said, amen.