The Charity of the New Creation in Christ

This is how the Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, works to accomplish His purposes, to open blind eyes and to bring the prisoners out of their dark dungeon into His marvelous light: He calls and sends men to preach His Gospel, and He gives them as gifts to His Church on earth with the authority to forgive sins in His Name.

He calls them to follow Christ in the way of His Cross, to suffer and even to die for His Name’s sake.  But He also cares for them in all their needs.  He provides for them, for this body and life, for the work that He has given them to do, and for the Resurrection and the Life Everlasting.

In all things they live by His grace.  And by faith they live in love, as He lives in love for them and for His Church in heaven and on earth.  Which is to say that, whatever they have received from Him, they also give to His Church.  And so it is for you, as well, that you give to your neighbor in love what you have received in faith from the Lord through the Word and promise of His Gospel.

But where you have been selfish, unloving, and unfaithful in your calling and station in life, repent of your sin and return to the Lord your God in the hope of His Resurrection and His Righteousness.

To that end, receive the gifts that He gives to you by the Ministry of His Gospel, lest you refuse His grace and bring judgment upon yourself by rejecting His mercy, forgiveness, and healing.

Rely upon His Gospel.  Seek the Lord where He is found, which is in His Word and Sacrament.  Receive and rejoice in His forgiveness of sins and His free gifts of life in His Liturgy.  And praise the Name of the Lord, the true and only God, through the incarnate Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

That means praying, confessing, and giving thanks with your words, with your lips and mouth and tongue.  It also means using your time, treasures, and talents to love and serve and take care of your neighbor in proportion as the Lord has blessed you and provided for you.  Whatever the particular percentage may be, whether 5 or 10 percent, 20 percent, 50 percent, or even more, give generously of the means that God has placed under your stewardship.  For you are called to be an instrument of the Lord’s mercy and providential care for others.  And of course that includes the support of His Church and Ministry on earth with those gifts that He has freely given to you.

Your stuff and your skills, your money, and your other means, are chiefly for such care of the Lord’s people to the glory of His Holy Name and to the praise of His grace.

So it is that, really, as in the case of St. Barnabas, your whole body and life are offered as a living sacrifice in faith toward God, and in love for Him and for your neighbors in the world, especially for your brothers and sisters in Christ, since they are fellow members of the Lord’s household.

Again, wherever and however you have failed to live in this manner, as a Christian, by faith and love, repent of your sins and do better.  Do not excuse your past behavior, but in the confidence of the Gospel, in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus, bear the fruits of His Cross and Resurrection in care and compassion for your neighbor.  Cease and desist doing what is evil, and begin to do what is good and right according to the Word of the Lord that He has spoken to you, that is to say, within your own proper calling and place in the world, in the keeping of His Commandments.

Live and work in this way, as the Lord so enables and directs you to do, not as though by your own wisdom, reason, or strength, nor by your own righteousness, but by faith in the righteousness of Christ with which you are clothed and filled in His Ministry of the Gospel, by the preaching and administration of His free and full forgiveness.  Rejoice in His mercy upon you, in His charity of body and soul, for now and forever.  And so live courageously in love for Him, for all His people, and for those whom He would yet call and summon to Himself in peace.

This is the whole point and purpose for which the Lord your God has called and set apart, ordained and sent His servants, such as St. Barnabas, even to the ends of the earth.  From the biggest and busiest cities, and from the remotest islands, to the mountains and valleys, to the coastlands and countryside, and even here and now to you, the Lord speaks the Gospel and gives and pours out His Body and Blood to deliver you from darkness and death and to bring you into faith and life.

By this New Thing that He does by His grace, you also are His New Creation.  So do you sing His praises, here and hereafter, in the New Song of Christ Jesus, the Lamb who was slain for your transgressions, who has risen from the dead as your Righteousness, Life, and Salvation, and who reigns forever and ever as your merciful and great High Priest in the beauty of His holiness.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thanksgiving to God for His Servant, St. Barnabas

Praise Christ, give thanks to God, and bless His holy Name for the gift of His servant, Barnabas: who supported the Apostles and the Church in Jerusalem, Antioch, and elsewhere, among both Jews and Greeks; who welcomed and supported St. Paul and served with him at the vanguard of the Gentile mission; who supported and assisted St. Mark and so encouraged that holy Evangelist from whose hand we have received the Gospel.  In addition to all of that, the same St. Barnabas was himself called and sent as a minister of the Word, a pastor and teacher of the Lord’s Church.

Learn from his example and be encouraged in your own vocation and stations in life.  For he was a Levite in deed and in truth, whose own body and life were dedicated to the service of the Lord.

He was born Joseph, from the island of Cyprus, but the Apostles called him “Barnabas,” that is, the son of encouragement, because of his generous assistance and support.  To begin with, he sold his property and gave it to the Apostles for the benefit of the Church, and then he devoted himself entirely to the Ministry of the Gospel and the care of his brothers and sisters in Christ.

Indeed, Barnabas exemplified, taught, and encouraged Christian charity, as in the case of Antioch where he gathered contributions for the brethren in Judea in the midst of a worldwide famine — not unlike his Old Testament namesake, Joseph, who provided for Israel and his sons and many others from the storehouses of Egypt.

You also, then, live your life as a true priest of God in Christ, in whom you have been baptized, and by whom you have received the new name of “Christian.”

Repent of all that is contrary to faith and love.  Turn your heart away from worldly wealth and the false wisdom of fallen man, and find your treasure and true inheritance in the Church of God.  Set aside all pride and selfishness in order to serve and support and encourage your neighbors, your brothers and sisters in Christ, and His Church and Ministry, all for the sake of His Holy Gospel.

You don’t have to sell your house or quit your job, but do go about your work and live your life in faith and love.  Find your identity, place, and purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His free and full forgiveness of your sins.  And in such confidence, pour yourself out in love for your neighbor, forgiving his sins against you and giving him life with whatever means the Lord has given you.

Do not despair or become discouraged where you have fallen short and failed in faith and love.  But repent of your sins and return to the Lord your God.  Where you have done wrong, cease and desist, and make amends wherever you are able.  And where you have neglected to do your duty and the good that you should, begin now to live according to God’s Word within your calling.

Consider again the way that St. Barnabas received and supported both St. Paul and St. Mark, and be encouraged by the same grace of God: Not only by the example of that good man, but by the word and work of those who, by the Holy Spirit, follow in his footsteps within the apostolic office.

Take to heart that Christ the Lord, your great God and Savior in the flesh, deals with you by the Ministry of His Gospel, by the ways and means of those men whom He has called and set apart for Himself and sent in His Name to preach and teach and catechize and forgive.  In receiving them, you receive the Lord Jesus Himself and His forgiveness of all your sins.

That is why St. Barnabas served and supported the apostolic Church and Ministry with his time, treasures, and talents, and why you are called to do the same in proportion as the Lord has enabled you: For the blessing and benefit of others, yes, but also for your own benefit and blessing in the preaching of Christ Jesus.

Hear, then, the new song of the Gospel, and behold by faith the new thing that God has done for you in Christ: Your sins are all forgiven, and you are daily raised up as a new creation in Him.  For the Lord who made the heavens and the earth has dealt decisively with sin and death by the Cross and Passion of Christ Jesus, and has made all things new in His Resurrection from the dead.

The same Lord bestows His Spirit upon you and breathes anew the Breath of Life into your body and soul through one and the same Holy Gospel of Christ Jesus, your Savior, which St. Barnabas also preached and administered in his day (and helped St. Paul to proclaim and St. Mark to write).

So it is that you are here on this night to receive these good tidings and these good gifts of Christ, to stand in the presence of God and kneel at His Altar, and to sing the praises of His Holy Name.  For His Name is everlasting, and Christ is given as a New Covenant to you in His Body and His Blood, and He shows compassion to you who are called to be His very own, both now and forever.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Son of Encouragement

He was not one of the Twelve, and he was gradually overshadowed and eclipsed by St. Paul, but St. Barnabas was an apostle, a “sent one” of the Lord Jesus.  He was “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith,” who was called by the Holy Spirit, not only to discipleship, but to the apostolic ministry of the Gospel.  To that Office he was ordained by the laying on of hands with the Word of God and prayer, and he was sent by the Lord through His Church to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins in the Name and stead of Christ Jesus.

In this sending of men, like Barnabas, whom He has called and ordained, the Lord Jesus continues His own Ministry of the Gospel.  For He sends them with His own authority to cast out demons, to heal diseases, to forgive sins and save sinners.

Everything that Jesus does, His Apostles do as well, always depending on Him and delivering what He has uniquely accomplished by the atoning Sacrifice of His Cross.  It is the Redemption of His Cross, the purchase and cleansing of His holy, precious Blood, and the New Creation of His Resurrection, that He proclaims and bestows by the preaching and ministry of His messengers.  And though, of course, they do not make atonement for sins (which Christ has done once for all), they do bear and carry the Cross after Him.

Those who are sent, including St. Barnabas, are first of all called to follow Jesus, and to learn from Him, as disciples and catechumens of His Word.  They have nothing to give to others, except what they themselves have heard and received from Him.  Nor are they to rely on anyone else, but they receive His provision by grace within the household and family of His Church.

What is true for every Christian, is especially true for the ministers of the Gospel, that, like the Levites of the Old Testament, their heritage is the Lord Himself and His Holy Name.  Not land or wealth, nor privilege, popularity, or prestige, but the Gospel is their Treasure.

That same Gospel is also your Treasure, which the same Lord Jesus Christ generously gives to you by the Ministry of His means of grace.  In Holy Baptism, He has called you out of darkness into His marvelous Light.  He has raised you from death and the grave unto newness of life.  He has turned you from your sins to Himself, and to His God and Father in Him.  And He has brought you from idolatry to the worship of the true and living God.  He has cast out your unclean spirit by the forgiveness of all your sins, and has anointed and filled you with His Holy Spirit.

Thus, He has made of you a new creation, and has prepared a permanent place for you in Paradise.  That is your true home, and there is your true family, with Barnabas and all the Apostles, and all the saints of God in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, though you are not an apostle, and most of you will not become pastors and teachers of the Church, nevertheless, as a Christian you are called to live by faith in Christ and in love for your neighbors, especially for those who belong to the household and family of God.

What that meant for “Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth,” even before he was called and ordained to the Office of the Ministry, was that he sold his property and laid all of the proceeds at the feet of the Apostles for the care of the community of the Church.  Such charity of faith exemplifies the reason for which the Apostles called him, “Barnabas,” that is, the “Son of Encouragement.”

Thus did he become a true Levite, indeed, in supporting the Royal High Priesthood of Christ in His Church and Ministry on earth: Not only the Twelve in Jerusalem, but then also St. Paul following his conversion, in the blossoming mission of the Gospel to the Gentiles.  Later, St. Barnabas lent his strength and support to St. Mark, by whose hand we have received the Holy Gospel.

Again and again, we find St. Barnabas giving of himself in loving service to others; not seeking fame or glory for himself, but living in the grace of his Lord Jesus Christ, by faith in the Gospel.

That is what it means to be sent out without any bread or bag or money belt, but only with your staff in hand and sandals on your feet.  It is the new and greater Exodus of Christ, the Son of God, who has crossed over from death into life by His Sacrifice for us and in His Resurrection.  He is our true Passover, who is alone our Meat and Drink indeed.  He is your Daily Bread, your Manna from heaven, which God the Father opens His gracious hand to provide you in the wilderness.

You are baptized into His Exodus, and, now, it is by His Staff that you are guarded from all harm and danger, and that you are guided on the Way of Life.  So, too, it is with His perfect Peace, such as this world cannot give, but He gives by the Gospel, that your feet are washed and sandaled.

You have such Peace in Christ, as Barnabas did (and does!), whether you live or whether you die, because your sins are all forgiven, and your true and everlasting life is hidden with Christ in God.

Barnabas was a good man, not because he was sinless or perfect, but by faith in the Gospel of Christ Jesus, by the cleansing and sanctification of the Holy Spirit: by the grace of God, and to the Glory of His Name.  For He who created the heavens and the earth, for the sake of His own divine eternal Love, also brings about this new thing by His Word:

Even to the ends of the earth, to coast lands and islands, to Cyprus and Cyrene, to Singapore and Sumatra, to Siberia and Sudan, and even to South Bend and southern Michigan, He causes His Word to be preached, He pours out His Spirit, and He provides the Bread of Life for His people.

As surely as the Gospel went out from Jerusalem to the Greeks by the speaking of St. Barnabas, and as surely as alms were then sent from the Gentile Christians in Antioch to the Church in Judea by the hand of that good man, so surely has the Lord opened His mouth to speak to you, and opened His hand to feed you in this place.  As He thereby opens your ears to hear and opens your mouth to feast upon the Passover of Christ in His true Body and true Blood, so then also, sing unto the Lord this New Song that He has taught you: The Song of God and of the Lamb forevermore.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.