Who Are You Advocating For?

Acts 9:19b-30

Introduction

Has there ever been a time when you have felt rejected, like the whole world was against you? Perhaps the supports that once been there were now gone. Do you remember what that was like? And have you ever been in that position and someone came forward to support you?

It may have been with words of encouragement. Or perhaps the person gave you a chance by providing you an opportunity to show what you can do? Basically, have you ever had someone advocate on your behalf when everyone else had their doubts about you?

I have had some encouragers in my life. During the summer before my last year of my Master of Divinity, I had decided that I was not going to go into pastoral ministry. Having encountered one style of church leadership, I was convinced that I had what it took to be a pastor. I didn’t share these feelings openly. My plan was to finish my M.Div and do my final placement in a non-church setting and then just continue in my job working at a warehouse. Then one day, I received a call at the warehouse from one of my professors, who was also a pastor of a church, asking me to come and interview for their youth pastor position. This was awkward as I had already quit the ministry. But I showed up for the interview anyway. The next thing I knew, I had quit my warehouse job and I was in my first paid pastoral position. Not only that, it was at that church that I was eventually ordained. All that because someone believed in me and gave me a chance. Since that time, I have had many people give me words of encouragement in moments where I was feeling very low.

One of the best examples of encouragement comes from the story of Saul, who was advocated for by a follower of Jesus who had nothing to gain from the risk. From this experience, we can inspired to advocate for others.

Advocating For Saul

In our previous message, we saw that Saul had a radical encounter with Jesus. Saul was not interested in just sitting around and thinking about Jesus. Saul jumped right into ministry, going around and telling people about Jesus. Although the prophecy about Saul was that his ministry would be the Gentiles, Saul here reaches out to those he knew: the Jews. He went to their synagogues and shared a strong message. He didn’t just argue that Jesus was the Messiah, something that could be debated, but that Jesus was the Son of God. That did not go over well and this began a serious conflict between Saul and the Jews. And remember the Jews were not “those people,” they were his people. The people who had made up Saul’s community not long before were the ones who were rejecting him. Community was essential, especially in the ancient world, and Saul needed to find a new community.

You might think that would be no problem since Saul was a follower of Jesus and all he would have to do was fellowship with some other Christians. easier said than done. Saul did travel to Jerusalem, which was where the leadership was still based, even though many Jesus followers had scattered after the persecution. The disciples were less than thrilled to find out Saul wanted to join them.

Before we are too harsh toward the disciples, we need to think about what we do in the same position. Imagine that a former member of ISIS, who had actively persecuted Christians, wanted to join our church. How eager would you be to sit beside them in worship? Wouldn’t you be nervous that it was a trick to create more violence?

That’s where the Jerusalem church was at. Enter Barnabas. Barnabas was not his real name. He was actually Joseph, but was nicknamed Barnabas—Son of Encouragement. And we are going to see why.

While the other disciples only saw the risk of embracing Saul, Barnabas saw the potential. Barnabas knew about Saul’s ministry and the zeal he had for the Lord. Saul may not have been yet the mature Apostle Paul that we think of, but the potential was there. 

Barnabas advocated on Saul’s behalf to the apostles. This was a risky move. If this was a trick by Saul, not only would Barnabas’s life be at risk, so would the entire leadership of the church. If Barnabas was wrong, things good go very bad. But Barnabas was right and Saul was a follower of Jesus. Before we feel too good about the happy ending, we should acknowledge that some in the Jerusalem church never filly accepted Saul, especially after his focus turned to the Gentiles. Barnabas could not control the actions of others but he could choose to be an advocate for someone he believed in.

Advocating For Others

Once Saul was welcomed in, can we say that there has been a wide open welcome to everyone ever since? Not all. It is not even a wide open welcome for the rest of the book of Acts.

Today there is still a need for a Barnabas—a son or daughter of encouragement, someone who will advocate on behalf of others.

There has been much talk in recent years about the role of privilege. What is privilege? It is basically the observation that certain types of people are not held back from influence. What does that look like, especially in the context of the church? Traditionally, a white, straight, able male of financial means has not been held back from influence within the church because of any of those characteristics. Some assume by that observation of privilege that such people must be intrinsically bad. That is not the case. Nor does it mean that such people have never struggled. It just means that the obstacle was not their whiteness or maleness or other characteristic.

The church, including this congregation, has changed and adapted over the years. You do not have to be a certain kind of person to be involved in ministry in the church. But how did we get to that point?

Queen Street Baptist Church has ordained a number of women over the years. But it wasn’t always that way. There had to be someone or some people who would advocate on their behalf, to fight for their acceptance. The same with race. We take for granted that people of colour are in leadership. But there was a time when the leadership was all white. There had to have been some advocacy before the shift happened.

My question to all of us is: Who are we currently advocating for? We cannot assume that just because the opportunities come easy to us that they come easy to everyone else. Barnabas is still needed in the church. For myself, for personal reasons I have chosen to advocate for people with disabilities, whether physical or developmental. There is still such great need in this area.

How do you advocate? There are many ways. Years ago, I was an associate pastor at another church. There was a young man in the congregation who came out as gay. Many of his former friends rejected him and were outwardly hostile toward him. Amanda and I decided that we would have him sit with our family during worship services, we wanted other to see we cared for him. 

Advocacy can take the form of personal encouragement or it can be speaking out against injustice. It starts by acknowledging that not everyone has the same access that we do and then being willing to do something about it.

Conclusion

Thank God for Barnabas. I’m sure Saul said that and we can say the same thing. When people were afraid of Saul, Barnabas stepped in and bridged the gap. Barnabas advocated for Saul, who did not have the same access that he had. Barnabas was a true son of encouragement.

The need for encouragement did not die out with the apostles. There are still those who need an advocate. It may be a whole group of people, such as those with disabilities or those suffering from mental illness, or it could be a single individual fighting for acceptance. Who are we advocating for in our life and what are we doing to make them fully welcome?