Michael Schellman

Box 7211
Spiritual Frienship / Tom Correll

Spiritual Friendship

Introduction

I my opinion you should never give a child a popular name. I grew up with a common name. My

parents named me Michael. Michael was the number one baby name for 3 decades. The reasoning behind

picking popular names for your child is pretty simple, you pick a popular name – you’ll have a popular kid.

You pick a weirdo name that nobody likes, and you have a weird kid that nobody likes. (But this reasoning

is faulty - Parents, it doesn’t work like that!) Popular names wind up being the most common names, and

common names are non-distinct. Nothing so reinforces the feeling you are not special, than having the most

popular name. When I was in grade school, someone would say “HEY MIKE” I would turn around only to

find that they were talking to someone else. When I was in college I had a friend named Mike who had

another friend named Mike and a roommate named Mike. Knowing so many people with the same name

made it very hard to tell a story that involved more than one of us.

I guess there’s no use in trying to change parents – they’ve always like that; even back in biblical

days. Back then names like Mary, Judas, John and Simon were all popular names, as you probably know;

there are several people with these names in the bible. It’s confusing. Just keeping all the Mary’s straight.

It must have been confusing for them. So, what people did back then to keep things straight was change

your name to something else. If there was more than one person in your social group with the same name,

somebody would get their name changed. Sometimes they would just add something to the end like Mary

Magdalene (Magdala is a city)1, or Judas Iscariot (ish Kerioth means man of Kerioth – another city).2

Sometimes you might add the name of a person’s father like John the son of Zebadee, or a description of

some group you belonged to like Simon the Zealot. Sometimes too a certain characteristic about a person

would be so strong, that that person would be given a kind of nickname this is the case with a guy known as

Barnabas.

1
New Bible Dictionary 3rd edition; Marshall, I. Howard, A.R. Millard, J.I. Packer, D.J. Wiseman eds.; Downers Grove, Illinois. 1996.
p 737.
2
ibid. 625
 Barnabas real name was Joseph, we first meet him in acts 4 - just before the story of Anannias and

Saphira. It says he is a Levite from Cyprus and that he sold a field which he owned and laid the money at

the apostles feet. Now after they got to know him, the Apostles decided to call this guy Barnabas. The text

says, his name means “Son of Encouragement”. We know from this account that he was probably the most

encouraging guy the apostles knew. And that this was his most outstanding quality. First of all we know

this because they didn’t name him “Joseph of Cyprus” or “Joseph the Levite” and even though there were

probably other encouraging people around – Only he was given the name Barnabas.

Body

Barnabas would go on to become one of the Apostle Paul’s first real Spiritual Friends. At a time

when he was deeply in need. In Acts 9:26 – 28 it says.

Acts 9:26-28
When Paul came to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they
were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took hold of
him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on
the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly
in the name of Jesus. And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking
out boldly in the name of the Lord.

Paul must have been pretty lonely at this point in his life. He had been an active member of the Pharisaic

party; extremely zealous. He had been present at the stoning of Steven. He had crossed party lines – to get

papers from the high priest authorizing him to lead raids against followers of Jesus. Naturally, when he

tells them he’s become a believer, the disciples are wary of him. This guy is a murderer in their eyes; a

pursecuter of the church. So here he is stuck between two worlds. He can’t go back to the Pharisees – they

tried to kill him – he burned that bridge. Now he finds that not even the followers of Jesus will accept him.

No one will give him a chance.

Then Barnabas enters the picture. He befriends the apostle, and by so doing he proves to the rest

of the community that he’s okay – he’s safe. After that Paul is received into the community and then he can

move about freely among the believers in Jerusalem. Barnabas friendship becomes a bridge for Paul to

enter into fellowship with the Christian Community. Every church, every fellowship, every ministry needs
people like Barnabas – why? – because every disconnected person who stands at the periphery looking for

a way in needs a bridge builder. They need someone to bridge the gap so they can enter into community

with us – just like Jesus bridged the gap so that we could enter His world. One thing that happens with

church’s is that they get ingrown. People come in, no one takes notice, and they leave. They never come

back. You can have the best programs, the most inspiring service, the most beautiful building, but if there

is no human connection there will never be that bond. Someone has to bridge the gap.

So how does he do that?3

First of all, he takes a Risk4

The risk for us, these days, is relatively small when compared with what people in the New

Testaement had to face. We might get a little embarrassed. We might get rejected. Given the value of

friendship – how much is it worth. How many embarrassing encounters is one friendship worth. For

Barnabas the answer is clear. He’s willing to risk his life.

Second he gets to know him.

The way you get to know somebody is by talking to them – and don’t worry about what to are

going to say, you should be spending most of your time listening. Asking questions that give you time to

listen. When Barnabas talked to Paul, he came away from that conversation with knowledge about who

Paul was. He listened to Paul.

Third he advocates for him

After Barnabas gets to know Paul, he brings him into the heart of his world, and he advocates for

him. He puts his credibility on the line for him and says “look, I’ve talked to him.” He hold’s him up in

the presence of the others and tells them – “this guy, saw the Lord, He spoke to him – He’s risked his life

preaching the word – He’s like us”.

3
The steps enumerated in this move of the sermon are a modification of the ethnographic model proposed by Tom Correll, the
difference being that in this case members of the community reach out to the stranger on the periphery, rather than the stranger
reaching in.
4
Olthuis, James. Friendship (handout). States that friendship is dangerous in the same way that life is dangerous . . .(but) . . . its
joy’s far outweigh its pains.
 Even after Paul is accepted into the body of believers, Barnabas sticks by him. Until people get to

know Paul through personal experience, it doesn’t matter what he has done, what risks he has taken, how

amazing his conversion experience was. He needs Barnabas by his side, he needs to lean on Barnabas

reputation in the community until he gets a reputation of his own. This by the way, is the same reason why

Paul sent letters with Timothy. Human nature is such that a person is often not just accepted at face value,

and that makes it difficult for new people. They need an advocate beside them. After Paul meets Barnabas,

you see their names together frequently Barnabas and Paul, Barnabas and Paul. You rarely see the one

without the other. No doubt Paul’s first mission trip was approved because Barnabas went with him.

Several people have pointed out the transition where the names gradually change their order to Paul and

Barnabas.5 Here we see Paul emerging as the great missionary. This was his great spiritual gift – and as he

comes into his personal calling, Barnabas recedes into the background.

Barnabas, acts sort of like a spiritual parent for Paul, bringing this newly formed believer into the

community and standing by him, nurturing him with his gift until he comes into his own – this is the

particular manifestation of his role in Paul’s life as Spiritual friend.6 No doubt he was a friend to Paul,

because he stayed with him much longer than merely the time Paul had particular need of him. He was not

just ministering to him – he was content to fade into the background as Paul grew greater in his calling, and

just be near Paul as a friend.7 Eventually the time came, when another person needed his friendship. A

young man named Mark, his nephew. Paul wanted to make a return visit to the churches they had founded

on their missionary journeys. Barnabas wanted to take Mark, but Paul refused. Paul said Mark was un-

reliable, he had abandoned them on their first missionary Journey. He attempted to advocate for Mark, but

Paul would have none of it, and there they parted company – Paul went on to Syria, Barnabas and Mark

boarded a boat and sailed for Cyprus.

If you need a Barnabas in your life, I pray that the Lord would bring him or her to you, to bridge

the Gap, to carry you into the heart of fellowship, to stand by you and nurture you till you grow into your

5
New Bible Dictionary 3rd ed. p 123.
6
Sellner, Edward C. The Celtic Soul Friend; Notre Dame, Ave Maria Press. p 182. Sellner describes how the early Celts saw the
spiritual friend as a necessary component to the development of greatness of soul.
7
Olthuis, James. Friendship (handout). Friendship is a Mutual Troth: Friendship occurs between two people who are mutually
attracted to each other because of who each person is (rather than what each does).
own. Maybe you could be a Barnabas for someone else and follow the example of Jesus himself who

bridged the Gap for us and welcomed us into his world.