Hometown Blues

Read: Acts 9:26-31

Hometown Blues

There are no harsher critics than in your “hometown”. Jesus himself experienced this same phenomenon. (cf. Luke 4:24, et. all) Those people who know you the most may have the hardest time believing that you have been transformed by Christ. They will be suspicious. They will think it is a “fad”. They will test you… tempt you… push you. This is in an effort to see if you are “for real”. Faith doesn’t not become strong without being tested.

Depending upon your past, people may even be afraid to get close to you… to allow you in… to develop new relationship with you. Notice the case for Saul: “And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.” (v.26) This is totally understandable for them in a purely human way. Of course you would be a little fearful and suspicious of a former enemy showing up and wanting to be friends. And yet, this is not how we are called to live as the people of God. What do you think the Lord would have told these disciples in Jerusalem concerning Saul if they had asked him? Were they not connected to the same Lord that disrupted the life of Saul and called him to himself? God went and paved the way for Ananias… gave him a run down on what had happened. Maybe he did the same for the disciples in Jerusalem and they just didn’t want to listen? It must have been pretty lonely and humbling fro Saul… having to come back to Jerusalem and face his old friends. Saul returned back to Jerusalem a very different man than he left.

“But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.” (v.27) We all need a “Barnabas”… and we all need to be a “Barnabas”. In our Christian lives we need a friend, a person who will come for us… vouch for us… have our back… take a chance on us. This is what Barnabas did for Saul. He bore witness of the growth he had seen in him. He befriended him. He had his back. We need to do this more for each other. We need to share with one another the ways we see each other being transformed. In our journey’s we all need a Barnabas to come alongside us… and take us in.

What happens when we do this for one another in Christ? We are strengthened and the gospel message is boldly proclaimed. (v. 28) Lies are confronted and the truth is revealed. (v.29) “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” (v.31) The C/church will experience “peace”, the “comfort of the Holy Spirit”, and be “built up” when we start to live this way. Love you guys. - JDP