Title: Saints like licorice and jujube
Contents
Title: Saints like jujube and licorice
Saints: Acts 11: 24-26
2009. 8. 16. Daytime
Licorice-drug prescriptions in drugstores are everywhere. However, there is also a lot of jujube. When we refer to people and call them licorice in drugstores, they have two meanings. One has a negative connotation, but the other has a positive connotation that acts like licorice. Today, I am going to think about people who are like licorice and jujube with a really positive attitude and try to receive grace.
What are the uses of licorice and jujube? How the hell does it work?
Traditional Chinese medicine contains ten or more, at most, 20 or more. Each of these drugs has unique properties. Some can even be toxic, which can kill people. So, you need to harmonize it well, and what you need is licorice and jujube.
Licorice detoxifies white medicine and jujube has excellent ingredients to harmonize it.
So 20 kinds of medicinal herbs were used, but adding licorice detoxifies the poisonous properties, and adding jujubes harmonizes well with each other and can play a complementary role.
Think of a community called the church. If there are 10 people, 10 people, and if there are 100 people, 100 people are not really all the same.
They believe in Jesus, but if you look closely, they all do it one strand at a time. That is, there are qualities. There are often people who want to believe in Jesus, but do not want to believe in Jesus and go to church because of his temper or because they cannot tolerate other eccentric believers.
At this time, people like licorice and jujube are the people we need. Today, we are looking for such a person in the Bible and bless you to be used as people like licorice and jujubes.
That person is Barnabas. Barnabas appears four times in the book of Acts.
At the end of chapter 4, in 9:27, and in chapter 11, and in chapter 13 and below, during the first and second missionary journeys, he broke up with Paul and went to Cyprus to evangelize, and his story ends.
By the way, let's take a look at whether he is a person who rolls licorice and dates like this. Hallelujah!
1. a person who is in harmony with wealth
When the church is first born, the life of the church members is a community life centered on the church. So, without the concept of mine or yours, things were used in common with each other. Then they sold their property and possessions and shared it with each other according to their needs.
“All those who believed were together, and all things were in common, and they sold their property and possessions, and distributed it according to each person's need.”
At this time, one person appears. This is Barnabas, whose name is Joseph. In particular, it is recorded that the man sold his field and gave it to the church.
“He had a field, and he sold it, took the money and put it at the apostles’ feet.”
Of course, many of the saints did this, but why is it that only Barnabas's name appears instead of anyone else's name? It is speculated that it was because Barnabas' wealth was exceptionally greater than that of the others. In fact, there is a strong theory that Barnabas came from a wealthy landowner. Its own land, of course, must have been that of Cyprus.
Following this as an opportunity, Chapter 5 tells the story of Ananias Sapphira. Like Barnabas, they sell their possessions and give it to God, but contrary to what they initially planned, they hid some and gave some, and then deceived Peter, who was filled with the Holy Spirit.
what do you mean? You will see that Barnabas acted like licorice, offering all the saints money to God. So the church is in harmony. It motivates all believers and sets an example of what it means to serve God and the church with wealth.
Dear saints,
May you become a saint like licorice with your wealth. Even the members of our church build the temple like licorice with their wealth, but like Barnabas, there are members who sell their private property and donate it.
There are saints like Barnabas who give everything they have prepared to use as a vacation home for some people and a vacation home for some people. There are many people who donated with their best effort. You don't know how grateful I am. Regardless of the large or small amount, we do not know how precious the sincerity contained in it is. They are precious saints like licorice and jujubes. We believe that God will surely pay us back and that the construction of the church temple will be completed through it.
2. A person who has harmonized human relationships
Barnabas' real name was Joseph. However, according to the Bible, the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas. Barnabas means authority, the son of comfort. It means son of a prophet. It means that you do a good job of admonishing and comforting.
1) He took Saul converted and went to the apostles.
Saul met Jesus on the Mount Damascus, was converted and decided to believe in Jesus. He went to Samaria, prayed deeply to God for about three years, and then came back to Damascus to preach the gospel. Then, when he went to Jerusalem and tried to hang out with his disciples, no one believed him. Rather, when Saul pretended to believe in Jesus and thought that he was trying to hand over those who believed in Jesus, Barnabas took Saul up to Jerusalem to meet the apostles.
“Barnabas took him and went to the apostles and told them how he had seen the Lord on the road, what the Lord had spoken to him, and how he spoke boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.”
There are many such cases around us. Just because you're wrong once doesn't mean you're always wrong. He absolutely needs someone to help him get along with others. One who exhorts and comforts.
2) He took Saul and firmly established the church in Antioch.
Saul can't get along in Jerusalem, so he goes back to his hometown of Tarsus.
“When the brothers knew, they brought them down to Caesarea and sent them to Tarsus.”
And Saul's story doesn't come out for a while. And that name appears again in the text we read today.
Many years have passed. I'm guessing around 5-10 years. Those who were scattered from Jerusalem because of the persecution went as far away as Phoenicians to Antioch to preach the gospel, and there are rumors that many people believe in Jesus. So, when the Jerusalem church sent a person to take charge of the circumstances of the Antioch church or the appropriate ministry, Barnabas was the most appropriate person at that time.
The Bible teaches us why Barnabas was a suitable person.
“Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.”
In addition, the people who founded the Antioch church were mainly Cyprus.
Barnabas goes down to Antioch to evangelize, and more and more people are coming. It becomes difficult to deal with alone. So I went down to Tarsus, found Saul, brought him back, and served and taught the Antioch church for a year. At this time, it is said that the church members in Antioch were finally called Greeks.
“Barnabas went to Tarsus to find Saul, and when he met him, he brought him to Antioch, and the two of them gathered in the church for a year and taught a great crowd, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.”
This is where Barnabas' amazing licorice-like powers come in. An amazing revival happens by finding people who can be forgotten and not remembered by anyone and bringing them to work with them.
How much will Paul be used in the future? If Barnabas did not find Paul and left him alone, he might have been buried in the wilderness and could not do God's work without a name. However, because of Barnabas, Paul, the church, and God's work have done great things. This is the same ability as licorice and jujube.
Who is like licorice in our church? I want you all to be that person.
3. Someone who builds up the wounded
Licorice has the effect of removing toxins. Jujube was said to be in harmony. Barnabas' licorice-like abilities are also shown in Magyohan.
The person who embraces the wounded Mark and builds him up, like licorice, heals the wounds of his heart. And to make it happen anew. We see that Barnabas is greater than Paul, at least in this respect.
Later, Mark and Paul reconcile, grow closer, and become essential to each other. Of course, he also reconciles with Barnabas.
“Bring Mark with you when you come, for he is good for my business.”
And Mark faithfully carries out the gospel ministry in Rome with the Apostle Peter.
“The church in Babylon, the chosen one, greets you, and so does my son Mark.”
And we did a more important work, so we are teaching us the way of salvation by writing the Gospel of Mark in the Bible and first recording the life of Jesus Christ, which is precious to countless lives in generations to come.
Who plays that precious role? That's what Barnabas like licorice and jujube did. Hallelujah!
4. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit and faith
So who can possess such powers as licorice and jujube? When we talk about Barnabas, we describe his character in three ways.
1) A good person, 2) A person full of the Holy Spirit, 3) A person full of faith.
This is the most basic of doing God's work. Being kind is a person of peace who always does a lot of good things and lives according to the word of God without any contradictions to everyone. I don't mess around with anything.
And we receive the power of the Holy Spirit and live according to the will of the Holy Spirit, and we live only with faith in Jesus.
Dear saints,
Our church also needs people like licorice and jujube. I want everyone to be that person.
Please do not think about who such a person is, and decide that I must become such a saint first.
Let's say hello to each other. I will be licorice first and then jujube.