Barnabas–Ongoing Encouragement December 3 Lesson

I want to open the lesson this week with a history lesson. Some of this is pertinent to the lesson today and some is just interesting history.

But let’s go back a bit further to a bit of history concerning Jerusalem, the Temple and the Jerusalem Church, the Church of Zion, or the Church of the Apostles. I have prepared a brief summary for you complete with pictures.  Let’s just hit the high points:

• Worship at the mounts of Moriah and Zion has been carried out since well before 1000 B.C.
• David captured the area and made it his city around 1000 B.C.
• Solomon built the first Temple complex dedicated solely to God in about 950 B.C.
• Solomon’s Temple destroyed 587 B.C. (standing for over 360 years).
• Second Temple is built by returning exiles in 515 B.C.
• Herod starts his expansion project around 19-20 B.C.
• Jesus’ Birth and life starts somewhere around the year 6 to 4 B.C.
• Jesus’ ministry begins somewhere around A.D. 27 to 29.
• Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension occurs c. 33.
• 3000 added to the Jewish-Christian Church following Pentecost c. 33
• Saul’s Christian conversion and name change to Paul occurs c. 34
• Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem church leaders, which we will read about today, occurs c. 37 (some 4 years after the “establishment” of the Jewish-Christian Church).
• Paul preaches and teaches in Tarsus  c. 37-40.
• The Church at Rome is founded c. 40
• Paul and Barnabas serve together in Antioch c. 41, which we will also learn about today.
• The first missionary journey of Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark occurs c. 47-49.
• Jewish wars against the Romans take place c. 66 to 135.
• Prior to Roman destruction of Jerusalem many of the Jerusalem church heed Jesus’ warning to flee to the hills.
• The Romans destroy the Temple complex in 70.
• Following the destruction of the Temple many of the Jerusalem Church return and by 100 the Jerusalem church was well established and meeting on Mount Zion.
• “Political Christianity” arises as Roman Emperor Constantine’s “state religion” is legalized in 313.
• Constantine founds the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem in 325.
• In the 400s a more formal building for the Church of the Apostles, or Church of Zion, is built for the Jerusalem Church on Mt. Zion. “Christianity” diverges from “Jewish Christianity” and continues to spread around the world.
• In the 614 the Church of Zion building is destroyed during Islamic conquest.

The weekly rabbit trail:  THE CHURCH OF THE APOSTLES ON ZION

Worship of God (YHWH) at Zion (Taller hill southwest of Temple Mount) and Moriah (Temple Mount) has occurred since 1000 BC or before.  A Jebusite sanctuary was present on the site well before David’s kingdom came into being or Solomon’s first temple was built in about 950 BC.

Though Solomon’s Temple was destroyed in about 587 BC the “Second Temple” built in 515 BC on Solomon’s pattern was in use until the Romans destroyed it in 70 AD.  Both the use of the Second Temple and the rise of Christian teachings coincided for about 70 years.  At the time of Christ, the Jerusalem Church (Church of Zion)  flourished from the days of pentecost onward. It was well established by 100 AD and continued meeting on Mt. Zion.  The original location of this Jerusalem church is believed to be at the location of a building called the Cenacle, a traditional “dining hall” if you will, in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Church established a more formal building on Mt. Zion in the 400s, the Church of Zion or the Church of the Apostles, that lasted until the 600s.  

It seems that the Jewish religion took precedence on the mounts of Moriah and Zion for about 1000 years. Then, with the advent of Christ, the Jewish-Christian religion took root and flourished in this vicinity for about 600 years, at which time (c. 325) more “political Christianity” began to prevail with the rise of Constantine.

Jesus was a Jew, and his renewal movement was Jewish. He preached in the Jewish countryside, not the Hellenistic cities. After his execution, his followers saw him alive, and they formed a community to wait for him to return, Later, this community separated from Judaism and became the Christian church.  

Originally called Jewish Christians, Hebrew Christians or Judeo-Christians. First century “Jewish Christians” were faithful religious Jews differing from other contemporary Jews only in their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah.  Jewish Christianity initially strengthened in Jerusalem at Pentecost with the addition of 3000 new members moved by the Holy Spirit. As Jewish Christianity originated at Jerusalem, so Gentile Christianity started at Antioch, then the leading center of the Hellenistic East, with Peter and Paul as its apostles. Then as Christianity grew throughout the Gentile world, Christians diverged from their Jewish and Jerusalem roots.  Following the Jewish-Roman wars of 66-135 Jewish Christianity fell into decline.

Three events would greatly affect the fortunes of early Jewish Christianity. The first was the Conversion of Paul in the early 30’s, the second was the Council of Jerusalem c.50, and the third was the Destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD.  

Following the destruction of the Temple, Jewish Christians continued to worship in synagogues for centuries.  A synagogue is a place dedicated to Jewish worship and instruction. There is debate as to whether or not synagogues existed before the destruction of the Temple. On the one hand, we have textual evidence—such as the New Testament—that identifies certain structures as synagogues where Torah reading, teaching and prayer took place. For example Mark 1:21 says that Jesus and his disciples traveled to Capernaum, and “when the Sabbath came, he [Jesus] entered the synagogue and taught.”

Additionally, archaeology has uncovered buildings from before the destruction of the Temple that look similar to post-destruction synagogues, and later synagogues were sometimes built on top of these earlier structures, thereby suggesting a continuity of use.

However, all of the “pre-destruction” Second-Temple-period synagogues lack the main architectural characteristic of later synagogues: the Torah Shrine. Usually situated on the wall of the synagogue facing Jerusalem, the Torah Shrine is the receptacle for the ark containing the Torah Scrolls. The pre-Temple destruction buildings were used for Torah reading and as a study center. They had a teaching aim and also served as a meeting place for the community. The synagogues after the destruction, by contrast, emphasized prayer and ceremonies; their functions were liturgical and ritualistic.

The focal point of the earlier buildings was the center of the hall, while that of the later synagogue was the Torah Shrine built on the Jerusalem-oriented wall. In the early structures, benches were constructed along all four walls; they faced the center of the hall. In the later synagogues, the benches faced the Torah Shrine.  

Jesus, while looking over the temple mount in Jerusalem shortly before his death, prophesied that its beautiful stones would be thrown down within a generation. He warned that the residents should flee Jerusalem to the mountains when they saw the Roman armies surrounding the city. The Jewish followers of Jesus heeded his warning and fled to the hill country of Pella southeast of the sea of Galilee for safety before Jerusalem’s destruction. Pella was one of ten Decapolis cities founded during the Hellenistic period, Some believe that, after Jerusalem’s destruction, These “early Christians” returned to Jerusalem to rebuild their sanctuary on the site of the ancient Upper Room—where the Last Supper had been held, where the apostles returned after witnessing Jesus’ ascension on the Mount of Olives and where Peter delivered his Pentecost sermon as recorded in Acts 2. Here they made their synagogue, their Church of the Apostles.

Today we look at one of the foundations of the Christian faith.  Barnabas, the encourager.

Acts 4: 36-37; 9:26-27; 11:19-26

Few view the early stages of a skyscraper and marvels at the beauty and extensive nature of its steel and rebar.  Few want to see what makes it stable, we want to see what makes it pretty, exciting, innovative, or unusual.  Rebar isn’t pretty but it IS incredibly necessary.  It gives a structure its stability and strength.  It is what holds everything together below the surface.

In a similar way, we’ve all had people who propped us up at different points in our lives.  These people have supported us in our faith even when it felt like the whole world was being turned upside down.  Though they might never receive the applause, they play an essential role of support in our lives.  It takes incredible strength of character to be this kind of support for another.  It is MUCH easier to drift down the road of criticism, of tearing down rather than building up.  The Christian must choose to build up instead of tear down.  In fact, that is the point of this lesson:  Christ-centered living chooses encouragement, not criticism.

The first few chapters of Acts provides a beautiful glimpse into the early days of the Church.  

• Jesus’ followers had scattered during his crucifixion.
• Acts 1 records Jesus’ ascension into heaven
• Acts 2 describes the Day of Pentecost 7 weeks later and the filling of 3000 Christian believers by the Holy Spirt.  They emerged no longer timid, but boldly confident in the authority of Jesus as the rightful Lord of the universe.  They gladly shared the good news of personal reconciliation to God through Christ.
• Acts 4 notes that the number of Christians had reached 5000.
• Stephen is martyred and Saul is actively persecuting the Jerusalem Church and its believers, causing further dispersal of the Church.  By Acts 9 Saul, on the road to Damascus, experiences the revelation of Christ.
• By Acts 10 Peter is preaching to gentiles and the Roman Centurian Cornelius and his family received the Holy Spirit and were baptized.
• Let’s look at part of this story more closely.

Encourage means: give support, confidence, or hope to someone.  It is from old words meaning “to put in heart”  to en  cor-age.

Barnabas encouraged others through his generosity.  The early church flourished through his encouragement and support of Paul to the Jerusalem Church.  In this passage we see that Barnabas encouraged the spread of the gospel in unlikely places among unlikely people.

The point of this study is that Christ-centered living chooses encouragement, not criticism.  

Seek ways to be an encouragement to others.  You are who YOU are because someone was willing to encourage you.  That person, along with many others from the “rebar” of your life–the support and structure that makes you stable.  Now go and do likewise in the lives of others.