A Levite from Cyprus, possibly married, a believer and a disciple (Acts 4.32-37) later known as a prophet or teacher (Acts 13.1)
DCI
School of Mission - training with no walls, frontiers or 
fees
GEM - The G stands for the
Grace
That he not only gave to others but was able to recognise in others when
no-one else did:
1. In newly converted Saul
(Acts 9.26-27)
2. In the new cosmopolitan
non-Jewish church at Antioch (Acts 11.23)
and in the church in the new
and first non-Jewish church at Antioch.
3. He was gracious and
graceful in changing roles from leader to number two - for in Acts 11.25, in
the 13.1-4 list in order of importance, in 13.7 on the first missionary
journey it is Barnabas and Saul – but from 13.9 the gift and anointing of
Paul starts to emerge strongly and soon from 13.42 onwards it is Paul and
Barnabas, except back in the Jerusalem church (Acts 15.12, 25)
The E stands for the
En-courage-ment
That he was known for (Acts 4.36, 11.23, 14.22)
Paraklesis – comfort, consolation, entreaty, exhortation -
Barnabas pleaded and persuaded rather than dominated and controlled.
Similar word to Paraclete used for the Holy Spirit as our
advocate and comforter – the One who stands with us against our
weaknesses. Barnabas was a good man to have around.
The M stands for the
Mission that was his calling.
He travelled from Cyprus to
Jerusalem, he willingly travelled out from Jerusalem to Antioch, God
confirmed his earlier call to mission - the mobile rather than the static,
the away team rather the home team - by the Holy Spirit in a time of worship
and fasting (Acts 13.2) With the call comes the grace for cross-cultural
ministry and Barnabas led the way out and became a perfect companion to
Paul, with very compatible and complementary ministry gifts as well as a
similar embracing of the need to support himself in mission by work (1 Cor.
9.6)
And he was a gem of a Man
With plenty of qualities: A good man, full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith
(Acts 11.24), generous in giving and trusting of leadership (Acts 4.36),
dear and beloved (Acts 15.25) a man of fine appearance – assumed to be
Zeus, principal god (Acts 14.12), a risk taker with Saul and the first
Christian mission, and able to handle persecution (Acts 14).
Barnabas
had a few very human failings as well.
He could be "led astray" by others (Gal. 2.13) and in his insecurity would please men - Peter, and the narrow minded believers from James in Jerusalem. He had a bitter argument with Paul (Acts 15.36) over his cousin Mark (Col. 4.10) wanting his own way to the point of separating himself from God’s anointed man. Maybe he saw the emerging grace in John Mark, the gospel writer of later years, maybe Paul could have been more gracious and patient, maybe Barnabas should have submitted to God’s chosen leader – but whatever - an argument like this was no way of going about it - and although we can be confident that Barnabas continued doing good work with Silas this is the last we hear of him in the book of the ‘Acts of the Holy Spirit.’
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