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“They sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch…for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith…Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch” (Acts 11:22,24-26).
God had begun a new work in the city of Antioch, and the believers in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to them, to encourage them in the Lord. But then Barnabas went to Tarsus to find Saul, and brought him to Antioch. Why would Barnabas do this? Barnabas had been saved some years before Saul of Tarsus, and he might have thought that he was perfectly capable of helping the new believers in Antioch.
However, we must recognize that the Lord has given each of us different gifts. Barnabas was evidently a loving, caring man, with a real heart for souls. Saul however (afterward Paul, the Apostle) was a teacher, and Barnabas recognized that Saul had a gift that he did not have. New believers need shepherding care, but they also need teaching, and in this way Barnabas and Saul worked together in Antioch.
In the church of God we need each other, just as we need each part of our body. We can all work together in the Lord’s work.
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