Barnabas was the first one to see something in Saul; he took a risk and vouched for him. He brought Saul along so that he could see the things that God was doing in Antioch. Barnabas' was an apostle and a church planter, but his true impact was in discipling another man who would become the most prolific apostle. For decades it would have been easy to judge the merit of Barnabas' ministry on the work he had done with his own energy; that mistake is corrected by the view of Barnabas' impact on the entire history of faith, through his impact on Saul...
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It would be easy to mistake the apple as being more important than the tree... we focus on the shiny fruit, the tasty treat!
However, the life of the tree, the reproductive process of tree>apple>orchard>apples>, is more important than the fruit.
Discipleship in the Church is the point of the Church! It is the very commission Christ left us, 'go, make disciples!'
Paul himself models this for us as he invites Timothy and John Mark to follow him as he follows Jesus.
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The Church is to be modeled after a healthy apple orchard, with living trees, producing fruit, and that fruit containing seeds that bring forth new trees, and even new orchards...
The local church should be a healthy tree producing 'fruity' people who bear within themselves the seeds of new churches, new works, new small groups, beach heads in foreign soil, new christians...
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The point of Church is not to attach shiny fruit to a dead tree, but rather to care for a living tree that will produce others. This shift in focus to discipleship means we will no longer be concerned with 'perfection' or 'excellence' for its own sake, but rather look to give people opportunities to fail and learn!
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