The Mission Of The Church Is MissionsThe Mission Of The Church Is Missions
Acts 13:1-3
What is the main business of the church? Some would say that it is to care of its members. The church is here to visit the sick and pray with them, to take care of people at important transitions in life, such as marriage, childbirth, and death. Some would say it is here to provide guidance and comfort for people at important times. No doubt, these are all functions of the church. However, I would argue that these functions are not the main business of the church.
We are always in danger of slipping into a maintenance mentality in the church, where we focus on maintaining what we have, and we forget about the lost.
We oftentimes think that the Church is here for us; we forget that we are the Church, and we’re here for the lost world.
Several years ago the city of Pittsburgh constructed a large, new post office at the cost of several million dollars. On the day of it’s opening, the Governor made a speech, the bands played and the people cheered. It was quite a celebration.
However, when the first man entered to mail a letter, to the embarrassment of the engineers, it was discovered that in the rush to meet the deadline, they had omitted the usual letter drop. Here was a costly new post office, but no place to mail a letter! It was a slight omission, but it negated the very reason for its existence.
That brings me to the very point of this message: WHEN ANY CHURCH LOSES THE SPIRIT OF THE GREAT COMMISSION, IT SURRENDERS THE VERY REASON FOR ITS EXISTENCE.
God is a missionary God. The Bible is a missionary book. The gospel is a missionary message. The Church is a missionary institution. When the Church ceases to be missionary minded, it has betrayed its trust.
Essentially, the Church has many responsibilities but only one mission, and that is the evangelization of all nations.
A church that is not focused on the world is a
church that is not founded on the word.
I. The Church is the INCUBATOR FOR MISSIONS
The local church is the place where missionaries are born. It was the incubator for missions.
This mission’s movement was done out of a local church. It was based from a local church. I get nervous about ministries that are not driven out of and sponsored by a local church. When God was about to launch the first great missionary movement through one of His apostles, in fact, through the man who would be the greatest of the Apostles, He did so based out of a local church. A local church was God’s starting point and it should be our starting point.
If any church is going to be an incubator for missionaries and missions, they must recognize the pleasure of God in saving people from every tribe, tongue, people and nation.
A. In this church there was diversity in composition
Here was that true, mission spirit of "whosoever will" in their own ranks.
1. Barnabas - a well to do Levite from Cyprus
2. Simeon called Niger - name means black, so most scholars presume he was black
There was certainly no race distinction here.
3. Lucius of Cyrene - an ancient city in North Africa
4. Manaen - brought up with the Herod who stole Herodias from her husband, which murdered John the Baptist
5. Saul - Tarsus
Here was a diversity to be sure of. Here were Jews and Gentiles and wealthy and common, and all chosen and all controlled by the Spirit of God.
Now what struck me about verse 1 is how God can work through all different types of people You’ve got different backgrounds, cultures, and identities and God is working through these guys.
May the Lord increase our diversity!
B. In this church there was unity in character
Look at verse 2 at what these five guys were doing.
They were all ministered to the Lord, fasting and praying.
1. They were spiritual
2. They were sincere
II. The Holy Spirit is the INITIATOR OF MISSIONS (2,4)
The Holy Sprit issued the call for these missionaries.
The Holy Spirit speaks! In other words, He is not some impersonal force, but rather, a Person…fully God, and One who, as God, is the divine initiator.
A. A selective calling
“Barnabas and Paul”
It was a distinctive call. It was not for everyone.
It is worth our attention to note that the call came while they were ministering. It’s always the way, as they were ministering. When God looks for a man for ministry, He looks for men who are servants. The word ministering means that they were serving. Humble servants are the kind of men that God wants to use. God does not dust off the people who haven’t been doing anything. He uses the ones that are in the middle of it. He takes the best.
B. A specific calling
"The work to which I have called them" - the calling to service was made before it was announced!
They were not allowed to choose their own field. God had a specific work for them to do.
Just as God did not call just anyone, He did not call them to do just anything. God had a certain work in mind when He called them into service
The fact that God’s calling is selective and specific is encouraging, because it reaffirms how personal His map is for each and every one of us.
III. Believers in the church are the INVESTORS IN MISSIONS (3)
The sending of missionaries is church-centered, church supplied, and we will see later, church supervised.
The Great Commission is a call and command to every believer.
Every believer is to be part of the gospel being preached unto all nations and to every creature.
How this is possible?
A. Purses have to be opened
Not every person is called to go to the foreign mission field. Yet, every believer can be a partner with those who are called by making contributions that enable the missionary to go.
To put it very simply, if we are not called to actually go to a mission field, we are called to give so that those who are called can go.
Is your purse open? Are you giving so that those whom God has called can go? Who is going to Africa by you? Who is going to Eastern Europe by you? Who is going to Central and South America by you? Is there some missionary serving on a field today that can say, "I am here because of so and so in Washington, Georgia?"
B. Prayers have to be offered
These believers not only opened their purse for others to, but they also offered their prayers for them.
Who is going to the mission field on your giving and praying?
Now, one of the most significant points here is that it was the local church who sent the early missionaries out. Barnabas and Paul will later return to the church at Antioch (14:26-27) and report to the church, after their missionary journey, because they were sent out by the church.
Conclusion:
If the business of the church is not about God’s business, the church has no business being in business.
There is a bridge built across Panther Creek in Western Kentucky. It was built by the United States government. It was a source of pride and a symbol of recovery. Today, years later, the bridge looks as new as the day in which it was built because there is no road leading to it or from it. A bridge that doesn’t carry traffic is a bridge in name only, and a church that doesn’t go with the GOSPEL is a church in name only.
EVERY Christian——within this local church is to be personally and actively involved in Christ’s command to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
If God wills the evangelization of the world, and you refuse to support missions, then you are directly opposed to the will of God.
The supreme task of the church is the evangelization of the world.
CHRIST ALONE CAN SAVE THE WORLD, BUT CHRIST CANNOT SAVE THE WORLD ALONE.
Are you part of the problem or the solution? Are you willing to get the Gospel to some area of the world where Christ has not been preached?
Coca-Cola seems to be everywhere. How did it get there? A motto that is posted in the company headquarters explains it: THINK GLOBALLY, BUT ACT LOCALLY.
