Thanks, Sheree. Well, our newspapers have been
telling us that the economic signs are going
this way, up and down, depending upon what you
read. The unemployment rate is going down. That's
good news. Rate of inflation is remaining stable
or perhaps even declining a bit. That's good
news. Interest rates are at record levels and
seem to be heading lower. That's good news and
bad news depending upon which side of that equation
you're on. Recently we've heard another statistic
that relates more to us as a body of believers
and that is that for the first time in history
the number of missionaries from North America
declined. Now that is good news and bad news.
It's bad news in the sense that it seems to be
saying that there's less of an interest in missions
in North America Now we shouldn't understand
that to be the same as saying that the kingdom
of God is in crisis Because some of the other
nations and areas of the world are sending out
missionaries at record numbers We're talking
about missionaries from North America Missions
in North America is in crisis. That's not all
bad. Because it is time for mission agencies,
missionaries, churches and congregations to rethink
this whole idea of missions. This time of crisis
is really an opportunity for us to evaluate what's
going on in the world. and how the methods that
we have used for the last couple of hundred years
may not be working anymore. And we need to create
some new paradigms or models for missions. Because
of that, I thought that I wanted to include in
this series of messages that end today on SOS
something about missions. I've tried to make
the SOS series this summer focus on urgent messages
that all of us need to capture in our hearts.
This morning we want to talk about sending out
servants. I invite you to open your Bible to
Acts chapter 13 as we do that. It is imperative
for churches to take a fresh look at missions
and to be willing to make changes. who are necessary
in order to fulfill the great commission of our
Lord Jesus. And the place that we start always
is by taking a new look at the Word. What does
the Word of God say about this whole matter of
missions? This is Labor Day weekend. We need
to talk about the labor force of the Church of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Acts chapter 13 says,
there were at Antioch, in the church that was
there, prophets and teachers. Now the way that
the subtleties of the language that Luke wrote
in work, it seems as though the prophets were
Barnabas and Simeon, who was called Niger, and
Lucius of Cyrene. And the teachers were Manaan,
who had been brought up with Herod, the Tetrarch,
and Saul. And while they were ministering to
the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set
apart for me Barnabas and Saul, for the work
to which I have called them. Then, when they
had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on
them, they sent them away. We have here in this
brief passage the genesis of the missionary movement.
The missions has been the heart of God from the
very beginning. There are elements of missions
even in the covenant with Israel of the Old Testament.
But that was an element that Israel by and large
neglected. And certainly as the church began
on the day of Pentecost there was missions in
the heart of it. The Holy Spirit will come. You
shall receive power and you shall be witnesses
unto me in all parts of the earth, Jesus said.
But years went by and not much happened. At least
beyond the immediate area of Palestine. We see
here in this text that some of the People had
left Jerusalem and had traveled northward along
the coast to the capital city of ancient Syria
called Antioch. Antioch was a cosmopolitan city.
It was a place to be. It was sort of like the
New York City of that day. It was a port city.
Although it was located a few miles from the
sea itself, it had a port city that it was connected
to. It was on a river of commerce. A half a million
people lived in the city of Antioch. So we're
not talking about some dusty Palestinian village.
We're talking about a major city in the world
of that day. And there in that city there was
a church that had begun because some people from
Jerusalem who were Christians had migrated northward.
And there had started the work. In fact, if you'll
turn back a page or so to chapter 11, you'll
see a little bit of the history of this church.
Verse 19 says, So then they that were scattered
because of the persecution that arose in connection
with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and
Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one
except to Jews alone. But there were some of
them Men of Cyprus and Cyrene who came to Antioch
and began speaking to the Greeks, also preaching
the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was
with them, and a large number who believed turned
to the Lord. So this is a thriving church. This
is not a church in a storefront somewhere with
ten or twelve people who are part of it. We're
talking about a church with hundreds, maybe thousands
of people who were a part of this fellowship.
And the news about them reached the ears of the
Church of Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas off
to Antioch. Now Barnabas was a wonderfully gifted
man. He had been born in Cyprus, well respected,
a man who loved to encourage others and already
by this time Barnabas has met Saul, the former
persecutor of the Church. and has befriended
him, has introduced him really to the apostles
and the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. And
after a time there, Saul left and went back home
to Tarsus where he has been now for several years
at this point in the book of Acts. Now it's this
same Barnabas who is there in Jerusalem who is
sent off to Antioch And it says, then when he
had come and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced
and began to encourage them all with resolute
heart to remain true to the Lord. He was a good
man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. Those
are high marks, great compliments that the Spirit
of God pays to Barnabas. We would all do well
to emulate him, wouldn't we? And considerable
numbers were brought to the Lord. And he left
for Tarsus to look for Saul. Isn't it interesting?
He said, I've got to have help. God is doing
such an amazing thing here. I've got to have
somebody to help me. Now who in my file here
could help me? He goes back through the cards.
Here's S. Saul of Tarsus. Oh yes, there was Saul.
He's been up there for several years now in Tarsus.
I'll bet he's ready for something like this.
And so he traveled a few 100 miles north again
to the city of Tarsus. When he had found him
he brought him to Antioch and it came about that
for an entire year they met with the church and
taught considerable numbers and the disciples
were first called Christians in Antioch. Now
then things began to change. Things got tough
in Jerusalem. And it says that at this time some
prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch
and one of them named Agabus stood up and began
to indicate by the Spirit that there would certainly
be great famine all over the world and this took
place in the reign of Claudius and in the proportion
that any of the disciples had means, each of
them determined to send a contribution for the
relief of the brethren living in Judea, where
Jerusalem was. And this they did, sending it
in charge of Barnabas and Saul. to the elders.
So Barnabas and Saul as a team represented the
church at Antioch, brought this sum of money
to the church in Jerusalem for the relief of
the saints living in that region. Now chapter
12 tells us about some things that happened in
Jerusalem. If you go on to the end of that chapter
it says that the word of the Lord continued to
grow to be multiplied and Barnabas and Saul returned
from Jerusalem. When they had fulfilled their
mission taking along with them John who was also
called Mark now that comes in play a little later
Here in the book of Acts But notice now they
have returned back home To the city of Antioch
and they continued their ministry there and it's
in that context that Luke goes back to Antioch
in his narrative and Begins to lay out for us
the genesis of the missionary movement In the
text that we've read this morning, we discover
several principles that I believe will outline
for us the place and the practice of missions
in the local church. Now, when we go to the book
of Acts and we look for principles like this,
we have to be a little cautious in that we aren't
exactly like society and the culture was in that
day. Things are a lot more complex these days
than they were then. It's a little bit like comparing
apples to oranges, and yet they're both fruits.
And so as we compare our situation today in missions
to what it was like then, we're in the same category,
but it's a little different. And yet we would
expect to find in a text like this some principles.
that would guide us regarding missions. And that's
what we're really looking for as we look at these
three verses. The first principle I see is this,
that missions, or sending out servants, got to
get my SOS in there. Sending out servants begins
with the heart of God. Missions is God's idea.
It did not originate with the apostles in Jerusalem.
It did not originate with Barnabas and Saul.
The elders of the church in Antioch did not go
and retreat and come up with this great idea
in their brainstorming session. Let's send out
missionaries. That is not how it happened. It
began with the heart of God. So, if we want to
model God's heart, which I hope we do, we also
want outreach to new peoples and cultures to
be an essential part of our ministry. Because
missions is not the idea of the church. Missions
is God's idea. Somebody said God only has one
Son, and He made Him a missionary. The Father
sent the Son. to be the Savior of the world.
God delights in saving lost people. It exposes
His mercy and His grace. It exalts His Son and
the work of His cross for the redemption of the
world. God delights in saving people and God
desires that the whole world know the story of
redemption. I repeat, that is not the church's
idea. It's God's idea. We see clearly in the
text that it is the Holy Spirit who is the instigator
of the action. It is the Holy Spirit of God who
gave birth to missions in this text. The Holy
Spirit said, separate for me Barnabas and Saul.
I wish Luke had included a few more details.
It would be interesting to know how the Holy
Spirit said that. Probably He said it through
one of these men, some of whom were prophets.
Now prophets here in this part of the New Testament
were fourth tellers as much as four tellers,
perhaps even more so. But the fact is that the
gift of prophecy in the context of these times
included bits of information or revelation that
God gave directly to them for the church. Now
these bits of information were always tested
by the church. Just because somebody said this
is a prophecy didn't mean the church accepted
it. The prophets compared with each other what
the messages were. and certainly they compared
it with what they knew of Jesus' teaching and
their scriptures, the Old Testament that they
had. But probably one of the prophets spoke on
behalf of the Holy Spirit, making this announcement
to the church. However it came, there was no
uncertainty or doubt about it. God was doing
something very special. My application here is
simply this, that we are never closer to the
heart of God than when we are involved in missions.
When we are reaching out to those who are without
Christ, we have said before that we see ourselves
as a mission center, as a local church. We see
ourselves as missionaries and so as we are going
about our work as people in Grace Church Roseville,
if we're really on target with our mission, we
are close to the heart of God because missions
begins with his heart. That's why I'm glad that
we have selected that imagery to talk about our
mission, our purpose as a church, because I think
it's so thoroughly biblical that we see ourselves
as a mission center or a mission station in the
world. There's a second principle that I see
in our text and that is the sending out servants
or missions follows the establishment of a church.
Now from the very beginning of a group of people
meeting together there can be and really needs
to be outreach. That's part of God's plan for
us. But it really is the established church that
becomes the seedbed of missions. One that is
established. It was in this Society of Saints,
to use the term that we used last week, in this
congregation in Antioch, in this local church,
that the Holy Spirit kicked off the work of missions.
That's not accidental. The Holy Spirit didn't
move on Saul's heart up there in Tarsus apart
from a church to be a missionary. He didn't catch
Barnabas in between Jerusalem and Antioch somewhere
and say, you're to be a missionary. He spoke
to them in the context of a local church. A local
church that is, well it's kind of hard to tell,
but maybe three to five years old. So this is
not an old church. But it is an established church.
We see that from the fact that it's organized.
By the way, any church has to be organized. It
has to be an organization. And depending upon
a lot of factors, it's either very simple or
very complex. Usually, the more simple it is,
the better it's able to get its work done. I
have a pastor friend who began to pastor a large
established church in Chicago, and there were,
I forget now, a bit of 70 -some committees in
the church. Can you imagine trying to get anything
done with 70 committees? And in the seven years
he was there, one of the great accomplishments
was to cut that down by about half. 35 committees
still boggles my mind. Some churches are very
complex, some are simple, but they all have to
be organized. And here we see five men who are
named. And these are gifted men. They have been
given the place. of leadership in the church.
They've been called of God. They've risen to
the point in their giftedness and in their maturity
that God has appointed them to be the shepherds
of the church. And so here we have an established
church. God doesn't intend for any church to
become a depot. We are rather a deployment center.
We're not a place just to come and mill around
and wait for the kingdom of God expressed to
come by. We are a deployment center. We're to
come here and then to be deployed out to the
places where God assigns us in our vocations
and our neighborhoods. We're a deployment center.
We're not a collecting point for Christians on
their way to heaven. We're a command center.
where God's servants get their orders and get
equipped and then get going on their assignments.
Now, this established church that we're talking
about is the place where the Spirit of God made
His announcement that missions must begin. These
Spirit -filled leaders were ministering to the
Lord. Now that's an interesting phrase. It's
not real easy to understand all that it means,
but the word minister means to serve the Lord
in liturgical service. The word here is the word
that we use for liturgy. And we usually think
of liturgy as... getting down on your knees at
a certain point in the service and then getting
back up again and reading certain things and
closing the books and putting them away. It's
kind of the outward thing, but that's not the
idea of the New Testament. It meant to be involved
in serving the Lord with worship, ministering
to Him in worship. And they were fasting. Now
you want to talk about something foreign to the
church. we could talk about fasting. Fasting
didn't mean that they were trying to prove themselves
to God, that they were trying to be more spiritual
than the others by refraining from food for a
time, but it simply meant that they were seeking
to really focus on spiritual things. That's the
idea in fasting. It's not some meritorious thing
that we do to impress God, to make God hear us.
That's not the idea. But it allows our hearts,
our minds, our spirits to focus on spiritual
things once your stomach stops growling. You've
got to get past that point. Then you can focus
on spiritual things. Now that's what these guys
were doing. They were ministering to God, worshipping
Him, they were fasting, they knew what their
priorities were as leaders. And it's in that
context that God spoke to them. And they in turn
led the body according to what they heard. God
uses spiritual leaders like this to make His
will known to the assembly of the saints. There
is no democratic process in the New Testament.
That seems foreign and counter to our American
thinking. But the local church described in the
New Testament is not a democracy. We do see the
local church, it would seem, lifting their hands,
as the verb says, to choose their leaders, to
be appointed their leaders. From that point on,
they submit to the leaders that God has placed
over them. It's no accident that Jesus and the
apostles used the shepherds and the sheep as
a picture of how a church is to function. not
in who's important or that there's some division
between pastors and laity, or that there is somehow
some people who are more spiritual than others,
for all on the same ground at the cross. But
in terms of functioning and getting things done,
he says, shepherds and sheep, elders and congregation.
And here it is to the elders that the Holy Spirit
speaks. But we understand the whole church to
be involved in this process. It's not just the
elders doing their thing over here. And the congregation
over here uninvolved. Because it's to the whole
church that Barnabas and Saul come back eventually
to give their missionary report after having
been gone for this year or year and a half. It's
to the whole church. And so there was some sense
that the whole church participated in this wonderful
event. But it was to the leadership that God
exposed His will. And the church participated
in that. It was an established church where missions
went forth. The third principle that I see is
that missions or sending out of servants is the
sovereign work of the Spirit. Notice the Holy
Spirit says, separate or set apart for me Barnabas
and Saul for the work to which I have called
them. Now the tense of this verb is not that
the Holy Spirit had called them at that moment
but in the past had extended that call to them
and this was part of the process of it being
carried out. Barnabas and Saul knew something
was up is the implication here. And now the Holy
Spirit confirms that he sovereignly has called
these two men to take the gospel to other parts
of the world. Who did he call? Well, notice that
he called leaders. Men with proven character.
Men with proven service for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Men who knew what it was to worship God and out
of that worship to work for God. You can never
separate those two by the way. That's why part
of our mission statement says that we worship
the Lord Jesus Christ. We are a community of
believers whose purpose is to worship the Lord
Jesus Christ and to prepare ourselves through
biblical instruction, service, and fellowship
in order to evangelize the world. Worship precedes
work. It must always be that way or our work
becomes drudgery and meaningless. It loses focus
and direction. On the other hand, if all we do
is worship and we don't work, our worship becomes
mere sentiment and it doesn't accomplish much.
And so worship and work go hand in hand. These
men understood that. The sovereign Holy Spirit
called these men to their task out of their worship
and service. Everything about their past had
prepared them for this moment. I'm not sure I
fully understand that, I'd like to study it more
in fact, as to how what Barnabas and Saul did
before this, and even what they did together
before this, prepared them for this momentous
time when the Holy Spirit would send them out.
I want you to notice that Barnabas and Saul did
not volunteer for this. The church did not select
them for this. The leaders did not take a vote
and say, well, we need to send these two. No,
as much as we can tell, it was the voice of God
sovereignly calling out these two. And I think
that there is some sense in which every person
who goes into special service for God, by that
I mean some kind of full -time service, needs
to have that call of God upon his life. If I
had gone into the pastorate because somebody
in my church had told me that I should do that
when I got big, or because my mama felt I should
be a pastor, which she didn't, early on, then
I wouldn't have lasted 20 -some years. The thing
that has kept me going is that I know God has
called me to do this, and woe is me if I don't.
And the thing that will keep you going in special
service for God is the thing that I'm talking
about, that God has called you to do this. Now
is it always a lifetime calling? It wouldn't
seem so. I see no problem with the Holy Spirit
setting aside people for periods of time in their
lives. for special service. There are some of
you that are near retirement and you're saying,
oh boy, Florida, here I come. And God may say,
do you like the tropics? Try Africa. Try South
America. Do you like tropics? Do you want warm
weather? Do you like mountains? Try Quito. Beautiful
mountains there, so I hear. It may be that God
is going to call you for this. retirement time
of your life to some sort of special service.
Some of you may be involved in being sent out
from this church in a branch church one day.
And in that sense, sent out to special service.
That's a little different category than what
I've been talking about but that's something
I want to mention. The Holy Spirit is the one
who chooses. The Holy Spirit is the one who calls.
Today we have another pattern that seems to be
more common and that is that a young person goes
off to a missions conference somewhere, comes
back and announces to the church, I've been called
to missions. And I'm not saying the Holy Spirit
can't do that or hasn't done that because I think
He has. But we as a congregation at that point
need to ask a couple of questions number one
how Have you heard the voice of God? What makes
you think this? Number two what have you been
doing in our church to prepare you to go to missions?
Have you proven your character and proven your
service here in our congregation? Because you
see that's part of it One doesn't become a missionary
by going somewhere and changing his address.
One who is called of the Holy Spirit to be a
missionary, I believe, is one who has already
proven himself in some sense in the local church
where he plugs in. It seems to me that call to
special service must always be in conjunction
with a local church. There have been one or two
people who have actually been on their way to
some mission field assignment, usually short
-term, and have almost written back to tell us,
bye, we've gone. My, how out of focus that is
with what the New Testament teaches. that any
kind of being sent out needs to be in conjunction
with the local church, with its approval, and
with a sense of accountability back to that congregation
out of which one has been called. A sense of
responsibility to the Lord, but also to His church.
One cannot separate the church from missions.
And the fourth principle that I want to point
out is that The sending out of servants or missions
is the obedient response of the church. Here
we see the leaders and I think also the congregation
cooperating with the Holy Spirit in the genesis
of missions. G. Campbell Morgan says, there is
one body and one spirit. The spirit is the life
of the body. The body is the instrument of the
spirit. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit of God.
The body is the assembly of the saints. The Spirit
works through the assembly, but the assembly
has no power to move save under the inspiration
and impulse of the Spirit. There is one body
and the body must cooperate with the Spirit in
separating its members for particular service.
And that's what this body did. It says that they
prayed. And they fasted. And then they officially
sent them apart to service. Notice what they
did. They laid their hands on them. There's the
old joke about the ordination of pastors. That
it's usually the placing of empty hands on empty
heads. What does it mean to place the hands on
the head? Well, it's a symbolic act, of course.
There is nothing that's imparted in that sense,
spiritually. But it is an important symbolic
act because it means that this body of people
officially recognize the appointment of these
two men. There is a bond between them. And this
body is now delegating these men to go out to
a specific assignment. This body is identifying
with these people. It is promising to pray for
them. I believe the people of Antioch prayed
for Barnabas and Saul. They probably got very
few missionary letters. But they prayed for these
men while they were gone and rejoiced when they
came back bringing their report. When they lay
their hands on them, they are giving them authority
from the church to serve. And it says they released
them, they let them go. It means that they released
Barnabas and Saul from whatever responsibilities
they had in the church. One of the prophets,
one of the teachers, now teamed together, they
are released from the church to go to the work
that God has called them to. And they have authority
from that church to do it as representatives
of the congregation. Great commission, by the
way. is given primarily to the church and not
just to individuals. When Jesus said, go into
all the world, He was speaking to us as a body
of people. Now again, with our autonomous culture
forcing a certain context on us, when we hear
that we think, I am to go into all the world.
And there is a sense in which we accept that
as being true. And yet when Jesus said he was
saying it to his group, and when he says, go
into all the world to us today, he's saying it
to us as a body of people. And all of us are
not going into all the world, but we all are
going through those that we lay our hands on.
We're sending them out. And so the sum of the
principles that I see here is that missions begins
with God. It takes place in the context of an
established church. It is the sovereign work
of the Holy Spirit and it is the church's obedient
response which sends them out. Now, there are
implications to what I am saying today. It means
that just because you get a prayer letter from
a friend of yours in college who says, God's
called me to do this, that somehow you ought
to feel guilty if you don't send them five bucks.
You know what I'm talking about, don't you? We
get those kinds of letters. because missions
takes place in the context of a local church.
And if you have a friend like that, what you
need to do is to write back and say, well, what
church has laid its hands on you and sent you
forth? Since we were in college together, how
has your service to the Lord been proven? What
is your character? What is your relationship
to your church? Are you coming back to give an
account to your church because you see missions
and the local church are hand in hand. You can't
separate the two. It always needs to be in conjunction,
the one with the other. George Peters says, world
evangelism is the imperative of the New Testament.
The gospel must first be proclaimed or heralded
among all nations, Mark 1320. He continues, the
paraclete to accomplish the task is the Holy
Spirit while the divinely chosen agency for the
proclamation is the Church of Jesus Christ. These
are sobering and scriptural assertions. The sending
out of servants is as natural to a church as
bearing apples would be to an apple tree. It's
part of the fruit of being an established church
under the blessing of God. And we as a church
have a responsibility for those people we send
out. Our first responsibility is to make sure
that God has called them. We're not very good
at that. We depend upon mission agencies to do
that. Mission agencies, by the way, are pretty
hard to locate in the New Testament. Now that
doesn't mean they're wrong, necessarily. Our
world today is a lot more complex than the world
was then. I think mission agencies have a role,
but folks, mission agencies are not the sending
agency. They have a role to play but the church
is the sending agency. And the church needs to
be sure that the people it supports or is going
to support are prepared to go, are called of
God, are doing their work while they're there.
And then come back to share the good news of
what God has done. And the church comes together
to hear because the church has been a part of
this. Why is it when we know a missionary is
going to speak, we find other things to do that
night? Because missions is what we're about.
We need to understand that these people who are
coming back to tell us what God has done are
sharing with us not only their lives, but our
lives. Because we're part and parcel of them.
Sending out of servants is big business. It's
hundreds of millions of dollars being invested
around the world. And it's part of our responsibility
as a church to make sure that at least those
that we're supporting are good investments. That
the money is well invested, their lives are being
well invested, our prayers are being well invested.
And when they come back to tell us, That's when
we get the bottom line, that's when we hear the
report. Ascending out of servants, on this Labor
Day weekend, let's remember the labor force.
In one very real sense, all of us are part of
that force because we're all missionaries, but
some among us, the Holy Spirit, is going to say,
separate me, these people. And we as a church
will have the joy of laying our hands on them
and releasing them to go. to the work that God
has called them to do. What a high privilege.
Let's pray. Lord Jesus, you have sent out your
servants. We are your servants. And you've sent
us to our neighborhoods, to our workplaces, to
our networks, to represent you there, to proclaim
the cross. May we be faithful missionaries. We
pray that you will see that your work in our
lives has been a good investment. Help us also
to apply what we've learned this morning in this
text to the work of missions in our church. May
we see that as your heart and know that we are
close to your heart when we are involved in this
work. of laying our hands on those servants that
you call sovereignly to special service. In Jesus'
name, amen.