“A Great Commission Church”
Acts 13:1-3
Scripture Reading
“A LOCAL CHURCH THAT IS NOT MISSION MINDED IS BY DEFINITION NOT A CHURCH! It’s a religious club that makes little or no impact on the world.”
James Capps
Aside from the church at Jerusalem the single most influential church in the NT was the church at Antioch. There where many reasons for the powerful influence that they exerted upon the work of God and I want to examine some of them this morning:
Acts 13:2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
I. The Personality of a Great Commission Church
a. The birth of the church
The church at Antioch was birthed as a result of persecution. Isn’t strange how God chooses to work His will? It reminds me of a story I read:
ILL: The story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"
One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation, the friend remarked as usual,
"This is good!"
To which the king replied, "No, this is not good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail.
About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.
As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.
As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.
"You were right," he said, "it was good that my thumb was blown
off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just
happened. "And so, I am very sorry for sending you to jail for
so long. It was bad for me to do this."
"No," his friend replied, "This is good!"
"What do you mean, ’This is good’? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?"
"If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you."
Acts 11:19 Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only.
20 And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus.
21 And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.
b. The brotherhood of the church
Acts 13:1 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
What a mixture of folks the Lord brought together there in Antioch! There was Barnabas, a Levite from the island of Cyprus, Simeon or Niger (a Roman), Lucius of Cyrene (from what is now modern Libya, Manaen who was a foster brother of Herod Antipas (He is best known today for accounts in the New Testament of his role in events that led to the executions of John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth) and Saul (of Tarsus, former persecuter and now a preacher of the Gospel)
c. The behavior of the church
Act 11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
They were called Christians here and in only two other places in the NT. The reason for this title as opposed to Galileans, or Nazarenes is not given but we can assume that it was given to them on account of their behavior. Their conduct was similar to that of Jesus who was the Christ!
II. The Practices of a Great Commission Church
a. It was service oriented
This was a church that was regularly involved in “…ministering to the Lord…” This word means that they were teaching, preaching, praying, fasting and other things that we normally associate with Christian service. These believers weren’t lazy or apathetic. They were serious about church!
b. It was Spirit led
Notice that “…as…” they were doing the aforementioned things the Holy Spirit gave direction. So often we make plans and then ask God to bless them when we ought to be patient and He will reveal His will to us!
Ephesians 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
c. It was surrendered to the Will of God
There was no hesitation on the part of the church even though it meant that they would be depriving themselves of these two great men of God, there contribution to the work there in Antioch and their fellowship. There willingness to give up these men of God for the greater good is noteworthy.
The First Billionaire
ILL: The very first person to reach the status of billionaire was a man who knew how to set goals and follow through. At the age of 23, he had become a millionaire, by the age of 50 a billionaire. Every decision, attitude, and relationship was tailored to create his personal power and wealth. But three years later at the age of 53 he became ill.
His entire body became racked with pain and he lost all the hair on his head. In complete agony, the world’s only billionaire could buy anything he wanted, but he could only digest milk and crackers. An associate wrote, "He could not sleep, would not smile and nothing in life meant anything to him." His personal, highly skilled physicians predicted he would die within a year.
That year passed agonizingly slow. As he approached death he awoke one morning with the vague remembrances of a dream. He could barely recall the dream but knew it had something to do with not being able to take any of his successes with him into the next world. The man who could control the business world suddenly realized he was not in in control of his own life. He was left with a choice.
He called his attorneys, accountants, and managers and announced that he wanted to channel his assets to hospitals, research, and mission work. On that day John D. Rockefeller established his foundation. This new direction eventually led to the discovery of penicillin, cures for current strains of malaria, tuberculosis and diphtheria. The list of discoveries resulting from his choice is enormous.
But perhaps the most amazing part of Rockefeller’s story is that the moment he began to give back a portion of all that he had earned, his body’s chemistry was altered so significantly that he got better. It looked as if he would die at 53 but he lived to be 98.
Rockefeller learned gratitude and gave back from his wealth. Doing so made him whole. It is one thing to be healed it is another to be made whole.
Brett Blair, www.eSermons.com, September 2001.
III. The Purpose of a Great Commission Church
a. The mobilization of the church
A church that is not sending disciples out into the world is not fulfilling the Great Commission.
b. The multiplication of the church
“When a congregation can produce a missionary, a writer or an evangelist they have made a contribution to the building of the kingdom of God which may outweigh the production of another church with ten times its number of members. Ask God to help our church produce multipliers not spectators!”
Paul Fritz
c. The mission of the church
AMERICANS FIRST
ILL: During the time of the Iranian Hostage Crisis, Greg Livingstone was asked to give a "missions minute" at a large evangelical church on the East Coast. Since he had only one minute to speak, he decided to ask them only two questions. The first one was, "How many of you are praying for the 52 Americans hostages being held in Iran?" 4000 hands went straight up and he said, "Praise the Lord! Now, put your hands down and let me ask you another question…How many of you are praying for the 42 million Iranians being held hostage to Islam?" four hands went up. He said, "What are you guys? Americans first and Christians second? I thought this was a Bible-believing church!"
This rebuke to the church by Livingstone served as a wake up call and helped mission-minded Christians see the need for prayer for Muslims. This mission minute was used in a dramatic way to lead to what has been called by mission experts as "the ’decade of Muslims’ in praying Christians hearts."
"More Muslims in Iran have come to Christ since 1980 than in all the previous 1,000 years combined."
SOURCE: Mission Frontiers, May - June 1994; The Commission, April 2000 p. 12; and Blessed to Be a Blessing Mission Frontiers, India, p. 13.
