“The Great Commission Mission Church”
Acts 13:1-3
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. 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.
“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 were 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 Mission 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 persecutor 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 Mission Church
a. It serves God
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 is led by the Spirit of God
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.
Can I go on a rant this morning and say something that I think needs to be said, and this may sound odd coming from a preacher but friends for far too long our churches have been operating in the flesh. The truth of the matter is that we can get people to make emotional decisions and they’ll even come to the altar to pray but only the Holy Spirit can make a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ. Only the HS can change a child of the devil into a child of God! Only the HS can transform an ain’t into a saint! Only the HS can get you to pray and read your Bible consistently. Only the HS can get you to love coming to church! Only the HS can get you to witness for Jesus. Only the HS can break the chains of addiction and bondage! Only the HS can lead you out of the darkness into the light! Only the HS can get you to love the unlovable! Only the HS can conform you to the image of Jesus Christ. Only the HS can develop the fruit of the Spirit in you like love, joy and peace! Men can’t but the HS can! Only the HS can get you to love everybody; your spouse and your family, your friends, your brothers and sisters in Christ and the lost, the least and the last of this old sin cursed world! Do you remember what Jesus said? He said, “Without me you can do nothing!” What part of nothing don’t we understand? If the HS is not in it then it’s just religion without relationship! If the HS is not in it then it’s temporal not eternal! Rant over!
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. Their willingness to give up these men of God for the greater good is noteworthy.
III. The Purpose of a Great Commission Mission Church
a. The mobilization of the mission
A church that is not sending disciples out into the world is not fulfilling the Great Commission.
ILL: James Hudson Taylor in challenging English students during his time to be involved in China mission work, used to tell of the story about Peter, his Chinese convert and disciple. On one of their sea journeys, Peter (who do not know how to swim) fell from the side of the boat. Fortunately, there were fishermen nearby, just a grab away from where Peter fell. Taylor shouted at the fishermen and asked them to help his friend, “Hey, help my friend, he is drowning.” However, the fishermen did not bother to do his call for help because they were busy loading their catch from the net to their boat. Taylor continued to yell, “Stop what you are doing, and help my friend. He is just a grab away.” But the fishermen continued on their work until the last fish was loaded to the boat. Then they jumped and got Peter out of water. They tried to revive him, but to no avail. Peter died of drowning. He could have been saved because he was just a grab away from the fishermen. Then, he asked the students/church members what they thought of about the Chinese? Some said, they are bad, evil, selfish, unconcern about the salvation of a dying man. You know how Taylor responded? He said, “I saw differently. I think the Chinese are like most Christians today, they are unconcerned about the plight of the sinners who are now just a grab away from them. The reason is that they are so busy with their work.”
b. The multiplication of the mission
“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 mandate of the mission
“You have one business on earth – to save souls.”
? John Wesley
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 Christian’s 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.
Dick Alexander, Raw
It’s a word I never liked. Raw carrots are too hard. Raw oysters are too slimy. Raw humor is too dirty. Raw skin is too painful. In fact, raw applied to anything human sounds painful, but we live in a world of raw human need. It’s all around us. Do you ever wonder how many people struggle with homosexuality in your church? How many with drugs and alcohol? How many families with incest, abuse and violence in the home? Will they find help? With the raw human need touching us every day, the church can scarcely afford business as usual?
In practice many traditional churches view their mission as holding Sunday services, satisfying the members and doing a little good here and there. Such churches are on the way out. Within a few years they will be dinosaurs, not because their doctrine is bad but because they lost their mission. Only churches serious about rescuing the hurting will survive and make a difference…AND FRIENDS – I dream of a church like that. I dream of a healing fellowship where the unchurched hundreds, even thousands; where the raw/broken/beaten/ and hurt can be healed. I dream of a place where the discouraged can be lifted up – a place where people looking for love, can find the unconditional love and grace of God.
In closing I want to tell you something that I heard several years ago; “A great commitment to the great commandment and the great commission will grow a great church! Within this statement is the key for all of us personally and corporately! It begins with:
a. A great commitment- a decision but not just a shallow emotional decision
b. The great commandment – it must begin with loving God with all our being. When we love Him we will love what He loves and hate what He hates.
c. The great commission – A church that is not involved in the great commission is just playing church
d. A great Christian/church - “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin, and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on Earth.”
? John Wesley
