MSPG 7 - Missions in the New Testament

I don't pretend to be a missions expert, but the church has to start somewhere. The Lord has been teaching me more and more about missions since 2015, and I've spent a lot of time in the last two years exploring this important aspect of the church's life.

Since Elynne and I are planning to migrate soon to study at TMS, I don't have much time to share what I've been learning with others. So in the next five months, January to May, I'm holding a weekly "Missions Study & Prayer Group" (MSPG) to equip them to help in the church's developing missions program.

For overviews and links to all the lessons in this ongoing series, click here.

INTRODUCTION

When we talk about “missions” in the New Testament, it’s worth looking at the Lord Jesus Christ’s ministry as background, but the study of missions proper really coincides with the Church Age. It starts with Great Commission passages and ends with Revelation 3.

We’ve already discussed the Great Commission passages. Tonight, we’re going to focus on:

1. The ministry of the Apostle Paul
2. Examples of New Testament churches contributing to missions

I — THE APOSTLE PAUL

Paul was an apostle, but he was also a missionary of the church in Antioch. He was a missionary commissioned by, supported by, and in touch with, a regular local church.

Acts 13:2 – “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.””

Paul’s work represented not only the work of an apostle, but the work of the church. It represented the church’s obedience to the Great Commission. So we cannot say, “Oh, Paul did what he did as an apostle, so that doesn’t mean we need to have the same priorities as he did. We aren’t obligated, like he was, to bring the gospel to other nations.” We cannot say that because he was a missionary, and for the most part, he just did what any other missionary sent by any other church was called to do. He just did it better and more powerfully and with more authority than anyone else!

Paul doesn’t belong in a glass case, like some relic from ancient times. We go to museums to admire relics, but we know they have no effect on how we live today. That shouldn’t be our attitude toward Paul. Paul’s life and missionary zeal isn’t an admirable remnant of the Apostolic Period, now long gone. No! His example has direct bearing upon the church today! It reminds us, compels us, obligates us to make world evangelization our mission!

PAUL’S MISSION DEFINED

Paul had received Christ’s commission to proclaim Christ “before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel” (Acts 9:15). That’s not very specific. When Paul begins to preach, it’s to Jews. In Damascus, we are only told that he preached in the synagogues (9:20). When he transferred to Jerusalem—his first visit—he did the same thing (9:28–29). Then, for his own safety, he had to transfer again to Tarsus, the city where he was born (9:30). It’s safe to assume that he did the same thing there as in Damascus and Jerusalem: he preached to the Jews.

In the meantime, the Lord was at work, expanding the horizons of the apostles in Jerusalem. Through Peter’s experience with Cornelius, the church learned beyond a shadow of a doubt that God intended the Gospel for Gentiles (Acts 10–11).

Simultaneous, a third thing was happening. Back in 8:1–3, we read about how persecution of Christians in Jerusalem escalated after the stoning of Stephen. As a result, many of the believers were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Then we read in 11:19–21 that some of those believers went to Antioch and preached the Gospel, and the Antiochan church was founded. This was the very first church with a mixed congregation of Jews and Gentiles. Then God sovereignly arranged for Barnabas to take Saul from Tarsus to Antioch. This would have been Paul’s first experience of ministry to a large number of Gentile believers (11:25–26).

Paul’s mission was clarified further with his second visit to Jerusalem, as reported in both Acts 11:27–30 and Galatians 2:1–10. Galatians 2:1–10 is often understood as referring to the time of the Jerusalem Council. But this is wrong. We won’t get into the chronology at this time, but if you want to read more about it, you can read chapters 5 and 6 of Robert Reymond’s book, Paul: Missionary Theologian. Anyway, Paul’s second visit was important because this was when he and the other apostles were able to formally agree on a ‘division of labor’.

Galatians 2:9 — “and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”

From then on, it was clear to Paul that his ministry was to focus on the evangelization of the Gentiles.

After being commissioned by the church in Antioch (13:1–3), Paul set out on his first missionary journey. At Cyprus, he first preached, as was his custom, in the synagogue. But God sovereignly arranged for the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, to ask Paul to share God’s word with him (13:7). This must have opened Paul’s mind further to the possibility to reaching out to the Gentiles directly without having to go through the synagogue. From then on, Paul would have two loci of ministry: the synagogue and the “marketplace”. His ministry at Pisidian Antioch was also important, because after being rejected by the Jews, Paul declared, “since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles” (13:46).

PAUL’S PIONEERING WORK

In Romans 15:20, Paul said, “I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man’s foundation”. We see this worked out in his missionary journeys.
All of the places Paul visited on his first missionary journey—Cyprus, Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe—were all unreached places.

PAUL’S FOLLOW-UP WORK

But even though Paul’s aspiration was to reach the unreached, he didn’t shy away from follow-up.

Acts 14:21–23 — “21 After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, 22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” 23 When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

Note that the people at Lystra had tried to kill Paul. And yet, just a short time after, Paul was returning to the city to encourage the few who had become believers. Paul was willing to die for follow-up!

Notice also the elements in Paul’s follow-up ministry:

• Strengthening (v. 22)
• Preparation for suffering (v. 22)
• Appointing Elders (v. 23)

There is one more thing Paul did that isn’t mentioned here, and it is a continuing correspondence through representatives and letters. Every letter Paul wrote (except for Romans) had to do with follow-up, and the letter make up about ¼ of the New Testament.

II — THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCHES

THE ANTIOCHANS: A SENDING CHURCH

We’ve already mentioned how the church at Antioch was founded, and that it was the first mixed church, made up of Jews and Gentiles.

God blessed that church tremendously. The trailblazing missionaries, whose names we will know only in heaven, saw a large number of people turn to the Lord (v. 21). Then Barnabas came and considerable numbers were brought to the Lord (v. 24). They were growing so fast that Barnabas had to get Paul to help him there, and the two stayed there for an entire year (v. 26)!

I believe God so blessed the Antiochan church because He was making a point. God said that the gospel was for all the nations, and the Antioch church added an exclamation point to that statement!
The Antiochan church was the first church produced by cross-cultural missions. The Great Commission was foundational to their very identity as a church! No wonder, then that they became the first missionary-sending church.

In Acts 13, we see the church at Antioch worshiping, fasting, and praying, and in the context of that local church with its leaders, the Spirit sets apart Paul and Barnabas as missionaries. The church prays over them and sends them out, supporting them as they go. The Antioch church was God’s means of commissioning Paul and Barnabas as missionaries. This included supporting them.
Paul returned to Antioch twice, maybe more, to encourage that church.

THE EPHESIANS: A DEFENDING CHURCH

The Ephesian church was an exceptional church, but not always in a good way. Like the Corinthians, they were incredibly gifted, but also had a lot of problems.

The Ephesian church was one of the leading churches in Asia during Paul’s time. It was a tremendously blessed church. It was probably founded by Priscilla and Aquila. Paul spent two to three years strengthening the church—the longest recorded ministry he had towards any church! (Acts 19:10) At this time, many were converted from occult practices and thoroughly devoted themselves to the Lord (19:19-20). Later, when Paul was hurrying to Jerusalem and couldn’t pass by Ephesus on the way, he still took the time to summon the Ephesian elders to Miletus so he could give them some final exhortations (20:28-31).

After that, the church underwent a crisis, which we can read about in Paul’s letters to Timothy. Through Timothy’s faithful ministry, the Lord restored the church to health. Eventually the Ephesian church became a model church.

Revelation 2:2–3 — “2 ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary.”

They were devoted to the Scriptures, zealous for the truth, intolerant of false teaching, able to endure persecution, and thoroughly Christ-centered in their theology!

Of course, we know that they had a problem, because they lost their first love (2:4). But imagine what the Ephesian church was like in its heyday, before its love grew cold. They were devoted to truth, hard-working, with a high threshold for suffering. And they invested all of those gifts into defending the Gospel against false teachers.

True, the New Testament mentions nothing about the Ephesians sending people out to preach in other places. But I included them in this list because, at their best, they represent a church that contends valiantly for the Gospel, which is the foundation for missions.

THE PHILIPPIANS: A PARTNERING CHURCH

Paul planted the church at Philippi during his Second Missionary Journey, around 49 CE. He wrote the Letter to the Philippians more than ten years later, in 61/62 CE.

What we see is that instead of waning over time, their relationship grew stronger! The Philippians faithfully partnered with Paul. We see this, for example, through their financial support. They sent Paul money while he was in Thessalonica, in fact, several times (Php 4:15-16). They did so again at Corinth (2 Cor 11:7-9). They sent relief funds to the Jerusalem church, even though they themselves were poor and had financial needs (2 Cor 8:1-5). Again, when Paul was in Rome awaiting trial before Caesar, the Philippians sent Paul gifts through Epaphroditus (Php 4:18). This is the kind of church the Philippians were!

The beauty of the financial giving that the Philippians did was that it took place within a larger relational context. Yet on a practical level it blessed and encouraged Paul and allowed him to more easily focus on the work at hand.

No wonder he was full of joy and thanksgiving toward them. He commended them for their participation in the gospel from the first day until now (Php 1:5), for being partakers of grace with him in his imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel (v. 7).

THE THESSALONIANS: A TESTIFYING CHURCH

Compared to the Philippians, the church at Thessalonica was a very young, very immature church.
When Paul writes to them, they were less than two years old! Their leadership wasn’t fully established, there were aspects of their character they needed to work on, and they had a some wrong ideas that needed correction.

And yet Paul gushes over this church. His heart was so full of thanksgiving and joy over these believers.  They were persecuted but were unflinching. They overflowed in good deeds. They were motivated by faith and love. And that directed them in two ways.

First, they looked upward from serving idols to serving God.

1 Thesssalonians 1:9 – “For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve [the] living and true God”

Secondly, they looked outward to the lost world that needed Christ.

1 Thessalonians 1:8 -- “For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything.”

That’s why Paul could tell them confidently, “our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (v. 5).