The Missional Church
What’s your name? What’s your occupation? Where are you from? What is your religion? Each of these defines you and has deep meaning. If you answered “Christian” to that last question, what does that mean? Why are you called that? In our text for today, we see where the name “Christian” first arose. And just like if you said you are “American,” meaning you are from America, if you are “Christian,” you belong to Christ.
Christ is the Greek word for Messiah. The term “Christian” was first used in a derogatory way, poking fun at these early followers of Jesus. But, they ended up wearing the name proudly, as should we.[1] “The followers of Jesus were so different from the culture around them that citizens had to develop a third classification of people—something new beyond the Jew or Gentile distinction.”[2]
I vividly remember the first moment I stood out for taking my faith seriously and a classmate looked at me and said, “Since when did you become a Jesus freak?” That’s what we see from the church at Antioch. And it should be a model for us as a church.
We’re going to work our way backwards through the text, and our four main points are the four points I introduced to you last week that will be our drive and vision for missions as we look today at this missional church of Antioch as our model.
PRAY (13:1-3)
We should have an upward focus. An upward focus leads to an outward focus. When we don’t look upward, we look inward. And when we look inward, we don’t look anywhere else. Just as a compass points north, we should align our hearts and minds towards God, for this upward focus naturally leads to an outward focus. When we fail to look upward, we unintentionally turn our gaze inward, and this internal preoccupation hinders our ability to see the world beyond. And the world beyond needs the Jesus that we have!
Worship drives mission. (2) It begins with worship and reliance on God. John Piper famously said, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t.”[3]
A missional church seeks God and follows wherever He leads. This church was full of skilled followers of Christ. They had a diverse congregation of prophets and teachers, but do you know what they did? They fasted and prayed. They sought God. They relied on God, not their own power and abilities. And when you seek God and pray, you need to be willing to listen and follow where He leads.
Then Acts 14 provides us with a pattern of prayer and fasting “in every church.” As Paul and Barnabas revisited the cities in which they had made new converts on their first missionary journey, they “appointed elders for them in every church” and “with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed” (Acts 14:23).[4]
Saul and Barnabas had spent considerable time with these brothers and sisters in Christ. They had become family. Certainly they didn’t want to send them off out of their midst. But, as we’ll see later, a healthy church is a sending church. The Holy Spirit prompted them to set apart Saul and Barnabas for the work of missions. And notice in verse 2, it is God who called Saul and Barnabas to this work. Do you seek God enough to be able to hear when He calls? Are you willing to follow wherever He calls?
We see the example of obedient Antioch played out in the next two points.
GIVE (11:27-29)
Where a need arose, the church met the need. The famine that was prophesied here did end up happening, and it “left its echo in other parts of early Christian writing, not least when Paul is talking about ‘the present distress’ in 1 Corinthians 7:26. At once, the Christians in Antioch do not say to themselves, ‘How shall we survive?’, but ‘How can we help those who will be in a worse position than ourselves?’”[5] And notice how they give: “every one according to his ability” (vs. 29). They also gave immediately as the need arose. Many have said over the years, “The church is all about money! All they want is my money!” No, the church is about mission. And mission often requires money.
Your giving goes to missions. It goes to missions around the world and the mission here in Portland. On top of what you already give, we will periodically have times of special giving to missions (Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong). Just recently we were approached by one of our missionaries with an immediate need…for food distribution just like this text…and you know what we did? We gave…because you gave. If a church is asking to give without going, it’s not a missional church though. The most foundational aspect of the mission Jesus has called us to is to go.
GO (11:19-26)
The Christians were scattered to Antioch because of the persecution that arose over Stephen. Tertullian famously said something along the lines of, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” I like to think of it like when you blow and dandelion. It causes those seeds to spread and take root where they land. That’s what happened here. And one of the places the gospel landed was Antioch.
Antioch was the third largest city in the Greco-Roman world, behind Rome and Alexandria. It was incredibly diverse, both in its ethnic makeup and in its religious pluralism. Some called Antioch “abode of the gods” since several Greek deities were worshiped there.[6] A sinful lifestyle that so often accompanied Greek deity worship was prevalent as well. This was the perfect place for a church to land. John Stott says, “No more appropriate place could be imagined, either as the venue for the first international church, or as the springboard for the worldwide Christian mission.”[7]
These Christians were going, and it caused the gospel to take root. Notice the words that denote their evangelism. They were “speaking the word” (19), “preaching the Lord Jesus” (20). Is the name of Jesus on your lips? That is the sign of a missional Christian. And a missional church is made up of missional Christians.
The church at Antioch is the perfect model for us as a church. If we care anything about the gospel, we must be and become a sending church.
SEND (11:22, 25-26; 13:2-3)
Our God is a sending God. He sent his best into the world to save us. Jesus is referred to as “sent” forty-four times in the New Testament. After his resurrection, Jesus passed his identity on to his disciples: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). To follow Jesus is to be sent.[8] “Jesus’ measure of the church is not seating capacity, but sending capacity.” (J.D. Greear in Gaining by Losing).
God calls. The church affirms, equips, and sends.
“Missionaries are directed by the Spirit and are sent and supported by the church.”[9] I want you to notice all of the sending in this text, and the affirmation and equipping that naturally accompanies it.
The church in Jerusalem sent Barnabas. (22)
Barnabas “saw the grace of God.” I think he saw it more than just God’s work in Antioch. He saw it in Saul. We later see he will see it in Mark. I’m certain it’s because he also saw it in himself.
“He could easily have seen the situation in a different light. These people were new, untaught Christians. They still carried the mire of Antioch with them. Some of them had miles to go in their language and relationships and ethics. But Barnabas ‘saw the grace of God.’”[10]
Craig Keener says it simply: “Barnabas trusts God’s work in people (9:27; 15:37-39).”[11]
Barnabas sent Saul. (25-26) He trusted God was working in Saul’s life in the 8-10 year time period from the last time we heard from him. A lot had happened during that time for Saul as he faithfully followed Jesus. He was now a well-seasoned servant of Christ. Some commentators believe that many events we hear about Paul in his later letters that can’t be attributed to certain times in his missionary journeys occurred during this period.
“Certainly Paul continued preaching during that time. Perhaps this is when he received the five sets of thirty-nine stripes at the hands of synagogue officials and underwent other persecutions (see 2 Cor 11:23-27). Probably this is when he experienced the loss of all things (Phil 3:8) and was disinherited by his family. Perhaps the ecstatic experience of being caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor 12:1-4) happened during those years as well.”[12]
Then finally we see the church at Antioch send Saul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. (13:3) And the world has never been the same.
What kind of church will you help build?
Will it be a Missional Church, driven by an upward focus, grounded in worship, ready to give selflessly, unafraid to go where the Gospel is needed most, and always willing to send Christians into the world? This is the challenge before us, and it is a challenge worth embracing as we strive to be a church that echoes the very mission of Jesus Himself. And it starts with each one of us right now.
[1] 1 Peter 4:16 – “If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.”
[2] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Acts, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville: B&H, 2017), 163.
[3] John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad! (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010), 15.
[4] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/why-do-christians-fast
[5] N.T. Wright, Acts for Everyone: Part 1 (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 180.
[6] Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Acts, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville: B&H, 2017), 156.
[7] John Stott, The Message of Acts (Leicester, England: IVP, 1990), 203.
[8] https://jdgreear.com/we-judge-our-success-by-sending-capacity-not-seating-capacity
[9] Merida, Exalting Jesus in Acts, 166.
[10] R. Kent Hughes, Acts, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1996), 160.
[11] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 354.
[12] Hughes, Acts, 161.
