Christ’s Blueprint for His Church: The Church is to Do Mission Work

Christ’s Blueprint for His Church
Studies in the Book of Acts
“Do Mission Work”
Acts 13:1-3

INTRODUCTION:
The first thing I need to do is apologize - apologize to the whole congregation. Several months ago, I encouraged everyone to buy a book called Is Christianity Logical? I encouraged you to buy a copy and read it and then give it to a friend. My mistake was that I had not read it before I encouraged you to buy it. I advertised it to you as I saw it advertised. Unfortunately, it was not the type of book I thought it was. I read it after our congregation had already bought 100 copies of it. But, again, it was not what I thought it was and I apologize.

When Rachel started reading it, she said, “Have you read this book?” If I had read it first, I would not have recommended it the way I did. However, after reading the book, there was a book advertised in the back of the book, Reasons to Believe that is the type of book that I wanted to use for evangelism. Reasons to Believe is the book I thought Is Christianity Logical? was. This second book is written on a much more simple level of reading, for a broader audience, and can be used for evangelism. I will not again recommend a book before I have read it myself, regardless of the recommendation by someone else.

In fact, it is this book that we are mailing out here in Swartz Creek. I’ve been talking about this evangelism mail out since June. There have been a few speed bumps in the road, primarily because I have not done this before, so I’m learning as I go. However, we are getting closer; I’ve not dropped the effort. I’ll let you know when we mail these out - to 675 homes here in Swartz Creek but in the meantime, pray for the effort. Pray that our material will land in the lands of people who want to know more about Christ, who want to consider the Gospel message, with whom we can open up God’s word and discuss God’s grace.

Why are we doing this? Because God wants us to do it. Why would we spend $3,500 to send a book and a DVD into the homes of 675 people when our first thought is that most of that material will go to waste? Why do we do it? Because if I was the only one who read the book or watched the DVD and it led me to obey the gospel of Christ and avoid eternity in hell, I would think that $3,500 was wisely spent - that it was well worth the effort.

“What will it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? The Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels and He will repay every man according to His deeds” (Matt. 16:26-27). There is not a better use we can make of our contributions than to spend it on efforts to take the gospel of God’s grace into the homes of our neighbors. Sometimes, as I walk through Kroger or Meijer, I ask myself if the people looking at produce beside me would be interested in studying the gospel. I don’t know how they would react if I simply asked them right then and there - my thought is that they would have a negative reaction because they are there to shop.

But, if I could put the gospel into their hands in their own home and let them study the message in the privacy of their own home without feeling any pressure from a stranger, then perhaps the Lord will open their heart and they will be led to obey the gospel and become a member of Christ’s church…

The first Sunday of every month, we are studying Christ’s pattern for His church in the book of Acts. Acts records the first 30 years of church history after Jesus went back to heaven. It is a history of Christians’ efforts, under the guidance of the apostles who were themselves under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, to share the gospel of Christ with others, both Jews and non-Jews.

Here is what we have seen so far…

God wants us to get our message from His apostles inspired by His Spirit - the gospel that was first revealed in Jerusalem (Acts 1).
God wants us to preach the gospel, its broad outline revealed by the apostle Peter (Acts 2).
God wants us to share with others, those who are in need (Acts 4).
God wants us to live faithfully to His expectations (Acts 5).
God also wants us to fellowship with one another (Acts 6).
God wants us to know history - His history - His story of His interactions with His people - biblical history (Acts 7).
Jesus wants us to answer that question: “What must I do to be saved?” (Acts 8)
God wants all men and women to be saved; that is, God wants the church of Christ, to be a universal body (Acts 10).
Last month, we noted that not only does God make all nations equal in His eyes through Jesus Christ, He also makes both genders equal in His eyes through Jesus Christ (Acts 21).

Most of these points relate in one way or another to the idea of evangelism - sharing the gospel of Christ. Family, you and I have been saved to save - to be God’s instruments to take the Gospel message into the hearts and lives of others.

GOD NEEDS YOU TO SHARE THE GOSPEL:
“God gave His best, even His only begotten Son, in order to redeem a lost world. The most darkened and degraded souls need the best thinking” (Adoniram Judson).

Charles Spurgeon said, “If God has called you to be a missionary, don’t stoop to being a king.”

Jesus told us - His disciples - “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19).

Let us take a look at Acts 16:8-10…

It is God’s will that Christians be the ones - not angels, not the Holy Spirit, not God the Father, but Christians - who share the gospel with others. In the words of Paul from 2 Corinthians 4:7, God has placed this treasure - the gospel of Jesus Christ - in “earthen vessels” - in humans.

“Evangelism is to Christianity what veins are to our bodies. You can cut Christianity anywhere and it’ll bleed evangelism. Evangelism is vascular, it’s our business. Talk about majoring on evangelism, you might as well talk about a doctor majoring on healing. That’s our business” (Vance Havner).

THE WORLD NEEDS YOU TO SHARE THE GOSPEL:
There are around 190 countries the world - the UN has 192 the last I checked. Every country needs the gospel; every person in every country needs the gospel.

Romania has a population of about 19.64 million; that number is down considerably from the time we lived there when the population was a little over 22 million. There are so many Romanians who are leaving the country in order to find a better life somewhere else.

There are eighteen congregations of the church of Christ in Romania. Eighteen. We lived and continue to work in Iasi, Romania, a city whose population is 789,977 as of 2017, which makes it the second largest city in Romania, behind the capital Bucharest (population of 1.836 million). My heart aches for the people in Iasi, Romania. Look at the map and notice how far it is from the church of Christ in Iasi to the closest congregation of Christians. How many people live in those towns and villages? How many of those people would be willing to consider Christianity in its purest form? Just by following the pattern of the NT?

Where do you like to fish best? Where thousands of people are stepping all over each other with often times the same bait in a lake known to have been heavily fished day after day for decades? Where fish are gorged with bait, and most of them swim wearily or disdainfully away as bait aplenty splashes near them from hordes of fishermen jockeying desparately for position and stumbling all over one another?

Or would you prefer to fish where the terrain may be diffcult, danger may lurk in the vicinity, the lake is attainable only after sacrifice and hardship, but, oh the hungry fish!?

Multitudes fight and starve for even one morsel of food, and many have never so much as seen one time the bait we have to offer. If you prefer the latter fishing scene, that is missions.

When I think of modern Romania, I think of the city of Athens, Greece in the time of the apostle Paul. Paul did not have much success in Athens; he did convert a few people - Acts 17:32-34. There are two people who are specifically mentioned as having become Christians - Dionysius and Damaris but there were others. What could a larger, stronger church of Christ done for that small group in Athens? They could have sent Christians to encourage them and strengthen their spirits - to let them know they are not alone in their effort to share the gospel with others. They could have provided financial resources to make the gospel available to be shared throughout the city of Athens. Especially, they could have prayed that the Christians would stay strong and faithful and be led by God to Athenians who were open to the gospel message.

THE WORLD NEEDS CLARITY:
A preacher was holding a gospel meeting in this small town and was visiting in a store. The preacher asked the cashier, “Are you a member of the Christian family?” The cashier said, “No, but the Christian family lives two miles down the road, in the white house on the left.”

The preacher said, “Oh, let me try again. Are you lost?”

The cashier responded, “No. I’ve lived in this town for over thirty years now. I know right where I am.”

The preacher tried again, “Let me put it this way. Are you ready for the judgment day?”

The cashier asked, “When will it be?”

The preacher responded, “It could be today or it could be tomorrow!”

The cashier answered, “Well, when you know exactly, be sure to let me know. My wife will probably want to go both days.”

There is a clear lack of clarity in the world regarding religion and what God expects out of man. According to worldchristiandatabase.org, there are 9,000 denominations throughout the world. There is a lack of clarity in what God expects out of man.

According to adherents.com, there are 2.1 billion people in the world who claim to follow Jesus Christ. 1.5 billion Muslims. 1.1 billion agnostics or atheists. 900 million Hindus. 394 million Chinese traditional religionists. 376 million Buddhists. 23 million Sikhs. 14 million Jews. Millions and millions of other various religions. There is a clear lack of clarity about what God expects of man through Jesus Christ.

The internet has only exacerbated the problem as it has made competing claims to our highest devotion all the more numerous. So when someone looks into religion, they simply don’t know what to think about all this confusion.

For example, when we lived in Romania, we lived there 10 years after Communism ended and missionaries from numerous religions entered the country in hordes. We had the opportunity to show the Visualized Bible Study Series filmstrips, translated into Romanian, to a Pentecostal church in the county of Vaslui south of Iasi where we lived - it was a 2 hour car ride. I went down there for 6 weeks in a row. When we studied what the Bible teaches about salvation and, specifically baptism, the preacher of that little church said to me: “I was baptized into the Orthodox church as a baby. When Communism ended, I was baptized into [such and such - he named a denomination but I can’t remember which one it was] denomination. Then I was baptized into [such and such] denomination and then I have been baptized into the Pentecostal church. Are you telling me I need to be baptized a fourth time?”

Do you hear the confusion in that man’s voice? His biggest problem… Was that he was listening to what man was telling him to do instead of engaging in a systematic study of the Bible, the NT, to see what Jesus was telling him to do. One denominational preacher told him: “Do this” and he did it. Another said, “Do that” and he did it. He was sincerely doing everything that man was telling him to do instead of ignoring what man was saying and just do what Jesus told him to do, for the reason Jesus said to do it, and in the way Jesus said to do it.

So many people are like that. They are just doing what man tells them to do instead of looking simply and only at what the NT teaches they need to do.

The world needs clarity. Look at Acts 18:17-20. The city of Ephesus was as confused religiously as that man from Vaslui. When the apostle Paul brought the pure NT gospel to them, they responded. Those with honest hearts, looking for Truth, with open minds, left the religions of man, burned their false religious books, repenting of their sins, and became Christians according to the NT pattern. But notice verse 20: “the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.”

If we believe that we must follow the NT pattern, then we need to share that message with those who are lost. I intend to do that in Romania. As long as God gives me life and breath, I plan to work in Romania. I believe there is more work to be done in other parts of the world. I’m not trying to make Romania SC’s exclusive mission work. I’m simply saying that my focus is Romania. When you men mention to me that you are in your 70s, I ask myself, will I have the health when I am 70 to continue doing work in Romania?

I want to do it that long; I need to do it that long. I’ve got 22 years left before I turn 70, which means I’m running out of time. I’ve got to do all I can to share the gospel with those who are lost in Romania. I know their language. I can talk to them in their language, in the language of their hearts, in the language in which they dream, in the language in which they talk to God. And that’s where my extra dollars wlll go. I do not know what type of inheritance I will leave for Jewell and Ana but if I spend every extra dollar I have trying to evangelize in Romania and leave Jewell and Ana with nothing more than happy memories, I believe they will understand.

YOU CAN DO MISSION WORK:
Let’s go back to Acts 13:1-3… What did the church of Christ in Antioch do to be a part of the mission work in which Paul and Barnabas were doing? According to 13:3, they fasted and prayed. That was how the church in Antioch joined in the mission work of Paul and Barnabas. Some people can go to the mission field. Some can go long term - we need long term missionaries. Some can go short term. There is a need for both. But everyone can pray. Everyone can pray.

Back in Acts 11:27-30, when there was a famine in the land of Judea, the church of Christ took up a collection and sent it to the church in Jerusalem, specifically for famine relief but that was a form of mission work. So, we can give. It takes money to share the gospel. It takes money to support long-term missionaries; Rachel and I were well-supported, honorably supported on the mission field by our supporters. The type of financial support we received showed us that our supporters believed being a missionary was an honorable job. If we send nickles and dimes to missionaries, it suggests that our heart really isn’t in it. We’re just doing it to check off a list. But if we send thousands, tens of thousands, of dollars to the mission field, it shows that we believe it is serious and there is no better way to support the work of Christ than to spend His money doing His work.

Mission work is going to be taking up a larger and larger share of our church budget. That’s the desire of the deacons, Doug Maguffee who is over our mission work, and it’s the desire of the eldership. We will put our money where our mouth is.

You can do mission work by supporting the efforts of the congregation. Take a look at 3 John 5-8. This text is referring to mission work - financially supporting missionaries who are traveling through the area, sharing the gospel of Christ wherever they go.

Swartz Creek is supporting Michael and Angela Tanksley as Michael studies to be a preacher at the Southeast Institute of Biblical Studies in Knoxville, TN. The elders and Doug met with Michael back in July when he was hear to teach in our VBS. We wanted to know if Michael would be interested in moving back to Michigan and, perhaps, being a missionary in northern MI, working under the oversight of the elders at SC. If not Michael, then we will look for someone else.

SC has long supported Jack Farber and his work in Latin American countries, the School of the Americas, the Children’s Home of Americas, and Schultz Lewis children’s home.

SC is also supporting the first missionary from churches of Christ in the country of Mongolia - Zane Copeland. You can follow his work on his facebook page:

If you think I’m talking about Romania too much, please forgive me but it is where my heart is, as far as mission work is concerned. My mission team co-worker who preaches in TX is going to Romania this fall. His plan is to get some correspondence courses mailed out in Iasi this fall or winter. We did that when we lived in Iasi 15 years ago and we baptized 5-6 people from that effort. I plan to make a trip over there in March of next year, taking a few FHU students with me and maybe a few others. We will teach and encourage the Christians there in Iasi. And, we pray, we will follow up with some studies from those corresondence course students this winter.

We might try to make another trip over in the summer, teaching English using the Bible as the textbook, with material produced by the World English Instittue. That is a method that: #1. Allows American Christians to do mission work without knowing the Romanian language; #2. It meets a need that many Romanians have to learn English but allows us to teach them God’s word in the process. It has had success in other parts of Romania for many, many years.

I use some of my free time to post Bible studies on a Romanian website called (in English): study the Bible - studiatibiblia.ro. Why? Because the world needs the message of Christ.

Our emphasis as a church needs to be on evangelism and mission work. The Romanian word for “children” (copii) is similar to the word for “photocopies” (copii). The difference is where you put the emphasis. When we lived in Romania, we frequently had to make copies of documents for legal purposes and sometimes we had to use the little shops on the sidewalk that made photocopies. One time, I was out doing some work and needed to make some photocopies, so I stepped into this little shop that had “Xerox” on the door. In my best Romanian, I asked, “Do you make children here?” I emphasized the wrong syllable. Swartz Creek needs to emphasize the right thing - sharing the gospel with others.

Take home message: I believe you are just as passionate about mission work as I am. Christ needs us to be passionate about mission work. His Gospel needs to be shared with the lost, here in SC, in MI, and around the world.