The Biblical Foundation of Missions
There was a real freedom in Israel under the Mosaic Law and their institutions. In
Judges we saw the breakdown and collapse of that freedom because of moral
relativism, and how moral relativism destroys freedom. Israel never fulfilled that role as being a light to the nations
in the Old Testament, so when they reject Jesus as Messiah they are temporarily
replaced by the church during the church age and the mission given the church
is to take the gospel to the nations. We have seen the passages in the New
Testament where Jesus instructed the disciples to go and take the gospel to all
the nations and to make disciples or learners or students of all nations. The
outworking of that mandate is covered in the book of Acts.
The great commission was
given in Matthew 28:19, 20. There is a promise there that as we go forth in
carrying the gospel to all the nations in fulfilling that mandate that Jesus
Christ is always with us, and not only that but we have the promise of special
empowerment through God the Holy Spirit.
In Acts chapter one we have the time of the ascension. These are Jesus’
parting words to the disciples Just before He ascends
to heaven. Acts 1:4 NASB “Gathering them together, He commanded them
not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, ‘Which,’
{He said,} ‘you heard of from Me…’” The promise of the
Father is that He would send another Comforter. The other Comforter is God the
Holy Spirit. He refers to this again in verse 8 NASB
“but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you
shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” There
is a cause and effect relationship between the coming of the Holy Spirit, the
reception of power from the Holy Spirit, and then being witnesses.
Just like most of us the
disciples didn’t want to move outside of their comfort zone and so it was necessary
for God to step in and interfere with the situation and to put pressure on them
to get the gospel out. This, by the way, is the basic outline and structure of
the book of Acts. God had to allow persecution to develop to kick them out of Jerusalem. They were forced out of Jerusalem but they didn’t go far, they just went to the surrounding
area in Judea and Samaria. And there had to be a little more persecution until
eventually they began to scatter throughout the world and began to carry out
the great commission, but they didn’t do it willingly.
In Acts 1:8 we see the
foundation in terms of the power and ability. It is not natural, it comes from
the Holy Spirit, and under the filling ministry of the Holy Spirit the church
expands. The first place we see this witness taking place is when the Holy
Spirit came on the early church in Acts 2. The Holy Spirit came on the eleven
disciples and they speak in the languages of the Jews who had come to Jerusalem for the feast day, the day of Pentecost. They came
from all over the empire and outside the empire. They heard Peter proclaim the
gospel and the result was that 5000 were saved. Then the next expansion occurs
in Acts chapter eight.
Acts 8:1 NASB
“Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began
against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions
of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.” This is stage two in growth.
They didn’t take the gospel outside the city willingly. God had to allow this persecution
to come along to force them out into Judea and Samaria. Chapters 8-10 describe this expansion.
Acts 8:4 NASB
“Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word.”
They went out teaching and proclaiming the gospel to the Jews in Judea
and Samaria. So at this point the ministry of the church is still
primarily Jewish in character. [5] “Philip went down to the city of Samaria and {began} proclaiming Christ to them.” He is the
first example of a cross-cultural ministry. Philip is again used in a second
cross-cultural communication when he gives the gospel to the Ethiopian, beginning
in v. 26. NASB “But an angel of the Lord spoke to
Philip saying, ‘Get up and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a desert {road.}) [27] So he got up and
went; and there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of
the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to
Jerusalem to worship, [28] and he was returning and sitting in his
chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.” He is positive to the gospel but
he hasn’t heard it yet. Philip explains the gospel and the Ethiopian responds
positively and trusts Christ as his Saviour. The eunuch then
become a missionary to Ethiopia. So this is the first example that we have in
Scripture by implication of the gospel going to another culture outside of the
Jews, but the details of it are not provided.
In chapter 9 we see the
salvation of the apostle Paul, and then in chapter 10 we switch back to Peter
who has a vision to take the gospel to Cornelius who is a Gentile, and Gentiles
are for the first time officially recognised as entering into the church. The
apostles in Jerusalem by chapter 11 recognise that God is doing a work with
the gospel that goes beyond the Jews. So chapters 10 and 11 focus on the
inclusion of the Gentiles in the church. There is a summary of the gospel to
the Gentiles in 11:16-18 NASB
“‘And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used
to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy
Spirit.’ Therefore if God gave to them the same gift as {He gave}
to us also after believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could
stand in God’s way?’ When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God,
saying, ‘Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance {that
leads} to life’.” At this point we see a recognition
of the importance of the Gentiles.
In Acts 11:19 attention is turned back to what is going on with
Paul and Barnabas. “So then those who were scattered because of the persecution
that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone.
[20] But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and {began} speaking to the Greeks also, preaching
the Lord Jesus. [21] And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number
who believed turned to the Lord. [22] he news about
them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch.” When Barnabas came and saw what was happening he
knew who they needed. [25] “And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; [26] and when he had found him, he
brought him to Antioch. And for an entire year they met with the church and
taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” So it is still primarily a Jewish oriented church.
In chapter 12 there is
increased persecution on the believers in Jerusalem and the result of that persecution continues to have
them scattered out. At the end of the chapter Luke comes back to talking about
Barnabas and Paul and what is happening in Antioch. We then have the first reference to John Mark. They
decided that they need to include John Mark in what they were doing because he
seemed to show some potential for ministry. One of the things a pastor should
be sensitive to is identifying potential young men for going into full-time
professional Christian ministry.
Acts 13:2 NASB “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.’ [3] Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their
hands on them, they sent them away. [4] So, being sent out by the
Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.” On this first missionary journey they went first to
Cyprus, and then after ministry in Cyprus and seeing churches establishes there they left and
went to Perga. When they reached Perga
John Mark returned to Jerusalem but Paul and Barnabas continued.
On Paul’s second
missionary journey he went back to those original towns he had visited before—Derbe, Lystra and Iconium—and made sure the churches there were doing well
and were established. Here he picks up Timothy. So we see that it is not just a
matter of evangelising and teaching but it is also a matter of identifying and
training leadership for the future. When Paul left Iconium
and is starting to head north we read in Acts 16: NASB “They passed
through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been
forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia [Asia minor]; [7] and
after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit
of Jesus did not permit them.” God took them to Troas
where Paul had a vision of a Macedonian asking for them to come over. So the
gospel for the first time came to Europe.
Then there is Paul’s third
missionary journey where he goes back to the same areas in Turkey and then Greece. This time he spent two years in Ephesus during which time he is training young men. Along the
way he has picked up Silas and another man names Judas, Luke and Timothy. He
has an entourage with him now. When he was forbidden to take the gospel into
Asia there was a reason for it, and in Acts 19 we are told in v.10 NASB
“This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of
the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.”
One of the things we see
through church history is the expansion of the church through missionaries. It
has always been done through missionaries who were willing to leave their home
and their comfort zone and take the gospel to people who haven’t heard. Outside
of Scripture we have certain traditions that indicate the expansion of the
church in the apostolic era. By the end of the apostolic era strong church were
established in the area north of Philippi, in Macedonia, throughout Greece and
Asia-Minor, in North Africa, in Rome, Spain, and it was beginning to penetrate
into Britain.
How did the expansion take
place after the close of the New Testament canon? We are told that during the
next couple of centuries there was a strong, vibrant church in Asia-Minor, that
Ephesus had a strong centre and continued to send out
missionaries throughout Turkey. There was a strong centre in Antioch. In fact, during the first four centuries of
Christianity the church at Antioch
was one of the strongest churches in the ancient world. There was also a strong
church in Alexandria but they had a tendency to get into heresy and into
too much allegorical interpretation. There was also a strong church in Rome.