The Making of Missionaries

Today, we begin the 8th chapter of Acts (sermon #25). This book is a very important book for us to look through to show us what church should look like. In the 7 chapters leading up to our passage today, we have seen a few things.

Jesus gives them the mission (Acts 1:8)

Ascension of Jesus

Peter’s sermon at Pentecost (3,000 people saved)

learned about the closeness of the church and it’s priorities

lame beggar get healed

Peter and John go before the council and stand their ground on preaching about Jesus

Ananias and Sapphira lie to the Holy Spirit and die because of it

problems in the church come up and get solved by the structure of the church being modified (deacons)

Stephen preach and get killed

And that is where we are today. Today, our passage gives us the instruction of the people of the church being missionaries. I saw a statistic this week from missiologist Alan Roxburgh. If you were born between...

1925 -1940 there is a 60% chance that you are in a church today

1946 -1964 there is a 40% chance

1965 -1983 there is a 20% chance

After 1984 there is a 10% chance you are in a church today

What does this mean for us as a church? Does this mean that we change everything that we are to attract the unchurched? I do not think this is the answer. Because our message will never change. And if we try to make church a more “comfortable” place for unbelievers, it doesn’t matter what kind of music or lights or atmosphere we have here, they will be completely uncomfortable when the gospel is being preached. This is not what we need to do.

What we need to do is change our mentality of what a missionary is. In our passage today, we see God use circumstances around the church to make the entire church missionaries. We need to recapture the idea that we as a church are not called to only fund or send missionaries out. But we are called to be missionaries ourselves. The church IS the missionary. And we must live like intentional missionaries wherever we are.

Acts 8:1–8 ESV

1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison. 4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city.

Today, I want us to focus on two aspects in this passage that I pray will encourage us as all believers are called to be missionaries for Jesus Christ.

Pray

The Mission is God’s Mission

Acts 8:1 ESV

1 And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

The very beginning of verse one is used as a transition. Taking us from Stephen being killed to the church being scattered. They are scattered because of all of the persecution that is coming to the church in Jerusalem. Even though we are in Chapter 8, I believe this is a good time for us to see how the words of Jesus are playing out in the life of the church. In Acts 1:8 we are told “8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”” There is a progression that Jesus gives them. First Jerusalem, then Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. The first 7 chapters of Acts have been the church ministering in Jerusalem. Here in chapter 8, we see a transition. They are going to begin ministering in Judea and Samaria. Later on in Acts, we see it go even further when the gospel spreads beyond Judea and Samaria. We are seeing the words of Jesus being fulfilled, and it is happening because of persecution against the church.

The persecution was more than likely at an all time high. Stephen really stirred up the pot with the high priest and it cause the people to murder him. This was a huge loss to the Jerusalem church. Stephen was a very dedicated man who was apparently a wonderful bible teacher that drew crowds. This loss, though, would be the catalyst for the gospel to spread even further. Stephen was greatly loved by the church and they mourned over his death.

Acts 8:2–3 ESV

2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

The people of the church were being abducted and put in prison by the orders of this man named Saul. I want to take a moment to speak about Saul. Saul is a very important figure in the New Testament. At this point in scripture, we see Saul killing and what Luke says in this verse, “ravaging the church”. Saul had such hostility towards the message of Jesus that he was breaking into Christians houses and dragging them away to lock them up. But God steps in. God takes this horrible sinner and in Chapter 9 of Acts saves him. Saul changes his name to Paul and becomes the most influential missionaries in all of scripture. This story of Saul becoming Paul is a beautiful picture that we are never too far from God to experience salvation. Saul was the worst of the worst and becomes Paul who is considered one of the greatest followers of Jesus to have ever lived.

The church in the book of Acts had a mission. To be the witnesses of Jesus to those who do not know him. They did this by scattering. It wasn’t all about one church. If Jesus only came to save one church or be worshiped by one church, the bible would end at Acts 7. But it doesn’t. God’s mission is still before us and God’s mission has never changed for us as followers of Jesus. The same mission that we see the church in Acts submitting to is the same mission that we have today. What is this mission? Acts 1:8 “8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”” We are to be witnesses of Jesus everywhere. This means in places like Africa, South America, Australia, and even India. One of the great missionaries was to India and was named William Carey.

Carey grew up very poor but had a great thirst for education. So much so that he became very talented in learning new languages in very short periods of time. He felt led to use this ability to reach people for Jesus Christ. Despite people trying to stop him, he started a missionary society that would take him to India.

Now you may think that this is a very good and fruitful story. But what happened in the early years was not uplifting to Carey. Carey had taken his family and a doctor with him. He had raised financial support and when he arrived, the doctor stole the money and ran. Early on, Carey lost his two children to illness. This led to Carey’s wife becoming very depressed. In his first 7 years as a missionary to India, Carey only baptized 1 convert.

You may think that William Carey failed as a missionary, but that would be far from true. During his time in India, he translated the New Testament into 24 native Indian languages. William Carey laid the foundation for what foreign missions would look like even today.

When we look at this verse, we see the church scatter. Today, we are here gathered. But, when we walk out of these doors, we will no longer be gathered. Does this mean that we are not the church anymore until we come together again next week? No. The church is not the building and the church actually isn’t even us being in the same room. Even when we are scattered around our work places, the stores that we go to, the events that we attend, we are still the church. And when we are scattered is when the mission is most important. We must remember the mission though.

What is the mission? The mission is not telling people that Jesus loves them, it is not inviting people to church, it is not growing our church to full capacity. These are good things, but this is not the mission of the church. The mission is not having our favorite kind of music at church, it is not having colorful lights and fog machines, it is not having a certain attendance percentage at church. What the mission of the church is is being faithful believers in sharing the gospel when we have the opportunity. The mission is God’s mission that he has given us. And this mission is wrapped around God’s message. So we also see that our message is God’s message.

Our Message is God’s Message

Acts 8:4 ESV

4 Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.

They were preaching the word. What was the word that they were preaching? It was the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were telling people that because of the sin of Adam and Eve, we are born into sin. This sin has separated from God and we need a savior to be united with him. This savior is Jesus Christ, who is the son of God the father. Jesus came and lived a perfect life, he was sinless. He died a horrible death in our place on the cross. He rose 3 days later and now sits at the fathers right hand waiting to come and get his people. And when we repent and believe that Jesus is Lord and savior, we will have new life in Christ. Maybe some of you have never done this. Scripture instructs us that for us to be followers of Jesus, then we must turn from our sin and believe that he is Lord. Romans 10:9 “9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

With this confession comes a realization of sin and what it has done to your relationship with God. Therefore, for Jesus to be Lord, which is the confession, there must be repentance. We need to see sin for what it is, an attack against a holy God. We deserve hell and condemnation because of this sin, this sin that we were born with. Because of the sin of Adam, each and every one of us are born into sin. Therefore, each and every one of us need to repent of our sin and believe Jesus is Lord and came to die in our place. The is the message that they were preaching and this is still the message that must be preached today.

So, in verse 4, it says that the apostles continued to do all the preaching. No, it says that those who were scattered were the ones preaching. If we go back to verse 1, it says that the church was scattered except for the apostles. The apostles were looked at as the elders, the pastors of the church. They were the only ones not scattered. For our American evangelistic brains, this doesn’t make sense. We have come to believe lies that will tell us things like “it is the pastors job to reach people”. Wrong. We have the example in the early church that the lay people of the church, the every day members, were the ones who spread the gospel. They were the ones preaching the word. It wasn’t the apostles who were the first people to preach the gospel in Samaria, it was the ones who were scattered. Every Christian is a missionary.

Has anyone ever moved a great distance? Maybe you were relocated by a job or were in the military and had to serve away from home? You have heard me talk about the sovereignty of God in all situations. I struggled for years with moving from career to career. I have been across the board with jobs, HVAC, sheriffs office, restaurant manager, construction workers, surveyor, I have had many careers. I wasn’t sure why God would not just make it clear what he wanted me to do for years. Until someone gave me some wisdom that I want to share to you. We, as followers of Jesus only had one job, and that is sharing the gospel with others. But what God does is he will change our assignments sometimes and move us. Maybe he will move us from one place of employment to another. But other times, he makes us pack up our whole lives and move. It is only an assignment change for us being workers of the gospel of Jesus. This passage even tells us about one person in particular that this happens to.

Acts 8:5 ESV

5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.

Philip, as you may already know, was not one of the apostles. Philip was one of the 7 that were chose in Acts 6:5. Philip and Stephen had some similarities. They were both part of the group of 7 men that were chosen to take care of the body. They were both evangelists, they proclaimed the gospel. And both are seen performing signs and wonders. So we have many similarities in these men, the greatest being their faithfulness to the gospel. And we need to understand that Philip more than likely met resistance when he began preaching in Samaria.

Jews and Samaritans had an extremely hostile relationship. Samaritans has a mixed origin of both Gentile and Jewish heritage. But because of this, most Jews considered them unclean and outside of the covenant community of Israel. There was this deeply engrained hatred among both parties. Philip, being a Jew, would have a hard time preaching the gospel of Jesus to Samaritans. But what something that is just wonderful to see is the life change that has happened. Philip would have grown up hating Samaritans, but now is now a missionary to them. He is showing them the love of Jesus that has changed his heart towards them. For us, how easy would it be for us to think less of people needing the gospel just because of where they are from, how much money they have, or the color of their skin. God shows no partiality towards physical characteristics. It is because of this changed heart that Philip has towards the Samaritans that opened their hearts to the Jesus that he was presenting to them.

A story like this reminds me of the life of Saint Patrick. Most people think of shamrocks and leprechauns when they think of Saint Patrick, but this is not the real life of Patrick. Patrick was born into a wealthy family. He father was a deacon in the church but Patrick was not very religious. When he was 16 years old, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders and was made a slave. It was during this time that Patrick turned to God and was saved by Jesus. 6 years after his kidnapping, Patrick escaped from Ireland and went back home. For the next 15 years, Patrick studied the scriptures and theology. He then returned to Ireland, not as a slave, but as a missionary. It is a beautiful picture, just like Philips, where he uses the unlikely to reach a people group.

Acts 8:6–7 ESV

6 And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.

They paid attention to what Philip had to say. Part of this was because of the signs that Philip was doing. What were these signs? Unclean spirits were leaving people and people who were paralyzed were being healed. This is something that may raise some questions with us today. You have probably heard the question “why don’t we see things like this today?” And that is a great question to ask. But we must ask things like this in light of the text that we are reading. The book of Acts is a historical book. What it is doing is laying out for us events that have taken place. The book of Acts, as a whole, is not a book that is filled with commands or, in many respects, expectations. We have in it, great examples. Examples that we need to look to in light of the events that had taken place. But there is no command found in these verses that we need to be performing exorcisms. But what we must remember is the message that we are command to preach. The command that comes from Acts 1:8 to be the messengers of Jesus. This is a command that is given to all believers.

Philip was faithful to the mission, to be the messenger of Jesus. And he was faithful to the message, the gospel of Jesus Christ. And because of these things, God blessed his ministry.

Acts 8:8 ESV

8 So there was much joy in that city.

What a wonderful thing to read. The message was being proclaimed and it brought joy. Not just to individuals, but to the city. Now, many of us have probably had thoughts sparked by a verse like this. We see a city, Samaria, impacted by the gospel. A gospel proclaimed by a Jewish man that they would have hated because of his heritage. But, because of the love of Christ in Philip and the hope that the message of Jesus brought, there was joy in the city.

So if we want to see joy in our city, which I know we all do, what is it going to take? Is it going to take us being kind to people, serving the needy, having bible studies around certain topics? These are all good things, and I would argue that we need to be doing these things to make an impact on our city. But they are nothing more than empty gestures without the gospel. If we want to see our city changed, we must be intentional with the gospel.

Conclusion

So what does this mean for us today?

To start with, if you are here today and have not been changed by the gospel, I want to speak to you first. For this to mean anything in your life, you must first understand your need for a savior and be transformed by the gospel. The gospel is simply that we were all born into sin and need a savior. God sent his son Jesus to come and live a perfect life, die in our place on the cross, and was raised from the grave 3 days later to prove that he is truly God in the form of man. When we see that our sin has separated us from God, and we turn from our sin, and believe that Jesus came to die in our place because he was truly God, then we are saved. This may be someones first step today.

If you have done this, then you are a Christian and I want to speak to you now. It may be very difficult to see yourself as a missionary where you are. I think it would be hard to change our mindset overnight either. And maybe some of us are seeing this reality and are committing ourselves to living our lives on mission for the gospel. Whether we are at work, at the grocery store, or even more importantly, with our family at home. I want to challenge you to commit what the gospel is to memory. The gospel changes people. But if you are one that may not feel like you are to the point that you can confidently share the gospel with someone else, I want to give you a couple of simple goals.

write the names of 3 people you personally know that need the gospel, and pray for them daily

build friendships with 3 new people (gym, store, restaurant) be consistent in where you go

when you go to a restaurant, ask the waiter or waitress how you can pray for them, and then pray for them