A Sending Space

INTRODUCTION

We are back in our series called Great Grace. We’ve been at this for a few months now, and I’ll be honest, I truly went into the book of Acts with the idea that, as we explored deeply the activity of the early church, there would be systematic, structural examples that we could emulate today. But we as have progressed through the narrative, the only thing that has become absolutely clear is that our organization as a church, our practices or worship and service, are not prescribed structures that, if done just right, will result in success and favor from God. Instead, the mark of a thriving and fruitful church is the active involvement and transformational work of the Holy Spirit, and our willingness to let him take the lead.

PRAY

Today, we have just three verses I want to explore. There is a simple idea that we can draw from it, and I don’t think we have to wrestle too much with its truth. Believing isn’t the issue; the issue is whether or not we have the courage to embrace it.

Here’s the truth we need to accept:

The mechanism of multiplication is the blessing and releasing of matured members. In other words, you will gain when you lose.

Acts 13:1–3 CSB

Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after they had fasted, prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them off.

CONTEXT

We’ve seen the church in Antioch before. Remember these guys? This is that church of Gentiles, that community made up of people without the rich Jewish heritage that defined its borders and its structures. These people have no stories of Moses defining the law and the ritual temple movements. There are no rules about priests and sacrifices. They have no understanding of things like circumcision or family bloodlines. They have the gospel of Jesus, and they have the holy Spirit, and that about covers it. Their allegiance is not to the Jewish nation; they do not consider themselves under the law the law of Israel. They are only under the law of Christ, so much so that the people around them have taken to calling them “Christians.” Not Romans, not Jews, not Greeks; their loyalties and their citizenship seems to be defined and determined by a different sort of kingdom, a different sort of king. And what’s crazy is that this unconventional movement has caught the eye of the founders, these 12 men who walked with Jesus and were the firstfruits of God’s church. But rather than suppress them, or condemn them, or criticize them. What does the central hub do? They empower them. They resource them. They send prophets and teachers to train them and encourage them and challenge them.

There is something compelling about Christian communities that unite and share in the name of furthering the kingdom of God, as opposed to selfishly competing, consolidating, and engaging in civil wars against other believers as we raise up our own miniature empires while undercutting God’s kingdom. And again, I think this comes down to your identity. Where do you find your meaning, your worth, your acceptance? If it is truly Christ, than spreading his name and fame, increasing his glory, becomes your aim, even if that means you, and every other possible source of meaning and worth, must decrease and fade into the background.

Who are these prophets and teachers that are leading the church? They are a diverse group, coming from different cultural and economic backgrounds. The text mentions five men: Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul. Barnabas was a wealthy Jewish landowner originally from Cyprus. Simeon’s nickname (Niger) suggests he is from North Africa. Lucius is from Cyrene, also in Africa. Manaen is basically a childhood friend of the governing family. And Saul is a well-respected Jew from the Roman province of Tarsus, which Paul calls an important city. It’s a unique group with different cultural backgrounds, different perspectives, and different stories of encountering Jesus.

The church is in the middle of a worship service. The Greek word for worshiping here is the same word where we get the word “liturgy.” This is a formal setting, kind of like what we are doing right here, right now. This was a time when the church would gather together, receive the teaching of God’s word, receive the comforting message of the gospel, pray, sing, and fast. And right in the middle of this church service, their liturgy is interrupted by the Holy Spirit. In the midst of a worshiping, devoted, gathered community, the Spirit speaks audibly, personally, and collectively. Now, how does the Spirit speak? Does he thunder out across the meeting space? Does he invade the thoughts of every member? Does he speak through one of the prophets? It doesn’t say, though my money is on that last one. The thing is, that isn’t the point; the point is that he speaks, and that he speaks through the vehicle of a gathered people, primed and prepared to hear from God.

Last week, Don taught on the importance of gathering together as the church. You cannot be the church apart from a collective of believers, brought together to read and pray and worship and encourage. Don mentioned several reasons why: we bear testimony to each other when we love one another well; we share gifts and build up one another for God’s mission; we all have a responsibility to one another to sharpen and challenge brothers and sisters to follow Jesus, to generously give up your life for his. Based on the account, I want to add another reason for why we gather. It is in the context of community where we receive and confirm the missional directive of the Spirit. I’m not saying the Spirit will not speak to individuals, but I am saying that, over and over again, we see the Spirit present and active when the living stones are brought together as a spiritual house.

The Spirit speaks and tells the whole church: I have a mission for Barnabas and Saul. I have a work for them, a calling on their lives. Set them apart for me (the word here is aphorizo, which is the idea of exclusion. It’s not meant to be negative here, more so like an organism divides and multiplies). So what does the church do? Do they whine and complain? Do they resist? These are a couple of their best leaders, their most mature and solid teachers and evangelists! Saul is well-trained in the Hebrew Scriptures, and Barnabas has proven to be incredibly generous with his money, his time, his words. Letting go of these two would be a huge hit to the ministry of the church in Antioch. But they do not complain, they do not gripe, they do not resist or ignore the command of Spirit.

Instead, they fast, they pray, they lay hands on Saul and Barnabas, and then they release them. The CSB says to send here, but it’s less of an active word—as if they had anything to do with the plan—and more of a letting go, a freeing from the community for the opportunity to take the gospel to unreached peoples and nations.

The mechanism of multiplication is the blessing and releasing of matured members. You will gain when you lose.

Here’s what I mean by this: God has designed the church to multiply, to grow and reproduce and form new communities that reach more and more people with the good news of Jesus Christ. And this happens when we release members of the body, who have been taught, trained, and commissioned, to go and make new followers of Jesus, to provide them a new identity, a new hope, a new way of living.

This seems a little backward at first though, right? How do you gain by losing?

There’s a simple analogy here, and in fact, it’s one we use all the time. The church is like family. Let me ask you a question: how many generations live in your household right now? For some of you, that might be 3 or even 4; you might have aunts and uncles and great-grandkids and cousins all hanging out in one big commune, and we’ll pray for you, because that sounds intense. But the most common answer will be 1 or 2. I have two right now in our household: my wife and I, and our four kids. And one day, when my children grow up and build families of their own, they will be released to go and start new households, and Bethany and I will become “empty nesters” (though, if my daughter has her way, that will never happen, because she is never leaving us, ever). And that’s kind of a sad thought, but it’s also our responsibility as parents to ensure that our children grow up, develop emotionally and physically and socially and spiritually, so that they can become adults and parents themselves, no longer dependent on us for their needs, but able to go out and multiply. That’s the story of humanity; it’s how we have survived as long as we have on this earth.

And that, my dear friends, is the pattern of spiritual families as well. I think we may have lost this a bit along the way. I’m reading the book of Acts along with you all, and I’m watching the early church grow. And I long to see that in our church, just as most every church wants to see their community grow. But there’s a disconnect, because how do most churches grow today? Through something called “transfer growth”; that is when one person leaves a church for another church. They are not new members of God’s kingdom, just dissatisfied current members that traded one family for another. We’re not seeing mature members leave, and we’re not seeing spiritual babies born. It’s got to be frustrating on God’s end, watching spiritual family trees stunted; we’re not sprouting new leaves and branches, there’s just branches constantly breaking off and grafting into other trees, over and over again.

And then I read Acts. And the church grows, but ONLY as brand new believers come to faith in Jesus and join the community. It reduces as mature members leave and start new communities, but it’s always in the name of Jesus. That is healthy church growth. That means our metrics need to change. Our scorecard for a healthy church family needs to change. We need to start gaining by losing. And with the church of Antioch in view, here’s how we do it.

MATURED MEMBERS

First, we need mature members. And before I go further, I’ll amend this. We actually need matured members. Saul and Barnabas are set apart by the Holy Spirit in verse 2 to carry out the mission of bringing the gospel to the ends of the earth. Barnabas has been a part of the church since its inception: he’s mentioned all the way back in chapter 4: he was originally called Joseph, a Levite priest who sold everything in order to follow Jesus. And Saul was a Jewish pharisee who was blindsided—literally, he was blinded—by Jesus on the way to persecute Christians. Jesus takes hold of his life, and he grows strong in his belief and trust. Barnabas brings him to Antioch, and they served there for about a year before going on a relief mission. They are mature leaders in the church, seasoned teachers and encouragers, dedicated servants and ministers.

Our mandate as a church is to gather in new followers of Christ, teach them, train them, care for them, and when the time is right, send them out to make disciples. I’ve been dreaming about this lately, and I think God is priming our church for this. Right now, in this season we are more than equipped and able disciple each and every person here, intentionally, strategically, and lovingly. No one gets left behind, no one gets overlooked. The intimacy of our group right now means there is no excuse for this. But at the same time, what an incredible opportunity we have, where spiritual sons and daughters can be parented well by spiritual moms and dads.

My hope is that in the next few months we can develop a plan to mentor and care for every member, from “infancy” to “adulthood”. Now, it’s important to note that time in the church, the number of years you have been a Christian, does not equal spiritual maturity. You might be 50 years old, grown up in church, and still need your spiritual diapers changed. At the same time, you might have known Jesus for a couple years now, but Jesus has taken such a hold of your life, and you have transformed and changed so much, that you are right in that teenager phase, begging your mom and dad for spiritual driving lessons. The point here is that, just like in life, there are are spiritual rites of passage, mile markers, that can help us discern and map out your readiness to go out into all the world and make disciples. And our responsibility, as elders, shepherds, and leaders, is to walk with you through those moments, to teach and correct, and lovingly let you go when the calling comes.

I love what J.D. Greer says about this:

When the church begins to operate with the assumption that everyone is called, our approach to mobilization will shift dramatically… We will see every member of our church as a potential missionary to be equipped and mobilized. our goals is not to send some, or even our best, but to send all into the mission—to our city, across the country, or to the other side of the world.

He closes by saying this:

The church is not an audience to be entertained; it is an army to be empowered. The large crowd will not change the world; the mobilized force of Spirit-filled believers will.

Mobilization leads to multiplication. But how do we get there? We mature. We move on from our diapers and our dollhouses, we learn and grow and become less dependent on our spiritual parents as we prepare to become parents ourselves. You must be raised before you can be released.

BLESS

Maturity is step 1. Step 2? We need to Bless. Once the church hears from the Spirit about how Saul and Barnabas have been marked for mission, what do they do? They fast, they pray, and then they lay hands on them.

In a weird way, do you know what this reminded me of? It reminded me of a wedding ceremony. Honestly. Think about what happens when a young couple leave their fathers and mothers and join with one another. They start a new community. But it happens through the wedding. The couple is prayed over, gifted, encouraged, and loved as they go. Marriage is not something to be feared or hated; it’s the celebration of multiplication!

So it must go with the church. Just as we need to develop a habit of maturity, we also need to develop a habit of blessing. How counter-cultural would that be, even among Christian communities? Rather than jealously hoarding our members and competing for the same slice of people who have already heard the gospel, we joyfully and intentionally send out our members to plant new churches, to start new house groups, to evangelize and share the gospel with those who have not yet heard the good news of Jesus.

There are three thousand people living in Cottonwood presently. Out of those three thousand, maybe 500 (at the most) go to church regularly or at all. There is a mission field, right here, right outside these doors. And that’s just Cottonwood; what about Anderson, Red Bluff, Redding? The same percentages apply there too. But because we have been so accustomed to the church growing when people leave one community for another, we have dismissed discipleship in favor of marketing to those who already know Jesus, because (1) it’s easier, and (2) it builds up our pride as better than another church, as if God somehow cares about our personal rankings.

Let me ask you this question: Do you want to see the people of Cottonwood come to know Jesus? We would celebrate and rejoice with that, right? Now, let me ask you this: What if it is on account of another community, not ours? Would you still rejoice?

This is why we bless. We orient our perspective with the Kingdom of God. We fast, to remind ourselves that our dependance for life and vitality does not come from our own self-provision and self-gratification, but it is wholly God who satisfies. We pray, to align our hearts with God’s heart, to see with his eyes, and to trust his ways. And we lay hands on our brothers and sisters, to resource them, to finance them, to equip them, to comfort them, to empower them to fulfill the calling God has placed on them. To bless, by biblical definition is to cause something to flourish (to curse, on the other hand, is to hinder flourishing, to stagnate growth). So as I church, we need to be thinking through not just how to raise up fruitful members, but then to encourage and foster that fruit, and to rejoice as God’s church multiplies.

RELEASE

Mature, bless, and then? We release. After the church prays over Saul and Barnabas, they release them from their responsibility to serve their church. In one fell swoop, two-fifths of the leadership team at Antioch are freed to go after the Spirit’s call on their lives.

I once had a conversation with a seasoned pastor, who told me that his goal was to close the doors of his church because their members had matured and embraced their missional calls and were all sent out to multiply the kingdom of God, and there was no one left to train and equip because he had sent them all out.

That is a courageous vision, because it sees the local church body, not as an audience that needs to be entertained, but as an army that needs to be empowered. It’s definitely a risk though, isn’t it? Because releasing your whole church into mission is the call, but it also means change. Resources are no longer consolidated, but given away. Mature ministers are not hoarded, but shared. Let’s say, at the end of day, a church of one hundred plants 10 churches of 10 people each. And each of those church goes out with the gospel and multiplies twofold. Could we say that the birth of ten churches is worth the death of one? It’s a bold move.

But I’ve learned as well that Spiritual math works differently. Because this mechanism of multiplication is attractive. It’s infectious. Because a truly healthy church, even as it is letting go of leaders left and right to multiply the gospel, continues to welcome in new followers of faith. There are always new babies to care for. New children to serve, new teens to teach. If we are serious about raising up mature believers who boldly share the gospel with those who need to hear it, it means we will be doing the same! There will always be new babies if we are intentional about reaching more people with the good news of Jesus Christ.

The irony is that if we are willing to become empty nesters, the nest will never cease to be filled. The more we share, the more we bless, the more we send, the more our master will willing to invest through us.

But it starts right now. It starts with maturing our members, blessing them, releasing. It starts with you. Are you ready?

PRAY

COMMUNION PASSAGE

Romans 8:31–39 CSB

What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.