Missions' Aspects.

Read Act 13:1-5

The advance in cataract surgery is amazing. The use of laser has make it easier than before. Thanks to such surgery, people can recover much, if not all, their vision.

Lenses design is even more amazing! Depending on your case, you can get lenses to see close, far, or mid-distance. In other words, focal, bi-focal, or tri-focal lenses.

This morning, as we speak of aspects of missions, we’ll consider the scope, the demands, and the rewards of missions.

The scope of missions.

A missionary minded Christian must have a tri-focal vision (lenses).

Local missions. (Jerusalem)

- Missions must start at home. If you are not light to your home, you cannot be light to the world. Before He ascended to Heaven, Jesus commanded His disciples to stay in Jerusalem. The promise of the coming Spirit would be fulfilled there because God, being a God of order, wanted them to start fulfilling the entrusted mission there.

Acts 1:4 NASB95

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;

- What was the purpose of that promise? To testify to the nations, but in order!

- That’s what the disciples started doing on the day of Pentecost. And they did it well! 3000 were saved on that day; and some days later, the Council and the high priest were right when they accused the disciples of filling Jerusalem with their teaching.

- Unfortunately the comfort of the city caused “spiritual myopia”. They could not see farther than Judea. God brought a persecution to force them to do inter-local missions (Act 8:1-2). The main persecutor became a believer in Christ and a missionary. A local missionary first at his church in Antioch (Act 13).

Inter-local missions. (Samaria)

- As soul-winners, the deacons of the church were one of the main instruments to reach Samaria: Stephen, who gave his life because of preaching Christ, and Phillip, whom God used to impact even Ethiopia. (see picture)

- The first missionary trip of Paul and Barnabas was in their surrounding regions (see picture).

- We have an obligation to reach our surrounding cities…

International missions. (The ends of the earth)

- This is the telescopic missionary vision of a church, when the church has removed the myopia that allowed them to see only around them.

- This is what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Romans telling them “from Jerusalem and round about as far as the Illyricum I have fully preached the gospel…with no farther place for me in these regions… whenever I go to Spain, I hope to see you in passing”

The demands of missions.

It demands time, effort and money.

- No matter the scope, doing the mission requires time: In Ephesus...

Acts 19:8–10 NASB95

And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

Missionary work is not easy! It requires hard work, effort. People are resistant to the gospel,

- When ministering to the Corinthians: “and he settled there a year and six months teaching the Word of God among them.” Time, the most precious commodity is required to do the most precious task. Missions is hard work.

Missions also cost money! “Those who preach the gospel must live from the gospel” was Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians. Missions, of any type, are expensive… food, housing, materials, equipment, travels, etc.

It demands seeking the lost.

- “Missions” is precisely that! Going where the lost are. Do not expect them to come to your house/church to ask you how to meet Jesus.

- That’s what Jesus did ! To Zaccheus, He said,

Luke 19:9–10 NASB95

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

- Paul frequented places where he knew lost people would be:

Acts 17:17 NASB95

So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present.

It demands willingness to sacrifice.

- Christ knew that it would cost Him his life. Going to the mission field is not a vacation. It is not to live like a king among pauper. It’s sacrificing comfort, culture, likes, family, and even life. That’s the reason not many want to go.

- Illust. Sacrifices of our missionaries.

- Illust. Recent report from the mission field.

The rewards of missions.

The joy of seeing souls saved.

- I compare doing the mission to a mother having a child; although painful (and saying “no more”) the joy of seeing that creature makes them forget the pain. No matter how people may explain it to you, you will only understand it until you have a child. Winning people for Christ is the same…

The satisfaction of doing God’s will.

- How do you feel when you know you’ve done His will?

An earthly and heavenly reward.

1 Thessalonians 2:19 NASB95

For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming?

Colossians 3:23–24 NASB95

Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.