Proto-missio – Acts 13:1-5

Theologians like to use big words.

Sometimes they are necessary because of the subject under consideration,

And sometimes they are used simply to make the theologian look smarter than the rest of us.

Once in a while when you are studying the comments of the theologian on Genesis 3:15,

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Sometimes in studying this verse you will run into the big word “proto-evangelium” or “protevangelium.”

For example Augustus Strong wrote:

“There is progress in revelation from the earlier to the later books of the Bible,

But this is not progress through successive steps of falsehood;

It is rather progress from a less to a more clear and full unfolding of the truth.

The whole truth lay germinally in the protevangelium uttered to our first parents

(Gen. 3:15 – the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent’s head).”

That big word “protevangelium.” simply means: “the first reference to the gospel.”

Since your pastor is a theological wannabe, you’ll notice that he likes to use big words too.

I’ve entitled our message tonight: “Proto-missio.”

In the sending out of Barnabas and Saul, we have the first clear instructions on Biblical missions.

It’s not that there hasn’t been mission work already done in the Book of Acts,

But here the Lord shows us the organization behind it and lays before us the way that mission work should be done until the day that the Lord returns.

In making an overview of the chapter let’s consider the Mind, Men, Manner, Machinery, Method and Message of Missions.

Notice first the MIND and MASTER of Missions

The whole idea of world evangelism began with, and flows through, Jehovah – no one else.

It has to be remembered that the first disciples were nationalistic Jews.

The most liberal-minded of the bunch was probably Matthew, the former Roman tax-collector.

But probably his connection with Rome, before conversion, was based purely on greed.

He was simply another Jew who wanted to make money, and didn’t care how it was done.

Initially, none of the disciples had any particular love for the gentiles: Greeks, Romans and barbarians.

In other words, It was foreign to their imaginations to consider world evangelism.

For example, they were surprised that the Lord Jesus had spoken to the woman of Samaria.

But God, from the very days of Moses, had been telling Israel that His grace was greater than just the sins of their tiny nation.

And Christ demonstrated that in His ministries with the Samaritans, Gergesenes & Syro-Phoenicians.

Yet it took deliberate and spectacular revelations to convince the Jerusalem church, a Jewish church, to go into all the world and declare the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But aren’t all the people of this globe basically alike in their sinfulness?

“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

“There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.”

Without Christ, we are all aliens, and strangers from the promises of God.

And Christ is declared to be a Saviour of the World, not just Israel.

So the Lord, Jehovah, God, said, “Get going disciples; you’ve got an entire world to evangelize!”

It was “the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”

And He continues to do that today.

I was talking to a man the other day.

He said that his grandmother really wanted him to be a preacher, but he knew that he was not called to that work. Amen!

If the Lord hasn’t said “separate me Barnabas & Saul,” then Barnabas & Saul should stay in Antioch.

What do you suppose that Simeon Niger, Lucius and Manaen were doing while Barnabas and Saul were preaching on the Island of Cyprus?

Were they any less missionary just because they weren’t missionaries?

They were preaching and teaching the gospel just as they had been before verse 2.

They were praying for the glory of the Lord, and praying for the success of their missionaries.

I can’t tell you that they were sending regular monthly financial support,

But if there had been the request and the means,

I would just about guarantee that they would have been.

God has ordained the work of evangelism.

He chooses and calls the men that he wants to go to the field.

And He enlists, enables and excites the people who remain behind,

But it is the work of God from beginning to end.

And that takes us to the MEN of missions.

In the last two weeks I have received two letters from missionaries asking for our support.

There are people who call the church from time to time and ask us to help them evangelize the lost.

Should we send and supply the needs of just anyone who calls himself a missionary?

The first Christian missionaries should act as examples of those who follow them.

And what do we see here?

First, I see that the Holy Spirit chose specific men to be His ambassadors.

There were five mentioned as the primary ministers in the First Baptistic church at Antioch.

God wanted only two of them to go out on this missionary expedition.

I hope that I don’t offend any of our ladies, and I don’t think that I can,

But I might cause someone to be offended at the Word of God.

We can’t find in the Bible, where God ever chose and sent ladies to be missionaries.

I find it strange that some churches stand rock solid against women pastors,

But then they turn right around and sponsor, and supply women missionaries.

They will find it hard to justify their actions from the Word.

Although women can have great areas of service to God, independent missionaries is not one of them.

As helpers to their God-called missionary husbands, Yes!

But I can’t find scriptural proof that the Lord calls women directly to this ministry.

Secondly, I note that the men God chose in this case were already serving the Lord.

Barnabas and Saul didn’t volunteer to this work through the excitement of some Missionary Conference.

These men were not novices or beginners.

They were not drawn into missions by pictures of pleading, dirty-faced ragamuffins.

I don’t believe that missionaries are in the service of the lost people that they are called to evangelize.

Missionaries are servants of God, called by Him, and not called by foreign needs or pleas.

And if those men aren’t serving God at home, they more likely will not serve the Lord elsewhere.

The Men and Means of missions are God-chosen and God-called.

Now think about the MANNER of that call.

How did the Lord make His will known in this case?

From studying scriptures it appears that God calls different men in different ways.

I can be sure of only the calling that I heard, not that of any other man.

In my case, while doing reasonably well at Colo. State U. I became obsessed with serving the Lord.

I began spending more and more time doing that in my spare hours.

Rather than studying math and botany, I was studying the scriptures.

Or better yet rather than studying I was out knocking on doors.

It was not an escape from school, or from plans that I or other people had for me.

I was simply convinced I could never be happy doing anything else than preaching the Word.

And that was as an introverted, stammer-tongued, 18-year-old.

Not only was I convinced my calling from God, apparently so was church in which I was serving.

And this is critical to understand – the church in Antioch was convinced that God had called Saul and Barnabas to the work of the Lord.

There is a lot of volunteer work done in and around the church of the Lord Jesus.

The ushers, the treasurer, those who paint, those who visit and invite, nursery workers, and so on.

Even the teachers are hard working volunteers.

But the pastor and the missionary are not – out of the blue – volunteers.

Yes, they must surrender to the Lord’s will, but it is Lord’s will that comes first.

It was the Lord’s will that the church “separate Barnabas & Saul for the work whereunto I called them.”

They weren’t volunteers, they were drafted.

And that brings us to the MACHINERY and secondary MANAGEMENT of missions.

Amidst all that is labeled “Modern Missions,” we have all kinds of methods.

There are independents – men and women, who go places to preach, based upon nothing but the whim of their own hearts.

And then on other hand, there are missionaries, going under the direction of committees and boards.

Some of those missionaries can’t even buy a loaf of bread without permission.

When the Lord first called me to the mission field, in my ignorance I tried to go under a mission board but they told me that they call of God was not enough, I had to have their approval as well.

In that case I didn’t meet their educational qualifications.

Both of these extremes are unbiblical.

The Machinery and management of missions is the local church.

Not only did the Lord lay the burden of foreign souls on their souls,

But he also led the church to recognize the call of Barnabas and Saul.

The church in Antioch agreed with their call from God.

And the church gave them authority to go on their behalf,

And the elders of the church laid hands upon them as sign of the transference of that authority.

I know that we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves,

But chapter 14:26 says that the church “recommended” them.

Returning home, Barnabas and Paul “sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.”

What does that mean?

The church recommended them to other Christians, for help and prayer.

They recommended them before secular governments, if that might do any good.

They recommended them before the lost Jews and Gentiles, who might ask.

But primarily it means that they were committed over to the grace and providence of the Lord.

Does that mean that the church sent them the way that we put a stamp on a letter and drop it in the mail box?

Those missionaries were a part of that church, and that church was a part of that mission.

When the expedition came to an end, Barnabas and Paul were right back at Antioch giving reports, sharing blessings and being blessed and refreshed.

Biblical missions is done through the machinery and authority of a scriptural church.

The request that I received this week came from a couple who are missionaries in Mexico.

Their letter said that they were members of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana.

But they wanted our financial support to be sent to one of the mission boards.

I can’t find a mission board, mission company, or a mission fellowship in this chapter.

All I find are a couple of missionaries and the church that sent them to the field.

Does this mean that other scriptural churches might not help in financial support the missionary?

Not at all, but they have no control or authority over the work that those missionaries might do.

But what if a church gives up its authority to a missions board, denomination or committee?

Then that work has ceased to follow Biblical patterns.

My personal opinion is that it’s difficult to call this action “sin” necessarily,

But it has left open the door to disaster, the disaster of Satanic direction.

I will never recommend the support of a missionary who goes out under the authority of anything but a scriptural Baptist Church.

Because that is the only kind of mission work that I find in the Word of God.

The Machinery of Missions is God’s local church.

Consider now the METHOD of Missions.

We can summarize that with those verses described as the Great Commission:

Matthew 28:19-20: “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”

What is the method of missions?

Evangelism; in other words spread the message of the grace of Christ, as broadly and thickly as possible.

Then to teach those who have ears to hear what it is to receive Christ as Saviour; disciple them.

And then baptize them, – immerse in water those who truly repent and believe on Christ.

Then organize those who are so baptized into churches, just like the one that sent them, that they might be taught the rest of the scriptures.

What is the method of missions?

The missionary must tell what he knows, and repeat what he has read in the Word of God.

He must recount the message of God and describe how it has changed his life.

And that, of course, must be done in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Here in Acts 13 we have the prototypical plan of missions.

And, I believe that no one has the authority to deviate from this plan.