Senders & Goers: Partners in Ministry.
Allen Duty
Summary
Humanity is lost in sin, desperately needing a Savior, with millions remaining unreached and unengaged by the gospel. In response to Christ's missionary journey of life, death, and resurrection, believers are called to live as missionaries, faithfully sending or going to proclaim the good news to all nations. As churches obediently send and partner with those called to the field, God faithfully supplies every need, strengthening them to endure all circumstances and increasing fruit to their credit.
Supporting Passages
Transcript
0:00Today is our missions commissioning service. I'd like to ask you to turn to Philippians chapter 4, verse 10. If you don't have a copy of the scripture, just reach down in one of the chairs in front of you. We're going to be in Philippians 4, 10 through 20 today. And we're going to be talking about what it means to be partners in ministry, to have senders and goers as faithful partners in ministry. We've heard it said before many times at our church that there's only two ways to approach missions. You can be a faithful sender or a faithful goer, but those are your only choices. Because in the gospel, we see that Jesus Himself came down from heaven, took on flesh to reach us, to reach people who are lost in sin and in desperate need of a Savior. And so, as a response to that wonderful, beautiful gospel message of his life, death, and resurrection, and that missionary journey that he took, we now live our lives as missionaries to send and to go. And so, we planted New Life in 2009, a little over nine years ago, for the express purpose of making disciples of all nations by preserving and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so, that's what we have given ourselves to for almost the past decade: preserving and proclaiming the gospel to make mature disciples. And we know that that starts here at home. That's not something that we just do part-time whenever we do go on a short-term trip, like these folks going to East Asia. We know that that's not only done if we do a little bit of time in a country as a missionary for two or three years, but we are called to be full-time missionaries bringing the good news of Jesus to everybody in our lives. But it also can't stop there. It can't stop with just going to our coworkers and our classmates, our neighbors, our friends. It has to extend to the unreached and unengaged peoples all around the world. There are millions and millions of people. In fact, more than half the world has no access to the gospel. They are unreached or entirely unengaged. And so that should break our hearts because so many people don't know Jesus and what he has done in his life, death, and resurrection. Now, we cannot reach everyone. We can't personally, as individuals or as a church, take on that great mission by ourselves, but we can all do something. And so today we are doing something by sending out this short-term team and then two more families to the field. We already had that great privilege of commissioning the East Asia team. And later on, we're going to have the privilege of commissioning those two families that Beau mentioned, the Decure family, who are going to Papua New Guinea, and then to the Anderson family, who are going to training with Two Every Tribe. And so we're so excited about that. Over the past nine years, we have had the great joy and blessing of sending out at least one short-term team every single year almost. I think there was one year that we did not. And then we have sent now seven families after today to the field to reach the unreached. And so we have a lot to say. Celebrate here at New Life. Before we jump into our sermon text here in Philippians chapter 4, I want to spend just a moment and set some background from the book of Acts, because the book of Acts, of course, is this great historical account of how the first believers in Jesus then took that message of salvation out to the rest of the world. And so if you look on the screen at Acts chapter 13, verses 1 through 3, this passage is very instructive for us, and I want to remind you of what it says. Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon, who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Minaean, a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. While 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 fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
3:50So in this city in Antioch, this is where the believers, the followers of Jesus, were first called Christians. So Saul, who later became known as Paul and Barnabas, had recently returned from Jerusalem where they had delivered this gift to alleviate some of the suffering that they were experiencing there, the believers in Jerusalem, from a famine that had hit. And so they had just come back from that. And I want you to notice from this text in Acts 13 that this was a very blessed church. I mean, you have in this church, you have the Apostle Paul, you have Barnabas, this son of encouragement, this wonderful missionary. You have these people who are well connected. Manae, this lifelong friend of Herod, one of the rulers. In the area from Rome. And so you have these really well-connected, great leaders, great missionaries. They're all there in that church, and that was a great privilege. But the church prays and fasts, and the Holy Spirit calls them to set aside Paul and Barnabas, perhaps the two most gifted leaders, perhaps the two best missionaries the world has ever known, and to set them aside for the work that he had called them to. And so we have to be reminded this morning that the temptation for all churches is to hoard the very best leaders, is to keep the very best leaders behind in their church forever, because that's a blessing to their local church. But we see here from the scripture that although this was no doubt very difficult to send out Paul and Barnabas from their number, they did it because obedient churches send the called to proclaim the gospel. That's what they do. And so after fasting and prayer, they lay their hands on them and send them off. And it's very clear from the passage that both the Holy Spirit was sending them off and the local church was sending them off. It wasn't one or the other. It wasn't just the Holy Spirit's sending, and it wasn't just the church acting independently of the Spirit. I shared this quote with you before when we were talking about missions at what we call Night for the Nations. So look at this on the screen. This is John Stott. He says, So, in our anxiety to do justice to the Holy Spirit's initiative, we should not. Depict the church's role as having been entirely passive. Would it not be true to say both that the Spirit sent them out by instructing the church to do so, and that the church sent them out, having been directed by the Spirit to do so? This balance will be a healthy corrective to opposite extremes. The first is the tendency to individualism, by which a Christian claims direct personal guidance by the Holy Spirit without any reference to the church. The second is the tendency to institutionalism, by which all decision-making is done by the church without any reference to the spirit. Although we have no liberty to deny the validity of personal choice, it is safe and healthy only in relation to the spirit and the church.
6:44That was written quite a long time ago, and what an important message for us today, especially here in America, where we are just ingrained from birth, that it's about you and what you want to do in your personal relationship with the Lord. So if you feel called to do something, there's no decision-making that is done either by the Spirit necessarily or by the Church speaking into that choice. And John Stott reminds us that's not how it should be. The Spirit and the Church are working together in this sense to send out goers to the field. And so that's what they do. They send out Paul and Barnabas. And Paul continues to partner with local churches all throughout his ministry, but he has a very special partnership with two churches. One is the church at Antioch that we already read about, and the second is the church at Philippi. And that's where we are here today in Philippians chapter 4. See, during Paul's second missionary journey, Paul, Silas, and Timothy were attempting to take the gospel into Bithynia, which is northern Turkey today. And as they were doing that, they were prevented from carrying out their plans by the Holy Spirit. Look on the screen at Acts 16, verse 9.
7:51It says, And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, Come over to Macedonia and help us. So right away, Paul and Silas and Timothy, they divert their plans. They go to Macedonia and they go to the leading city of Philippi in that region. And right away, God blesses their efforts. They see a wealthy woman named Lydia come to faith in Christ. A short time after that, they see a demon-possessed girl come to faith in Christ. A short time after that, they're thrown into prison for preaching the gospel, and the jailer and his entire household come to faith in Christ. So you see from the fruit that they didn't misunderstand the Spirit and his leading. He was in fact sitting there. And then these people that were converted became the foundation for this amazing church in Philippi. So years later, Paul writes this letter that we're going to read from today, the letter to the Philippians, and he writes this letter to encourage them in their faith, to thank them for the gift that they had sent, and to let them know that their mutual friend Epaphroditus, who was sick, did not die, but recovered. And so for all those reasons, he writes this letter. So let's take a look now at the text in Philippians 4, verse 10. We're going to be reminded that senders and goers are partners in ministry. Verse 10, Paul says, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.
9:24So Paul is celebrating at this point at the end of the letter because the Philippians had revived their concern for him. Well, he met these people in about AD 49, and so about 13 years have passed since that first meeting, although he did see them in the interim time. But about 13 years have passed since they first met and him writing this letter, and they have been concerned for him the whole time. It's just that they did not have an opportunity to express that concern in a tangible way. So I think it's true. Many Christians have good intentions when it comes to partnering with ministries, missionaries, I should say. We think good thoughts about that. We know that we should be a part of sending or going to the nations, but we fail to take advantage of those opportunities when they present themselves. And so what Paul is saying here is that the Philippians had good intentions, but no opportunities. But now they have an opportunity. Now they're going to be able to turn their intention into doing something for good through Paul. Look at verse 11 now.
10:25It says, not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned and won. Situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. So, after that second journey where he came into contact with the Philippians, he came back and then went out on a third journey. After his third journey, he was imprisoned in Jerusalem and then sent off to Caesarea and then to Rome. He spent two years in Caesarea and then lived under house arrest in Rome, and that's when he wrote this letter during that two-year imprisonment. And so, Paul has been in prison for a long time, he's been in custody for even longer, and yet he writes in verse 11 that he's not in need. Well, how could that be? I mean, every prisoner, even in our modern prison system here in America, which is so much nicer than anything that he would have experienced back then, they still have very real and tangible needs. And yet, Paul says he's not in need. And that's because in the rest of the verse, he says, For I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
11:42Now, we have to acknowledge that contentment doesn't come naturally for anyone. There's not one person who is born naturally content. There's not any person on this planet who thinks, I have enough. I have enough time. I have enough resources. I have enough money. There's not enough energy enough. One person that thinks that. Because we look around us all the time and we see people who have more than we do. And we think to ourselves time and time again, if I only had what they had, then my situation would be so much better. We all struggle with those kinds of thoughts, at least from time to time. Contentment is a discipline that we have to learn. It's not something that comes naturally. So, what is the secret? How could Paul be content no matter what? Look at what he says in verse 13 again.
12:33I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Now, as we've mentioned before, when we've looked at this passage, you see this all the time in sporting events. And so, people will write this, you know, on their tape or on their faces, you know, wherever when they're in sporting events. And this is used almost exclusively like that, like, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Well, you can't because one of the two teams is going to win.
13:03So, that defeats that verse, if that's what that's talking about, right? This is not talking about that. It's talking about walking in contentment in the midst of trial and suffering. That's the point of this passage. That's the context here. And so, our missionaries, just like all believers, are going to face times of abundance and times where they're walking in need, where they have various needs. And it's important for them to. Remember that they will not be forgotten by us. They will not be forgotten by God. That they can do all things through Christ who strengthens them. Jesus is the one who gives strength to endure, both to us in everyday life here in America as well as to those men, women, and their children who are on the field serving. Look at verse 14 now.
13:55Paul says, Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. And you, Philippians, yourselves, know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only. Even in Thessalonica, you sent me help for my needs once and again. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit. I have received full payment and more. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.
14:36You see here that Paul trusted in God to provide everything that he needed, and yet at the same time, he was thankful that the Philippians shared in his trouble. They bore the burden with him. That means that they didn't just hope for the best for Paul, send him away with good thoughts about his mission. They entered into prayer for him. And they didn't just pray for him, but they actually provided for his needs. So much so that Paul could say, I am well supplied. So he was not just scraping by, living in poverty while he was in prison or before. And if you're familiar with the book of Acts, then you know there were many times in Paul's life, many times that he was on those missionary journeys, that he was hungry, that he was shipwrecked, that he was attacked and chased and beaten, thrown into prison on other occasions. And so it's important to remember: every Christian, Paul included, needs to be ready to sacrifice for the gospel. To see the good news of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection on behalf of sinners taken to the ends of the earth, we all need to be ready to suffer.
15:51But I think we must continually question the assumption that so many Christians seem to make. And that is that those men and women, whether single or married or with families, should be living in poverty because they chose to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. Why do we think that? That is utter inconsistency. There is no Christian in America, there is no Christian, I would say, in general, who sits back and thinks, if you are a Christian, you should expect to live in poverty. We need to be. Ready to live in poverty, ready to give up everything. But our expectation should not be that we get to enjoy all of these material possessions, extra spending money, all of those kinds of things, while our missionaries on the field should be merely scraping by. Paul says he is well supplied. And the Philippians helped with that because they were prepared to sacrificially give to ensure that he was well supplied. And that's because they saw themselves as partners in ministry. It wasn't just like they were doing their thing in Philippi and Paul was doing his thing on the mission field somewhere. His thing was their thing, and their thing was his thing. They entered into this partnership of giving and receiving. That's the beauty of all of it. And he notes here that when he left Philippi, in fact, they were the only church who partnered with him. When things got hard in Thessalonica, he says, you sent help for my needs once and again to ensure that he was well cared for while he was proclaiming the gospel. And I want you to notice here that Paul and the Philippians, they had this real partnership of giving and receiving. It was a two-way street. And we see that here at New Life with our missionaries. Yes, we are sacrificing, we are giving to ensure that they are well supplied on the field as they take the gospel. But then when they come home and we're blessed to have the Cook family home this summer, the Laws family is coming back, the Forbes family is coming back this summer, while they are here, they are just such a blessing to our church, going around encouraging the Christians. Here at New Life, teaching classes on missions, equipping us for the work of the ministry here at home. There is a real giving and receiving. There's a two-way street that exists, just like Paul's relationship with the church at Philippi. And so he wraps up here in verse 19. Look at these final two verses in this section.
18:19He says, And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. This verse here in 19 is one that I have to read and meditate on over and over again because I am tempted to believe that God may supply the needs of our missionaries, but he may not continue to supply our needs at the church. That if we keep giving and sending, and I mean, our church is not that large by standards here in America. We're certainly not a wealthy church by most American standards, and yet we continue to send out missionary after missionary. And my fear that I deal with, just quite honestly, is how are we going to sustain this? And I fail to believe what Paul writes here in verse 19. My God will supply every need of yours. He's not talking about himself, he's talking about their needs. He was fully confident that if God is calling them to send and to partner, that he then was going to provide.
19:30For everything that they needed as a church. And so, friends, Paul and the Philippians had this wonderful symbiotic relationship as senders and as a goer. There was a real partnership between them. And so, I want to conclude by giving you guys a few action steps to consider this morning as we do our very best to be a church who faithfully sends and faithfully goes to the nations. The first thing is that I want to encourage you to invest time to learn about God's heart for reaching the nations. Now, if you are thinking yourself about potentially going to the nations, I would love for you to stop by the Connect booth, and I would love for you to pick up one of these cards. We just got these developed recently, and they have a wonderful little roadmap for you to study God's Word, to consider God's world, and to think about God's workers, and then on the back to learn about our sending process here at New Life. You can pick up one of these and follow these steps as you pray for our goers, as well as you consider perhaps going to the nations. Another thing that you can do is you can consider taking what is called Awaken, and that is an eight-week class that runs every fall, and it's designed to help you understand God's heart for the nations and your role in that. So, that's something we have a partnership with Grace Bible Church and several other local churches where we do that together, and that's something that you can consider doing next fall. The second thing I want to encourage you to do is to get to know our mission. And the regions in which they minister. So, we currently now, as of today, will have seven family units on the field or in training. We've got two that are in Asia Pacific, we've got two in Central Asia, we've got one in East Asia, and then we've got two that are considering going to Latin America. And so, you can find out all the information and more that you want across the hall in the connect room and learn about how you can get signed up for their newsletters. So, I wanted to just encourage you to get to know them, pick up a card or two, begin praying for them, and consider partnering with them financially as well as prayerfully. And that's my third encouragement to you this morning: to consider how can you get invested in what God is doing? How can you get invested in what God is doing? That might be through prayer, that might be through finances, or both. But a significant portion of every dollar that you give to New Life goes directly to training, sending, equipping our missionaries who are going to the field. And so, I want you to know that. I also want you to know that each one of our missionaries is responsible for raising a good deal of their own support. And so, you know, I always talk to college students in our town. They say, you know, I don't have a whole lot of money. I don't think that what I give can really make a difference. Well, just to put some numbers to that for you, I don't think too many of us would say it's much to forego a cup of coffee a week at $2.50.
22:24So, what can $2.50 do? Well, if you do that for a month, that's $10. And if $300,000, 300 people do that. We have about 300 college students, for example, who attend regularly here at New Life. That's $3,000 per month. That's $36,000 in a year because you skipped one cup of coffee for $2.50 and instead gave that to missions. And so I just want you to encourage you to think about creative ways that you can get involved in what God is doing in and through New Life and in and through these great missionaries that we're supporting together.