Acts 13:1-3  Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with 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.”  So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

The very foundation of the Old Testament Church reflects an outward, sending movement of God. Look at the life of Abraham or Moses and you will see God sending them out to strange lands or into Egypt to free His people. God does not sit still. Nor does His Church. 

Should it surprise us, then, that following Pentecost, God seeks to send His Church into the world? When they are slow on the take to do that, God allows for the persecution of Christians, forcing their hand to go out into the remote parts of the world. 

At the center of mission is the sense that life is to be lived away from ourselves. Mission involves the willingness to leave our comfort zone, knowing that where we go, we take with us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. 

Sending churches do not seek to raise up members as much as they seek to raise up missionaries—those who live as Jesus did, with an awareness that they are sent. Sending churches operate with a different scorecard in measuring their effectiveness. Rather than asking how many people were seated in church on a Sunday, they are asking how many people were sent out as missionaries. Reggie McNeal puts it this way: 

 “A missionary church culture will need to begin keeping score on things different from what we measure now. These may include how many ministry initiatives we are establishing in the streets, how many conversations we are having with pre-Christians, how many volunteers we are releasing into local and global mission projects aimed at community transformation, how many congregations are starting to reach different populations, how many congregations use our facilities, how many languages (ethnic and generational) we worship in, how many community groups use our facilities, how many church activities target people who aren’t here yet, how many hours per week members spend in ministry where they work, go to school and get mail” (p. 67)
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

Picking up where I left off yesterday. Sending churches are not possessive. They are willing to let go of some of their best leaders if this is the will of God. Prompted by the Spirit, they first pray and fast again. There is the need within them to make sure this is of God. Confirmed in this, they send off two strong leaders so that the Word about Christ can spread to the outer most parts of the world. Sending churches are not selfish about their resources. They are willing to share for the sake of the kingdom. They understand and follow the encouragement of John when he said to another church,

“Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth” (3 John 5-8). 

The very nature of God, who is the Head of the Church, is that He is a sending God. Everything about God is outward. The opposite of God would be sin, where everything is turned inward on self. Think about the Triune God for a moment. The Father says, “Look at my Son; isn’t He something?” Jesus says, “I am here to do the Father’s will and bring glory to Him.” The Spirit comes to bear witness and testimony not to Himself but to Jesus. Everything about God is outward and focused on others, including you and me. 

 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son. . . .”
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish
 

When you read through the Acts of the Apostles, you almost need a Trip Tik from AAA to map the way of all the journeys. This is a church on the move. It is a very unique church. It is a sending church. 

Not every church could be described in this way. Many churches offer great worship, meaningful Bible studies, and Christ-centered ministry to those who enter. That is the key: “to those who enter.” The ministry is for those who enter. There is very little sending that occurs. 

What are the distinguishing marks of a sending church? Look closely at the model offered in Acts 13: 

“In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabus, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.” 

Now I know the temptation is to whiz through those names. Just another list of tough names to pronounce. There is, however, some great insight to be gained by looking closer. These men involved in ministry and teaching were quite a mixed group, to say the least. Barnabus was from the island of Cyprus. Simeon was also named Niger, which is a Latin term meaning “black skinned.” Lucius was from Cyrene, which was west of Egypt on the coast of Africa. His name was Greek, and so there is the strong possibility that he was a Gentile. Manaen was a member of high society, having grown up with Herod the tetrarch. Then there is Saul with all of his credentials in education and rabbinical training. Right there in the middle of multi-cultural and urban Antioch, the Roman capital of Syria, is a church with a leadership team that refl ects the community that surrounds it. 

“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting.” This community was marked by worshiping and fasting. The discipline of fasting is not practiced by many today. It does, however, have deep roots within Scripture.

“Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in him a source of sustenance beyond food. Through it, we learn by experience that God’s word to us is a life substance, that it is not food alone that gives life, but also the words that proceed from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). 

 We learn that we too have meat to eat that the world does not know about (John 4: 32, 34). Fasting unto our Lord is therefore feasting—feasting on Him and on doing His will. 

This simple reference to worshiping and fasting reveals a church that humbly depends not on its own resources and ideas, but on God’s Word to guide them. It is of no surprise then that, in the midst of this, the Holy Spirit gives them specific guidance as to what they should do. Sending churches wait on the Lord, expecting to be guided by His will. 

“Set apart for me Barnabus and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

Imagine going into each day, sent by God, looking for those opportunities to do good works that He prepared for you before you were even born. That has a way of changing the outlook of a day into one that is loaded with possibilities and purpose. The life of Jesus was defined and guided by the knowledge that He was sent by the Father. This was always on His mind. It kept Him accountable and focused. What makes us think that it is any different for us? When we lose this sense of being sent, as a church or as individuals, we run the danger of being taken off course by many distractions. The result? Our life, or our ministry, is unproductive. In Titus 3:14, God says, 

“Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.”  
 

We know all too well the stories of those who lost focus along the way. John Stott expresses it this way: 

“The Christian landscape is strewn with the wreckage of derelict, half-built towers—the ruins of those who began to build and were unable to finish. For thousands of people still ignore Christ’s warning and undertake to follow him without first pausing to reflect on the cost of doing so. The result is the great scandal of Christendom today, so-called ‘nominal Christianity.’ In countries to which Christian civilization has spread, large numbers of people have covered themselves with a decent but thin veneer of Christianity. They have allowed themselves to become somewhat involved, enough to be respectable but not enough to be uncomfortable. Their religion is a great, soft cushion. It protects them from the hard unpleasantness of life, while changing its place and shape to suit their convenience. No wonder the cynics speak of hypocrites in the church and dismiss religion as escapism” (p. 108). 

God is looking for people who will enter into this day with the awareness that He has sent them with a purpose. When our hearts are ablaze with His purpose, the world will take notice that we too have been with Jesus. Go ahead, put your name in the blank: “___________________ served God’s purpose.” Let it begin with this day. One day at a time—wouldn’t it be great to be able to say that in this day you served God’s purpose?
 

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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

What was it like to hang out with Jesus on a daily basis, constantly hearing Him refer to His being sent? It would have to rub off on those He was with during those three years. It did. Years later, the influence of Jesus can be heard through Peter’s words when he wrote: 

 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10). 

Peter did not always see things this way. In the beginning, when Jesus asked him to become a fisher of men, Peter’s response was to ask Jesus to get out of the boat. Now, here is Peter with that same inner sense of being sent by God to carry out a specific mission in life. 

 As Jesus lived out His life with a clear sense of being sent by the Father, He then sent not only Peter, but you and me and every church that bears His name into the world. In years past, the emphasis in the local church was placed more on supporting those missionaries who had been sent into the mission field. In a world that has changed and now resembles more the world of the first century, the vision needs to be raised up within each church that every member is a missionary. 

Think of it in this way: Wherever you go in the day ahead—to the office or to the classroom or to the mall—go into the day as one who is sent. How would it change your routine to go with the sense of being sent? It was that sense of purpose that compelled Jesus each and every day. It is that sense of purpose that He now places before us when He says, 

“As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). 

This is the sense I get when I read these well known words of Ephesians 2: 

 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (vs. 10).
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeastern Illinois University, wrote to 250 of the world’s best philosophers, scientists, writers, intellectuals and key thinkers, asking them, “What is the meaning of life?” Some offered their best guess and others admitted that they just made up a purpose. Others were pretty straight-forward and said they had no idea. Some of them wrote to him and asked him to write back and tell them if he discovered the purpose of life (Chicago Review Press, 1988). 

Knowing the purpose for which you exist is the key to living a productive and fruitful life. This is true for individuals, as it is true for congregations. 

The effective churches are those who minister with a sense of purpose, evaluating everything in light of that purpose. Those individuals that I have known whose lives have been fruitful and productive live with an inner awareness that God has sent them into this world to accomplish something. 

When I consider the life of Jesus, I see Him in this way. He lived each day with an awareness of being sent. From the Gospel of John, this becomes so apparent. Read the verses that follow slowly and thoughtfully. Ponder and reflect on what they reveal about the life of Jesus: 

“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work’” (4:34). 

“By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me” (5:30). 

“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (6:38). 

“But I know him because I am from him and he sent me” (7:29). 

“The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him” (8:29). 

“As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work” (9:4). 

“Then Jesus cried out, ‘When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me’” (12:44-45). 

“For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it” (12:49). 

“I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me” (13:20).

“Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (17:3). 

“For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me” (17:8). 

“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (17:18). 

“Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you’” (20:21).
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish

The wedding was beautiful. The reception that followed was relaxed elegance. Following the wedding, Elizabeth, and her husband, Seth, traveled to New York where they would set sail for a honeymoon cruise to Bermuda. As they sailed out of the New York harbor on the morning of September 9, they stood on the top deck, looking at the skyline. They were going to take some pictures but decided to wait until they returned. That return trip never happened—at least not to New York. Following their cruise, they were directed a week later to the harbor in Philadelphia. They would not return to New York as a result of September 11, and they would not return to the same world from which they had departed as newlyweds. They were beginning their married life in a world that changed overnight. 

Prior to September 11, the world seemed to function with certain predictable rules and outcomes. There was a certain routine to life that many found comfortable and secure. Since that time, life seems less familiar and secure. 

Although unrelated to September 11, this is not a great deal different from what is going on within the Church today. The Church of the 50’s and the 60’s existed in an environment that was friendly and familiar. The church was accepted and influential within society. 

The times have changed. It did not happen overnight, but it has and is changing fast. When I first came out of seminary, one out of four couples lived together before marriage. Now it is closer to three out of four. Instead of referring to “families,” it is more accurate to refer to “households” because of so many different blends of relationships living under one roof. The traditional family is almost the exception rather than the norm. Lately we hear of courtroom battles challenging “one nation under God '' in the pledge of allegiance and “In God We Trust '' on currency. The battle for defining marriage intensifies over questions that were almost unthinkable just fifty years ago. For those of you who are old enough, do you remember Elvis and how on the Ed Sullivan Show the camera would not scan down to show his shaking hips on television? The times have changed. 

In all of this, the Church, for the most part, has not changed. In many ways, that is good. The teaching based on God’s unchanging truth is the same. The Cross is central. Christ is Lord. In other ways, though, it is not good. The church is perceived as not struggling with the issues of the world. In fact, there are many who would view the Church as being immoral, because they do not see the Church as wrestling with the serious issues of abortion, poverty, homosexuality, or Aids, to mention a few. When I first heard this, I was offended and insulted. I thought, “How dare they.” The more I thought about it, though, I began to wonder. Does the world see the Church as issuing moral judgments with no serious dialogue going on among people? When was the last time I encouraged serious conversation to occur over these issues? Don’t get me wrong. I stand with the Church on these issues. However, how can we engage in a meaningful conversation with those who are increasingly viewing the Church as being irrelevant and disconnected with the real issues of life? 

It is important to struggle with this question, because the world is spiritually very hungry and thirsty. There is a spiritual revival going on in America. It is just not happening within the Church. When I was growing up, Billy Graham was viewed as America’s pastor. Today, I believe that Oprah Winfrey would be identified more in that role. 

Many churches today find themselves struggling to hold their own with rising finances and decreasing attendance. Meanwhile, there is the Wal-Mart mindset that creeps into the church. People’s expectations as to what the church should do for them continually increase . 

It all sounds depressing, doesn’t it? In one way, it is. Yet, in another way, it is not. There is a bright and hopeful future for the Church— not for the church as we’ve known it; I believe those days and that church are of the past. The Church, however, of my faith’s confession is alive and well throughout the world today. In the Nicene Creed, we confess, “I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church.” 

The word apostle means “one who is sent out or away.” When we confess our faith in the “apostolic Church,” we are not only saying that our church is rooted in the apostles’ teachings but that we, like they, are sent out. In other words, everyone within the local church is a missionary. Each person is sent out. Could you imagine the two men who walked with Jesus to Emmaus staying there with what they learned? Could you imagine them sitting at the table saying, “Let’s wait until the rest come to us, and we will tell them who we met along the road”? No, they immediately got up and hoofed it back to Jerusalem to tell the others, “It is really true—He is alive!” 

 We are not to sit back. We are sent out with the saving message that God loves the world. He shows that love by giving us His only Son. It is His Son, Jesus, who takes our punishment upon Himself, so that we can now call God “Father.” Enjoy and appreciate the rich and precious gift that is yours to call God “Father.” We had lost that right in the rebellion and disobedience of our sin. Not everyone born is a child of God. A creation of God? Yes. A child of God? No. Only those who know Jesus as their Savior and brother are able to call God their Father. This is a message that is unique to the world. No other religion lays claim to this. While the Islamic faith rejects outright any thought of God as Father, a recent survey of six hundred former Muslims who had become Christians reveals that one of the factors in their conversion was the emphasis on the love of God and the intimacy that we have with Him as our heavenly Father (Sproul, p. 33). 

 We are the “sent ones” into a world that is hungry to hear the Good News. This is not some new thought or fad. This is the prayer of Jesus. As He faced His own brutal death, most on His mind and heart was the future of the Church. He prayed, 

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world" (John 17:16-18).  

Jesus understood that the disciples would have to be sent. The world was not about to come to them. They would be engaging the world on its home turf. Back in the 50’s and 60’s, the world surrounding the church, at least in America, was familiar. The church was playing on its own home field. In sports, home field advantage is key. The crowd is friendly. The playing field is known. In the life of the church, we have lost the home field advantage. Today, we are not living in a churched culture. That does not cause me to despair. It does, however, cause me to say with even greater boldness, “I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church.” 

Elizabeth and Seth’s ship had come back to a different harbor and to a different country than the one they left seven days earlier. As a result, now more than ever, we need to see that the vessel of “one holy Christian and apostolic Church” is not a cruise ship for the comfort of its passengers, but a rescue ship sent out with a life-saving mission. Ships are safe in the harbor, but that is not what ships are built for. The vessel of the Church has been sent out to sail into the waters of a changing world with an unchangeable message of God’s love in Christ Jesus.
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Helping people live life with Jesus everyday,

Rev. Dr. Brent L Parrish