Where Should We Do Missionary Work?

(Acts 1:1-8)

I. Introduction.
A. Orientation.
Horatius Bonar, in his preface to John Gillies,
Historical Collections Relating to Remarkable Periods of the Success of the
Gospel,
Gives us a very affecting image
Of the spiritual situation this world is in,
And whom the Lord will use to reach out to it.
He writes, The world is still sleeping its sleep of death. It has been a slumber of
many generations sometimes deeper, sometimes lighter yet still a slumber
like that of the tomb, as if destined to continue until the last trumpet sound; and
then there shall be no more sleep.
Yet God has not left it to sleep on unwarned. He has spoken in a voice that might
reach the dullest ears and quicken the coldest heart. Ten thousand times has He
thus spoken and still He speaks. But the world refuses to hear. Its myriads
slumber on, as if this sleep of death were the very blessedness of its being.
Yet in one sense the worlds sleep has never been universal. Never has there been
an age when it could be said there is not one awake. The multitude has always
slept, but there has always been a little flock awake. Even in the worlds
deepest midnight there have been always children of the light and of the day. In
the midst of a slumbering world some have been in every age awake. Gods
voice had reached them, and His mighty power had raised them, and they
walked the earth, awake among the sleepers, the living among the dead.
Bonar reminds us that
Most in this world are sleeping they are without life spiritually
They came into the world dead to God,
Hating Him, wanting nothing to do with Him or His Gospel,
On their way to judgment, and not caring.

Theyre all around us

In our homes, in our neighborhoods,
In the places we work.
Many of them go to church
Theyre even members of churches.

But he also reminds us, there are those who are awake
Those who have heard Gods voice,
Those who have been raised by His power,
Who are alive among the dead
Awake among the sleeping
Who alone can warn them,
Whom alone the Lord will use to reach them.
Who are these?
They are you and me.

B. Preview.
Last time, we looked at the answers to a few questions:

1. What is a missionary?
A missionary is one who is sent
To communicate the good news of the Gospel to others.
It doesnt refer only to those
Who do this cross-culturally, in foreign countries.

2. Whom has the Lord sent to do missionary work?

He hasnt given this responsibility
Only to a select, elite, specially gifted group of believers,
But to the whole church
Including you and me.

3. And, Why should we do missionary work?

a. We should it, not only because the Lord
Has given us this responsibility,
But also because of love:
He gave what was most precious to Him
He sent His Son to die for us that we might live
Jesus came and laid down His life for us
We should do it because we love Them.

b. We should do it because
This is how the Father will give His Son His reward
We must do the work of gathering His sheep.

c. We should do it,
Because its a joy and privilege to bring the Gospel to others.
If the medical field came up with a drug
That could cure every ill, stop the aging process,
And make you young again,

Youd gladly tell others about it

How much more when God freely promises
To give everyone heaven instead of hell,
If they will only trust in His Son?
He could have given this honor to His angels,
And they would have been thrilled to do it,
But He has given this honor to us.

d. We should also do missionary work,

Because its the only way
That those we care about
Our children, parents, family, friends, and neighbors
Will ever escape hell.

e. Were the only ones who can do this,

Because were the only ones who are awake,
Who know the danger others are in,
And who have the means to do something about it.

4. With this in mind, lets look at two more questions regarding missionary work:
a. Where should you do it?
b. And when should you do it?

II. Sermon.
A. First, where should you do missionary work?

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1. The simple answer is everywhere.
Jesus said in the Great Commission,
Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations (Matt. 28:19).
He says in Marks Gospel, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all
creation (16:15).
When Jesus tells us to disciple every nation,
He doesnt have in mind what we usually think:
Make disciples of Russia, Poland, Uganda, Cuba, etc.
Nations that are defined by geographical boundaries
But those that are defined by language and culture.
Literally, He wants us to reach every society, every people group.
This is summed up in all creation.

2. Thats a pretty tall order.

Where should we start?
a. Where we are is a very good place.
Jesus says in our text this morning,
You shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Youve probably noticed what Jesus says here

Isnt a command its a statement:
Hes telling His disciples what they will do, not what they must do.
And yet, it still has the force of a command,
Because its something that will happen

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You shall be my witnesses.
It also tells them how
They will carry out the Great Commission.
They will start where they are in Jerusalem
And work their way out from there.
And thats exactly what they did:

This work especially moved forward

When the Lord called the apostle Paul,
Who with his companions, reached the entire Roman Empire.
The Gospel has since gone even farther
Its come over to the Americas through colonization
Reaching the Native Americans,
As we saw last week through the work of David Brainerd and others
Its gone to other parts of the world as well
As well see this evening with William Carey
And it will eventually reach all creation.

b. But what does this tell us about where we should start?

It tells us that theres no better place to begin
Than where you already are.

Have you ever met anyone

Who wanted to do missionary work,
But somewhere else in a foreign country?

Why did they want to do that?

Somehow, they thought it would be easier
To evangelize over there
Where no one knew them
Than in their own country.
The opposite is really true.
If you cant communicate
Where there are relatively few barriers
Standing between you and your audience

We really have just one here:

Our audience is asleep, theyre dead;
But dont forget that the Lord can and will
Awaken and raise them to life through the Gospel

If you cant do that here,

Youll have a much more difficult time
When you add language and cultural barriers.

We need to begin where we are,

Before we move on to other areas.

Begin in your home.

If your spouse doesnt know Jesus,
Share the Gospel with him or her and pray He would convert them.

Teach your children the good news about Christ

Give them a good foundation for their life.
Urge them to trust Him and turn from their sins.
Pray that the Lord would breathe His life in their souls
And transform them by the power of the Gospel.

When youve got that well underway,

Begin to branch out to your more extended family members.
Yes, Jesus said that a prophet has no honor
In his hometown or among His relatives,
But He didnt say not to attempt to reach them
Thats exactly what He did,
And His brothers eventually trusted Him.

From there, work outward into your neighborhood.

Try to build relationships/bridges,
In which you can share Jesus.

At the same time, think about reaching

Those with whom you work.
Try to exploit in a good way
The relationships youve already built.

Bear in mind, if they never hear the Gospel,

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And if they never repent and trust Jesus,
They will suffer when they die for the rest of time
And you never know when youre going to die.
If theres any one thing Morgans death shows,
Its that death comes unexpectedly.

Sharing the Gospel with them doesnt guarantee theyll be saved,

But not sharing it almost guarantees they wont.
If the Lord has given you to them as a witness,
He may not have appointed any others.

If youve already done this,

Then you can work outward to other neighborhoods,
Depending on what the Lord has called you to do.

We do need to balance this work

With our other responsibilities
But we must never allow them
To crowd this one out.

Dont forget as well that in todays world

We dont have to travel very far
To reach other language and cultural groups.
Not only do we have the internet
Which we can use to reach every country

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That has access to the web
Many have already immigrated here.
Theres so much we can do in our own country,
And considering its current condition,
Theres much we need to do.

B. Second, when should you do missionary work?

If youre not doing it already,
You should begin immediately.
Jesus has already given us the command.
As His servants, its not up to us when we will obey it
We must obey now.

1. We should do our best to be ready

For every opportunity God gives us
Always armed with the Gospel,
And filled with the Spirit.
Peter writes,
But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed.
AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE
TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready
to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope
that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience
so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good
behavior in Christ will be put to shame (1 Pet. 3:14-16).

If you sincerely ask the Lord everyday

For the help of His Spirit and for opportunities,

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You will likely find both.

Sometimes people will ask you
As you live Christ in front of them
But most often, you will need to tell them.

If Jesus isnt at the center of your life

If youre not armed with this purpose;
If youre living as a closet Christian
This will be hard to do.
But if He is your center
If you are committed to evangelism,
If you are living openly as a believer
The Gospel will naturally flow from your life.
You wont have to force it into the conversation.

2. Being ready to share the Gospel

Is simply part of what it means
To redeem the time the Lord has given to you
As a part of your stewardship for Him.
As a good steward, you need to use your time wisely,
Because one day youre going to be asked
To give an accounting for it.
Paul writes to the Ephesians,

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Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the
most of your time, because the days are evil (5:15-16).

Time is so precious.
We only have so much of it, and no more,
And we dont even know how much that is.
One thing is sure,
Theres nothing we can do about the time weve already lost,
But we can do something about the time we have left.
And I cant think of a better use of it
Than trying to save those who will go down into hell for all eternity.
I know Spurgeon would agree
We see this in his writings from week to week.
William Carey would certainly agree.
He once wrote, Is not the commission of our Lord still binding upon us? Can
we not do more than now we are doing?
This is the kind of mindset we need,
If were going to reach out to others.

May the Lord help us

To listen to His call
And begin to reach out where we are,
That He may work through us
To bring the lost to faith in Jesus. Amen.
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