2While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
3Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
4So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit. . . (Acts 13:2-4).
In Acts 13, Paul, along with his companion, Barnabas is being sent out on his first of three missionary journeys. But check out the process by which these two men were sent and then let’s compare how we send people out on missions today.
First, Paul and Barnabas were already actively serving in the church. Note Acts 13:2 states, “And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting. . .”
Let’s stop at think this passage through. The word “minister” comes from a Greek work in the bible that describes priestly service. In other words, serving in the church is an act of worship to God, in that it offers spiritual sacrifices to God, in the form of prayer, worship, oversight, preaching, teaching, and helping – in essence using one’s spiritual gift. The idea is that these men’s service to the Lord was also their act of worship.
Therefore, the early church did not send anyone out on a mission trip who had not already proven themselves in the church through their sacrificial service of worship.
I wonder if we did that today, how many would we be sending out on mission trips? I think the numbers would go down considerably. It seems that when a mission trip is announced, people rise up to want to go. They are all excited. But when it comes to the weekly routine of attending church and serving in some capacity using their spiritual gift on a regular basis, they are seldom seen.
Perhaps, we church leaders think that going on a mission trip would make a considerable spiritual impact in a person’s life. So we give our blessing. I don’t doubt that. But if a person is not making an impact to a group of people before he or she leaves, what makes it so sure that when they come back all energized and excited that they will continue what they had learned on the mission field? After a short while, all they got are good memories and a photo album.
Next, take a look at this and don’t let this fly by. The text says that “they were ministering TO THE LORD.” You say, “So?” You see, that’s my point. You have to really look at this closely.
There is a huge difference between ministering FOR the Lord and ministering TO the Lord. Here is what I mean.
Think about this for a moment and be honest. Hasn’t most of your ministry in the church been “for the Lord” rather than “to the Lord?” I know mine has. We are so busy ministering FOR the Lord that we rarely minister TO the Lord.
Here is a verse taken from Ezekiel 44:16: "They shall enter my sanctuary, and they shall approach my table, to minister to Me, and they shall keep my charge."
You see, ministering to the Lord is an act of worship on our part. Ministering for the Lord is more of an act of duty. We tend to score ourselves on how busy we are and the amount of things we can juggle. The more busier we are the more spiritual we feel. We think to ourselves, “I must be really spiritual because look and see all that I am doing for the Lord.” But all of our serving must encompass a spirit or worship. We see not dwell on the amount of our service, but on the quality – why are we doing what we are doing? Is it for our self-image? It if for our own self gratification, to make us feel good? Or do we serve Jesus first as an act of worship – thus our service is TO Him and not merely FOR Him.
We become at times so geared up on letting God work THROUGH us (Serving For Him), rather than letting God work IN us (Serving to Him). Remember, God does not need us to get things done. He graciously chooses to allow us to partner with Him, but not because He is lost without us. He allows us to do so in order for us to express our praise and admiration to His Lordship. He puts us on His team not because He has no one else, but because He loving entrusts us with an important assignment. We therefore, take this trust given to us seriously and minister to Him (first, i.e. “in us”) and then for Him (second, i.e. “through us”), and direct all the results and fruit back to Him for His glory and honor.
So before Paul and Barnabas were sent out on their first missionary trip, they first had to been actively ministering TO THE LORD in the church. Now how many would still be eligible to go base on this?
“But,” you say, “how you would know of such a thing? How can you tell whether or not someone is ministering “to the Lord?”
“Fasting.” Notice how it adds that they were ministering to the Lord “and fasting.” Fervent Prayer is often connected with fasting (Neh. 1:4; Ps. 35:13; Dan. 9:3; Matt. 17:21; Luke 2:37). In verse 2, Paul and Barnabas are praying and fasting for God’s approval; and in verse 3, the church prays and fast for both God’s approval and confirmation.
Again, I ask: “How many of those we send out on missionary trips are sent out without going through the effort of fasting and praying?” What we tend to look for is a person’s desire to go and their willingness to do their own fundraising. But rarely do we look at a person serving record in the church and whether or not they and the church leaders have spend significant time in both prayer and fasting. And the purpose of doing all this is to verify that the Holy Spirit has chosen those who want to go.
In many Christian circles the Holy Spirit is either neglected, forgotten, or misunderstood. The One given to unite the body of Christ is the center of controversy...So often Christian work is so rigidly programmed that it seems we need no longer depend on Him—yet Jesus said, "Without Me you can do nothing."
The late Dr. A. W. Tozer, author and pastor, said, "If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. But if the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference." (Source: "The Holy Spirit: Missing," Alan Redpath in Christian Life magazine. Christianity Today, Vol. 29, no. 18.)
Finally, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul FOR THE WORK which I had called them” (v. 2). Mission trips are about work. It is not a vacation trip, or sight-seeing trip or a business trip. It is a mission trip that involves work. What kind of work? V. 5 – “They began to proclaim the Word of God. . .” It is about proclaiming Jesus to those who are lost. It is about strengthening churches (cf. Acts 15:41).
So if we are to be brutally honest, I think we may not measure up to the task of selecting missionaries the way that the early church did. We see that the early Christians did the following:
1. They selected people who were already ministering in the church to the Lord.
2. They selected missionaries only as the Holy Spirit pointed them out through prayer and fasting.
3. And they selected missionaries only as the ones who were desiring to go and be used were also engaged in both prayer and fasting.
Having a desire to go oversees or some other place to serve the Lord is a start, but surely not enough. It is the Holy Spirit who must select the personnel, and it is the church and its leaders who must through prayer and fasting confirm those whom the Holy Spirit has chosen.
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