But just to remind us what we saw yesterday in our sessions, we began, remember, with the theological foundations for missions, how it is rooted first and foremost in God, and then planned by God in his covenants and worked out through those covenants in history. And remember, the whole goal is for glory. the glory of Christ and for his people to be with him forever. Then we considered the calling of the missionary, how it is Christ himself who still calls men to go and proclaim his gospel. Christ through his spirit working in his church is how that call comes. And then in the evening, we considered more about the sending church and the missionary. So we talked about the missionary being called, but then the work of the church in sending and ascending church according to what we saw, particularly in the book of Acts. So hopefully you're seeing there's a sense of progression here in our sessions. We've laid the theological foundations, how God calls missionaries, and it's the work of the church, therefore the ascending church is involved. But now, today then, we're going to talk about what is it that the missionary actually does when he goes? What is the work when they arrive on the field? What's the goal of mission work? And of necessity, we're only going to be able to skim the surface of this. Of course, it's a big topic. We could have a whole long conference just on this one topic. But before we begin, again, let's pray together. Our triune God, we come before you asking as we have sung that you would speak to us through your word in this hour. You are truly our blessed Savior, and we bless Your name. We ask for the illumination of Your Spirit in our midst. Lord, that we would have clarity as to what Your will is concerning the work of a missionary. Give us Your help, and would You be glorified through this, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So I have seven points for you today on this topic of the work of the missionary. If you have your notebooks, you'll see those seven points there, just to list them for you. First, we'll consider the purpose of the work of a missionary. Then the peculiarity of the work. How is it different, say, from a pastor in a local church? Then the priority of the work. the pattern of progress in the work, what does it look like as it goes forward, the practical principles for the work, the power to persevere in the work, and then the praise for the work. So these are our seven points. We'll be looking at various passages. So first I want us to consider the purpose of the work, and we're going to the passage that is very familiar to us. We've gone to it many times already in this conference, but look again at Matthew 28. particularly 18 to 20 in the Great Commission. Remember, as Jesus meets his disciples, particularly the 11 there on the mountain, He says to them in verse 18, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. So what is the end goal or aim of the missionaries' labors? Remember we've already said, even in the theological foundations, the last of those shows us the goal of missions, which is to glorify God. In particular, it's to glorify King Jesus. through the expansion of his kingdom on the earth. That is the purpose of missions. And how do we actually glorify King Jesus in the expansion of his kingdom? It's by making disciples and planting visible indigenous local churches among every tribe, tongue, nation, and language. J.H. Bovink has a work called The Introduction to the Science of Missions. I commend that to you. And in that, this is one of the things that he says about the goal or purpose of missions. He says, missions is the activity of the church. In essence, it is nothing else than an activity of Christ exercised through the church, through which the church in this interim period, in which the end is postponed, calls the peoples of the earth to repentance and faith in Christ. so that they may be made his disciples and through baptism be incorporated into the fellowship of those who await the coming of the kingdom in its fullness." So again, we've already said these things, but I want to emphasize it again. The Great Commission is not just about making converts. It's not just about making decisions. Converts are not enough. It's about making disciples, and you know that word, disciple, it means a lifelong learner. Someone who is a follower of Christ for the entirety of their life. And so, it's something more than just a four spiritual laws tract that's given to someone and moving on. That means that there must be discipling. There's baptizing, he says. Make disciples, baptizing them. Again, we've said this already, but it's an ordinance given to the church. So it must be done through the work of the church. Just like the Lord's Supper is an ordinance given to the church. It's not something you do on your own or as a family. It is something done as a family of God in the local church. Then, lastly, this part of saying, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded. And again, you can't do that even in a two-hour gospel presentation. To command and teach them everything that Christ has commanded, that takes a lifetime, because what we're talking about is the whole counsel of God. We're talking about the whole revelation of the scriptures, which is why they're gathered into local churches to sit under the preaching and teaching of the word by the man that God has called. So that takes time. That means it's got to be part of a church. In other words, to put it this way, what the Great Commission teaches us is that the purpose of the missionary's work is to glorify Christ through the planting of churches, as we've said many times. But I want you to think again just even in how Christ goes about giving this commission, the centrality of the local church in the plan and purpose of God is clearly displayed. The Great Commission itself is given by Christ here to his apostles who are the foundation of his church. So it's given to his church in that sense. And it's to be carried out by who? His church. With the purpose of doing what? Planting more local churches. See the centrality of the local church in the mission work, in Christ's plan, in his purpose. There's a wonderful book by our brother Earl Blackburn called Jesus Loves the Church and So Should You. He loves his church. He loves his bride, his people. One of my favorite things is to go through and see in the book of Ephesians the different metaphors and analogies that Paul uses to describe Christ's church. So for example, in Ephesians 1.22, it says that Christ, the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in him. The church is a body, it's connected to its head, Christ the head. We are the ones who are, as it were, carrying out the will of the head, doing what he calls us to do. That's part of what it means as a church to be his body. He also talks about the church as a temple in Ephesians 2, 19 to 22. It talks about Christ is a chief cornerstone with the apostles and the prophets as the foundation. He's building us into a heavenly temple where the spirit of God dwells. The church is the place in which God comes in his special presence on the earth. It's amazing to think about that. Have you ever considered that as you come on the Lord's Day to gather in your local church, that you are a living stone, that Christ is connected with other living stones. And as you gather to worship Him, the Spirit of God fills that place because you, the people of God, are the temple of God. So it's not just gathering in some kind of building. It's gathering in the very presence of the holy, holy, holy God. It's having access into the most holy place through the blood of Christ. Also, in the book of Ephesians, it talks about how the church is God's wise display in Ephesians 3. That through the church, the manifold wisdom of God is being displayed to principalities and powers and authorities. That this is the means by which God shows that unseen world, spiritual world, this is my wisdom. You want to see an expression of my wisdom, look at my church. Now that kind of seems odd to us sometimes when we know ourselves and we know one another, but we see that this is Christ's work in us and what he's making us into and how it turns the world's wisdom on its head and shows forth the amazing wisdom of God. This is what the church is. God's wise display. And of course, as I've already mentioned, Ephesians five, it talks about the church as the bride, that Christ himself, gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish." And there you see the great end. There is the great goal that Christ would have his bride. people made up from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language, all of us at the end, as Christ returns, sitting down with Him at the wedding supper of the Lamb. That's the vision that drives us, that His bride would be complete, perfect by His work. And if that's the end, then the purpose of the work of the missionary is the growth of Christ's bride through the planting of local churches. So that's its purpose. But let's think then about the peculiarity of the work. That's also the purpose, as it were, of the church all around. It's the purpose of pastors. It's the purpose of church members. We want to build one another up in love, into Christ. But what's the peculiarity of the missionary? Now here I want to make another clarifying statement. The title that we use, missionary, let's be clear, it's not a distinctive office in the church. We live in a post-apostolic age, and during the apostolic age, of course, there were also apostles and prophets, and then you have pastors and deacons, but we live in a post-apostolic age. As our confession puts it in chapter 26, paragraph 8, it says this, A particular church, gathered and completely organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members. And the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church, so called and gathered, for the peculiar administration of ordinances and execution of power or duty which he entrusts them with, or calls them to, to be continued to the end of the world, are bishops or elders and deacons. You may know the word pastor or elder or bishop in the New Testament is all referring to the same office. So that's one office, and then you have deacons. That's part of the point I was seeking to make yesterday in the missionary call, is that the term missionary itself, it's not an office in the church, a separate and distinct office. Yet, a church planter that is going to plant churches is to be in the office of elder, pastor, bishop. That's what we saw with Acts 13. Saul, while Saul was also in that sense an apostle, Barnabas wasn't an apostle, but he was an elder or pastor of the church there. So today, in our post-apostolic age, church planning missionaries should be men who are qualified as elders, pastors in their local churches. So that means that the missionary that goes in that capacity is in the same office as, say, Niger and the others who stayed. So it's not a different office that Paul Barnabas has as he goes, right? It's the same in that sense of his particular post-apostolic age. And yet, there is a peculiarity to the missionary who's sent to do this work, a peculiar and particular work for the missionary to do. Remember what he said in Acts 13, the Spirit of God said, set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So there's a distinct work that the Spirit of God has in mind. And what is that? Well, here, turn with me to 1 Corinthians 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3, you remember in this letter Paul is writing to a church that is wracked with division and difficulties, particularly in this first part of the letter there's divisions between those in the church saying, I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Peter, or Cephas, so various kinds of divisions that are going on, people following particular leaders. But notice what he says here in chapter 3 verse 5. What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers, you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it." And so we see that while you have both Paul and Apollos, They had different work to do, a different role in the work that God had assigned to each of them. There's a diversity of the work. This is true also, say, in a local church's own eldership. You can have, you remember when we think about elders, there's the reality that we desire as much as possible to have a plurality is what we see as the normal pattern. We see parity, meaning one elder doesn't have more authority than another. All of the elders have the same authority. But there's also a diversity, and that is a diversity of gifts and graces. Not all cookie cutter exactly the same. Therefore, they may have different functions within the church, within the eldership. And so you see that even in this. And you have a description of the particular work of Paul, and that is he was a foundation layer. I remember after I graduated from college, I graduated as a computer science major, but it was a time in which there weren't any computer science jobs in the town I was living in. So I found the next best job I could, which was a construction worker. And so I worked with a man in building a home, actually an addition onto another man's home for his in-laws to live in. And the first thing you have to do is lay a solid foundation. And you have to make sure that you line it up straight and things, otherwise your walls are not going to stay up. You have to make sure there's not cracks in that foundation. Lay everything out in its proper proportions and take special care, particularly with that foundation. And so the same is true here. The distinctive work of a missionary, particularly pioneer missions where you're going to an area where there is no church, you're seeking to lay a foundation. Now, it's clear what that foundation is. It is nothing other than the foundation of Jesus Christ. And so Christ is that foundation that Paul lays a foundation. He goes into error, he proclaims the gospel. That's the distinctive work that he's doing. And then after that foundation is laid, others sometimes come in and build up the church on that foundation. Oftentimes a pastor or an elder in an established church, that's the work that they're continuing to do. Where the missionary's job is going and laying that foundation so someone else can come in. And then that missionary moves on. Isn't that what we see Paul doing throughout his missionary journeys? He goes to the area, he starts at a synagogue, proclaims the gospel, some come to faith, he goes to the marketplaces, and they're gathered together, and what's he seek to do? Raise them up to a point where he can appoint elders, officers in the church, others that can continue that work of building on the foundation, and he moves on. So that's the peculiarity of the work of the missionary. But what's the priority in the work? To put it another way, where do you go to lay foundations? Well here, turn back to Romans chapter 15, just a couple pages over. Let's read from verse 14 down to verse 24. Paul writes, I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another. But on some points I have written to you very boldly, by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God, for I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience by word and deed, by the power signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and all the way around to Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel not where Christ has already been named lest I build on someone else's foundation there's the same language but as it is written Those who have never been told of him will see, and those who have never heard will understand. This is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. Stop our reading there. But notice again, verse 20, he uses the language of building a foundation. He doesn't want to build on someone else's foundation. He wants to be one who's called to doing this work, to do the work of laying foundations. And where does he go? Where is it that he desires? Not where Christ already has been named. And this word named, it doesn't just mean that people say, oh yeah, I'm a Christian. But it means that Christ has been clearly proclaimed for who he is and who he's revealed in the scriptures. That he's not only proclaimed, but there are those that by the working of the Spirit of God have come to acknowledge Christ for who he is and embrace him as their Lord and Savior. That's what it means where he has been named. And not to places where faithful sound churches already exist. Even if there's just a few churches, Paul doesn't go there. Notice, for example, when Paul writes the letter to the Colossians, he's never been to the church in Colossae. In fact, that's a church planted by others. So it's not a place in which he then seeks to go because there's already a church there. So even if there's just a few, those churches can begin continuing that work of spreading in that region. Notice again verse 22 where he says, this is the reason why I have so often been hindered from coming to you. Why did he not go to Rome? There was already a church in Rome and there were areas and regions still around that had not yet had any foundation laid. So he continues that work until it's done. And then even as he comes to Rome, why is he going to Rome? Because he wants to go to Spain. You see, it's just more of a sense of a stop to encourage them, be encouraged by them. in his work on the way over. So in our own day, we can think about this in three different areas. There's a sense of going to unreached people groups or countries or provinces that need foundation laying. That's our first priority, a place where, for example, there's no Bible in a native tongue, mother tongue, no access to the gospel. We need this to be our first priority. where there's no self-propagating churches. People have not heard and responded to the gospel. But at the same time, in our own day, we must recognize that there are also places and countries in which they once had much gospel light and many faithful churches. But today, in our day, they have fallen back into a state of virtually being an unreached people themselves. Some who hold various statistics would say that less than 1% of those in Europe are actually born-again Christians. It's another area of the world that once had much gospel light, but has lost much since then. But there's also a need, and it's important to see, there's also a place for where Christianity is spreading but a doctrinally unsound Christianity is there so that the foundation that has been laid is unsure and is already cracking, as it were. And sometimes men need to go to help make those foundations sound and sure again. We've talked much about, for example, what's going on in the Far East. It seems like many are coming and yet The foundations aren't stable, and you see that by the fact that so many are easily swayed to cults and other things, and there aren't actually men to be shepherds, under-shepherds, to protect the flock in that way. So there's a need for that kind of work as well, that the foundation not be lost. So that's the priority in the work. But then, fourthly, let's consider the pattern of progress in the work. When a missionary gets to the field, how do they work through things? How should things work out? Well, when William Carey arrived in India in 1793, for example, he operated under five basic principles. These were the things that he said. The gospel should be preached by every possible means as widely as possible. That's the first thing. Secondly, he said the Bible should be translated into the languages of the people and distributed widely The third thing the church a church should be established as soon as possible The fourth thing Missionaries should carry on a profound study of the culture and thought of the people among whom they are ministering so they can understand how to wisely minister to them, preaching the word to them, applying it to their specific situations. And then lastly, he said, as early as possible, indigenous leaders should be trained to carry on the ministry of the new churches. So that gives you a sense of what William Carey said. To put it maybe in a slightly different order for our modern context or our current context, you could think of it this way. One of the first things that has to happen is the learning of the language and assimilating to the culture. In order to communicate the gospel, we must use words, speaking their language. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And so we need to know the language, but also understanding the culture. Because those two things are inextricably bound together. It's highly recommended that a missionary that doesn't know the language or the culture in a deep way, to spend their first two years focusing really mainly on that. language study so that you can get to the point of fluency to be able to communicate and preach in the language. And it's hugely important that if you're going with a spouse, your wife is able to do that as well. One of the things that we've seen throughout the history of missions is so often a man has to come off the field because his wife never really is able to get into the culture. Part of that is she's not given the time, because she's caring for the kids or other things, to really learn the language well enough to be involved in the culture. So that's also hugely important. You need to learn the customs, the ways of the people. For example, going into Asian countries, you don't walk in with your shoes on and just barge into someone's house. Take off those shoes. That's part of their culture. We already talked about certain hand gestures which mean one thing in one culture and something in another. Colors also mean different things in different cultures. These can be important ways of learning the culture and not needlessly offending someone. And that's where it's a work of loving others with a servant heart as we heard about culture yesterday in 1 Corinthians 9 where Paul says, for though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more to them. That's Christ-like humility. That's giving up our own preferences, our own culture, our own way, as far as biblically possible to rightly accommodate to those who are seeking to win to Christ. So there's this intense time of learning the language and the culture, but then there's intense evangelization. When you're able to speak, you proclaim Christ through every legitimate biblical means. Of course, the most important thing is starting with prayer. Again, we recognize, ultimately, we cannot make disciples. You can't change a person's heart. God is the one who does. He is the one who gives them a new heart, taking out the heart of stone. And so we must pray and pray that God would then be our guide and give us open doors in that sense which Paul says, for example, in Colossians 4.3. At the same time, pray also for us that God may open to us a door, for what? For the word, to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I am in prison. So that's part of praying and knowing that the work is to proclaim the gospel in its multi-faceted ways. And in that day, then, looking for those opportunities in different ways. Methods and techniques, then, aren't the main thing. The main thing is faithfully proclaiming Christ. John L. Nevius, who was a Reformed Presbyterian missionary to China in the 19th century, spoke about some of the different ways he sought to bring the gospel through private interaction and hospitality, through Bible distribution, through tract distribution, through setting up different chapels and locations to preach, translating, bookmaking, itinerating. All of these things were part of what he did. So after then this intense evangelization, and as the Lord blesses and brings his elect to himself, then you're gathering them and forming them into a local church. You're discipling them, you're teaching them, you're training them. That's part of that teaching them to obey all things. So that Paul could say, after he had been in Ephesus for three years, in Acts 20, I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. And that's where you see the importance of training local leaders. Remember, Paul meets with the elders of the church in Ephesus at Miletus, most likely men that he had trained and raised up to be the elders as he moved on. And then, after that is done and there is that foundation of the church laid there, Looking for the next town, as it were. Where do we go next? Having that sense of an exit strategy. In a sense, as some of us were talking, I can't remember, it's a way of working yourself out of a job. That's a good time, that's a good way of seeing it. You want to be able to go on and for that church to stand under Christ with its own pastors. Deacons, as you move on to continue that work of laying another foundation where Christ has not been named. But it's important to remember as a missionary, as you move on, and your job of laying that foundation is over, that doesn't mean your relationship with that church is over. How often do we see Paul coming back to visit, to strengthen, or to write letters? So there's a continued relationship, continued help in that way. but moving on to do that work of laying other foundation places. So that's kind of a sense of the practical progress. But then fifthly, let's consider some of the practical principles for the work. And again, there's many, many principles. I'm just going to mention three that you may have heard of us use before from the history of missions. And you need to understand how they were developed. And it came about in the history of missions because there was a shift in missionary methods in the late 1800s. An older method was this. A missionary goes to a place and they form kind of their own little separate compound away from everyone else. And they would go out, as it were, to the market, preach, and hopefully then someone becomes a Christian, and then they bring them into the compound. And they even start to pay them for work that they would do. Work of evangelizing, help building church buildings. But the missionaries themselves always maintained control. This is kind of an older model in the early 1800s. And the problem was, after 15 to 20 years, The indigenous Christians showed no initiative to do anything. The foreign missionary, he's doing it all. He's the one who has the control. He's the one who tells us what to do. He's the one who pays us. The money comes from their foreign country. And so the church has never really matured and actually developed. So what happened was there were principles developed for indigenous church planting. They were developed in one sense kind of independently, one by a man named Rufus Anderson in the United States, who was born about 1796, and another man named Henry Vinn in the United Kingdom, part of the Anglican Missions. And then further developed by the man I mentioned, John L. Nevius. And then in our own day, the most recent type of books are those by Roland Allen. and a man named Melvin Hodges, for example, has written a book on indigenous church planting. But it follows this idea of what's called the three self principles. And that is a church should be planted so that it becomes self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating. And we need to understand what that means. What does it mean that it's self-supporting? It doesn't mean that it's not relying on Christ. No, the point of what he's saying is self-supporting is there's no need for outside money to carry on the work of the ministry. In other words, the missionary doesn't seek financial help himself from the church that he's planting, he's supported from his sending church and other churches back from his home. But the church itself that's being planted should be growing to the point where it can support its own pastor, support the work of the ministry that it's doing in evangelizing. The church that's being planted should have its own bank accounts, be able to manage them themselves. And it should provide its own building, pay its own pastor. The priority is, of course, paying one of the men who will be the pastor, the ordained man from among them, and then moving towards things like a building, building funds. So that's self-supporting. Then secondly, self-governing. That means leaders are raised up for the local church from the indigenous people in the church. This is one of the things that's so important in my own ministry has been a focus on developing men for the church. This is one of the great notes that our brother, Pastor Steve Martin, has had in his ministry, which has so stuck with me. That one of the things that we do in discipling men, as you go to plant a church, you're discipling them first to be godly men who lead their own families. You teach them and take them with you to be involved in evangelism. You have them begin when ready to take on other responsibilities as you see them being faithful and little, giving them a little more, perhaps starting to lead a Bible study, Perhaps you begin to choose certain key men. When you're making decisions, you're bringing them into the decision making, getting their counsel, seeing them mature and grow in Lord willing as Christ gifts them and shapes them to be leaders in the church. It's important for a missionary then to make clear to the church that you plan to leave the church with their own leaders as soon as possible, as soon as wise. Now, that doesn't mean that it's necessarily one or two years or even six months like it was with the Apostle Paul at times. Sometimes it's ten years before that is ready, or more. But when those leaders are raised up and it's time, they need to recognize you're going to move on. And while that might be difficult for them, that's part of the calling of the missionary to continue in that sense of planting these other churches. You could think of it this way, before those leaders are raised up, that missionary in a sense is like an interim pastor, just passing through. And then thirdly then, self-supporting, self-governing, self-propagating. that there is enough spiritual vitality in that church to spread the gospel and continue to propagate the gospel in their own city, region, and land. To be able to teach and train believers how to speak the gospel, how to invite others who are unbelievers over, teaching them to answer objections in their culture, giving them good evangelistic literature, all of these things. involving the whole of the church and others that are being brought to faith in Christ into the work of the church. Remember, evangelism is a ministry of the whole church and their involvement in it. And so the church becomes not just a mission field itself, but it is also a missionary-creating church itself. Now again, there can be nuances in the way that this looks in missionaries. Some, for example, I know there are some missionaries who've gone, they've helped to plan a church, and they've remained there, but part of their work is in that location, they're continuing to train up other leaders, indigenous leaders that they're sending out. So there is a place for those kinds of things. But this is the sense and some of the principles in the work of missions. But then, sixthly, What's the power to persevere in the work? And here is the reality. The work of missions and the work of ministry anywhere is a difficult work, filled with trials and suffering. And yes, there can be unique trials when you're in mission work, but nevertheless, they are trials. Listen to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11. You remember his list of some of the things he suffered in his missionary work. Second Corinthians 11 verse 24, five times I received at the hands of the Jews the 40 lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city. danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers, in toil and hardship through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure, and apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches." Wow. But notice, turn with me to Colossians. How do we understand what is going on here? Colossians chapter 1. Notice verse 24. What does Paul say? Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. What Paul says he is doing in his sufferings for the church is he is filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction. Now what does that mean? Is there anything actually insufficient about what Christ has done in his suffering for us? No. Paul's not saying that, but he's saying this, before his return in glory, the risen Lord will continue to share the afflictions of his people until the full measure of the church's sufferings, which are Christ's afflictions, is made up. Paul's sufferings help to complete the full toll and hasten the end. Remember when Paul meets the Lord on the road to Damascus and what does he say? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my church? No, me. See, in Christ's church being afflicted, Christ himself is being persecuted. Christ himself in that sense, suffers with his people. And there is a measure that must be filled up according to the divine plan of God before Christ returns. And what Paul is doing, as it were, is he is taking more than his fair share of suffering with Christ, for Christ, and for the gospel. He understands that God has ordained his people to suffer trials and tribulations. He understands the phrase that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. It's like the martyrs under the throne who are crying out, how long, oh Lord? And it's until the full number come in is the answer. So he understands, Paul understands. He's able to go through all of those shipwrecks and beatings because he knows that the kingdom of Christ advances not through man's power, not through man's glory, not through man's exaltation, but through present suffering and humiliation. That's how the kingdom expands. He calls his servants to this suffering. that the gospel would not only be proclaimed in its words, but shown in the lives of God's people. So Paul perseveres for the sake of the church, knowing that he's suffering with Christ, filling up what's lacking in that sense. And how does he do it, though? How in the world can he do it? By Christ's power. by Christ's power. He says, it's for the sake of his body that is the church. Going on to verse 25, he says, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them, God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you. the hope of glory, Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone mature in Christ, that's the goal, for this I toil, struggling with all His energy, that He powerfully works within me. He is able to persevere because He does it by Christ's power, Christ's energy. that works within him. The goal is Christian maturity. The goal is Christ-likeness. He wants his Savior to have his purified bride. And he will give his all to do what Christ calls him to do in that work. Then lastly, consider this, the praise for the work. We come back again to Romans 15. Notice what is it that Paul says he can be proud of or boast in. In Romans 15 verse 17 he says, In Christ Jesus then I have reason to be proud of my work for God, for I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience. By word and deed, by the power of the signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God, so that from Jerusalem all the way around to Lyricum, I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ. In Acts 14, he says this, verse 27, And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them. and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. What's the praise for the work? It's being able to say, look at what God has done. Look how He, through a weak, broken vessel like me, is able to bring other lost sinners to salvation in Christ, and not only to save them from the wrath of God, but to make them into those who are like Christ, who have a heart like Christ, who love Him, who want to serve Him, who love Heavenly Father. Look at what God has done. So it's all to the praise of the glory of God and His grace. This is the praise of the work of the missionary. Brothers and sisters, let us remember them. Our Lord is the risen, the reigning Lord who is still on the throne, who's still actively building his church. And what an amazing privilege you and I have as part of his church to be involved in this work, to bring him all glory, honor, wisdom, power, and praise to him. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, What an amazing, amazing work you call your church to. What a privilege it is for us to serve you, our Master and Lord, who is not like other masters, but a Master and Lord who has so loved us that you gave yourself up for us. Oh God, we pray that you would raise up many, even here, that would be true missionaries to take the gospel where it's not been named, to lay foundation, the foundation of Christ, that churches would be planted, and even more churches planted from those churches. Lord, if that is not our role in the work, help us to be faithful members of churches that sinned. To do all that you call us to do is to support that work and encourage that work for the glory of your name. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Do we have some time for questions? Questions? Discussion? Well, this is a good question, but I appreciate the insight on what Paul said about filling up the sufferings of Christ. It's a mindset he has. Sometimes what he says is just a mindset. It's a mindset. When the church has finished all the sufferings that it's ever gone to endure, Right. And so he's doing his part to hasten that day. I've told my people when the last elect person believes the gospel and is saved, I believe he's coming back. Amen. I think you alluded to that point. Yes. Amen. I appreciate that. Glory, right? That's the end goal. And that is Christ's return. And we want to see that. Amen. Other questions? comment. If we're going to be sending churches, and seeing this now, not only do priest gospels have churches, but they're meant to have churches. Amen. Amen. Amen. This is a familiar verse to us, but you know, 2 Timothy 2, where it says, You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. And there you actually have four generations. Paul speaking to Timothy, who he has mentored and trained, telling Timothy, train and raise up other faithful men who can then do what? Train a generation after that. Steve? Amen. That's exactly the model I followed. I think it's important. Mentoring is an important part. Part of bringing this out is recognizing that's part of the work of the ministry for all pastors. It's not an optional extra. You can't just slough it off to, oh, the seminary will take care of that. The work of the church, seminaries are that which come alongside, and they're important, and they're helpful in that sense. But that's not all the training a man needs for the ministry. Really, it's like what you do with your children, or what you should do with your children. Paul himself uses the language with the Thessalonians, I was like a father to you, I was like a mother to you. There is that same kind of analogy. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the mission of the different evangelistic methods. One of the things you mentioned was hospitality. I'd like some snip-raised commentary on the role of hospitality in missions. OK. I'll say a couple of things, and then please others, if you'd like to make comments as well. I think hospitality, you see it obviously as a very important part of, one, thinking about it in the sense of even the role of an elder. It's something that's part of the qualifications, right? And then you see it as something that we're called to do as well in Romans 12, our hospitality towards one another. But there's this real sense, and particularly in many cultures, This sense of having someone into your home, which lends itself to an openness. But for many, I remember hearing from a missionary, one of the very helpful aids in bringing people to faith was not just him having others in, but those in their church, that as they become Christians, they would have others into their home. unbelievers and starting to have those questions and then inviting them to church. They're hearing the preaching as well, but they still have questions. And inviting them over for dinner, they discuss what they've heard and how the Lord so often uses that. I mean, the Lord used that in my own life, right? Going to Reformed Baptist Church for the first time, one of the things that struck me was, wow, all these people are inviting me over. And I get free food. As a college student, that's great. But more than that, it wasn't just about the food, it was the conversations and being able to ask questions and work through those things in that kind of setting. So hospitality, it shows, one, it's a practical expression of love, but it also provides that context and opportunity to really speak more of the gospel and Christ. So, hugely important. worked in missions for several years. And as y'all were talking about, you know, you get a missionary that says, is he really ready for the mission? Is he adept at it? Is he charismatic? And there were so many who weren't. But they turned out to be the leaders, three of the people we work with. We would have never thought it when we were working with him. He went on to be the head of the organization. So you never know. It's not a thing of how free you are. It's how. All these people we're talking about, both them and their wives, they were in the organization. I can tell a group like this, you ought to practice hospitality. And the wives are all set, and it's easy for you to say, husband. But one of the things we can do to help our wives, because wives kind of feel a lot of the burden of facing the food for them, preparing for the meal. They don't want to just have to gruel and just have to grab food. They want to get something nice and stuff. That varies from culture to culture and income to income. We were first married when my temper was different from my wife's. I'd only have students over. I'd go, let's have people over for dinner. She'd go, why? We don't need those people. We just have a nice meal together. Then it wasn't that she was antisocial. She didn't see the need. I think about my wife in the last 25 years. She was married for various reasons. I think she did better than being a lover. She loves having people in her time that they're here. She does. And there was also, I had to have a choice, like, who you're asking. And it's a tremendous thing. I learned about it. I fell into it when I was working with students in California. In the 70s, I had a couple, a boy and a girl that had been dating, and kind of sleeping together. And then became Christians, and started doing things the Christian way. And I moved there. And I lived with two single guys. Nothing matched, nothing on the table matched those plastic plumboards and plastic plates. Everything was just a mess. We had dinner. We loved eating dinner at your guys' house. They go, no, they did it at our house. One of them didn't eat dinner. They never ate dinner together. Somebody's in this room. Somebody's watching TV in their bedroom. Somebody's here. They never ate dinner as a family. They don't eat dinner as a white family. They eat dinner for World War III. So you don't want to go to dinner because it's a big argument. They go, you guys are so wonderful. You're kidding us. And that's a huge point. I mean, for many particularly new Christians didn't grow up in a Christian home. They have no sense of what that's to look like. And that was true for me and going to these homes when I was in college as well. blew my mind. You mean you can actually have a home that's peaceful like this and you're all sitting together? And that in itself is testimony of the gospel and the work of the gospel.