Biblical Mission Arises from Biblical Longing and Supplication

This is the second of four posts from Peter Schild (translated by Michael T. Schmid) which together constitute his booklet The Church and Missions.

‘As they ministered to the Lord and fasted…’ — Acts 13:2

There is a real danger that a church becomes stagnant in self-satisfaction. The church at Antioch could have said, ‘We have good teachers, a good, orderly worship service and a church life that is pleasing to God.’ And it could simply have been satisfied with itself about this. The church could have said, ‘We do not need anything else. Now we just want to focus on maintaining and edifying ourselves in some way.’ With such an attitude one loses sight of the actual mandate that the Lord has given to the church, namely fulfilling the Great Commission.

This church at Antioch was not self-satisfied. It had a holy dissatisfaction, a holy hunger. We read that they ‘fasted.’ Fasting is an expression of a hunger for God, an expression of a desire that God would intervene, that He would act. The one who fasts says, ‘Oh God, we need You more than our daily bread! We need Your intervention, Your direction, Your wisdom, Your strength, Your guidance! It is absolutely necessary that You act. We want You to receive glory, Your kingdom to be built. Therefore do something, oh Lord, for the glory of Your name! Maybe send out laborers, also from our midst. Show us what we can do so that Your holy name would be glorified!’

Biblical mission arises from churches that are not self-satisfied and preoccupied only with themselves, but that have a holy desire that God would act for His glory. These churches earnestly long that God would use the church for the furtherance of His kingdom. The church members in Antioch could simply have been content with what they had. But no, they earnestly desired the Lord, they sought God. They did not merely seek blessing for themselves, rather we see here that this church apparently had a huge burden for God’s kingdom and for the lost. That is why they also fasted. And it is evident here that the Lord answered their prayer. He sent out men. This suggests that they perhaps prayed something like this: ‘Lord, we want You to show us how we can serve You, how we can further Your kingdom, how we can reach the lost! This concern is more important to us than eating and drinking. We plead with You to do something for the glory of Your name! You must act, Lord, and show us what we must do, how we must proceed! Please lead us!’

This raises the question what our attitude might be, what your attitude might be. Do you have this holy dissatisfaction, a longing that God would intervene, that He would do great things for the glory of His name, that He would save the lost? Do you have a concern, a burden for this? Do you have a hunger for God, more than for your daily bread?

The church of God must always maintain a burning passion for mission work. Charles Haddon Spurgeon once stated it this way: ‘if there be any one point in which the Christian church ought to keep its fervour at a white heat, it is concerning missions to the heathen. If there be anything about which we cannot tolerate lukewarmness, it is in the matter of sending the gospel to a dying world.’¹This quote can be found in Spurgeon’s sermon ‘A Young Man’s Vision’, under the first subtitle, ‘Let us justify our vision’: https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/a-young-mans-vision/#flipbook/

Do you – does your church – have a holy, burning desire for God to intervene, to do something for His glory? Why does the Lord not use some churches in the same way as the church at Antioch? Why does such little blessing come from some churches, while in other cases, no mission work occurs at all? Could it be that the words of James are fulfilled in such churches: ‘you do not have because you do not ask’ (James 4:2)? Is this not at all a concern for you? Do you not have a hunger for this? Do you not wish at all that the Lord would be glorified, that His name would be worshipped from the rising of the sun to its setting, everywhere in the world? Churches that lack this heartfelt desire do not plead, do not fast and do not ask the Lord to send out labourers, as Christ taught us to pray in Luke 10:2: ‘Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’ Surely this is a biblical command, given by Jesus Himself: to pray that He would send out labourers! The harvest is great, but the labourers are few!

The church at Antioch pleaded with fasting that the Lord would hear the cry of their heart. Those who are richly blessed with biblical teaching are in danger of becoming self-satisfied and simply wanting to preserve themselves. They are also in danger of taking all of their blessings for granted: going to church Sunday after Sunday and hearing a sound expository sermon, taking part in an orderly worship service that is pleasing to God, and experiencing a biblical, orderly church life. One might think, ‘This is really wonderful, that we have all of this. Let us thank God for this!’ But are there also tears about the sad reality that millions and millions of lost souls experience none of this?
The church at Antioch sought the face of the Lord, because mission work is based on prayer work. Missions is based on prayer and supplication and fasting. The Lord can do great things if we only serve Him and seek His face, which is exactly what the church at Antioch did. And the Lord answered their prayer.

Peter Schild is a pastor of the Evangelical Reformed Baptist Church of Frankfurt. Two more instalments of Peter’s booklet will appear here on the Banner of Truth website in the coming two weeks. 

Featured image (visible when article shared on social media) by Billy Williams on Unsplash

First German edition, 2022. Original German title: Gemeinde und Mission. Translated by Michael T. Schmid. All Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.