Companionship in Missions

Driving home: God's will is discovered in His Word, not only by explicit precepts, but also by precedents that are set and by principles that are embodied in concrete situations.

Jesus's response to the devil, 'It is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God,' illustrates how God's will is known through explicit precepts.

lesson, we take up the fifth category of concern, namely what we have chosen to call companionship or teamwork in the work of missions. Now, the precise area of concern is best brought into sharp focus by the question, should a man undertake the work alone, or should it be undertaken with fellow workers or at least one ministerial companion? Now, as we seek to answer this question from the Word of God, we need to remind ourselves that God's will is discovered in His Word, not only by explicit precepts, but also by precedents that are set and by principles that are embodied in concrete situatio...

2:24 - 3:46 Read in full sermon

Driving home: God's will is discovered in His Word, not only by explicit precepts, but also by precedents that are set and by principles that are embodied in concrete situations.

Jesus's reference to David eating the sacred bread when accused of breaking the Sabbath illustrates how God's will is known through precedents set in Scripture.

You shall not tempt. But then our Lord also, in dealing with others, indicated that He expected them to know the will of God from precedents that were set in Scripture. For example, when the Pharisees were accusing Jesus of breaking the Sabbath, He sought to answer their charge by saying to them, Did you never read what David did? And then He cites the incident when David took of the sacred bread, in the sacred place which ordinarily was set apart only for the priest, and he and his fighting men ate it in that particular set of circumstances. Clearly, our Lord expected that thoughtful readers ...

3:46 - 4:55 Read in full sermon

Driving home: God's will is discovered in His Word, not only by explicit precepts, but also by precedents that are set and by principles that are embodied in concrete situations.

The Old Testament law about not muzzling the ox when it treads out the corn illustrates how a law embodies a principle (workers deserve reward), which is then applied to gospel preachers.

However the early rows of theires of its finallyτά he Theo and projects,ulu enlightens, that God is God. Now I want to move to a chemical subject, on the noble fact that one that is extremely Timothy 5. We find the Old Testament legislation concerning not muzzling the ox when it treads out the corn to be a clear Old Testament law which embodied a principle, and the principle is that the person who threshes ought to thresh in hope of reward, and this in turn is used to buttress and underscore the rightness and the propriety of those who preach the gospel living of the gospel. So it's important ...

5:07 - 6:34 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The arguments for sending out men one by one under existing circumstances are undeniably strong and weighty, but still the conduct of our Lord in this place is a striking fact.

Bishop Ryle's comment on Mark 6:7 is quoted to emphasize that pragmatism should not override the principle of sending missionaries two by two, despite the great harvest and few laborers.

Not because there was a plethora of workers and because the harvest was relatively small and therefore they could afford the luxury of companionship in the work to which they were commissioned, but in spite of a harvest that was greater than the number of laborers, our Lord still sent them two by two. Now Bishop Ryle, in his expository thoughts on the Gospels, has a most interesting comment. With reference to this account in Mark 6, I quote now Bishop Ryle, page 113 of his expository thoughts on the Gospel of Mark. It is probable that this principle is not sufficiently remembered in the Church...

9:04 - 10:04 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Paul was no Lone Ranger.

The analogy of the Lone Ranger is used to highlight that Paul, despite his stature, never worked alone, underscoring the universal pattern of companionship.

Think of his true stature before God. Think of his stature and his credibility before the eyes, of the early church. And yet, Paul never sought to be that man who rides on a white horse with a black mask and shoots silver bullets, whom many of us came to know in our childhood as the Lone Ranger. When Paul went forth to serve the Lord in the missionary enterprise, no one could ever say, the Lone Ranger rides again.

24:12 - 24:46 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Paul was no Lone Ranger.

Bishop Ryle is quoted again, stating that the consistent practice of apostles working in pairs suggests a 'rule' that, if more strictly observed, would yield greater missionary results.

Paul was no Lone Ranger. And in all of these instances, in this fourth group of texts, we see his deep concern that he be found in a companionship of labor with at least one and many times more than one fellow worker with him in those missionary endeavors. Again, I quote from Ryle, who, speaking on the passage in Mark 6, goes on to say, in addition to what I previously quoted, the fact that there is hardly a single case in the Acts of the Apostles where we find Paul or any other apostle working entirely alone is another remarkable circumstance. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that if t...

24:47 - 26:05 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray that God will give us grace to be obedient to the light of His Word regarding companionship in missions.

Bishop Ryle is quoted on the advantages of Christian company for those who work for Christ, reinforcing that the 'two by two' pattern is not arbitrary but beneficial.

let me say that God's revealed will in this matter, as it is revealed in the precedence set in Scripture, is surely not arbitrary. Again, I quote from Bishop Ryle, there can be no doubt that this fact, the fact of people being sent forth two by two, is meant to teach us the advantages of Christian company to all who work for Christ. The wise man had good reason for saying, two are better than one, Ecclesiastes 4.9.

29:34 - 30:06 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray that God will give us grace to be obedient to the light of His Word regarding companionship in missions.

The passage from Ecclesiastes is quoted to enumerate the practical benefits of companionship: more work, better judgment, mutual aid, encouragement, and comfort.

Two men together will do more work than two men singly. They will help one another in judgment and commit fewer mistakes. They will aid one another in difficulties and less often fail of success. They will stir up one another when tempted to idleness and less often relapse into indolence and indifference.

30:06 - 30:31 Read in full sermon