You Are Sent
Have you ever thought of yourself as someone God is sending?
Most of us don't. We think of missionaries as a special category of Christian: the ones who pack up their lives, move across an ocean, and learn a new language. And some believers are called to that.
But the New Testament paints a bigger picture. Every believer is sent. And the work we're sent to do isn't ultimately our work. It's His.
One of the clearest pictures of this is in Acts 13.
A CHURCH ONLY THE SPIRIT COULD BUILD
Luke opens the chapter by introducing us to the leaders of the church in Antioch:
"Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul." (Acts 13:1)
Look at how different these men are.
Barnabas was a Greek-speaking Jew from the island of Cyprus.
Simeon called Niger. "Niger" means dark-complexioned.
Lucius was from Cyrene in North Africa.
Manaen grew up alongside Herod the tetrarch, the ruler who had John the Baptist beheaded. He was a childhood companion, possibly even a foster brother, raised among the political elite.
Saul was a Pharisee trained under the great rabbi Gamaliel. He once persecuted the church, and now he was one of its leaders.
Could Luke have given us a more diverse list?
That's not an accident. No human strategy puts that group of people around the same table. Only the Spirit of God does that. Anyone who puts their faith in Jesus becomes part of His family.
And it's from this church that God begins sending people out.
THE WORK IS HIS
"While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off." (Acts 13:2–3)
Notice some things here.
The church wasn't holding a strategy meeting. They were worshiping. The direction came as they were focused on the Lord.
Notice who's speaking: the Holy Spirit. He's the one leading.
And notice whose work this is: "Set apart for me... for the work to which I have called them."
This is so important for how we understand our lives as believers. Barnabas and Saul didn't come up with a ministry plan and ask God to bless it. God was already at work, and He invited them to take part in what He was doing.
That's what we are: instruments. He leads. He guides. He empowers. And He receives the glory for what He does in and through us.
Paul would later write it this way:
"For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose." (Philippians 2:13)
Even the desire to go comes from Him.
This was the beginning of Paul's first missionary journey. He and Barnabas would travel roughly 1,000 miles, sharing the gospel, planting churches, and discipling new believers. When they finally returned to Antioch, listen to how Luke describes their report:
"On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles." (Acts 14:27)
Not "all that they had done." All that God had done through them.
That's the posture of someone who understands being sent.
SENT TOGETHER
Notice also that the church laid hands on them, prayed over them, and sent them off.
That laying on of hands was an endorsement. It said, "We're in this with you." The church would pray for them, support them financially, encourage them, and serve alongside them.
I know a couple serving as missionaries in Africa. When they talk about their calling, they sound a lot like Acts 13. The Spirit put a burden on their hearts for people who had never heard of Jesus. Over time it became clear: "This is what I'm setting you apart for."
And the people around them have come alongside them by giving, sending supplies, praying, and taking care of things back home.
That isn't religious duty. It isn't about earning anything from God. It's the Spirit at work in His people, breaking our hearts for those who don't yet know Him.
Maybe that's where the Spirit is leading you. Maybe He has been stirring something in you about going to another part of the world with the gospel. If so, pay attention to that. Talk to your pastor and your church family and trust Him to lead the next step.
SENT WITH A MESSAGE
When Barnabas and Saul arrived on Cyprus, Luke tells us what they did first:
"When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues." (Acts 13:5)
They proclaimed the word of God.
Loving people and serving people matters. But being sent includes a message. The Spirit works through us to share the good news of Jesus, because it's through responding to that message in faith that lives are changed.
It's the message that changed Paul. It's the message that changed Barnabas. So they carried it wherever the Spirit sent them.
SENT INTO OPPOSITION
Being sent doesn't mean everything goes smoothly.
On the island of Paphos, the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a governor-type leader Luke calls "an intelligent man," wanted to hear the word of God. But a sorcerer named Elymas (also called Bar-Jesus) tried to turn him away from the faith.
"Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 'You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord?'" (Acts 13:9–10)
Look at that language: deceit, trickery, perverting the right ways of the Lord.
That's how the enemy works. He rarely shows up looking like an enemy. He twists the truth and tries to deceive us.
So how do we recognize it?
We know the truth. We stay in Scripture. We listen for the Spirit's voice. When we see a lie, we call it what it is and renew our minds with the truth.
Notice that Paul does this "filled with the Holy Spirit." Even in confrontation, Paul is the instrument. The Spirit is the power. Elymas is struck blind for a time, a display of God's authority over evil.
IT WAS THE MESSAGE THAT CHANGED HIM
Here's what we can't miss:
"When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord." (Acts 13:12)
He saw the power of God. But what amazed him, and what led him to believe, was the teaching.
It was the good news that Jesus, the eternal Son of God, took on an additional nature, was born into this world, and died on a cross for the sins of the world, so that we could be forgiven and receive eternal life through faith in Him.
God's power got the proconsul's attention. The gospel changed his life.
YOUR MISSION FIELD
So what does this mean for the rest of us who aren't boarding a ship for Cyprus?
It means you are sent too.
Every Sunday we gather as the church to worship. Then we're sent out as the church on mission: into our workplaces, schools, neighborhoods, and ordinary conversations.
I think of a teacher I know who asks people to pray for each of her students by name every year. She leads a short Bible study before school and invites students and families to church. Her classroom is her mission field.
I think of a business leader who uses his client relationships to invite people into his life outside of work, to his property, to church events, to camps. He quietly pays for people to go on retreats and trips, and he has led people to Christ along the way. His business is his mission field.
I think of a man who treats every conversation as a possible assignment: at the convenience store, in his neighborhood, on job sites. He's always aware the Spirit might be at work in that moment to plant a seed. He has story after story of "random" encounters that weren't random.
I think of students who see their hallways, lunchrooms, classrooms, and teams as places they've been sent to share Jesus.
None of them are doing this in their own strength. They're simply available. The Spirit leads, and they follow. And when fruit comes, the glory goes to Him.
So let me ask you:
Where is He sending you this week?
Who are the people in your path? What doors might He be opening? What is He already doing that He's inviting you into?
You don't have to manufacture results. You don't have to be impressive. You just have to be available to the One who does the work.
