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Bryan: Maybe your church is a healthy sending church. You're in regular contact with missionaries overseas, and each Sunday your pastor prays for unreached language groups. Or maybe your church is like most congregations in America. Technically, yes, you do support missionaries. You know this because of the collection of sun-bleached update letters pinned to the bulletin board—yep, the one in the corner next to the coffee urn. But whether those missionaries are still on the field or just what exactly they're up to over there is anyone's guess. If that strikes a chord, then Pastor Chad Vegas's answer to our question this week is for you. Our question comes from Sarah Brannon. Sarah spotted a slogan on one of our sweaters at a conference recently and wrote in to ask, "What does 'send to survive' mean?"
Chad: Sarah, thank you for your question. I have actually been asked a few times about this pithy caption "to send is to survive" from our recent drop, and so I'm glad you've asked. It's an attempt to capture a biblical truth in a short phrase.
What is that biblical truth? Well, I want to briefly consider Revelation 2:1–7. We hear this:
"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for My name's sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To one who conquers, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."
Now I want to note four features of this text.
First, we see the description of the author of this letter—the description of Jesus. He is the one who holds the seven stars and walks among the seven golden lampstands. Now in Revelation 1:20, we are told that this is a description of the Lord Jesus holding the seven messengers to the seven churches, or the seven stars, and walking among the seven churches of the seven golden lampstands. So the first thing I want to pick up here is that the church is described as a lampstand. What is a lampstand? It is an instrument that gives off light. That is what it is by its nature. What use is a lampstand from which no light comes forth? It is useless.
Second, notice what Jesus commends this church for in verse 2. "I know your works, your toil, and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for My name's sake, and you have not grown weary." So they are a church that is faithful to sound doctrine and sound living. Ephesus is not tolerating false teachers. In fact, Ephesus has endured much for the sake of Christ's name. These are glorious commendations that any church would want to hear.
But third, note what Jesus condemns this church for. Verse 4: "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first." They abandoned the love they had it first. Now what was that love? It was the love of Christ compelling them to proclaim the gospel to unbelievers—2 Corinthians 5:14. Now why do most scholars hold that view? Well, because of how the description of Jesus walking among the seven golden lampstands comes together with the warning that Jesus provides.
Note the warning Jesus issues in verse 5: "If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent." Now it is not unimportant that the two witnesses in Revelation 11 are referred to as lampstands. In other words, to witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ is to give off light. It's to be a lampstand. Thus, their lampstand will be removed because it has failed to give off any light, which is what it is designed to do.
Remember, Jesus said He is the light of the world. Jesus also said that we are the light of the world. Now He is the light of the world like the sun is. He is the good news, the source. We are the light of the world like the moon is. We reflect the light of the sun. This is what the church does due to what the church is. We're the body of Christ. And most specifically in this passage, we are a lampstand powered by the oil of the Holy Spirit to give off the light of the gospel of Christ.
The Holy Spirit is a missionary spirit. He was sent to empower Christ's church to make the gospel known to every tribe and tongue and nation. The Holy Spirit is the principle of life for Christ's church. As the Father sent the Son, so the Son sends us by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, if we fail to be what we are designed to be, then Christ will remove our lampstand.
As Alexander Duff, the Scottish missionary to India in the 19th century, stated, "When a church ceases to be evangelistic, it must cease to be evangelical, and when it ceases to be evangelical, it must cease to exist as a true Church of God, however primitive and apostolic it may be in an outward form and constitution."
In other words, the Church is a missionary society, and we are empowered by the missionary Spirit sent forth to make Christ known to the ends of the earth. As His lampstands—His churches. We're empowered by His Spirit to shine His light to every dark corner of the earth, enlightening the eyes of every language group who has never heard the Word of truth or the Word of Christ. This is the nature of our existence.
Thus, we must send to survive.
Bryan: To learn more about what it means for your church to send to survive, there are a few things you can do right now. First, join us at our national conference, The Lord Who Sends, in Fort Worth, TX this October. Full details are on our website at missionary.com. Second, while you're there, send us a question you'd like to hear answered on this show. You can also get in touch with us on social media and through the comments section on this episode. Finally, don't forget to subscribe to be notified about new episodes. Next week, missionary Brooks Buser answers a question about contact with an unreached language group. I hope you'll join us. Thanks for listening to Ask Missionary.