The Mission Debrief: Grace, Gentiles, and Government
Introduction: The Accountability of the Saints
We live in an age that is allergic to accountability. The modern evangelical mind prizes autonomy, authenticity, and personal experience above all else. The idea of submitting to a formal authority, of giving a straight report, of being under a government other than the self, is seen as stifling, legalistic, or just plain offensive. The spirit of the age is to do what is right in your own eyes, and then perhaps to blog about it. We have a multitude of freelance Christians, spiritual entrepreneurs, and self-appointed ministries, all operating outside the government that Christ established for His people, which is the local church.
But when we come to the Scriptures, we find a completely different world. We find order, structure, authority, and accountability. And we find it, not as a burden to be borne, but as a grace to be received. The missionary enterprise of the early church was not a freewheeling, individualistic affair. It was not a collection of rogue operators with a "call" and a PayPal account. It was the deliberate, commissioned, and accountable work of the visible, local church. The men who went out were sent by a specific church, and when their work was done, they came home to that specific church and gave a report.
This passage, which concludes the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas, is not a mere travelogue. It is not just the last few lines of a chapter, tying up loose ends. It is a formal, covenantal debriefing. It is a report given to the sending authority. It demonstrates for all time that the work of the kingdom is a disciplined, orderly, and governmental affair. The church at Antioch was not a mere "resource center" or a "support base." It was the embassy of the King, and these men were its official ambassadors. What we have here is a lesson in the high spiritual reality of ecclesiastical government, and it is a bracing corrective to the sloppy sentimentalism that characterizes so much of modern missions.
The Text
And when they passed through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. And from there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. And when they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. And they spent not a little time with the disciples.
(Acts 14:24-28 LSB)
The Ordinary Work of Finishing Well (vv. 24-25)
We begin with the return journey. After the high drama of being worshipped as gods in one moment and stoned and left for dead in the next, the conclusion of the trip is remarkably plain.
"And when they passed through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia. And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia." (Acts 14:24-25)
This is the hard, unglamorous work of finishing the job. This is the long walk home. There are no miracles recorded here, no dramatic confrontations. There is just the faithful plodding of obedient men. And in the middle of this plodding, what do they do? They preach. "They had spoken the word in Perga." This is the central task. This is the main engine of the kingdom. It is not healing, it is not signs and wonders, it is not strategic planning, it is the proclamation of the Word of God. Everything else is commentary.
Our modern mission strategies are often filled with every manner of gimmick and program. We want to attract people with our music, our social programs, our clever marketing. But the apostolic method is stunningly simple: speak the Word. This is because the Word has power. It is the Word that creates worlds, and it is the Word that creates new hearts. Paul and Barnabas were not trying to make the gospel relevant; they knew the gospel creates its own relevance in the hearts of those whom God is calling. They were simply faithful to the central task. Much of the Christian life is not mountain-top experiences, but the faithful, day-in-day-out work of speaking and living according to the Word.
Committed to the Grace of God (v. 26)
Verse 26 brings them back to their starting point, and Luke adds a crucial theological observation.
"And from there they sailed to Antioch, from where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled." (Acts 14:26 LSB)
Look at that phrase carefully. When the church at Antioch sent them out (Acts 13:3), they had fasted, prayed, laid their hands on them, and sent them off. Luke here summarizes that entire act as committing them "to the grace of God." They were not committed to a budget. They were not committed to a five-year strategic plan. They were not committed to a mission agency. They were handed over, lock, stock, and barrel, to the grace of God.
What does this mean? It means that the unmerited, sovereign, enabling power of God is the only resource that ultimately matters in the work of the kingdom. Grace is not simply a sweet theological notion; it is spiritual horsepower. It is the fuel for all faithful ministry. To be committed to the grace of God is to be entrusted to a power that can handle riots in Iconium, fickle crowds in Lystra, and the long, dusty road home. It is to recognize that our sufficiency is not in ourselves, but in God.
And notice the result. They were committed to grace for the work they had now "fulfilled." They completed the task. They finished the course set before them. This is the confidence that the doctrine of grace gives us. God does not send men out on impossible missions and then leave them to their own devices. The grace that commissions is the grace that completes. This is a profoundly postmillennial confidence. We are not engaged in a desperate, losing battle. We are on the winning side, and the grace of God will ensure that the work He assigns will be fulfilled.
The Official Report: God's Agency and the Open Door (v. 27)
When they arrive, the first order of business is to gather the church and deliver their report. And the content of that report is absolutely central.
"And when they had arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles." (Acts 14:27 LSB)
Pay close attention to the grammar. They did not report what they had done for God. They reported what God had done with them. This is a universe of difference. This demolishes every form of man-centered evangelism. Paul and Barnabas understood their role perfectly. They were the instruments, the tools, the chisels in the hand of the master sculptor. God was the agent. God was the one doing the work. They were simply the means that He was pleased to use.
And what was the headline of this report? What was the great news? It was that God "had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles." The central miracle of this entire journey was not the healing of a cripple or surviving a stoning. The central miracle was the sovereign, gracious, and effectual salvation of the Gentiles. God opened a door. This is not a door that was simply unlocked, leaving it up to the Gentiles to push it open. This is a door that God Himself swung wide open. This is the language of sovereign, irresistible grace.
This is a direct polemic against all forms of Arminianism that would place the ultimate decision for salvation in the hands of the sinner. The Gentiles did not find a door; God opened a door to them. Faith itself is a gift, and the opportunity to believe is an act of divine initiative. God does not just make salvation possible; He makes it happen. He does not just suggest; He saves. This is the glorious news they brought back to Antioch: the kingdom of God is advancing, not by human will or wisdom, but by the raw power of God opening doors that no man can shut.
The Centrality of the Local Church (v. 28)
The passage concludes with a simple, yet profound, statement.
"And they spent not a little time with the disciples." (Acts 14:28 LSB)
The missionaries came home. They did not immediately start planning the next tour. They did not write a book and go on the conference circuit. They returned to the body. They reintegrated into the life of the local covenant community. They spent a long time with the disciples, under the authority of the elders who sent them, participating in the ordinary life of the church.
This underscores the fundamental truth that the local church is both the engine and the destination of all mission work. We are sent out from the church in order to plant and establish more churches. The goal is not a host of disconnected individual converts, but rather the establishment of new embassies of the kingdom, new outposts of the new creation, where the saints can live together under the ministry of the Word and sacrament. This is a rebuke to the modern celebrity missionary, who is often untethered from any real local church authority and accountable to no one but his board of directors and his mailing list.
Conclusion: Your Mission Debrief
This passage is not simply a historical record. It is a paradigm for us. This church, right here, is a sending body. We are the Antioch of this place. We have been committed to the grace of God for the work that He has assigned to us. For some, that work may be across the ocean. But for every single one of us, that work is in our homes, our neighborhoods, our workplaces.
You have been sent. You have been committed to the grace of God to be a husband, a wife, a father, a mother, a student, an employee. And one day, you will give a report. The question this text forces upon us is this: what will be in that report? Will it be a story of what you have done for God? Or will it be a testimony to what God, in His grace, has done with you?
Let us therefore reject the rampant individualism of our age. Let us reject the notion of a free-agent Christianity. Let us embrace our role within the government of Christ's church. Let us be sent, let us be faithful in the plodding work, let us rely entirely on the grace of God, and let us be diligent to report what He has done. For He is the one building His church, and He is the one opening doors of faith, and to Him alone belongs all the glory.