Growing A Church

Introduction

The more I look at Matthew 16 and verse 18, the more I’m impressed with what Jesus says to his disciples on the basis of Peter’s confession that he was indeed the Messiah. They believed him to be the long-promised Christ of the Old Testament. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And it’s upon that rock that Jesus says, I will build my church. So simple a statement, so much misconception as to what Jesus meant when he said those words. We studied that many times. We know what the Greek word is, right? The Greek word for church is the word Ecclesiah. Ecclesia. Very good. We got some audience response there. Ecclesia. Now that was not a religious word when Jesus used it. And you’ve probably heard that before.

It was just an assembly of people. Not all assemblies are to be compared with Jesus’ assembly that he’s talking about in Matthew 16. The point of tonight’s lesson is for us to be that assembly we read about in Matthew 16. Truly his people. Not to be, for example, the assembly that we read about in Acts 19. What you mean there’s an assembly in the New Testament that we’re not supposed to be in Ecclesiah? That, well, first of all, we’re not going to be that Ecclesiah, because that was an ecclesia at a certain time and place in the city of Ephesus that convened because of the preaching that Paul was doing. Because he was saying gods made with hands are no gods at all. And you know he was right about that.

But that created a big stir in Ephesus because great is Diana or Artemis of the Ephesians, and a great assembly gathered, an unlawful one, but a great assembly gathers in Ephesus, and it’s the same Greek term. It is the term ecclesia. And I draw that to your attention, not because I didn’t think you already knew it, because most of you did, but just because we label something ekklesia or church, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s his ecclesia, or that it glorifies him. And while that ecclesia in Acts 19 was gathered for the purpose of opposition to the Lord’s ecclesia, even if we are claiming to be his ecclesia, does not necessarily mean that we are. Another interesting Old Testament example in this regard. We’ve been studying about the errors of Israel that led to their 40-year wandering in the wilderness.

Remember when the spies went in Numbers chapter 13 to spy out the land that, oh, we’re grasshoppers, we’re going to get destroyed if we try this. And so the report of the spies was we cannot take the land. And ultimately in chapter 14, it says the congregation came together. That’s another term that we use to talk about the church, the idea of a congregation. But that particular congregation was not pleasing to the Lord as they tried to stone Moses. And Joshua and Caleb. And God has to intervene. So just because it’s a congregation, just because it’s a church, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s what God wants. Even if it’s a large and growing number of people. That’s what I want to talk to you about tonight.

Last week, you didn’t know this was a series, but I’m telling you now. A two-lesson series about church growth. I don’t like series. That’s why it’s only two lessons. Last week we talked about the seven myths of church growth. If you missed that, you can catch it on the website. Okay, Gary says it’s there.

I’m certainly not one to knock church growth, as you noticed last week. But it’s never been just about the numbers. So you might know how many members we have here. I’m talking about kids, because they’re not a part of the ecclesia yet. They’re safe if they’re unaccountable. But actual individuals, adults who have been baptized into the body of Christ. Thad says 142. Is that right? What is it? More? Okay, we have one more identified. We’re now after 143. And Thad tells me that we had 11 of the 143 here this morning. And that’s pretty good numbers when you start figuring out those that weren’t here and why. I said, like when the Giles aren’t here, that’s three. Is Lexi still considered a member, even though she’s in college?

So that’s four. Giles’s that we were missing. And of course, Patty is not able to attend with us on a frequent basis, and Kenny and Joseph, so others like that. So you start adding those numbers up. 116, pretty good. Center people that are traveling, and there’s always some who are doing that, some who are sick, like Judy, which meant the coffees work here. Pretty good numbers. Well, what do numbers indicate? And we’re going to talk about that tonight a little bit. But as we talk about church growth, there was a book written in the mid-1990s that almost every preacher that I know, at least of my generation, has his book on their bookshelf. It’s a book written by Rick Warren, who a couple of years ago got preachers into trouble by declaring $70,000 in parsonage allowance.

1. Church Health, Not Church Growth

And now they’re wanting to take that away from preachers as a result. If you build too big a house and declare parsonage allowance, somebody’s going to throw up a red flag. Thanks, Rick. We need that tax break. But Rick Warren wrote this book called The Purpose Driven Church. And in this book, he says the issue is church health, not church growth. And I agree with that. Now I may define health different than Rick Warren. But I agree with that statement. It’s more about church health than it is the church just growing. We talked about the myths of church growth last week. But here’s what we’re after. We are after health and success from God’s perspective. Not any way that man might measure a healthy church. In his book, Warren talks about a bipart strategy that is capsulated as warmer through fellowship, deeper through discipleship, stronger through worship, broader through ministry, and larger through evangelism.

But I would add this sixth step to truly be successful as God’s people, and that is to be right through obedience. If we’re going to grow in God’s way, as we’ve talked about many times, we’re going to have to listen to the instruction of the Lord. The subtitle of his book, Growth Without Compromising Your Mission and Message. There’s one little thing about that I don’t like. It’s not my mission and message that matters. It is God’s mission and message that matters. So I’ll just make that little change there, that little notation. Growth without compromising his mission and message. So I want to make this observation about growth. Not everything that grows is good. We could talk about, as I mentioned this morning, cancer. That’s something that grows that’s not good.

But even in regard to church growth, just because something is of tremendous numerical size does not necessarily mean that we have health or success.

Health and success as God’s people.

And they grow together. The tares are growing, and they’re among the Lord’s people, but they’re going to be weeded out. So the tares are something that is growing but not good. As one brother said regarding the tares, they grow and how. And in regard to false religion, there’s a lot of false religions that are much larger than we are. There’s a lot of churches in the Houston community that are a lot larger than we are. To many groups. Larger is good because larger means more manpower, and even more than that, more money. Numbers mean dollars. But I want to take you to a passage that really summarizes my thoughts tonight in Luke chapter 10 as we talk about church growth. This is what we want. If we get this, the money that we need to fund the Lord’s work will take care of itself.

2. Having the Right Answer Is Not Enough

But this is what we want. And if we end up with not enough money, we’ll be just fine because the Lord will take care of us. But this is what we need to focus on in terms of church growth. When the lawyer came to Jesus in Luke 10 in verse 25, and he said, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? And that’s the key. What is written in the law? How does it read to you? And he answered and said, Oh, a quotation out of this morning’s class. We didn’t get to Deuteronomy chapter 6. But we will, Lord willing, next week. They were able, and this is amazing. I was going to say this in class, but I’ll say it now instead, since we didn’t get to it.

They were able to determine from their reading of the book of Deuteronomy that this was the key commandment of the whole thing. And that is to love the Lord your God. It is the thing, after all, that Moses says, you need to teach to your children. You need to talk about it while you walk along the way. He says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your strength, and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. That is it. That’s the greatest commandment of the law. And then Jesus says what? He says to him, You have answered correctly. That’s always good when Jesus agrees with you. He says, You have answered correctly, do this, and you will live. And that tells us something very important.

And that is that having the right answer is not enough. Having the right answer is about church growth. Having the right answers about what makes us his church is not enough. I think sometimes it is easy for us to comfort ourselves and where we are spiritually because we can give a lot of right answers to a lot of questions. As to what the scriptures permit us to do. What biblical authority, saying this another way, what biblical authority allows us to do, what one must do, the steps with which he must comply or she must comply to become a member of the Lord’s church. And we’re pretty sure, are you pretty sure about your answer regarding that? And that’s one of the things that makes us very distinctive in the religious world.

I mean, we believe things about salvation that most religious groups, now, there’s a few more who are embracing the truth about what saves a person, and that’s gonna add a whole new complication in evangelism. But that’s a good thing that people are embracing truth about God’s plan of salvation, and more people are believing in the necessity of baptism. But we feel pretty good about ourselves because we’re teaching what saves a person according to God. And that’s what matters. And therefore, what it means to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is to embrace his law and his provisions. But he says, it’s not enough to have the right answers. Let us never be content with who we are because we have a lot of right answers.

You know, a lot of things come up in Bible classes, and a lot of good answers are given. This is a very intelligent, well-studied group of the Lord’s people. Sound, solid in biblical knowledge. But we must translate that knowledge into living love for God with all of our being. And that’s not necessarily an easy step. And it’s not necessarily an easy step to do in an ongoing way throughout decades of our lives. Can we love God for a day? I think most of us can. Or even a week. But can we love God week after week and month after month and year after year? And I tell you, I can look into the faces of people who’ve been doing this for a long time and tell you they will say, it’s not always easy to do.

And so it’s very easy to just break our arms, patting ourselves on the back saying, you know, we’ve given the right answers, where a lot of people are giving wrong answers. Aren’t we good folks?

3. Jesus Adds, Jesus Knows, and Jesus Judges

What kind of growth are we after here? Let’s talk about growing a church. There’s a lot of misconceptions about it. In a systematic theology class at a Baptist seminary, the professor was addressing the topic of the resurrection. One of his students raised his hands and he said, I didn’t sign up for this class to hear all of this theology. I want to grow a church. I want to know how to grow a church. Now that’s what he, that was his mindset. Just teach me how to grow, because I’m going to go out there, I’m going to be a minister, but I’m going to grow a church.

Understanding what Christ provided through his death and resurrection is the foundation of all true growth. He needs to understand that first before he’s concerned about growth, and particularly before he’s concerned about just numerical growth. That cannot be an end for us in and of itself. I want you to look at Ephesians in Ephesians chapter 4, when Paul really we could look at the entire book of Ephesians in this regard. In Ephesians 4, when he says, there is one body and one spirit. You were called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. If that does not begin your basis for church growth, you’re off to the wrong start.

That’s where it has to begin. Look at Ephesians 5 and verse 23. Oftentimes we’re so busy to look at this passage because it so directly relates to marriage, and we need teaching on that subject. And so we’re talking about husbands love your wives, and we need to spend a lot of time there, and maybe wives be subject to your husbands. That’s not very popular tenet of biblical study these days. And so we end up talking about that, but let’s look at Christ in relation to the church, his people. The church is subject to Christ, he says in verse 24, but in the prior verse in Ephesians 5 and verse 23, he said, Christ is also the head of the church. Now he said that back in chapter 1.

The church is his body. In Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 23, the fullness of him who fills all in all. And he comes back to that thought in chapter 5, and he says, husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church, verse 25, and gave himself up for her. But in verse 23, he says, the husband is the head of the wife as Christ also is the head of the church, he himself being the savior of the body. You know, we don’t get to define what the body is, what the body is going to believe, and therefore define the terms of salvation. Jesus does that. It’s his body. He’s the head, he directs his movements, and he himself is the savior of the body.

And here are three very simple thoughts that relate to that. It’s not just about how many people are inside the building. Again, we can call anything ekklesia. But are we his ecclesia? And here’s the thing we need to understand about real growth.

Jesus adds. Now you know the passage on that, right? Acts chapter 2. The Lord was adding to his body daily those who are being saved. But there’s something else that is true of he who is the head of the church, and that is that the Lord knows. Now you know where I’m going with that. 2 Timothy 2, 19. The Lord knows those that are his.

The firm foundation of God stands having this seal. The Lord knows those that are his. And who are they? Who are they? Young people, pay attention to what follows that. Those who abstain from wickedness. It’s not just allow the passions to do what we want, and grace will cover it. That’s the modern mentality. But he says, abstain from wickedness. The Lord adds, the Lord knows those that are his, and Acts 17, 30 and 31 that we quoted this morning, he’s going to judge the one in righteousness. So whatever we’re going to say about growing a church must be prefaced by Jesus’ statement back in Matthew 16 and verse 18 when he said, I will build my church. Jesus adds, Jesus knows, and Jesus judges, and there is no good growth apart from truth.

Going back to Ephesians 4. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one body. That’s the foundation for all of this. So, as our number has increased, we must and may still increase more, and that’s why the elders and deacons met this afternoon to talk about that, about knocking down walls and stuff to create more room, building a triple decker garage, and I don’t think they talked about that. Triple decker parking garage out there. Because we’ve been growing. And we anticipate more growth, and well, we should. But it’s not just numbers for numbers’ sake. Apart from truth, it’s meaningless. Because it is the truth that sets free. It’s not just about, well, it’s not about this at all. Promoting a product that people want. That’s only true if what they want is true.

Too much of religion today is consumer-driven. What can we do to get people in the doors and to be a part and again supply the finances that we need to fund this operation? Too much of it is consumer-driven. Look. If there’s only ten people in the Decker Prairie Township area, or whatever you caught me, I would tell people Decker Prairie, and they go, where in the world is that? I said, I don’t know exactly. But the church building is in it. But if there’s only ten people in Magnolia and Tomball and Decker Prairie who want to sign on to truth, then that’s how large the church needs to be, and that we have is that there are people who wanted that at some point in their past, but along the way have lost sight of that.

They’re not still walking with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength in love for the word. As I suggested, that’s a challenge. And so over time they just become a number. Let us make sure we’re not just a number. In the deck of Purdue. You know, you can sort of get lost too. Well, when we were just 80 to 100 people, it’s hard to get lost in a group that size. But now we’re up toward 145, 143 or so, and maybe you can get lost in the number. If I become a little hit and miss in my attendance, nobody’s going to notice. Actually, they will notice. Our elders will notice. Dad’s going to notice. I know that. We’re going to notice. Let’s not just be a number.

4. Real Growth Is Spiritual

Real growth has to do with who we are and what we are spiritually. Are we those people that we read about in Luke chapter 10 who not just give the right answers but live those answers? Continually meditating about who and what we are. As we said this morning, to perceive ourselves for exactly what we are. And who consider am I responding in a way in my life that reflects love for God? A passion for Him above everything else. And a passion for what is right. For His truth. Now, if we’re that kind of people, we may indeed experience numerical growth. But let’s not get the cart before the horse. When people see our good works, as Peter says, when we understand that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood and a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, and when we proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness and into his marvelous light, though we were once not a people and now we’re the people of God.

We had once not obtained mercy, but now we have obtained mercy. He says, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lust which wage war against the soul. There’s no clearer statement in the New Testament about our mission as his church than what Peter utters in 1 Peter 2 and verses 9 through 11. And then he says, keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles. He says, Those who are, and he’s using the term Gentiles there to represent those not of his church, those who are outside the fold of Israel of the saved. He says, Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, that they may observe your good deeds and glorify God in the day of visitation, that they may respond to what they see in you because of how you live.

This message.

But there’s no guarantee about that. And so what I want to say is not just is our growth spiritual, is it based upon the things revealed to us by the Holy Spirit? You know, we the word spiritual is thrown around these days as any kind of emotion and feeling in regard to spiritual things. If you have a mind to go to worship one or two times a month, or say positive things about Jesus in the workplace, then you’re spiritual. But really, who is the spiritual person? Paul says, I’m a spiritual person. I write the commandments of the Lord. That was his definition of spiritual in 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Who are truly spiritual people? They are concerned about the things of the Spirit in all of them.

5. Growth Is a Very Personal Thing

That’s who’s truly spiritual, who meditates on these things day and night, Psalm 1 and 2, and tries to implement them in her or his thinking and conduct. But when we talk about the growth of a church, really it all boils down to you. Oh, that’s easy, preacher. You can preach it me. But you, it’s very personal. I can try to be as persuasive as I can, as Paul said, knowing the terror of the Lord. We persuade men. We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. That goes back to the point about the Lord judging. But ultimately, no matter how persuasive a preacher or teacher or leader or elder is, ultimately, the only person that I can control is me. And I have my hands full with that.

Sherry, why are you grinning?

Growth is very, and you’re talking about a local church, growth is a very personal thing. Who’s going to make this church grow in the right way? Well, our elders are going to do that. Well, again, they can’t make you do what is against your will to do. They can’t make you love God. When we talk about growing a church, and where we haven’t looked at that verse yet in verse 16 of chapter 4, you know what that says, right? Each member supplying his or her part. They can’t make you do that. They can admonish you. They can study with you, they can pray for you, but ultimately it’s completely dependent upon you. And if we want to be a part of something that’s growing to the Lord and for him.

And after all, that’s what the church does in Ephesians chapter 3, as we stay in the book of Ephesians at 20 and verse 21. The purpose of the church is to give glory to God. And so is that what you’re doing? You need to take this business of real growth very personally, because that’s the one person in the local church that you can control. And I, you know, what did you, what have you been doing for the last three years? I’m not asking for accounting right now. This would take a long time if each of us gave our last three years of spiritual progress. Let’s say you’ve just sort of been languishing along for three years. Okay, let’s go back and fix all that. Well, we can’t change history, can we?

I can’t do anything about the last six years that I’ve been here. I can fix the things spiritually that I need to fix. But then I have to determine I’m going to walk forward. And I’m going to walk in such a way. And that’s what each of us needs to do. It doesn’t matter in some degree where you have been over the last six years. You need to deal with your past adequately. That is, get forgiveness where forgiveness is needed. Ask God to be merciful to you. But from this point onward, you need to dedicate yourself towards spiritual growth. I’m not going to be a liability in this congregation. I’m going to supply something positive toward the goal of the glory of God. We need to see growth as a very personal thing.

6. Be a Grand Slam Disciple

And that’s one of the things that actually Rick Warren talks about in his book. And he illustrates this, and he calls it the assimilation process. I don’t know, it sounds like something out of Star Trek. And the Borg, as I remember. They were all about assimilating things. But he calls it the assimilation process. This is how they make disciples and grow a church. And he represents it as a baseball diamond. Of course, Jesus at the center of it. I like that. Again, now I might not agree with where he goes with all this, but I sort of like his baseball diamond. I’m sort of into baseball. And getting to first base, he says the first thing you need to get people to do is committed to membership.

It all starts with knowledge. And then to get to second base, you need to get people growing and get them beyond just the simple elemental truths and get them headed towards spiritual maturity. Then you’ve got to get them serving. Get them involved in what is going on in the church. And then he says, you’ve got to get them to sharing what they’ve learned and who they are to other people. Now, the one thing I really don’t like about the baseball field all that much is I don’t like the last point too. I would change it this. We need to get people committed to the Great Commission. The same thing which you have heard from many witnesses, Paul told Timothy, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.

That’s the concept. Sanctify the Lord God in your heart and be ready always to give an answer to everyone that is in you in meekness and in fear. And then he calls this: if you get this done, you’ve got grand slam disciples. Well, maybe it’s a hooky illustration, maybe it’s not. But we want to be grand slam disciples. I don’t want to be a single sitter. I want to give my utmost to the Lord. Be a grand slam disciple. I sort of like that. And the idea of being an assimilation process, that’s what conversion to the Lord is all about. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed. By the renewing of your minds. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13. We have been translated out of darkness and into his marvelous life.

We are growing through discipleship, learning from our Lord to the full measure of the stature of Christ, same context. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 13. Warren maintains that the ultimate goal is to turn an audience into an army. And he said, and you military guys will appreciate this. You don’t judge the strength of an army by how many soldiers sit at the table in the mess hall, but how they perform on the front line. And we are definitely soldiers on the battlefield. We become, Warren says, what we are committed to. So we come to the conclusion. I want to share something with you that I’ve quoted many times. It took a while to research and find out who said this. It was Samuel Stiles. Or Samuel Smiles, actually, who said, sow a thought and reap an act.

Sow an act and reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny. I think that’s pretty well said. And that’s how it goes in discipleship and becoming like the Lord. It’s steps. No wonder Paul talks about walking as he talks about growth and maturity in Christ. Walking involves one step after another. And it starts with who you are in your heart. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then taking steps in the proper or direct or the proper direction. And the things that we do are a result of the things that we think. Sow a thought, reap an act. Reap an act, reap a habit. And I tell you the key to personal spiritual growth is the development of good habits.

You know, the key to developing good Bible study habits is not just maybe this works for you. I’m going to sit down and read the Bible in a year. Sectioned up in three to four chapters a day, and you can read the Bible in a year. Okay, the problem with that is you may not assimilate a lot of what you’ve read. Because you’re just reading. But if we would learn to spend a little time each day with the Word of God, maybe just a verse, maybe just a few verses, maybe just a paragraph, and thinking about what these verses mean in my everyday walk of life. And thinking about for maybe just 15 minutes. What is that going to look like for me? As I live tomorrow and the day after that.

Conclusion

And making little steps in our thoughts. Those things becoming our habits to where we don’t say, man, I’ve got to study the Bible again today. You’ve been doing it. It’s a part of your routine. And ultimately, what you think about becomes who you are. And ultimately, who you are determines where you end up. Eternally. So start with the right question. We talk about growth as we wrap up tonight as we talk about growth. Let’s start with the right question. The preacher has talked about his expectations of me tonight. Let’s not start there. That’s not the right question. Or about my parents. If your parents are members of the Lord’s body, it’s a wonderful thing, but they have expectations of you, and some people just hang on because of their parents.

I’m going to be a disappointment of my parents. I’m not saying that’s not a bad thing to think about. Think about that. Don’t be a disappointment to your parents. Or you might be motivated by your peers, what your peers expect of you. I’m not just talking about young people. I’m talking about other people our age and the body of Christ. They have expectations. We don’t want to disappoint them. We don’t want to let them down. But those are all the wrong questions. They’re only right if you’re asking the most important question. Concerned about your fears, concerned about your parents, concerned about the preacher or the elders. The most important question is this. What does the Lord want from it? Then answering those other questions will take care of itself.

What does he want in terms of growth? He wants us to grow in the grace and knowledge of Him. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 18. And you might recognize that passage in Micah. What does the Lord require of you? He doesn’t just want your religiosity. Your beautiful hymns. There are five or six hymns that we sing a couple of times on Sunday and on Wednesday. He, well, he wants the Lord’s Supper. But he doesn’t want just our religiosity. Not just sacrifice. That’s the point of Micah chapter 6. But he wants us to so respond to Him that it affects the way we live day after day. To do good. To be a people who make things better for others. That’s the point of that. That we do things that help others along the way.

Contribute something positive to other people. We do good. We do justice. We’re going to treat people fairly. We’re going to work for what is fair with other people that we deal with. We care about others. We do justice. We do good. We do justice. We love mercy.

And then he says, what? We walk humbly with our God. And that’s really going to be the key to the whole process walking humbly with our God. What kind of church are we going to be as the Decor Prairie Church of Christ? I’ll tell you when we are a success. And again, you’re the only one that control you, and I’m the only one that control me. But if everybody in this building this week, I’m not talking about three weeks ago. Let’s forget those things that are behind. Again, deal with sin that may be there. I’m not saying that. But let’s forget about that. You can’t undo what’s done. You can just fix it by praying to God for his fixes. Okay. But I’ll tell you what every one of us can do this week, which would mean a healthy, strong, Decker Prairie church.

We can walk humbly with God. That’s what you can do this week. And so if all 116, or however many are here tonight, of the Lord’s people who are so acknowledged by the Lord as members of his church in this place. If we would each walk humbly with our God, what a church. What a church we are to his glory. And that’s the kind of people we want to attract and add to this group. As many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself. We don’t want to just call them to a vibrant group of people. We’re going to call them to a vibrant relationship with the Lord. And that’s what I call each of us to. Do you need to come and embrace a thriving, living, vibrant relationship with our Lord and Savior on His terms?

We encourage you to do so while we stand and sing.