The Growth Bug

Well, last week, this week, you know, sometimes you get into a series without even knowing it. I preached a lesson last week and then decided I had more I wanted to say on the subject. And then, so I wrote some more this week. And then after I finished that, I realized I still had more to say. So believe it or not, we've backed into a 3 part series here.

The first part was last week, this week, and then next week, the conclusion. Now last week, my sermon talked about our identity as a church. And we're trying to answer the question, what kind of church is the church of Christ? You know, people ask you that question. What kind of church is that?

What kind of church do you go to? And in the lesson, I suggested that you answer that question with a statement about who we are rather than what we're against. And the answer we came up with is, well, we are doesn't sound like a lot for 500 people. We are a new testament church. Someone says, so what kind of church is that you go to, that that church of Christ out there on Choctaw Road?

And the answer is, we're a new testament church. And I explained that a new testament church was a church that followed only the teachings of the new testament in its establishment, in its organization, and in its function as a church. We wanna understand how to do something, we go to the new testament to try to understand that idea. And then we reviewed a few answers to other questions that might come up. For example, why do this?

You know, why bother? Why be a new testament church? Why do you follow only the bible and especially the new testament when it comes to matters of of the church? And the answer to that question was a little bit longer but basically broke down into 2 parts. Now I'm not gonna repeat the entire information this morning but basically, there are two reasons why we are and should be a new testament church.

First of all, because the church that Jesus established was commanded to do this. I mean, right away, you've already got one good reason right there. Jesus said, that's the way to do it. In the bible, Jesus and his apostles describe and teach about 1 church and 1 church only. Jesus never taught that there should be a lot of different kinds of churches.

Just 1 church, Upon this rock I will build my church. One church. And the way to become the church of Christ, the church of the bible, is by carefully following what the bible and more specifically what the new testament teaches about the church. And we looked at several passages of scripture. Matthew 28, 1920, 2nd Timothy 113, Acts 2:42.

You know, a lot of scriptures teach the idea that if you want to be the church that belongs to Jesus Christ, well you have to follow His words. You have to follow His instructions in order to become that church in every generation. Then I gave a second reason why we should be a new testament church and it's this, because there would be attempts to go away from the model or the pattern given in the new testament for Jesus' church. The bible warns against this attempt and says that the only way to oppose the attempt to get away from the new testament pattern is by carefully staying with the teachings of the new testament without adding to them, without taking them away without taking anything away from them, or without twisting them in any way. You have to read what it says and do what it says in order to be the church that belongs to Jesus Christ.

Now this struggle to maintain the purity of the church by remaining true to the new testament has been going on in every generation since apostolic times. It's always a problem. Our conclusion last week was that in the modern era, the church of Christ or the churches of Christ are the largest and most successful church to pursue New Testament Christianity. You know, we said, we're not the only ones, but we're the largest and most successful ones that have followed this concept, that have followed the New Testament pattern for the establishment and the functioning and the organization of the Lord's church. Alright.

So, so far today, we've reviewed all of this because my lesson today in my lesson today, I'd like to make it kind of an a practical application of this idea of following the new testament blueprint for the building of God's spiritual house which is the church. I gave you the theory last week. This week and next week, I want to give some practical applications. And so today, we're going to look at what the new testament says about growth. And so today's lesson, although I you know, sometimes or Harold, you know, he comes in the worst of weathers.

And Harold Jones, one of our deacons, and he's the one that puts up the sign, takes care of that and all that. And man, rain or shine, cold, wind, he's up there on his truck changing those letters and sometimes he changes those letters and he comes in and I say, Harold, I've changed my mind. That's the wrong title. So we we leave it up there anyways, you know. He won't he won't go back and do it.

He's only good for one change a week, you know. So this week, the title is, The New Testament Pattern for Church Growth. Well actually, that's next week's title. This week's title is The Growth Bug. That's a better title, you know, the growth bug.

And so I want to talk to you about the growth bug today. Now in the religious world, there are more books about church growth than you can shake a stick at. You know that? I mean, church growth is an industry unto itself. It has motivational speakers, PhDs wandering the country, authors, experts, and every one of them has a system that will guarantee that you will increase your numbers.

Because that's what it's about, increasing the numbers, getting big, you see? Now one of the reasons for this phenomenon is that growing is very important to the western mindset. Let's face it, in a society and in a country where success is measured by how many points you score, or how fast or how far you can go, or how big a crowd you can draw, it's no wonder that even churches become infected with what I call the growth bug. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not against growth, I'm for growth. And I do pay attention to those numbers that we have on the wall because those numbers are one of the barometers that kind of indicate how we're doing spiritually.

So I'm not against growth, don't get me wrong. What I do worry about however, are 2 common mistakes that churches often make when they seek to grow. Number one mistake, they make growth the objective. That's the most common mistake in church work, making growth the objective. Growth is not the reason the church was established.

Growth as an objective is never mentioned in the new testament concerning the church. You realize that? Jesus and the apostles never mentioned or compliment or criticize any congregation for its size. I mean, you look at you go, starting in Matthew and go all the way to you won't find it. It doesn't happen.

Growth is a byproduct of other things, which I will talk about later on. But growth is never the goal. Making size the goal leads to one of 2 bad things, pride or despair. See, if you succeed, then there's the temptation to think that with your hard work and your efforts, you made it grow. And on the other hand, there's despair.

If you fail, you blame yourself because you think it was your failure. I've known a lot of preachers, friends of mine, who have burned out, burned out simply because they took too much of the credit for the growth and too much of the credit for the failure, thinking somehow they were causing all of this to happen. Making size the goal is not a new testament concept. That's one mistake. Another mistake is churches sometimes use methods for growth that are not in the new testament.

Several of the biggest churches in America and I when I use church, I use a very broad, you know, I include all of quote Christianity there, not just the churches of Christ, but you know, churches. People who claim to be churches. Several of the biggest churches in America use methods that bring in people, yes, but that violate scripture. You see, they have orchestras and light shows. Well, you know what?

We had a band here. And if they've set up, you know, $50,000 worth of lighting in here, strobe lights And we had a guy who was a musician, the music minister, who could teach everybody how to play and we had a couple of $1,000 worth of instruments here. Do you know how big this youth group would be? Me. Or they promote women to positions of leadership and preaching and teaching in order to draw more female members.

Smart. Smart. You know, you gotta go to where the people are, give them what they want. Or they neglect to teach the new testament requirements of repentance and baptism for forgiveness of sins so that they can incorporate a wider base of individuals as members. As I said last week, any group can be a church.

And with the right marketing, any group can be a big church. But only obedience to Jesus Christ and his word makes you his church. That's the point. The point is being His church, that's what counts. Regardless of the size of your congregation, the important thing is that you're His church.

So you see the new testament. The new testament does have an objective for the church but size is not it. Well, if growth and size are not the objective, then what is? In a word, love. Love is the objective of the church and everything else is a byproduct of love.

Here's why. First of all, love is what conceived the church. The conception of the church was made in love. Ephesians 1, verse 3. Let me read this for you.

Paul says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him. In love there it is. In love, he predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved. Paul says that God's intention before the creation of the world before the creation of the world not an afterthought, before the creation of the world, God's intention was to form the church and to bless it with all of the spiritual blessings of heaven.

And the reason that He did this? Love. Because He loves. Because He is love, God did this. And so, the church was conceived in love.

Secondly, love is what brought the church forth. Isn't that what John says? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Love conceived the church. Love brought forth the church.

God produced the church that He conceived by sending His Son to die for the sins of everyone and to open the doors to forgiveness and eternal life. And again, what was the reason behind this? Love. Thirdly, love is the distinguishing mark of the church. John chapter 13 verse 35, Jesus says, By this, all men will know that you are my disciples in the way that you love one another.

You know, the universal tie, the universal marking, the indisputable mark that says that you are the church that belongs to Jesus Christ is the way that you love one another. We cannot be the new testament church without being the church of love. Fourthly, love is the apex of all the Christian virtues. Let's look at this familiar passage in 1st Corinthians, chapter 13. Love is the apex of all Christian virtues.

Listen to what Paul says. He says, if I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. Notice he says, he doesn't say, I have nothing. He says, I am nothing.

If I don't have love, I'm nothing. It doesn't matter what my education is, how much money I have, what I do, what other people think of me. If I do not have love, I am nothing. Then he says, and if I give all my possessions to feed the poor and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Not a little bit of profit, no profit.

And then he says about love that it is patient and kind and is not jealous. Love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, it's not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and love never fails. What's Paul saying? Well certainly he's talking about love.

He says that love is the test of true knowledge and wisdom. Love is the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit's work in us. You know, I I watch these programs, you know, and they talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit and they equate that with being excited and jumping up and down. And yet Paul very simply and very clearly explains that the culmination of the of all the work of the Holy Spirit in an individual is what? That that person becomes a loving person.

Never mind how loud they talk, how much they yell, what how they can sing. That that's not the point. Love is the greatest expression of faith. Love is the greatest expression of holiness and purity. If you love, you don't commit adultery.

If you love, you don't steal because love fulfills the law. Love is the one experience, and listen to this, love is the one experience that will remain with us in heaven. Because once we get to heaven, we will see what we only believed in and we will have what we only hoped for. And so with faith, hope, and love, the only thing to remain will be love in heaven. We won't need to believe anymore.

We'll be there. We don't need to hope because we'll have what we hoped for all of our lives. The only experience left is love. And so, to read the new testament and to miss love as the primary objective of our individual and corporate lives as a church is to miss the central theme of the entire Bible. John says that God is love.

John, 1st John 416. And if this is not our primary objective as a church, we're not a new testament church. You know that? It doesn't matter how we baptize. It doesn't matter what we teach in the class.

It doesn't matter if we use or don't use instruments to music. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Love is the defining characteristic of Christ's body. It's not the only characteristic, don't get me wrong.

It's the defining characteristic. I want to tell you something, if the only thing that people ever say about us here in Choctaw is that we don't use instruments of music, we have failed. We have failed miserably. As I said, love is the defining characteristic of Christ's body. It's not the only one, but it's the most important one.

And if we don't get this one right, it doesn't matter what else we get right. That's as simple as that. Well, I told you this is, second part in a 3 part lesson, and I'm going to continue next week. Now remember, the overall title is new testament pattern. Right?

Who we are as a church. Next week we're going to look at the pattern for growth. I told you, sort of, what growth isn't, what we shouldn't shoot for and what is the overall target. Next week, we're going to get down into the nuts and bolts of it and say, Well, does the new testament say anything on how we are to grow as a church? Sure it does.

And next week, I'm going to talk about this. I think, however, that it's important to first understand what our overall goal is and that's why I concentrated on this this morning. And keep our eye on that while we examine what the new testament teaches us about the other things. You see, we don't make the church grow. We don't make the church grow.

Just like we don't make a seed grow. Our task is to create the environment where the church can grow. And the new testament teaches us how to do that. I want you to think about a garden, right? You don't make the tomato seed grow, what do you do?

You work the earth, you work the soil, you water, you know, you take care of the environment but the seed's gonna grow all on its own. Our job for church growth is taking care of the environment, creating the environment where growth can take place. And I want to tell you now, the air that we breathe, that will create growth, is love. See what I'm saying? You're breathing in love.

If you're breathing in love, I guarantee you this church will grow. We'll give the specifics. Next week, I'll get to the specific elements of this lesson and show you what is the new testament pattern. What did Jesus say that we had to do to create that environment? Next week, we'll talk about that.

In the meantime, 2 questions. The lesson is yours this morning. First question, have I allowed god's love into my life? You see, god offers forgiveness to all of those who will accept that forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ. This is his expression of love.

He says to you, I forgive you for your sin. And he invites you to receive that forgiveness through repentance and baptism. That's how you express your faith in Jesus Christ. And so I encourage you this morning to let God's love and forgiveness for you into your life by repenting of your sins and by being baptized? And the second question is this, am I making love my objective as a Christian?

You know, it's easy to get side tracked, it's easy to get out of love with the lord by neglecting to read his word, neglecting to pay attention to him, neglecting to follow carefully what he says. It's easy to get out of love with the lord. It's easy to get out of love with the church by thinking we don't need the church or the church doesn't need us. It's easy to get into that. If you think that thought, I don't need the church or the church doesn't need me, ask yourself, who put that thought in your heart?

Was it Jesus Christ? Ask yourself that question. Would Jesus put that thought in your heart that you don't need the church or that the church doesn't need you? Maybe you need help to love the church a little more or maybe you need the love the love that the church has for you through prayer and through assistance. Whatever it is, our elders are here this morning to pray for you, to assist you in any way.

And if you have a need for that ministry, we encourage you to come forward now as we stand and as we sing.