Anniversary Yr 1 Growing Together

Today is an anniversary. I was inducted exactly a year ago today and so I thought I would leave our series of going through the Gospels chronologically to talk about something that is important to me, I suppose, something like a vision of what I think the Church should be like.

Throughout Scripture we are admonished to grow. When we become Christians we are at the start of a journey and we are expected to advance and progress, not stagnate and grow mould, to move forward not backwards. Same for you as for me.

The fact is that God wants us to grow. He planned our salvation; He is the author and finisher of our faith; He brings to completion what has been started and we are part of this work. So when we know that it is God’s purpose and plan to get us to the finish line then it takes a lot of the stress off us knowing how to get there for we should naturally do that as Christians. But this does not remove the responsibility off us for finishing well. We are expected to listen and do what Scripture says.

So, let us look at what the Scriptures say:

Ephesians 4:11–16 NKJV

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

In this passage we see that God has given gifts to the Church and all these are so we help others to grow in Christ.

God gives gifts, both spiritual and natural to be used so that we can all grow up together:

1 Corinthians 3:5–7 NKJV

5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

We have to be careful of thinking of not thinking too highly of ourselves for God is the origin of everything we have and are. There is no room for pride or dissension. The pot cannot say to the potter ‘what are you doing?’, ‘what are you playing at?’, ‘why did you make me like this?’ for what we are God created and He created us so that we can reflect His glory in the best way possible. God certainly does not do things the way we would but I think that God loves employing people who are weak, people who are nobodies to make his plan come about.

When we read the story about Samson and see how God used him despite his taste for women, his anger and his disregarding of his vows as a Nazirite especially the clause of not cutting his hair; he was a weak man physically (that’s why he surprised everyone with his strength when his hair was grown) and he was weak in regards to temptation but who was still used for God’s glory and purpose: so this gives hope to all of us.

God wants to guarantee our growth so God has given us the Church and has given us ministers but one thing that ministers cannot do is make us grow. They can give the food, the tools, and the direction but like the saying goes: ‘you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink’ is true. We have to help ourselves with God’s help and with the support of others but in the end we, personally, have to put some effort into our spiritual lives.

We are made to grow. Growing is natural. In growing we are fruitful. Growing starts when we become Christians and does not stop once we think we have got to maturity but continues until the day we die. As well as growth we need to maintain where we have got to, to not go back on what we have attained but always striving forward otherwise we stagnate and get weak in our faith. To be strong in faith means to be ones who are stepping out in faith in areas where we are not comfortable so that we start to put our trust more in God than ourselves for when it is when we are weak He is strong.

I gather last week your speaker spoke about talents. OK. So, let me ask you all this: What is your view of ministry? Is it a biblical view?

If it is that it is someone upfront leading everything, doing all the evangelism, doing all the visiting, doing all the praying, doing all the studying then that is a view of ministry that is not biblical. According to the Scriptures my job is to study and pray, to preach the Word in season and out of season and to equip the Church, that is, you. And I am also to shepherd the flock. We all have to play to our strengths that have been given to us by God. But according to tradition, which is not our authority, it is thought that one person up front is to do everything.

My role, according to Ephesians, according to the Bible, according to our utmost authority, is that I get you to do all involved in ministry. In fact, it can be said that this is my primary task. As a pastor and teacher my main thing is to equip and not be the only one doing ministry but ensuring that every single one of you should be doing ministry. It might depend on what you think is ministry. Ministry simply means serving. And we are to serve Christ and one another.

You might be forgiven to think that ministry is a young persons’ game. But it is not. Moses was 80 when he started in ministry. There is no age, no retirement for God’s Kingdom. I understand that some think that ‘I’ve had my time, I’m too old, too tired, too weary, too exhausted’ and as I get older and, though I am a whippersnapper in comparison to most of you, I am understanding this more and more but we are slaves who are to die in service to God and His people and the propagation of the Good News of Jesus. Billy Graham was still serving the Lord at 99 and none of you have reached that grand age yet.

And Moses had the help of many others, especially in the form of deacons. To be honest I was hoping that those who are to all intents and purposes act like deacons would become so officially. So, I will ask again that you will consider it at the next Church Members’ Meeting.

Many times I have said that everyone has gifts to be used for the glory of God and the sake of the Church. No one is exempt. It’s why I have given another opportunity in the form of the questionnaire because when I ask for readers of the Scriptures or to lead in prayer or to do a children’s talk or to lead the worship or to bring a testimony we are shy. We see others do it and think that is sufficient. But all of you are capable of doing all these things, perhaps with a little guidance and a little encouragement. Do you want proof? OK, how about one of my favourite verses in Scripture:

1 Corinthians 14:26 NKJV

26 How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.

I am all for traditions as long as they are good. But a really bad tradition is the idea of a one-man band upfront especially on a Sunday for you are the Church. Every single one of you has something to being. Every single one of you should be involved asking: What can I do? I want to be overwhelmed by the response so that I will say: I don’t know I already have someone reading the Bible, praying, giving a poem, singing and so on. It maybe that you have something no one else is able to do that can contribute to the creative side of things. I want to say I barely have enough time to preach my sermon so many want to be involved. And that is just Sunday.

I want to gather a team of us who are willing to do a little exercise and put leaflets through doors, maybe even talking to non-Church goers, finding out the needs of the people who live here and then another team of us who are working on how to do good for our community. We owe Jesus everything for without Him we would be discarded and going to hell but He saved us to the uttermost and to the uttermost we must serve Him.

I am not, by the way, disparaging the many here who are involved in different ways in the Church already. And as I said on Wednesday I really thank you all. There is a lot of work to be done especially for the sake of the community as Jesus Himself said there are not enough workers; this has not changed. As JFK gave inspiration to the war slogan: “ask not what you Country can do for you”, today I say; ask not what your Church can do for you, what can you do for your Church.

At my next anniversary I want us to all be involved in some way with the actual ministry of the Church. There is no excuse not to be unless we are so ill we cannot move from our beds, but even there we can be intercessors.

We need to find out our gifting, sometimes we find out by asking others who know us best and then we as a Church are to give room for the gifting and for excellence to be achieved allowing for mistakes to be made along the way. But whatever gifting we have when we see things need doing then we are to get on and do it.

Ephesians 2:10 NKJV

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

God has planned beforehand what we are to do by putting things across our path. If God puts it in our path and we recognise what needs to be done then it is no one else’s job to do but ours. I am blind to some things which you can see. I can see things which you are blind to. As each does the work then it causes all of us to grow and be fruitful. See that. When we all get on with the work of ministry, the work of serving we all grow.

We have got to grow up so that not only we benefit from a greater relationship with God but so that others also get the gist for we are disciples who are to make disciples. This means getting the basics for our own personal growth done and I know you know what I mean by this; Scripture reading, meditation, prayer and fellowship. then we are going to be worse than babies because even babies want food to grow and live and be vibrant.

We are challenged to grow, not just in knowledge of the Bible but "in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." It is one thing to know the Bible and quite another thing to know Jesus who the Bible is all about. It is not about being religious but about our relationship with God. We can do everything like reading our Bibles but we have to remember our first love – and that is Jesus. We don’t read Scripture or pray or live right to get in God’s good books but the reason for Scripture, prayer and holiness is to know more about our Saviour, more about God, more about his power, more of His joy and more of His will. Peter says it well for knowledge gives way to practice:

2 Peter 1:5–6 NKJV

But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness,

I have a responsibility to see that we grow together in unity; that we gain understanding and knowledge in the Scriptures so that there will be doctrinal purity; that the fads of the Church pass us by; to protect you from wolves in sheep’s clothing; to help you fend for yourselves against the enemy; to disciple you so that you disciple others and for each of you to rely upon the Head of the Church, which is Jesus. Then we will grow in maturity and, in all likelihood, we will grow numerically.

Every believer supplies something to the body of Christ that no one else can. That means that each one of you are extremely valuable. That’s why it is a crying shame when some withdraw from the Church for this or that. We should not be withdrawing, ever, but advancing and being involved.

Galatians–Colossians (King James Version) B. The Believer Is to Walk by Using His Gifts, 4:7–16

We must give all we are and have to get the job done. Much is at stake for each of us. An eternal weight of responsibility rests upon every single believer, for each one is responsible for reaching people and building them up. Some people will never be reached and ministered to if a single one of us comes up short. For this reason, everyone of us is gifted by Christ Jesus our Lord.

Do you have a gift, a talent from the Lord? Yes, you do. Then please use all that you have and are for Him. Follow in the footsteps of our Lord who gave His everything for us. We are becoming like Him as we yield ourselves to Him. And the end result is that our Saviour is glorified to whom belongs everything we are and have.

Benediction

2 Peter 3:18 NKJV

but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.

Bibliography

Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). Galatians–Colossians. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.