Mission Control | Grow

There are two stories we are looking at today, both from the gospel of Luke. This is the second week of our series called Mission Control. We are considering the ways in which our mission as a church gives us guidance and support in the way we live as followers of Jesus. At this church we summarize our mission with three key words: love, grow, and serve. Last week we talked about what it means to love as our mission. Today we consider what it means for us to grow as a part of our mission from Jesus to follow him. So, two stories from Luke that each have something to say about the mission of growing.

Luke 13:6–9 NIV

6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ ”

Luke 17:1–10 NIV

1 Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. 7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”

It seems I cannot just randomly pick a bunch of kids from the room, throw a musical instrument at them, and tell them to play music. At least I cannot do that in a way where any kind of actual discernable song comes out. I guess there is more to getting kids to play music together than simply throwing instruments at them. And it also seems that there is something ridiculously wrong with the notion that simply watching other people play the instruments will somehow automatically given them the ability to do the same thing. It takes more than just being in the same room when other musicians play.

Today, then, we take a few moments to look at the mission of growing as followers of Jesus. Could it possibly be that we make some ridiculous assumptions about the way this happens? I mean, it is incredibly unlikely that watching the band play a song on a Sunday morning will result in everyone here instantly being able to just walk up here on stage and know how to pick up the exact same thing and do it. But do we live with that same kind of assumption when it comes to picking up faith and discipleship? I mean, you sit here for an hour each week in the same room with other people who have faith, so why isn’t that enough for you to just pick it up and run with it like other people do? Perhaps it is a good idea for us to look at how this faith-growth thing actually works, and how it particularly shapes as a pattern of our mission.

Analysis

how do I measure spiritual growth?

Let’s start with some analysis. What does a growing faith look like? What does it not look like? How do we measure it? In times when I feel like I am closer to God, does that mean my faith is growing? In times when I learn and understand new things about God from the Bible, does that mean my faith is growing? In times when I participate in worship or small group, does that mean my faith is growing? There certainly seems to be an element of faith that engages the heart, an element that engages the mind, and an element that engages experience. But I think our passages today tell us that these elements of heart, mind, and experience are precursors to growth. They are the conditions in which growth happens, but not the measurements of when actual spiritual growth takes place.

spiritual growth produces fruit

The question is still there. How do we analyze growing faith? How do we measure it? The answer comes with a farming analogy. Jesus uses an agricultural story to explain the way growth is measured. It has to do with producing fruit. Farmers plant and tend crops. Farmers do everything they can to create the right conditions for the crops. They plow the field, fertilize the soil, irrigate the right amount of water. Those are the conditions. But the measure of growth comes in the harvest. The growth is seen in what it is that the plant produces. It is in the fruit. This is the way that Jesus talks about measuring faith.

“fruit” of the Spirit shows up in my life - process of renewal that is ongoing

joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control

Last week we looked at a passage from the apostle Paul in the letter of Galatians which also talked about the measure of love showing up as fruit of the Spirit. Faith, then, produces something. Faith bears fruit in the lives of those who grow as followers of Jesus. New Life in Jesus changes everything. New life in Jesus launches within us a new person growing in new character—a new character that is visibly seen in the fruit of joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Day-by-day, month-by-month, year-by-year we grow more and more into being people who are defined and shaped by these characteristics. Our thoughts, our words, our actions take shape as fruit which is produced by the Spirit constantly working to renew us into the image of Christ.

what kind of fruit is my life producing?

What kind of fruit is my life producing? That is the place in which we analyze the measurement and growth of faith in the lives of those who follow Jesus.

Accountability

Now that we know a little something about what measurement of spiritual growth looks like, we still go back to the same question we began with today. How do we get there? I cannot haul kids up here on stage, give them instruments, and expect them to just start playing music. And it doesn’t seem like much more help when I stand up here, tell you all that spiritual growth happens when you produce fruit, and then expect you to just go out from here and somehow automatically know how to do that. What we see Jesus telling us in these stories from the gospel of Luke is that we also share some accountability to one another in how this spiritual growth works.

what is our responsibility for growing in faith?

The accountability of growing in faith is the place where growth becomes a mission for us as followers of Jesus. These two stories from Jesus might be seen as warnings for the church. But I think they are more properly understood as instructions for the church. In one story, the owner of the orchard is ready to cut down and throw out the fig tree which does not produce any fruit. And it is the gardener who pleads for one more season in which he may nurture the tree and tend the soil in order to make the tree fruitful. On one level this is a parable in which Jesus is the gardener pleading with the Father to spare the unfruitful people of Israel so that he may tend and nurture them to become fruitful. But it is also an instructive story which displays for us the accountability we have with each other to nurture and tend the soil of our souls in order to encourage fruitful living. The second story can be taken negatively as a warning against those who cause others to stumble and fall away from God. But this story can also be taken positively as an encouragement toward all the wonderful opportunities placed in front of us to nurture and tend and feed the growing faith we all share together as the people of God.

spiritual growth does not happen in isolation

God uses other people to influence my spiritual growth

who are those people?

God uses me to influence spiritual growth of others

who can I help to grow?

Here is what it comes down to. Spiritual growth does not happen in isolation. Becoming a person who produces the fruit of faith does not happen all by myself. The Christian life is not about just me and Jesus and a Bible. After Jesus had ascended back into heaven, he sent the gift of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is not a gift of God sent to you and you and you and you. No. The Holy Spirit is a gift of God sent to a community, a group of people. It is a gift poured out upon the church. That means all these other people here share a role in your spiritual growth. And it also means that you share a role in the spiritual growth of others. Growth is something for which we have been given accountability. Growth is something that we do together within a community of believers. That is what is at the heart of these two stories Jesus tells in the gospel of Luke.

Appearance

what does it look like for me to help others grow in faith?

Let’s wrap this up by talking a little bit about the outward appearance of this community of believers who grow in faith together. Let’s identify just a few features of this growth which will help us understand what the mission of spiritual growth looks like for us. Last week when I introduced the idea of mission, we talked about the way in which mission control is something which provides focus and guidance and support. Mission is the part of the task which Jesus gives to us, the part that we are called to do. Listen to this short story that Jesus tells in Mark 4.

Mark 4:26–29 NIV

26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

only God can change a person’s heart

Let’s be certain about this. There is a part of spiritual growth that I cannot do. There is a piece of this that only God can do. Only God can change a person’s heart. Only God can grow the seed of faith which is planted in each one of us. So, when it comes to identifying the outward appearance of growth as part of our mission, let’s be certain that we leave room for God to do the part that only God can do.

my part - relationships that are all about GRACE

meaningful relationships are the part of spiritual growth that Jesus has given to us

However, let’s also be certain on focusing our mission on the part of spiritual growth which Jesus has placed as a calling upon his people—the part about nurturing and tending the community in which this growth takes place. This is the reason why we express our mission this way: that Fellowship Church exists to love God, grow meaningful relationships, and serve local community. Our mission of growth is focused on meaningful relationships. Small groups, Bible study gatherings, youth group, GEMS & Cadets – we focus on these things because they are places of relationship. And meaningful relationship is the feature of spiritual growth that Jesus has placed upon us.

tend, nurture | joys & struggles | correct when disoriented | lift up when next step seems too far | affirm unpack, unfold, develop

It is within loving and meaningful relationships that we tend and nurture and care for the soil of one another’s soul. It is within these relationships that we walk alongside one another and share in each other’s joys and struggles. It is within relationship that we correct one another when the walk of faith becomes disoriented. It is within relationship that we lift one another when the next bold step forward seems insurmountable. It is within relationship that we affirm the gifts and abilities God has given one another to be unpacked and unfolded and developed so that the life of faith may be fruitful.

a fruitful life anchored in God’s grace is connected to others who are anchored in God’s grace

But look at this. There is no throw-away. Even in the tree which is currently unfruitful Jesus says, be patient, keep tending, keep nurturing, don’t give up. God’s love never runs out on you. God’s grace is always poured out upon you. And your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pull deeply into those relationships which will (a) help you to live a fruitful life anchored in God’s grace, and (b) allow you to help others live fruitful lives anchored in God’s grace.