Grow Together

Introduction

PRAY at beginning

Each year I pray for a word that will be our focus for the upcoming year

2021 - Grow

This sounds a little funny… every church wants to grow

We want more people to come and more people to know Jesus

but how does that happen…

an advertisement that I received about taking our church from 100 to 1000

so many people look at church growth as strictly numbers and then look to programs to grow those numbers

churches try to operate like a business and so, if we offer the right things to draw people here, more people will come

Church as a business…

have to have the right speaker…

have to have the right atmosphere…

have to offer the right programs…

None of these are bad on their own

Preachers should work on their presentation so that they can communicate the word of God to the best of their ability

We should have an atmosphere of love, acceptance, and freedom to worship

We should offer programs and give opportunities for the people of God to grow in their faith and knowledge of Him

But if these things are how we measure the effectiveness of a church, then we are focused on how to draw or keep people

and I do not believe that is what God has called the church to do

we are called to grow people in him

We must look to what the Bible says about how we grow and make sure that we are following what God says...

Ephesians 4:11–16 CSB

11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. 15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. 16 From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.

Purpose of Church Leadership

Church leadership is not something that people should run toward

James tells us that teachers are going to be held to a higher standard

why? because with the same mouth that we use to speak we can speak the word of God, that leads to life, or the words of death, that can lead to Hell

The same could be said of all church leaders

are the decisions that we make, leading people closer to Jesus, or father away

Ephesians 4:11–12 CSB

11 And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ,

He himself gave…

you do not just decide one day that you are going to be a leader in the church, I believe that it is a calling

too many people put themselves in leadership in churches to have it done the way they want

this is actually better

if God calls somebody into a leadership position, then He will equip and lead them in that position

the reaction of somebody God calls is not am I qualified

if we look at the qualifications of the Elders and Deacons listed in scripture, none would make the cut

especially me

the question is are they willing to submit to the Lord and answer the call

the fact that God himself is giving these offices to the church means that we cannot simply elevate ourselves to that position and we cannot simply elect someone

it is God ordaining that person as a leader and more specifically as somebody with a specific title

Apostle -

Those sent out by Christ to speak and act with special authority

Prophet

Those who are designated by God to speak on His behalf, those who wrote scripture

I believe that these two are not active in the church today

we teach and study what God did through the apostles and prophets

Evangelists

those who share the gospel, but not as a one time event or conversation

more like planting churches

Pastors

the term means shepherds; it means those who care for and protect the church

Teachers

those who teach scripture

One purpose

not to keep you interested

JT English “churches ask what people want, they should be asking what people need.”

Spurgeon “A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding sheep, we will have clowns entertaining goats.”

Not an emotional experience

To equip you

do work of the ministry

this is not for the hired holy man

service to other believers

service to the community

build up the body of Christ

not growing by number,

this doesn’t mean that your work is simply to invite people to church

I want them to come

we are to be disciple makers

we should be sharing the gospel with those outside of our walls

remember, an evangelist is a church planter

a disciple of Jesus makes disciples!

strengthening the body of Christ by being a benefit to it

Tony Evens, “some people attend church for personal benefit, that is called being a leech.”

Hebrews 10:24–25 CSB

24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

We can shepherd the sheep to food and water but we cannot make them eat and drink

all the leadership of the church can do is give you the tools to do the ministry, you have to actually do the work

we have resources available to help you grow in your faith, to help you serve your church and community

but nobody can make Jesus the most important thing in your life but you.

Purpose of Church Ministries

What are we doing here?

this is an important question

if we do not know, if we are going through the motions of “church” then we are just like going to the coop except on Sundays

we just a place with talk about rumors, talk about rain and rituals

now, not you personally, but we as a collective

what is our purpose

we can say that our purpose is to love God and love people

that always sounds nice, but what does that even mean

I am guessing if I asked three people I would get three different responses

our text is clear what the purpose of the church should be

Ephesians 4:13–14 CSB

13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness. 14 Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit.

unify in faith and knowledge of God’s son

means that we unify through the Spirit of God and grow in our relationship with him

though it is a personal relationship, there is never anything in the NT that your relationship with God is meant to be private

we are to confess our sins to one another, teach one another, encourage one another

we are not trying to gain more knowledge in terms of knowing the stories better, but growing in our relationship with Him

growing closer to him, knowing him more, celebrating when we see others doing the same

Not being fooled by the world

every year there are people that are scammed out of money

we hear of them all the time going after older adults who are a little more trusting

I remember, Heather’s aunt being scammed, and she would tell everyone that he was a good guy, he would pray with her over the phone

it is so easy for the same thing to happen to believers when it comes to scripture

somebody who claims to have been in the faith longer, uses big christian words and quotes scripture like they wrote it and we can be fooled into thinking that they should be followed

maybe they have a book out… and we can read devotionals and commentaries in our bibles like they are scripture themselves

we can hear messages in short clips online or TV and begin to follow people that are leading us astray

the answer to this problem is not to prohibit the internet, stop watching TV preachers

the answer is to grow together in our beliefs

if we are unified in our love for Jesus and grow together in relationship and knowledge of him we will not be fooled

The Result is Growth

Ephesians 4:15–16 CSB

15 But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ. 16 From him the whole body, fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament, promotes the growth of the body for building itself up in love by the proper working of each individual part.

We are used to a results focused society

is this working or is this not

if it is working, lets do more of this

if its not lets quit doing that… whatever it is

it is easy to look at ministries that way

are we getting our monies worth from this ministry

we just bought a new camera to video our messages with

what is the value of those messages being online?

we may never see a family or person step foot inside the church because of it

we may never see our giving go up because they watched us on facebook

these are the type of questions that the Elders attempt to answer when we sit down with the budget

is this profitable for the church

we do not mean, are we going to make money

is this going to grow

the believers

the church

the kingdom

Our passage promises that when leadership equips the believers, or saints, we will grow in every way

that means we grow in our love for Him, for each other and for those around us

but we do not grow as a club, but we grow into Christ

that means that we become more incorporated with Christ, becoming one with him

This takes everyone

whole body fitted together means that we are all doing our parts, whatever that part is

up front, or behind the scenes

the entire body grows when everybody does their part

Jimmy’s stress fracture

We cannot grow properly unless the entire body is doing their part