A Growing Church

Ephesians 4:11–16 KJV 1900

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Introduction

Isn’t it fun to see so many people join our church over the last several years?

Someone said recently that a fast-growing church averages 50+ new members a year for at least 3 years.

It would be easy for us to think that the numerical growth we’ve seen must automatically mean that we are a healthy, growing church.

This is not always necessarily the case.

Right now we are in a season of numerical growth.

But, we can still be a growing church even if the numerical growth slowed down.

I believe God intends for our church to never stop growing.

I believe He has given us everything we need to grow.

I believe He intends for us to grow together.

I believe He cares more about spiritual growth than numerical growth, though He does also care about numbers.

In tonight’s passage we learn about what God says about church growth.

God gives us the leaders that our church needs for growth. 11-12

In this passage we see part of the role that the spiritual leader is to play in the ministry of the church.

Other passages we see other facets to the pastor/teacher’s responsibility.

This is just a single aspect of what God expects the person in this position to provide.

The pastor of the church is given to the church by God in order to help the church grow.

A pastor helps the church to grow by doing wha God intended for him to do.

He works to perfect the saints.

He prioritizes the work of the ministry.

He always seeks to edify the body of Christ.

Perfection has to do with completion not sinlessness.

If the saints require completion, it means there are things that are lacking.

For certain, if you’re saved you don’t lack certain things.

Holy Spirit

Access to God’s throne

Total forgiveness

Adoption

I do find myself lacking in certain areas though.

Discipline

Application of biblical principles

Focus on spiritual matters

These things need to be perfected in me.

A pastor can help.

Who is this task is focused on?

The saints, plural.

The work of the ministry is the carrying out of the great commission.

Nations

Baptizing them.

Teaching them.

Edifying the body means to build or strengthen it.

The body is the local assembly that makes up the church.

The church as a whole needs to be edified.

A pastor is a helper in the effort of the church’s growth, but he cannot accomplish this task alone.

Church growth is a group effort. 13

Paul says that we should all seek to grow together.

We see community in that this growth includes “we all”.

We see our dependence on each other in that we are to grow “in the unity of the faith.”

We extend the use of the word “unity” to apply also to our “knowledge of the Son of God.”

In this way, our growth comes when we as a church family grow in the exercise of our faith and the increase of our knowledge of Jesus.

This is why we say that our church must be committed to the matters of teaching and fellowship.

We need to grow in our understanding of who Jesus is.

We need to grow in our ability to live by faith.

God didn’t intend for His disciples to do this on their own.

We do this together.

When I am struggling, I can rely on a brother to come alongside and help me.

When I am doing well, I can help others who are stumbling.

This requires us to be able to take our eyes of ourselves and to care about the struggles, hurts, and trials of those around us.

Specifically the people we go to church with.

Our standard of measurement is not each other, it is Christ.

We are not in a spiritual contest with each other.

We don’t compare our spiritual growth to each other.

We support one another as we all seek to become more like Jesus.

As our church grows, we will also become more stable. 14-15

There are a lot of changes that sweep through Christianity on a regular basis.

Paul specifically identifies these as changes of doctrine.

Doctrinal change can knock a non-growing Christian off track.

They hear something that sounds good and they chase after it.

Then they hear something else that sounds good so they chase after that.

A growing Christian is a Christian that is growing in their walk with Jesus and their understanding of the Bible.

They are becoming more and more familiar with what is authentic.

So, when they are exposed to inauthentic teaching that is trying to pass as biblical teaching, they will reject it.

The people who pass these doctrines around are pretty adept at what they are doing.

But, a mature, growing Christian is not persuaded.

They employ sleight of men to deceive.

They use cunning craftiness to wow.

By these tactics they sway many immature Christians.

This is where a community of Christians comes in to help protect and promote growth.

A fellow believer is taken by the craftiness and sleight of men and begins to drift.

Another Christian, one that doesn’t just have their eyes on themselves, can come along and help.

Paul says that they speak the truth in love.

The church rallies to the believer and helps them refocus.

Look at the rest of verse 15.

When a believer gets tossed by a new doctrine, growing Christians speak truth into their lives.

Not because they are no-it-all’s or goody-two-shoes.

Because they desire for our church to grow in unity.

That’s what Paul says.

“may grow up into him in all things.”

We help one another by refocusing the attention of our brothers and sister on Jesus.

He is the head of our church.

He is the head of our body.

As the head of this body, He wants us to grow.

He has placed us all in our perfect place within the body.

We are fitly joined together.

We are compacted, we are connected or held together by what each member can provide to one another.

You find this through fellowship

Serving together

Learning together

Here we see the point of the message re-emphasized.

Every part of the body works together in unity to help the whole body to grow.

This is what God intends for every church.

This church is the local manifestation of His body.

God wants us to be a growing church.

Numerical growth is great.

There are other ways to grow.

Spiritual growth of current members is a vital part of the ministry of the Baptist Tabernacle.

He intends for this body to be united in growing.

This means we need to be in agreement as to how that will happen.

The early church gave us a formula of teaching and fellowship.

We’ll revisit fellowship in a moment, but we need the teaching of the Bible on a regular basis.

You can certainly find Bible teaching through other avenues, but remember God has given you personal Bible teachers that have this church in mind when they prepare their lessons.

We also need to be united in the model that we are moving towards.

It’s not another church member.

You need to move beyond basing your faith off of the example of another man.

Jesus is the only reliable model for us to follow.

Be wary because there are false teachers on both the liberal and the conservative sides of the aisle.

He intends for us to be dependent on one another in our growth process.

The world tells us that faith is a private matter.

No one else should ever ask about your spiritual life because that is none of their business.

That is just not true and cannot be defended from the Bible.

Instead we see throughout scripture that God intends for us to find fellowship and support from the other believers that are part of the same body we are.

Jesus is the head of this church.

We are His body, and He wants us to grow.

We are each placed here by him.

We are connected to one another by what we offer to each other.

We grow through what God is doing in each of us.

In our faith and in our knowledge of Him.

We have everything we need to grow.

We have to decide whether or not we really want to grow.

Do we want to improve our capacity for serving Him?

Do we want to become more like Jesus?

Do we want to become more stable and mature?

If so, we were meant to find much help in this endeavor through our church and those in it.