Sunday, September 28, 2008: How Churches Grow

How Churches Grow
Acts 13: 32 – 52.

I. Introduction.

Last week, I shared with you the five purposes of the church: worship, evangelism, discipleship, missions and fellowship. I have heard these purposes cited by numerous sources for many years, so I cannot really tell you where they came from.

I am a little embarrassed to confess that I have recently gone through a kind of philosophical shift in my understanding of these five purposes. I think it happened about three or four years ago.

For the first several years of my ministry as a youth minister, associate pastor and pastor, I viewed these five purposes in what I might call a “cafeteria style.” Kind of like when you eat at Luby’s. No one can eat everything they serve at Luby's. You go through the line and you pick and choose what you want to put on your plate. I used to think churches could pick and choose which of these five purposes they would put on their plates. For example, a church might concentrate on worship, discipleship and fellowship; but choose not to concentrate on evangelism and missions. Or, another church might concentrate on evangelism and missions; but leave worship, discipleship and fellowship to someone else.

The reason I had this kind of “cafeteria style” view of the church, is because that is what I had experienced in real life. There are a lot of churches who think God has called them to fulfill some of these purposes while neglecting the others. That might be what we experience in the real world, but it is not what God intends. God calls us as a church to be involved in each of these five purposes. We cannot do part of the work and expect some other church or organization to pick up the slack. No. God intends for each church to fulfill each of these purposes: worship, evangelism, discipleship, missions and fellowship.

One of the beautiful things about the five purposes for the church is how obvious it seems. No one can really argue against any of the purposes. But, maybe you have been like me. Have you thought of church in terms of a cafeteria? Some churches concentrate on worship. Other churches concentrate on evangelism. Others concentrate on discipleship, missions or fellowship.

In my opinion, too many churches in the United States think we have cafeteria choices. There are too many churches who want to be worship, discipleship and fellowship churches. Too many churches want to concentrate their programs, budgets and activities ONLY on themselves. These churches are really no different from a social club, taking care of the needs of club members while the rest of the world goes to hell.

Worship, discipleship and fellowship are the ways we take care of our members. Evangelism and missions are the ways we reach beyond ourselves to the people around us. Through missions, we extend the Good News of salvation to people who will never enter into our church. We preach the Good News to people who are geographically or culturally removed from us. Through evangelism, we extend the Good News to people AND invite them to become a part of our church. In other words, evangelism is the way we are SUPPOSED to grow as a church.
Do you believe God wants our church to grow? There is another way we can ask that question. Do you believe God wants our church to die? Of course not. That is a ridiculous idea, to think God would want us to close our doors and abandon our work in this place.

I think there is a third way to ask the same question. Do you believe God wants us to stay the same? Does God want us to maintain the same size in average attendance? That is a distinct possibility. But, in the past two years, I have performed over 30 funerals for people who were members of our church. If we think these two years were average years, then we have to think in terms of reaching 30 new people every two years just to maintain our current attendance.

These are the only three choices I can think about for our future: grow, die or stay the same. I don’t know anyone who wants our church to die, so we can probably forget about that choice. Therefore, if we want to grow or stay the same, we must put more effort into the area of evangelism.

Read Acts 13: 32 – 52.

This might be Paul’s first sermon. If Paul has ever preached before, we don’t have any record of it. He may have preached numerous times before this, but this is Paul’s first sermon recorded for us. The sermon started in Acts 13: 16.

Paul and Barnabas had been sent out on their first missionary journey. The church at Antioch commissioned them as missionaries and sent them out to the Gentiles. Even though Paul was specifically targeting the Gentiles in his mission work, he always started with the Jews. Paul knew from his own experience as a Jew that all good Jews went to synagogue on Friday night. So, his first stop was always a Friday night Sabbath service in the local synagogue.

On this occasion, Paul and Barnabas were attending worship in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch. The typical synagogue worship service was led by lay leaders. The lay leaders would lead the singing and read from the Jewish Scriptures. Most synagogues did not have a full time rabbi to deliver a sermon in worship, so a typical service would include a sermon from one of the lay leaders. Unless, of course, there was a visiting rabbi in attendance. The lay leaders in Pisidian Antioch knew that Paul had a Jewish pedigree and had previously served as a Pharisee and member of the Jerusalem ruling elite. So, it just makes sense that the lay leaders would ask Paul to preach. And that is what they did. There was nothing unusual about the lay leaders asking Paul to preach that day.

However, it was unusual what Paul said in his sermon. He started out by describing God’s faithfulness to Israel. God provided for the Hebrew people by rescuing them from Egyptian slavery. God led them through the desert for forty years, providing for all their needs. God even established his covenant with them in the desert and called them to be God’s special people. After these forty years in the desert, God gave his people judges to rule over them. Then, God gave them a king. The first king was a man named Saul. Saul had his bright moments, but he had more dull moments than bright moments. Then, God gave them a king named David, who was a man after God’s own heart. God even made a promise to David that one of his descendants would always be the ruler over God’s people.

There was nothing unusual about the beginning of Paul’s sermon. It was historically accurate, and it would have been met with hearty “Amens” from all the Jewish people in synagogue that day. But, then Paul’s sermon took an unusual turn when he started talking about a man named Jesus.

Paul said the story of Jesus is Good News, because Jesus is the fulfillment of every promise God had previously made to the people of Israel. The promises God made to the men and women of Israel were fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross. This promise was confirmed by the resurrection.

II. Good News = Resurrection (vv. 32 – 37).

Paul builds his case for the importance of the Resurrection by quoting Scriptures from the Jewish Bible: Psalm 2: 7, Isaiah 55: 3, and Psalm 16: 10.

Paul lived in a culture which was different from our culture. For you and me, it will be important for us to offer proof that the Resurrection really happened. Paul does not do this. Instead, he proves that the Resurrection is something which was promised by the Old Testament.

This does not mean ancient people had an easier time believing in Resurrection than modern people do. In fact, it was just the opposite. Ancient people had just as much difficulty believing in life after death as we do today. The difference is that Paul lived in the same generation in which the Resurrection occurred. If anyone needed proof, they could verify the truth of the Resurrection by talking to witnesses.

In fact, this is one of the strongest proofs that the Resurrection actually took place. Paul preached about the Resurrection during a time when it could very easily have been debunked. Our culture is separated from the Resurrection by history. We were not there. We have never met anyone who was there. But, Peter, James and John were there. The people living in the city of Jerusalem were there. And there were over 500 witnesses walking around the streets of Jerusalem who had actually seen Jesus after the Resurrection. These people were the only necessary proof that the Resurrection was real. Because of their testimony, the Resurrection is one of the most verifiable facts of ancient history. We have historical records and eyewitness accounts.

Paul was mostly concerned with what the Resurrection confirmed. According to his sermon, the Resurrection confirms two things about Jesus. First, it confirms that Jesus really is the Son of God. Second, it confirms that God has kept his promise to keep a descendant of David as the king over God’s people.

III. The Law Could Not Save (vv. 38 – 39).

After preaching about the Resurrection, Paul turns his attention to salvation. Jesus accomplished something for us that the Old Testament Law could not do for us. Jesus offers us forgiveness of sin.

According to Paul, salvation is:

A. Through Jesus…
B. Forgiveness of Sins…
C. Through Faith Alone…
D. Justification…Making us right in God’s eyes…
E. Something the Law Could not Do…Moses was inadequate for salvation…


IV. Warning to Jews (vv. 40 – 41).

The Good News comes with a warning to the Jews. Paul is consistent in his appeal to the Old Testament Scriptures and here quotes from Habbakuk 1: 5.

On one hand, the Resurrection is something old. It was prophesied throughout the Old Testament; and it is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. On the other hand, the Resurrection is something new. No one has ever died and risen again to live forever and ever. AND, the Resurrection is new, because it makes salvation available outside of the geopolitical boundaries of Israel.

God is doing something new. The people who call themselves Jews have to make a choice. Will they believe in Jesus and the Resurrection in order to become of part of what God is doing? OR, will they reject what God is doing and get left behind?

I think this is the same warning and choice God is offering to us as a church right now. God is doing something new. It really isn’t new, because it has been God’s plan all along. But, it is new, because it requires us to change the way we “do church.” The change is not that we would abandon the calling God has placed on us as a church. The change is to alter the way we have previously thought about church.

Yes. The church is a place for Christians to worship God, to grow in discipleship and to enjoy fellowship in the name of Christ. BUT, the church must also become a place for non-Christians to meet Jesus. Will we believe in Jesus and the Resurrection in order to become a part of what God is doing in the world? OR, will we reject what God is doing and get left behind?

V. God’s New Work (vv. 42 – 48).

Some of the Jews present that Friday night were so impressed with Paul’s sermon, they were convinced they should give their lives to Jesus and the new work God was doing in the world. Others were not convinced. They thought they needed another opportunity to hear Paul and the Good News. So, they invited Paul to preach again.

The people who believed in Jesus did something unheard of: they invited their friends to come to church. On the surface, that sounds like a good idea. In reality, it created a volatile situation. Next Friday night, the synagogue was filled with Gentiles. In fact, there were more Gentiles than Jews.

Sharing the Good News with the world sounds like a good idea. It sounds like an obvious thing for a church to do. But, what will we do when we come to church one week and find ourselves outnumbered? Will we rejoice in the number of people who are responding to our invitation? OR, will we become jealous when we realize that our church will never be the same again?

VI. Growth and Persecution (vv. 49 – 52 and chapter 14).

The Jews made their choice. They were so jealous of all the new people receiving salvation and so possessive of their synagogue, they were left with only one real choice. They had to kick Paul and Barnabas out of town to stop the spread of the Good News.

This is significant, because this is the beginning of a phenomenon that continues to be true today. When the church is growing, Christians are persecuted. When Christians are persecuted, the church is growing. The world is not supposed to like us. In fact, the opposite is true. When the world likes us, they do not fear us. When the world no longer fears us, they accept us. When we are accepted by the world, churches die. Dying churches indicates that we are not changing the world!

VII. Conclusion.

Paul eventually returned to Pisidian Antioch and established a great church. It was the church of Galatia.

Do you believe God wants our church to grow, to die or to stay the same? In order for us to grow or stay the same size, we will need to change the way we view church. Yes, the church is for Christians to worship God, to grow in discipleship and to enjoy fellowship in the name of Jesus. But the church is also a place for non-Christians to meet Jesus and then experience the same things we experience in this place.

This is the purpose of our Matthew Party. On one hand, it is an opportunity for us to fulfill our purpose of evangelism as a church: to reach out to the people of Lufkin, Texas with the Good News. On the other hand, it is an opportunity for us to change the way we “do church.” Church is not just for Christians. Church is also a place for non-Christians to meet Jesus.