INTRO.- ILL.- A father who didn’t exactly resemble Atlas or perhaps Samson said, “My little girl was sitting on my lap facing a mirror. After gazing intently at her reflection for some minutes, she said, ‘Daddy, did God make you?’
“’He sure did,’ I told her.
“’And did He make me too?’ she asked. ‘Yes, He did. Why?’
She said, ‘IT SEEMS TO ME THAT HE’S DOING BETTER WORK LATELY.’”
Aren’t children wonderful? If nothing else, when they are little they are wonderfully frank and honest!
Perhaps you have heard of the Jim Bob Duggar family of Springdale, AR. Jim Bob and his wife, Michelle, have 15 children (10 boys & 5 girls). Now that’s how to grow a family!!!
Jim Bob said, “We searched the scriptures and found that God says, ‘Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them’ (Psalms 127:3-5).”
Jim Bob said, “Dr. Ed Wheat counseled us before we married and encouraged us to not have a T.V. the first year of marriage. We took his advice. Then after the first year we hooked up a T.V. with cable. We could not believe how bad it had gotten. Our communication quickly dropped off as we both sat staring at the screen. After 3 weeks we agreed to pull it out of our home. That was one of the best decisions we have ever made!
“Our children have grown up not watching broadcast television. This has been a great protection and time saver. We occasionally watch an educational video or a Christian movie, but only on a limited basis.
“We also have 7 computers, which are wonderful, but we try not to allow them to devour our time. As parents we are responsible for every influence we allow in our children’s lives.”
How do you grow a family? Well, it’s a lot easier to give birth to a family than to raise a family. Raising children is the tough part.
Gal. 6:10 “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
The church is described in scripture as a family. How do you grow a church family? Both the giving birth and the raising are hard to do.
ILL.- The Southeast Christian Church of Louisville, KY, is one of our largest, non-denominational Christian Churches in the U.S. They started over 40 years ago with 53 members. They now average somewhere around 18,000 people each weekend in five services. It’s not easy to grow a church like that. If it were, there would be more of them.
Large or small, however, the church belongs to the Lord and He wants His church family to grow.
PROP.- In our text from the life of Christ I think we get something of an idea as to how to grow a church family.
1- the method
2- the motivation
3- the means
I. THE METHOD – PREACHING AND TEACHING
Matt. 9:35 “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.”
A method for our madness. There is always a method for a person’s madness, whatever that madness is.
ILL.- When Benjamin Franklin was 27 years old, he decided he would take control of his life. He selected 12 virtues he wanted to acquire, and kept a daily chart of his progress in the development of each one. Whenever he missed the mark, he put a black dot beside that virtue. His goal was to ultimately have no dots on the chart. This method contributed to Franklin’s success as an inventor, publisher, and statesman. That was Franklin’s method for his madness.
Everyone has a method for their own personal madness: fishing, hunting, cooking, cleaning, shopping, gardening, etc. BUT WHAT ABOUT GROWING THE CHURCH? Is there any good method that we can use to make the church grow?
ILL.- When preacher Dwight L. Moody was criticized for his evangelistic methods, he replied, “I like my way of doing it better than your way of not doing it.” And that’s the problem with most of us. We have no method at all.
Teaching, preaching and healing. Those were the methods that Jesus used to reach people.
What’s our method for today? Well, I haven’t healed anyone lately but I have preached and taught a lot. But even then, not much outside the church and that’s the key. When it’s done outside the church it must be done on a low-key basis.
The days of standing on the street corners and preaching the gospel are long past. Today, if you did that someone might spit on you or worse, or else you might be thrown in jail.
Here is our method of preaching outside the church today.
I Pet. 3:15 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
It is the idea that we all have a testimony or a word for Christ and the church and we must be ready to give it at any opportunity.
ILL.- After I was baptized when I was 20 years old I talked to everybody at Safeway about Christ. Why? Because that’s where I worked as a full-time stock clerk and that’s where I preached. I was so excited about being baptized and having my sins forgiven that I wanted to tell everybody at work.
Where do you preach? What do you say? When? How? It doesn’t make any difference where, when or how, as long as it gets done. We all need to be quick to point people to Christ and the church.
What I have discovered is this: there are hurting people all around us at work and at other places and we need to point them to Christ as the only Savior and as the only good helper in life.
It may be that the LEAST effective way to preach is in the pulpit and the MOST effective way is outside the church!
Matt. 10:7 “As you go, preach this message: ’The kingdom of heaven is near.’”
I think Jesus might say to us today, “As you go to work, shopping, playing, or wherever you go, preach, witness, point people to me and the church. And lose no opportunity.”
II. THE MOTIVATION - COMPASSION
ILL.- Two other psychiatrists occupied offices in the same building. One was 40 years old and the other was 70 years old. They rode on the same elevator at the end of an unbearably difficult day. The younger man was completely exhausted after seeing patients all day long. The older man looked as fresh as a daisy. The younger psychiatrist said to the older, “I don’t understand how you can listen to hurting people all day long and still look so great at the end of the end.” The older psychiatrist said, “WHO LISTENS?”
Apparently, the older psychiatrist just pretended to listen to his patients, which may be our problem is well. We may only pretend to hear people when they talk about their pain.
We are not always quick to listen to people or to sympathize with them when they are hurting. But compassion is what motivated Jesus.
ILL.- The actor, Peter Ustinov once said, “Charity is more common than compassion. Charity is tax-deductible. Compassion is time consuming.”
Matt. 9:36 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
ILL.- I could have kicked myself recently. What for? For not offering to pray for someone in need. I thought about it after the fact. I was in Kinkos where we get our bulletins copied and folded. There were only three people in the store at that time. Roger who works there, me and another young lady who came to have something faxed. We stood there and talked between the three of us and I found out that the young lady was from Tyler, TX. I asked her what she was doing in Jonesboro. She said her father was sick and she came to see him. She said he had lung cancer and they were moving him from the hospital to a nursing home. He is all alone except for her and she is the only child.
She said, “The company I work for just fired me because I wanted off to go see my father. I told them, ‘He’s the only father I have.’”
I felt bad for her, because it was obvious that he was dying. I told I was sorry…but I didn’t have sense enough or I wasn’t spiritual enough to ask her if there was anything I could do. I should have asked, “Does your father have a church? Would you like for me to go see him? Can I pray for you and him?”
Honestly, I didn’t think of those things until after I got in my car and drove away. And I did feel bad. She’s an only child and her father is all alone and dying. Those are hurting people who need for someone to demonstrate some compassion!
All I could do afterward was pray for them, knowing that they were in the Lord’s hands. We must not miss opportunities to demonstrate compassion to all people!
ILL.- Preacher A. J. Gordon of the late 1800’s once said, “I have long since ceased to pray, ‘Lord Jesus, have compassion on a lost world!’ I remember the day and the hour when I seemed to hear the Lord rebuking me for making such a prayer. He seemed to say to me, ‘I have had compassion upon a lost world, and now it is for you to have compassion.’”
III. THE MEANS – THE DISCIPLES
Matt. 9:37-38 “Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
ILL.- A type of pen, once imported from Japan (about 50 years ago) and called “Pentel,” flooded the market in the United States. Though having been available for only one year, sales of Pentel pens climbed to 1.8 million and continued to rise. And all this without heavy promotion! The explanation? “Word-of-mouth advertising.”
Brothers and sisters, what do we call this? It’s not just word-of-mouth advertising. It’s one satisfied customer telling someone else about a great product.
Companies can advertise all they want on TV and spend millions of dollars, but the best way to sell anything is by the customer himself or herself.
If you are going to sell me something you’d be better be sold on it yourself! That goes for cars, a restaurant, a food, a type of pen, and a church!
ILL.- In 1978 I bought a Japanese car, a Subaru. I bought it because it was front-wheel (which was somewhat rare back then) and because it was cheap. It was small but it delivered what I wanted: cheap transportation, low cost maintenance, good traction and it drove well. I consistently got over 40 miles per gallon on regular grade gas. I often got 45 and beat 50 several times. 52 mpg was tops.
I could sell that car and did sell another preacher on Subaru after talking about all its good characteristics. He went out and bought one. Never did hear from him after that. Not sure if he was satisfied or not but I was.
The same thing applies to the church. If we truly believe in the Lord and in His church, WE SELL HIM AND HER (the church) to others!
Are you talking to anybody about the church? Or about Christ? We are the means by which the church must grow! If we don’t do the work, spread the word, advertise, etc., it won’t get done. GOD USES HIS PEOPLE TO ENLARGE HIS KINDGOM OR HIS CHURCH!
Matt. 9:37-38 “Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."
Jesus charged his disciples to pray for more workers. Have you tried doing that? Have you ever prayed, “Lord, we need more workers in the church? And in Jonesboro, AR. Would you please raise them up?” Why don’t you try that and see what happens? Just try it as a little experiment and then tell me when you get an answer for that prayer.
I have a secret but I won’t share it with you at this time. Just pray and see what happens. If you continue reading this text and beyond you might figure it out.
CONCLUSION-------------------------------
ILL.- Did you hear about that mother who gave birth to triplets and then just three years later gave birth to quadruplets?
After delivering triplets three years ago, Angela Magdaleno 40, thought she was done having babies. She was wrong four times over. Magdaleno gave birth to quadruplets on July 6th by Caesarean section. She now has 9 children.
The chances of delivering quadruplets without fertility treatment are about one in 80,000, a Dr. Shaw said. Magdaleno’s triplets - one boy and two girls - were conceived with the help of IVF. She also has two daughters aged 15 and 18.
Those quads were: two boys and two girls and wouldn’t you know it? The girls outweighed the boys!
Hopefully, they will all grow up to be healthy adults.
Growth is inevitable is the body is healthy. If an infant doesn’t inherit or pick up some disease then they will naturally grow to become healthy adults.
AND SO WITH THE CHURCH. The Lord’s church will grow, but only if she is healthy and doesn’t catch some life-hindering disease. What are we talking about? Division, dissension, arguing, fighting, etc.
May God help us to do whatever we can to help the Lord’s church, His family to grow!
