Even though the world tries to prevent the church from growing and multiplying, God intervenes to grow his church against all odds.

Transcript

Why did RiverLife plant another campus? The answer is simple—to grow.

There are a lot of things in our lives that grow over time:

• Our fashion sense. Ever look back at pictures of what you wore in the 90s and thought, “How did I ever think that looked cool?” Now, ready to blow your mind? There will come a day when you look back at what you’re wearing right now and say the same thing. Don’t feel too fashionable now, do you?

• Our waistline. Ya, we all know it’s true. My spare tire might have started out as a bicycle tire, but now it’s more like a monster truck tire. And if it’s been more than 10 years since high school, yours hasn’t, just know… your friends hate you.

• Our wisdom… at least hopefully. I hope you’re making smarter decisions now than you did 10 years ago. How many of you have one of those friends who hasn’t really grown since high school or college? Now, if you can’t think of any… I’m just sayin’

There’s another thing that should grow over time… that’s the church. So, today, we’re going to look at three things:

• What church growth is

• How it happens

• And how you can be a part of it

Before I go too far, I want to say that I heard this sermon from another Alliance church in Pittsburg called CityLight. They’re a 10-year-old church with three campuses, so they’re a few steps ahead of us. Pastor Kong and I were really inspired by a sermon of theirs about growing churches. So, I want to give credit to one of their campus pastors, Mike Anderson, for some of the amazing ideas you’re about to hear today.

What Is Church Growth?

There are a lot of ways a church can grow. But today, we want to focus on growing in number.

Did you know that numerical increase appears in the first chapter of the Bible? Genesis 1 records God creating everything, including the first man and woman. They were created, and we were created, in the image of God, to reflect God, to represent God here on earth.

After creating the first humans, God gave them a command. “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth…” (Genesis 1:28). In other words: as you are made in my image, make more image of me, until the earth is filled with it.” Fill the earth with the image of God for the glory of God.

Humans were to have babies—one of the more fun ways to grow. More human life meant more of the image of God. But before that happened, the first humans turned away from God, rejecting his love and his authority, and thereby introducing sin. So, now, as the human race grew, the image of God grew but so did sin.

But sin wouldn’t have the last word. God was still committed to filling the earth with more of his image for his glory, so he eventually sent his son Jesus Christ to earth. Jesus is described in Colossians 1:15 like this: “15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” So, he was the perfect image of God, becoming what the first humans were supposed to be.

Now, remember, we carry both the image of God and the stain of sin. But because of Jesus, we can reflect more and more of the image of God and less and less of the stain of sin. Listen to how the Apostle Paul describes it: “18 And we all, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

That means when you believe in Jesus and follow Him, you can grow to reflect more and more of the image of God. So, God is still filling the earth with more of his image, but his primary means of doing that has changed. Now, it’s not simply by having children; it’s fulfilled by people believing in Jesus, the true image of God, and being transformed into that same image.

So, here’s a biblical description of church growth: Growth is the increase of God’s image on the earth through the increase of the number of disciples and churches.

That’s why we planted a second campus. And that’s why we’re already talking about a third campus—to multiply the image of God through more people and churches committed to Jesus Christ.

How Does Growth Happen?

So, how does growth happen? We all intuitively know this: healthy things grow. Take plants, for example. Healthy plants grow. With water, sunlight, and fertilizer, they grow. That’s how it works, except if you’re my wife. Some Hmong OGs have a green thumb; Pang Foua has a black thumb…of death. Our house is where plants come to die. We discovered this early in our marriage. Back in California, we moved into an apartment, and they had some plants on the balcony. She touched them when we first moved in. They were dead by the weekend.

And just like plants, healthy churches grow. Nowhere in the Bible do we see this better than the book of Acts. Acts is literally a MasterClass in church growth. I could pick any chapter and show how a church can grow. But we’re just going to focus on Acts 9, the conversion of Saul into Paul. This is a front-row seat to how God increases his image on earth through one man.

The chapter begins with this line. “1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.” Saul was a Pharisee who was also the #1 enemy of the early Church. In the name of righteousness, he arrested, beat, and possibly ordered the death of Christians. He was literally filling the earth with more and more evil.

That is until Jesus got a hold of him. The risen Jesus appeared to him on a desert road, spoke to him, and blinded him. Jesus transformed him from an enemy of Jesus’ people to one of Jesus’ people.

After recovering with the Christians in a nearby town in verse 19, here’s what he does next. “20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.” He’s barely out of his hospital gown, and he’s preaching in the synagogue. So, the first way we see the church growing here is through the proclamation of Christ. That’s why, every week, Pastor Kong and I talk to you about Jesus.

The passage continues, “21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, ‘Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests? 22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.”

Saul actually increases in power, wisdom, and influence. Why? Because he was empowered by God, not by himself. He’s able to engage in convincing debate with people who don’t believe because he’s getting his strength from God.

That’s where you’ll have to get it if you want to engage non-believers in conversation, even debate, and be kind and caring and listen well. Being strengthened by Christ himself, relying on what he thinks of you, what he promises you, is the only way to engage others without getting defensive, insensitive, or just plain jerkish. Being strengthened by Christ is how growth happens.

But things weren’t all great for Paul. The next verse says, “23 After many days had gone by, there was a conspiracy among the Jews to kill him, 24 but Saul learned of their plan. Day and night they kept close watch on the city gates in order to kill him. 25 But his followers took him by night and lowered him in a basket through an opening in the wall.”

If you convert to Christianity or start to take your faith more seriously, you will get opposition. Now, you probably won’t get death threats, but some of your friends or family might criticize you.

• Maybe it’s your parents because they want you to return to the traditional ways.

• Maybe it’s your drinking buddies who insult you for not going out with them like you used to.

• Or maybe it’s your sister or cousin who questions you, saying, “Come on, you used to love when we talked about other people.”

But, just make sure if you experience opposition or even persecution, make sure it’s actually for your beliefs in Jesus. I’ve seen plenty of Christians who say they’re getting persecuted for their faith, but it’s really just because they’re jerks. The internet is full of Christian jerks. Sadly, so are many churches. So is Fox News. Political offices, even some governor’s mansions, are full of Christian jerks. If you’re going to be persecuted, let it be because you’re outrageously loving, ridiculously forgiving, or outlandishly kind, not simply because you’re a jerk.

How does growth happen? The church grows…

• When its people boldly proclaim Christ

• When its people are empowered by the Jesus

• When its people respond to opposition with radical love and kindness

• And it also helps to have a group of friends who’ll do anything for you, like lower you to safety through a wall.

How Can You Be a Part of Our Growth?

So, how can you be a part of our growth? The end of this chapter answers that question in an amazing way. Verse 31 reads, “31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.”

They lived in the fear of the Lord and the encouragement of the Holy Spirit.

A healthy fear of the Lord is a profound reverence and awe of God’s holiness, power, and authority over us. It’s knowing that God is loving and just, and that means his wrath over our sin is also loving and just. It’s a humble obedience, knowing that God doesn’t owe us anything, including our existence.

But he also gives us the encouragement of the Holy Spirit. How can you have encouragement while living in fear? It’s because of what the Holy Spirit is doing in you. He’s doing what He did all through the book of Acts and all through Church history: He enables you to get courage from what Christ did for you—he died for you.

Fear of the Lord knows that the Lord can kill you. Fear of the Lord knows that our sins deserve death. But the encouragement of the Holy Spirit knows that Jesus was the one who died. The one who had no sin died the death our sins deserve.

The fear of the Lord drives us closer to Christ, for only in Him do we find full payment for our sins. And the encouragement of the Holy Spirit strengthens us to love all things, forgive all things, and endure all things.

That’s how you can be a part of our growth. We do the living; God does the growing.

Colossians 5:4 – “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.”