Why Grow?

Text: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Focus: Principles of Church Growth

Form: Bible Study

Intro: I was learning CISM in Baltimore, working with social workers.

A woman asked why it was important for her friend of several years, who just got saved, to constantly preach at her.

Does God want the Church to grow?

Does God want us to share our faith with unbelievers?

How does the Church grow?

Why does the Church grow?

There are three principles given in close succession in this place of Matthew's gospel.

The Parables of the mustard seed and the yeast, the Parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price, and the parable of the dragnet.

I am going to take them in reverse order.

The dragnet. Angels cast a net, collect fish and then they separate the good from the bad.

Like last week, the parable of the dragnet is about God being the gardener, not us. In this case, it is about God's angels separating the good fish from the bad fish.

The emphasis is that God, not us, does the reaping and the separating.

And this is a principle of Church growth.

A church will grow when it lets God be the one who does the separating. (repeat)

Many remember that several of my brother's children attended worship two weeks ago.

After worship and the deacon's meeting, Kathy and I went to their cottage for a visit.

In my twin brother's family, there are 3 full time preachers and 2 other ordained preachers who are serving in other roles. All are from the Church of the Nazarene, except one who is an Orthodox Priest. Most come from a pretty conservative theological background.

We have some lively theological discussions.

They were discussing the reason why so many young people are dropping out of Church.

My niece said: “it is because the Church has taken upon itself to be the judge of all different kinds of lifestyles instead of bringing people to the good news.”

She wasn't speaking about the perception outside the Church, she was speaking about young adults who are leaving the Church.

I mentioned my phrase: “cursing the darkness instead of shining a light?”

And she said: “exactly.”

Let the angels do the separating. When the Church takes it upon itself to parrot a political party, either party, or to condemn or condone certain people for whatever reasons, it loses its focus and misses this principle of Church growth.

The fish swim in the same lake, the weeds grow together with God's plants.

One of them then said this: “It is like the Church wants to be a museum for saints instead of a hospital for sinners.”

Now we are Agape. We stand for Love. We stand for the Love of God.

I tell people, just get them here and Agape will keep on loving them into the Kingdom.

But people perceive Christianity as merely hating this and that. And you know what? Some of the rhetoric I hear on the national airways justifies their belief.

We need to remember that God does the separating, not us.

And that is good news because God is a lot more loving toward our enemies, or people who are different than us than we are. Praise God?

So, the first principle is that the Church will grow when God does the separating, not us.

The second two parables are about treasures.

The Kingdom of God is like a hidden treasure in the field whereby a man sells everything he has and buys the field, or like a pearl of great price that a person is willing to sacrifice everything to obtain.

The Kingdom of God has great value in a person's life.

I used to often think of this in context of Matthew 16:26, or Psalms 49:8. These passages tell us that it is impossible for anyone to ransom or redeem their own soul.

In my earlier understanding, I reckoned it to mean that God sets the price and whatever we have to do to get it is God's prerogative. God, being God can do what God pleases.

And in Matthew 16, Jesus tells us that gaining the whole world and losing one's soul is not worth it. Apparently this is true since eternity is forever.

That was when I perceived the Kingdom of God as something I will achieve after I die.

But then I learned that the Kingdom of God is not only a coming Kingdom, but the Kingdom of God is here and now.

The Kingdom of God is here and now and is already valuable. That is what these parables mean.

Its value is not merely a fire escape from hell.

It has present day value.

I love our statement about the Church of the Brethren: “A different way of living.”

God's Kingdom is here to bring healing to the world. We are here to bring healing to the world.

Mary Hoff, one of the presenters at our VBS turned out to be married to one of my childhood friends.

She gave me one of the best compliments I have ever heard about another Christian. No, she wasn't speaking about me. She was speaking of Rick Flickinger. She said that he was indeed a sincere Christian and she believed in his faith.

Rick, don't get a big head. But Rick demonstrates the value of the Kingdom of God today.

When the Church merely focuses on getting people saved so that they end up in heaven instead of hell, they short change the value of the Kingdom of God.

I don't believe that Mary came to Church the next Sunday because I was here, she came to see what kind of place nurtured Rick Flickinger's Christian witness.

So what value does it have?

The Kingdom of God heals the world.

The Church grew like wildfire across the Roman world in the first three centuries because the Church was the only institution in the world that was caring for the poor.

People saw actions of faith that were consistent with the words of their faith.

That, my friends, is a physical demonstration of the value we place on the Kingdom of God.

Across Fort Wayne, we see the history of the blessing of the Church in the fact that all three hospitals, Parkview, which used to be knows as Parkview Methodist Hospital, Lutheran Hospital and St. Joseph's Hospital are all ministries of the Kingdom of God.

Pastoring in Lancaster Co, PA gave me a sense of pride because of what the Atlantic NE district is doing there. They have an organization that they started called COBYS. Church of the Brethren Youth Services.

They facilitate adoption, foster care, marriage counseling and domestic violence abuse protection. They do so well that the court system in Lancaster Co uses them almost exclusively.

When Kairos comes to the prison, the Kingdom of God here and now comes there. Each weekend, which costs over $7,000 is paid for by the team of 40 people serving. We meet 9 times for 3 hours in order to prepare. And we get nothing in return. We do it because the Kingdom of God has great value, not just for the future but for today.

I have a friend who lives in South St. Louis. She tells me Joyce Meyer ministries has over 16 homes for desperate women. She said: “I heard that they are feeding half of the poor in St. Louis!”

When people want to criticize Christianity as a bunch of haters, I want to shout out what good the Kingdom of God is doing in the world.

And the Church will grow when it is known for the good that it does.

All of these actions take place at the sacrifice of time and money by individual people as Christians and the corporate actions of people.

A man named Steve was in two weeks ago and he asked me to thank the entire congregation.

In January, we gave him a voucher for 100 pounds of food. He didn't have the gas to get to the South side of FW. But before he left, he spent 45 minutes with me asking about job interview skills. He brought it up. We prayed together.

We gave him a voucher a second time. He found a job! He was just getting paid and needed help. And then he was in two weeks ago collecting his final gift from us. I gave him a gift card for gas. He said: “tell the congregation that I love them. Jesus loves them. And tell them that I don't need any more help. This will purchase the gas to help me get to LaPorte for my final training. I got a good job and I have you all to thank for it.”

Because of our actions, the sacrifice of our actions, we show the value of the Kingdom of God, here and now.

The Church will grow in proportion to how well we value the Present day Kingdom of God.

And finally, the parables of the mustard seed and the yeast.

Both parables tell the same story from a different perspective.

The mustard seed is very small. And yet, the bush that grows from it is as large as a tree. It is so big that birds nest in its branches.

The point being that God does great things with small beginnings.

God owns the plant, not us. Remember, God is the gardener. Sometimes God weeds the garden and prunes the tree and it is painful.

But the plant grows from small things.

We cannot despise, or lose hope at a small beginning.

And the parable of the yeast. This is my favorite.

We cannot see yeast do its work with the naked eye.

I imagine that to a 1^st century hearer of this parable, yeast almost seemed magical.

But here is the thing. It spreads from molecule to molecule.

One molecule is changed and that changes another and that creates the chain reaction.

The Kingdom of God grows through the individual cell.

We cannot actually see it work, but it does.

Jesus wanted the disciples to understand the mystery of the Holy Spirit as God warms heart to Jesus' love and the Kingdom of God spreads.

If the bread does not come into contact with the yeast, it will not rise.

When we come into contact with others, the Kingdom of God comes into contact with others.

I had a pagan boss once. He knew I was a Christian. And the business had trouble. So the bosses wife, an elderly and devout Catholic Christian woman, would ask me to pray for the company.

She knew that the Kingdom of God means a blessing to the people we come into contact with it.

We are Agape.

Our name means Love.

We are the visible demonstration of God's love for this world, in this part of the world.

Let us remember that God will cause growth in a divine any mysterious way.

God wants us to value what it means for us to be part God's Kingdom.

And God wants us to share grace instead of judgment.