Our passage does not specifically tell us that the early church devoted themselves to evangelism, although we may conclude that they did, indeed, share the message of the Good News with those who did not know Christ. What we are told is that they devoted themselves to learning ("to the Apostle’s teaching"), to caring ("to the fellowship") and to worship ("to the breaking of bread and to prayer"). As a result, they became a "contagious community," in the sense that unbelievers observing them said, I want to catch whatever has caught hold of them!"
Consequently, the early church grew. By virtue of their coming together as a Christian community, they were used mightily of God to reach the Jerusalem community.
God calls His church to grow! Now, some argue that we shouldn’t be concerned about church growth. They often say things like, "God isn’t interested in numbers," or "we should focus on quality, not quantity."
But the fact is that if we are truly concerned about what God is concerned about, we will be concerned about reaching more people for Christ and seeing our church grow. There are at least three reasons why our church must never stop growing. We must never stop growing . . .
1. Because God loves people.
"The Lord is . . . not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
- 2 Peter 3:9 (KJV)
2. Because God commands us to reach out.
"Go out into the country . . . and urge anyone you find to come in, so that My House will be full."
- Luke 14:23 (Living Bible)
". . . you will be my witnesses . . ." - Acts 1:8 (NIV)
3. Because growth is God’s will.
"Under Christ’s control, the whole body is nourished . . . and grows as God wants it to grow."
- Colossians 2:19 (Good News For Modern Man)
"I (Jesus) will build my church." - Matthew 16:18 (NIV)
I want us to think together today about how our church might grow as we consider the example of the Jerusalem church. I once had a seminary professor who told us that the church should grow in three ways. It should grow better, bigger, and broader. This is how God worked to grow the early church in Jerusalem.
1. Growing bigger.
The fact that the church in Jerusalem grew bigger is testified to again and again through-out the book of Acts.
"Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church-
-about three thousand in all." - Acts 2:41 (NLT)
"But a lot of people who had heard the message believed it.
So by now there were about five thousand followers of the Lord." - Acts 4:4 (CEV)
"God’s message was preached in ever-widening circles. The number of believers greatly increased in Jerusalem, and many of the Jewish priests were converted, too." - Acts 6:7 (NLT)
"The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord."
- Acts 11:21 (NIV)
God wants our church to grow bigger. He wants to see more people in worship, more people in Bible study, and more people coming to faith in Christ through the ministries of our church. There’s nothing wrong with seeing numbers as evidence of God at work. The danger is seeing numbers as statistics rather than people. Our church is in the people business, because we are in God’s business. People are God’s business.
"Shall We Strive For Numbers?"
Someone recently said, "I am not interested in numbers. I would rather have a spiritual Sunday School class than a big one."
I found myself agreeing and determined to pray and prepare my lesson unusually well for next Sunday. At least MY class would be a spiritual one. I didn’t send the usual little cards as reminders to the class; nor did I visit any prospects; I just let them go, but I did have a lesson well prepared. And then came Sunday.
David was absent. Had his dad, so recently saved, taken him fishing again? Were they slipping away from Sunday School and away from God? My heart felt a sharp jab of pain. Jimmie wasn’t there. Could he be sick again? What about Charles? Did he ever get those new shoes and was he sitting out on a woodpile feeling "blue" because he didn’t make it to Sunday School?
I gave my prepared lesson. But those three - what good did it do them?
This week I sent then the prettiest cards I could find, I called them over the phone, I visited them even.
The constant cry in my heart was, "God, don’t let them slip away and grow up in sin and careless living. Please, God, bring them back."
Shall we strive for numbers? Yes, oh, yes! when it comes to MY boys, let’s have numbers - all eleven of them!
God is concerned about people, therefore, we must be concerned about people, and we should commit ourselves to seeing as many people become followers of Jesus Christ as we possibly can.
"All of us need to do more to win every person possible to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We must do everything we can to reach as many people as we can. These are ones for whom Christ died and need to be brought to the blessed cross of Calvary. Don’t be afraid that you’re going to reach too many of them. No one is guilty of that." - Bailey Smith, Real Evangelism
As long as there are people in need of Jesus, there will be a need for our church to grow bigger!
2. Growing Better.
The Bible tells us that the early believers devoted themselves to prayer. What did they prayed about? Certainly, they prayed about their burdens and cares. Of course, they prayed about their problems and sicknesses. But there is one other thing that I feel sure was a constant request of God when they gathered to pray. I believe they constantly and consistently prayed for wisdom so that they might more effectively carry out the work of fulfilling the Great Commission of our Lord. They prayed that God would enable them to do a better job of reaching people for Christ.
I believe this was the focus of their prayer prior to Pentecost. Some believe that they were praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit. But that would not make sense. After all, the Lord had given them a certain promise concerning the coming of the Spirit.
"He told them, "Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you what he promised. Remember, I have told you about this before. John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere--in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." - Acts 1:4-5, 8
The disciples knew that the Holy Spirit was coming, they didn’t need to pray for that. And they already knew what the Lord would have them do next, there was no need to pray about that. They were commissioned by the Lord to be witnesses for Him. The question was, how do we go about this task of taking the Gospel to the whole world? This is what I believe they prayed about in the upper room for those 10 days prior to Pentecost. And that is why during those days, they elected another disciple to take Judas’ place among the twelve. Why? Peter tells us why:
"Whoever is chosen will join us as a witness of Jesus’ resurrection." - Acts 1:22 (NLT)
They prayed in the upper room that God would give them wisdom so that they might do an effective job of fulfilling the Great Commission. Also, when they found themselves facing opposition and persecution, they prayed that they might be effective witnesses for Christ.
"Grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus." - Acts 4:29-30 (NKJV)
We, too, must constantly pray that the Lord will lead us as a church to grow better with respect to the work of making disciples.
It has been said that "the church is the only institution that exists for the purpose of meeting the needs of those who are not its members." If we are going to be effective at sharing the timeless message of the Good News in a timely manner, we must always seek God’s guidance and obey His direction.
"A large crop is in the fields, but there are only a few workers. Ask the Lord in charge of the harvest to send out workers to bring it in." - Matthew 9:37-38 (CEV)
We must pray to the Lord of the harvest to discern how He wants to sent us out to bring His harvest in. We must seek to grow better by seeking and following the guidance of God in bringing in His harvest.
3. Growing Broader.
The church in Jerusalem eventually became the mother of every church, not only in the ancient world, but in our modern world. This is because, they didn’t restrict their work to Jerusalem, but as Jesus said, they expanded the spread of the Gospel to all Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the world.
Likewise, we must seek to broaden our church’s influence and work beyond our local community to touch the larger world around us. The fact is that we are not truly an evangelistic church if we are not also a mission-minded church. As someone once put it, "Evangelism is to missions what burning is to fire."
"Missions is the growth measure that puts every other component in its proper perspective. It is the crown of every church’s ministry, proof that the people of God have embraced a biblical worldview. Jesus Christ came into the world to save every person in it, wherever they live, whatever the culture. God has one strategy for all the nations; there is one Lord, one salvation, one message to preach, and one call to repentance. A growing church responds by sending missionaries into all the world and by praying and giving to support them." - Gene Mims, The Kingdom Focused Church
Conclusion: How are you helping your church grow bigger? Better? Broader?
