Acts 2:1-21; John 15-16
Church Growth
It’s the Church’s birthday today. No, not St Paul. The Church. The whole Christian Church. Sometimes it’s hard to believe just how far the church has come in two thousand years. That first Pentecost, what we celebrate today, was the very meager beginnings of the church. When the church gathered just prior to Pentecost, it was mentioned that there were only 120 people who constituted “the Church”. Today, there’s an estimated 2.4 billion Christians throughout the world, or 31.2% of the entire world population. Yet, it’s for this reason that I have to ask a question. Do you think everyone has already heard about Jesus? I know the answer is obvious… of course not! We know that there are millions, even billions of people that have never heard the good news. But the question then becomes… where are they? Are they only in the remote places around the world, the small, hidden islands, the tribes in the middle of the jungle? Some, yes. But the majority of those who haven’t heard are much closer to home. They’re your next-door neighbors. They’re your friends across town. They’re your coworkers. They’re even sometimes in our own family! For we can’t assume that everyone around us has heard about Jesus just because Christianity is so prevalent. Even if they have heard, evangelism doesn’t stop at the first introduction. For there’s a big difference between knowing about Jesus and actually knowing Jesus.
On this celebration of Pentecost, we often look at the supposed ease the disciples had in growing the church and wish it would be that way today. But the truth is… the way we grow the church is no different today from then. It all comes down to the work of the Holy Spirit among us. For so we shall learn today:
ALL WHO CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED!
I.
Whenever we read about the early church from Acts or elsewhere, it often seems that the path of the apostles was paved with gold. It seems to us that Peter or Paul or any of them could show up to somewhere new and instantly they would convert people to the faith without much effort. It certainly didn’t hurt that they were able to perform miracles. The church grew leaps and bounds in the first century, from a church of a hundred and twenty to thousands, even tens of thousands. For the issue with looking at Pentecost as a result of the disciples’ actions is what gets us certain responses like the church growth movement. Some have theorized that the disciples give us a pattern, a prescription of how to evangelize. That is, the Church growth movement is centered on saying, “If your church fits the right mold, has all the right programs, and speaks in the perfect way, then you’re guaranteed to grow.” It’s the Church growth movement though that teaches that what programs you have are more important than the message you preach… even if that message is entirely worldly. For all the Church growth movement achieved was creating new social clubs that are here one day and gone the next.
We must understand Pentecost for what it is, not as a description or method for how to grow the church, but a story about how the church began. That’s not to say there’s nothing we can learn from it. What we have to learn is our true position when it comes to evangelism. Consider Jesus’ words in our Gospel, “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me,” John 15:26. The Spirit is our helper. He comes to help us. But what does it mean that he’s our helper? It means we’re insufficient… in many respects. Jesus sends the helper because he knows we can’t preserve the faith all on our own. We need help because we’re sinners who are still stuck in our old ways. We’re incapable of living out the faith bestowed by Jesus by our own strength or power. And should that not be problematic enough, if we can’t preserve our own faith, how much less can we bestow faith in another? For whether the church grows or shrinks, lives or dies, doesn’t reside on us. We’re not strong enough. The fact that the church has survived this long is in spite of everything we’ve done.
II.
The way the Church has grown over the centuries has never changed. From that very first Pentecost to this one, the Church has been built around one thing… the proclamation of Jesus Christ. Evangelism is all about speaking about Christ and his works. For this is what the first Pentecost shows us. Faith comes by the work of the Spirit, using this proclamation of Christ to work faith in the hearts of all people. Just as we read from Acts, “But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words… this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,” Acts 2:14,16-17. The Church is a prophesying church. That means, we’re a church that speaks the Word of God in sincerity and truth, speaking about Christ!
This is the way the Spirit helps us. He calls us unto the Lord by working faith in our hearts. He gathers us together to worship among the community of faith. He enlightens us to understand the truth of Christ’s words. Above all, he sanctifies us by bestowing upon us the works of Christ. It’s the Spirit that connects us to the forgiveness which Christ gives. It’s the Spirit that brings the salvation won for us on the cross to life within us. For whenever we speak about Christ, his death for us on the cross, his burial in the grave, and his resurrection from the dead on our behalf, the Spirit is there working. He’s our helper, the one who allows us to call upon the Lord. As Peter says, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” Acts 2:21. This is how the church has grown and will continue to grow over the years. It’s by the work of the Spirit who uses our words, our testimony of Christ to work faith in all people.
This is why we celebrate Pentecost. It’s the day that Jesus gives to his Church the promised Spirit. He gives us our Helper who works in us the very salvation won for us by Christ and his death. So shall the Spirit keep us in this one true faith so that we may inherit eternal life! In Jesus’ name! Amen!