Building the Church the Jesus Way

 

I have lived through a lot of trends in growing the church. There was the church growth movement of the 80’s and early 90’s. There have been many different evangelistic efforts and programs. The latest in ways to grow the church is coming up with ways to market the church.

 

These all seem to me to go against the things that Jesus did as He proclaimed the gospel and ministered to people.

 

There are four times when Jesus told people not to tell others who He was or what He had done.

 

In Matthew 8:4 Jesus tells a leper who He had just healed not to tell anyone that he had been healed but to go show himself to the priest so he could be certified as healed.

 

In Matthew 16:20 Jesus strictly charges the disciples not to tell anyone that He is the Christ.

 

In Matthew 17:7 as Jesus, Peter, James and John are coming down from the mountain after Jesus had been transfigured, He tells them not to tell anyone what they had seen until He is raised from the dead.

 

In Mark 7:36 after Jesus had healed a deaf man, He charged the people who had seen Him do it not to tell anyone.

 

Jesus was unclear on how to market Himself.

Jesus was very clear on how to trust and obey the Father.

 

What does that mean for us as followers of Jesus in the present?

 

First, it means that we are not to flaunt our obedience.

 

Matthew 6:1

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

 

God wants us to obey Him because we trust and love Him. Our obedience is not done to impress others. Our obedience flows out of our gratitude to God for sending Jesus to be our sacrifice for our sin. It is done to please God, not people.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is obeying God because it is what God wants and our obedience pleases Him.

 

Second, it means that God did not choose me because of how great I am.

 

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

For consider your calling, brothers; not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

 

God does not love us because of us.

God did not choose us because of us.

God does not use us for His honor because of us.

 

God does all of these because of Him.

 

We, from the world’s perspective, are not wise. We are foolish, we are weak, and we are nothing. Yet God chose us to shame the world and to bring to nothing things that the world says are everything.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is boasting about Jesus, not ourselves or even our faith family.

 

Third, it means we are the servants but God is the power.

 

1 Corinthians 3:5-7

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

 

God is all powerful and any growth in the kingdom and in the church comes through God’s power, not our power or talent. We celebrate the growth as a gift from God and all about Him.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is giving all the credit to God for any growth that occurs in a church or ministry or our lives.

 

Fourth, it means we are not to grow weary in doing good because we know that we don’t labor in vain and God will give us a harvest when we don’t give up.

 

Galatians 6:9

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

 

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

 

Ministry is never easy but in our present covid-19 circumstances it has become even more difficult. The key is to continue to seek God and to continue to obey God. If we don’t give up, God will bring the harvest because we do not labor in vain. God will bless our enduring obedience.

 

It is not about you and me.

It is all about Jesus!

 

Exalting Jesus by Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                         Joe