What Does God Want From Us?

Here we go on another series journey. In Acts 8, we read about the story of Philip and his evangelistic journey. One particular story, which we will take a closer look at this Sunday, is of Philip and the Ethiopian treasurer. What a great picture of true evangelism. This is a template of what God desires from us. But more on that later.

I wanted to share a reading that I came across from the Teacher's Commentary as I was studying for preaching this week. It is about church growth and I believe a picture of GRPC. Check it out...

“What’s happened to us? We were so close before. And then we started growing … and. … ” Carol’s words reflect a common experience. A little group of believers comes together, grows close, and forms a local church. There’s an exciting sense of closeness and warmth and enthusiasm.

As time passes, growth comes. We become busier and busier. New people come in whom we don’t know, and before long the closeness we felt with earlier friends is lost. Soon decisions about buildings and parking lots and programs and staffing and so many other things crowd in on us.

It’s easy then to look back at the earlier days and to long for the intimacy of that smaller group. It’s also easy, if we’ve never experienced that kind of fellowship, to doubt whether it is even possible in this day and age.

All such longing is not only useless; it is also foolish. It is in the very nature of life to reproduce. It is in the very nature of Christian faith and life to reach out, to welcome more and more people into the family of God. It may be more difficult to maintain warmth and a sense of oneness in a church when growth comes. But the solution is never to push back to the past. The solution is in finding new ways to affirm and to experience our [solidarity].

It was no different in the early church. With growth and expansion came tensions. There were disagreements. There was sin. There were suspicion and misunderstanding. But through it all the early church expected that God the Holy Spirit would enable them to experience the unity that He Himself had fashioned in that bond which knits believers to Jesus and to one another."

I can't help but think of our church. I have been here since the beginning. I have watched people come and go. When I observed the dramatic musical this past Sunday it really hit me that there are many new faces in our church. But there are also many faces from the past! What I saw on the stage was a meeting of the old and new, blended together as one gigantic family of believers.

Our vision for the Kingdom of God can never be so small as "I want a smaller church". Can you even fathom those words coming from the lips of our Savior? Jesus didn't say to go into some of the world, he demanded that we go to ALL nations! Jesus envisioned one gigantic mega church. Yes, I know mega church is a bad word, especially in small church circles. But read John 17 and see what Jesus desires for his church--ONE CHURCH.

The Church is not about buildings, programs or who the preacher is. It is about doing the work of the Kingdom and GROWING the church. This means that your church is meant to grow. No matter how big your church is, are you actively involved in building the Kingdom.

We will be asking over the next few weeks, "What Does God Want From Me?" We will study Philip, Paul and Peter as the Scriptures reveal to us what God wants from us as individuals and what he wants from us as part of a congregation of believers. I hope you will take the journey with me.