Kingdom Growth

Read at beginning of service:

1 Corinthians 3:1-23 (NIV)

1 Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly–mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe–as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. 10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. 16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple. 18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; 20 and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 21 So then, no more boasting about men! All things are yours, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future–all are yours, 23 and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God.

INTRODUCTION

John 4:27-42 (NIV)

27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him. 31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” 34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” 39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

(Hold up can of Coca-Cola) – Coca-Cola is one product that has far outgrown its humble beginnings. In 1886, Dr. John Pemberton first introduced Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia. The pharmacist concocted a caramel-colored syrup in a three-legged brass kettle in his backyard. He first ?distributed? Coca-Cola by carrying it in a jug down the street to Jacobs? Pharmacy.
After a little more than 100 years, surveys show that 97% of the world has heard of this sugar and water concoction while 1.7 billion people world-wide have no access to the good news of Jesus Christ! It is estimated that 17 million people die every year without having heard the name of Jesus!

• Hearing those facts can be very sobering to the church ? but they should also be challenging, motivating and inspiring in the hopes of bringing the church to a new level of commitment in sharing the message of forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. Sometimes its hard to understand if God is such a loving God then why would He let so many people perish year after year without knowing about Him? But the answer to that lies in the fact that because God is love He not only sent walked the earth and died for our sins and rose again showing victory over death and sin BUT also established His church to spread the good news so that all would have the opportunity to know Him.

2 Peter 3:8-9 (NIV)

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

• It is intended in the design of the church that its purpose would be to go to the lost and tell them about Jesus and multiply and grow the kingdom of God! And yet?

Alan Nelson ? ?The longer a church has been in existence, the more its resources go toward its own preservation rather than toward outreach and evangelism. Our tendency is to design ministries that meet our own needs as opposed to the needs of those who have not yet entered the kingdom.?

Michael S. Hamilton, Assistant Professor of History at Seattle Pacific University wrote, ?In the 1930?s, most missionary agencies emphasized evangelism, church-planting, and discipleship. In 1998, however, four of the five largest overseas ministries specialized in relief, development, and education work. For many of these agencies, evangelism is a secondary concern.

• I want to ask you an important question this morning. Raise your hand if you would like to see the Hanover Pentecostal Church reach the lost people of our community!
• Reaching the community for Christ is the reason that we exist as a church. It should be the goal of every single one of us who call ourselves a Christian to each reach a person for Jesus Christ and then mentor them to where they too can make disciples. What that means is that we want to take people who do not know Christ, help them to become a disciple of Jesus and then get them to the point where they can go make disciples of others. The goal is spiritual reproduction. Not for our sake but for their sake. Not so that we are lifted up or the church gains attention but so that God may receive all the glory and the perishing are rescued from death and given life!

If a woman was to rush into the church right now and scream out, ?Somebody help me, my husband is stuck under his car?, I know that right away we?d have people rushing to her side and to her husband to help ? there would be those running to his car to help get him out, there would be someone calling 911 to get the medical authorities there, there would be someone rounding up some blankets to cover the man with when he?s removed from under the car, there would be someone comforting his wife and then many of us would be praying for them. I believe that we?d all rally around that couple and attempt to keep physical death from happening ? but friends how many of us respond with the same urgency with those who are spiritually dead apart from God?

• I believe that one of the ways you can judge the health of a church is to see how many people are being won to Christ ? how many people are being rescued from the kingdom of darkness and brought into the kingdom of light (not for brownie points, but out of a genuine concern for their eternal destiny). The other way is by the measure by which we help people grow in their faith or in other words helping them to mature. All that we do as a church should be focused in some way on those two areas.
• Today, as we continue the series on Evangelism Made Simple I?m going to talk about church growth but there is actually another term that better expresses what the church is called to do and that is Kingdom Growth
  
• You see, when I talk about growing the church, it can be misunderstood to mean that all I am seeking is a large church. If that is the case, then one way we can make the church larger is to try to get people from other churches to come to our church. I mean, really, all we need are better programs, a more friendly staff and people, and a better tasting coffee and they?ll come in droves! Yet friend?s, that is NOT kingdom growth and that is not to be the focus of what we do. All we?d be doing is moving fish from one bowl to the next. I don?t want that!
• The real issue for us as a church is the issue of Kingdom growth. That is bringing people into the Kingdom of God from the kingdom of satan (heaven/world, light/darkness, life/death).
• We can grow in number without expanding the Kingdom any, but that is not what we want. We want to see new people added to God?s family! That is kingdom growth! That is the growth I pray for and desire for in this community!
• Today as we take a final look at Jesus encounter with the woman at the well, we are going to look at Kingdom Growth according to Jesus – the process of kingdom growth, the focus needed for kingdom growth to happen and the rewards of kingdom growth.
• This message today really goes to the heart of what each and every one of us who are Christians can be doing!

According to Jesus, Kingdom growth?

INVOLVES A CHAIN-REACTION 27-30, 39-42

• Kingdom growth involves a domino effect. This is what I call, ?make one to make one?.

1. It starts with planting a seed by telling another person about the kingdom of God. V 27.

• In this whole story that we have been looking at we see that Jesus took the time to speak with this woman about the Kingdom. Jesus planted a seed in this woman that germinated very quickly.
• We are called to do a couple things in the kingdom growth process, we are to plant seeds and we are to water the seeds that other people have planted.
• If you are a farmer, you need to eventually put some seed in the ground if you want to have a harvest. You do want to spend the proper time preparing the ground, but at some point, you have to drop the seed in the ground.
• As far as kingdom growth is concerned, God only holds us responsible for planting and watering.

Paul writes,

1 Corinthians 3:6-9 (NIV)

6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.

• If we plant and water all of our lives and not one seed blooms, God will bless us for the effort. God does not hold us accountable for how other people respond. If He did, Noah would have been in big trouble after 120 years of preaching to no avail!
• We cannot discriminate as to who we will tell about Jesus and who we wouldn?t.
• The disciples we shocked that Jesus would be speaking with this woman who was not a Jew. Our church should be a haven of salvation for ALL people in the community no matter who they are or where they live.
• If you know a lost person, they are someone with which a seed needs to be planted.

Robert Louis Stevenson, ?Don?t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.?

2. Once a person accepts the message, their life and priorities change v 28

• Notice what happened with this woman. Jesus offered her the living water of the gospel, she wanted to accept it. Once she did her life and priorities were forever changed.
• This woman left her water pot and went to the city and told others about Jesus.
• When you accept the living water of the Gospel, your life and priorities should change. Your life will be about serving Jesus and telling other people about Him.

3. The person, who receives the message, then shares it with other people. V29

• In verse 29, the woman gets into town and starts telling other people about Jesus. She asks them if they thought He was the Messiah. She was not asking as if she doubted it, but she was going to let others judge for themselves. She poised the intriguing question, ?Could He be the Christ??
• This is a good point for us. As we share Jesus, we are to present the evidence of who Jesus is and tell them what He has done for us. Then we let them come to a decision. If we try to force a decision on a person, we will not get a commitment to Jesus from them and more often than not we?ll simply push them farther away.

There was a young salesman who was disappointed about losing a big sale, and as he talked with his sales manager he lamented, ?I guess it just proves you can lead a horse to water but you can?t make him drink.? The manager replied, ?Son, take my advice: your job is not to make him drink. Your job is to make him thirsty.? So it is with evangelism. Our lives should be so filled with Christ that they create a thirst for the Gospel.

4. The people they share the gospel with respond. V30, v 39-42

• In verse 30 we see that the people with whom she shared the gospel with wanted to investigate it for themselves.
• We need to welcome that investigation from people we are sharing with.
• In verse 39 we see that many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of what the woman had told them. But others needed to spend some time with Jesus and hear from Him before they believed.

John 4:42 (NIV)

42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

• The key to kingdom growth is not in demographic studies (which can be helpful), a special program or a special ministry, but it is simply each one of us telling other people about Jesus and being ready when they respond!

(Kingdom growth involves a chain reaction ? process)

According to Jesus, Kingdom growth…

INVOLVES PROPER FOCUS 31-35

• There are two focuses that are possible ? focusing on physical needs or on spiritual needs.

1.The disciples concern.

John 4:31-33 (NIV)

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” 33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

• Notice that when the disciples return, their focus in on the physical needs of Jesus. They were surprised by the fact that Jesus had been speaking to a woman with whom He shouldn?t have been speaking to.
• The disciples paid no attention to the spiritual needs of the woman that Jesus was speaking to! They encouraged Jesus to eat (after all isn?t that why they went into town to get some food?) but He told them that He already had food to eat. The disciples had no clue what He was speaking of.

2. Jesus? concern.

John 4:34 (NIV)

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

• As a church we have to be careful that we do not get so focused on the physical that we forget about the big picture. As Christians, we have to guard against being so focused on taking care of our physical needs that we forget to take care of the spiritual needs of those around us. This is the ?food? Jesus is talking about!
• The disciples were getting so wrapped up in what they were doing that they were forgetting to eat!
• In verse 34 we see where Jesus? focus is. His focus in on doing what God wants Him to do. Jesus will not let His physical needs go unmet, but His focus is not on those needs but on doing what God called Him to do.
• Our concern needs to be where Jesus? is.

Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV)

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

3. Jesus? challenge.

John 4:35 (NIV)

35 Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

• The challenge that Jesus gives to us still today is focus on the harvest.
• Just picture this scene! Jesus is talking to the disciples, the woman has left to go into the city to share the good news about Jesus. The city then comes out en masse, heading towards Jesus and the disciples. Jesus is speaking to them about the harvest and all the sudden all of these people are approaching them!
• I want to ask you this question, ?How many times have we missed the harvest because we have not been watching the fields??

In the early 1900?s through the 1960?s Broadway Presbyterian Church was a powerful witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Upper Manhattan, but from the 1960?s to the 1990?s a subtle change began to take place. A change in emphasis stole in as massive feeding programs for the homeless were undertaken and then church membership slipped from over 1000 to 120. In the soup kitchens, prayers were not even offered over meals out of concern that the clients might resent it. And it was discovered that the same people were coming through the lines year after year – there was no change taking place in their lives (World Magazine, 26 January 2002).

• What happened? The decisive point of the battle, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, had been surrendered. Free food doesn?t transform lives, the resurrected Christ transforms lives. But we run the risk of the same powerlessness if we do not hold in balance Kindness without compromise! The point of this story is not to say that soup kitchens and other charitable activity is wrong but that they are not the focus ? the people who come, the harvest is the focus!

Charles Spurgeon, ?Lives with many aims are like water trickling through innumerable streams, none of which are wide enough or deep enough to float the merest cockleshell of a boat. But a life with one purpose is like a mighty river flowing between its banks, bearing to on either side.?

• How many times have we missed the harvest because we have not been watching the fields?

According to Jesus, Kingdom growth…

INVOLVES REWARDS (36-38, 39-42)

John 4:36-38 (NIV)

36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

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John 4:39-42 (NIV)

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

• Jesus wants us to know the great rewards that are received by those who plant and water the seeds of the kingdom.

1. The wages of those who plant and water are the fruits of their labor which are everlasting! (v 36)

• The work of a Christian in sharing their faith and telling others about Jesus results in the experience of seeing the increase in the kingdom of God. This work is an everlasting work that will never perish or wither away or dwindle to nothing.
• What else can you do right now that will pay you now and for eternity?
• If you have ever been a part of winning a person to Christ, it will be one of the most exciting things that you will ever do. You are helping a person receive eternal life with God! You are saving them from the pits if hell!
• Many times the harvest that we reap will happen because of the seeds that someone else planted and they never saw come to harvest. Or there may be times that others will reap the harvest from the seeds that you plant but irregardless both the reaper and the sower will rejoice together in the fruit that is produced!

2. We have the privilege of serving with other Christians. V37, 38

3. We have the privilege of serving for and with Jesus. V38

John 4:38 (NIV)

38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

1 Corinthians 3:6-9 says, I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God?s fellow workers; you are God?s field, God?s building.

• The seeds that Jesus planted with this Samaritan woman may have also opened the door for Phillip to preach the Gospel in Samaria later on in Acts 8:5-8
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• There is nothing greater than serving Jesus and witnessing His working in and through us as we surrender to His will for our lives in the promoting of His kingdom!

One Sunday as they drove home from church, a little girl turned to her mother and said, ?Mommy, there?s something about the preacher?s message this morning that I don?t understand.? The mother said, ?Oh? What is it?? The little girl replied, ?Well, he said that God is bigger than we are. He said God is so big that He could hold the world in His hand. Is that true?? The mother replied, ?Yes, that?s true, honey.? ?But Mommy, he also said that God comes to live inside of us when we believe in Jesus as our Savior. Is that true, too?? Again, the mother assured the little girl that what the pastor had said was true. With a puzzled look on her face the little girl then asked, ?If God is bigger than us and He lives in us, wouldn?t He show through??

CONCLUSION

• As a church our focus needs to be on Kingdom growth. As the kingdom grows, so will the church.
• For the kingdom to grow we need to understand the process. The kingdom will not grow if you just expect the preacher to do it, or if you expect the deacons, or mature Christians to make it happen.
• Kingdom growth will happen when all of us who belong to Jesus get out and share the message of the gospel with people around us.
• We need to maintain a proper focus and we also need to realize that there will be rewards for our labor for the Lord.
• God wants us to reach as many people for Him as we can. God has blessed up in a big way. Now we have to ask ourselves, what are we going to do with what God has blessed this church with? Are we going to reach out or are we going to focus on ourselves Are we going to do what we need to bring in new souls to the kingdom, breaking down whatever barriers there are, or are we going to please ourselves? ? Are we going to be fishers of men or keepers of the aquarium?
• Do you want to see Hanover Pentecostal Church reach the lost? It is your decision folks?