From Embers to a Flame, Part 2

You can put a church on cultural steroids, and it will grow, but by doing that you are introducing death. You can let a church stay small, but soon it will begin to eat itself.

Neither steroids (pre-packaged growth programs) nor smallness (spiritual anorexia) will created real growth and life in a church.

A vital church is a church that is W.E.L.L. (Matthew 28:16-20). A vital church is committed to the commission of Jesus included worship, evangelism, loving, and learning.

We need to keep the focus of our churches on vitality, not church growth and statistics. Why? Because Jesus came to give life, not simply multiply numbers.

Jesus went to the cross to do three things:
1. To save His people from their sins.

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

2. Defeat Satan and destroy the works of the devil.

“Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.“ 1 John 3:7,8

3. And to purchase a militant and triumphant church.

”But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:24-27

“Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20:28

Because this is the case, there is no reason for church leaders to despair. Our confidence must be in the cross. The same Christ who made a mockery of Satan will not make you a laughingstock.

God can revitalize your church the way he revitalized the Ephesian church. In Acts 20, the church is struggling, wolves are entering in. And what is Paul’s answer? Start a new church? No. He sends Timothy to revitalize that church.

As we saw last time in Revelation 2 that much did improve. But much also declined. The wolves had effect. The church lost their first love. They had functional vitality, but not spiritual vitality.

So Jesus Himself gives a pattern for regaining vitality: remember, repent, and recover.