A Flourishing Church: Gospel Growth

Bible Reading

It is good to be with you once more. Kenya has become a dear country to me, and this conference in particular, partly because there was a time, you know, at school when we had more Kenyans in the dorm than Zambians, and we used to take turns cooking. So I had more ugali than nshima for a period of time, to my great sanctification.

Let me ask you to turn your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1, as we consider the theme, A Flourishing Church. A flourishing church, or a flourishing church.

Colossians chapter 1, and I am going to read from verse 3 to 8.

Paul is expressing his thanks for the believers at Colossae, and this is what he says:

“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing, as it also does among you since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.” (Colossians 1:3-8)

Let’s pray.

Our Master and Father, we come before you and just ask that you will help us to compose our thoughts, to quieten our hearts, and to reflect and meditate on your precious Word. And we ask, O God, that you will speak to us. As you speak to us in your Word, may you remove the many distractions that are lingering in our hearts and in our minds. May you speak to us. May we listen, O God—listen attentively—and seek to reduce what we hear to practice. Bless your Word to our hearts, we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Churches That Are Full Of Life

When you go to a graveyard, after you’ve overcome your African fears, you feel and see death. Silence. An eerie lifelessness.
There’s just something about a graveyard, isn’t there? If you pass there, if you visit, and there are no people crying, it’s just lifeless. You can almost feel the silence.

A primary school is the exact opposite.

It’s full of life. We happen to have a school at the church premises—350 children running up and down, full of laughter, voices chattering, singing, crying, fighting, learning. There’s life. It’s full of noise.

And it goes to show that where there is life, it is clearly evident. You can’t miss where there’s life. You see it, you feel it, you hear it. I mean, when a baby is born, what’s the first thing they do? They cry. It’s what babies do. Now, you often hear people say, “You know, this baby’s crying too much.” Yes, that’s life.

And brethren, churches should not be like graveyards. Churches should not be lifeless. Churches should be buzzing with life.
In a sense, churches should be like a school in session, full of life and vibrancy.

And this vibrancy and vitality is not engineered by programs or projects.

This vibrancy is a result of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, the gospel is not just some abstract truth that we believe and recite. The gospel is a message of life—that in the gospel of Jesus Christ, dead people are made alive. You who were dead in trespasses have been made alive in Christ Jesus, and as a result, you are now workers of good.

Or, as Paul is later going to say in Colossians chapter 1, verse 19, you were hostile and alienated from God, and he, in Christ, redeemed you, and as such, walk worthy.

You see, the gospel transforms and impacts our lives. It gives us life, brings us to life, and it nourishes.
So when we think of churches, we’re thinking of dead people who’ve been made alive, awakened, and are full of life, and who come together to corporately do life and serve and follow their Master together. I mean, that’s a lot of life.

So a gospel church is a flourishing church. It’s full of life, full of spiritual vitality, bubbling and brimming with joyful confidence.
My point in the sermon is that a flourishing church is actively alive in faith, love, and hope. A flourishing church is actively alive in faith, love, and hope.

Paul is writing to the Colossians, and he is expressing in these verses his thanks to God for them because of the report that he has heard about them. And what has he heard about them that is causing him to give thanks to God in prayer?

Firstly, it’s their faith in Christ.

A Flourishing Church Clings To The Gospel

So, number one: a flourishing church clings to the gospel. So he says, “We give thanks to God for you when we pray.” Why? Well, “we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus.” (Colossians 1:3-4)

A flourishing church clings to the gospel, and they hold on to faith in Christ Jesus. Their faith brings them into the church, and their faith in Christ keeps them in the church. And their faith in Christ is clearly evident, such that a report is actually sent to them.

When people talk about us, they should be able to say, “The brethren in Kikuyu, or Nyahururu, or Mombasa, or Karen, are full of faith in Christ.”

They have believed the message of Jesus Christ. And guess what? They are still holding on to the message of Jesus Christ. They are knowing Christ and growing in their knowledge of Jesus Christ.

They cling on to the gospel—that their faith in Christ, their belief in Christ, their confidence in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as their Redeemer, as the captain of their faith—and they are looking to him, the author and finisher of their faith.

They are holding on to him, verse 15, as the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For they know that by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. All things were created through him, for him, and by him. (See Colossians 1:15ff)
They are holding on to that faith in Christ.

A flourishing church clings to the gospel. They sing, “I stand in the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

A Flourishing Church Is Loving

But secondly, a flourishing church is madly loving.

You’ve heard that phrase. People say, “He’s madly in love.” I mean, some guy saw some girl, and his head was turned upside down. He’s willing to walk long distances to go and see that girl, to pursue that girl, and to hound that girl until she gives in.

But do you notice the other thing Paul says he’s heard about them? That they have love for all the saints.

When you visit a flourishing church, their love for the brethren is evident. It’s on display. I mean, love is the trademark of Christianity, isn’t it? “By this the world will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 15:35)

And this love is doing everything in your power to seek the good of others. It is a selfless, sacrificial pursuit of others and their good. It’s a strange kind of love. It’s madness, in a sense, because it’s unnatural. It’s countercultural.

A love that pursues others. A love that initiates relationships. A love that’s not just waiting for something to happen. You know, “We just naturally clicked.” There’s no naturally clicking with biblical love. You pursue. You initiate.

Because, you see, people are not naturally lovable.

And did you notice that he said “all the saints”? Love for all the saints—not some, not a few, not just your wife. No. Not just those who are like you. Not just those you have the same hobbies with. Not just those you speak the same language with.

Because, you see, that’s how non-believers love. Non-believers love based on common bonds, common associations, common loves and likes. But Christians who have been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, who’ve been brought to life, who’ve been changed, love differently. They love even people they would rather not love.

You see, this love serves and cares for people we would not normally care about. And that’s the thing about the church. The church is full of people who are different from you. The church is full of people from all walks of background, all kinds of families, all manner of thinking.
Yes, the church has some weird people. And I can assure you, others think you are the weird people.

And it’s not even just people with bad manners and bad habits. Have you ever talked to someone, they say something, and you’re just thinking, “It’s not wrong,” but also thinking, “How can someone think like that?” Right? You’re like, “That’s weird,” or “How can someone think that way?”

But you also have people, for instance, who are argumentative. Some faces are probably flashing in your head right now. There are people, you know, if you say A, they’ll say B, and the next day, if you change to B, they’ll say A.

There are people who are opinionated. It doesn’t matter what the issue is—they have an opinion, and they are very generous in expressing their opinion.

I mean, there are people who have opinions about how things are in your house. You know those kinds of people. They walk into your house and say, “But why did you put the sofa this way? That side would have been better, at this angle.” She’s thinking, “It’s not your home.”
They are opinionated.

And then you have people who are just quiet. You can’t get them to talk. You’re always the one having to generate the conversation. They nod. “Brother, do you have an opinion?” “No.” “Anything to add?” “No.”

And then there are people you can’t stop from talking. They just talk.

There are people who are overly sensitive. Talking to them is like walking on landmines, on eggshells, because they can be offended by anything and everything.

And then there are people who are insensitive. They say the very first thing that comes to their head.

There are people who are illogical. You know, they say something, you ask, “What are you saying?” Then they say, “What I mean is…” And when they say what they mean, they actually make it worse.

There are people who are know-it-alls. There are people who are overly critical. There are people who are just out of touch.

I don’t know if you have WhatsApp groups here, but WhatsApp groups are a thing. There are people who are sharing weird things, like, “Hey, this is not for that.” And then there are people who are commenting five days later.

Look, I can go on with this list, but my point is this: there are all kinds of people in the church, and loving those people is not easy.

But gospel people love because Christ loved them. They follow the example of their Master, who loved people who were his enemies—people who were hostile to him—and laid his life down, sacrificed himself for their sake. And then he says, “You go love one another.”

So a flourishing church is loving.

A Flourishing Church Grows Steadily

Thirdly, a flourishing church grows steadily.

I hope you picked it up in what Paul is saying here. He says, you received the word, you have learned the word, you keep on learning, and as a result, it’s bearing fruit in you, just as it is everywhere else, and it’s increasing. You’ve understood the grace of God in truth, and they learned the truth from Epaphras, their pastor, who was faithful in teaching them the truth of God’s Word. And as he taught them, they were learning, they were understanding, and the Word was bringing about fruit.

So they were like other believers in other places who were receiving God’s Word, believing the gospel, living out the gospel, and growing in their understanding and in their grasp of the truth of God’s Word, applying it to their lives, and it was bearing fruit. It is producing fruit. They were devoted to learning.

And you see, the Word of God is powerful. As you are exposed to the Word of God, as you hear God’s Word, you grow in the Word of God, and it is evident in your own life. Such that later on he’s going to say, “Hey, walk worthy. Walk according to your calling.”

As people who are exposed to God’s Word, to the truth of God, and exposed to the grace of God in truth, we must grow. It must be evident.
Because, you see, belief impacts behavior, and doctrine is meant to be reduced to practice.

We must be very careful and very wary of the danger of filling our heads with biblical truth that does not translate into our lives.
You know, when we can explain complex doctrinal truths with ease and with clarity, but the fruit of the Spirit is not evident in our lives, there’s a problem.

When there is a widening gap—for those of us who preach and teach—between what we teach and how we live, that becomes a problem.
I mean, Paul says to Timothy, “Let your progress be evident.” (1 Tim 4:15)

When babies are born and you feed them, they grow. And the more you feed them, the more they grow, and the more they grow, the more they want to eat.

You know, each couple goes through that moment, they always have that realization. When the baby is young—your first child—you know the food budget is still the same. Even when you go out to eat, you’ve carried their food and their milk. And then, as they grow, they start solids. You still order two meals, and they eat off yours. Then one day you go, and you discover they’ve eaten more than you have.

So you look at each other and say, “Aha, next time it’s three plates.”

That should be true of churches.

When people become Christians, they are fed, and they’re growing. And the more they grow, the more they want to eat. And the more they want solid food, and the more they want bigger portions. They want to learn more and more and more. And as they learn more, they are growing, and it’s bearing fruit, and it’s increasing. And the results are clearly evident: these are people who are being fed, because lives are being transformed.
We should be wary when you are able to sit through biblical teaching and you are unaffected.

If you are able to sit through the teaching of God’s Word week in and week out, and you’re just the same—it doesn’t move you, it doesn’t affect you, there are no points of application for you, there are no points of reflection—you are just unchanged. If there’s any excitement, it’s about some technical word that you didn’t know. “You know, what’s that word?”—so that you can go and use it somewhere. If that’s the only thing that excites you, that’s a problem.

Flourishing churches grow steadily, and the longer you are members together, the more you should be able to testify to how brother or sister Jane, so-and-so has grown. You can actually remember where they were ten years ago and where they are now. And how brother Gideon—you can remember over the last five years—the growth has just been massive.

But friends, if your growth is in the past tense—you know, those of you who’ve been Christians for a long time—“Yeah, I remember the ’90s. Ah, those were the times. Those were moments of revival.” What are you doing now?

A Flourishing Church Is Joyfully Confident

So a flourishing church clings to the gospel. A flourishing church is loving. A flourishing church grows steadily. And lastly, a flourishing church is joyfully confident.

So he says, “We’ve heard of your faith in Jesus Christ and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.” (Colossians 1:5)

They hold on to hope. This is not a baseless hope, a wishful hope. You know, it’s not the, “I wish Harambee Stars will go to the World Cup one day.” Not that kind of hope. Please don’t riot!

This is a confidence in Christ, the solid rock. It is a conscience, a confident expectation that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. (Philippians 1:6)

What is our only hope in life and death? That we are not our own, but belong—body and soul, both in life and in death—to God and to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Whether we live or whether we die, we belong to Christ. And therefore, we are a confident people, because we trust in the sure and steady anchor.

We have an unwavering confidence—an assurance, a certainty—a confident expectation of future glory. This is a confidence in God and his promises, not a confidence in yourself, not a confidence in your ability, or your gifting, or even in your doctrine, or confidence in your church or denomination. Oh no. Our confidence is in the promises of God and the character of God.

Hebrews 6 says, “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Hebrews 6:17-19)

Cling to hope.

And gospel people, as a result, are not tossed to and fro by various issues and circumstances. They stand firm because they are standing on the solid rock.

And as a result, gospel churches are not chasing after every fashion and fad that comes up. They are steady and consistent. Their message remains the same.

Implications For Flourishing

Some implications for us in light of these four truths.

Firstly, as churches, our identity must be in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We should let the gospel of Jesus Christ define who we are.

Our perspective of churches should be framed by the gospel of Jesus Christ, and not by social or geopolitical markers.

Have you noticed how we identify our churches by social parameters, economic parameters, and we are even tempted to define a flourishing church by those parameters?

Membership size. “That’s a megachurch.” I guess there’s a mini church. Big churches, small churches. For pastors, it’s almost as though there’s a ladder to climb. When you’re pastoring a small church, you’re down here, and then, if the church grows big in number, you are rising up the ranks.

Or we allow budgets to define who we are—the size of the budget, or buildings, or the projects we do.

It’s common to hear people say, “Oh yeah, that church is doing very well. You know, they’ve just moved from 50 to 150 in the last six months. They’re doing very well.”

Friends, a congregation of 30, a congregation of 300, and a congregation of 3,000 can be flourishing.

And we need to guard our hearts from self-pity—those with small attendance. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, but we are just so few.” You know us, we just so few…”

“Are you a church?”

“Yeah but we’re just so few.”

So on one hand, you have self-pity. Then you can also have pride. “Yeah, we’re growing. Praise be to God.”

Flourishing has nothing to do with numbers.

And I’m not naive. The dynamics when you are 30 are different from when you are 300, but that does not necessarily define flourishing or not flourishing.

Secondly, we must trust the old, old story in preaching.

How are congregations shaped and transformed? How do you create a culture and character in the church? It’s by preaching the Word of God.
Dear pastor, preach the Word of God. Preach it faithfully. Preach it clearly. Apply it relevantly.

You know, sometimes as pastors we complain, “People are not growing, people are not growing.” Well, maybe the food is not healthy.
So preach the Word of God. It is powerful and living and sharper than any two-edged sword.

And Paul says to Timothy, “Preach, teach, with all patience.”

You know what makes members move or change from being selfish consumers to selfless servants? What makes members change from being greedy to being generous givers? What makes members move from grumbling to joyfully confident people? What makes members change from stubborn disobedience to humble obedience?

It’s the Word of God. It’s the Word of God.

Trust in the sufficiency and power and authority of the Word of God, and preach Christ and him crucified, and the Lord will bless that work.
Sometimes we view growth in terms of, “We moved from this number to that number.” But have you considered that maybe you’ve actually been growing because the people have been changing? That’s growth, isn’t it?

We’re always looking for, you know, “Are there spaces in the pews?” How about, “Is there transformation in people’s lives?”
Are people growing in love?

Then we must love people. Love people as Christ loved them—all kinds of people. And pastors, don’t just love preaching; love people. Not just the good members, even the other members.

And those of you who are church members, love people. Those you like, those you don’t like—love people. Whether you’re an introvert or an extrovert, love people. You’re quiet, you talk—love people.

Love people. Pursue people. People should be victims of your pursuit. You see, if you don’t love people, you end up using people. People become beneficial only for what you can get out of them, and the moment they are no longer useful, the project is over.
Love people. Use things. Don’t use people and love things.

Love selflessly. Love sacrificially. I mean, we love the concept of love, but we really don’t like love, because love is costly.

And friends, wherever you belong, whatever church you are a member of, you should be known for your selfless, sacrificial love. “Yeah, yeah, I love them, but they don’t love me back.” Yeah—love still. “I’m tired.” It’s okay. Rest, then love.

The last implication is that we must be characterized by joyful confidence.

You know, there are those for whom self-pity has become fashionable. “You know me, my life, yeah, my life. You know…”

Really? You who have been loved by God, and he sent his Son to die for you while you were a sinner; he saved you from your sins and added you to his family; he daily provides for you; he sustains you even though you are unfaithful; he is committed to be faithful to you; he has promised that he will see you to the end, that he will hold you fast, and that he sustains you through every trial and tribulation and storm—and you say, “Your life.” Really?

You whom he has granted all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places—you are the one saying this. Where’s the hope? Where’s the hope?
And then there are those of us who think being holy is being grumpy.

Dear brethren, as people who have been saved by the Son of God, our churches should not be dead like graveyards. Our churches should be brimming with life.

In our worship, we should sing as people who are more than conquerors. Yes, even in lament, dear friends, we weep with hope.
Our relationships must be characterized by confident expectation. I mean, what does Paul say in 1 Corinthians? Love hopes all things, believes all things. You know those people you’ve written off? As gospel people, you should know that no situation and no person is beyond redemption.
So we don’t give up on people in the church—not in a gospel church.

And we are characterized by joyful confidence even in missions. We’re going to hear a sermon on it, but any church can participate in gospel work in one way or the other.

Confidence not in yourselves, but confidence in the one who has saved you and the one who is leading you. And that’s not your pastor—the head of the church is Christ himself.

Have you seen hopeless worship? Have you seen hopeless relationships?

Oh friends, as gospel people, we must be characterized by joyful confidence.

And we must hear the call, and this must be our prayer for our churches and for all churches:

Oh, church, arise, and put your armor on. Hear the call of Christ our Captain. For now the weak can say that they are strong in the strength that God has given. With shield of faith and belt of truth, we will stand against the devil’s lies—and there are many. But we are an army bold, whose battle cry is love, reaching out to those in darkness.

We are called to war to love the captive soul, but to rage against the captor. And with the sword that makes the wounded whole, we will fight with faith and valour.
When faced with trials on every side – here’s our assurance – we know the outcome is secure.