When we speak of GROWTH, we are embracing progressive development. We look for progressive development in every area of our lives. Whether it is in our children, our jobs, our businesses, or our relationships, we become very concerned when there is no progressive development, when there is no Growth. So, it is with the growth of the Church.
As the Church, we are the body of Jesus Christ who is our Head. Luke 2:52 tells us clearly that Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God the Father and mankind. It therefore behooves us as His body to grow and to increase wholly. Jesus requires us to Grow. God wants us, His Church to prosper, to increase materially and outwardly, but most importantly He wants us to Grow from within.
The Apostle Paul implores us to present our bodies as living sacrifices unto God which is our reasonable service, and not to be confirmed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds so that we may prove what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2). As the Church, we must present our bodies, our temples to God and have our minds renewed. This is clearly a growth process from within.
As we meditate on this very foundational text, it speaks of a sacrifice we must make to set ourselves apart from not only the world, but from our old self. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us “… if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” So, we must strive to be more like Christ, not more like our old selves, which were tarnished and had to be washed in the blood of Jesus. We put Christ to open shame and crucify Him afresh when we resort to our old self or become stagnant in our spiritual growth.
God wants to change us from the inside out. As a Growing Church, we must be ever-evolving, updating in our minds and hearts. Renewal means to: make like new, restore to freshness, vigor, or perfection; regenerate, revive, rebuild, etc. These are the things God wants to see happening in and through us as His Church.
HOW DOES THE CHURCH GROW WITHIN?
The Apostle Paul gives us a pivotal strategy in 2 Timothy 2:15 when he said, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that need[s] not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” Don’t just read the Word of God like a history book, but sit and study it, cross-referencing text to build your faith, strengthen your decision to stay in Christ, and to Grow in every area of your life which starts with the renewing of the mind. Jesus Himself tells us in John 15:3, “Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you.’ The Word is that water that cleanses our minds as we read it; it is that light that illumines the dark areas of our minds; and it is that sword that pierces asunder every ugly and stubborn thought that tries to contaminate the pure flow of good and healthy thinking in our minds.
THE CHURCH IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HER GROWTH
As the Church, we are responsible and accountable for our growth in Christ. We are responsible and accountable for feeding both our flesh and spirit man, it is not anyone else’s responsibility to feed us. This means that our reading of the Word of God should not be confined to only when we gather for worship. We need to read the Word for ourselves on a daily basis, so that we can work and apply it to our lives and watch God perform it in us. Reading the Word daily builds our faith in Christ whom we serve. It builds our spirit, and it kills our flesh both at the same time. This is how we feed both spirit and flesh. The spirit is fed, and the flesh is starved. The more we read the Word, our flesh dies daily and the Christlikeness in us shines so bright that we truly become the Light of our world.
Let me leave you with a Word to ponder. “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit (the Word) shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Galatians 6:8).
