The expansion of the church is achieved through God's direct addition of those being saved, not through mechanical or carnal means. The New Testament pattern of expansion, as seen in Acts, involves persecution, evangelism, and discipling, fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit. Personal obedience to the Great Commission and a deep persuasion of Christ's love are essential for individual involvement in this expansion. Therefore, expansion should be an expected and daily occurrence, driven by a consistent life and witness, rather than relying on special evangelistic efforts.
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Let's turn to the first epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians and we shall read from chapter one. The first letter to the Thessalonians reading from chapter one. Our subject is the expansion of the church. One Thessalonians chapter one reading from the first verse. Paul and Silvanus and Timothius unto the Church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.
knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance. As ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake, and ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. so that ye were in samples to all that believe in Macedonia and Akkaia. For from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Akkaia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad, so that we need not to speak anything.
For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. There are several ways of dealing with this subject of the expansion of the church. We could deal with it from the point of view of missions, from the point of view of church history or from a practical point of view.
Since the theme of our conference is the church's eleventh hour, I presume that the conveners had in mind that we discussed the practical emphasis in the area of the expansion of the church. Now this is not to say, of course, that we shall ignore church history nor are we suggesting that there are not many lessons that we can learn from the history of the Christian Church. But our particular emphasis will be on the expansion of the church, particularly in relation to the life of the churches.
Looking at the general picture of church history, we may note in passing that church expansion usually follows a time of spiritual awakening. And spiritual awakening, interestingly enough, usually grows out of a time of spiritual dearth and cultural dislocation. And this may well be a cause for optimism in our generation because today we live in a time of cultural dislocation. You are aware of the ruthlessness of our contemporary society.
I'm told that the average American family moves once in every two and a half years. There is a permissiveness abroad and a breakdown of moral standards. Everything we are told has become relative. There are no longer absolutes. We live in the space age and are surrounded by all kinds of technology, the wonders of cybernetics, genetics, and drugs. This may well show to man his utter spiritual need, and it may direct him to the only Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Many great Christian leaders believe that we are on the threshold, if not already, into the first phase of the third great evangelical awakening. This may well be a time of expansion. And I gather from your prayers and concern and interest and presence here that you would like to be in on the expansion of the Church. In dealing with our topic then, we shall ask six questions. First, what is expansion? Second, how does the Church expand? Third, is there a New Testament pattern of expansion?
Fourth, what is the power behind expansion? Fifth, how can I be involved in expansion? And finally, when should we expect expansion? First of all, then what is expansion? And here we come to our text, which is in Acts two, verse forty seven, the Lord added to the church daily such as were being saved. Or if you prefer the margin, the Lord added together daily such as were being saved. We are thinking now particularly of the local church in Jerusalem.
And we can apply this to our local church, to the particular community of believers in which we enjoy fellowship. Expansion is by addition and multiplication. It may even be by division and subtraction, as long as those are of the right kind. We divide to expand. I remember hearing one preacher say that he had a membership drive in his church and he started by driving out a few. Maybe that's how we shall expand. So there could be subtraction.
And it may well be that if a church becomes so large that its members are no longer involved in its life and service, that they should divide. And through dividing and starting new groups of believers, there will, of course, be expansion. Additions are through conversion, which are the result of visitation, sound teaching, and pastoral care. Expansion may be by many or by few. Expansion should not be with a view to breaking attendance records, but with a view to multiplying blessings.
In the little village where I was brought up, we had a pond. And when it was a dry summer, the pond would dry up. At least there would be a little water left, and in the little water that was left, that was stagnant, there would be all kinds of miserable little creatures. Seven miles away were the headwaters of the Great River Thames, liquid history, as Mr. Churchill called it. The church is not intended to be a pond, it is intended to be a channel of blessing. Expansion is by addition and multiplication.
How does the church expand? Well, not mechanically, nor carnally, but spiritually. It says, the Lord added to the church those who were being saved. Now there are some who seek to add themselves to the church. They say, for example, that is a nice church. I will join it. I saw an advertisement not too long ago outside a very beautiful new building, a church, so-called, and it read, membership invited, call so-and-so. There are some who join themselves. I notice in New Testament days, none dare join himself to them.
Some are joined by others or proselytized by others. In its crudest form, they may put a crucifix round your neck or sprinkle you with a few drops of holy water and say, you have been joined to the church. They may seek to add you in a recruiting drive. Some add to their church by baptizing them into it or catechizing them into it or confirming them into it or high pressuring them into it by some other means. I listened as a boy to a converted weightlifter by the name of James Hudson.
He used to hold tent meetings in the villages of England, and sometimes he would throw out people who gave him trouble in his meetings physically. He suggested that he was casting out devils. But he said one day in course of giving his testimony, He had been brought up in a particular church where they believed in confirmation, and I'm not knocking confirmation, but in his particular church he said, it was that the bishop came to our church and he laid his empty hands on my empty head and he confirmed me ten times more a child of the devil than I was before. So there are some who seek to add people to the church. Some are added by the devil, so said Charles Spurgeon.
I suppose he would think of people like Ananias and Sapphira or Diotrophies. Diotrophies, once he was added to the church by the devil, determined that he would keep everybody else out. You've heard the story I expect of Roland Hill's convert, who as he rolled drunkenly across in front of Mr. Hill, called out to the preacher and said, you remember me, Mr. Hill, I'm one of your converts. Roland Hill said, you must be. You certainly aren't one of the lords. There are some who are added by the devil. The same Mr. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said one day that he believed the devil was the first to join the church choir and the last to leave it.
I don't think he enjoyed singing. When only the Lord can add to the church. Otherwise, there'll be dropouts. And John tells us in one John two, verse nine, they went out from us because They were not of us. Notice the phrase in our text, such as were being saved. Scripture seems to impose no other prerequisite than this. If a man is added to Christ, he is added to the church. Of course, ideally, he will seek to give some expression to this association with Christ by identifying himself with Christ's people.
Surely this should be done in an orderly manner. Inward belief should surely be accompanied by outward confession. New Testament Christians were identified with specific churches and were exhorted not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is and so much the more as we see the day approaching. It might be a good thing if in our local church We had an instruction class for those who are to be added to the church so that they might be added intelligently and that they might have this sense of responsibility as belonging to this local representation of the body of Christ and some sense of loyalty in it.
We are so casual, it seems. But thirdly, is there a New Testament pattern of expansion? Well, the Book of Acts has been described as the story of a widening ripple. When you throw a pebble into a pond, into a lake, the ripple expands, and every part of the lake is touched because you threw in a stone. And this is the story of the Book of Acts. There was abroad, it seems, an unquenchable, uncontainable life principle, which surged on across social and racial and religious barriers. even the enemies of the Christian church had to acknowledge that these men would fill Jerusalem with their doctrine if something were not done and done soon.
In the Hastings Dictionary of the Bible you will discover an analysis of the book of Acts based on references to expansion in that book. For example, in chapter six and verse seven we read, and the word of God increased and multiplied and numbers of the disciples were in Jerusalem. The next section, nine-thirty-one. Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Samaria, and were edified, and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied. The next section, down to twelve-twenty-four, which reads, But the word of God grow and multiplied. Then to sixteen-five, and so were the churches established in the faith and increased in number daily.
And then the final section from nineteen verse twenty, so mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. So you have the gospel expanding in Jerusalem, through Palestine, through Syria, through Asia Minor, and on into Europe, and to the great city of Rome. You are my witnesses, said the Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit having come upon you. And you will carry this message. to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. If we would seek some guidelines, some pattern of expansion from the New Testament, particularly from the Book of Acts, we shall see that growth resulted from three things.
First, persecution. Second, evangelism, both corporate and personal. And third, discipling. The great Tertullian said, The blood of Christians is seed. It is significant that the very verb used in the Book of Acts to describe the scattering of the Christian Church is the word used by the farmer who scatters his seed. Everywhere the seed fell, because it was fertile, because it was alive and vital, it grew. And so there was expansion. Faced by discomfort, Leaving the comfortable pew, the Christians moved out to share the good news of Jesus Christ with a dying world.
Evangelism. Think of the New Testament missionary journeys, etc. Here they were sharing the good news with everyone. I don't know what your method of personal witnessing or evangelism is, but I hope you have one. I have heard so many critics of things like Campus Crusade, who when challenged themselves have no alternative to offer. Thank God for every agency that is committed to this business of winning men for Jesus Christ, seeking to reach the lost with the message of life.
The optimum method, of course, is discipling. Jesus said, Go and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. We get so hung up on whether it should be a Trinitarian formula in baptism, or whether it should be baptism into the name of the Lord Jesus, that we forget the thrust of the message is to make disciples of all the nations. The Trinitarian formula, by the way, was particularly significant in that context because the commission was to reach the Gentiles. Who didn't know God? In the book of Acts where they were preaching to Jews, it was baptism into the name of the Lord Jesus because they had to acknowledge him as God.
But let's do the job of making disciples by winning, building, and sending men. And we shall see the church expand. Writing to his friend Timothy in his final letter, Paul says, The same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. It is significant that in that one sentence we have four generations of Christians. We have Paul and Timothy and those Timothy taught and those they in turn taught. This is the principle of expansion in the New Testament. This is why the local church is so important today.
This is why we neglect the local church at our peril. If you are involved in a local neighborhood group independent of the local church, that's good, providing you don't forget the value of your local church. You will notice that Paul captured the world of his day by planting churches in strategic centers of the world. And from those churches, the word sounded out. You notice the words in one Thessalonians one, verse eight, for from you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad so that we need not to speak anything.
In Acts chapter nineteen and verse ten we read, All they that dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord. Paul was at Ephesus for three years, and as he was communicating, discipling, evangelizing, men were moving out so that the entire area of Asia we are told received the word. Fourthly, what is the power behind expansion? The index verse of the Book of Acts to which reference has already been made at this conference says, the Holy Ghost, having come upon you, you shall receive power.
There could be no expansion without motivation, and there is no motivation as far as the Christian is concerned apart from the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who empowered, directed, prevented, commissioned, and confirmed the early church in its program of world evangelism and expansion. The church expands when the fruit of the Holy Spirit is seen in the lives of believers. Our great need today as Christians is to be enjoying the continual fullness of the Holy Spirit in our lives, according to Ephesians five and verse eighteen.
When our lives are clean and our hearts are full, our mouths will be open in praise of Jesus Christ. Are we enjoying the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Or are we so scared of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit that we aren't enjoying the blessing of His living presence fully in our lives? That's when the church will expand. That's the power behind expansion, the Holy Spirit. How can I become involved in expansion? When I am personally obedient to the Great Commission. When I am persuaded about Christ's love, said Paul, writing to the Corinthians, knowing therefore the fear of the Lord we persuade men.
The love of Christ constrains us. As the late Montague Goodman said, it is the persuaded man who will persuade people. If you are persuaded yourself, you will persuade others, and the church will expand. When I am under the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is living freely in my life, then I shall be a blessing to others, a channel, and there will be expansion. I remember on a visit California many years ago I met a man who was a salesman I would say he was just the ideal of a salesman this man drove a big truck full of a particular product and he was traveling over the mountains on one particular occasion he saw a stranded motorist and this man sitting in his automobile looked terribly sad and this man pulled up his big truck and he said would you like to borrow some chains so he loaned in his chains and he plowed his way through the snow over the top of the pass and then
he was happily on his way when the salesman truck driver retrieved his chains the man said I'd like to give you something for your help would you take a bill He said, no, all I ask, sir, is that in future you never buy any product but libyes. You see, there was a man who was so sold on his product that on the top of a mountain in a snowstorm, he still believed in it. There were some of us who don't seem to believe in Jesus Christ in that sense, in the comfort of a conference like this, let alone on the battlefield where we are called to be witnesses for Jesus Christ, when we are persuaded.
then we shall persuade others. But when should we expect expansion? Let's go back to our text again, and it will give us the answer. It says, The Lord added to the church day by day such as were being saved. Acts, verse five, The churches increased in number daily. Expansion should be expected and usual. We need not wait for some special effort, but seek by consistent life and oral witness to spread the living word of the risen Christ."
It used to be that we would invite an evangelist to come for a special campaign, and until he came we would work and pray, and then he would come and preach, and we expected things to happen. That was good. But the problem was that it seemed to create the impression that you could only expect expansion when there was planned evangelism. Let's get the picture that we ought to expect expansion now. The Lord added to the church day by day such as we're being saved. Said Terry, the apostle of modern missions, attempt great things for God, expect great things.
from God. One of the students of that man we've referred to before, Spurgeon, came home dejected after one of his preaching expeditions. And Mr. Spurgeon said to him, What's the problem? He said nothing happened. Well, he said you didn't expect anything to happen, did you? You were preaching. No, sir. Well, that's your problem. We don't expect and so we don't enjoy the blessing. If we were more enthused and more expectant, we would see expansion. Now what is true of the local church is true of the individual Christian.
If we are not moving forward, then we are moving backward. There seems to be no possibility of our just standing still. It is progress or regret? My wife had a great uncle who was very famous among a group of people known as tight brethren. He actually wrote a hymn book that they still use today. You see, I've got famous connections. But this gentleman was visiting My wife's grandfather's home one day and he had left his Model T Ford sitting outside.
It was on a lovely hill. My father-in-law, who was then a boy, went out to examine his Model T Ford. And somehow or other, quite accidentally, they put the brake off and the Model T Ford began to move. And it moved so fast that it hit the streetcar off the tracks when it got to the bottom. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. Perhaps you heard about the preacher who was so down-hearted that he used to go from his church once a day at noon, down to the railroad crossing outside the little place where he lived, to see the train care by at full speed. When somebody asked him why he went every day to watch the train speed by, he said it's such a thrill to see something that moves.
When should we expect expansions? When we will be rid of our pessimism and our materialism and our traditionalism and our exclusivism and look to God to work among us powerfully by His Holy Spirit, then we can expect expansion. When, like Nehemiah, we find there are all kinds of enemies attacking, we still go on with the job together. Let us not be like the nobles. of whom it is said in Nehemiah chapter three and verse five, they put not their necks to the work of the Lord. When each is in his place and using his God-given gift, the Lord will be adding to the church daily those who are being saved.
Remember, a chain is no stronger than its weakest link. and you are a link in the chain of blessing in your local church. It all depends on you and you depend on God. Let me tell you an embarrassing experience I have. It's just one of many. I was visiting in the city of London, England, having some meetings. long time ago now and I had a little old Morris car. It was about the size of two matchboxes and had four wheels and an engine and it usually went.
It was a nineteen thirty eight Morris eight. And I was staying in a western suburb of London with some friends and I didn't want the car to be stolen while I was asleep at night. So I pulled out a little piece of the distributor and put it in my pocket and went to bed. And I knew that nobody would be able to steal the car, not that they would really want to. But in the morning it was cold and it had been snowing. I had to drive about ten miles, I suppose, to get to this particular assembly. And the car wouldn't start. I tried everything. I even got out the old handle and wound the handle until I was nearly exhausted.
And by this time I'd made so much noise that the neighbors were all roused and they were coming one at a time to wind the handle and help me start. And as I put my hand in my pocket, I had a terrible feeling of embarrassment because here was a little piece. And so now I had to get that piece into the car without all these fellows who were helping me seeing it. So I opened what you call the, goodness, the hood, the bonnet, I would have said. And somehow I sort of looked around and fiddle around very deftly, put in the part that really mattered and then stood back and wound the handle and we were on our way.
Nobody knew that I was the culprit. You know, maybe you're the culprit. Maybe you're the part. that really isn't working because you aren't available to the Holy Spirit to let him use you in the expansion of the church.