Church Growth God’s Way

It is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. (Romans 9:8)

Picture the Old Testament Abraham as a pastor. The Lord says, “I will bless you and prosper your ministry.” But the church is barren and bears no children.

What does Abraham do? He begins to despair of supernatural intervention. He is getting old. His wife remains barren. So he decides to bring about God’s promised son without supernatural intervention. He has sex with Hagar his wife’s handmaid (Genesis 16:4). However, the result is not a “child of the promise,” but a “child of the flesh,” Ishmael.

God stuns Abraham by saying, “I will give you a son by [your wife Sarah]” (Genesis 17:16). So Abraham cries out to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” (Genesis 17:18). He wants the work of his own natural, human effort to be the fulfillment of God’s promise. But God says, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son” (Genesis 17:19).

But Sarah is 90 years old. She has been barren all her life, and she has already passed through menopause (Genesis 18:11). Abraham is 100. The only hope for a child of promise is stunning, supernatural intervention.

That is what it means to be a “child of the promise” — to be born “not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). The only children that count for children of God in this world are supernaturally begotten children of promise. In Galatians 4:28 Paul says, “You [Christians], like Isaac, are children of promise.” You are “born according to the Spirit,” not according to the flesh (Galatians 4:29).

Think of Abraham as a pastor again. His church is not growing the way he believes God promised. He is weary of waiting for supernatural intervention. He turns to the “Hagar” of mere human devices, and decides he can “attract people” without the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.

However, it will not be a church of Isaacs, but Ishmaelites — children of the flesh, not children of God. God save us from this kind of fatal success. By all means work. But always look to the Lord for the decisive, supernatural work. “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord” (Proverbs 21:31).

John Piper 

Still Good, Still in Control

 

“And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, ‘Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?’” MATTHEW 11:2-3

 

PONDER THIS

At the beginning of Matthew 11, John was in prison and sent messengers to ask if Jesus was the promised One of God. Jesus knew John’s heart and did not mistake the moment for the man. Jesus knew John had an honest doubt—John asked an honest question, and he got an honest answer. And look at the tribute Jesus paid to John in verse 11: “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” And John the Baptist continued to serve the Lord up to the point of giving his head for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Do you know what real faith is? Real faith is not receiving from God what you want; real faith is accepting from God what He gives. Learn that and you won’t get offended at God. If things don’t work out like you think they should—if you’re serving God but you end up in a dungeon—just remember that God is God. He is good, and He is in control.

How does today’s devotion remind you that you can bring your honest questions before Jesus?

What question do you need to bring before Him today?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time today to journal and write out questions you want to ask God.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Bible Study

John 4:25-26

[25] The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” [26] Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

John 6:13-14

[13] So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. [14] When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

John 11:27

[27] She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

Luke 3:15-17

[15] As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, [16] John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. [17] His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Six Things It Means to Be in Christ Jesus

[God] saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began. (2 Timothy 1:9)

Being “in Christ Jesus” is a stupendous reality. It is breathtaking to be united to Christ. Bound to Christ.

If you are “in Christ” listen to what it means for you:

In Christ Jesus you were given grace before the world was created. Second Timothy 1:9, “He gave us grace in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”

In Christ Jesus you were chosen by God before creation. Ephesians 1:4, “[God] chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world.”

In Christ Jesus you are loved by God with an inseparable love. Romans 8:38–39, “I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

In Christ Jesus you were redeemed and forgiven for all your sins. Ephesians 1:7, “In [Christ] we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.”

In Christ Jesus you are justified before God and the righteousness of God in Christ is imputed to you. Second Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

In Christ Jesus you have become a new creation and a son of God. Second Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Galatians 3:26, “In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

I pray that you will never grow weary of exploring and exulting in the inexhaustible privilege of being “in Christ Jesus.”

John Piper 

He Loves You That Much

“Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”  JOHN 20:29

 

PONDER THIS

Suppose you’ve saved all your life for a vacation. The time for your trip has finally come, and you’re in Hawaii. You’re in the finest hotel. You and your spouse are celebrating without a care in the world. The weather is perfect. The food is sumptuous. You’re having a wonderful time. And let’s suppose that you’ve left your children home in the care of someone else, and one of your children is in an automobile accident while you’re in Hawaii. Would you want to know about it? Would you want somebody to get on the phone and call you and mess up your vacation? Or would you say, “Don’t bother me. We’re having a wonderful time. Yes, I understand that my child has been hurt, but I don’t want to know about it.” Every parent knows the answer, right? “Yes, I want to know. Forget the vacation.”

That’s why Jesus left Heaven. He could have said, “I just don’t want to know. I just don’t care.” But He’s a God of love. And He loved us so much that He stepped out of glory. He loved us so much that He walked the dusty shores and the streets of Nazareth and the sandy beach of Galilee. He loved us so much that He carried the cross to Golgotha and died in agony and blood. And those scars Thomas saw there in His hands say that He’s a saving God. He has paid for our sins with His own blood.

How do the actions and work of Jesus show you how much God loves you?

How does imagining the scenario of loving earthly parents help you see God’s love for you?

PRACTICE THIS

Take time to read John 18–20 to see how Jesus’ love for you caused Him to act.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Bible Study

1 Peter 1:8-9

[8] Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, [9] obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

2 Corinthians 5:6-7

[6] So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, [7] for we walk by faith, not by sight.

1 John 4:20

[20] If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

1 John 4:12

[12] No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

Forgiven for Jesus’s Sake

For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great. (Psalm 25:11)

In knowing what is right, God does not consult any authority higher than himself. His own worth is the ultimate value in the universe. Therefore, for God to do what is right means acting in a way that accords with this ultimate value.

The righteousness of God is the infinite zeal and joy and pleasure that he has in what is supremely valuable, namely, his own perfection and worth. And if he were ever to act contrary to this eternal passion for his own perfections, he would be unrighteous — he would be an idolater.

How shall such a righteous God ever set his affection on sinners like us who have scorned his perfections? But the wonder of the gospel is that in his divine righteousness lies also the very foundation of our salvation.

The infinite regard that the Father has for the Son makes it possible for me, a wicked sinner, to be loved and accepted in the Son, because in his death he vindicated the worth and glory of his Father.

Because of Christ, we can pray with new understanding the prayer of the psalmist, “For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt, for it is great” (Psalm 25:11). The new understanding is that, because of Christ, instead of only praying, “For your name’s sake, pardon my guilt,” we now pray, “For Jesus’s name’s sake, O God, pardon my guilt.”

First John 2:12 says, “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake,” referring to Jesus. Jesus has now atoned for sin and vindicated the Father’s honor so that our “sins are forgiven for his name’s sake.”

God is righteous. He does not sweep sin under the rug. If a sinner goes free, someone dies to vindicate the infinite worth of God’s glory that the sinner defamed. That is what Christ did. Therefore, “For your name’s sake, O Lord” and “For Jesus’s name’s sake” are the same. And that is why we pray with confidence for forgiveness.

John Piper