God’s Recipe for Church Growth

4:9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

The exhortation of Paul here is not primarily directed to individuals but to the church (his exhortations are in the plural in the Greek ). Paul is speaking to the church as a church when he says that if you follow his pattern of life, God will prosper you (remember that peace here means prosperity, fullness and well-being).

Success, prosperity, blessing, growth: all these are in the hands of God:

* "The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts." (1Sam.2:6-7)

* "For not from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert comes exaltation. But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another." (Ps.75:6-7)

It is wrong-headed for us to pursue success. We are to pursue faithfulness and pray for God to bless our efforts with kingdom growth. We can plant and water, but God’s blessing alone yields the fruit:

"So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth." (1Cor.3:7)

In His word God has given us a pattern of life He wants us to follow. Our job is to follow His ways, to live out those teachings. His job is to bless our efforts, if He so wills. And even if He doesn’t bless them with earthly success, we know that He will bless them with eternal success, and that is even more important.

We must not fall into the snare of doing what seems like it will work (from an earthly perspective). The church’s job is to do the will of her Head, even if humanly it looks like it will fail. Our focus, then, must be upon the God-given pattern, not upon human strategies or earthly goals. Following the pattern: that is the way to pursue success.

O Father, You hold the success or failure of every man in Your sovereign hand. Help Your people to seek first Your kingdom and righteousness, trusting that You will add to our lives all the success You deem appropriate. Save us from the arrogance of thinking that we can attain success by our own strength and ingenuity. May our zeal be to do Your will and not our own.