IS YOUR CHURCH INNUMERABLE?

There are some things that are innumerable – too numerous to count: grains of sand on the seashore, stars in the sky, and drops of water in the ocean. On a recent drive through Rocky Mountain National Park while in Colorado, I added another one to the list: rocks in the Rocky Mountains. Some actions are innumerable: the tears a mother will shed for her children, and the times a four-year-old will ask “Why…?”

The population of the world is innumerable today. World population remained steady at about one billion people from the time of Christ until about 1600. Then it began to increase until it reached about two billion people during the last century. During the lifetime of most of you who are reading this, world population has grown from two billion to nearly seven billion. That is innumerable (This analysis can be found in Unleashed by Dudley Rutherford, et al from Standard Publishing in the chapter “Innumerable.”). As of July 1, 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the world’s population to be 6.96 billion.

In the book of Acts, the growth of the number of Jesus’ followers could be described as innumerable:

• Acts 1:15 begins with 120 followers of Jesus before Pentecost.
• In Acts 2:41, the number multiplied to more than 3,000.
• In Acts 2:47, the Lord was adding to their number daily.
• Acts 4:4 records that about 5,000 men were now Christians.
• Acts 5:14 tells us that “more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.”
• Acts 6:1 says that “the number of disciples was increasing.”
• Acts 9:31 records this about the church: “Living in the fear of the Lord and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers.”

By AD 350 there were thirty-one million Christians, more than half the population of the Roman Empire! The church was growing so rapidly that it became virtually impossible to count. Today there are some two billion Christians in the world.

I review those numbers for you in order to ask a question: How does the church once again become innumerable? How does your church become innumerable?

I realize that the number of people in most churches can be counted. As Christians, however, we are part of the world-wide church, so every church should be seeking out as many lost people as they can, so that together we become innumerable. Here are three emphases that I find in Acts that together enable the church to reach innumerable people.

(1) Emphasize the centrality of Christ. If you read through the messages preached by Peter and others that are recorded in Acts, you will find that every one emphasizes Christ above all else. Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 sets the stage by telling us that Jesus’ miracles prove that he is from God, that he was crucified and rose again, as foretold by the prophets and witnessed by the apostles, that he was exalted to the right hand of God, and that he poured out his Spirit on those who witnessed his resurrection. Messages recorded in each of Acts chapters 3, 4, and 5 all repeat that emphasis on Christ. Christ must be emphasized above all by the church.

(2) Emphasize the need for salvation. When Peter concluded his message in Acts 2, he was asked, “What shall we do?” He responded, “Repent and be baptized … in the name of Jesus Christ” and you will receive forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. This emphasis on salvation continued throughout the messages in Acts, with Peter even announcing in Acts 4:12 that “salvation is found in no one else” except Jesus. This is not just the message of the church. It is the message of every individual Christian. Most people come to Christ because a friend or family member has reached out to them in the name of Christ. Make this the emphasis of your life and your church.

(3) Emphasize the practice of love. In the snapshots in the book of Acts into the life of the early church, we have various pictures of the church loving and caring for each other and for those in the community around them. The church in fact became known in the world around them as a community of people who loved each other and those around them.

Your church can be innumerable. Begin to ask how you can build these three emphases into every aspect of your life and the church. Make your church not just about your church, but about the church around the world reaching innumerable people.