Kerusso (Greek): “To publish, proclaim openly: something which has been done.”
Let’s Grow After deliberation and prayer, the focus word I am offering for the coming year is “GROW.” Some folks are probably saying, “Grow! Yay! It’s about time we get a-move on, and talk about what’s important. The book of Acts has examples of the church growing dramatically, sometimes by the thousands in one day. Yes, that’s what we need … BIG NUMBERS. Then we will know for sure that God is pleased with us, and we will be the subject of blogs, and vlogs, and magazines, and ...” No, wait. That’s not exactly what I mean by “GROW.” In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossian church, he indeed encourages them to grow. But when we examine what his goals for them were, we see that Paul wasn’t primarily targeting UPWARD growth, as in having greater and greater structures, and tools, and mechanisms. Nor was he primarily targeting OUTWARD growth, as in having more and more outlets, preaching points, and attendees. Don’t misunderstand me to say that those things are not to be desired. They are. As a denomination, we want to be more capable, more flexible, more equipped. And we want to have a greater number of churches, and outreaches, and members. YES! We want all of those things, but the issue is how we best achieve them. Do we set our primary focus on a greater number of churches? Do we set our primary focus on a better set of tools? Let’s read what the Holy Spirit actually inspired the Apostle Paul to write: “Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:7 nlt) The direction encouraged by Paul was “DOWN.” “Let your roots grow down …” When Jesus told his Disciples the parable of the soils, He described several undesirable things that could happen once good seed was sown. Among them was a set of plants that grew quickly, but didn’t have a sustainable future. Matthew records Jesus’ words about them this way: “But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems …” (Matthew 13:21 nlt) What we need to remember is that we aren’t in a sprint here. Upward goals and growth without the essential beginnings of downward growth are sure to fail. We must be sure that we have grown DOWN “into him” (Jesus), so that we have a firm foundation for when trouble comes, and a source of nutrients to truly sustain the upward and outward growth that will come when we are careful to put first things first. Growing DOWN means aspiring to holiness - - Christlikeness. It means unity. It means love. It means humility. It means preferring others. It means forgiveness. It means purity. It means kindness. It means patience. It means wisdom. It means listening. It means honesty. It means working on character first, rather than working on a press release, or resume. It means seeking the fruit of the Spirit before the gifts of the Spirit.
~ Max Edwards
The Kerusso – January | 2022