Avoiding the “If Onlies”

When you are “starter” congregation there are many things you don’t have.  It’s so easy to get a bad case of the “if onlies” -  if only we had a smoking hot praise band.  If only we had a zillion different ministries each making a connection with people out there.  If only we had a rafter-rattling pipe organ. If only we had a preacher of national renown with big-time name recognition and a reputation for saying really engaging things in really engaging ways.  If only we had a big broadcast media footprint.  That list of “if onlies” can get so big, that it can blind us to the real power that is at work.  Consider the words of a man whose entire ministry was about starter church:  the apostle Paul.  Here’s what he wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:1-5:  1 “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.”  There it is – God’s reminder that even though there’s a lot we don’t have as a little “start-up” church, we have the one essential power to make faith grow in human hearts:  the good news that Jesus Christ was crucified for sinners.  Jesus Christ came into the world and through his death atoned for every sin of every sinner!  There is not a man, woman, or child on our planet to whom we cannot say with perfect confidence:  “Jesus took your sins away, together with all their guilt and punishment!  God loves you and considers you righteous in his sight because of what Jesus did for you!  You are forgiven!  Heaven is for you!”  What an awesome cure for those “if onlies”! How great is it that God reminds us that while we may have a lot of those things someday that are on our wish list today, what we have now is plenty powerful to get God’s saving work done in human hearts!  And that power will always be enough to get God’s good work done in human hearts!  The main thing, it seems me, is to keep that main thing the main thing in every thing we say and do at Ascension! 

And God is adding to our number.  Two years ago we only about 4 children of grade school age in our church.  A week ago we had a dozen who came to the chancel steps for our Children’s Message.  Every week (let me say that again) every week we have new faces in worship who weren’t there the week before.  Our Bible Information Class for new members is growing, too.  Isn’t it awesome that God is continually adding to our number not only people whom we are privileged to serve with the Gospel, but whom he has gifted and motivated to serve the cause of the gospel with us?   And God is doing that without having to rely on mere human words and human wisdom.  He is doing it even without a smoking hot praise band, or a big mega-church arena, or a big polished and professional broadcast footprint.  He is doing it with his living, active, and enduring Word - the wisdom that goes beyond all human understanding.  Welcome to Ascension Lutheran Church!  Welcome to the little big time in the unfolding story of God’s work in the world!