13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
Introduction
In the movie Patton, General George Patton says of Britain’s Field Marshal Montgomery, “Montgomery seems to be more concerned about not losing a battle than winning one.”
In God’s army, many people are just like that. They are committed to maintaining the status quo. Many members of God’s army are satisfied with less than victory. They are like a former staff member of mine who called last week. When I asked him how he was doing, he replied, “Great! I’ve got a pastor who doesn’t do anything and I’m helping him.”
There are an awful lot of people in our churches today—and many in the ministry—who aren’t doing anything and they’ve got an awful lot of help doing it. This maintenance mentality that does nothing but sit is both a menace and a malignancy. Like a cancer in the body, it will eventually consume us if we don’t get rid of it.
Dr. Cal Guy, former teacher of missions at Southwestern Baptist Theology Seminary, and I were having breakfast together one day. In our conversation, he told me of a sign he had in his office. It read, “If you don’t have anything to do, don’t do it here.” We need to put that sign above the door of every pastor’s study in the land and then require everybody including the pastor to abide by it.
Jesus warns us against this maintenance mentality. This holding on to the status quo. This do-nothing attitude again and again. We are to be workers; we are to be busy about his work. He expresses this truth in a parable in Luke 19:1-27 when he set out our mission as, “Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13). The word occupy means “to busy yourself.” It does not mean to sit down. It means that we are to busy ourselves about his work until he comes again.
The background of this statement gives it more meaning. Jesus had just passed through Jericho where he met and saved Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus had betrayed his people and was up a tree in more ways than one until Jesus found him, called him, and saved him. After his encounter with Zacchaeus, Jesus summed up his mission by saying, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).
He followed up this teaching with a parable. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. This particular story is called “The Parable of the Pounds.” It is a story of a rich man who went to a far-away country. Before he left, he called in 10 of his servants and gave to each one of them a large sum of money called a pound, and he told them to busy themselves at his work until he came again.
In time the man returned and called his servants in and asked them to give an account of their business endeavors for the time period while he was gone. The first man had increased the pound entrusted to him 10 times over. The master commended him and promoted him.
The second servant also gave a good report. He had multiplied his pound by five times and was also commended and promoted.
Eventually there came one servant who returned only one pound to his master. He explained it something like this: “Master, I was afraid that if I invested this money I would lose all of it. So I decided to play it safe. I wrapped it securely in a napkin and kept it hidden until I heard that you were back in town. Today I am returning to you exactly what you entrusted to me years ago.”
The master was clearly upset. In fact, he called this man a “wicked” servant and told the others to get him out of his sight. That word “wicked” is a very strong word. Jesus seldom used it. He did not call the woman taken in the act of adultery wicked. He did not call the crooked and deceitful tax collector Zacchaeus wicked. But he did call his man wicked. We wonder why. What great wrong did he do?
His sin was not so much in what he did, but in what he failed to do. The pound represented a trust, an opportunity, or potential. In the light of all of that, he chose to do nothing. It was at the outset of this parable that Jesus spoke those words, “Occupy till I come.” What he means is that we are to busy ourselves about his business until he comes again. His mission—which he had just stated—is to be our mission.
We are not to sit on his work; we are not to hold onto his work; we are not to maintain his work; we are to busy ourselves at increasing it. He expects increase, profit, and advance. It is not enough to not lose, we need to win.
The maintenance mentality is never acceptable. Luke 19 opens with Jesus meeting Zacchaeus. Quickly into that encounter, Jesus defined his mission—to seek and save the lost. Next, Jesus told a parable to teach us that his mission was our mission. The key word in his parable is the word “occupy.” Our mission is clear—Jesus came to seek and to save, then went away and committed his work to us. Now we are to busy ourselves at his work until he comes again.
How do we do this? What should we be doing? How do you build an evangelistic church? I want to share with you six keys or steps to building an evangelistic church.
1. It will cost you your life.
The first step is to make a commitment to growth or to pastor a growing, evangelistic church. It is the Green Acres Baptist Church of Tyler, Texas. Tyler is a small East Texas city with a population of 75,000. It has experienced a healthy 30 percent growth over the past 11 years. During that same period of time, our average Sunday school attendance has increased 195%, from an average of 711 to 2,124. We have averaged 11 new members per Sunday for the past 11 years.
Growth in the other areas of our church life have been comparable. Our budget, for example, has grown from $330,000 to $2,670,000 a year. That’s a 526% increase.
Our total gifts have shown an even greater increase. Eleven years ago, our total gifts were $305,398. (You can see that we didn’t meet our budget that year.) But last year our total gifts were $3,429,314, which was an increase of 1,023%.
We also have built four major buildings at our church: a complete retreat center with a lodge, a 40-bed dormitory, three private cabins, and a 16-bedroom motel unit. And in addition to that, we have built or have helped to build 10 mission churches over the past 11 years; we built three churches on foreign fields last year alone—one in Brazil and two in Belize.
When people learn about our growth at Green Acres, they sometimes say, “You just happen to be in the right place at the right time.” I would be the last person to discount the importance of being at the right place at the right time. You can’t grow a church in the Mojave Desert. You must be where people are. However, there have been other churches in the same place during the same period of time that have not grown. There must be more to it than location and timing.
An illustration will show what I’m talking about. I know of two churches in a thriving Texas city that have many things in common. In addition to being in the same town, the two churches are nearly the same age—one is 28 years old and the other is 29. Both are located in the same part of their city. One is located directly across the street from one end of a small shopping center. The other is located directly across the street from the opposite end of that same shopping center. They both have access to the same Bible and the same Gospel.
But that is where the similarities end. While one has grown to a membership of over 5,000, the other has grown to only 300 members. While one has an average Sunday school attendance that exceeds 2,100, the other church averages less than 100. While one had total receipts of over three million dollars last year, the other received less than a hundred thousand dollars. Finally, while one had more than 600 additions to its fellowship last year, the other had only 29 additions.
Now how do you account for this wide difference, seeing that both of the churches were in the same place at the same time? What made the difference? It is obviously more than being at the right place at the right time.
I believe that the explanation is commitment. One has a commitment to growth and the other does not. One has a commitment to carrying out the Great Commission—to winning the lost and to evangelizing its community—and the other does not. That is the difference.
The single most important factor in church growth is a commitment to growth on the part of the pastor and the people. I’m persuaded that it is even more important than your theological position. After all, Robert Schuller of the Garden Grove Community Church in California built a growing church on “possibility thinking.” It is more important than a suburban location and accessibility for W. A. Criswell of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, who built a growing church in the heart of a thriving metropolis. And it is more important than being in the Bible Belt of the South for Jack Hyles of First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana, who built a growing church in a depressed industrial area.
Growth is inherent in the Gospel. The word of God and the kingdom of God are often compared to a seed. It is the very nature of a seed to multiply, to grow, and to increase when it is planted in fertile soil. So, pastor and people, commit yourselves to growth and evangelism. Growth waits only for committed people. But let me warn you, it will cost you your life. But what else is life for, except to serve the Lord and make a commitment to him?
2. Leadership means the buck stops here.
The second step in building an evangelistic growing church is dynamic and charismatic leadership. James Reston, a columnist for the New York Times, once gave an evaluation of a small caliber of men that he thought occupied governor’s chairs in the various states at that time. He said, “Maybe the states can go on handling bigger problems with smaller and smaller men, but it is risky business ... most of the state capitals are over their heads in problems and up to their knees in midgets.”
Ministerial midgets always make for a maintenance mentality. But growing, evangelistic, dynamic churches are the result of dynamic and charismatic leaders. If we are going to have growing evangelistic churches we cannot have ministerial midgets in places of leadership. Folks, we might as well face it, the buck stops with leadership. People almost never rise above their leaders. Unless the leader leads, nothing happens.
Bart Starr, the former quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, was describing to a group of businessmen how his coach, Vince Lombardi, held absolute power. He stated that as you entered Vince’s office, you noticed a huge mahogany desk with an impressive organizational chart behind it on the wall. The chart had a small block at the top in which was printed: “Vince Lombardi, head coach and general manager.” A line came down from it to a very large block in which was printed: “Everybody else!” While I don’t recommend that as the ideal organizational chart for a church, the pastor does stand high above everybody else in responsibility and in importance as far as church growth and evangelism are concerned.
What does it take to be a dynamic leader? What is involved in leadership? These three things are necessary: you must see what needs to be done, you must develop a plan for doing it, and you must enlist and motivate people to do it. Real leadership begins with vision, which is seeing what needs to be done. Don’t get the idea that there is an abundance of this. John Ruskin said, “The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something and to tell what he saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion all in one.”
Next, leadership requires that you develop a plan for doing what needs to be done. Great ideas need landing gears as well as wings. Leaders can’t live in the clouds for long. They have to come back down to earth and reality in order to be effective. Somebody asked, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer came back, “One bite at a time.” Leaders are people who can analyze a problem and propose a solution that people can get their teeth into.
And finally, leaders must be able to enlist, motivate, and inspire other people to join with them in carrying out the plan to do what needs to be done. Leaders are self-motivated. Their push comes from within. But most people are not motivated at all. They are content to drift or to sit. Business as usual is fine with them. They are like sheep and that is why they need a shepherd. The leader, who is driven from within, becomes a catalyst to inspire people to do what otherwise they would never do.
3. Persistence is key.
Those who are leaders are able to supply the push or the pressure that gets people to do things. Leaders are persistent in that push. Henry J. Kaiser was one of the great industrialists of America. He was a hard-driving, determined, persistent man. An associate once said of him, “Henry is like a happy elephant; he smiles and leans against you. After a while you know that there is nothing left to do but to move in the direction he is pushing.”
Leaders need to take the happy elephant approach. They need to smile and lean on people. Leaders can’t be involved in a popularity contest. It is their job to get things done even if they must lean on people to do it.
Don’t get discouraged if everyone doesn’t jump in behind you immediately. You will never have total cooperation or participation in anything. Don’t become so concerned about those who won’t respond to you that you fail to do anything with those who do respond. Take the one or two or the dozen and get on with it.
Don’t despair if you aren’t a dynamic leader yet. I am persuaded that leaders are grown and developed—not born. It is oftentimes a long and grueling process. After leading his Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl championship in 1983, Joe Gibbs was named the NFL Coach of the Year. One newspaper called him, “An overnight success 20 years in the making.”
If you aren’t a leader yet, don’t give up. Some people are late bloomers. Whenever leadership blossoms out, you can know that behind it there have been years and years of cultivation and toil. Keep trying. Keep working at it. Keep dreaming, keep developing, and keep inspiring. One day it will come.
Don’t despair if people do not jump on your bandwagon all at once. Most people are asleep and the first time you try to arouse them, they push the snooze alarm, turn over, and go back to sleep. Sometimes they even growl. But keep sharing. Stay at it. Failures are those who follow the line of least persistency.
Several weeks ago, deacon Tom Lawson and I went visiting. We went to the home of a family who had just moved to our city from out of state. They were the kind of family who immediately gets in the church and becomes active in it when they move to a new community. The family has three girls and their church decision is always a family one. Prior to moving to our community, while living in another city, they visited a church one Sunday morning and during the service the father leaned over and asked one of his daughters, “How do you like this church?” She replied, “I don’t. The people all act like they don’t want to be here.”
Growing and evangelistic churches are happy places where people like to be. They cultivate a warm family atmosphere and are conscious of being God’s people. The spirit of love embraces everyone who walks in the door. There are no walls. People seem to be eager to bear one another’s burdens. They are places where all people are loved, accepted, and helped. Members like to go there and they want others to come also.
A fighting mad lady once wrote to Ann Landers. Her daughter had recently gone through a divorce and she had suggested that her daughter begin attending church in order to meet some fine young man. The daughter did what her mother suggested, and she met a young man. He came home with her for supper one night. In fact, the lady said that he came home for supper every night for six weeks in a row. Then she said, “We found out that the rat was married and he was still living at home with his wife and children.” Then she said, “The church is for rats!”
When I read that, I thought, “Lady, if you only knew.” The church is not only for rats, it is for skunks, snakes, donkeys, and turkeys. There is a whole zoo in us if the truth were only known. Growing churches are under no illusion about themselves. They know that they are sinners who have been saved by grace and they welcome other sinners to join them. People can come and feel comfortable in their presence.
If you are going to have a growing, evangelistic church you need to melt down some of the archness and the starchiness and join the human race. Don’t pretend that you are better than you are or worse than you are. Just relax and be yourself and let others do the same. It is in this kind of loving, accepting, warm atmosphere that God can do his greatest work and evangelism takes place.
Even this comes back to leadership. As Vance Havner said, “Show me a church that is like a refrigerator, iceberg, or igloo, and I’ll show you a church that has a polar bear or an Eskimo in the pulpit.” You can’t hatch an egg in an icebox, and you can’t have evangelism in a cold, impersonal church.
A columnist for the Houston Post once wrote an article asking the question, “Where can people find a friend?” He said that he had observed five places: bars, clubs, the office, your neighborhood, and churches. Then he said that he has observed that crowds are always changing in bars, clubs, offices, and neighborhoods. “The only place to find lasting friendship is in the church.” He continued, “I am not a churchman, but I recommend that you go to church if you want to find and make friends.”
I once read a slogan on a church bulletin, “Why join a church when you can join a family?” That’s what people want to be a part of and that’s what our church needs to become.
4. Recognize that we are a multiple-option society.
When my deacon friend Drew Gillen from Corsicana invites people to church, he says, “Come visit our church. We will treat you so many ways you are bound to like one of them.”
The growing, evangelistic churches of today are those that offer people a varied program. They offer what the people want and need.
John Naisbitt, in his book Megatrends said that we are shifting from an either/or to a multiple-option society. He calls it the “Baskin-Robbins Society.” Baskin-Robbins, you know, has 31 flavors of ice cream. When I was a boy, we had only three flavors of ice cream—chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Who could ever want more than that? But today, Baskin-Robbins offers you a choice of more than 31 flavors.
If you want to buy a car in the United States there are more than 752 models of automobiles to choose from—and that doesn’t include all the various color options. There is a store in New York City that sells 2,500 different kinds of light bulbs.
Life was once so simple. If you wanted a cold drink when I was a boy, there was only one kind and one size of each brand. Today there are all sizes and all kinds: regular, sugar-free, caffeine-free, both sugar-free and caffeine-free (which is basically a can of colored water), and with or without NutraSweet. If the manufacturers keep taking ingredients out of cold drinks, we will soon be buying only the can.
There was a time when if you wanted to watch television, you had only three choices. But today there are all-news networks, all-sports networks, all-Spanish networks, all-religious networks, all-music networks, all-black networks, and all-children’s networks. I am told that in the near future, every household will have as many as 100 channels to choose programs from. At this rate, the next generation will have eyes the size of saucers, and brains the size of a split pea.
In a multiple option society, the church that offers only preaching, singing, and Sunday school is like trying to drive the horse and buggy down the Pennsylvania Turnpike. It is an oddity that will soon be passed by everyone.
Our churches have got to think, reason, and innovate. We need to minister to people in ways we have never thought of before. Recently, one of my assistants told me that we have 25 different outreach ministries in our church. One of the most recent is a ministry to alcoholics. We offer a support groups to people who have either had or are now having problems with alcohol and or drugs, or who have family members with these problems. I announced the beginning of this group one Sunday morning and 12 people showed up for the Tuesday morning breakfast. The group has been growing and growing ever since.
The next Sunday after I made that announcement a young nurse came to join our church. She said, “I want to join your church. I want to be a part of a church that cares about people.” A young salesman came to talk to me about his father’s drinking problem. The end result was that we reached that young man for Christ. People think of our church as one that is in touch with reality, and one that cares about people. That’s why so many of them come.
The regular worship services, Sunday school, church music, and all the programs focusing on singles, youth, children, missions, and discipleship are all important. We must not think in terms of doing as little as we can, but as much as we can.
5. Keep the main thing the main thing.
The fifth thing we must do to have a growing, evangelistic church is to mobilize and magnify the Sunday school. I once read a slogan that said, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” That’s not double talk. That speaks to the matter of priorities. Everything can’t be first in your life or in your church. What is the main thing? I believe it is Sunday school.
Sunday school is not just another organization of the church. Sunday school is the church organized and functioning to carry out the Great Commission. Sunday school is the place where the word of God is taught, where a caring and sharing fellowship is built, and where a continuous outreach ministry can be maintained. People want and need to hear the Bible taught.
Dr. Robert Gehring, a practicing physician from Dallas and a teacher at Baylor Medical School, shared his testimony in our church one Sunday evening. Dr. Gehring is an alcoholic and drug addict who had tried to take his own life as a result of his drug and alcohol addiction. He was found by a fellow physician who introduced him to Christ and nurtured him in his spiritual life to the point of victory. He has now been sober for the past seven years and spends his time carrying his story of his deliverance through Christ with churches, and especially with other physicians. Dr. Gehring said that in seeking victory over his alcoholism, “I spent 22,000 dollars on shrinks. And I found my help in a ten-dollar Bible.” People want and need to be a part of a caring and sharing fellowship that studies God’s word together.
We are to seek and to save that which is lost. The seeking and the going are vital. The Sunday school ought to be like a mighty army in the march for Christ, and every member of the Sunday school needs to see himself as a soldier in that army. Unfortunately, that is not the way it is with most of us. Most churches and Sunday schools I know are more like the National Guard than they are like the regular army. The National Guard is made of the people who are engaged in management and labor during the week and they do their soldiering on weekends. They are full-time at other things, and part-time in the military. Their best energy and efforts go to other pursuits and being in the reserves is a sideline. They are part-timers and weekenders except in times of dire emergency when they are called into active duty.
Many Christians and Sunday school attenders are the same way. All week long they give their highest and their best to other enterprises and they are just weekend Christians. That kind of involvement will never get the job done. The church is at war. Every Christian needs to be called into full-time service. We need to give ourselves continually to evangelism or we will never conquer the lost and dying world for Christ.
6. Work hard.
The final step in building a growing, evangelistic church is hard work. You can’t enjoy the luxury of victory or success without the price of sacrifice.
A man with two swollen and discolored eyes went into a bar. “Boy, those are beauties,” said the bartender. “Who gave them to you?”
“They don’t give these away,” replied the man. “You have to fight for them.”
It is the same with growth and evangelism. They are not gifts.
Growth is not a gift. Evangelism is not an inheritance, it is an effort. I was in Loveland, Colorado, several years ago for a church growth meeting. When I checked into the motel I noticed a sign above the desk that read, “There ain’t hardly no business here that ain’t been went after.” That’s not the best English, but if the purpose of language is to communicate, that gets the job done. That’s the way it is in my church. There ain’t hardly no people who’ve joined there that ain’t been went after.
I was in a Po’ Folks restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee, last year and saw this slogan on their menu: “Good things will come to you if you wait—and work real hard while you are waiting.”
I picked up a Sunday school pamphlet one time that was entitled “How to Build a Great Sunday School.” I always want to know the secrets of those who found growth, so I opened it. Inside was one word: WORK!
We’ve got to declare war on laziness. We’ve got to give ourselves with new zeal and enthusiasm and tireless labor to the work of God. Winston Churchill said, “Most of the significant contributions that have been made to society have been made by people who are tired.”
We are people on a mission. We have little time to sit around and enjoy the scenery. We must be about our Master’s business. We must occupy until he comes.