Our Sermons

Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 3:5-11
Pastor: Pastor Schlicht
Sermon Date:  July 16, 2023

It’s been 6 years and 16 days since I began at Eastside in 2017. Time flies, doesn’t it? I remember the beginning quite well. I remember shaking Pastor Berg’s hand after the call service, I remember reading through the church constitution and by-laws that same night. I remember searching for an apartment for our then family of three. I remember Steve Brooks straightening out my tie on my first Sunday. I remember preaching on Exodus 33 for my first sermon. I remember meeting the best neighbors anyone could have, Lee and Kenlyn Harris, one is here today and one is in heaven. I remember sitting in many of your homes during my new pastor visits. I remember 50 people showing up to my Leviticus Bible study. I remember saying a prayer with volunteers, getting ready for the first Canvass Food Drive that first October, I remember visiting my first shut-in—Donna Hansen—whom I’ve  since buried and my first baptism—Sadie Blatter—who starts first grade this fall. 6 years and 16 days, it flies by. I can’t adequately express how meaningful my time here was. I can’t even quite wrap my head around the fact that I won’t be here next Sunday. But what I can see, as I look back, is a lot of growth. 

Everyone in our world seems to be concerned with growth. Companies want growth in sales, people want growth in their investments, growth in engagement, growth in followers, you name it! And usually, growth is dependent on a number of factors, like having the right methods, the right strategies, and the right people in place. Churches can even fall into this way of thinking as well: If we can just get the right people in and the wrong people out, if we do what other churches have done, if we can find the silver-bullet, then we will really see some growth. But that’s not what I’ve experienced in the past 6 years here at Eastside, and that’s not what the Bible talks about when it comes to growth. 

A merely human way of thinking about growth is actually what the apostle Paul addresses in 1 Corinthians. He’s writing to a congregation who was caught up taking sides with two different teachers, some said they followed Apollos and others said they followed Paul. But Paul immediately cuts through this and focuses them on where real growth comes from 1 Cor 3:5-7 “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are ministers through whom you believed, and each served as the Lord gave him his role. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. 7 So then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but it is God who causes the growth.”

I look back over 6 years and I see growth, but it isn’t the type of growth that most would notice. I isn’t financial growth, although the Lord has blessed us to be in a good position. It isn’t growing numerically, although after the pandemic we have held steady, what a blessing to welcome 11 new members this past February after our Bible 101 course. It isn’t growth that is necessarily quantifiable. It’s the growth that only God can cause. 

Notice, that Paul doesn’t say God causes growth. He says “God causes the growth.” It’s a definite article, talking about a defined type of growth. It’s the growth of faith! It’s the growth of God’s kingdom which doesn’t operate according to the metrics of earthly industry. Growth in God’s economy does not add up to how many people are in the pews, or how much money is in the bank. God causes the growth—the growth of faith in the hearts of his people! And that is not always easy to see, or to notice. But ask yourself right now, have you grown in faith in the past 6 years? Has it always been obvious or quantifiable? Growing in faith is sort of like if you were a child who grows physically but you never get to see your reflection in a mirror. Over time, there would be ways that you could tell that you are getting stronger, you notice differences, but it isn’t easy to make a clear comparison to where you were before. But certainly you would know that you are growing. The same is true in faith. Let me be your mirror for a moment.

As a pastor, I observe that you have grown in faith. Not just the not just confirmands, not just the children in the school, though seeing that growth is always wonderful. But all of you. My, how you have grown. I can see it in the conversations we have, to the questions you ask that you didn’t before, or the questions you don’t need to ask me anymore. From the way you handle hardship or illness with grace. From the way you trust in the Lord through your grief. From the way some of you have stepped up into leadership, from the way I see you hunger for God’s Word, from the way I’ve seen you stand at the graveside of your loved one, from the way I’ve seen you care for your children. From the way you’ve supported me as your shepherd. Look in the mirror, there is much growth if you have the eyes to see it.

The fact that I got to witness that growth, is an undeserved privilege. I got to water you with God’s Word, but he caused the growth! Some of you I planted, and now Pastor Berg will be the one who waters, or the man that fills my shoes, but, as Paul says, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but it is God who causes the growth. Drill that deep down into your hearts.

God causes the growth—he is responsible for the spiritual vitality of his church, both his Church globally and his church locally here at Eastside. What confidence that provides today, as I leave. Knowing that the God who used me to water his dear souls will keep right on tending to his field. Knowing that the divine gardener who used me to pour out his grace, will continue to use Pastor Berg and find another watering can that will be just what Eastside needs. What comfort to know that one who holds all things in his hands is not dependent on me or any man to carry out his good plans for you. What confidence this gives us, as I give myself fully to his labor in West Bend, God will cause the growth there and, without me, he will cause the growth right here at the Eastside. 

That’s why you have to adjust your eyes to see the growth. Because it doesn’t happen according to the usual conditions we might expect. As a pastor I’ve come to see that God often produces the most growth when he takes things away. When do you say your most earnest prayers? When do you cling to God’s promises the most? Often when something is taken away. It’s in those times that God forces us to grow in our dependence upon him. In this upcoming vacancy, if you adjust your eyes, you will see the growth the God causes.

Look for the growth of Eastside in my absence, as members step up to fulfill our ministry. Look for the growth of Eastside as small groups begin this fall and members gather together around God’s Word in their homes. Look for the growth as Pastor Berg continues to water you, teaching and preaching  faithfully. Look for the growth as a new school year begins, focused on Jesus. Look for the growth as a church which has flourished by God’s grace for 98 years continues to shine as a light in Madison.

Look for the growth and you will see it, because God is the one who causes it. I think of the Apostles’ words in his second letter to this same congregation in Corinth. “We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Cor 4:16) The growth of God’s Kingdom is the growth of faith—it is an inward growth that takes place by the Holy Spirit’s power working through the Word. I would rather have Eastside grow in this way than any other. Yes, I do pray that Eastside would grow numerically. But I pray that you would grow deeper than you would grow wider, so to speak. I pray that you would send your roots deep down into the rich soil of Christ’s love, that you would remain firmly established upon his death and resurrection as the church’s one foundation.

Paul ends this section speaking of just that: In keeping with the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. But let each person be careful how he builds on it. 11 In fact, no one can lay any other foundation than the one that has been laid, which is Jesus Christ. There is no foundation for the church other than Christ. If you build a church half-on Christ and half on the world, the building will start tipping and it will fall with a great crash, as our Savior would say. Everything must be focused on Jesus. It’s all about Jesus! In keeping with the grace of God given to me, I have been building upon this foundation here at Eastside. And if you remember one thing from me, I pray that you would learn to focus on Christ and his cross. Everytime something else besides Jesus begins to take the emphasis, the building becomes shaky. Anytime you end up focused more on yourself than on your Savior when it comes to salvation, you step off of the firm foundation. Let each person be careful how he builds! There is no other foundation! 

Only in Christ do you find free and full forgiveness of your sin. Only in the Crucified will you find that God is with you in the hard times. Only in Christ, who is gentle and humble in heart, do you find rest for your souls. Only upon the foundation of Christ do you have the potential for growth at all times. My friends, the winds are already blowing and the waves are beating against the house—stand firm on the church’s one foundation!

6 years and 16 days. I am so thankful to have been your shepherd. I have loved being your pastor. But what then is Apollos? What then is Paul? What then is Pastor Schlicht? I am just a servant in the field. I planted and I watered, but God causes the growth. I worked to strengthen the building, but God is the one who founded it upon Christ, his dear Son. Eastside is in good hands. As Darrel Alberts used to say:   “Jesus has it covered.”

I’ll end with one of my favorite verses of the Bible: “I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it.” (Ecc 3:14) May the same be said of my ministry in his name among you. Amen.