Building Men Over Memberships

Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” – Matthew 28:16-20 
 
S. D. Gordon was a wonderful preacher of yesteryear. He said that God often does not answer our prayers for revival because there is a more sinister thought underneath than what we are praying for. He said, sometimes we pray, “Oh God, send us revival.” We want more people to come and make us look good. God chooses not to send a revival because the motive for revival is numerically driven so that we look successful rather than faithful.  
 
Look at the ministry of Jesus. He reached thousands of people. When He began to talk about going to the cross and laying down His life for His sheep, suddenly the number of followers of Jesus began to diminish. Out of the 12 men He called to follow Him, only 11 made the trip. Only three men were intimately involved with Jesus (Peter, James, and John). Only John made it all the way to the cross! One denied Him, and the others were scattered until they experienced the resurrected Lord.  
 
God is more interested in building men than building inflated memberships. We need to get on board with this line of thinking because building discipleship is more important than anything else. We will live out the Lord’s will for our lives when communion becomes more important to us than service for Him, and when building men becomes more important to us than building our memberships.