Matt Chandler - The Paradoxical Kingdom

If you have your Bibles, I would love for you to turn to this passage. There’s kind of a three-fold movement in this text that I want to walk you through in our time together today. But before we dive in, I was in Colorado last weekend for the commissioning service of JT English, who was on staff with us for a little over five years. He set up a really beautiful, holistic discipleship program here, and now he’s the lead guy there. So, I was preaching at his commissioning service, looking out at the crowd and seeing how many people actually took advantage of the move to Colorado and went up there with him. When I got home Sunday night, it was actually nicer in Texas than it was in Colorado last week. Lauren and I sat out on our back patio, and we were blown away by what I can only describe as a period of visible fruitfulness in the life of this church that is really unlike anything we’ve experienced up to this point.

Here’s what I mean by that: I’m not saying we’re growing faster than we ever have. I don’t know that we’ll ever go back to a thousand people a year, and I know we’re not going back to six services on a weekend. I can tell you that right now. We had that season where it was just turning away people from all six services, growing by a thousand people a year, and everybody was thinking, «This is amazing.» By the world’s metric, it was. I’m not saying that beautiful things didn’t happen during that time; many of you came to faith and joined this church during that season. But as Lauren and I sat on the back patio, discussing how our lives are going and how God is wringing us out—the things that we’re dedicating ourselves to—we talked about the fact that while we were in Colorado commissioning JT at Storyline Church, Citizens Church over in Plano was celebrating two years of autonomy, and we were also planting a church in Brighton, Michigan.

When I got home Sunday night and received the update on what God did here among us, I reflected on Max’s testimony during the 9 o’clock service—an epic ransoming from darkness into the kingdom of the beloved Son. We then began to talk about the fact that right now, while we’re gathered in this room, some of you are watching from home all over the Metroplex and indeed all over the world. There are men and women gathering in churches that you, through your generosity, have helped plant. Right now, if you were to go to Frisco, there’s a church there that you helped plant. A group of you used to sit here, lived in Frisco, and decided you wanted to be a part of a gospel-preaching church in your neighborhood. And it’s there now, in Frisco, Keller, Fort Worth, Louisville, and East Dallas. You have given of yourselves and your resources for us to be a church that delights in participating in the kingdom of God more than in its own brand.

On our back patio, Lauren and I reflected on how that’s what we want to dedicate our lives to. That’s what I want to be remembered for: at the end of my 40-year run, or 50—whatever God has planned—to be able to look out and see a thousand-plus biblically serious, spiritually alive, zealously evangelistic churches that we collectively spent our time planting and building up for the glory of Jesus, not for any brand. They aren’t all Village churches; they have their own names, stats, and styles. We just want to affirm that they love the Word of God and are eager to see people follow Jesus. Training towards that, building towards that, and giving to that is how I want to spend my life.

It struck me last Sunday night on our back patio that we’re doing just that. In the old days, maybe you thought those times were better—when we were turning away from every service, with thousands upon thousands coming through every year. We weren’t quite sure what was going on. But it feels very different now, knowing there are 30 churches gathering this Sunday morning because of the sacrifices made by this community of faith. I want you to be aware of that—you have done that, you have built that. By being part of this congregation, you’ve contributed to that.

I feel like after 18 years, we’re just hitting our stride. I genuinely believe that over the next 15 to 20 years, to the ends of the earth, you will plant churches that plant churches among unreached people groups on every continent. We’re going to continue to dedicate ourselves to that, continue to put it before you, and celebrate and rejoice in that. Because when my time comes to move on to what’s next for me—I don’t know what that looks like—I’m glad I won’t have to worry about who steps in to continue that vision.