Sink or Swim (Sermon: Acts 11:23-26)

A few years ago I was at a friend's birthday party. It was a pool party and the birthday boy was about 4 and had not yet learned how to swim. His parents had made him wear floats on his arms to keep him safe, but while they were distracted getting the cake and drinks ready he kept begging his grandfather to let him in the pool without the floats. "Sure, jump on in," said his grandfather. And so with eyes wide open in eager anticipation and excitement the young boy ran straight for the deep end of the pool and jumped in. He came to the surface, but only for a few seconds. Not knowing how to swim or even float, he immediately began to sink. I was the only other person in the water so I swam over and pulled him up and sat him on the edge of the pool.

When I think about that experience, it reminds me of how the church often treats new believers. They come to the church with an excitement and energy and they dive into the Christian life. What do we do as believers? Well, usually we just stand back and watch to see if they will sink or swim, but this should not be so. We are just as called to help make them disciples as they are called to be disciples.

Barnabas and Saul (also known as Paul) fully understood this and were committed to it. When they learned of the new believers in Antioch, they went and spent a year there instructing them and encouraging them to press on. If people join our church and then fade away, instead of doubting whether they were sincere, maybe we should ask ourselves what did we do to foster their growth. What did we do to encourage them? How did we instruct them and equip them?

The Christian life is too hard for anyone to try to live it apart from the help of the local church. When people are born again, they are babes spiritually and babes need our care. I want to encourage you today to invest your life in helping the new believers in your church to grow and mature. I believe ultimately that God will hold us accountable not only for whether we have shared the gospel with the lost, but also for whether or not we helped new believers to grow in Christ. May we each live our life so that on the day that we have to give an account we will not be ashamed.