Luke 14:22
And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
When I took over the pastorate at Maranatha Baptist Church, the auditorium had a lot of red in it. The pews were red, the carpet was red, the platform was red, and even the cross in the baptistry was red. Our church was not a large church by any stretch of the imagination. People would come to me and ask me if we were going to get rid of the red pews, and my response to them was that the way to get rid of them is to fill them with people.
I also inherited a big gymnasium/educational building, but most of the rooms, including the gymnasium, were filled with stuff. I told the church that if God was going to grow our church, we needed to remove the stuff for God to fill it.
Our church got busy on two fronts. We first got busy soul winning trying to bring people in to fill the auditorium pews. We also got busy emptying the gym and the rooms with stuff in them so that they could be filled. It was amazing how God quickly began to fill what we made room for Him to fill. As I write this devotional, every room has been filled with people, the auditorium is packed in every service, and we are now remodeling the gymnasium and some of the rooms into a larger auditorium so that we can fill it again.
God makes it clear in the Scriptures that He does not want empty churches, but He commands us to fill what we have. However, once we fill what we have, we are to create more room for God to fill it yet again. When the servant invited people to come to the supper, he told the Lord that yet there is room. When the Lord heard there was room, He told the servant to go and get anyone who would come and compel them to come so that His house may be filled. There are a few principles I want to point out to you that will help you to grow so you can fill what you have.
First, you must determine to fill the room you have. You will certainly not fill the room you have if you don’t have a determination to fill it. God will help you fill it, but He is not going to fill it with you sitting and doing nothing.
Second, it takes hard work to fill the room. The servant heard excuses why people would not come, but that did not stop him from going to the streets and lanes inviting people so the house may be filled. Without hard work, you will never fill your Sunday school class, bus route, or church auditorium.
Third, make room with the room that you have. In other words, empty the junk that is filling any room and instead fill those rooms with people. God will never go beyond what He has already given you. Your faith is revealed by how much you are willing to work to fill what room you already have.
Fourth, once you have filled what you have, make more room so that God can use you to fill it again. God is in the filling business, and He will fill the room you have in your church if you will work to fill it. However, you must also have faith to make more room when you run out of room so that He can fill it again.
Let me ask you, are you filling what you have? Are you working hard to fill it? Don’t let the space God has already given you be wasted with junk, but fill it with people. When you are filled, ask God for wisdom to help you make more room so that He can fill it again.
