THE PROPAGATION AND INCREASE OF THE CHURCH
Scripture reading:
John 12:24 Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Acts 6:7 And the word of God grew, and the number of the disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly; and a large number of the priests obeyed the faith.
Rev.1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw upon My right hand and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
THE PRINCIPLE OF THE PROPAGATION AND INCREASE
The Lord Indicated to His Disciples that
He Came to Be Multiplied, to Be Reproduced
This multiplication can be illustrated by a grain of wheat. Life is confined and concealed within the grain, How can a grain of wheat be multiplied? How can the life within it be released in order to produce an increase of the grain? The only way is for the grain of wheat to fall into the earth and die, The Lord used this illustration, taken from the realm of nature, to show the purpose of His death .Referring to Himself as a grain of wheat, the Lord indicated to His disciples that He came to be multiplied, to be reproduced, as a grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies and then grows up to produce many grains. (The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle and the Offerings in the Writings of John, ch, 55)
The Lampstands as the Local Churches
Are the Multiplication of that Unique Lampstand
In John 12:24 the Lord Jesus indicated that He was as a grain of wheat falling into the ground to die and that when He died He would bear much fruit. When the Lord died on the cross many grains were produced in His resurrection, and the many grains are the multiplication of that one grain. Also, Paul said in Philippians 1:21a,“For to me to live is Christ. “This is another indication of the multiplication of Christ. Furthermore,1 Corinthians 12:12 tells us that Christ is not only the Head but also the Body. In Exodus the lampstand was Christ and in Revelation the lampstands are the churches. This indicates that not only Christ Himself is a lampstand but every local church is also a lampstand; therefore, the lampstands as the local churches are the multiplication of that unique lampstand. (God’s New Testament Economy, ch. 24)
Increasing in the Measure of Life,
and also Increasing in the Number of Persons
The brothers and sisters who have been raised up by the Lord in these days to take the way of His recovery must realize that we must always increase in two ways. We must increase in the measure of life, and we must also increase in the number of persons. This is to increase both in quality and quantity. To be increased in the growth and measure of life is to be increased in quality. However, quality always comes out of quantity. If we do not have the quantity, how can we have the quality? We need the quantity, the increase of numbers. (Serving in the Meetings and in the Gospel, ch. 5)
We Testifying That the Enjoyment of Christ Issues in Fruit Bearing
In John 15:5 the Lord Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Without the proper bearing of fruit, our enjoyment is not genuine. There must be something wrong. If a married woman has no children after three or five years, there is something wrong. Still worse, we may have been Christians for fifteen years, yet we are without fruit. We cannot tolerate this kind of teaching that speaks of the enjoyment of Christ yet without fruit. It is altogether twisted and imbalanced. Rather, we testify that the enjoyment of Christ issues in fruit bearing, and fruit bearing comes out of the enjoyment of Christ. These two things should be here to balance us.
If We Do Not Have Spiritual Children, That Is a Shame
Although we all enjoy Christ, what kind of enjoyment of Christ do we have? This is the problem. The real check of our enjoyment of Christ is by no other way than fruit bearing. The Lord Jesus said in Matthew 12:33 that “by the fruit the tree is known”(cf.Matt.7:16-20;Luke 6:43-44). Furthermore, the Lord condemns barrenness in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the Lord condemns physical barrenness (Gen.30:1-2;Prov.30:16), whereas in the New Testament, He condemns spiritual barrenness(John 15:2,6).Thank the Lord that in the New Testament He does not care whether we have physical children or not. Even the Apostle Paul said how good it would be if we did not have children(1 Cor.7:7-8). However, if we do not have spiritual children, that is a shame.(Talks Concerning the Church Services(Part 2), ch. 4)
If We Cannot Bring One Person To the Lord in Two Years,
There Is Little Practical Purpose To Being on Earth
If we cannot bring one person to the Lord in two years, there is little practical purpose to being on earth. On the earth, even in one large city, there are millions of people. In such an ocean of faces, why can we not bring one person to the Lord? We have very much neglected our duty. It is not right or fair to be on the earth for two years and not bring one person to the Lord. Sometimes, though, we are even worse than this; we may not have brought one person to the Lord in four years. I am concerned about this situation. Let us not criticize others; let us criticize ourselves.
The best way to check whether a commercial business is right or wrong is to look at its accounting. We should not care for the general manager’s or director’s report; we should check the accounting books. What is its balance, profit, loss, and liabilities, and what kind of turnover has it had in the past ten years? We should look at the statistics and worksheets. In the same way, we should not say that our meetings are wonderful and everything is wonderful. If everything is wonderful for a whole year, yet there is no increase, there must be something wrong. We need to check ourselves.(Serving in the Meetings and in the Gospel, ch. 5)
