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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 3:6-7; Mark 4:14-20; 13, Eph. 4:15; 2:21; 1 Pet. 2:2-3, 5; Col. 2:19; 2 Pet. 1:1, 3-4; 3:18; 2 Cor. 3:17-18
We have seen that God, Christ, the Spirit, and the Word are all life to us. Furthermore, we have seen that the way to take in God is by contacting the Spirit and the Word through calling on the Lord in prayer. This is the spiritual breathing, drinking, and eating. We eat by drinking, drink by breathing, and breathe by calling on the name of the Lord. Whenever we call on the Lord by praying and reading the Word, we take the Lord into us. The Lord today is in the Spirit and in the Word, and He even is the Spirit and the rich element of the Word. Both the Spirit and the Word are the breath of God. The Spirit is the pneuma, the breath, and the Word is God’s divine breath. So the way for us to take in the Word and the Spirit is to breathe, and the way to breathe is to call on the Lord. This is so clear and simple, yet so real and rich.
In this chapter we want to go on to see that life grows. Anything living always grows, and growth is the issue of life. There is always some issue that comes out of life. The first issue of life is growth. All forms of life — the human life, animal life, and vegetable life — exhibit growth. The divine life is the same. The divine life is the highest life, the life on the highest plane. Because the divine life is the highest life, it has the highest growth.
Paul said, “I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth” (1 Cor. 3:6). I wish to say a word to all the dear ones who are serving the Lord. We have to listen to the apostle Paul. He said, “I planted.” He did not say, “I taught.” With mere teaching, nothing grows. But anything planted is something of life. With life there is growth. So we Christian workers have to learn not to merely teach but to plant.
Paul also said that Apollos watered. Today among the Christians teaching and edification are spoken about. But how many speak about our need to be watered? We need to water the brothers, not merely edify them. The brothers need the watering. The dry plants need the watering. We need to change our terminology from edifying to watering. Brothers, I need your watering.
If we always come to a plant to edify and correct it, the plant will die. Instead, we should water it. In the same way, we should not try to correct the brothers. Instead, we should water them. In a sense, we should let them be wrong. Just water them. Do not say, “Brother, you shouldn’t be like this. You are too much in your anger. You need some correction.” If we do this, we will kill him. What he needs is not correction but watering. A brother’s anger is like a germ. Sometimes the germ has to come out. If the germ is kept in, it kills. This brother needs to be watered. Christ is life, and life needs the planting and the watering. Christianity today has become a religion. A religion needs teaching and correcting, but Christ is life. Paul said that he planted and Apollos watered. Following this, God came in to give the growth.
I am happy to see that many young ones among us are growing. Some came to me with a concern about the young men with long hair and beards who have come to our meetings, but we just need to water them. The more Christ grows within them, the more the long hair and beards will be gone. This is not by teaching but by growth, and the growth needs the watering. Just water people and be patient. Do not correct others in a quick way. That really kills. Water them so that they may grow.
In a sense, growth is not so fast. The mothers with children know this. Today is about the same as yesterday, and tomorrow will be about the same as today as far as the growth of their children is concerned. When we look at our children day by day, every day they seem to be the same. But praise the Lord, after one year and another year, they are not the same. After a certain period of time, the growth can be seen. Life grows. It seems quite slow, but actually it is really fast. A mother mainly feeds her children, and this is what causes the growth.
First Corinthians 3:9 says that the church is God’s cultivated land, that is, God’s farm. The farm, the church, grows Christ. Over the years we have seen the growth of Christ in many dear ones. They have been transformed, not by teaching but by growing. We have to check with ourselves. When we say that we take in Christ as life, what is the issue? Of course, we cannot expect to be full-grown in a quick way, but after a period of time, we should be able to see some difference.
You have been calling on the Lord for a while, but has there been any growth? If you are still the same as you were six weeks ago, I am concerned for you. If you remain the same, that means there is the shortage of growth. If you eat properly, without any illness, be sure that after six weeks you will show forth your growth. We all need to grow. If we mean business in calling on the name of the Lord, I am sure that there will be growth. If there is no growth, something is wrong. It is impossible for there to be no issue of growth if we are taking in Christ day by day.
In Mark 4 the Lord Jesus Himself illustrated very clearly that there are four kinds of people related to the growth in life. The Lord’s illustration shows us what kind of person can have the proper growth in life. The Lord revealed that He is both the Sower and the seed (vv. 3, 14). He is the Sower who came to sow Himself as the seed into human beings. But these humans beings are categorized into four classes of people.
The first category of people is “the ones beside the way” (v. 15). The wayside is a place close to the way. It is hardened by the traffic of the way; thus, it is difficult for the seed of life to penetrate it. This is a picture of a person who is close to the world, with much worldly traffic within him. This means that his heart has been hardened by worldly traffic. Some of us have too much traffic with this world. This makes it hard for the seed of life to get into us. The seed sown beside the way can be snatched away by the birds, who signify Satan as the evil bird in the air who right away comes to snatch away the word from the hardened heart (vv. 4, 15). You may listen to the word, and yet there may be no opening within you because your heart is hardened like the wayside. Of course, if this is the case, life cannot grow within you.
The second category is the rocky place (vv. 5-6). The soil seems soft, but underneath are some hidden rocks. Our heart is quite deceitful. Sometimes even we ourselves do not understand what is hidden underneath in our heart (Jer. 17:9). There may be something impure hidden within us. Apparently, we are good ground for the word; we are seeking the Lord and are for the Lord’s move, but something as a rock may be hidden underneath as an impure motive, intention, purpose, or desire within us.
Throughout the years I have seen many young people come into the church life. Apparently, they were so seeking and good, but there was a kind of motive hidden in their heart. You may be seeking Christ apparently, but actually something may be hidden in your heart. When you gain what you want, you will be very happy and praise the Lord. But if you are not successful in that aim, you will be disappointed and want to give up the church life. Then there is no growth because there is no root. Deep within the heart there may be rocks, which can be hidden sins, personal desires, self-seeking, and self-pity, which hinder the seed from taking root in the depths of the heart. Then when the sun comes with its scorching heat, signifying affliction or persecution, the seed withers because it has no root (Mark 4:6, 16-17). You may come into the church life with something hidden, with a certain aim, ambition, or desire. After a while you may have the deep sensation that you have failed in your aim. Then when any kind of affliction comes, this will become a deathblow to the growth of the seed within you.
The third category is the thorny ground (v. 7). The thorns choke the growth of life. The Lord Jesus told us that the thorns signify three things: the anxieties of the age, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts for other things (v. 19). People today are caught up with this age. They are never satisfied with what they have. If they have an older car, they want a newer one. If they live in a house, they want a better house. These are the anxieties of the age. To a seeker of Christ, a seeking one in the church life, it makes no difference what kind of car or dwelling he has. All the anxieties of the age choke the growth.
Many of the young Chinese who come to this country are so ambitious to get a doctor’s degree. The young people surely have to study, but they should not study so ambitiously to the extent that they make education their goal and not the Lord. Even with those of us who have a job, we should try to work eight hours a day and five days a week, leaving the rest of our time for the church life. We should do a good job, but we should not care for overtime or for promotions. We would never be cheated by the deceitfulness of riches.
If you sell yourself to your job to get a promotion, your job becomes Pharaoh to you. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, makes the people of God very busy so that they do not have time for God’s interests. A brother may get a doctor’s degree or receive a good promotion, but this may cause him to be too busy to practice the church life. He may have to work day and night to sell himself for his job, for his promotion. Then how can he grow in life? This is the deceitfulness of riches.
Do we really need that much money? We need to simplify our life. Do not be a slave to make money or a slave to spend money. You have to spend much of your energy to make money and then more time to spend the money. If you make less money, you will save your time in spending money. The ones who spend much time to make money are enslaved. They spend more energy in spending money, and then they spend more time in using the things they buy. They have time for everything but no time for the Lord. This is the deceitfulness of riches.
We need to be simple in making money, in using money, and in using things that are bought by money. If we do not make that much money, we do not need to spend that much money, and we do not need more time to use the things we buy with the money. So we are so simple in the world. We are so free, liberated, and simplified for the Lord. We have plenty of time for the Lord and for the church life.
We should just spend enough time on our job to make a living. All the rest of our hours should be for the Lord and for the church life. In this way, it is so easy for the life within us to grow because nothing is choking it. We also have to beware of the lusts, or the desires, for other things. Maybe your goal and desire are to have a doctor’s degree. That could be a lust which can choke the life within you.
By the Lord’s mercy we would not be the wayside, the rocky place, or the thorny ground. We want to be the good earth (vv. 8, 20). In our mind, in our heart, and in our spirit, there should be no worldly traffic. We should have nothing impure hidden within us. We should not care for the things of this age, and we must overcome the deceitfulness of riches. We must be above mammon and have only one desire. Christ and the church are our unique desire. This is the good earth, which is fully available for the growth of the divine life.
Now we have to go on to see something positive. The real growth is the growth of God, the increase of God, within us. Colossians 2:19 says that we grow with the growth of God. We all have God within us. That means we all have Christ within us. But how much of Christ do we have? We should have Christ as the very God filling up our entire being, so we all need to grow with the growth of God, the increase of God. God needs to be increased within us. The more increase of God we have, the more growth we have. We can have Christ increased within us by calling on His name, praying to Him, and pray-reading His Word. Then we will grow up into Christ in all things, not just in some things (Eph. 4:15). We need to have the increase of God day by day so that we may grow up into Christ in everything.
Now you are in Christ, but not in everything. You are in Christ just in a general way. In so many things, you are not in Christ yet. On the negative side, we should not be the wayside, the rocky place, or the thorny ground; we need to be the good earth without worldly traffic, without the hidden rocks, without the anxieties of the age, the deceitfulness of riches, and without the desire for other things which choke the growth of life. We have to be the good earth, freed from all kinds of preoccupations so that we may have the growth. Then we will have the increase of God to grow up into Christ in all things.
