When my eldest son was born, the woman next door also gave birth to a boy. Since then, both parents have been paying attention to whose children are growing fast. There was a shortage of materials in society at that time. They are family members of soldiers, and it is much better for them to get supplies from the army than for us. Although their children are not as nutritious as my son, as a result, my son is half a head taller than their children I once heard the mother say in confusion, "Why are our children always not as tall as others!" " "Of course, she can't understand, god's grace can't compare with eating more nutrition.
Even if the children grow taller and shorter, parents are still so concerned. Whether we grow spiritually is God's concern. If the church pays attention to the cultivation of believers in truth and the teaching of the Bible, the spiritual life of brothers and sisters will certainly grow and their lives will be enriched, that is, the church will grow qualitatively. I often encourage my brothers and sisters. When we meet again, we will not only see that your number has increased and you are full, but also your spiritual life has improved. You have witnessed the expression of truth and life. This reflects that a church is growing healthily.
More need to increase Ministry.
The growth of the church is not only the number of people saved, the spiritual life of believers, but also the Ministry of the church. Whether a church can continue to grow in the Ministry can best reflect its growth. A depressed church is often satisfied with the existing Ministry, but it is also good to keep the original state. There is no burden on the new ministries and commissions, and the original ministries and commissions are regarded as professional routines. Naturally, such a church can't talk about the growth of ministry.
? When Jesus was alive, he told several metaphors about workers' labor. In every metaphor, he criticized those servants who didn't want to make money, but just wanted to protect their capital, saying that they were evil, lazy and useless. (Matt. 25: 26) What the Holy Spirit asks of us is that we should gradually expand and develop the Ministry of the Lord from Jerusalem to all Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1: 8)
I believe that those of us who have been engaged in church planting and pastoral Ministry are familiar with the growth process of church Ministry. Many churches begin with prayer meetings or fellowship meetings for several people. When the number of people gradually increased, they began to worship on Sundays, increasing the content of various parties, establishing friendships, or organizing activities in groups. The next step is to send workers out to preach the gospel, showing that the church has gradually matured and grown into a Christian figure, and can undertake the great mission entrusted by Jesus.
God doesn't want us to rush into everything at once. This is like letting a child run before he can walk, and making money before he is sensible. Some churches were busy sending people out to run errands before the merger In fact, this is not good either. At most, it is a formality, or even just a land grab. The church is in the process of growth, and it is impossible to grow up at once and be full of Christ's stature. However, God doesn't want us to stop thinking about progress and rest on our laurels just because we have achieved something in the Ministry. We know that life is characterized by constant change and progress, and we should gradually increase the various ministries of the church on the basis of doing a good job, which can also effectively promote the increase of the number of churches and the spiritual progress of believers.
These three aspects complement each other.
Therefore, Jesus' demand for the church is growing, and it has increased many times. In the process of growing up, we should consider from three aspects: number of people, spiritual life and Ministry. These three aspects can't just take care of one thing and lose another, or make a choice. It's not without association and constraints. The growth of these three aspects is not only consistent, but also mutually reinforcing.
Without the growth of Ministry, it is difficult for believers to grow spiritually. Only when the church has new light and new trust, under the impetus of new Ministry, the spiritual life of believers will be inspired and enriched. When the spiritual life of believers is rich, there will be a burden to preach the gospel, and the number of people saved will naturally increase every day. In a conformist church, the performance of believers is bound to be demoralized. This kind of church can't renew and grow in the Ministry, and the spiritual life of believers can't be encouraged and helped, and it won't grow abundantly, so it is difficult to increase the number of churches.
Some colleagues in the church noticed this and wanted to keep bringing forth the old and bringing forth the new in the performance to make the church look lively. This kind of intention is good, but if the method is borrowed from the secular trend, it will easily bring bad side effects, and even cause negative effects greater than positive effects. Moreover, no matter how good the method is, it cannot be mistaken for truth, instead of truth, and it is held too high.
There is a difference between these two metaphors.
So why did Jesus use two metaphors? Is it to emphasize the importance of growth and attract everyone's attention, just repeating the same content?
These two metaphors do have a lot in common. Both of them reflect the requirements of continuous growth, and growth is also the growth of life. But there are also differences between these two metaphors. They reflect two different growth processes, two different paths, and two different working methods of God in the church.
In fact, when we talk about "growth" in the Chinese Bible, there are two completely different expressions. The former metaphor is "growing up" and the latter metaphor is "growing up", which shows us two different ways that God uses when the church grows up.